As regards the county of Middlesex in particular,— it was enacted, by 7 & 8 Vict. c. 71, (amended by 22 & 23 Vict. c. 4,) that there shall be holden for that county two sessions, or adjourned sessions, of the peace in every calendar month; and that the first sessions in January, April, July and October, respectively, shall be the general quarter sessions of the county (t); and that the second sessions in January, April, July and October, shall be adjournments of the general quarter sessions. It was also provided therein, that it shall be lawful for her majesty to appoint a person,-being a serjeant, or a barrister at law of not less than ten years' standing, and in the commission of the peace for the county, and qualified by law to act as justice of the peace,-to be the Assistant Judge of the said court of sessions of the peace; who shall preside at the hearing of all appeals, on the trials of all felonies and misdemeanors, and all matters connected therewith: and who shall hold his office during good behaviour (u). In many corporate towns or boroughs, there is also a court of quarter sessions of the peace; having, in general, c. 83; see R. v. Payn, 6 A. & E. 392.) As to his remuneration (which used to be by fees, but may now, at the discretion of the justices, be by salary), see 14 & 15 Vict. c. 55, s. 9; and see also 18 & 19 Vict. c. 126, s. 18. As to conveyances of land, &c. to the clerk of the peace or treasurer of the county, see 21 & 22 Vict. c. 92. As to the clerk of the peace for the County Palatine of Lancaster, see 34 & 35 Vict. c. 73. (t) It is enacted by 22 & 23 Vict. c. 4, s. 4, that every general sessions for Middlesex shall have the powers, &c. of a general quarter sessions of that county. (u) In cases of sickness or un avoidable absence, or such occasion the same jurisdiction in the trial of offences and other matters arising within the limits of the borough, as the county quarter sessions within the county (x). Of such court, the recorder of the borough is, by 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 165, constituted the judge: and he is, by that statute, directed to hold the court once in every quarter of a year; or at such other and more frequent times as in his discretion he may think fit, or her majesty may direct (y). 6. The court of the coroner is a court of record to inquire when any one dies in prison, or comes to a violent or sudden death, by what manner he came to his end. But of the coroner and his office we treated at large in a former volume, among the public officers of the kingdom, and therefore shall not here repeat our inquiries (2); only mentioning his court by way of regularity among the criminal courts of the nation (a). With regard to most of the other courts we are about to speak of, it is to be understood that though proper to be enumerated in their place among the criminal courts, and interesting as traces of a state of things long since passed away, they are for the most part fallen into disrepute, and indeed may be said, though not expressly abolished, to have become practically obsolete. Of this class was, 7. [The Sheriff's Tourn or rotation, which was a court of record appointed to be held twice every year, within a month after Easter and Michaelmas, before the sheriff in (x) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 166, embodying the provisions of an earlier Act (5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, ss. 103, 105, 118). It is to be observed that all the restrictions expressed by statute, with regard to the trial of certain offences at general or quarter sessions, mentioned sup. p. 316, in reference to the quarter sessions for the county, equally apply to the borough quarter sessions. (y) As to the division of such courts for the better despatch of business, and the appointment and remuneration of the necessary officers and of an assistant barrister as judge, see 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 19, and 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 168 (8). (2) Vide sup. vol. I. p. 636. (a) 4 Inst. 271; 2 Hale, P. C. 53; Hawk. P. C. b. 2, c. 9. [different parts of the county (b): being indeed only the turn of the sheriff to keep a court leet, in each respective hundred (c). This therefore was the great court leet of the county, and out of it for the ease of the sheriff, was taken, 8. The Court Leet, or View of Frank Pledge (d); which, also, was a court of record, appointed to be held once in the year and not oftener, within a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, before the steward of the leet (e); being the king's court granted by charter to the lords of those hundreds or manors. Its original intent was to view the frank pledges, that is, the freemen within the liberty; who, we may remember, according to the institution of the great Alfred, were all mutually pledges for the good behaviour of each other (ƒ). Besides this, the preservation of the peace, and the chastisement of divers minute offences against the public good, were the objects both of the court leet, and of the sheriff's tourn: which had exactly the same jurisdiction, one being only a larger species of