Source document description
Hertford County Records, Notes and Extracts from the Session Rolls, Volume 2, Part A
Period covered: from 1699 to 1790
World location: UK & Ireland
Country location(s): England
'Region' and/or city location(s): Hertfordshire
Town/locale:
The Sessions Rolls record the business of the Courts of Quarter Sessions. The Courts of Quarter Sessions were periodic courts held in each county and county borough in England and Wales until 1972. The name derives from the fact that they were held at least four times a year.
They dealt with crimes which could not be tried by a Justice of the Peace in petty sessions, and so were sent up by the process of indictment to be heard in Quarter Sessions. The Quarter Sessions did not however hear more serious crimes, such as those which could be punished by capital punishment or life imprisonment - those were sent for trial at the periodic Assizes. However they did deal with crimes that could be punished by whipping or transportation and there are a number of orders for whipping or transporation of criminals to be found in this volume. Being burnt in the hand was another punishment that was meted out for theft on a few occasions.
As the title indicates, this volume is not a transcript of the whole of the sessions records from this period but only summaries and extracts of a representative sample.
Until 1888 the Quarter sessions also had an important administrative functions for the county including:
Repair of roads and bridges
Construction and maintenance of county buildings
Administration of the county gaol
Supervision of petty sessions
Licensing of public houses
Supervision of the Poor Law (pre-1834)
The county militia
The police
Setting county rates
Included in this volume is a list of all the copyholders and freeholders having an estate worth £10 per annum or more, compiled in September-October 1699, grouped under each parish.
Merchant: Genhound
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