abuse, as it is never exercised in any other cases than such as present no particular circumstances of atrocity, and which, had they been carried to the assizes, and even received sentence there, according to the letter of the law, of capital punishment, would still have been the objects of a certain degree of clemency, and would only have incurred the same punishment which is assigned to them at the quarter sessions, viz. that of imprisonment, or transportation. The general quarter-sessions are among the number of grand tribunals of England: they are what the English term, Courts of Record, that is to say, courts which keep registers, wherein all their proceedings are entered. The Sheriff is obliged to assist at them, the same as at the assizes, either in person or by deputy; coroners, constables, bailiffs, and all the rest of the officers, whose functions I shall hereafter have occasion to explain, are also obliged to attend: the bar is filled with lawyers, who are either occupied with pleading against, or defending the accused, or are employed by the parish-officers to conduct the disputes, which are so perpetually occurring among themselves, relative to the poor; so that these assemblages present the same appearance and the same dignity as the courts of the assizes themselves; and they are indeed, in many respects, of nearly as much importance. I shall not describe in this place, the manner in which those juries are chosen and convoked, which are required to serve at the general quarter sessions; for as they are called together on the summons of the justices of peace, exactly with the same forms as are used by the Judges at the assizes, I thought it best to place the details respecting them in the chapter wherein I treat of the Courts of the Assizes. These quarter sessions are often held in different places at the same time, in the same county; because it frequently happens, that by virtue of particular statutes there are certain towns or districts, which have the privilege of having their own justices of peace, and which hold their own sessions at the same time with those of the county. These magistrates are almost always merchants; they are called aldermen, a title similar to that of our ancient échevins. As the multiplicity of their occupations does not leave them sufficient leisure to study the criminal laws, they have almost always a magistrate, whom they call the Recorder, to preside over them at the quarter sessions, and who is generally chosen by the town, or by the aldermen in the name of the town, from the most celebrated lawyers, who may be resident in the county. This office is no impediment to his exercising his profession at the assizes, or at any other of the quarter sessions. Most of the principal towns in England, such as London,' York, Lancaster, enjoy this prerogative. Sometimes also a county, for instance, that of York, is divided into several parts, in each of which the justices of peace hold separate quarter sessions. Those sessions commonly last from one or two days to ten; and when this time is not sufficient to settle all the business which they have to get through, as is very often the case, the justices of peace adjourn the sessions to a future day, and often to another place in order to avoid the removal of witnesses, and to diminish the expenses, always great, of criminal prosecutions; expenses which each county defrays for itself. In consequence of these adjournments the number of quarter sessions is often exceedingly multiplied in a county. In Yorkshire for instance they amount to 58, and in Lancashire to 16, according to the table which I subjoin. When the sessions are 'The Recorder of London is a person of much importance. He has a very considerable salary, and does not practice his professional employments in any other way. He has an officer, who is called the common serjeant, under him, to assist him in his official duties; these two officers are chosen by the alder men. 2 The county of York consists of three grand divisions, which are called ridings, and of which the names are distinguished by their geographical situation: one is called the North Riding, another the West Riding, and the third the East Riding. The January quarter sessions are held for the West Riding, first at Wetherby, then by a first adjournmentat Wakefield, and by a second, at Doncaster; those of the North Riding are held at Northallerton, and have no adjourn→ ment; and those of the East Riding are held at Beverley, and are also without adjournment. The quarter sessions in April are held, those of the West Riding, without adjournment, at Pontefract; those of the North Riding, without adjournment, at Northallerton; those of the East Riding, also without adjournment, at Beverley. The quarter sessions of July are held, those of the West Riding at Skipton, then by a first adjournment to Bradford, and by a second at Rotherham; those of the North Riding without adjournment, at Northallerton; those of the East Riding likewise without adjournment at Beverley. The quarter sessions of October are held, those of the West Riding at Knaresborough, then by a first adjournment at Leeds, and by a second at Sheffield; those of the North Riding, without adjournment, at Northallerton, and those of the East Riding, also without adjournment, at Beverley. This makes in all eighteen general and quarter sessions; to which must be added the quarter sessions which are held in each of the following towns, by their own magistrates, according to their own peculiar charters, to wit, Leeds Pontefract Doncaster York Richmond Hull Ripon Beverley finished the justices of peace are occupied with filling up appointments which are laid before them for overseers, church-wardens, &c.; at this time also they settle among themselves the proportionate sums which ought to be levied throughout the county for its necessary expenses, and which they afterwards deal out to the different parishes, according to the amount of their revenues and respective products, which is laid before them by the. church-wardens. All those functions, in short, which in France are entrusted to our juges d'instruction, devolve in England upon the justices of peace. When an offence is committed the person injured makes a complaint to the justice of peace, who, after having received his deposition on oath, makes out an order called a warrant, which he gives to the constable, an officer who bears some affinity to our commissaries of the police, by which he is enjoined to secure the person of the offender, and to seize any papers belonging to him that may tend to a discovery of his guilt. By virtue of this order the constable' proceeds to the residence, The eighteen general quarter sessions each require forty-eight jurors, that is to say 864 The forty sessions of corporations, each at least twenty-four, which make 960 The two criminal assizes, each forty-eight, which make 96 120 60 2,100 Total of jurors requisite for each year Without reckoning grand jurors, which merely for the eighteen general quarter sessions, and the two criminal