52 George E. Hoioani, 



legislation has been to give the justices of each petty ses- 

 sional division the dignity of a "bench," with a clerk, elected 

 chairman, and court-house of their own.^ 



The petty sessions, as already seen, are the principal tribu- 

 nals invested with summary jurisdiction ; and by them also 

 are most frequently conducted the preliminary examinations. 

 In a few instances they possess a genuine civil competence,^ 



Another important branch of the justices' authority in 

 petty and special sessions is their appointing or supervising 

 power. Thus by the great poor law of 43 Elizabeth, it was 

 provided that the overseers of the poor for each parish should 

 be nominated, or more properly, confirmed, by two or more 

 justices in an Easter session.-^ They are now appointed by 

 the same body from a vestry list agreed to by the inhabitants.'* 

 So, too, by an act of 1842, the nomination of parish constables 

 was placed in the hands of the special sessions ;^ and the petty 

 sessions may confirm the appointment of the inferior county 

 constables created by the act of 1856.^ Examiners of meas- 

 ures and overseers of highways were also formerly nominated 

 in special sessions." 



Finally, the petty sessions have been entrusted with a great 

 deal of important administrative business. Among the func- 

 tions of this character, as historically developed, perhaps the 

 most important are the granting of licenses for the retail of 

 liquors and for the establishment of theatres and billiard halls, 



1 Maitland, Justice and Police, 89. 



2 " It (the court) can give a civil remedy in a dispute between employer and 

 workman, within a ;i^io limit; a seaman's wages if less than ^50, water rates, 

 gas rents, cab fares, can be recovered before it. Orders directing men to pay 

 money for the support of their illegitimate children (bastardy orders) are a staple 

 commodity of Petty Sessions " : Maitland, Jtistice and Police, 90. 



^ NichoUs, Hist, of the Eng. Poor Laiv, I, 194; Gneist, II, 644 ff.; Toulmin 

 Smith, The Parish, 149-51. 



* 54 George III, c. 91. Cf. Pulling, Handbook for County Authorities, 69. 



8 Statutes at Large, LXXXII, p. 961. Cf. Toulmin Smith, The Parish, 125 ff.; 

 Maitland, Justice and Police, 107. But already for ages, in some places, petty 

 and high constables were appointed by the justices in petty sessions : Burn, Jus- 

 tice of the Peace, 155. 



'' Maitland, Justice and Police, iii. " Gneist, II, 341. 



286 



