Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/595

* COURTOIS. 511 COURTS. COURTOIS, koor'twii', Gustave Claude Etienne [1So2 — ). A French fiyure and por- trait painter, born at Pusey, Haute-SaOne. He studied with GerOme in Paris, and afterwards was frequently honored at exhibitions. In 1SS9 he won the first medal at the Paris E.xposition. His genre and historical pictures include "Narcisse" (bought for the Luxembourg), and "Dante and Virgil in Hell," but the strength of his art is more truly shown in his portraits. COURTOIS, .Jacques (1621-76). A French battle painter, better loiown as Le Bourguignon. He was a pupil of his father, Jean Courtois, but went to Italy at the age of fifteen and worked in Bologna, Florence, Siena, and Rome, influ- enced successively by Guido Eeni and Francesco Albani in Bologna, and by Cerquozzi and Pieter de Laar in Rome. He was turned to his true field, however, by a study of Raphael's ''Battle of Constantine" in the Vatican. His spirited battle scenes, which excited great admiration and found many imitators, are to be seen in most of the principal galleries of Europe. At the age of thirty-six, on the death of his wife, he entered a Jesuit convent as a lay brother, and is said to have executed thereafter a number of religious paintings. By the Italians he was called Jacopo (or Giaeomo) Cortese and II Bor- gognone. COURT PARTY, The. A term applied as early as 1620 to the supporters of the political policy of the Stuart dynasty as opposed to the Country Party, during the disputes of King and Commons. At the end of the century the party represented high Toryism, .Tacobitism, and High Church principles. COURTRAI, koor'tri' (Flemish Kortryk). A to in the Province of West Flanders, Bel- gium, on the Lys, or Leye, 30 miles south of Bruges (Map: Belgium, B 4). Courtrai is built on both sides of the river, is surrounded with walls, and has a castle, a citadel, a fine old bridge flanked with Flemish towers, a noble town hall, and a beautiful Gothic church, fovuidcd in 1238 by Baldwin, Count of Flanders. The town-hall, dating from the sixteenth century, and now restored, contains memorable chimney-pieces and noteworthy frescoes and statuettes. In the Church of Xotre Dame is one of Van Dyke's most celebrated paintings — "Raising of the Cross." Though a busy manufacturing place. Courtrai is nevertheless attractive. Table damask and other linen are the principal articles of manufacture, and for which Courtrai is celebrated, as well as for its lace and the excellent quality of flax grown in the vieinitv. Population, in 1890, 30,400; in 1900, 34.000. Courtrai dates back to Roman times, when it bore the name of Cortoriacum. During the Middle Ages it was an important industrial centre. On .July 11, 1302, the Flemings, citizens of Ghent and Bruges chiefly, numbering 20,000 men, won a splendid victory over 7000 French knights and 40.000 soldiers, beneath the walls of Courtrai. More than 4000 golden spurs, worn by the French nobility, were gathered from the field, and the battle was henceforth called the Battle of the Spurs. The town suffered greatly in the French ■wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. COURTS, Jln.TTAEY. Military courts are dis- tinguished from civil courts both in their organi- zation .and procedure. They are divided into courts-martial and courts of inquiry, which in their various forms are described below. Coukts-^1arti.l ( Fr., military courts) are statutory institutions for the enforcement of order and discipline in armies and navies. The American Army is governed by a military code mainly derived from that of England. The mili- tary tribimals instituted in .merica and Eng- land for the administration of this code do not differ materiivlly in composition, power, or pro- cedure. The court of the constable and marshal recognized in the statute of Richard II. c. 2 appears to have been the first in England to administer military justice. The office of liigh constable was abolished in the reign of Henry Vlll., and with it lapsed all the criminal juris- diction of this court. From this time until 1089, when military courts were recognized by statute, military law was administered by means of com- missioners, l)y the general in command of troops, or by means of deputies appointed by him. These commissioners or deputies were usually officers of the army, and constituted courts or councils of war. Some time prior to the passing of the Mutiny Act these councils of war w-ere called courts-martial, and with few modifications are now the existing military tribunals. American courts-martial are instituted by authority of Congress, in pursuance of a power, conferred by the Constitution, to try offenses committed while the party is in the military service. These courts are ( 1 ) the general court- martial ; (2) the summary court; (3) the gar- rison court; (4) the regimental court. The jurisdiction of the general court-martial extends to every person subject to military law for any offense within the cognizance of a militarj' court. It is the only military court that can try a com- missioned officer, and it takes cognizance of the serious offenses committed by enlisted men. The power to assemble a general court-martial is given by statute to the President of the United States and to any general officer commanding an army, a territorial division, or department, or colonel commanding a separate department. In time of war the commnndcr of a division or of a separate brigade of troops is empowered to appoint this court. The statute^ provides that a general court- martial may consist of any number of officers from five to thirteen inclusive, and that it shall not consist of less than thirteen when that num- ber can be convened without manifest injury to the service. The officers who are competent to appoint a court-martial are competent to appoint a judge-advocate for the same. The judge-advo- cate prosecutes in the name of the United States, and is. imder certain circumstances, counsel for the prisoner. He summons witnesses for prosecu- tion and defense. The original charges are sent to this officer, and if he considers any amend- ment necessary he communicates with the officer appointing the court. 'hen the convening officer has satisfied himself that the charge preferred discloses an oft'ense under tlie Articles of War (q.v.). and that the evidence forthcoming is sufficient to justify the trial of the accused, he issues an order defining the place and lime of the meeting of the court, and naming, in the order of their rank in the service, the officers who are to compose it. Mien a commissioned officer is to he tried the officer appointing the court details, if he can, without prejudice to the service, officers of rank