Source: Findmypast

Petty Sessions Court

The Petty Sessions Court records are without doubt one of the largest sources of evidence about the Irish population in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are between 15 and 20 million records dating from 1828 to 1912 covering all parts of Ireland. Thankfully the courts in Ireland, in their obsession with social order and security, tried and convicted twice the rate of people than their counterparts in England. The court system was also formally established by statute significantly earlier than England and was both more extensive and centrally organised. In the absence of so many other sources, genealogists today can be thankful for this Irish peculiarity.

The Courts of Petty Sessions were the lowest courts in the country, which dealt with the vast bulk of lesser legal cases, civil and criminal. The Courts were historically presided over by two or more unpaid Justices of Peace (JPs, invariably local landowners), a system which led to regular charges of corruption and undue influence by landed interests. Throughout the 19th Century in an effort to bring the worst excesses of the ascendancy under control, centralise state authority, and garner public support for the legal system, the government systematically replaced the JPs with paid (stipendiary) magistrates. As a consequence the courts were commonly known as “Magistrates’ courts”. More than 600 existed across the island at any one time.

Judgements at Petty Sessions were made summarily by the JPs or Magistrate. In other words there was no jury. Depending on the volume of cases to be heard, each Court met daily, weekly or monthly. Every Court had a Clerk who kept the registers according to forms set out in statute. These registers are what is now published online.

Origins of Petty Sessions Courts

Petty Sessions, or more accurately “petit” sessions, originated with the operation of Norman medieval justice. From this time the government appointed Justices of the Peace in each county to act as judges and arbiters of legal cases that were not of the most serious nature (i.e. murder, treason, rape, insurrection, etc.).  In practice the JPs set up Quarter Sessions (courts held 4 times a year) in one or two locations in each county to deal with cases that had to be tried by jury. From the 1500s onwards, JPs were also given rights in certain types of cases to try and convict people summarily. As a consequence JPs began to operate more local level courts to deal with these more minor offences, and rule on civil actions, and so take pressure off the Quarter Sessions.

Reform of the Petty Sessions Courts system in Ireland

Despite centuries of operation, it was not until 1827 that the system governing how Petty Sessions worked was set out by statute with the “Act for the better Administration of Justice at the holding of Petty Sessions by Justices of the Peace in Ireland, 2 July 1827” (7 & 8 George IV c.67). This specified that the Grand Jury in each county (the forerunners of modern county councils) should set out petty sessions districts in a formal manner. It also required proper registers to be kept, trained clerks, and regular courts. The system was overhauled again in 1851 with another act, “Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act” which sought tighter regulation of the keeping of records and meeting of courts.

The operation of petty sessions clerks was also set out by statute in 1851, when a central agency was established to govern their work and oversee their registers. It is only from this date that the majority of petty sessions registers survive. There are less than 300 registers that survive in the National Archives of Ireland that pre-date 1851, but over 10,000 which survive for later years. It is also likely that there are other survivals in local libraries, court houses or in private hands. But there are none for Dublin city or Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) which had their own police courts, which while similar to the petty sessions courts did not require mandatory record keeping. Other court districts also have no surviving registers due to loss or destruction.

The surviving registers contain all the salient details of the cases heard, including:

Date

Name of JP or Magistrate

Name and address of the Complainant (often RIC)

Name and address of the Defendant

Names of witnesses

Details of the case

Details of the judgement and fine (if any)

Details of any custodial sentence

1924 Petty Sessions Courts replaced by District Courts in Ireland

This system was replaced in the Republic by the District courts in 1924, where courts were amalgamated to significantly reduce the number in operation. Magistrates’ courts are still in operation in Northern Ireland, although they meet in fewer locations.

