[See BENCH sb. 2 b.] A former court of record and the supreme court of common law in the kingdom; now, under the Judicature Act of 1873, represented by the King’s Bench division of the High Court of Justice.
1362–. [see BENCH sb. 2 b].
b. In full, King’s Bench Prison, A jail formerly appropriated to debtors and criminals confined by authority of the supreme courts at Westminster, etc.
1428. E. E. Wills (1882), 78. The prisons of Ludgate, Marchalsie, Kyngesbenche, And the Countours in London. Ibid. (1436), 106. The Prisoners of the Kynggis bench.
1501. Bury Wills (Camden), 89. To the prisoners in Newgate, Ludgate, to the Kyngs Benche, and to the Marshalsy, to eche of them vj s. viij d.
1849. Dickens, Dav. Copp., xlix. My feet will naturally tend towards the King’s Bench Prison.
1899. Besant, Orange Girl, II. xxvi. 432. I am a Newgate bird and a bird of the King’s Bench.
