prize court

American  

noun

1. a court whose function it is to adjudicate on prizes taken in war.

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prize court British  

noun

1. law a court having jurisdiction to determine how property captured at sea in wartime is to be distributed

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Etymology

Origin of prize court

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95

Example Sentences

It is noticeable that a very large part of the cargoes condemned by the British Prize Court, as actually intended for the enemy though consigned to other pretended destinations, consists of goods from Latin America.

From Project Gutenberg

The elaborate webs spun by German traders and revealed by intercepted correspondence were exposed in the Prize Court.

From Project Gutenberg

We shall require you to sign in the presence of a magistrate here a formal document acknowledging that the vessel was absolutely captured, and in possession of the pirates, and that she was recaptured by his majesty's schooner the Arrow, and to sign a bond on behalf of the owners to pay the legal proportion of the value of the ship and cargo to the admiralty prize court in London.

From Project Gutenberg

"I shall tell the governor that I have ordered them to be taken to Kingston, where there is a regular prize court, and therefore it will not be necessary to trouble with their manifests here."

From Project Gutenberg

I hoped that I should be able to get here in time, but ever since I saw you I have been going backwards and forwards between the ships and the shore, calling at the dockyard and prize court.

From Project Gutenberg