Court Lands

Domains or lands kept in the lord's hands to serve his family. COURT LEET (Law Lat. cuno letae, the court of the leet). A court of record in England, held once or twice in every year within a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, before the steward of the leet, for the preservation of the peace, and the punishment of all trivial misdemeanors. Kitch. Cts. Its original intent was to view the frank pledges, — that is, the freemen of the liberty who anciently were all mutually pledges for the good behavior of each other, — and hence it was called, by the Anglo- Normans, the "view of frank pledge," visus frand plegii. 4 Bl. Comm. 273; Spelman, voc. "Leta;" 4 Inst. 261; Mirr. c. 1, § 10; 2 Hawk. P. C. 72; 1 Crabb, Real Prop. 495, § 637 et seq.; Tomlin. It has, however, latterly fallen into almost total desuetude; its business having, for the most part, gradually devolved upon the quarter sessions. 4 Steph. Comm. 340. See "Leet;" "Frank Pledge;" "View of Frank Pledge."

See Demesne.

Domains or lands kept in the lord’s hands to serve his family.

The demesne rolls of a manor, the record grants, and other matters

[L. Lat. eurti Ue terroB.] In English law. Demains, or lands kept in demesne, i. e. in the lord's own hands, to serve his family. A term derived from the feudal law in which ierrce curtiles, or intra curtem, signified lands appropriate to the court {curtis,) or house of the lord. Spelman, Feuds, c. 6. The same with what was called by the Saxons inland, being that which lay most convenient for the lord s mansion house, and therefore kept by the lords in their own hands, for the support of their family and for hospitality. The Normans called these lands terras dominica Us, the demains, or lord's lands. Cowell, voce. Court lands, Curtiles terras. See Cwirt, Curtis, Demesne.