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The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England (including Wales) from 1388 until 1707, then in 18th-century Great Britain, in the later United Kingdom, and in other dominions of the British Empire.

Quarter sessions generally sat in the seat of each county and county borough. They 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.^[1]

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 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 the urban areas: 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
  


• 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

Changes

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

• Berwick-upon-Tweed


• Bideford


• Bridgnorth


• Carmarthen


• Chichester


• Faversham


• Haverfordwest


• Hythe


• Ludlow


• Maldon


• Oswestry


• Richmond


• Liberty of Ripon


• Rye


• Saffron Walden


• Sandwich


• South Molton


• Stamford


• Sudbury


• Tenterden


• Thetford


• Tiverton


• Warwick


• Wenlock

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.^[2] Often Quarter Sessions were delayed, in which case they met as General Sessions.^[3] Quarter Sessions were abolished alongside other local courts by the District Courts (Scotland) Act 1975, 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, 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.^[4]

Quarter Sessions were abolished in the Irish Free State under the Courts of Justice Act 1924.^[5] 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:

• Montreal District


• Quebec District


• Trois-Rivières District

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:

• Lunenburgh District 1788–1792 – sat at New Johnstown (present day Cornwall, Ontario)
  
  • 
    Eastern District, Upper Canada 1792–1849
    
    • 
      Johnstown District, Upper Canada 1798–1849 – carved out from Eastern District
      
      • 
        Bathurst District 1822–1849 – carved out from Johnstown District
        
        • 
          Dalhousie District 1838–1849
        
        
      
      
    
    
  
  


• Mecklenburg District 1788–1792 – sat at Kingston (now Kingston, Ontario)
  
  • 
    Midland District, Upper Canada 1792–1849
    
    
    
    • 
      Prince Edward District, Upper Canada 1831
    
    
    • 
      Victoria District, Upper Canada 1837
    
    
    
    
  
  


• Nassau District 1788–1792 – sat at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and later at York, Upper Canada (later Toronto)
  
  • 
    Home District 1792–1849
    
    
    
    • 
      Niagara District 1798–1849
    
    
    • 
      Gore District, Upper Canada 1816–1849
      
      • 
        Wellington District 1838–1849
      
      
    
    
    • 
      Simcoe District, Upper Canada 1837
    
    
    
    
  
  


• Hesse District 1788–1792 – sat at Sandwich (now Windsor, Ontario)
  
  • 
    Western District, Upper Canada 1792–1849
    
    • 
      London District, Upper Canada 1798–1849
      
      
      
      • 
        Brock District, Upper Canada and Talbot District, Upper Canada 1837–1849
      
      
      • 
        Huron District, Upper Canada 1838–1849
      
      
      
      
    
    
  
  

Court of Quarter Sessions in pre-Confederation Canada

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

United States

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 Britain and were gradually replaced by other court systems.

In Pennsylvania, the Courts of General Sessions in 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.^[6]

Australia

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

India and Malaysia

In India and Malaysia, the quarter sessions have evolved into permanent sessions courts.

See also

• Courts of England and Wales

References