Yorkshire, England, Quarter Session Records, 1637-1914

Quarter Sessions were so-called because they met four times each year. The court was presided over by the Justices of the Peace, the most important officers in local government. They had both a civil and a criminal jurisdiction, and before 1888 they also had an administrative function. Civil cases usually appear in the court’s order books and criminal cases in the indictment books. The West Riding Quarter Sessions was a peripatetic court which moved around the county. Cases for Wakefield, Halifax, Huddersfield and Bradford were heard at the West Riding Quarter Sessions. Leeds, as a large town, had its own Court of Quarter Sessions which was separate from the main county court. Due to boundary changes, some areas now covered by Leeds Metropolitan District will have been heard in the West Riding Quarter Sessions.

Quarter Sessions records for the Borough of Leeds are at West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds. Quarter Sessions records for the West Riding) are at WYAS Wakefield. Quarter Sessions were abolished in 1971.

Some of the cases may span multiple pages, so be sure to use the arrow keys to browse surrounding pages to make sure you find all the details about your ancestor.