of Quarter Sessions only. In the heading of orders of sessions, captions of indictments, and in pleadings, the style of the Court is set out more formally, thus:

"East Riding of The General Quarter Sessions of the the County of York. Peace, holden at Beverley, in and for the said Riding, on the day of - in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord William the Fourth, of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland king, defender of the faith, before R. B. and H. B. esquires, and others, their associates, justices of our said lord the king, assigned to keep the peace in the said Riding, and also to hear and determine divers felonies, trespasses and other misdemeanors in the said Riding committed."

1. Its Jurisdiction.

Under the Commission.] By stat. 34 Edw. 3, c. 1, it is enacted, that in every county in England, certain persons shall be assigned to keep the peace, with power to restrain offenders, rioters, and all other barators, and to pursue, arrest, take and chastise them, according to their trespass or offence, and to cause them to be imprisoned and duly punished according to the law and customs of the realm, &c.; " and also to hear and determine at the king's suit all manner of felonies and trespasses done in the same county, according to the laws and customs aforesaid." And in pursuance of this statute, the commission, after assigning the persons to whom it is directed to be His Majesty's justices to keep his peace in the county of -, &c., proceeds to define their jurisdiction to hear and determine offences, in these words::-" We have also assigned you, and every two or more of you (of whom any one of you the aforesaid [A. B., C. D., &c.] we will shall be one) our justices to inquire the truth more fully, by the oath of good and lawful men of the aforesaid county, by whom the truth of the matter shall be better known, of all and all manner of felonies, poisonings, inchantments, sorceries, arts magic, trespasses, forestallings, regratings, ingrossings and extortions whatsoever; and of all and singular other crimes and offences, of which the justices of our peace may or ought lawfully to inquire, by whomsoever and after what manner soever in the said county done or perpetrated, or which shall happen to be there done or attempted; and also of all those who, in the aforesaid county, in companies, against our peace, in disturbance of our people, with armed force have gone or rode, or hereafter shall presume to go or ride; and also of all those who have there lain in wait, or hereafter shall presume to lie in wait, to maim, or cut or kill our people; and also of all victuallers, and all and singular other persons, who, in the abuse of weights or measures, or

in selling victuals, against the form of the ordinances and statutes, or any one of them, therefore made for the common benefit of England and our people thereof, have offended or attempted, or hereafter shall presume in the said county to offend or attempt; and also of all sheriffs, bailiffs, stewards, constables, keepers of gaols, and other officers who, in the execution of their offices about the premises or any of them, have unduly behaved themselves, or hereafter shall presume to behave themselves unduly, or have been or shall happen hereafter to be careless, remiss, or negligent in our aforesaid county; and of all and singular articles and circumstances, and all other things whatsoever, that concern the premises or any of them, by whomsoever and after what manner soever in our aforesaid county done or perpetrated, or which hereafter shall there happen to be done or attempted in what manner soever; and to inspect all indictments whatsoever, so before you or any you taken or to be taken, or before others late our justices of the peace in the aforesaid county made or taken, and not yet determined; and to make and continue processes thereupon against all and singular the persons so indicted, or who before you hereafter shall happen to be indicted, until they can be taken, surrender themselves or be outlawed; and to hear and determine all and singular the felonies, poisonings, enchantments, sorceries, arts magic, trespasses, forestallings, regratings, ingrossings, extortions, unlawful assemblies, indictments aforesaid, and all and singular other the premises, according to the laws and statutes of England, as in the like case it has been accustomed and ought to be done; and the same offenders and every of them, for their offences, by fines, ransoms, amerciaments, forfeitures, and other means, as according to the law and custom of England, or form of the ordinances and statutes aforesaid it has been accustomed or ought to be done, to chastise and punish.

"And therefore we command you and every of you, that to keeping the peace, ordinances, statutes, and all and singular other the premises, you diligently apply yourselves; and that at certain days and places, which you or any such two or more of you as is aforesaid, shall appoint for those purposes, into the premises ye make inquiries, and all and singular the premises hear and determine, and perform and fulfil them in the aforesaid form, doing therein what to justice appertains, according to the law and custom of England; saving to us the amerciaments, and other things to us therefrom belonging."

