The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire. They generally sat in the seat of each county and county borough.

Quarter Sessions were abolished in England and Wales in 1972, when the Courts Act 1971 replaced them together with the Courts of Assize (Assizes) with a single permanent Crown Court of England and Wales. They were abolished in Scotland in 1975 and replaced with District Courts and subsequently Justice of the Peace Courts.

The Quarter Sessions were named after the four annual meetings they held in England and Wales from 1388. These days were later settled as Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer (The Translation of St. Thomas)^[1] and Michaelmas sessions.

Reputation[link]

Bentley notes in English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century that "the reputation of such courts remained consistently bad throughout the century" due to failure by chairmen to take proper note of evidence, display of open bias against prisoners, and the severity of sentences compared to the Assizes. Chairmen of county sessions did not have to be legally qualified.

Jurisdiction[link]

The Quarter Sessions generally heard crimes that could not be tried summarily by the justices of the peace without a jury in petty sessions, which were sent up by the process of indictment to be heard in Quarter Sessions.

The Quarter Sessions did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes, most notably those subject to capital punishment or later life imprisonment. These crimes were sent for trial at the periodic Assizes.

Staff[link]

The Quarter Sessions in each county were made up of two or more justice of the peace, presided over by a chairman, who sat with a jury. County boroughs entitled to their own Quarter Sessions had a single Recorder instead of a bench of justices.

Every Quarter Sessions had a clerk called the clerk of the peace. For county Quarter Sessions, this person was appointed by the custos rotulorum of the county – the Justice of the Peace for the county charged with custody of its rolls and records. There was a large fee income for the clerk, and he was usually a friend or relative of the custos. The clerk rarely discharged the duties of the office himself, but appointed a solicitor to act as his deputy in return for a share of the fees. After 1852, payment by salary was gradually brought in instead of fees.

In some counties there were multiple Quarter Sessions, quite apart from the urban areas: for example, Yorkshire had its North Riding, West Riding, and East Riding; whilst Northamptonshire's Soke of Peterborough was administered separately. These divisions were carried on to the administrative counties that county councils covered.

Civil jurisdiction[link]

The Quarter Sessions also had some limited civil jurisdiction, and until the Local Government Act 1888 created elected county councils, also had important administrative functions in their respective counties.

Much of the court's administrative business was delegated to committees of magistrates, who had specific responsibilities. Most of these administrative functions were transferred to county councils when they were established in 1888.

These functions included:

• Repair of roads and bridges
• Highway diversions
• Construction and maintenance of county buildings
• Administration of the county gaol (jails)
• Supervision of public and private lunatic asylums
• Supervision of petty sessions
• Licensing of public houses
• Supervision of the English Poor Laws (pre-1834)
• The county militia
• The police
• Setting county rates

Changes[link]

The following Quarter Sessions were abolished by the Justices of the Peace Act 1949 on 1 October 1951.

• Berwick-upon-Tweed
• Bideford
• Bridgnorth
• Carmarthen
• Chichester
• Faversham
• Haverfordwest
• Hythe
• Ludlow
• Maldon
• Oswestry
• Richmond
• Liberty of Ripon
• Rye
• Saffron Walden
• Sandwich
• South Molton
• Stamford
• Sudbury
• Tenterden
• Thetford
• Tiverton
• Warwick
• Wenlock

It also saw a separate Quarter Sessions set up for the Isle of Wight.

Scotland[link]

Quarter Sessions were established in Scotland by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1661 (cap. 38), which directed justices of the peace to meet together in each county on the first Tuesday of March, May and August, and the last Tuesday of October.^[2] Often Quarter Sessions were delayed, in which case they met as General Sessions.^[3] Quarter Sessions were abolished alongside other local courts by the District Courts (Scotland) Act 1975, which moved justices of the peace to sitting in a uniform series of District Courts, since replaced by Justice of the Peace Courts.

