King's Bench: court of justice or sovereign court in England. It is thus called because, formerly, the king presided it in personam on an elevated bench , while the judges were placed on benches at his feet or sat on a lower level. In this Court were pleaded the cases of the Crown between the King and his subjects. It has also dealt with crimes of high treason and conspiracies against the government. This Court is composed of four judges, the first of whom is the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench . Its jurisdiction is comprehensive and is extended to the whole of England; no other court in the kingdom is more independent because the law supposes that the King is permanently presiding it. There is also another court named the Common Bench or the Court of Common Pleas , which is the second Court of Justice of the Kingdom and this is where the common and ordinary cases are dealt with, i.e. trials between the subjects themselves. All cases of civil, real estate and personal matters are adjudicated according to rigor of law. The first chief of this Court bears the title of Chief Justice of Common Pleas or of the Common Bench . Previously, this Court included five, six seven and even eight judges; now their number decreased to four, like the number of judges on the King's Bench.