Curia.L

Lat. A court; the palace of a sovereign, (regia seu palatium principis.) Spelman. A sovereign's household, (familia) or court. Id. A judicial tribunal, (forum juridicum) or court, held in the sovereign's palace. Id. Any judicial tribunal; a court of justice. The civil or secular power, as distinguished from the church. Id. The residence of a noble; a manor, or chief manse; the hall of a manor. Id. A lord's court, as being held in his manor. Cowell. See Curia baronis. The persons, or feudatory and other tenants who did suit and service at the lord's court. Cowell. A piece of ground, or area attached to a house, or within which a house is built; a yard, court or court-yard, (atrium seu area cujusvis habitaculi.) Spelman. LL. Edw. Conf. c. 6. Bract, fol. 76, 222 b, 336 b, 356 b, 358. See Curia claudenda. A parsonage house or manse. Cowell. Kennett's Par. Ant. 205. Curia is derived by Spelman from the Gr. kuria, which, among other significations, had those of a meeting, or place of meeting (concio et concionis locus,) for public business, whether of a judicial character or otherwise; the sovereign power, &c. According to the same writer, it was not used in the sense of a judicial tribunal among the Germans, Franks, Anglo-Saxons and other northern nations of Europe, before the tenth century; the received words being mallum, placitum, gemotum, &c. Afterwards, however, it came into general use, and constantly occurs in the old books, and in reports down to the present day, in the sense of court. Bracton frequently uses curia and judicium to signify the same thing. Dies in curia. Bract. fol. 342 b. Dies in judicio. Id. fol. 362 b. Cum in judicio comparuerint. Id. fol. 296 b. Antequam in curia comparuerit. Id. fol. 365. Strictly, however, curia signifies the place where the court is held; judicium, the proceedings there. See Judicium.