Court of quarter sessions

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People gather in groups in a very high hall with arches, high windows, and staircases
Middlesex Sessions House in 1810

The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Act of Union, 1536).[1] They were also established in Scotland, Ireland and in various other dominions of the British Empire.

Quarter sessions generally sat in the seat of each county and county borough, and in numerous non-county boroughs (mainly, but not exclusively, ancient boroughs), which were entitled to held their own quarter sessions[2] (see below), although some of the smaller boroughs lost their own quarter sessions in 1951 (see below). All quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales in 1972, when the Courts Act 1971 replaced them and the assizes with a single permanent Crown Court. In Scotland they survived until 1975, when they were abolished and replaced by district courts and later by justice of the peace courts.

The quarter sessions were named after the quarter days on which they met in England and Wales from 1388. These days were later settled as Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas sessions.[3]

Reputation[]

Bentley notes in English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century that "the reputation of such courts remained consistently bad throughout the century" due to failure by chairmen to take proper note of evidence, display of open bias against prisoners, and the severity of sentences compared to the assizes. Chairmen of county sessions did not have to be legally qualified.

Jurisdiction[]

The quarter sessions generally heard crimes that could not be tried summarily by the justices of the peace without a jury in petty sessions, which were sent up by the process of indictment to be heard in quarter sessions.

The quarter sessions did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes, most notably those subject to capital punishment or later life imprisonment. These crimes were sent for trial at the periodic assizes.

Staff[]

The quarter sessions in each county were made up of two or more justices of the peace, presided over by a chairman, who sat with a jury. County boroughs and other boroughs entitled to their own quarter sessions had a single recorder instead of a bench of justices.

Every court of quarter sessions had a clerk called the clerk of the peace. For county quarter sessions, this person was appointed by the custos rotulorum of the county – the justice of the peace for the county charged with custody of its rolls and records. There was a large fee income for the clerk, and he was usually a friend or relative of the custos. The clerk rarely discharged the duties of the office himself, but appointed a solicitor to act as his deputy in return for a share of the fees. After 1852, payment by salary was gradually brought in instead of fees.

In some counties there were multiple quarter sessions, quite apart from those held by the county boroughs and boroughs with their own quarter sessions: for example, Yorkshire had its North Riding, West Riding, and East Riding; whilst Northamptonshire's Soke of Peterborough was administered separately. These divisions were carried on to the administrative counties that county councils covered.

Civil jurisdiction[]

The quarter sessions also had some limited civil jurisdiction, and until the Local Government Act 1888 created elected county councils, also had important administrative functions in their respective counties.

Much of the court's administrative business was delegated to committees of magistrates, who had specific responsibilities. Most of these administrative functions were transferred to county councils when they were established in 1888.

These functions included:

  • Repair of roads and bridges (and appointment of county surveyors)
  • Highway diversions
  • Construction and maintenance of county buildings
  • Administration of the county gaol (jails)
  • Supervision of public and private lunatic asylums
  • Supervision of petty sessions
  • Licensing of public houses
  • Supervision of the English Poor Laws (pre-1834)
  • The county militia
  • The police
  • Setting county rates

Non-county boroughs which held their own quarter sessions[]

The following non-county boroughs continued to hold their own quarter sessions[2] until they were abolished in 1972 by the Courts Act 1971.

Changes[]

The following quarter sessions were abolished by the Justices of the Peace Act 1949 on 1 October 1951.

It also saw a separate quarter sessions set up for the Isle of Wight.

Scotland[]

Quarter sessions were established in Scotland by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1661 (cap. 38), which directed justices of the peace to meet together in each county on the first Tuesday of March, May and August, and the last Tuesday of October.[4] Often quarter sessions were delayed, in which case they met as general sessions.[5] Quarter sessions were abolished alongside other local courts by the , which moved justices of the peace to sitting in a uniform series of district courts, since replaced by justice of the peace courts.

Quarter session courts in Ireland[]

There were quarter sessions courts for each county and county of a city or town as well as the boroughs of Derry, Kinsale, and Youghal. The recorder of the court sat alone. In Dublin city, which had no assizes, the quarter sessions court had cognizance of all crimes committed within the city's boundaries except treason. The Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 abolished many city and borough courts, but Dublin, Cork, Galway and Carrickfergus retained their courts of quarter sessions.