Quarter Session Courts in Ireland[link]

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The Dublin Quarter Sessions Court had cognizance of all crimes committed within the city's boundaries except treason. There were Quarter Sessions Courts elsewhere in Ireland in Cork, Limerick, Derry, Kilkenny, Waterford, Galway, Carrickfergus, Kinsale, and Youghal. The recorder of the court sat alone. The Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 abolished many city and borough courts, but Dublin, Galway and Carrickfergus retained their courts of Quarter Sessions.

In 1867, the Attorney-General for Ireland, Hedges Eyre Chatterton, issued guidelines to regulate which cases ought to be tried at tried at assizes rather than quarter sessions: treason, murder, treason felony, rape, perjury, assault with intent to murder, party processions, election riots, and all offences of a political or insurrectionary character.^[4]

Quarter Sessions were abolished in the Irish Free State under the Courts of Justice Act 1924.^[5] Their jurisdiction (together with that of the Assizes and the County Court) was largely transferred to the Circuit Court.

Courts of Quarter Sessions in Upper Canada[link]

A Court of Quarter Sessions was held four times a year in each district to oversee the administration of the district and deal with legal cases in the Province of Upper Canada (later Province of Canada West after 1841). It was created in 1788 and remained in effect until 1849 when local governments and courts were assigned to county governments to replace the district system created in the 1780s.

List of Quarter Session courts in Upper Canada and later in Canada West:

• Lunenburgh District 1788–1792 – sat at New Johnstown (present day Cornwall, Ontario)
  • Eastern District, Upper Canada 1792–1849
    • Johnstown District, Upper Canada 1798–1849 – carved out from Eastern District
      • Bathurst District 1822–1849 – carved out from Johnstown District
        • Dalhousie District 1838–1849

• Mecklenburg Distrcit 1788–1792 – sat at Kingston (now Kingston, Ontario)
  • Midland District, Upper Canada 1792–1849
    • Prince Edward District, Upper Canada 1831
    • Victoria District, Upper Canada 1837

• Nassau District 1788–1792 – sat at Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and later at York, Upper Canada (later Toronto)
  • Home District 1792–1849
    • Niagara District 1798–1849
    • Gore District, Upper Canada 1816–1849
      • Wellington District 1838–1849
    • Simcoe District, Upper Canada 1837

• Hesse District 1788–1792 – sat at Sandwich (now Windsor, Ontario)
  • Western District, Upper Canada 1792–1849
    • London District, Upper Canada 1798–1849
      • Brock District, Upper Canada and Talbot District, Upper Canada 1837–1849
      • Huron District, Upper Canada 1838–1849

Other colonial administrations[link]

Quarter Sessions were also held in the colony of New South Wales. They also existed in North American colonies, sometimes known as Courts of General Sessions, and were held in Pennsylvania until the constitution of that Commonwealth was rewritten in 1968 and the courts' jurisdiction was placed under the pre-existing Courts of Common Pleas in each county, and in New York until a similar reform. In India and Malaysia, the Quarter Sessions have evolved into permanent Sessions courts.

References[link]

Edgar Meyer
Meyer with his double bass.
Background information
Born	(1960-11-24) November 24, 1960 (age 51)
Origin	Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Classical Bluegrass Progressive bluegrass Jazz, World music
Occupations	Musician Composer
Instruments	Double Bass Piano Guitar Banjo Violin Mandolin Dobro
Labels	Sony Deutsche Grammophon Sugar Hill
Associated acts	Nickel Creek, Strength In Numbers
Website	edgarmeyer.com

Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is a prominent contemporary bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber groups, a composer, and an arranger. His collaborators have spanned a wide range of musical styles and talents; among them are Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Sam Bush, James Taylor, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor, Alison Krauss, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and the trio Nickel Creek.

Biography[link]

Meyer grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He learned to play the double bass from his father, the late Edgar Meyer, Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the local public school system. Meyer later went on to Indiana University to study with Stuart Sankey.^[1]

Meyer is noted for achieving virtuosity on an instrument of unusual technical difficulty. Following in the footsteps of other bass players like Gary Karr and Mark Bernat before him, he has tried a hand at performing music originally composed for other instruments, such as Bach's unaccompanied cello suites.

