jurisdiction with respect to the extinction of licences to sell intoxicants, and jointly with the county councils over the county police, and as to closing highways, and also powers as to fixing the petty sessional divisions of their county.
Appellate.—Theoretically quarter sessions have original jurisdiction in any matter as to which two justices have jurisdiction, unless the statute giving the jurisdiction gives an appeal to quarter sessions as a result of this rule. Most of the civil jurisdiction of quarter sessions is now appellate, 'i.e. with reference to orders made by justices out of quarter sessions as to the settlement and removal of paupers, or under the Highway, Licensing and Bastardy Acts, or as to appeals against assessments or rating. The procedure as to each form of appeal depends partly on the statute by which it is given and partly on the general provisions of the Summary Jurisdiction Acts 1879 and 1884. In substance their only original jurisdiction in civil or quasi-civil matters is now in cases of apprenticeship (5 Eliz. c. 4) and articles of the peace (1 Edw. III. st. 2, c. 16).
Appeal from Quarter Sessions.—There is no appeal properly so called from quarter sessions to the High Court either on facts or law. But decisions on law may be reviewed by the High Court (king's bench division) by means of certiorari, mandamus or prohibition; convictions on indictment before courts of quarter sessions are within the provisions of the Criminal Appeal Act 1907 (see Appeal), except convictions on indictments for obstruction or non»repair of a public bridge, highway or river, from which an appeal lies to the court of appeal in the same way as in the case of civil actions tried at assizes. Quarter sessions have also power to reserve a special case for the High Court on conviction or indictment (Crown Cases Act 1848), and also in other cases to consult the High Court by special case stated under the commission or under the Quarter Sessions Act 1849. Questions of law alone can be referred by special case, and there is no means of compelling the court to state a case. The procedure as to cases not within the acts of 1848, 1849 and 1907 is regulated by the Crown Ofhce Rules of 1906, and s. 2 of the judicature Act 1894, which gives the High Court certain powers of drawing inferences of fact from the evidence taken in the court below.
Scotland.—Justices of the peace were established in Scotland by act of 1587, c. 82, and quarter sessions by act of 1661, c. 338 (I2mo edition, c. 38), which directs that the justices of peace in each respective-shire shall meet and convene together four times in the year, on the first Tuesday of March, May and August, and the last Tuesday of October, to administer justice to the people on things that are within their jurisdiction, and punish the guilty for faults and crimes done and committed in the preceding quarter. The obsolete details in this act were repealed in 1906, but the power of requiring law burrows, i.e. sureties to keep the peace, is preserved. By the Union with Scotland Amendment Act 1707 provision was made for appointing justices of the peace in shires, stewartries and burghs in Scotland: and the justices to be appointed are given authority to exercise whatever doth appertain to the office and court of a justice of peace by virtue of the laws and acts of parliament made in England before the Union in relation to and for the preservation of the public peace. “Provided that in the sessions of the peace the methods of trial and judgments shall be according to the law of Scotland.” The quarter sessions do not sit for the trial of indictments, but have powers of reviewing the decisions of justices in petty sessions (see Summary Jurisdiction). This power extends, inter alia, to revenue cases and cases under the Pawnbrokers Acts. Their jurisdiction as to the grant and refusal of liquor licences was taken away by the Licensing Scotland Act 1903, but they still have appellate jurisdiction as to offences under the Licensing Acts, ss. 101–103. An appeal lies to the Circuit Court of justiciary unless the statute under which they act otherwise provides. In criminal matters their functions are not considerable, most of the work done by justices in England being in Scotland dealt with by the sheriff or his substitutes, or by stipendiaries in the great cities. Their decisions in criminal cases are reviewable by the Court of justiciary and in revenue cases by the court of exchequer. Their original jurisdiction is very limited and almost wholly civil. Thus they have power to divide a county and to make rules for the purposes of the justices of the Peace Small Debts Acts 1825 and 1849.
