Petty Sessions order books 1851-1910
The Petty Sessions order books are one of the great untapped resources for Irish genealogy. They are one of the most extensive sets of records about the general population of Ireland in the nineteenth century with many millions of cases. These court records date from 1851 to 1910.
What was the Petty Sessions Court?
These were the lowest courts in the country, which dealt with the vast bulk of lesser legal cases, civil and criminal. The Court was presided over by two or more unpaid Justices of Peace, or by a single paid (stipendiary) Magistrate. Judgements were made summarily by the JPs or Magistrate. In other words there was no jury. Each Court met daily, weekly or monthly, depending on the volume of cases to be heard. Every Court had a Clerk who kept the registers that are published here, and collected fees from those involved in cases.
This system is still in place in Northern Ireland and Britain and usually referred to as the Magistrates Court. In the Republic the courts were replaced by the District Court in 1924.
Who were the Judges?
As Justices of the Peace were unpaid they were invariably local landowners who were untrained and often more interested in their own private gain. It was for this reason that over the course of the 19th century the government slowly replaced the use of JPs with paid and trained Magistrates.
Origins and development of the Petty Sessions Court?
From the medieval period the government appointed Justices of the Peace in each county to act as judges and arbiters of legal cases that were not of the most serious nature (i.e. murder, treason, rape, insurrection, etc.). In practice the JPs set up Quarter Sessions (courts held 4 times a year) to deal with cases that had to be tried by jury or summarily (without a jury). JPs were given rights to try and convict people summarily at different dates and for different reasons from the 1500s onwards. Because of the volume of cases it was considered more efficient to deal with the lesser matters at local courts called sessions more commonly called petty sessions.
The system governing how Petty Sessions worked was only set out by statute (despite centuries of operation) in 1827 with the “Act for the better Administration of Justice at the holding of Petty Sessions by Justices of the Peace in Ireland, 2 July 1827” (7 & 8 George IV c.67). This specified that the Grand Jury in each county (the forerunners of modern county councils) should set out petty sessions districts in a formal manner. It also required proper registers to be kept, trained clerks, and regular courts. The system was overhauled again in 1851 with another act, “Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act” which sought tighter regulation of the keeping of records and meeting of courts.
What records survive?
There are very few registers which pre-date 1851, and none for Dublin city, Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown), and some other districts either because they were excluded in the 1851 act, or because the records do not survive.
Most surviving records for the Republic are held by the National Archives of Ireland. This is the source for most of the records that currently appear on this site, and will do in the future. Other records are held privately or by local libraries and we hope to include them as well. The records for Northern Ireland are either held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland or still reside in the court houses. We hope to digitise these too.
How are the records structured?
The structure of the petty sessions registers was set out by statute and includes the following columns of information for each record:
|
Column |
Description |
|
Date |
- |
|
Name of Justice(s) |
- |
|
Complainant(s) |
The person or persons who bring the charge (often police) |
|
Defendant(s) |
The person or persons charged with an offence |
|
Names of witnesses |
- |
|
Cause of Complaint |
- |
|
Particulars of order or dismissal |
The judgement |
|
Act under which order made |
The statute governing sentence |
|
When and how amount ordered to be paid |
The fine payment details |
|
Imprisonment |
Details of custodial sentence |
|
Name etc. of person receiving compensation |
If ordered by the magistrate/justice |
|
Name of defendant against whom order made |
Name of defendant sentenced |
|
Amount to be paid |
- |
|
Stamps and Signature |
Stamps for court fees and Judges signature. |
These columns cover two pages, but if there is no information in the second page it has not been captured. Between 4 and 8 cases can appear on each page.
