Middlesex Quarter Sessions of the Peace

Since 1361 the Justices of the Peace met in their court of Quarter Sessions to try offences, and also, from the mid Sixteenth Century to deal with county administration. It was from this latter date with the increase in their workload that Justices began to do some of their business (minor legal and specific administrative tasks) outside of the formal sessions, either singly or in small groups.

Occasionally the practice was ordered by government - for example an Act of 1541 ordered Justices of the Peace to meet six weeks before a Session of the Peace in divisions in the county to inquire about vagabonds and related matters. In 1605 a Council order required Justices, again in their county divisions, to meet once (from 1631, monthly) between General Sessions of the Peace to inquire into the enforcement of those statutes regarding labourers, alehouses, rogues and the Assize of Bread.

Over the next century meetings outside of sessions became more regular, and more matters were dealt with there which had previously been heard at full sessions. They were often carried out at the magistrates' own homes, sometimes at special session meetings in a local court house, tavern or other meeting place. Because of the workload for Justices in Middlesex such meetings outside of the main sessions occurred from a very early date in that County. There are references to divisional meetings and special sessions (for example rating, licensing, highway repairs) in the sessions' registers (see MJ/SB/R) which survive from 1608 - the first mention is a meeting at a sessions held in Uxbridge in 1556; and a series of minutes between 1651 - 1714 taken at monthly meetings of Justices in Brentford Division.

An order made by the Middlesex Quarter Sessions in 1705 that the "petty sessions" for the several divisions of the county should be held "at the known and usual place" indicates that their existence must have been well recognised by then. The divisional arrangement in the County was based to a large extent upon the old administrative area known as a 'hundred'. Ossulston was the largest, densely populated and further divided into several smaller parts from at least the 1680s - Holborn Division and Finsbury Division within it remained as petty sessional divisions until the late Twentieth Century. From 1828 all courts of Quarter Sessions were able to create districts or divisions specifically for petty sessions, either new areas or formalising any earlier informal divisions.

It was not only routine administration which was dealt with at these meetings, but some of the judicial procedure which needed carrying out pre-trial. Magistrates would examine alleged offenders and witnesses, take sworn statements (depositions), issue warrants for arrest or summonses to appear at court, bind over individuals to appear, and commit the accused to gaol to await trial or further investigation. Increasingly, they went further and began to sit without a jury to dispense immediate summary justice - either alone, or as a group of two or more known as the 'petty sessions'. They were, of course, hearing very minor cases such as those involving common assault, drunkenness, apprenticeship disputes, byelaw infringement, and (from 1664, MR/R/C) attendance at illegal religious assemblies. The punishment they gave here was binding over with a recognizance to keep the peace; committal to prison for a short time (with a discharge before a main trial at the sessions started); or arbitration between the parties concerned to reach a settlement.

Offences which required a jury trial would still be heard at Quarter Sessions or the Assizes (Gaol Delivery Sessions at the Old Bailey), but petty sessions avoided the expense and hassle of a full trial for what were literally petty cases.