commuted for a rent-charge are recoverable before two justices in petty sessions; if not paid within twenty days after demand, by distress; in default of distress a commitment to prison for three calendar months without hard labour may be made out. The judicial functions of justices extend, further, to the hearing of complaints for wages due to servants in husbandry not exceeding £10, and to artificers, handicraftsmen, miners, pitmen, keelmen, and potters, not exceeding £5. On proof, they make an order for payment, and in case of refusal or non-payment, by a distress of the goods or chattels of the master. A justice may nominate referees in disputes between the masters and workmen in any trade or manufacture, or decide the dispute himself. Any seaman or apprentice may sue in a summary manner for any wages due not exceeding £50 over and above the costs of any proceeding for the recovery thereof, and every order made by the justices acting in or near the place at which the service has terminated, shall be final. They further adjudicate upon disputes between landlords and tenants, as to the fairness of parochial rates, and disputes between members and officers of building and friendly societies.

It is a general rule of great antiquity, that "no action will lie against a judge of record for any action done by him in the exercise of his judicial functions." "In the imperfection of human nature," says Lord Tenterden, "it is better that an individual should suffer a wrong than that the course of justice should be impeded and fettered by constant and perpetual restraints and apprehensions on the part of those who are to administer it." In cases where justices of the peace have either no jurisdiction or exceed their jurisdiction, they will be liable in damages to the party aggrieved. For an act within their jurisdiction no action will lie, unless the act complained of was done maliciously and without reasonable or probable cause. "If the act of the magistrate is done without jurisdiction, it is a trespass, if within the jurisdiction, the action rests upon the corruptness of motive, and to establish this, the act must be shown to be malicious."* By the 11 and 12 Vict. c. 44, intitled, "An act to Protect Justices of the Peace from Vexatious Actions for acts done by them in Execution of their Office," it is enacted that no action shall be

* Per Erle, J., Taylor v. Nesfield, iii. Ell., and Bl.,

724.

commenced against a justice of the peace for anything done by him in the execution of his office, until one calendar month at least after a notice in writing of such intended action shall have been delivered to him. And no action can be brought against any justice of the peace unless the same be commenced within six calendar months next after the act complained of shall have been committed. Where a discretionary power has been given by any act of parliament, no action shall be brought by reason of the manner in which the justice shall have exercised his discretion in the execution of any such power. Whenever the powers vested in justices of the peace are exerted from corrupt or personal motives, they may be proceeded against by indictment and criminal information. "They are, indeed," says Chief Justice Abbott, "like any other subject of this kingdom, answerable to the law for the faithful and upright discharge of their trust and duties. But whenever they have been challenged on this head, either by way of indictment or criminal information, the question has always been, not whether the act done might, upon full and mature investigation, be found strictly right, but from what motive it had proceeded; whether from a dishonest, oppressive, or corrupt motive, under which fear and favour may generally be included, or from mistake or error. In the former case alone they have become objects of punishment. To punish as a criminal any person who, in the gratuitous exercise of a public trust, may have fallen into error or mistake, belongs only to the despotic rule of an enslaved people, and is wholly abhorrent from the jurisprudence of this kingdom."

CHAPTER IX.

SESSIONS OF THE PEACE.

Petty Sessions. Special.-General.-General Quarter Sessions.-How Summoned.Quarter Sessions a Court of Appeal.

A BENCH of magistrates or court of petty sessions is formed by the periodical meetings of justices of peace of boroughs, or of counties, ridings, or divisions, for the execution of those powers which are confided to them by their commission, or by charter, and by numerous statutes. Two or more justices meeting in the same place for the execution of some power vested in them by the law, constitute a petty session, which may be held on their mere private agreement, anywhere in the division, excepting where the statute giving cognizance of the offence requires that it be held at the "usual place." It is customary to hold petty sessions at one place only, on regularly appointed days of meeting, to hear, try, and determine those summary cases which are directed to be heard and determined "in petty sessions for the division." In counties the chief town of the division and the principal inn or town-hall, is used for the place of meeting. Where there are not proper places for holding the petty sessions, the borough or county may provide a proper building, the expenses to be paid out of the county-rate or borough-fund. The occasions for holding petty sessions are very numerous; but the most important is the bailing of persons accused of felony, which may be done after a full hearing of evidence on both sides, if there appear sufficient grounds for allowing bail. Although many cases of summary convictions may be heard by one justice only, where the concurrence of two justices is binding and conclusive, the judgment of one justice may be the subject of appeal to quarter sessions. "With regard to the power of the justices in sessions to originate convictions on penal statutes, the rule laid down by Holt, C. J., is, that if authority be given to two justices to do an act, and from that act there is no appeal, it may commence at the sessions, but if an appeal be given, it cannot