Some doubts were formerly entertained, as to the construction that ought to be given to the words " Felonies" and "Trespasses" in the above commission: some held that they included only such felonies and misdemeanors against the peace, of which cog. nizance was given to justices of the peace by the express words of a statute or statutes; others held, that as the commission was

created by statute, namely, in pursuance of stat. 34 Ed. 3. c. 1, ante, p. 2, these words must be deemed to include only such offences as were felonies and trespasses at the time of the passing of the Act; and that if justices have jurisdiction of any offence created since, it must be given to them by the express words of the statute creating the offence. See Com. Dig. Justices of Peace, (B. 1.) Vin. Abr. Justices of Peace, C. R. v. Yarrington, Salk. 406. R. v. James, 2 Str. 1256. But these constructions seem very unsatisfactory: if, according to the first of these constructions, we are to hold that the Court of Quarter Sessions are to exercise jurisdiction only in those cases where cognizance of an offence is specially given them by some statute, the Court will have cognizance of very few offences indeed, and no jurisdiction in most of the cases in which we see them continually exercise it; and if, according to the second construction, we confine their authority under the commission to offences which were felonies and trespasses at the time of the passing the stat. 34 Ed. 3. c. 1, then we shall have the absurdity of a commission being granted in 1835 to justices, giving them authority to hear and determine such offences only as were felonies and trespasses in the year 1360. There is nothing in the Act itself or the commission, which at all obliges us to give them so narrow a construction; and in modern times the general opinion of the profession, sanctioned by cases which shall presently be mentioned, is, that with the exception of perjury at common law and forgery, the Court of Quarter Sessions has jurisdiction, by virtue of the commission, of all felonies whatsoever, and of all indictable misdemeanors, whether created before or after the date of the commission. As to the word " trespasses :"-the word used, when the commissions were in Latin, was transgressiones," which was a word of very general meaning, including all the inferior offences under felony, and also those injuries for which the modern action of trespass now lies; it was usually rendered into law French, by the word " trespas," and that is the word used in the original French of the above stat. of Ed. 3, and it is there rendered into English by the word " trespasses." In perjury at common law, it is indeed settled, that an indictment will not lie for it in a Court of Quarter Sessions; 2 Hawk. c. 8. s. 38. R. v. Bainton, 2 Str. 1088; but perjury under the stat. 5 Eliz. c. 9, is within the jurisdiction of the Sessions, by the express words of the Act. Forgery at common law also is not cognizable by the Sessions; R. v. Yarrington, Salk. 406. R. v. Gibbs, 1 East, 173; and it seems to be the general opinion that they have not cognizance of a forgery, which is made felony by statute; and it may therefore perhaps be prudent for justices not to try such offences, but to commit such offenders for trial at the assizes. In R. v. Gibbs, 1 East, 173, where the defendant, who was found guilty at the Sessions, upon an indictment for a forgery at common law, removed the record by writ of

