bench (redirected from benches)

A forum of justice comprised of the judge or judges of a court. The seat of the court occupied by the judges.

The bench is used to refer to a group of judges as a collective whole. It is a tribunal or place where justice is administered. To appear before the full bench means to appear before the entire group of judges of the court.

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bench n. 1) general term for all judges, as in "the bench," or for the particular judge or panel of judges, as in an order coming from the "bench." 2) the large, usually long and wide desk raised above the level of the rest of the courtroom, at which the judge or panel of judges sit. (See: judge, court, witness stand, sidebar, approach the bench)

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bench noun bar, bar of justice, board, cabinet, chamber, circuit, council, court, court of justice, court of law, forum, forum of justice, judge, judgment seat, judicatory, judicature, judicial assembly, judicial forum, judicial tribunal, judiciary, justice, justice seat, law court, legal administration, magistracy, magistrate, magistrature, open court, panel of judges, privy council, seat of judgment, seat of justice, tribunal
Associated concepts: at the bench, bench docket, bench notes, bench warrant

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See also: bar, body, chamber, court, judicatory, judicature, judiciary, tribunal

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BENCH. Latin Bancus, used for tribunal. In England there are two courts to which this word is applied. Bancus Regius, King's Bench Bancus Communis, Com-mon Bench or Pleas. The jus banci, says Spelman, properly belongs to the king's judges, who administer justice in the last resort. The judges of the inferior courts, as of the barons, are deemed to, judge plano pede, and are such as are called in the civil law pedanei judices, or by the Greeks Xauaidixastai, that is, humi judicantes. The Greeks called the seats of their higher judges Bumata, and of their inferior judges Bathra. The Romans used the word sellae and tribunalia, to designate the seats of their higher judges, and subsellia, to designate those of the lower. See Spelman's Gloss. (ad verb.) Bancus; also, 1 Reeves Hist. Eng. Law, 40, 4to ed., and postea Curia Regis.