The Courts of Quarter Sessions were the meetings of two or more
Justices of the Peace (JPs) to hear and determine criminal cases,
to remit capital offences (or other serious felonies) to the next
Assize Court, and to administer local government. The JPs met at
least four times each year (hence "quarter" sessions).
Huntingdonshire county, Huntingdon borough (until 1836) and the
Liberty [Soke] of Peterborough all had separate courts of Quarter
Sessions.
Their work was increasingly overshadowed by an administrative
burden, and in 1889 their administrative functions were transferred
to the newly created County Councils. Huntingdonshire and
Peterborough Quarter Sessions continued as separate judicial courts
until 1964, when a new Commission of the Peace was issued, creating
one court for both areas. This court was in turn abolished on 1,
January 1972 under the 1971 Courts Act, and its jurisdiction was
transferred to the Crown Court.
The majority of Soke [Liberty] of Peterborough Quarter Sessions
are held at Northamptonshire Record Office (the rolls for 1700-1710
form part of the Fitzwilliam Collection and a set of deposited
plans relating to canals, railways turnpike roads and other public
works held as 'Soke of Peterborough Deposited Plans'. This series
actually only contains one plan that was not also deposited with
the clerk of the peace for Northamptonshire (held within the
Northamptonshire Quarter Sessions at Northamptonshire Record
Office).
Available at:
- A catalogue for the Northamptonshire Quarter Sessions is
available via the Access to
Archives (A2A) database.
- A published version is available for consultation in the Local
Stidies and Archives Search Room entitled Catalogue of plans of
proposed canals, turnpikes, roads, railways and other public works,
1792-1960 complied by Philip Riden (2000).
- Burghley House also holds a series of records (1623-1689),
including constables' bills, writs, recognizances, summonses, and
names of jury. Reference: Drawer 35B (list Mar 1983).
- In relation to Huntingdon and Peterborough Quarter Sessions,
Huntingdon Record Office holds the Court proceedings for 1965-1971,
case files 1965-1971, and the Clerk's general files. Some of these
files cover the pre-1965 period. Liberty of Peterborough Quarter
Sessions papers inherited by this Court were transferred to
Northamptonshire Record Office in 1973.
Quarter Sessions records are public records as defined in the
Public Records Act 1958.
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