quarter sessions

American  

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.

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quarter sessions British  

noun

1. (in England and Wales, formerly) a criminal court held four times a year before justices of the peace or a recorder, empowered to try all but the most serious offences and to hear appeals from petty sessions. Replaced in 1972 by crown courts See also crown court Compare assizes

2. (in Scotland, formerly) a court held by justices of the peace four times a year, empowered to hear appeals from justice of the peace courts and to deal with some licensing matters: abolished in 1975

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Etymology

Origin of quarter sessions

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

At UCLA, the master’s of social welfare — which runs for eight quarter sessions — amounts to more than $65,000 for California residents without financial aid.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026

In Bury St. Edmunds, England, when only eleven jurors filed out. of the box at West Suffolk quarter sessions court, Judge Gerald Howard took another look, spotted the twelfth juror sound asleep.

From Time Magazine Archive

The old mode of exercising this power was by sending on to assizes indictments raising difficult questions which had been presented at quarter sessions.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various

Herefordshire was governed by a sheriff as early as the reign of Edward the Confessor, the shire-court meeting at Hereford where later the assizes and quarter sessions were also held.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various

On the 15th of November, 1853, the first court of quarter sessions of the County of Elgin opened at St. Thomas in the Town Hall, David John Hughes, County Judge, presiding.

From The Court Houses of a Century A Brief Historical Sketch of the Court Houses of London Distict, the County of Middlesex, and County of Elgin by McKay, Kenneth W.