Mayor and Aldermen took more than a formal part in the proceedings, as in the celebrated trial of Elizabeth Canning for perjury in 1754, (a) when the Lord Mayor and Aldermen asked questions of the witnesses, and Willes, C.J., having proposed a sentence of transportation, an alderman moved that the sentence should be six months' imprisonment. The question being put to the vote, was decided in favour of transportation by a majority of one, the Lord Mayor, five judges, the Recorder, and two aldermen, voting for transportation, and eight aldermen against.

The Recorder, as representing the Lord Mayor, passed sentence on all the prisoners at the close of the sessions, but followed the minutes of the judges who had tried the cases. All capital convictions were reported to the King in Council by the Recorder in person, who, on receipt of the royal instructions, issued his warrant to the sheriffs to respite or execute the sentence. This practice was abolished by the Central Cri- | minal Court Act, 1837, 7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 77, which was passed on the Queen's accession, to relieve the Sovereign of an unpleasant duty by assimilating the practice to that at Assizes.

The Quarter and General Sessions for the city of London, and those for the county of Middlesex, were held eight times a year, the day before the Old Bailey Sessions. The City Sessions, consisting of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Recorder, only tried appeals and misdemeanors prosecuted for the enforcement of a civil right, felonies and misdemeanors in substance criminal being tried at the Old Bailey. The Middlesex Sessions tried the usual Quarter Sessions cases, besides finding the Middlesex indictments to be tried at the Old Bailey.

The Central Criminal Court Act, 1834, 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 36., which was one of Lord Brougham's legal reforms, provides, s. 1, that the Lord Mayor, the Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Judges of the King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, (b) the Dean of the Arches, the Aldermen of the City of London, the Recorder, the Common Serjeant, the Judges of the Sheriffs' Court, (c) ex-chancellors, exjudges, and others nominated by the Crown, "shall be and shall be taken to be the judges of a court to be called the Central Criminal Court."

Section 2 provides that the Crown may issue commissions of oyer and terminer to try all treasons, felonies, &c., committed in London, Middlesex, and the parishes of Essex, Kent, and Surrey therein mentioned, and commissions of gaol delivery to deliver the gaol of Newgate of prisoners charged with the said offences committed within the said district, and that it shall be lawful "for the Justices and Judges aforesaid of the Central Criminal Court aforesaid, or any two or more of them, to inquire of, hear and determine, &c.," offences committed in the said districts, under such commissions, and to

proceed under them until new commissions shall be issued. In Leverson v. Reg.,(a) where it appeared that the alderman sitting with Mr. Commissioner Kerr had left the bench during a trial, and had been replaced by another alderman, it was held that this was not ground of error, and that the above section empowering the judges, "or any two or more of them," to hear and determine, &c., did not make it necessary that two judges should be present in each court, these being the ordinary words in the commissions of oyer and terminer, and never having been held to require the presence of two judges in one court, although, apparently, it was necessary that there should be two Commissioners taking part in the execution of the commission. The same case also decided that there was power to divide the Court. It is, however, still usual for two Commissioners to sit in every case at the Central Criminal Court. In Reg. v. Justices of the Central Criminal Court, (b) it was held that the Central Criminal Court was a Superior Court, to which no mandamus would lie.

Provision was also made in the Act of 1834 for committing or transferring to Newgate prisoners committed for trial in the parts of Essex, Kent, and Surrey within the district. In or about 1880, after the passing of the Prisons Act, 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 21), for transferring local prisons to the Crown, Newgate ceased to be used as a prison except for the temporary detention of persons during trial, and prisoners under sentence of death. That Act empowered the Home Secretary to appoint prisons in which persons should be confined before trial, and the Central Criminal Court (Prisons) Act, 188!, 44 & 45 Vict. c. 64. s. 2, provided that any commission of gaol delivery issued under the Central Criminal Court Act, 1834, should, subject to any exceptions in such commission, extend to any prison so appointed. The present commissions are dated 17th December 1881.

The Central Criminal Court has also jurisdiction to try various offences committed outside the Central Criminal Court district. S. 15 of the Act of 1834 empowers it to try offences on the high seas; by the Central Criminal Court Act 1856, 19 & 20 Vict. c. 16.,(c) the Court of Queen's Bench may remove into the Central Criminal Court indictments for felony or mis demeanor committed beyond its jurisdiction, if "it appear to be expedient to the ends of justice"; and by 25 & 26 Vict. c. 65. the same Court may order any person subject to the Mutiny (now the Army) Act and accused of murder in England or Wales to be tried at the Central Criminal Court. The Winter Assizes Act, 1876, 39 & 40 Vict. c. 57., and the Spring Assizes Act, 1879, 42 Vict. c. 1., give power by order in Council to annex the neighbouring counties, or part of them, to the Central Criminal

(a) L.R. 4 Q. B. 394; 10 B. & S. 410. (b) 11 Q. B. D. 479.

