Common Bench

[L. Lat. communis bancus; L. Fr. le commun bank.] The former title of the English court of Common Pleas, and still sometimes used in the reports. Its original title seems to have been simply "The Bench;" the epithet "common" being added probably to distinguish it from the King's or Queen's Bench, as being originally established for the trial of common causes, (communia placita,) or controversies between common persons, that is, between subject and subject.

1 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 67, 68. 3 Bl. Com. 37 — 40. Camd. Brit. 113. 8 Co. pref.

See Bench, Bancus, Common Pleas, Court of.