Ireland.—In Irish municipal boroughs a court of quarter sessions may be granted and a recorder appointed under an act of 1840. In the case of Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Londonderry and Galway, the office of recorder may be united with that of chairman of quarter sessions for the adjoining county. The general criminal jurisdiction of the quarter sessions has the same origin and is on the same lines as in England; but the limitations imposed as to offences which may be tried are not so narrow as in England. The sessions, &c., are regulated in the main by an act of 1851. The appellate jurisdiction rests on different statutes from those applicable to England, but is on the same lines (see 14 & 15 Vict. c. 93; 40 & 41 Vict. c. 56). In Ireland quarter sessions courts are held before a salaried officer once styled the assistant barrister and now chairman, who is usually also judge of a civil bill court (the Irish county court), or recorder of a neighbouring city or borough. The appointment and tenure of office of the chairman is regulated by statutes dating from 1851 to 1889. The jurisdiction of the court is not limited by the Quarter Sessions Act 1842.
India.—In India courts of record were established in Madras and Bombay, originally styled mayors’ courts and subsequently made recorders’ courts, with a jurisdiction corresponding as to criminal matters to that of a borough court of quarter sessions in England. Throughout India there are under the Criminal Procedure Code of 1898 courts of sessions in each province for the purpose of criminal jurisdiction, which take the place of assizes and quarter sessions in England. They are under the supervision of the High Courts; but can try and sentence for any crime, subject as to sentences of death to confirmation by the High Court.
Canada.—In Canada courts of general quarter sessions exist in some provinces, e.g. Quebec. In New Brunswick they are replaced by the county court. Their jurisdiction to try indictable offences is defined by Part 42 of the Criminal Code 1892.
Australia.—In Queensland the place of quarter sessions is taken by the district courts, which have a criminal jurisdiction substantially the same as that of the English court of quarter sessions (31 Vict. No. 30, s. 117). In New South Wales quarter sessions continue. In Victoria a court of general sessions has been created by statute with powers closely resembling those of the English court of quarter sessions (re Dunn, 1906, Victoria State Rep. 493).
United States.—Courts of quarter sessions exist in many of the states; their jurisdiction is determined by state legislation, and extends as a rule only to the less grave crimes. They are in most, if not all, states held before professional judges. (W. F. C.)
QUARTER-STAFF, a staff of wood from 6 to 9 ft. in length, used as a means of attack and defence; originally no doubt it was the cudgel or sapling with which many heroes are described by early writers as being armed. The quarter-staff attained great popularity in England in the middle ages. It was usually made of oak, the ends often shod with iron, and it was held with both hands, the right hand grasping it one quarter of the distance
from the lower end (whence the name) and the left at about the middle.
Egerton Castle (Schools and Masters of Fence) says that the staff was the “foil,” or practice-substitute for the long sword, or two-hander. In earlier times it may also have been used as a practice Weapon for the spear and bill. In the prints illustrative of the life of Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (1382–1459), reproduced in Joseph Strutt’s Manners, Customs, Arms, Habits, &c. of the Inhabitants of England, may be seen a combat between two knights after they have splintered their lances and dismounted, in which both are fighting with pointed staves about as long as a quarter-staff and held in the same manner. In the 17th century the staff was still popular in England.
At the present time the quarter-staff is used to a limited extent in military circles as a school for bayonet play. It is somewhat lighter than the old weapon, being usually made of bamboo and about 8 ft. long. Sabre-masks, gloves, padded jackets and shin-guards are worn. Another kind of staff, called by Captain A. Hutton (Cold Steel) the Great Stick, about 5 ft. long and made of stout rattan, is used in the French and Italian armies in general gymnastic exercises and as a school for bayonet play. The Italian method rather resembles that of the old two-handed sword, while the French approaches more closely to English quarter-staff play.
See Quarter-Staff, by T. A. McCarthy (London, 1883); Broadsword and Singlestick, by R. G. Allanson-Winn and C. Phillips-Wolley (London, 1898).
QUARTO, a shortened form of Lat. in quarto, “in a fourth,” i.e. of a sheet of paper, applied to a size of paper, and to a size
of a printed volume. Paper is in quarto when a whole single sheet
is folded twice so as to form four leaves; a book is technically
termed of “quarto” size when made up of sheets folded twice.
QUARTZ, a widely distributed mineral species, consisting of silicon dioxide, or silica (SiO2). It is the commonest of minerals, and is met with in a great variety of forms and with very diverse modes of occurrence. The various forms of silica have attracted attention from the earliest times, and the water-clear crystallized variety was known to the Greeks as κρύσταλλος (clear ice), being supposed by them to have
been formed from water by the intense cold of the Alps; hence the name “crystal,” or more commonly rock-crystal, applied to this variety. The name quartz is an old German word of uncertain origin: it was used by G. Agricola in 1529.
