Editing Courthouse (section)

{{Short description|Building which is home to a court}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Globalize|date=August 2020|2=North America}}
[[File:Panorama of United States Supreme Court Building at Dusk.jpg|thumb|The [[United States Supreme Court Building]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
[[File:Gedimino 40 by Augustas Didzgalvis.jpg|thumb|Courthouse of Vilnius regional court and Court of Appeal of Lithuania in [[Vilnius]]]]

A '''courthouse''' or '''court house''' is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit.  A courthouse is home to one or more [[courtroom]]s, the enclosed space in which a [[judge]] presides over a [[court]], and one or more [[Judge's chambers|chambers]], the private offices of judges.  Larger courthouses often also have space for offices of judicial support staff such as [[court clerk]]s and deputy clerks.

The term is commonly used in the English-speaking countries of North America. In most other English-speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply called "courts" or "court buildings". In most of continental Europe and former non-English-speaking European colonies, the equivalent term is a palace of justice (French: palais de justice, Italian: palazzo di giustizia, Portuguese: palácio da justiça).