| Context | LOCAL MAGISTRATES COURT DIVISIONS Justices of the Peace developed from the Keepers of the Peace who were appointed by a commission under the Great Seal in 1277 and 1287. They had acquired their name by 1361, when a statute gave them the power to try minor offenders. Their duties were greatly extended under the Tudors. [Oxford Companion to Local and Family History]. Most of the more important work of the justices was conducted at the Quarter Sessions for each county. But informal meetings of a few local justices gradually developed into the Petty Sessions, which dealt with minor criminal proceedings. These early meetings were generally not well recorded, and the borderline between Quarter and Petty Sessions was not always clear-cut. But during 1828 Petty Sessions were first formally recognised within parliamentary legislation: the county justices were authorised to divide their areas into petty sessional districts and to appoint a local attorney to act as clerk. |