Obs. [An earlier form of COUNTER sb.2, AF. countour, as an official title.]
1. Eng. Hist. An accountant; an officer who appears to have assisted in early times in collecting or auditing the county dues.
[1292. Britton, II. xxi. § 3. Ou seignurs, ou counseillers, ou countours.]
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 538. Vor as he huld this hundred … Adam of Arderne was is chef countour.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 359. A ffrankeleyn was in his compaignye … At sessions ther was he lord and sire fful ofte tyme he was knyght of the shire … A shirreue hadde he been and Countour.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6814. Bailifs, bedels, provost, countours; These lyven wel nygh by ravyne.
2. Law. An ancient term for a legal pleader, or serjeant-at-law; cf. COUNT v. 11.
[1275. Act 3 Edw. I., c. 24. Si nul serjaunt, Contour, ou autre face nul manere deceyte ou collusion en la Court le Rey.]
c. 1325. Poem on Edw. II., 342, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 339. And countours in benche that stondeth at the barre.
1614. Selden, Titles Hon., 292. A Countour was (if I am not deceiu’d) a Sergeant at Law, known also then by both names.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 17 a.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 92. Countours by M. Horne, are such Sergeants skilfull in the Law of the Realme, which serve the common people to pronounce and defend their Actions in judgement for their fee.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 24.
1861. Riley, trans. Liber Albus, 42. The Common Serjeant-at-law, who is otherwise called the ‘Common Countor.’
1863. H. Cox, Instit., II. iii. 373, note.
