A courthouse is a building with law courts in it — rooms where a judge hears cases — and, especially in the United States, government offices as well. In many American towns the county courthouse sits on the main square: trials, records, licences, sometimes even a short wedding. You go up the steps, not to play tennis and not to see a king. British English more often says the court or the law courts for the building; courthouse sounds American, though people will understand it. Though actually court by itself can mean the building, the people in it, the process, a royal household, or a sports space. Courthouse is only the building.