Search the Dictionary

To soften, mollify, or moderate; to soothe; to temper; as, to attemper rigid justice with clemency.

support; to sustain; as, to back up one's friends. -- To back a warrant (Law), is for a justice of the peace, in the county where the warrant is to be executed, to sign or indorse a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender. -- To back water (Naut.), to reverse the action of the oars, paddles, or p…

A prison or court of justice; -- used in certain proper names; as, the Old Bailey in London; the New Bailey in Manchester. [Eng.] Oxf. Gloss.

The railing that incloses the place which counsel occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the bar of the court signifies in open court.

rovided in the houses of persons of importance, where assemblies were held for dispensing justice; and hence, any large hall used for this purpose.

The seat where judges sit in court. To pluck down justice from your awful bench. Shak.

n guilty of some contempt, or indicted for some crime; -- so called in distinction from a justice's warrant.

witness, voter, or other person in a position of trust. Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe. Hobart.

ce; to draw to. There is nothing will bring you more honor . . . than to do what right in justice you may. Bacon.

iced wall or inclosure; latticework, rails, or crossbars, as around the bar of a court of justice, between the chancel and the have of a church, or in a window.

Free from undue bias; disposed to think and judge according to truth and justice, or without partiality or prejudice; fair; just; impartial; as, a candid opinion. "Candid and dispassionate men." W. Irving.

e in some fishes. -- Cardinal virtues, preëminent virtues; among the ancients, prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. -- Cardinal winds, winds which blow from the cardinal points due north, south, east, or west.

ll the circumstamces; condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes. In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge. Deut. xxiv. 13. If the case of the man be so with his wife. Matt. xix. 10. And when a lady's in the case. You know all other things give place.…

or remove a cause there depending, in order that the party may have more sure and speedy justice, or that errors and irreguarities may be corrected. It is obtained upon complaint of a party that he has not received justice, or can not have an impartial trial in the inferior court.

t under the jurisdiction act of 1873 it became the chancery division of the High Court of Justice, and now exercises jurisdiction only in equity.

A summary in writing of such matters as are to be inquired of or presented before justices in eyre, or justices of assize, or of the peace, in their sessions; -- also called articles. Jacob.

Fig.: A community. [R.] Thick as the college of the bees in May. Dryden. College of justice, a term applied in Scotland to the supreme civil courts and their principal officers. -- The sacred college, the college or cardinals at Rome.

Specious; plausible; having an appearance of right or justice. "Colorable pretense for infidility." Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Col"or*a*ble*ness, n. -- Col"or*a*bly, adv. Colorable and subtle crimes, that seldom are taken within the walk of human justice. Hooker.

rity over; to obtain as if by ordering; to reeceive as a due; to challenge; to claim; as, justice commands the respect and affections of the people; the best goods command the best price. 'Tis not in mortals to command success. Addison.

mission of the peace, a commission under the great seal, constituting one or more persons justices of the peace. [Eng.] -- To put a vessel into commission (Naut.), to equip and man a goverment vessel, and send it out on service after it has been laid up; esp., the formal act of tacking command of a vessel for service,…