11 Facts About Quarter sessions

All quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales in 1972, when the Courts Act 1971 replaced them and the assizes with a single permanent Crown Court.

Quarter sessions were named after the quarter days on which they met in England and Wales from 1388.

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.

Quarter sessions did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes, most notably those subject to capital punishment or later life imprisonment.

County boroughs and other boroughs entitled to their own quarter sessions had a single recorder instead of a bench of justices.

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Quarter sessions had some limited civil jurisdiction, and until the Local Government Act 1888 created elected county councils, had important administrative functions in their respective counties.

Quarter sessions were abolished alongside other local courts by the District Courts 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.

In Dublin city, which had no assizes, the quarter sessions court had cognizance of all crimes committed within the city's boundaries except treason.

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 .

Courts of quarter sessions existed in North American colonies and were sometimes known as courts of general sessions.

In Pennsylvania, the courts of general Quarter sessions 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.