12J6

GLOSSARY.
ther than eitlier of the adjacent courses, for the purpose of binding the wall together.
A coursing joint is the joint between two courses.
CouuT. (Fr. Cour.) An uncovered area before or behind the house, or in the centre of
it, in which latter case it is often surrounded by buildings on its four sides, and is
more often called a quadrangle, as at Somerset House in the Strand.
Court of Justick, Law Couut, Assize Court. The apartment arranged for a trial.
It is also sometimes applied to the building containing it and the necessary accommo-
dation for the persons privileged to attend in it at the trial. Thus the designs must
provide apartments and accommodation for the robing, and occasional refreshment,
of the judges, the bar, and the different officers attached to the court, also suitable
accommodation for the jury, for the vvitnesses, for the attorneys whose instructions to
counsel are from instant to instant necessary for the proper conduct of a case, and
though last, not least, ample space for the public, who have an undoubted right to
be present ; also ret'resiiment and waiting rooms for them. The architect must be
careful to supply such accommodation as shall render the office of all parties en-
gaged a pleasing duty rather than an irksome task. To every court of law should
be attached a vestibule or saloon, sufficiently largo to afford a promenade for those
of all classes engaged ia the courts. In Westminster, bad as the courts were, tliis
was well provided in tiie maguiticent saloon called Westminster Hall. In courts for
the trial of felons it may be necessary, if the prison has no communication with the
court, to add accommodation for the police and other officers, as likewise some cells
for criminals.
lu these, as in ether buildings where there is often congregated a great number
of persons, the entrances, and at the same time outlets, should be increased ia
number as much as convenience and the situation will permit
;
and another indispens-
able requisite is, that the court itself should be so placed in the design that no
noise created on tlie outside of the building may be heard in the interior, so as to
interfere with the attention of those engaged on the business bel'ore them.
The assize or law courts at Manchester, erected 1859-64 by Mr. Alfred Water-
house, architect, in the Pointed style of architecture, have received the highest
approbation for the accommodation provided, not only for all those immediately
interested in the administration of justice, Imt for the public. This eiiifice has been
des-'ribed by its architect in the Sessional papers of the Royal Institute of British
Architects, 186-1-5,
p. 165, from which we gather that the cost, limited to
70,000/f.,
did not exceed 110,0u0i., or nearly dd. per foot cube
;
the furniture was about 10,000i.
more. It consists of two almost distinct parts, the inner structure containing the
courts, public offices, and arrangements for business. This is separated by a court-
yard in front, but connected by a corridor at back, from the judges' residence or
"lodgings."
In the basement of the main building, which is 256 feet long by 166 feet deep,
and three stories or about 60 feet in height, are cells for the prisoners under
trial,
chambers for heating and ventilating, kitchens, refreshment rooms, &c. On the
principal floor, which is about
17 feet above the level of the street, and close to
the entrance, is the central hall, 100 feet long, 48 feet 6 in. wide, and 75 feet high;
beyond it are the assize courts, and the sheriffs' or addition/il court at one end ;
also
the various rooms for the accommodation of the bench, the bar, the different officers
of the court, witnesses, and jurors. The crown and civil courts are each 59 feet by
45 feet and 39 feet 6 in. high, being among the largest courts in the kingdom.
In
them the bar is placed as usual opposite the bench, the jury is on the judge's left
band, the witness-box on his right and brought close to the bench. To each of the
courts there are eight entrances, and also two to the ladies' gallery above. All these
are approached from the corridor.<, 10 feet wide, which, diverging from the central
hall, run round the building, and return to the hall again. The barristers'
corridor
at the rear of the courts is 184 feet long, and shut off so as to keep it for the
oxclu-
bive use of the bar. Opposite the main entrance, but quite in the rear, is a door
leading from this corridor into the library, 60 feet by 25 feet, another into the robing
room, beyond which are the lavatories, placed round a ventilating shaft. The
rooms
for the prothonotary, clerk of the crown, and indictment office, all also open into
this
corridor. Other rooms on this floor are devoted to the witnesses, who are
classified
as much as possible, to jurors, attorneys, and barristers' clerks, to the various
officers
of the assizes, and to purposes of consultation. On the upper floor are situated
the
Chancery court for the County Palatine ol Lancaster, 41 feet by 23 feet;
the
grand
jury room, 40 feet by 25 feet; the magistrates' board room; and the barristers'
mess
room, 55 feet by 22 feet.
The article Town Hall gives references to many similar buildings of modern
ereo-
tion, and of various sizes, but the above is probably still the best of its class.
The Courts of Justice in London; the foundations were commenced in 1871
and
the