court of love
Preserved but no longer current.
A judicial court for deciding affairs of the heart, established in Provence during the days of the Troubadours. The following is a case submitted to their judgment : A lady listened to one admirer, squeezed the hand of another, and touched with her toe the foot of a third. Query: Which of these three was the favoured suitor?
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “court of love” mean?
A judicial court for deciding affairs of the heart, established in Provence during the days of the Troubadours. The following is a case submitted to their judgment : A lady listened to one admirer, squeezed the hand of another, and touched with her toe the foot of a third. Query: Which of these three was the favoured suitor?
Is “court of love” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.