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quarter sessions

 - 3 dictionary results

quarter sessions

 
Use quarter sessions in a Sentence
–noun Law.
1. an English court of general criminal jurisdiction for crimes less than homicide, held quarterly.
2. (in the U.S.) a court with limited criminal jurisdiction, having local administrative powers in some states.
Origin:
1570–80
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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quarter sessions  
pl.n.  

  1. A British local court of limited jurisdiction that sits quarterly.

  2. A local court in the United States with criminal jurisdiction and sometimes administrative functions.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

quarter sessions

formerly, in England and Wales, sessions of a court held four times a year by a justice of the peace to hear criminal charges as well as civil and criminal appeals. The term also applied to a court held before a recorder, or judge, in a borough having a quarter sessions separate from that of the county in which the borough was situated. Under the Courts Act of 1971, all of the quarter-sessions courts were abolished, and their work was assumed by a system of courts called the Crown Court.

Learn more about quarter sessions with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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