petty sessions

American  

noun

English Law.

1. a court of summary jurisdiction for minor offenses that is held without a jury.

---

petty sessions British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular or plural) another term for magistrates' court

---

Example Sentences

Bram Stoker was an Inspector of Petty Sessions before he became a novelist and it is thought he would have visited Monaghan in the course of his work.

From BBC

“Mr Puttergill, 23, has a current doubles ranking of 891 and 1,207 in singles,” the TIU announced, like a welfare officer reporting to Petty Sessions.

From The Guardian

Stoker's first full-length book, written earlier in Dublin, was a piece on non-fiction entitled The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, and was followed by novels, lectures, short stories, articles, serials and a two-volume memoir of Irving.

From The Guardian

It was a custom of those days, I believe, not altogether done away with in the present times, for magistrates to assemble in petty sessions, or to meet at other times for the dispatch of any extraordinary business, in tavern, public-house, or inn--a custom more honoured in the breach than the observance, except where no other place of assembly can be found.

From Project Gutenberg

The Immigration Agent or Clerk of Petty Sessions must satisfy himself by personal inquiry that the person for whose passage application is made is a relative or personal friend of the applicant.

From Project Gutenberg