Cognizance

CONUSANCE, or COGNIsance (Lat. cognitio, recognition, knowledge). Acknowledgment; recognition, jurisdiction; judicial power; hearing a matter judicially. In Pleading. The answer of the defendant in an action of replevin who is not entitled to the distress of goods which are the subject of the action, acknowledging the taking, and justifying it as having been done by the command of one who is so entitled. Lawes, PI. 35, 36; 4 Bouv. Inst: note 3571. An acknowledgment made by the deforciant, in levying a fine, that the lands in question are the right of the complainant. 2 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 350. Cognizance of Pleas. Jurisdiction of causes. A privilege granted by the king to a city or town to hold pleas within the same. Termes de la Ley. It is in frequent use among the older writers on English law in this latter sense, but is seldom used, if at all, in America, except in its more general meaning. The universities of Cambridge and Oxford possess this franchise. Willes, 233; 1 Sid. 103; 11 East, 543; 1 W. Bl. 454; 10 Mod. 126; 3 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 298. -

— Claim of Cognizance (or Conusance). An intervention by a third person, demanding judicature in the cause against the plaintiff, who has chosen to commence his action out of claimant's court.. 2 Wils. 409; 2 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 350, note. It is a question of jurisdiction between the two courts (Portesque, 157; 5 Vmer, Abr. 588), and not between the plaintiff and defendant, as in the case of plea to the jurisdiction, and must be demanded by the party entitled to conusance, or by his representative, and not by the defendant or his attorney (1 Chit. PI. 403). There are three sorts of conusance: tenere placita, which does not oust another court of its jurisdiction, but only creates a concurrent one. Cognitio pladtorum, when the plea is commenced in one court, of which other court shall hold plea, etc. Hardr, 509; Bac. Abr. "Courts" (D).

In old practice. That part of a fine in which the defendant acknowledged that the land In question was the right of the complainant. From this the fine itself derived its name, as being sur cognizance de droit, etc., and the parties their titles of cognizor and cognizee.

In modern practice. Judicial notice or knowledge; the judicial hearing of a cause; jurisdiction, or right to try and determine causes; acknowledgment; confession; recognition. Of pleas. Jurisdiction of causes. A privllege granted by the king to a city or town to hold pleas within the same. Claim of cognizance (or of conusance) is an intervention by a third person, demanding judicature in the cause against the plaintiff, who has chosen to commence his action out of claimant's court 2 Wils. 409; 2 Bl. Comm. 350, note.

In pleading. A species of answer in the action of replevin, by which the defendant acknowledges the inking of the goods which are the subject-matter of the action, and alse that he has no title to them, but justifies the taking on the ground that it was done by the command of one who was entitled to the property. In the process of levying a fine, it is an acknowledgment by the deforciant that the lands in question belong to the complainant. In the language of American jurisprudence, this word is used chiefly in the sense of jurisdiction, or the exercise of jurisdiction; the judicial examination of a matter, or power and authority to make it. Webster v. Co.m., 5 Cush. (Mass) 400; Clarion County v. Hospital, 111 Pa. 339, 3 Atl. 07. Judicial cognizance is judicial notice, or knowledge upon which a judge is bound to act without having it proved in evidence.

— Cognizee. The party to whom a fine was levied. 2 Bl. Comm. 351.

— Cognizor. In old conveyancing. The party levying a fine. 2 Bl. Comm. 350, 351.

cognisance, conusance. Acknowledgment; confession; recognition; jurisdiction, as of a judicial notice, or examination; the hearing of Conusance of pleas: an exclusive right to granted certain cities. It may be pleaded by " to the jurisdiction of another court v. Avowry.

pleading, is where the defendant in an action of replevin, (not being entitled to the distress or goods which are the subject of the replevin,) acknowledges the takin, -of the distress, and insists that such taking was legal, not because he himself had a right to distrain on his own account, but because he made the distress by the command of another who had a right to distrain on the goods which are the subject of the suit. Lawes on Pl. 35, 36.