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

See Examples For:

prize court

Before the captor could take title to a vessel, he would have to bring the ship into port and have it condemned before a prize court, which would determine the lawfulness of the capture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

Even the cargoes in such circumstances should not have been condemned without the decision of a prize court, much less should the vessels have been sunk.

From New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol 2, No. 1, April, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various

She does not take her captures within the jurisdiction of a prize court.

From New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol 2, No. 1, April, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various

I don't suppose they would have fetched a third of that amount had they been sold in the ordinary way by auction by the prize court.

From At Aboukir and Acre A Story of Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

His suggestion was at once acted on; a French cruiser went out into the Channel, seized the offending ship, took it into port, where a French prize court promptly condemned it.

From The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume I by Burton Jesse Hendrick