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| Court of Quarter Sessions | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Middlesex Sessions House in 1810 | |
| Established | 1388 |
| Dissolved | 1972 |
| Jurisdiction | England and Wales |
| Appeals to | Court of Appeal of England and Wales |
| Appeals from | Magistrates' Court |
Thecourts of quarter sessions orquarter sessions were localcourts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in theKingdom of England from 1388; they were extended toWales following theLaws in Wales Act 1535.[1] Scotland established quarter sessions in the 17th century. Quarter sessions were also established in Ireland and British colonies overseas.
Quarter sessions generally sat in theseat of eachcounty andcounty borough, and in numerous non-countyboroughs which were entitled to hold their own quarter sessions, although some of the smaller boroughs lost theirs in 1951; these non-county boroughs were mainly, but not exclusively,ancient boroughs.[2]
In 1972, all quarter sessions were abolished inEngland and Wales with the commencement of theCourts Act 1971, which replaced them and theassizes with a single permanentCrown Court. In Scotland, they survived until 1975, when they were abolished and replaced bydistrict courts and later byjustice of the peace courts.
The quarter sessions were named after thequarter days on which they met in England and Wales from 1388. These days were later settled asEpiphany,Easter,Midsummer, andMichaelmas sessions.
Bentley notes inEnglish 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 ofevidence, display of open bias against prisoners, and the severity of sentences compared to the assizes. Chairmen of county sessions did not originally have to be legally qualified, though the jurisdiction of county quarter sessions was extended to cover a wider range of offences if they had appointed a legally-qualified chairman.[3]: 121 From 1962 it was required that all chairmen had to be legally qualified. OccasionallyCounty Court orHigh Court judges accepted appointment, as it was a part-time one.[3]: 122
The quarter sessions generally heard crimes that could not be tried summarily by thejustices of the peace without a jury inpetty sessions, which were sent up by the process ofindictment to be heard in quarter sessions.[3]: 121
The quarter sessions did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes, most notably those subject tocapital punishment or laterlife imprisonment. These crimes were sent for trial at the periodicassizes.[3]: 121
The courts of quarter sessions, throughout, had a narrow civil jurisdiction; however, until theLocal Government Act 1888 created electedcounty councils, they also provided or authorised much major infrastructure and services that needed to span more than onevestry for their respective counties.
Most of such powers were delegated to committees, given specific responsibilities, of members –magistrates. Most of these administrative functions were transferred tocounty councils when they were established in 1888.
These functions and powers included:
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 ajury.County boroughs and otherboroughs entitled to their own quarter sessions had a singlerecorder instead of a bench of justices.[3]: 121
Every court of quarter sessions had a clerk called theclerk of the peace. For county quarter sessions, this person was appointed by thecustos rotulorum of the county – thejustice 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 thecustos. 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 itsNorth Riding,West Riding, andEast Riding; whilstNorthamptonshire'sSoke of Peterborough was administered separately. These divisions were carried over into theadministrative counties that county councils covered.
The non-county boroughs of then-fewer than 20,000 residents lost their own quarter sessions on 1 October 1951.[4]
That Act also created a separate quarter sessions for theIsle of Wight.
The more populous non-countyboroughs continued to hold their own quarter sessions,[2] until they were abolished in 1972 by theCourts Act 1971.
Quarter Sessions were also held in the colony ofNew South Wales.[5]
The courts of quarter sessions of the peace was created in August 1764 and headed by a chairman in each district. In Montreal, theGovernor of Montreal was replaced 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 theMayor of Montreal replaced the quarter sessions chairman and that of the court byMontreal City Council.
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 theProvince of Upper Canada (later Province ofCanada West after 1841). It was created in 1788 and remained in effect until 1849 when local governments and courts were assigned tocounty governments to replace the district system created in the 1780s.
List of Quarter Session courts in Upper Canada and later in Canada West:
InIndia,Bangladesh andMalaysia, the quarter sessions have evolved into permanentSessions Courts.
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There were quarter sessions courts for each county andcounty of a city or town as well as the boroughs ofDerry,Kinsale, andYoughal. Therecorder of the court sat alone. InDublin city, which had noassizes, the quarter sessions court had cognizance of all crimes committed within the city's boundaries excepttreason. TheMunicipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 abolished many city and borough courts, but Dublin,Cork,Galway andCarrickfergus retained their courts of quarter sessions.
In 1867, theAttorney-General for Ireland,Hedges Eyre Chatterton, issued guidelines to regulate which cases ought to be tried at assizes rather than quarter sessions: treason,murder,treason felony,rape,perjury,assault with intent to murder,party processions, electionriots, and all offences of apolitical orinsurrectionary character.[6]
Quarter Sessions were abolished in theIrish Free State under theCourts of Justice Act 1924.[7] Their jurisdiction (together with that of the assizes and the county courts) was largely transferred to theCircuit Court.
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 eachcounty on the first Tuesday of March, May and August, and the last Tuesday of October.[5] Often quarter sessions were delayed, in which case they met as general sessions.[8] Quarter sessions were abolished alongside other local courts by theDistrict Courts (Scotland) Act 1975, which moved justices of the peace to sit in a uniform series ofdistrict courts, since replaced byjustice of the peace courts.
Courts of quarter sessions also existed in North American colonies and were sometimes known ascourts 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 countylegislative bodies in some jurisdictions.
InPennsylvania, the courts of general sessions continued until theconstitution of that Commonwealth was rewritten in 1968 and the courts' jurisdiction was placed under the pre-existingcourts of common pleas in each county.
InNew 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 exceptNew York County (nowManhattan). In New York County, the Court of General Sessions continued until 1962 when its scope devolved to theNew 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 theNew 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.[9]
In theNorthwest Territory, GovernorArthur St. Clair modeled county government on that of Pennsylvania. In each county, a court of quarter sessions of the peace, composed of three or morejustices of the peace, served as the administrative and fiscal board of the county. In 1804, afterOhio became a state, the courts of quarter sessions of the peace were replaced by boards of county commissioners.[10]
