A GUIDE TO THE PRACTICE OF THE COURTS OF General Quarter Sessions of the Peace In ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. Brief Observations on the Constitution of the Courts of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. THE Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace must be held in all counties once in every quarter of a year, before two or more Justices of the Peace, one of them of the quorum. The jurisdiction of this Court by Stat. 34, Edw. III. c. 1, extends to the trying and determining all felonies and trespasses whatsoever, though they are accustomed to try' such felonies only as are within the benefit of Clergy, or brought so within Clergy, by the prayer of the culprit for the benefit of the statute; the commission of the peace providing that if any case of difficulty arise, the Justices shall not proceed to judgment, but in the presence of one of the Justices of the Courts of King's Bench, or Common Pleas, or one of the Judges of Assize. And therefore murders, and other capital felonies, are usually remitted for a more solemn trial to the assizes. By 2 Hen. V. Stat. 1, c. 4, the Sessions are to be held in the first week after Michaelmas, Epiphany, Easter, and the Translation of St. Thomas the Martyr (called Becket) and oftener if need be. But by the 54 Geo. III. c. 84, the time for holding the Michaelmas Session is altered to the first week after the eleventh day of October. B If the feast-day happen on Sunday, the Sessions will be held in the week following; as, if the eleventh day of October should be on Sunday, the Sessions will not be held earlier than on Monday the nineteenth. By the Stat. 14, Hen. VI. c. 4, the Justices of Middlesex are not obliged to keep Sessions above twice in the year; but they may oftener if they think fit. And now, on account of the increased population of that county, it is customary to hold eight Sessions every year (to wit), four General Quarter and four General Sessions. And in Middlesex the Justices have a Commission of Oyer and Terminer, which Sessions they hold as often as they hold the Sessions of the Peace. -Cro. Cir. Within the county of Middlesex, is the city, borough, and town of Westminster; which city hath a distinct Commission of the Peace, by virtue whereof the Justices of that liberty, &c. hold four Quarter Sessions of the Peace every year; and also have power, by their Commission, to take cognizance of offences committed in the precinct of St. Martin le Grand, London, and twice in every year adjourn the Sessions of the city and liberty of Westminster to the court house of the said precinct of St. Martin le Grand.—Ibid. At both the last-mentioned Sessions, indictments are preferred for felonies, burglaries, &c. which, when returned by the grand jury into Court, are, by the respective Clerks of the Peace, transmitted to the Sessions House, in the Old Bailey, where the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer, and General Goal Delivery of Newgate, for the city of London, and county of Middlesex, are also holden eight times in the year (to wit), in the same weeks in which the Sessions are held at the New Sessions House.-Ibid. Although the city and liberty of Westminster has a separate Commission of the Peace from that of the county of Middlesex, yet indictments for offences committed within the said city and liberty (except the precinct of St. Martin le Grand, London,) are within the cognizance of the Sessions of the Peace of the county of Middlesex; and it is much better to prefer indictments at the County Sessions, for misdemeanors committed in the liberty of Westminster, than at the Sessions ' for that liberty, inasmuch as there are eight Sessions yearly for the said county, and but four for the liberty; consequently an indictment may be tried and determined in half the time at the Session for the county that it can at the liberty. -Ibid. If a party is bound by recognizance to prefer a bill of indictment, and prosecute for an offence, at the next Sessions of the Peace, to be holden for the city and liberty of Westminster, and the party so bound prefers a bill for the same offence at the Sessions for Middlesex, it is the same as if he had preferred his bill at the Sessions for the liberty, and his recognizance shall be safe; for the Clerks of the Peace, as well for the said county as the said liberty, do yearly, before they send the estreats into the Exchequer, compare their books of forfeited recognizances; and if it appear that a party bound to prosecute at Westminster hath prosecuted at the Sessions for Middlesex, his recognizance will not be estreated.-Ibid. In most corporation towns there are Quarter Sessions kept before Justices of their own, within their respective limits; which have exactly the same authority as the General Quarter Sessions of the county, except in a few particulars; one of the most considerable of which is in matters of appeals from orders of removal of the poor, which, though they be from the orders of Corporation Justices, must be to the Sessions of the county, by Stat. 8 and 9, Will. III. c. 30. With regard to Appeals against Rates and Assessments to the Poor, the Stat. 17, Geo. II. c. 38, provides, amongst other things, that in all corporations or franchises which have not four Justices of the Peace, persons aggrieved may appeal to the next General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the county, riding, or division, wherein such corporation or franchise is situate. This privilege is varied by a recent Stat. 1, Geo. IV. c. 36, by giving the appeal only in such cases where corporations and franchises have not more than six Justices of the Peace, nor having jurisdiction or authority over two or more whole parishes or wards within the same. The Office of Town Clerk for corporate towns and counties of towns is similar to that of Clerk of the Peace for counties. CHAPTER II. The Mode of bringing an Accomplice before the Grand Jury and Court to give Evidence for the Crown. WITH a view to frustrate the perpetration of crime by gangs of depredators, the English Courts of Law have adopted |