petty sessions are on summonses issued against the defendants by the magistrates. Only in the more serious cases, or in the case of persons without settled habitations do the defendants come before the court in custody. People of settled abode are pro ceeded against by summons. This is so with nearly all cases under the licensing laws, the highway laws, and the poor laws; and comparatively few defendants in such cases fail to appear on summons. If they do fail, the bench issues warrants for their arrest. Procedure in this way adds largely to the costs. People who get into trouble know this, and are generally on hand to respond to the summons when the case is called in petty sessions. There is usually a full attendance of law yers at petty sessions. Business in these courts is almost exclusively in the hands of solicitors, although occasionally, in cases under the licensing laws or under the labor code a barrister is retained. Even in triv ial cases, solicitors are frequently retained beforehand; and at most of the petty ses sional courts, lawyers habitually attend on the off-chance of picking up cases, and are ready to defend a drunken and disorderly
case, or dispute a paternity order for a halfguinea fee. One feature about these county petty ses sional courts could not fail to impress an American visitor. There is nearly as much decorum in a petty sessional court, even if it is held in the assembly room of a country hotel, as there is at quarter sessions or assizes. The policemen who have cases to come before the court are stationed at the outer and inner doors, and in the aisles of the court room, and they promptly check any tendency to any levity of behavior. The magistrates' clerk usually wears his gown; and he administers the oath to wit nesses in a highway case with as much seriousness as in an assize court. Rules of procedure are much the same as in the higher criminal courts, as regards evidence and cross-examination; and generally the whole proceeding has an impressiveness which is not lost, either on the delinquents who are appearing before the magistrates, or on the spectators. It is only necessary to sit through a petty session to realize how much of the good order and respect for law which characterize English rural life is due to the county magistracy and the county police.
