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Assize
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction, though most of their work was on the criminal side. The assizes heard the most serious cases, which were committed to it by the quarter sessions (local county courts held four times per year), while the more minor offences were dealt with summarily by justices of the peace in petty sessions (also known as magistrates' courts). The word ''assize'' refers to the sittings or sessions (Old French ''assises'') of the judges, known as "justices of assize", who were judges who travelled across the seven circuits of England and Wales on commissions of "oyer and terminer", setting up court and summoning juries at the various assize towns. Etymology Middle English < |
Assize Of Clarendon
The Assize of Clarendon was an act of Henry II of England in 1166 that began a transformation of English law and led to trial by jury in common law countries worldwide, and that established assize courts. Prior systems for deciding the winning party in a case, especially felonies, included trial by ordeal, trial by battle, or trial by compurgation (trial by oath), in which evidence, inspection, and inquiry was made under oath by laymen, knights or ordinary freemen. After the Assize of Clarendon trial by jury developed, though some historians say beginnings of the jury system predate this act. The Assize of Clarendon did not lead to this change immediately; recourse to trial by combat was not officially rescinded until 1819, though by then it had fallen out of use. The assize takes its name from Clarendon Palace, Wiltshire, the royal hunting lodge at which it was promulgated. Problems addressed by the assize In 1154, Henry II inherited the throne of a troubled England. In f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quarter Session
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in Scotland, Ireland and in various other dominions of the British Empire. Quarter sessions generally sat in the seat of each county and county borough, and in numerous non-county boroughs (mainly, but not exclusively, ancient boroughs), which were entitled to hold their own quarter sessions''Whitaker's Almanack'' 1968, pp 465-6. (see below), although some of the smaller boroughs lost their own quarter sessions in 1951 (see below). All quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales in 1972, when the Courts Act 1971 replaced them and the assizes with a single permanent Crown Court. In Scotland, they survived until 1975, when they were abolished and replaced by district courts and later by justice of the peace courts. The quarter sessi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nisi Prius
''Nisi prius'' () (Latin: "unless before") is a historical term in English law. In the 19th century, it came to be used to denote generally all legal actions tried before judges of the King's Bench Division and in the early twentieth century for actions tried at assize by a judge given a commission.Curzon (2002) Used in that way, the term has had no currency since the abolition of assizes in 1971. Courts Act 1971 Trial at ''nisi prius'' Before the reforms of the Judicature Act 1873, civil cases at common law were begun in one of the three courts that sat in Westminster Hall: the Court of Common Pleas, Court of Exchequer and King's Bench. Because of their historical origins, these courts were to some extent in competition, especially as their respective judges and officers lived on the fees deriving from them. Given that travel to London was an onerous burden during the medieval period, however, the Statute of Westminster II provided in 1285 for trial of fact in civil cases at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crown Court
The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and Wales. The Crown Court sits in around 92 List of Crown Court venues in England and Wales, locations in England and Wales. The administration of the Crown Court is conducted by the Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). Previously conducted across six circuits (Midlands, Midland, Northern Circuit, Northern, North East England, North Eastern, South Eastern Circuit, South Eastern, Wales & Chester and Western Circuit, Western), HMCTS is now divided into seven regions; Midlands, North East, North West, South East, South West, London, and Wales. The Wales region was identified separately, having regard to the devolved legislative powers of the Welsh Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Courts Act 1971
The Courts Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the purpose of which was to reform and modernise the courts system of England and Wales. It established the Crown Court, introduced the posts of circuit judge and recorder, and abolished various local courts across the country. Many of its provisions have since been repealed by the Senior Courts Act 1981, but the essential structure described in the Act is still in place. The first part of the Act concerns the new Crown Court. It is established as part of the Supreme Court of Judicature, replacing courts of assize and quarter sessions. The appellate jurisdiction of these courts is transferred, and the new court given exclusive jurisdiction in "trial on indictment". It is described as a "superior court of record" for England and Wales. This section has now been superseded by the Senior Courts Act 1981. History ''Report of the Royal Commission on Assizes and Quarter Sessions'' (Sessional Papers, House of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry II Of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king of England. King Louis VII of France made him Duke of Normandy in 1150. Henry became Count of Anjou and Maine upon the death of his father, Count Geoffrey V, in 1151. His marriage in 1152 to Eleanor of Aquitaine, former spouse of Louis