Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

s, held for each

petty sessional division A petty sessional division was, in England and Wales, the area that a magistrates' court had jurisdiction over (before the abolition of quarter sessions, specifically the petty sessions). Petty sessional divisions were gradually consolidated in ...

(usually based on the county divisions known as

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

s) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The session's work dealt with matters such as minor theft and larceny, assault, drunkenness, bastardy examinations, arbitration and deciding whether to refer a case to the

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 ...

s. From 1872 the courts of petty sessions were also responsible for approving licences to sell alcohol in alehouses and public houses. They were also later established in British colonies, including Australia. They were abolished in New South Wales on 31 December 1984. Following the abolition of the courts of quarter sessions, which were also presided over by magistrates, the courts of petty sessions gradually became synonymous with "magistrates' courts", a term which had previously been used to refer to both the petty and quarter sessions. Magistrates' courts continued to be assigned to "petty sessional divisions" until these were renamed to

local justice area Local justice areas are units in England and Wales established by the Courts Act 2003, replacing and directly based on the previous petty sessional divisions. They have been in existence since 2005. Local justice areas are used to determine which ...

s by section 8 of the

Courts Act 2003 The Courts Act 2003 (c.39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom implementing many of the recommendations in Sir Robin Auld's (a Court of Appeal judgeReview of the Criminal Courtsin England and Wales (also known as the "Auld Review ...

. Section 30 of the same act also abolished the concept of distinct "petty-sessional court-houses".

References

{{UK-law-stub

See also

References