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Concept
Court of quarter sessions
Summary
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. These courts also became 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 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.
In 1972, all quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales with the commencement of the Courts Act 1971, which 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.
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.
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.
Official source
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