begin there." The special sessions is a meeting of the justices of a division of a county, a riding, or a borough, holden on a particular occasion, for the execution of some given branch of their authority, after reasonable notice to all the justices resident within the division, etc., has been served personally or by post. Several special sessions are required by law, to be holden at stated periods as, for appointing overseers of the poor, on the 25th March, or within fourteen days after; for licensing ale-houses, between 20th August and 14th September, except where otherwise directed; and to appoint days for holding the special session for executing the purposes of the Highway Act. Four times a year the justices acting in every petty sessions' division hold a special session to hear appeal against poor-rates, and on some day after 24th March, and before 8th April in each year, they hold a special session for the appointment of parochial constables. Within the last seven days of September a special session is held for reviewing and allowing the list of persons qualified to serve on juries in each parish; and in July, and at any other time, for licensing persons to deal in game. In other cases, such as making orders for damage by rioters, and for expenses of special constables; for appointing high constables; granting theatre licenses, recovering contributions from overseers, the special sessions may be convened as the occasion may arise. A general sessions is a court of record holden before two or more justices, one being of the quorum, for execution of the general authority given by the commission of the peace, and by certain statutes, may be called by any two justices within the jurisdiction, one being of the quorum, or by the custos rotulorum and one justice, but not by one justice or by the custos rotulorum alone. The court of general quarter sessions is that kind of general sessions held under authority of the commission of the peace by two or more justices, one being of the quorum, at some place within the county, fixed by their precept, in the first full week after the 11th of October, 28th December, 31st March, and 24th June. The justices at the Epiphany Sessions are authorized to appoint two justices to fix them so as not to interfere with the Easter Assizes. It is a court of oyer and terminer, and a court of record.

By the 5 and 6 Vict. c. 38, entitled "An act to define the Jurisdiction of Justices in General and Quarter Sessions of the

* Paley On Convictions, 32.

Peace," reciting, that it is expedient, that the powers of justices in general and quarter sessions of the peace with respect to the trial of offences be better defined, it is enacted, that neither the justices of the peace acting in and for any county, riding, division, or liberty, nor the recorder of any borough shall, at any sessions of the peace, try any person for any treason, murder, or capital felony, or for any felony which, when committed by a person not previously convicted of felony, is punishable by transportation beyond the seas, or for misprision of treason, offences against the queen's title, prerogative, person, or government, or against either house of parliament; offences subject to the penalties of premunire, blasphemy and offences against religion; administering or taking unlawful oaths; perjury and subornation of perjury; forgery; unlawfully and maliciously setting fire to crops of corn, grain or pulse, or to any part of a wood, coppice, or plantation of trees, or to any heath, furze, gorse, or fern; for bigamy and offences against the laws relating to marriage, abduction of women and girls; endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child; offences against any provisions of the laws relating to bankrupts and insolvents; composing, printing, or publishing blasphemous, seditious, or defamatory libels; bribery; unlawful combinations and conspiracies; stealing, injuring, or destroying records or documents belonging to any court of law or equity; stealing, destroying, or concealing wills or documents relating to the title of real estate, or to any interest in lands, tenements, and hereditaments.

By 14 and 15 Vict. c. 55, the general or quarter sessions holden in and for the cities of London and Westminster, the liberty of the Tower of London, the borough of Southwark and the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Kent, and Surrey, are placed in the same position as to their jurisdiction to try prisoners at the general and quarter sessions of the county. The quarter sessions have power to try all indictable offences, whether at common law or created by statute, unless there is some special direction that an offence shall be heard and determined by another

court.

As a court of appeal many cognizable by quarter sessions,

*An appeal from the conviction of justices to the sessions is not a matter of

other matters have been made pursuant to various statutes,*

common right, but of special provision. -Paley On Convictions, p. 295.