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During
the Middle Ages a complex system of courts developed to deal with both
civil and criminal law cases. By the nineteenth century courts exercising
criminal jurisdiction could be considered under three headings,
Magistrates’ Courts, Assize Courts, and the Court of King’s (or
Queen’s) Bench. Magistrates’
Courts Quarter
Sessions At
the beginning of the nineteenth century individual justices of the peace
frequently tried summary offences (those not needing to be heard before a
jury), in their own home. Many of the country houses of the gentry
contained a justice room’ for this purpose. This practice became less
common by the 1830's and was
abolished by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848. From then on all summary
trials had to take place at formally constituted Petty Sessions, before at
least two magistrates. These Petty Sessional courts existed back in the
eighteenth century but were rather casual affairs. An
Act of 1828 had tightened up procedures and carefully defined Petty
Sessional divisions within counties. Neither formal nor informal types of
court involved the hearing of indictable offence, i.e. those requiring to
be heard before a jury. The
principal court of the magistrates was Quarter Sessions, held in each
county town, and known as the Epiphany, Lent (or Easter), Summer and
Michaelmas Sessions. Pressure
of business could lead to extra or special Quarter Sessions being called.
These courts were held before a bench of county justices, with a jury.
Many boroughs, by their charters, also ran their own Borough Sessions,
before magistrates appointed by the corporation. Bedford
had its own borough court. These borough Quarter Sessions also tried
indictable offences. Assize
Courts Professional
judges travelled on a circuit, covering a number of counties to deal with
criminal cases assigned to them by the bench of county or borough
justices. Usually these were the more serious cases, including capital
offences. Before 1842 the line between Assize and Quarter Sessions cases
was rather blurred; an Act of that year consigned all capital offences and
those with life imprisonment for the first offence to the Assizes. Cases
were heard before a single judge and a jury. Circuit boundaries changed
over the years but during the period under review Bedfordshire was part of
the Norfolk Circuit, which also embraced Bucks., Hunts., Cambs., Suffolk
and Norfolk itself. Usually the Assize court was held in the county town,
twice a year, the Spring or Lent and the Summer Assize. London was a
special case, and in 1834 the Central Criminal Court, popularly called the
Old Bailey, was set up for the metropolitan area of Greater London; it was
an Assize Court. King’s
(Queen’s) Bench In
origin this was the king’s personal court, with a variety of functions
connected with protecting the interests of the Crown. Cases could be
referred to it where it was believed that a fair hearing in a particular
locality was impossible. It
was also a court of review for magistrates, who could ask it to rule on
points of law. Judges at the Assizes normally consulted their colleagues
on points of law but, in 1848, the Court for Crown Cases Reserved was set
up for this. During the nineteenth century there was no appeals procedure
or court of appeals. A convicted criminal’s only hope was the Royal
Pardon, in practice delegated to the Home Secretary. Finally, in 1907, the
Court of Criminal Appeal was established. The
system described above was radically altered in 1971—2. Now
magistrates’ courts deal with minor offences summarily and also make the
preliminary inquiry for indictable offences which are then passed on for
trial at the Crown Court. This has replaced the old Assizes and cases can
be heard either before a High Court judge, if serious, or before circuit
judges, either on their own or with magistrates. Civil
law courts are not dealt with here but it should be noted that the assizes
also had civil jurisdiction and the magistrates dealt with a vast amount
of administrative work. However, most civil cases, i.e. disputes of a
non-criminal nature between subjects, or between subjects and the state,
were dealt with in a whole host of courts.
An excellent brief survey of the English law courts appears
in an appendix at the end of R.K. Webb, ‘Modern England from the 18th
Century to the Present’, Allen & Unwin (1980). Please note also that
the system described applies to England and Wales; Scotland had, and still
has, a very different legal system. |
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