provost court
- noun
- Archaic
:
tribunal militar
- When minor incidents occurred, the military would often rely on the provost court to deal with the offenders fairly.
Examples
-
The provost court in the occupied territory assessed the charges against the individuals swiftly to maintain order.
-
The local residents were wary of the decisions made by the provost court after their recent rulings on minor offenses.
-
For example, Admiral James McPherson commented that, "prior to Hamdan, we had always interpreted, assumed, that 'uniform' meant the rules were the same among the services, not that they were the same for the courts-martial, commissions, tribunals, and those provost courts."
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
10
4.9
A group of officers who try members of the armed forces for breaking their rules
1
7.7
A military court that tries soldiers for less serious crimes, usually with three officers
Surface Forms
Morphology
provost + court
The element 'court' clearly signals a tribunal, so a learner who knows both words would infer this is a type of court, but 'provost' is a low-frequency, specialized term (and can refer to different official roles) that does not transparently indicate the military/occupation and minor-offense sense. Because the overall, specific meaning (a military court for minor offenses in occupied areas) is more specialized and not fully predictable from the parts, the expression is partially but not fully transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Provost court comes from the image of a military officer called a provost running a small court in an occupied town to judge small crimes. So, a provost court is a military court that deals with minor offenses by soldiers or local people during an occupation.