Adjourn - Postpone the case to a later session. Please note that additional 'Adjourned Sessions' were held in a quarter when business demanded
Affirmation - A solemn undertaking by people who object to taking an oath on conscientious grounds
Appellant - One appealing to the Court against a decision
Assizes - Court sessions held in front of a judge and jury to try the most serious crimes (originally those such as murder that carried a potential death sentence)
Bail - An accused person could be allowed to remain out in the community on bail (often on payment of a surety). Rare in the 19th century: most of those charged were sent to the gaol or house of correction to await trial
Bridewell - Former name for a house of correction
Bill of Indictment - Initial accusation before the Court
Certiori - An order where a decision by a lower court is referred to a higher court (such as the Kings Bench) for review
Dismiss (a case or appeal) - To reject further hearing
Easter session - Held in the second quarter of legal year April-June (Easter being a movable date in late March or April)
Epiphany session - Held in the first quarter of legal year January-March (originally from the feast of epiphany on January 6th)
Estreat - (Noun) Record of Court fines etc or the fines themselves. (Verb) to take a record of a recognizance for the Court to prosecute
Felony - A serious crime, worse than a misdemeanour and originally potentially carrying the death sentence and therefore tried at Assizes. (Please note that the clerk recording money orders in the QS minutes often writes 'felony' even where the charge was in fact petty larceny.)
Feoffee - A trustee on a board holding land or money for charitable or other purposes
Filiation order - A Deed of filiation admitted parental responsibility for an illegitimate child. The man (usually) agreed to pay the parish regular maintenance whilst the child was chargeable
Fine - Money paid to the court. (Used surprisingly seldom in 19th-century cases)
House of Correction - A county prison originally intended for lesser offenders: vagrants, beggars and prostitutes. It attempted to reform them through hard labour etc. However, the Court appears to have used it interchangeably with the Gaol when sentencing offenders
Hundred - An administrative division of the county: originally 100 hides (1 hide = 120 acres)
Kings Bench - A division of the High Court to which cases could be referred for review (by a writ of certiori)
Indictment [Bill of] - Accusation or charge
Impremacy [oath of] - People taking up public or church office had to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church of England. A Catholic Relief Act was passed in 1829.
Larceny - Or grand larceny : theft of goods worth more than 12d. This was a felony (a capital offence) and originally tried at the Assizes. (Petty Larceny - theft of goods worth less than 12d - was tried at the Quarter Sessions. This distinction was abolished in 1827.)
Liberates - A writ for seizure of a surety when a recognizance was forfeit or for delivering a prisoner on bail
Michaelmas (session) - The final quarter of the legal year October-December (Michaelmas or St Michael's day fell on September 29th)
Midsummer (session) - The third quarter of the legal year July-September (Midsummer day being June 21st).
Militia - Local force of volunteer soldiers (as opposed to professional soldiers)
Misdemeanour - A minor crime (less serious than a felony) such as disorderly behaviour; usually tried at Petty Sessions
Nisi Prius [Court of] - The trial of civil cases locally by assize judges (rather than centrally in Westminster); literally the Latin for 'unless previously'. Also used for court business of this nature
No Bill - No bill of indictment (so the accused was discharged)
Ordinary - Chaplain at the gaol and house of correction
Penal servitude - Imprisonment with hard labour. The term was sometimes used to mean transportation up until the middle of the 19th century. From the 1850s onwards (after transportation ceased) Penal Servitude meant imprisonment in a tough prison (eg Wandsworth or Parkhurst)
Petty Sessions - Courts held locally in front of 2 magistrates to try minor crimes
Pillory - A cage exposing the prisoner to public condemnation
Pound (animal) - A small enclosure for keeping stray animals in (also called a Pinfold)
Precept - A written warrant from a magistrate
Propited - Proposed
Proclamation - A prisoner 'discharged by proclamation' was released without trial (perhaps for lack of evidence) but could be recalled to face a charge in future
Quarter Sessions - Courts held quarterly in front of magistrates and a jury to try felonies and other moderately serious crimes
Quash (a case or appeal) - To annul or reject as invalid (applied to a previous decision)
Queen's Bench - A division of the High Court to which cases could be referred for review (by a writ of certiori)
Quorum - Originally specially qualified judges who needed to be present at the Assizes, but later any justices of the peace
Recognizance - (a) A bond or obligation recorded by the court to do something: for example appear in court, pay a debt or keep the peace. (b) the sum of money agreed as surety (similar to a bail bond)
Reformatory - An early form of Young Offenders Institution where juveniles were sent in an attempt to reform them through work rather than sending them to prison
Removal Order - An order to send someone to their place of settlement
Respited - Adjourned, delayed (usually to the next Quarter Session)
Respondent - The person responding to an appeal
Settlement - The place responsible for maintaining a person if they fell on hard times. Settlement was obtained either through birth, apprenticeship or working for a year somewhere. This principle lasted from the 17th century until the new Poor Law Act of 1834
Sheriff - The county representative of the Crown responsible for keeping prisoners, summoning jurors, executing writs and attending judges at the Assizes etc
Surety - A person who promised to repay a bond or recognizance or ensure the proper performance of duties
Transportation - Banishment to a penal settlement (usually in Australia); this ceased in 1868
Turnkey - Gaoler
Turnpike - A toll road (or the barrier at which tolls were collected on such a road) in the 18th and 19th centuries
