Source document description
Hertfordshire County Records Volume 4: Notes and Extracts from the Sessions Records of the Liberty of St Albans Division, Part B
Period covered: from 1800 to 1840
World location: UK & Ireland
Country location(s): England
'Region' and/or city location(s): Hertfordshire
Town/locale: Liberty of St Albans
The session records consist of Sessions Rolls, Minute Books, Order Books and a few miscellenous volumes.
The Liberty of St Albans was originally the part of Hertfordshire owned by the Abbot of St Albans, over which he had jurisdiction. The area of the Abbot's jurisdiction comprised the south-westerly part of the county of Hertfordshire.
On the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the Liberty of St Albans continued to be a seperate jurisdiction to the county of Hertfordshire until they were merged in 1874.
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or 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 later 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 (with their names and their crimes) to be found in this volume.
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
Timing of sessions:
Midsummer - mid July - Mid August
Michaelmas - beginning of October
Epiphany - beginning of January
Easter - end of April
Merchant: Genhound
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