ABSTRACT
This chapter returns to accommodation for the assizes and quarter sessions, picking the story up in about 1860 and taking it through to 1914. While this medieval system had proved strong and flexible enough to remain the country’s main source of formal justice well into the nineteenth century, Chapter 4 showed how by this point the traditional trial by jury was slowing down as the lawyers took a larger part in proceedings. At the same time, demographic growth and social changes were actually increasing the pressure of business, placing intolerable strain on a system which had only ever been designed to operate on a seasonal basis. The legal reform programme launched in earnest in the 1830s provided alternatives which were cheaper, quicker and more readily available, most notably the police courts and county courts examined in Chapter 5. As a result assizes and quarter sessions lost a large proportion of their business.