(c) Known as "Palmer's Act," because passed to enable Palmer, the notorious poisoner, to be tried at the Central Criminal Court. See Reg. v. Palmer, 5 E. & B. 1024.

Court District for the purpose of the Winter or Spring Assizes. Lastly, indictments under the Corrupt Practices Act, 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51. s. 50, found in the High Court or removed there by certiorari, may be tried at the Central Criminal Court.

Sentences of death passed at the Central Criminal Court may, by 44 & 45 Vict. c. 64. s. 2 (5), be carried into execution in any prison in the Central Criminal Court district or the county where the offence was committed, which the Court may order, and if no order be made, in the prison in which the convict is for the time being confined, and the sentence is to be carried out by such sheriff as ordered by the Court; or, if there be no order, by the sheriff of the place where the crime was committed; or, if the offence was committed on the high seas, or the county does not clearly appear, by the Sheriff of Middlesex.

By s. 15 of the Act of 1834 the sessions of the Court are to be held twelve times at least in each year, and oftener if need be; and by 44 & 45 Vict. c. 68. four or more judges of the High Court are now empowered to fix the times.

At first there was only one Court, known as the Justice Hall, at the Old Bailey. A second, called the New Court, was added when the Sessions House was rebuilt in 1785. Formerly it was usual for the judges of the Superior Courts, three or two in number, to sit together in the Justice Hall or Old Court, and to try the cases in turn, (a) but, except in very important cases, this practice has been discontinued. The last instance was Reg. v. Gallagher and others (Treason Felony), (15 Cox C.Č. 291) in 1883, when Lord Coleridge, L.C.J., Brett, M.R., and Grove, J., sat together to try the case. The Recorder or Common Serjeant or Junior Judge of the Sheriffs' Court sat in the New Court, and they were also in the habit of sitting after dinner, but this practice has long been discontinued. (b)

(a) See above, pp. 723, 775.

(b) See" Arabiniana," London, 1843, printed for private circulation, a selection of cases decided between the years 1831 and 1839 by Serjeant Arabin, A.P. (ante prandium), and P.P. (post prandium). The reporter was H. B. Churchill, Barrister. There is a copy in the Inner Temple Library, and one in the British Museum. In Theodore Hook's novel, "Gilbert Gurney," the hero is invited by one of the Sheriffs to dine and hear sentences at the Old Bailey. The author describes, but in a vein of caricature, the proceedings at a trial about the year 1810; the dinners provided at the Sessions House, at three o'clock for the Judges sitting

In 1850 a third Court was added, and subsequently a fourth. There are now generally three, and sometimes four, Courts sitting during the attendance of the Judges. The Sessions usually begin on Monday. The Recorder and Common Serjeant sit every day. One or more of the Judges of the High Court attend on Wednesday and the following days, if necessary, to take the most serious cases.

Under the Local Government Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41., the new county of London has its own sheriff, s. 40 (2), and the appointment of the Sheriff of Middlesex is taken away from the Mayor, commoralty, and citizens of London, s. 46 (6), but they still elect the sheriff for the county of the city of London. By s. 89 (1) it is provided that the Central Criminal Court Act, 1834, shall be construed as if the county of London were throughout mentioned therein as well as the county of Middlesex, and (3) that, subject to the rules of the Supreme Court, the counties of London and Middlesex shall be deemed one county for the purpose of all civil and criminal proceedings, except proceedings at Quarter Sessions. (a)

Courts of Quarter Sessions within the Central Criminal Court District were restrained by s. 17 of the Act of 1834 from trying the large classes of crime therein specified, but this section was repealed by 14 & 15 Vict. c. 55. s. 13, since which time they have had the same jurisdiction as other Quarter Sessions. Under the Local Government Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41, there are separate Quarter Sessions for the county of Middlesex and the new county of London. As has been already stated, the city of London Sessions at the Guildhall do not exercise their criminal jurisdiction, and all city prisoners are tried at the Central Criminal Court.

after dinner, and at six for the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, the presiding Judge, members of the Bar, and others; and the sentencing of the prisoners by the Recorder after dinner. These dinners, after an interruption occasioned by a fire at the Sessions House in the time of Cockburn, L.C.J., were discontinued at his suggestion.

(a) The system in force before the passing of the Central Criminal Court Act, 1834, is described in the Second Report of the Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in England and Wales, 1837; the present position of the Central Criminal Court and the statutes affecting it are fully dealt with in the Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the amalgamation of the City and County of London, Parly. Papers, 1894, C. 7493.