prize court

noun

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

Origin of prize court

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for prize court

Historical Examples of prize court

The prize-court will decide what is to be done with your cargo.
Banzai!
Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff
If such a ship opposes the prize-court then it must be treated as an enemy ship.
Our Navy in the War
Lawrence Perry
If the Trent had been taken into port, a prize-court must have liberated the prisoners.
Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States
Raphael Semmes
Let us hope that the prize-court and its attendant officials did not absorb too big a share of the proceeds!
The Bay State Monthly - Volume 1, Issue 4 - April, 1884
Various
A few were released, but the larger part were condemned by a prize-court and sold.
Young Peoples' History of the War with Spain
Prescott Holmes

British Dictionary definitions for prize court

prize court

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012