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prize court

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

  • 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.

  • Let us hope that the prize-court and its attendant officials did not absorb too big a share of the proceeds!

  • A few were released, but the larger part were condemned by a prize-court and sold.

British Dictionary definitions for prize court

prize court

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