Count.L

Fr. & Eng. [L. Lat. narratio.l In pleading. A statement of a plaintiff's case in court, being the first in the series of the pleadings in an action;• a declaration, particularly in a real action. 2 Reeves* Hist. Eng. Law, 265, 267. Co. Litt. 17 a, 303 a. 3 Bl. Com. 293. En count countant; in his count counting. Lilt. sect. 10. The use of this term was anciently confined, for the most part, to real actions, though not exclusively. Termes de la ley. F. N. B. 16, 60. D. N. Steph. PI. Second Appendix, Note (3.) A part, section or division of a declaration, embracing a distinct statement of a cause of action. A declaration now usually consists of several of these counts; being either statements of different causes of action; or of the same cause in different^ forms. SUph. PL 267, Appendix, Note* (56.) Id. Second Appendix, Note (3.) Gould's Pleading, ch. vi. § 2.

In criminal pleading. A particular charge in an indictment. Whartor Cs Prec, of Indieimenis, 12, note; ch. 2. Cbunt is from the Fr. conte, a narrative or tale, as it was at one time called in England. 8 BL Com. 293. Steph. PL Appendix, Note (56.) An ancient book of forms was styled the novca narrationes, or neto talys (tales.) 3 BL Com, 297. ^arratio, the Latin word, has survived in the abbreviation narr., a common term for a declaration. See Narratio, Narr, The old word conte signified any allegation of fact in a cause. Steph. PL ub, sup. Count is still, in strictness, the proper term for a declaration in a real action, although its constant use as a part of that pleading has, in a great degree, superseded the original sense; Id. ibid, 3 Steph, Com, 659. By the new Pleading Rules of the English courts, the use of several counts iq. the same declaration is prohibited unless a distinct subject matter of complaint is intended to be established in respect of each. 1 ChitL PL 414. To COUNT. [L. Fr. counter; L. Lat. narrare.'] In pleading. To state or relate a plaintiff's case, especially the demandant's claim or count in a real actiofi;* to declare. 2 Beeves' Hist. Eng, Law, 265, 267. 8 Steph. Com. 659. To plead orally; to argue a matter in court; to read or recite there; to recite a count; the peculiar province of a serjeant in the English Court of Common Pleas. Hence the titles of countor and serjeant' countor, (qq. v.) Passing a recovery at the bar of the Common Pleas was formerly termed counting at bar, Boote's Suit at Law, 68, note. This term is frequently applied, in the older English reports, to one of the ceremonies performed in open court on taking the degree of serjeant at law. Lord Raymond, describing a call of Serjeants to the bar, observes that after being sworn, " they came to Gray's Inn Hall, where they rehearsed their counts, and were coifed, and then they walked to Westminster, and counted at the Common Pleas, according to custom," <fec. 1 Ld, Raym, 604. So, on another occasion, he says of the Serjeants, that being robed, " they were brought to the bar and counted,^* t&c. 2 Id, 769. See T, Ratfm. 430, 478. Sir George Croke, describing the same ceremony, observes of the Serjeants that "every of them, after they came to the bar, had several writs and counts, which counts they recited, and after their counts recited and whts read by the prothonotary, one of the ancient Serjeants imparled thereto," &c. Cro. Jac. 2. The same reporter, describmg Sir Edward Coke's creation as a serjeant, on his being made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, has recorded that " he was sworn in chancery as serjeant, and afterwards went presently into the treasury of the Common Pleas, and there by Popham, Chief Justice, his party robes were put on, and he forthwith, the same day, was brought to the bar as serjeant; and presently after his writ read and count made, he was created Chief Justice," <kc. Cro, Jac. 125. But the most minute description of this and other ceremonies attending the creation of Serjeants, is given by the same reporter in the introduction to the third volume of his reports. Cro. Car, Introd. This characteristic ceremony of counting has long been disused. See Serjeant at law,