Meyer has also composed a number of works, including two double bass concertos, a string quintet, a double concerto for bass and cello, and a violin concerto in 1999 composed specifically for Hilary Hahn.

In 2000, he won the Avery Fisher Prize, given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement. In 2002, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Meyer's collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor on the widely acclaimed Sony Classical disc Appalachia Waltz reached the top of the United States pop charts for 16 weeks when it was released. Meyer collaborated again with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor on Appalachian Journey, that earned a Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album.^[2]

On Meyer's self-titled 2006 Sony Classical release, he performs accompanied only by himself on a wide variety of instruments besides his usual piano and double bass, including guitar, banjo, viola da gamba, mandolin and dobro.

Meyer is Adjunct Associate Professor of Double Bass at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, as well as at the Curtis Institute.^[3]

Discography[link]

Solo work

• Unfolding (1986)
• Dreams of Flight (1987)
• Work in Progress (1990)
• Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double Bass (2000)
• Meyer and Bottesini Concertos (2002)
• Edgar Meyer (2006)

With Jerry Douglas and Russ Barenberg

• Skip, Hop, and Wobble (1993)

With Béla Fleck and Mike Marshall

• Uncommon Ritual (1997)

With Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor

• Appalachia Waltz (1997)
• Appalachian Journey (2000)
  • Won Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album

With Joshua Bell

• Short Trip Home (1999)
  • Grammy nominated

With David Grisman

• Dawg Duos (1999)

With Béla Fleck

• Perpetual Motion (2001)
  • Won two Grammys
• B Song (Live at Bonnaroo 2002)
• Music for Two (2004)

With Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain

• The Melody of Rhythm - Triple Concerto & Music for Trio (2009)

With Chris Thile

• Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile (2008)

With Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Rebeca Young, and Yo-Yo Ma

• Schubert: Quintet, Op. 114 "The Trout" (1996)

With Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan and Chris Thile

• The Goat Rodeo Sessions (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Meyer Homepage
• Edgar Meyer @ Boosey & Hawkes
• Full Biography

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

Chris Thile
Background information
Born	(1981-02-20) February 20, 1981 (age 31) Oceanside, California, United States[1][2]
Origin	United States
Genres	Bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, folk, country, classical, jazz
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, banjo, guitar, tenor guitar, drums, sitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, vocals
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Sugar Hill (1994–2007) Nonesuch (2007–Present)
Associated acts	Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers, Mutual Admiration Society, Mike Marshall, Edgar Meyer, The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Website	christhile.com
Notable instruments
Gibson Lloyd Loar F5 Mandolin (serial number 75316),[3] Lynn Dudenbostel F5 Mandolin #5 and #14,[4] Lawrence Smart mandola,[4] Flatiron bouzouki[4]

Christopher Scott Thile ( /ˈθiːliː/ THEE-lee; born February 20, 1981) is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek.^[5][6]

Biography[link]

The three members of Nickel Creek met in Carlsbad, California at That Pizza Place in 1989, listening to weekly bluegrass shows with their parents. Soon they were taking lessons and then playing festivals, and even recording albums. Their first, Little Cowpoke, was released in 1994. Nickel Creek has gone on to record several more albums, including their self-titled debut album and This Side, which went platinum and won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2005, Nickel Creek released Why Should the Fire Die?, which received massive critical acclaim and sold 250,000 units.

Thile has released other solo albums, including Not All Who Wander Are Lost, released in 2001, and Deceiver in 2004 (in which he wrote, composed, sang, and played every part). In 2008, Thile released a collaboration album with bassist Edgar Meyer, and also plans to release a collaborative album with Hilary Hahn.^[7][8]

History[link]

1981-1999: Early life and career[link]

Thile was born in Oceanside, California in 1981. His earliest memories of music are listening to Stan Getz's recording of "The Girl from Ipanema" before he even turned one year old. When he was two, his family started going to That Pizza Place, where he listened to John Moore's band Bluegrass Etc. When Thile was four, his family moved to Idyllwild, California.

Thile began playing the mandolin at the age of five, taking occasional lessons from John Moore. At age eight, Thile's family and the Watkins family formed Nickel Creek. The band performed at many California bluegrass festivals, and as a result Chris had to be home-schooled. At age twelve, he won the national mandolin championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.

