Catalogue description SESSIONS

This record is held by Suffolk Archives - Ipswich

Details of C/2/9
Reference: C/2/9
Title: SESSIONS
Description:

The office of Justice of the Peace had developed in the 14th century from that of the earlier custos pacis or Keeper of the Peace, which in turn had its origin in Archbishop Hubert Walter's edict of 1195, issued at a time of disorder occasioned by Richard I's absence from England, assigning knights to swear all men above the age of fifteen to keep the peace. (On the origin of the Keepers and their transformation into Justices of the Peace, see Putnam 1929, Harding 1960, and Allen 1974, ix-xiii.) By the late Middle Ages the Justices had replaced the Sheriff as the leading power in the county; in 1461 the Sheriff's right of awarding process upon indictments and presentments was transferred to the county Justices in their Sessions, while in 1495 the Justices were authorised to convict and punish extortionate Sheriffs and their subordinates.

 

Not unnaturally, municipal corporations, ever anxious to increase their autonomy, sought to obtain their own Sessions of the Peace to exclude the county authorities. As stated in the general introduction to JUSTICE AND THE COURTS, Ipswich secured from Henry VI in 1446 a charter which constituted the Bailiffs and four of the twelve (capital) Portmen Justices of the Peace for the borough.

 

Throughout the 16th century and beyond, the foremost duty of the Justices of the Peace remained, as their title implies, the enforcement of law and order. But if the essential nature of the office remained unchanged, the Tudor monarchs greatly added to the administrative duties of the Justices, giving them a pivotal role in carrying out much of the social and economic legislation of the period. Their administrative responsibilities continued to proliferate until the local government reforms of the 19th century.

 

While many of the Justices' statutory duties could be carried out by any two of their number (one being of the quorum), it was only when sitting as a body in their General Sessions of the Peace that the powers of the magistracy could be exercised in full. Special Sessions were also held, such as the annual Licensing Meetings for inns and alehouses (which in Ipswich took place in August). Additionally, Petty Sessions, with more limited powers than the General Sessions, were held at more frequent intervals.

Date: 1440-1846
Held by: Suffolk Archives - Ipswich, not available at The National Archives
Language: English

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