VII, made him Duke of Aquitaine. He became Count of Nantes by treaty in 1158. Before he was 40, he controlled England; large parts of Wales; the eastern half of Ireland; and the western half of France, an area that was later called the Angevin Empire. At various times, Henry also partially controlled Scotland and the Duchy of Brittany. Henry became politically involved by the age of 14 in the efforts of his mother Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England, to claim the English throne, then occupied b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high sheriff of each county. England and Wales Since 2014, England and Wales have had what is officially described as "a single civil court" named the County Court, with unlimited financial jurisdiction. However it should be understood that there are County Court buildings and courtrooms throughout England and Wales, not one single location. It is "a single civil court" in the sense of a single centrally organised and administered court ''system''. Before 2014 there were numerous separate county court systems, each with jurisdiction across England and Wales for enforcement of its orders, but each with a defined "county court district" from which it took claims. County court districts did not have the same boundaries as counties: the name wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oyer And Terminer
In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French ''oyer et terminer'', which literally means "to hear and to determine") was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the commission was also known by the Law Latin name ''audiendo et terminando'', and the Old English-derived term soc and sac. By the commission of oyer and terminer the commissioners (in practice the judges of assize, though other persons were named with them in the commission) were commanded to make diligent inquiry into all treasons, felonies and misdemeanours whatever committed in the counties specified in the commission, and to hear and determine the same according to law. The inquiry was by means of the grand jury; after the grand jury had found the bills of indictment submitted to it, the commissioners proceeded to hear and determine by means of the petit jury. The words ''oyer and terminer'' were also used to denote the court that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Court Of Common Pleas (England)
The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common Pleas served as one of the central English courts for around 600 years. Authorised by Magna Carta to sit in a fixed location, the Common Pleas sat in Westminster Hall for its entire existence, joined by the Exchequer of Pleas and Court of King's Bench. The court's jurisdiction was gradually undercut by the King's Bench and Exchequer of Pleas with legal fictions, the Bill of Middlesex and Writ of Quominus respectively. The Common Pleas maintained its exclusive jurisdiction over matters of real property until its dissolution, and due to its wide remit was considered by Sir Edward Coke to be the "lock and key of the common law". It was staffed by one Chief Justice and a varying number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Court Of King's Bench (England)
The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the '' curia regis'', the King's Bench initially followed the monarch on his travels. The King's Bench finally joined the Court of Common Pleas and Exchequer of Pleas in Westminster Hall in 1318, making its last travels in 1421. The King's Bench was merged into the High Court of Justice by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, after which point the King's Bench was a division within the High Court. The King's Bench was staffed by one Chief Justice (now the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales) and usually three Puisne Justices. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the King's Bench's jurisdiction and caseload was significantly challenged by the rise of the Court of Chancery and equitable doctrines as one of the two principal common law courts along with the Common Pleas. To recov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duchy Of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall ( kw, Duketh Kernow) is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of 'Duke of Cornwall' at birth or when his parent succeeds to the throne, but may not sell assets for personal benefit and has limited rights and income while a minor. The current duke is Prince William. When the monarch has no male children, the rights and responsibilities of the duchy revert to the Crown. The Duchy Council, called the Prince's Council, meets twice a year and is chaired by the duke. The Prince's Council is a non-executive body which provides advice to the duke with regard to the management of the duchy. The duchy also exercises certain legal rights and privileges across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, including some that elsewhere in England belong to the Crown. The duke appoints a number of officials in the county and acts as the port author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, with the River Tamar forming the border between them. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the South West Peninsula of the island of Great Britain. The southwesternmost point is Land's End and the southernmost Lizard Point. Cornwall has a population of and an area of . The county has been administered since 2009 by the unitary authority, Cornwall Council. The ceremonial county of Cornwall also includes the Isles of Scilly, which are administered separately. The administrative centre of Cornwall is Truro, its only city. Cornwall was formerly a Brythonic kingdom and subsequently a royal duchy. It is the cultural and ethnic origin of the Cornish dias ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
