Court of quarter sessions

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Court of Quarter Sessions
Middlesex Sessions House in 1810
Established	1388
Dissolved	1972
Jurisdiction	England and Wales
Appeals to	Court of Appeal of England and Wales
Appeals from	Magistrates' Court

The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535.^[1] Scotland established quarter sessions in the 17th century. Quarter sessions were also established in Ireland and British colonies overseas.

Quarter sessions generally sat in the seat of each county and county borough, and in numerous non-county boroughs which were entitled to hold their own quarter sessions, although some of the smaller boroughs lost theirs in 1951; these non-county boroughs were mainly, but not exclusively, ancient boroughs.^[2]

In 1972, all quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales with the commencement of the Courts Act 1971, which 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 sessions were named after the quarter days on which they met in England and Wales from 1388. These days were later settled as Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas sessions.