error into the Court of King's Bench, that Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Quarter Sessions, upon the ground that the Sessions had no cognizance of the offence. Lord Kenyon, C.J. said, "I have always had a general impression upon my mind, that it was a settled point that forgery was not under the cognizance of the Sessions; and I rather think it was so determined soon after I came to the bar, though I do not remember the particular case. But I am sure it has always been so considered by the profession in my remembrance, and I have formerly given opinions to that purpose. Therefore with all the inclination which I feel against giving way to small objections, I cannot get over this against express authority and received practice for so long a time. The case of The Queen v. Yarrington stands supported by concurrent opinions down to the present time, and has been acted upon nearly a century; it is now too late to disturb it." In a more recent case, which was an indictment for soliciting a servant to steal the goods of his master, and removed into the Court of King's Bench by writ of error, it was argued that the facts charged in the indictment did not amount to an offence at common law, or if they did, still it was not an offence indictable at Sessions, as it was no breach of the peace. As to the first point, the Court held clearly that the facts stated did amount to an indictable offence: as to the second point, Lord Kenyon, C. J. said, "I am also clearly of opinion that it is indictable at the Quarter Sessions, as falling in with that class of offences, which, being violations of the law of the land, have a tendency, as it is said, to a breach of the peace, and are therefore cognizable by that jurisdiction. To this rule there are, indeed, two exceptions, namely, forgery and perjury: why exceptions, I know not; but having been expressly so adjudged, I will not break through the rules of law. No other exceptions, however, have been allowed, and therefore this falls within the general rule." The other judges being of the same opinion, the judgment was accordingly affirmed. R. v. Higgins, 2 East, 5. So, where an indictment for a conspiracy to charge a man with taking hair out of a bag belonging to one A. R., was preferred and found at Sessions, and the parties convicted upon it; and it was afterwards removed into the Court of King's Bench by certiorari, and a motion was then made in arrest of judgment, on the ground that the Sessions had no jurisdiction of conspiracy, any more than of perjury and forgery, it not being specified in their commission, nor jurisdiction of it given to them by any special statute. The Court however held that the Sessions had jurisdiction. Lord Mansfield, C. J. said, that as no case had been cited to shew whether the Sessions had or had not jurisdiction, the question must be decided upon general principles; that as to the cases of perjury and forgery, mentioned in argument, they stood upon their own special grounds, and it had been determined

that justices had no jurisdiction of them: but as to conspiracy, "it is a trespass, and trespasses are indictable at Sessions; though not committed vi et armis, they tend to a breach of the peace, as much as cheats or libels, which are established to be within the jurisdiction of Sessions." R. v. Rispail, 1 W. Bl.368. 3 Burr. 1320. Where however a statute requires a particular offence to be prosecuted before a Court of oyer and terminer or gaol delivery, without mentioning the General or Quarter Sessions, that is deemed to be an implied exclusion of the jurisdiction of the Sessions with respect to that particular offence. But where an indictment for lighting fires on the coast, contrary to stat. 47 Geo. 3, sess. 2, c. 66, was preferred at the Sessions, removed by certiorari, and tried at the assizes; and it was objected for the defendant, that the Sessions had no jurisdiction, as the statute required that the offenders should be carried before a justice of peace, and by him committed to the county gaol," there to remain until the next Court of oyer and terminer, great session or gaol delivery," which amounted to an implied enactment that the indictment should be preferred in those Courts only: the Court held that, as the offence was a misdemeanor only, and the defendant might be prosecuted for it without being apprehended or in custody, the clause in the Act referred to did not prevent the indictment from being preferred at the Sessions; they held the indictment, therefore, to have been properly originated, and passed sentence on the defendant. R. v. Cock, 4 M. & S. 71.

To what has now been stated, with respect to the offences cognizable by the Court of Quarter Sessions, under and by virtue of the commission of the peace, there are some partial exceptions, with respect to the Sessions holden in London, Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Surrey, created by the statute which established the Central Criminal Court, stat. 4 & 5 Wm. 4, c. 36. That statute, by sect. 2, first gives jurisdiction to the Central Criminal Court in all treasons, murders, felonies, and misdemeanors committed within certain limits: namely, within the city of London and county of Middlesex: such parts of the county of Essex as are within the parishes of Barking, East Ham, West Ham, Little Ilford, Low Layton, Walthamstow, Wanstead St. Mary, Woodford and Chingford; such parts of the county of Kent as are within the parishes of Charlton, Lee, Lewisham, Greenwich, Woolwich, Eltham, Plumstead, St. Nicholas Deptford, that part of St. Paul Deptford which is within the county of Kent, the liberty of Kidbrook, and the hamlet of Mottingham; and such parts of the county of Surrey as are within the borough of Southwark, the parishes of Battersea, Bermondsea, Camberwell, Christchurch, Clapham, Lambeth, St. Mary Newington, Rotherhithe, Streatham, Barnes, Putney, that part of St. Paul Deptford which is within the county of Surrey, Tooting, Graveny, Wandsworth, Merton, Mortlake, Kew, Richmond,