What records are on the site now?
|
County |
Court |
Covering Dates |
|
CAVAN |
BALLINAGH |
1852-59, 1873-80, 1883-89 |
|
CAVAN |
CAVAN |
1851-58 |
|
CLARE |
CRUSHEEN |
1873-98, 1909-10 |
|
CLARE |
ENNIS |
1880, 1891-94 |
|
CORK |
AHADALLANE |
1864-65, 1884-1907 |
|
CORK |
BALLINCOLLIG |
1901-04 |
|
CORK |
CASTLETOWNBERE |
1858-1910 |
|
CORK |
FIRMOUNT |
1907-10 |
|
CORK |
KANTURK |
1902-05, 1908-10 |
|
DONEGAL |
ARDARA |
1865-77 |
|
DONEGAL |
BALLYSHANNON |
1872, 1889-1910 |
|
DONEGAL |
GLENTIES |
1852-57 |
|
DONEGAL |
STRANORLAR |
1859-69, 1873-88, 1893-96 |
|
GALWAY |
ARDRAHAN |
1859-69, 1873-88, 1893-96 |
|
GALWAY |
ATHENRY |
1859-69, 1873-88, 1893-96 |
|
GALWAY |
BALLYMOE |
1891-1906 |
|
GALWAY |
CASTLETOWN |
1861-63, 1866-71, 1878-84, 1890-97 |
|
GALWAY |
WILLIAMSTOWN |
1852-91, 1910 |
|
KILKENNY |
CASTLECOMER |
1907-10 |
|
KILKENNY |
GORESBRIDGE |
1854-1905 |
|
LEITRIM |
CARRICK-ON-SHANNON |
1879-1910 |
|
MAYO |
BALLINROBE |
1854-59, 1863-66 |
|
MAYO |
BALLYGLASS |
1875-97, 1909-10 |
|
MAYO |
BALLYHAUNIS |
1872-75 |
|
MAYO |
BALLYVARY |
1851-59 |
|
MAYO |
CASTLEBAR |
1862-65, 1869-81, 1884-86, 1888-89, 1893-95 |
|
MAYO |
CLAREMORRIS |
1881-84 |
|
MONAGHAN |
BALLYBAY |
1871-93 |
|
MONAGHAN |
CARRICKMACROSS |
1909-10 |
|
OFFALY |
FRANKFORD |
1910 |
|
OFFALY |
MONEYGALL |
1901-06 |
|
OFFALY |
THOMASTOWN |
1873-76, 1903-10 |
|
ROSCOMMON |
ATHLONE |
1859, 1890-1900 |
|
ROSCOMMON |
BALLINTOBBER |
1851-52 |
|
ROSCOMMON |
CASTLEREA |
1851-55, 1861-88, 1894-98, 1903-10 |
|
SLIGO |
BALLYMOTE |
1892-98 |
|
TIPPERARY |
CLONMEL BOROUGH |
1874-90 |
|
WATERFORD |
BALLYMACARBRY |
1880-1910 |
|
WATERFORD |
CLONMEL RURAL |
1851-60, 1868-1910 |
|
WATERFORD |
PORTLAW |
1854, 1862, 1874-1904 |
|
WESTMEATH |
ATHLONE |
1900-10 |
|
WESTMEATH |
BRAWNY, ATHLONE |
1851-53 |
|
WICKLOW |
ARKLOW |
1851-75, 1879-1910 |
|
WICKLOW |
AVOCA |
1869-79, 1883-92, 1896-1910 |
|
WICKLOW |
BRAY |
1850-55, 1858-70, 1873-4, 1878-1902 |
|
WICKLOW |
REDCROSS |
1866-69 |
The remaining records at the National Archives of Ireland will be published later this year.
Who was involved in digitising this collection?
The images were provided by Family Search from records held at the National Archives of Ireland. Indexing was carried out by IIM Inc.
Copyright of IIMI Inc and brightsolid online publishing (Ireland) Ltd. All rights reserved. Images and Index Data owned by IIMI Inc and brightsolid online publishing Ireland Ltd Images provided by and copyright (c) familysearch.org Images derived from National Archives of Ireland Petty Sessions records.
