Definition
QYEZ is an archaic phonetic spelling of the court crier's call more commonly rendered as "oyez" or, in its corrupted form, "O yes." The term is a command for silence and attention, traditionally proclaimed aloud by a court officer immediately before a court session is called to order or before a formal proclamation is made. It signals that official proceedings are about to begin and that those present are required to attend to what follows.
The word is directed at all persons in the courtroom — parties, counsel, and spectators alike — and carries the force of a formal judicial directive to cease conversation and give ear to the court. Its recitation is typically repeated two or three times in succession.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Oyez" is defined as an exclamation used to introduce a public proclamation or to call a court to order, derived from the Anglo-French for "hear ye."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's recognizes "oyez" as a call uttered by court officers or public criers, meaning "hear ye" and demanding the attention of those assembled.
Editorial note: The gap between common and legal usage is narrow here — most speakers who encounter this word at all encounter it in a courtroom context. The more meaningful distinction is between the phonetic variants (oyez, oyes, O yes, qyez) and the formal legal function the call carries: it is not merely a polite request for attention but a ritualized invocation marking the transition from informal assembly to official judicial proceeding.
Common Confusion
QYEZ / OYEZ / O YES: These are variant spellings of the same term. Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) notes that "oyez" is "commonly corrupted into 'O yes.'" QYEZ appears as an alternative phonetic rendering of the same Anglo-French word. Researchers encountering any of these forms in historical court records, transcripts, or procedural manuals are looking at the same call. Do not treat variant spellings as distinct terms or distinct procedures.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in historical court records, session papers, or procedural transcripts will encounter multiple spellings of this term — oyez, oyes, O yes, and occasionally qyez — sometimes within the same document or court tradition. Treating these as distinct terms will produce incomplete search results. Any corpus search for courtroom opening ritual, court crier function, or formal proclamation practice should run all variants.
The term's significance in primary sources is largely ceremonial and procedural rather than substantive, but its presence in a document reliably signals the formal opening of a session or the announcement of a judgment, order, or proclamation. In older English court records, its placement can help researchers date or sequence events within a session.
Because the term derives from Anglo-French legal usage, it appears with particular frequency in sources connected to the English common law tradition and in American courts that inherited that tradition. Researchers working in civilian or civil law jurisdictions will not typically encounter it.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) treats the term under the spelling "oyez" and defines it plainly as "hear ye," noting its use by public criers to command attention before a proclamation. The entry acknowledges the common corruption to "O yes." Black's does not provide extended analysis, which is appropriate — the term's legal content is thin; its significance is procedural and historical rather than doctrinal.
Historical dictionaries are in agreement on the meaning and function of the term. No significant divergence exists across sources. What historical sources collectively underemphasize is the degree to which the call's specific phrasing and repetition varied across court systems and time periods, and the fact that phonetic variants like qyez can appear in older manuscripts and cause search and identification problems for modern researchers.
Jurisdictional Note
The oyez call is associated primarily with English common law courts and American federal and state courts that adopted English common law procedure. The Supreme Court of the United States retains the practice. Courts in civilian jurisdictions and many non-common-law systems have no equivalent.