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Historically, the Courts of Quarter Sessions, or Quarter Sessions, were periodic courts held in each county and county borough in England and Wales until 1972, when together with the Assizes courts they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court of England and Wales. The Quarter Sessions derive their name from the fact that they were required by a statute of 1388 to be held at least four times a year. These were later settled as Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer and Michaelmas sessions.The Quarter Sessions generally heard crimes which 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 in each county was made up of two or more Justices of the Peace, presided over by a Chairman, who sat with a juryIn the law, a jury is a body of persons convened to render a verdict, or true answer or decision, on a question officially submitted to them, as on the question of a defendant's guilt in a jury trial in a court of law. The members of a jury are known as j. In county boroughs which were entitled to have their own Quarter Sessions, there was a single RecorderThis article is about the musical instrument, not about devices for recording sound, visual, and other information; for the latter, see tape recorder, video cassette recorder, flight data recorder ("black box"), camcorder. The recorder is a flute-like woo instead of a bench of justices.
The Quarter Sessions did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes, most notably those which could be punished by capital punishmentCapital punishment also referred to as the death penalty is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offence or a capital crime''. Some jurisdictions that practice capital punishment restri or later life imprisonmentLife imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. The effect of such a sentence varies between jurisdictions. Life imprisonment is regarded by many as a humane alternative to the death penalty for the most serious crimes.. These crimes were sent for trial at the periodic Assizes.
The Quarter Sessions also had some limited civil jurisdiciton, and before the establishment of county councilIn the British Isles, a county council is a council that governs a county. The first county councils were introduced in the late 19th century in England and Wales, and this system was soon extended to Scotland and the island of Ireland. The areas they covs in 1889Events January-April January 8 Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine January 22 Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, DC. February 11 Meiji Constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890 January 30 ? Crown, they also had an important administrative function in their respective counties.
In some counties there were multiple Quarter Sessions, quite apart from the urban areas : for example, YorkshireThis article is about the English county. For other uses, see Yorkshire (disambiguation). traditional county. White Yorkshire rose. Yorkshire is the largest traditional county of England, covering some 6,000 sq. 15,000 kmē) with a population of some five had its North Riding, West Riding of Yorkshire, and East Riding of Yorkshire; whilst Northamptonshire's Soke of Peterborough was administered separately. These divisions were carried on to the administrative counties that county councils covered.
