Legal Definitions - banc

Banc (pronounced bangk or bongk) is a French word that refers to a bench, especially the bench on which one or more judges sit. It can also be spelled as bank and is sometimes called bancus. The term is often used in legal contexts, particularly in the phrase en banc, which means "in full court" or "with all judges present."

• The Supreme Court heard the case en banc, with all nine justices present.
• The judge sat on the banc and listened to the arguments from both sides.

These examples illustrate how banc is used to refer to the bench or seat of justice where judges preside over legal proceedings. The first example shows how the term is used in the phrase en banc to indicate that all judges are present, while the second example uses banc to describe the physical location where the judge sat during the trial.

Banco is a related term that also refers to a seat or bench of justice. It can also refer to a tract of land that has become cut off from the country it originally belonged to due to the shifting of a river's course, a process known as avulsion.