Sheffield Magistrates' Court

MC/1 Upper Strafforth and Tickhill Division (Sheffield District) of the West Riding Magistrates Court - Registers, 1882 – 1893.

Open. All records are open to public inspection unless otherwise stated. Information in court records may be subject to access restrictions under the Data Protection Act, or may be subject to exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act. For further information please refer to a member of staff.

When Sheffield received its charter of incorporation as a borough in 1843 it did not receive its own Commission of the Peace at the same time. This was probably due to the fact that it had refused, on financial grounds, to petition for a Court of Quarter Sessions and a Recorder at the time. Thus, for the time being, magistrates acting in the town of Sheffield did so by virtue of the West Riding Commission of the Peace.

Though Sheffield was not granted its own Court of Quarter Sessions until 1880, a separate Commission of the Peace was granted in 1848. Unfortunately, the early registers for this period do not appear to have survived.

The sessions for the borough and city of Sheffield were held daily, Monday to Saturday, at the Court House, Castle Street (formerly the Town Hall).

Together with the registers for the borough and city of Sheffield there are the registers of the Upper Strafforth and Tickhill Division of the West Riding Magistrates. Their jurisdiction lay with cases arising outside the borough boundaries, yet within the Upper Strafforth and Tickhill Division (Sheffield Division). Thus, these registers deal with cases arising in Handsworth, Ecclesfield, and Bradfield etc. Sittings for this court were held separately from the borough magistrates in court No.3. The registers for the court are thus headed ''No. 3 Register''.

Section III of the Children Act 1908 had established the principle that the hearing of charges against children and young persons should be conducted in a different room or building from where the normal sessions were held, or on a different day (the object being to remove children from associating with the criminal classes). From 1917, a separate series of registers for juvenile sessions begins. The sessions were held at the Coroner's Court in Nursery Street.

The City of Sheffield Commission of the Peace ceased to exist on 1st April 1974 and was replaced by the Commission of the Peace for South Yorkshire.

The registers include the wide range of petty offences. Also included are the records of special sessions for the transfer of beerhouse and licenced victuallers licences, as well as registers of places of detention and other matters.

With regard to liquor, an Act of 1828 had consolidated the law as to the granting by justices of licences to inns, ale-houses and victualling houses. However, as far as beer was concerned, the permissive legislation of 1830 superseded the earlier Act. The 1830 Act, which had been greatly influenced by the free trade thinkers, allowed any householder to take out an excise licence. Though the hours for permitted sale were prescribed, justices were deprived of powers, except in the event of a riot, to order the closure of a beerhouse.

It was not until 1869 that pressure from the growing temperance movement affected the principle of free trade in beer. The Wine and Beerhouse Act of 1869 provided that licences for beer, cider, and wine should be granted under the 1828 Act. Thus an applicant could not obtain an excise licence until he had previously obtained a justice's licence.

An Act of 1870 continued and extended the 1869 Act, and an Act of 1872 provided that the grant of a new licence by justices must be confirmed by a standing committee of quarter sessions.

The term 'summary jurisdiction' simply means the defendant could be tried by a magistrate, without the need for a judge and jury.