477 



SESSIONS. 



SESTERTIUS. 



473 



majority of the grand-jury think that the party is not guilty, or if the 

 number that think him guilty be less than twelve, they indorse " not a 

 true bill ; " though in the latter case the old form of indorsement, 

 " ignoramus " ( we do not know), seems to be more correct. It not 

 ^infrequently happens that grand-jurors return " a true bill " where the 

 evidence which has been brought before them is such as merely to 

 raise in their minds a strong suspicion of the guilt of the party accused, 

 acting under an impression that it is not their duty to try the guilt of 

 the party, and that the inquiry which has taken place in the grand-jury 

 room is in the nature of a precognition little differing from the pre- 

 liminary examination which takes place before a magistrate, who is 

 bound to commit or to require bail if a probable cause of guilt be made 

 out. By the common law of England, a man is not liable to punish- 

 ment until the fact charged against him has been found to be true by 

 the oath of twelve men (whether grand-jurors, leet-jurors, or jurors 

 impanelled to try an issue in ,1 civil cause involving a charge of crime), 

 nor until such finding has been afterwards confirmed by the verdict of 

 twelve others, forming the petty-jury, or by the confession of the party 

 by pleading guilty in open court. The judgment of the court ought 

 in strictness perhaps to be considered as founded upon the presentment 

 of the grand-jury, and the proceedings which take place before the 

 petty -jury may be said to be less a trial of the guilt or innocence of the 

 prisoner than a trial of the truth or falsehood of the indictment. The 

 grand-jury are sworn to inquire, not whether the accused ought to be put 

 upon his trial, but whether the matter in respect of which they are to 

 make their presentment, contained in the bill of indictment, which 

 directly and unequivocally asserts that a crime has been committed by 

 the party, is or is not true. To return a bill as true upon less evidence 

 than that which, if uncontradicted, would be satisfactory proof of guilt, 

 Becms to be at variance with an oath to present the whole truth and 

 imtliing but the truth. There appears to be DO substantial distinction 

 n a finding by the grand-jury that the party has committed the 

 ofTrnce charged, and a verdict of " guilty " pronounced by a petty-jury. 

 The finding of a true bill where the evidence is not sufficient to con- 

 a wrong to the party accused. On the other hand, the justice 

 of the country is not unfrequently defeated by forcing on a criminal 

 charge to its final decision at a time when evidence sufficient to show 

 the real character of the transaction has not been obtained; and by 

 the inconsiderate haste of grand-juries in finding bills, the most atro- 

 cious crimes have not unfrequently obtained a total exemption from 

 punishment. (8 Howell, ' State Trials,' 821, 836, 838 ; Burn's 'Justice,' 

 ' Indictment V.") 



The bill, being indorsed, is brought into court by the grand-jury, 

 and delivered to the clerk of the peace, who reads the indorsement with 

 the name of the prisoner and the nature of the charge. By finding the 

 Kill to be true, either generally or in [art, the grand-jury are become 

 indicton, and the party charged the indictee ; but these terms are 

 nearly obsolete. The indictee is brought to the bar by the jailer, if in 

 custody ; or if out on bail, he comes of his own accord in discharge of 

 bin bail. He is then arraigned, and the trial proceeds in the same 

 manner as at the assizes. [TRIAL.] If the prisoner be found not 

 guilty, he is immediately set at liberty, unless there be some other 

 matter before the court upon which he ought to be detained. If a 

 verdict of guilty be returned, the sentence \ pronounced by the chair- 

 4uch sentence, where the amount of punishment attached to the 

 otfence is not fixed, being first determined by the opinion of the majority 

 nf the justices present. 



The sessions cannot be held without the presence of two justices, at 



lea*t ; nor can they be adjourned by one justice, though two or more 



may previously hare been present. Kvery act done as an act of 



' semions before two justice* have met, or after two have ceased to be 



present, is void. 



The crown may grant a commission of the peace not only for an 

 entire county, but also for a particular district within the county. In 

 . however, to exclude the interference of the county justices in 

 the particular district, it is necessary either to introduce into the com- 

 mission of the peace for the particular district a clause excluding the 

 jurisdiction of the county magistrate*, which is called a neintromittant 

 clause, or to grant a new commission to the county magistrates excluding 

 the particular district. If the former, which is the usual course, be 

 taken, the county magistrates may ittill hold their Kexsiong within the 

 particular district, though they can exercise no jurisdiction in respect 

 of matters arising within the district. 



Special Sfmimu. A meeting held by justices for the trans- 

 action of magisterial business arising within a particular district 

 forming a subdivision of the county or district comprised in the 

 commission of the peace, is called a petty session ; and if the meeting 

 be convened for some particular or special object, as the appointment 

 of overseen of the poor, of waywardens, of examiners of weights and 

 measures, Ac., it is called a special session. A meeting of magistrates 

 cannot legally act as a special session unless all the magistrates of 

 the particular division are present, or have had reasonable notice to 

 attend. 



The statute 12 4 13 Viet. c. 18 makes further provision for the 

 hoi, ling petty sessions in counties and boroughs, and declares that 

 every sitting and acting of justices, or of a stipendiary magistrate for a 

 city or borough, having a separate commission of the peace, shall be 

 deemed a petty sessions. The fees of justices' clerks in petty sessions 



are moreover provided for by the 11 & 12 Viet. c. 43, and 14 & 15 Viet 

 c. 55. [JUVENILE OFFENDERS ; JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.] 



