The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws 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 the seat of each county and county borough, and in numerous non-county boroughs 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]
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.
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 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. Occasionally, county court or High Court judges accepted appointment, as it was a part-time one.[3]:122
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.[3]:121
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.[3]:121
Civil
The courts of quarter sessions, throughout, had a narrow civil jurisdiction; however, until the Local Government Act 1888 created elected county councils, they also provided or authorised much major infrastructure and services that needed to span more than one vestry 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 to county councils when they were established in 1888.
The county militia, particularly per the Militia Act 1802 to contribute to an Old Militia to number, that year, 51,489 men in England and Wales and at times a "Supplementary Militia" of half as many again which could be raised with parliamentary approval.
Managing their finances mainly by setting county rates (see Rates in the United Kingdom), also borrowing and repaying when and how the law permitted such as against the security of a toll bridge.
Organisation
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.[3]:121
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.
Under the Justices of the Peace Act 1949, the non-county boroughs of then fewer than 20,000 residents lost their own quarter sessions on 1 October 1951.[4]
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 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 the Mayor of Montreal replaced the quarter sessions chairman and that of the court by Montreal City Council.
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)
Quarter sessions were established in Scotland by an act of the Parliament of Scotland, the Justices of the Peace Act 1661 (c. 338), 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.[5] Often quarter sessions were delayed, in which case they met as general sessions.[8] Quarter sessions were abolished alongside other local courts by the District Courts (Scotland) Act 1975 (c. 20), which moved justices of the peace to sit in a uniform series of district courts, since replaced by justice of the peace courts.
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, these 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 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.[9]
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.[10]
McEldowney, John F; O'Higgins, Paul (1990). The common law tradition: essays in Irish legal history. Irish Academic Press. p.133. ISBN978-0-7165-2397-0.
Whitaker, Joseph (1968). Whitaker's Almanack (100thed.). London: J Whitaker & Sons Ltd.
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