Definitions for "Quarter Sessions"
a local court with criminal jurisdiction and sometimes administrative functions
the main judicial and administrative bodies of the English and Welsh counties from the 16th century onwards. Their administrative function was replaced by county councils, established in 1889, but their judicial function was not abolished until 1971. Members of Quarter Sessions courts were known as justices of the peace. Quarter Sessions typically met four times a year. There were separate Quarter Sessions courts for boroughs. The principal Quarter Sessions archives relate to criminal cases, but there are administrative papers too. The archives reflect the wealth of human experience from birth to death: for example apprenticeship, work, poverty, transport, land use, religion, and all sorts of misdemeanours are among the subjects which they cover.
See Sessions.