Boroiujh Sessions. The Municipal Corporation Act (5 & 6 Wm. IV. 

 c. 76) directs that the recorder of any city or borough to which a sepa- 

 rate court of quarter-sessions is granted under the provisions of that 

 Act, shall be the sole judge of such court [RECORDER], leaving the 

 ordinary duties of magistrates out of sessions to be performed by the 

 justices of the peace appointed by the crown for such city or borough. 

 The recorder is required to hold a court of quarter-sessions oncein 

 every quarter of a year, or at such other and more frequent times as 

 he may think fit, or as the crown may direct. Borough quarter-sessions 

 are not, however, like county quarter-sessions, appointed to be held in 

 particular weeks. In case of sickness or unavoidable absence, the 

 recorder is authorised, with the consent of the town council, to appoint 

 a barrister of five years' standing to act as deputy recorder at the next 

 session, but no longer. In the absence of the recorder and of any 

 deputy recorder, the court may be opened and adjourned, and the 

 recognisances respited, by the mayor ; but the mayor is not authorised 

 to do any other judicial act. Where it appears to the recorder that 

 the sessions are likely to last more than three days, he may appoint an 

 " assistant-barrister " of five years' standing to hold a second court, for 

 the trial of such felonies and misdemeanors as shall be referred to him, 

 provided it has been certified to the recorder, by the mayor and two 

 aldermen, that the council have resolved that such a course is expedient, 

 and the name of the intended assistant-barrister has been approved of 

 by a secretary of state. 



Kvery burgess of a borough (or citizen of a city) having a court of 

 quarter-sessions (unless exempt or disqualified otherwise than in respect 

 of property), is liable to serve on grand and petty juries. Members of 

 the town-council, and the justices of the peace, treasurer, and town- 

 clerk of the borough, are exempt and disqualified from serving on 

 juries within the borough ; and they and all burgesses of boroughs 

 having separate quarter-sessions are exempt from liability to serve on 

 petty-juries at the county sessions. 



Under the 105th section of the Municipal Corporation Act, the 

 recorder has jurisdiction in respect of all crimes cognisable by courts of 

 quarter-session in counties ; but he is expressly restricted from making 

 or levying any rate in the nature of a county rate, or granting any 

 licence to keep an inn, &c., and from exercising any of the powers 

 vested in the town-council. Other matters required by statute to be 

 done at quarter-sessions, and not expressly transferred to the town- 

 council, devolve upon the recorder, as the appointment of inspectors of 

 weights and measures, &c. Persons imprisoned in a borough jail by 

 county magistrates, under 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 105, may be tried at the 

 borough sessions for offences committed out of the borough. 



All criminal jurisdiction which, before the passing of the Municipal 

 Corporation Act, existed in any borough to which no court of quarter- 

 sessions has since been granted, is taken away by the 107th section of 

 that Act. 



SESTE'RTIUS, a Roman coin, which originally consisted of 2J 

 ases, as the name implies, sestertius being a contraction of tcmit 

 lertiut, the third a-half, which is the Roman way of expressing two and 

 a-half. The sestertius belonged both to the brass and silver coinage ; 

 and in both it was of the same value, namely, one-fourth of the 

 denarius. This value agreed with its value in ases so long as the 

 denarius consisted of 10 ases. But at an early period the as was 

 reduced in value, and 16 ases made equal to the denarius [As], and 

 then the sestertius, its value with reference to the denarius remaining 

 the same, became of course equal to 4 ases. On Mr. Hussey's compu- 

 tation the value of the denarius after the reduction was S^rf., an<l 

 therefore the sestertius was -worth 2></. After the time of Augustus 

 the denarius was reduced to the eighth of an ounce, and was worth 

 7{d., and therefore the sestertius was worth 1J</. The sestertius of the 

 brass coinage was made of the same metal as the as. 



The Romans generally reckoned sums of money in sestertii, although 

 the coin used in making payments was commonly the denarius. Large 

 sums they reckoned by sestertia, that is, sums of a thousand sestertii. 

 It is very important to attend to the phrases used in such computa- 

 tions. The coin itself was called sestertius, or sestertius nuinmui, or 

 simply nummus. The sum of a thousand sestertii was expressed by 

 mile Mttertii, or M. teitertlum, or M. nummi, or M. nummum, or num- 

 morion, or M. testertii nummi, or M. sestertium nummum. The singular 

 sfstertium is never used for a thousand sestertii, but the plural sestertia 

 is used for all multiples of a thousand sestertii, up to a thousand ; 

 sometimes the word millia (thousands) is used instead of sestertia ; 

 mes neither word is expressed; and sometimes nummum is added. 

 Thus 600,000 sestertii, or 60U sestertia, might be expressed by any of 

 the following phrases : sescenta sestertia, sescenta miUia, sescenta alone, 

 or sescenta stsln-tia nummum. Sums of 1000 sestertia ami upwards 

 were expressed by the numeral adverbs with the termination ies, which 

 implies that the number to which it is affixed is to be multiplied by 

 100. Thus decies, undedet, dtfodecitt, vicies tricies, ti-iri, i/iiiiiquies, 

 stand respectively for 1000, 1100, 1200, 2000, 3000,3500 sestertia. 

 These forms are, however, sometimes varied. Thus Cicero (' in Verr.,' 

 :i) uses rjuatcrdecies for 1400, and deciet et octinyenla millia for 

 1800 sestertia. When two such adverbs come together, if the larger is 

 first, they must be added together ; but if the smaller is first, they 

 must be multiplied. Thus we have in a passage of Suetonius (' Aug.,' 