In 1867, the Attorney-General for Ireland, Hedges Eyre Chatterton, issued guidelines to regulate which cases ought to be tried at tried at assizes rather than quarter sessions: treason, murder, treason felony, rape, perjury, assault with intent to murder, party processions, election riots, and all offences of a political or insurrectionary character.[6]

Quarter Sessions were abolished in the Irish Free State under the Courts of Justice Act 1924.[7] Their jurisdiction (together with that of the assizes and the county courts) was largely transferred to the Circuit Court.

Courts of quarter sessions of the peace of Lower Canada[]

The courts of quarter sessions of the peace was created in August 1764 and headed by a chairman in each district. In Montreal the Governor of Montreal was replace with the Court of Quarter Sessions Chairman.

List of quarter session courts in Lower Canada from 1763 to 1790:

In 1791 27 districts were created to replace the role of the three founding districts. In 1832 when Montreal was incorporated as a city the role of the Mayor of Montreal replaced the quarter sessions chairman and that of the court by Montreal City Council.

Courts of quarter sessions in Upper Canada[]

A Court of Quarter Sessions was held four times a year in each district to oversee the administration of the district and deal with legal cases in the Province of Upper Canada (later Province of Canada West after 1841). It was created in 1788 and remained in effect until 1849 when local governments and courts were assigned to county governments to replace the district system created in the 1780s.

List of Quarter Session courts in Upper Canada and later in Canada West:

Court of Quarter Sessions in pre-Confederation Canada[]

  • Court of Quarter Sessions for the Middle Division, Nova Scotia

United States[]

See also: Court of general sessions

Courts of quarter sessions also existed in North American colonies and were sometimes known as courts of general sessions. When the United States became an independent country, the Courts of General Sessions became independent of those Britain and were gradually replaced by other court systems, although the name "Court of Quarter Sessions" or "quarterly court" was retained for some county legislative bodies in some jurisdictions.

In Pennsylvania, the courts of general sessions continued until the constitution of that Commonwealth was rewritten in 1968 and the courts' jurisdiction was placed under the pre-existing courts of common pleas in each county.

In New York, the Court of Quarter Sessions was established in October 17, 1683, by the first Assembly in New York. It had jurisdiction over both civil and criminal matters until 1691, when it was restricted to felony crimes not punishable by death or life imprisonment. The court was abolished in all counties of New York except New York County (now Manhattan). In New York County, the Court of General Sessions continued until 1962 when its scope devolved to the New York Supreme Court (a trial-level court of general jurisdiction not to be confused with the highest court of the New York system, which is called the New York Court of Appeals). At the time when it was abolished, the Court of General Sessions of New York County was the oldest criminal court in the United States.[8]

In the Northwest Territory, Governor Arthur St. Clair modeled county government on that of Pennsylvania. In each county, a court of quarter sessions of the peace, composed of three or more justices of the peace, served as the administrative and fiscal board of the county. In 1804, after Ohio became a state, the courts of quarter sessions of the peace were replaced by boards of county commissioners.[9]

Australia[]

Quarter Sessions were also held in the colony of New South Wales.[10]

India and Malaysia[]

In India, Bangladesh and Malaysia, the quarter sessions have evolved into permanent Sessions Courts.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Crime and Punishment". National Library of Wales. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Whitaker's Almanack 1968, pp 465-6.
  3. ^ Sir John Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History (3rd edition, 1990 Butterworths, ISBN 0-406-53101-3) p. 30. The Translation of St Thomas falls on 3 July.
  4. ^ Craies, William Feilden (1911). "Quarter Sessions, Court of" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 715.
  5. ^ Guide to justice records - The National Archives of Scotland Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ McEldowney, John F.; O'Higgins, Paul (1990). The common law tradition: essays in Irish legal history. Irish Academic Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-7165-2397-0.
  7. ^ The Courts of Justice Act, 1924, Section 51
  8. ^ "The Court of General Sessions, 1683-1847; In New York City, 1683-1962". New York State Unified Court System. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  9. ^ "Governmental Organization and Records System". Inventory of the County Archives of Ohio. Columbus, Ohio: Historical Records Survey (42): 21–22. April 1939 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Craies 1911, p. 715.
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