Petty Sessions records and family history

Family historians will find this an essential resource. There were few families that did not need to interact with the courts at some level, from licensing a dog, to resolving a civil dispute to being the perpetrator or victim of a petty offence or infraction of the law. This extent of coverage can help pinpoint a person in a place at a specific date.  In light of the relatively late start date for civil records, and the destruction of the 19th Century Census, these records are an effective census substitute, and can allow you to pick out your ancestor from their doppelganger, i.e. someone of the same name, who flourished in the same time-frame.   However the real value of the Petty Sessions records is that they open a window into the past, so that you can see clearly the events that shaped your ancestors’ lives. Knowledge of a family dispute, a disagreement over a field boundary, a petty criminal action, or even being arrested for drunkenness at the time of a birth or death in the family, provides context and enables you to construct stories around your family narrative.

Used in conjunction with other sources the Petty Sessions Court records can be even more powerful. For example, many of the more serious disputes and cases are likely to have spawned a local newspaper report close to the date of the hearing. Newspaper accounts can often add additional detail to the summary of the case in the registers. Used alongside other local sources, like church records and estate papers, researchers can build community profiles to put their ancestors’ and their neighbours’ actions in context. For example, prosecutions for poaching game say much about social class, poverty and survival, while frequent cases for ‘playing [sports] on the roads’, or ‘making an ice-slide’ on a public right of way, tell us something of the indomitable high spirits of children and young people at any time in the past.

The Petty Sessions handled the bulk of lesser legal cases, both criminal and civil. They were presided over by Justices of the Peace, who were unpaid and often without any formal legal training. The position did not have a wage, so the role was usually taken by those with their own income – in practice usually prominent landowners or gentlemen. Justice was pronounced summarily at these courts, in other words, without a jury.

Cases of a more serious nature, which did require a jury, were held at the Quarter Sessions, which, as the name suggests were held four times a year. The most serious cases, those like murder or treason that carried the death penalty, were presided over by at least one legally trained judge at assizes held twice a year in circuit. The jury courts used a system known as a commission of Oyer and Terminer, a Norman French phrase meaning To See and To Judge. There were two juries, a Grand Jury who assessed the strength of the prosecution evidence, and the trial jury, who would hear the case if the Grand Jury had decided the case was strong enough to go forward to trial.

At the lower levels though, justice was summary and swift. The Petty Sessions, which sat daily, weekly or monthly, depending on the volume of cases, often saw controversial judgements. Every court had a clerk, whose job it was to record the details of each case in a register. It is those registers you are looking at in these records. The clerks also collected any fees from those involved in the cases.

The Petty Sessions were formally established with legislation in 1827, although they had been in operation for centuries before that. By 1851, amid growing concerns about the fairness of some of the justices of the peace, the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act sought to tighten up the rules. JPs were gradually replaced by trained and paid magistrates as the 19th century went on.

Covering both civil and criminal cases, the Petty Sessions’ brief was wide. Cases ranged from merchants who had not paid duty on their goods, to workers suing for unpaid wages. Farmers were fined for letting their cattle wander or for allowing their cart to be driven without their name painted on the side. Debts were collected and disputes settled. Public drunkenness was a common offence, as was assault and general rowdiness. Political feelings were often volatile and there are frequent cases all over the country of people charged with putting up seditious posters or leaflets.

There are very few registers which pre-date 1851 and none for Dublin city, Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) and some other districts, either because they weren’t covered by the 1851 Act or because the records did not survive. However the latest records added include those for one of the main Dublin courts, Kilmainham, for most years between 1833 and 1854 as well as the year 1887. Findmypast has also added more of the available pre-1851 records. Further records will be added in due course.

Included in the records are the colour images from Newmarket-on-Fergus in County Clare. These records a kindly provided by Dr Patrick Waldron. Dr Waldron’s ancestor, Georgina Frost, made history by becoming the first woman to hold a centrally appointed official role as clerk of both Newmarket-on-Fergus and Sixmilebridge courts.

Georgina Frost was the third generation of the same family to hold this role and won her legal challenge to be able to take up the job, something she would normally have been barred from doing, as a woman.

The Petty Sessions were replaced by the District Courts in Ireland in 1924. The system continues in Northern Ireland where they are usually referred to as Magistrate’s Courts.