Meaning of court: legal status depends on statutory jurisdiction, public hearing rules, and impartiality requirements. The text explains that a court is the place or persons administering justice under legal sanction and exercising jurisdiction over persons by reason of law, distinguishing courts from tribunals and other bodies that may act judicially. Determinative indicia include statutory conferral of legal sanction, public hearing requirements subject to exclusion, disqualification of interested members, and obligations of fairness and impartiality; features such as finality of decision or hearing witnesses are not conclusive of court status.