the other: extending over more territory, but not over more causes. All freeholders within the precinct were obliged to attend them, and all persons commorant therein which commorancy consisted in usually lying there a regulation which owes its original to the laws of king Canute (g). But persons under twelve and above sixty years old; peers; clergymen; women; and the king's tenants in antient demesne,-were always excused from attendance there: all others being bound to appear upon the jury, (if required,) and make their due presentments. It was also antiently the custom to summon all the king's subjects, as they respectively grew to years of discretion and strength, to come to the court leet, and there take the oath of allegiance to the king. The other (b) 4 Inst. 259; 2 Hale, P. C. 69; Hawk. P. C. b. 2, c. 10. (c) Mirr. c. 1, ss. 13, 16. (d) 4 Inst. 261; Hawk. P. C. b. 2, c. 11. (e) Mirr. c. 1, s. 10. (f) Vide sup. vol. 1. p. 123. (9) Part 2, c. 19. [general business of the leet and tourn, was to present by jury all crimes whatsoever that happened within their jurisdiction and not only to present, but also to punish, all trivial misdemeanors;-as all trivial debts were recoverable in the court baron and sheriff's county court:justice, in these minuter matters of both kinds, being brought home to the doors of every man by our antient constitution (). The objects of their jurisdiction were therefore unavoidably very numerous; being such as in some degree, either less or more, affected the public weal, or good government of the district in which they arose: from common nuisances and other material offences against the king's peace and public trade, down to eaves-dropping, waifs, and irregularities in public commons. But both the tourn and the leet fell by degrees into a declining way (i) a circumstance owing, in part, to the discharge granted by the statute of Marlborough, (52 Hen. III. c. 10,) to all prelates, peers, and clergymen, from their attendance upon these courts; which occasioned them to grow into disrepute. And hence their business, for the most part, gradually devolved upon the quarter sessions; which indeed it was particularly directed to do, in some cases, by stat. 1 Edw. IV. c. 2. It also, in some instances, devolved upon the justices out of sessions. And now (as already intimated) both tourn and leet have fallen, in most parts of the kingdom, into total disuetude (j). 9. The Court of the Clerk of the Market, is properly incident to every fair and market in the kingdom, to punish misdemeanors therein ();-as a court of pied poudre is to determine all disputes therein, relating to private or civil (h) Blackstone (vol. iv. p. 274) observes, that, in the Gothic constitution, the hæreda, which answered to our court leet, "de omnibus quidem cognoscit, non tamen de omnibus judicat;" and he cites Stiern. de Jure Goth. 1. 1, c. 2. (i) This was so, even in the time VOL. IV. of Blackstone (vide ubi sup.); and see Colebrook v. Elliott, 3 Burr. 1864. (j) In some places, however, a "court leet" is still periodically held before the steward for the hearing of offences of a trivial character. (k) 4 Inst. 273. Y [property. The object of this jurisdiction was principally the recognizance of weights and measures; to try whether they be according to the true standard thereof or no. Which standard was antiently committed to the custody of the bishop, who appointed some clerk under him to inspect the abuse of them more narrowly and hence this officer, though usually a layman, was called the clerk of the market (1). If they were not according to the standard, then, besides the punishment of the party by fine, the weights and measures themselves were directed to be burnt.] This is the most inferior court of criminal jurisdiction in the kingdom: but its functions, as regards weights and measures, seem superseded by the modern provisions with regard to this subject, of which we gave some account in a former volume (m); and to what we there said we shall only add in this place that any offences under the Weights and Measures Act, 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 49), may be prosecuted and all fines and forfeitures recovered before a court of summary jurisdiction, with an appeal, however, to the next practicable court of general or quarter sessions (n). 10. [There are also some criminal courts of a confined and partial jurisdiction: extending indeed only to particular places, which the royal favour, confirmed by Act of Parliament, distinguished by the privilege of having peculiar courts of their own, for the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors arising within the bounds of their cognizance. We shall only here refer to two of these tribunals. The first of these, the Court of the Lord Steward of the King's Household, or, in his absence, of the treasurer, comptroller, and steward of the marshalsea, was created by statute 33 Hen. VIII. c. 12, with a jurisdiction to inquire of, hear, and determine "all treasons, misprisions of (1) Bac. of English Government, b. 10, c. 8. (m) Vide sup. vol. 1. p. 521. 60. (n) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 49, ss. 56, |