In old English law. The public assemblies of all degrees of men where the sovereign presided, who usually consulted upon the great affairs of the kingdom. Also pleas, pleadings, or debates, and trials at law; sometimes penalties, fines, mulcts, or emendations; also the style of the court at the beginning of the record at nisi prius, but this is now omitted. Cowell. In the civil law. The decrees or constitutions of the emperor; being the expressions of his will and pleasure. Calvin.