Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 6, CHI-Crystallization

G O U
■ iirdiction of the ancient Gothic courts In their loweft
inftance, or JlenJmg courts, fo called becaufe four were
J inftituted within every luperior diftrSa: or hundred.
But the proceedings on a writ of right may be remo¬
ved into the county-court by a precept from the (heriff
called a toll, quia tollit clique eximit caufam e curia baro-
num. And the proceedings in all other a&ions may
be removed into the fuperior courts by the king’s writs
of pone, or accedas ad curiam, according to the nature
of the fuit. . After judgment given, a writ alfo of
falfe judgment lies to the courts at Weftminfter to re¬
hear and review the caufe, and not a writ of error ;
for this is not a court of record ; and therefore, in
feme of thefe wuits of removal, the fixfl direftion given
is to caufe the plaint to be recorded, recordari facias
toque lam.
CouRT-Martial, a court appointed for the punifhing
offences in officers, foldiers, and failors, the powers of
which are regulated by the mutiny-bill.
For other courts, fee Admiralty, Arches, Bench,
Chancery, Chivalry, CoMMou-P/eas, County,
Duchy, Ecclesiastical, Faculty, Forest,
Hustings, Leet, Legate, Mayor, Piepoudre,
Prerogative, Requests, Stannary, SrAR-Ckam-
ber. University, &c.
COURTESY, or Curtesy, of England; a certain
tenure whereby a man marrying an heirefs feized of
lands of fee-ample, or fee-tail general, or feized as
heir of the tail fpecial, and getteth a child by hep that
cometh alive into the u'orld, though both it and his
wife die forthwith ; yet, if (he were in poffeffion, he
{hall keep the land during his life, and is called tenant
per legem Anglia-, “ or tenant by the couftefy of Eng¬
land j” becaufe this privilege is not allowed in any
country except Scotland, where it is called Curialitas
'■ Scotia.
COURTESAN, a woman who proftitutes herfelf
for hire, efpecially to people of fuperior rank. Lais
the famous Theban courtefan, ftands on record for re¬
quiring no lefs than 10,000 crowms for a fi'Agle night.
Ol ail places in the world, Venice is that where courte-
ians abound the moft. It is now 300 years ftnee the
fenate, which had expelled them, was obliged to recal
them j in order to provide far the fecurity of women of
honour, and to keep the nobles employed, left they
Ihould turn their heads to make innovations in the
ftate.
CO UR FRAY, a town of the Auftrian Netherlands,
fituated on the river Lys, about 23 miles fouth-weft of
Ghent, and 14 eaft of Ypres. E. Long. 3. 10. N. Lat.
53- 48.
COUSIN, a term of relation between the children
[ ,07 1
c o w
W'ere, in fame fort, brothers and lifters with regard to
each «ther.
Cousin, John, a celebrated French painter, who L
excelled in painting on glafs. His pi£ture of the Laft
Judgment, in the veftry of the Minims of the Wood of
Vincennes, is much admired. He was alfo a good
fculptor. He wrote feveral works on geometry and
perfpeftive and died after the year 16S9.
COUSU, in Heraldry, fignifies a piece of another
colour or metal placed in the ordinary, as if it were
few'ed on, as the word imports. This is generally of -
colour upon colour, or metal upon metal, contrary to
the general rule of heraldry.
COUTANCES, a port town of Normandy, and
capital of Coutantin, in W. Long. 1.32. N. Lat. .49. io.
This town, ancientiy called Confantia or Cofedia, is
pleafantly fituated among meadow's and rivulets about
five miles diftant from the fea. By the remains of a
Roman aqueduft, and other ancient ruins, it appears to
be a place of great antiquity. It is the fee of a biftrop,
fuffragan of Rome j and has a magnificent cathedral,
efteemed one of the fineft pieces of Gothic architeclure
in Europe. The trade of this town is very inconfider-
able, and the fortifications are quite demolifhed. They
have feveral religious houfes, and two parochial
churches.
COUTHUTLAUGH, from the Saxon couth,
“ knowing,” and utlaugl^ “ oudaw j” he that wit¬
tingly receives a man outlawed, and cherifties or
conceals him : for which offence he was in ancient
times fubjeft to the fame puniftiment with the outlaw
himfelf.
_ COVERT, in Heraldnj, denotes fomething like a
piece of hanging, or a pavilion falling over the top of
a chief or other ordinary, fo as not to hide, but only to
be a covering to it.
COW. See Bos, Mammalia Index.
Coir-Burner. See Bufrestis, Entomology In¬
dex.
Sea-Coir. See Trichecus, Mammalia Index.
Coir-Itch, or Couhage. See Couhage and Doli-
chos, Botany Index.
Coir's-Lip. See Primula, Botany Index.
COWARD, in Heraldry, z term given to a lion
borne in an efcutcheon, with his tail doubled, or turned
in between his legs.
COWEL, Dr John, a learned and eminent civi¬
lian, born about the year 1554. In 1607 he compiled
a Law Diftionary, which gave great offence to Sir
Edward Coke and the common lawyers : fo that they
firit accufed him to James I. as afferting that the king’s
prerogative was in fame cafes limited } and when they
of brothers and filters; who in the firft generation are failed in that attempt, they complained of him to the
called coufns-german, in the fecond generation, fecond
cdvjins, Sec. If fprung from the relations of the fa-
[ ther’s fide, they are denominated paternal coufiris j if
on the mother’s, maternal.
The werd is ordinarily derived from confanguineus;
though Menage brings it from congenius, or congeneus,
q. d. ex eedem genere.
In the primitive times, it was allowed coufins-ger-
man to many, to prevent their making alliances in
heathen families: bat Theodofius the Great prohi¬
bited it under pain of death ; on pretence that, they
houfe of commons, as a betrayer of the rights of the
people, by afferting that the king was not bound by ,
the laws j for which he was committed to cuftody,
and his, book publicly burnt. He alfo publiffied In-
Jlitutiones Juris Anghcani, in the manner of Juftinian’s
Inftkutes; and died in the Operation far the ftone, in
1611.
COWES, a town and harbour on the north-eaft
coaft of the Me of Wight in Hampfhire. It has no
market, but is the heft place for trade in the whole
iltand.; but as it lies low, the air is accounted unhealthy.
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