assizes, mount up to 460, at the rate of 23 each session. There are only sixteen sessions in the Duchy of Lancaster, that is to say, four at Lancaster, which are each successively adjourned to Preston, Manchester and Liverpool; these require 48 jurors for each of the 16 sessions 48 for each of the two criminal assizes 60 for each of the two civil assizes 30 special jurors for each assize Without counting about 404 grand jurors. Total 768 96 120 60 1,044 In cities, or large towns, the situation of constable has a salary annexed to it, and it is generally given to persons in an inferior rank of life; it is not an uncommon thing to see these constables carry on other employments at the same time, such as retail trades; but, in smaller towns, and in villages, every person is obliged to serve the office of constable in rotation, and receives his nomination from the sheriff. The constables are under the direction of a high constable, one of whom is assigned to each of the three or four particular districts into which the of the party accused, arrests him, if he can possess himself of his person, and brings him along with the complainant and the witnesses before the magistrate, who at first receives their testimony entirely alone, and according to the circumstances of the case, he either sets the accused at 'iberty, or commits him to prison. The proceedings are then put off to some future day, at no very distant period; and at the time appointed the witnesses and the complainant, accompanied by his attorney,' appear before the justice of peace; the accused is likewise brought into his presence, and provides himself with the assistance of an attorney, if he have the means of doing it; the justice of peace puts down in writing the confession of the prisoner, as well as the declarations of the witnesses and the complainant, exactly as they arise from their own depositions, or may be elicited by the questions which are put to them, either by the attorney of the complainant, or by the attorney of the party accused. In London these proceedings are carried on in a hall, which is open to the public; in Westminster by the magistrates, and in the City by the aldermen; and I have reason to believe that it is the same in the country, although I have not had an opportunity of attending them there, as I did in London. After considering the evidence laid before him, the justice of peace, according to the nature of the crime and the importance of the accusations, either suffers the prisoner to be set at large, lets him go upon condition of giving security, or grants a new warrant against him, and sends him to the county gaol, leaving the examinations in the hands of the constable, or of the complainant himself. He afterwards determines, according to the nature of the business, to what court it shall be finally referred, whether to the assizes or the quarter sessions, and binds over the complainant and the witnesses, in recognisances, which are generally of about forty pounds sterling, by which they are obliged to pay that sum to the King, if at the next assizes, or the next sessions, they do not appear, the one to prosecute the prisoner, the others to give evidence relative to the facts which come within their knowledge. These recognisances, as well as the evidence, are afterwards sent to the register of the assizes or the quarter sessions, and the payment of the sum therein mentioned is rigorously enforced, whenever there is occasion to exact it. 2 respective counties may be divided; this officer, who has always a salary, is 'likewise entrusted with the receipts of the fines and taxes belonging to the county. He is nominated by the justices of the peace. The office of an attorney resembles that of our avoué. The following is the form of these recognisances: Westmoreland. Be it remembered that on the day of in the year of the reign of A. I. of in the said county, yeoman, per If the accused believe that there is no proof of guilt against him, he may, by virtue of the law of habeas corpus, petition the Court of King's Bench, who will take cognisance of the proceeding, and will either order him to be set at liberty, or to be retained in prison, accordingly as the circumstances of the case may warrant. These petitions, however, are excessively rare: it is difficult to bring forward even a few instances of them, such is the extreme precaution which the justices of the peace observe, in not giving ear to any complaints, but what are founded on the strongest evidence. The progress of these informations, as I have described them, will appear very inferior to ours, which may perhaps be reproached with using too much haste in endeavouring to convict the accused. The statements relative to the situation of the premises, the violence committed, or the personal injuries inflicted, are not drawn up by any public officer; these details, when they are necessary to the establishment of facts, must, like all the rest, be made to appear in the course of the examinations, simply on the deposition of the witnesses. Scarcely any questions are put to the accused. He is asked to give an account of his conduct; he complies as far as he deems it advisable, and the judge does not feel himself called upon to point out to him any contradictions that he may fall into, either in his own statements, or respecting those of the witnesses. No explanation is required from him on the charges which are brought forward against him, in the course of the evidence; he endeavours to do them away, if he thinks he can succeed, if not he keeps silence. All the questions which in France are put to the accused with so much patience, address, and in general, with so much success, are in England, not only entirely sonally came before me, A. B. doctor of laws, one of the justices of our said lord the king, assigned to keep the peace in the said county, and acknowledged himself to owe to our said lord the king, the sum of of good and lawful money of Great Britain, to be made and levied on his goods and chattels, lands and tenements, to the use of our said lord the king, his heirs and successors, if he the said A. I. shall fail in the condition indorsed. A. C. The condition of the within-written recognisance is such, that whereas one A. O. late of was this present day brought before the justice within-named by the within bounden A. I. and was by him charged with the felonious taking and carrying away of the goods of him the said A. I., and thereupon was committed by the said justice to the common gaol in and for the said county; if therefore he the said A. J. shall and do at the next general quarter sessions of the peace (or gaol delivery) to be holden in and for the said county, prefer or cause to be preferred, one bill of indictment of the said felony against the said A. O. and shall then also give evidence there concerning the same, as well to the jurors, that shall then inquire of the said felony, as also to them that shall pass upon the trial of the said A. O., that then the said recognisances to be void, or else to stand in full force for the king. |