R.Towner
Early C17 Criminal Courts and Justice in Hampshire
Criminal cases in Hampshire were dealt with by the Quarter Sessions and the Assizes. Both sat in Winchester, normally at The Castle. The Quarter Sessions met four times a year around the Quarter Days and were presided over by the local Justices of the Peace (JPs). Assizes met twice yearly during Lent and at Midsummer, (with the summer Quarter Sessions being held immediately before the Assizes). The Assizes were presided over by two professional Judges appointed from London who completed a ‘circuit’ around a number of Counties. Hampshire was part of the Western circuit.
In 1639 and 1640 the two Judges presiding over the Assizes in Winchester were Sir Francis Crawley and Sir John Bramston. Unless you were unfortunate enough to have appeared in front of the court, you would be unlikely to know the names of the judges who were changed quite frequently.
The Justices sitting at the Quarter Sessions starting on 19 April 1642 were:
Richard Dillington, Baronet Henry Clerke William Kingswell
Richard Norton Richard Goddard Edward Hooper
Thomas Brooke John Hooke John Kempe
Thomas Chandler
Although all the County’s JPs were required to attend each Quarter Sessions, this did not often happen and through the C17 attendance varied between four and more than twenty. The court’s business lasted up to three days and covered both criminal and civil cases.
In 1646 a case was heard at the Quarter Sessions where the parish of Rowner challenged the rating and taxation that were assessed at the same rate as Titchfield and Wickham who had a value of sixteen times that of Rowner. The court asked that Richard Norton of Southwick, Edward Hooper, Henry Broomfield, Richard Mayor, and Thomas Botsworth Holder (all Justices) should investigate the case and come to a decision. It would seem likely that they were chosen for their local knowledge and are therefore from our local area. Justices were sometimes appointed for short terms but in this case both Norton and Hooper were at the court in Winchester in 1642 and Broomfield also appeared at earlier courts and we can therefore assume that at least these three were local Justices during our period.
The boroughs of Southampton, Winchester, Portsmouth, Andover, Basingstoke and Reading all held their own Quarter Sessions and were jealous of their jurisdiction. On occasions the judges at the Assizes were asked to decide on matters between the County and the Borough jurisdiction. A suspect in Rowner would be sent for trial at Winchester: only crimes committed in Portsmouth (effectively Portsea Island) would be tried in Portsmouth. Even then, serious crimes would be sent for trial at the Assizes in Winchester. Southampton was the only borough court that set itself above the jurisdiction of the county assizes. Our local Leet court did not deal with criminal cases.
When a crime was detected, it was up to the victim to find the perpetrator. If the criminal was apprehended in the act the victim had to inform the constable who then had to raise a hue and cry. By our time the hue and cry had degenerated into the constable sending a message to the next parish rather than conducting a parish wide search for a miscreant long gone. The constable would only be involved when the victim had identified a suspect and either wanted them arrested or to have their house searched which the constable was entitled to do. After questioning, the suspect would be escorted by the constable to the nearest Justice. After further questions the suspect might be dismissed, taken to the house of correction or sent home to await trial.
In all cases a Grand Jury would be summoned immediately before the court hearing and after listening to the prosecution case would decide whether the trial should proceed. The Grand Jury consisted of between 12 and 20 men, normally of good social standing and might even include some Justices.
When the suspect was sent to trial a Petty Jury of 12 men would hear the case in front of the Justice or Judge depending on the court. All the business of the court was conducted before the jury announced any of its verdicts for the session. Although two or three cases consecutively would be normal, at the Sussex Assizes eleven were once heard consecutively before the jury announced its verdicts!
If found guilty of a criminal offence at the quarter sessions, whipping, branding or short terms of imprisonment in the county gaol would be normal. After being found guilty at the Assizes hanging was likely for most crimes. Only after being found guilty could a criminal claim right of clergy or plead her belly. i.e. being pregnant.
Sources
HRO Q1/2 Quarter Session Order Book
S.J.Richmond ‘The work of the Justices of the Peace in Hampshire 1603-1642 (Southampton University M.Phil thesis,1969)
J.S.Furley ‘Quarter Sessions Government in Hampshire in the Seventeenth Century’ (Winchester, 1937)
C.B.Herrup ‘The Common Peace: Participation and the Criminal Law in C17 England’ (Cambridge University Press 1987)