Ireland, Petty Sessions Court Registers

About this collection

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 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 progressed.

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.

The bulk of the records in this collection are held by the National Archives of Ireland and cover the Republic of Ireland. 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. An exception are the records for one of the main Dublin courts, Kilmainham, for most years between 1833 and 1854 and 1887. We have also added more of the available pre-1851 records, from the Donegal County Archives and via private collections. There are 357 courts included in this collection.

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 first cousin three times removed, 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.