That same year, 1993, Thile made a demo tape and sent it to the Sugar Hill and Rounder record labels. Both labels showed interest, but the Thiles went with Sugar Hill.^[9] The next year Chris Thile released his first solo album, Leading Off, featuring mostly original compositions.

In 1995, the Thile family moved to Murray, Kentucky where Chris' father Scott Thile accepted a position at Murray State University as a musical instrument technician.^[10][11] In 1997, Chris released Stealing Second and Nickel Creek released Here to There. Chris went on to attend Murray State University for a few semesters, where he was a music major.^[12]

[edit] 2000-2005: Wander and Deceiver

Following the major success and platinum accreditation of the album Nickel Creek, Thile released Not All Who Wander Are Lost in 2001. The album featured guest appearances from several well-known instrumentalists such as Stuart Duncan, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas, and Bryan Sutton.

In 2003, Thile teamed up with mandolinist Mike Marshall for the duet album Into the Cauldron, which included original pieces as well as pieces by Charlie Parker and J. S. Bach. Also in 2003, Thile joined Mark O'Connor for his double CD set "Thirty-Year Retrospective" which was nominated for a Grammy. In 2004, Thile released Deceiver, an experimental album on which he recorded every track himself. This included electric guitar, piano, drums, violin, viola, cello, and bass. Deceiver demonstrated some pop/rock songwriting in addition to "newgrass."

2006-Present: Punch Brothers and Edgar Meyer project[link]

In August 2006, Nickel Creek announced that at the end of the year they would no longer be recording together as a group, and their tour scheduled through 2007 would be their last for an indefinite period of time.^{[citation needed]}

Thile was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.^[13]

In 2006, Thile formed the How to Grow a Band, with whom he recorded How to Grow a Woman from the Ground, Thile's fifth album. In an interview with the Nashville City Paper, Thile described the formation of the band:

Sara Watkins with Thile on Nickel Creek's Farewell (For Now) Tour in April 2007.

We got together one night just to drop a ton of money, drink too much wine, eat steaks, and commiserate about our failed relationships. We had gotten to play together a few days before and we had said that we needed to do something musical together. With our hearts smashed to pieces, it became more urgent — our lives had gone the same way for so long. I knew I wanted to have a band with Gabe [Witcher], but I didn’t know if it would be a rock ensemble, an ambitious acoustic classical thing or a bluegrass group. We played, and there was a serious, instantaneous connection. Then I knew I wanted to put together a bluegrass band — one with a lot of range, but aesthetically a bluegrass band.^[14]

The band consisted of Chris Thile (mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Chris Eldridge (guitar), Greg Garrison (bass), and Noam Pikelny (banjo). Bryan Sutton has also filled in on guitar when necessary while Eldridge played out commitments to The Infamous Stringdusters. In 2007, the band officially changed its name first to "The Tensions Mountain Boys" and then "Punch Brothers."

On March 17, 2007, at Carnegie Hall, this group debuted Thile's ambitious "The Blind Leaving the Blind", a 40-minute suite in four movements that Thile said^[where?] was written in part to deal with his 2004 divorce.

Punch Brothers released its first album, Punch, February 26, 2008, on Nonesuch Records. The album featured Thile's suite "The Blind Leaving the Blind", as well as other original songs.^[8]

To promote Punch, Thile and Punch Brothers planned a year-long tour in 2008, as well as a February 29 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.^[15] In late 2008, Paul Kowert replaced Garrison on bass. Punch Brothers released Antifogmatic on February 15, 2010, and continued to tour. On November 5, 2010, the band performed "Rye Whiskey" on The Late Show With David Letterman with Steve Martin guesting on banjo.

In August 2008, Thile and bassist Edgar Meyer announced the release date of the duo's planned debut album. The album was released on Thile's label Nonesuch Records on September 23, 2008.^[16] Commenting on the collaboration, Thile said "Edgar is one of the biggest influences on my musical life, and now I’m in a duo with him and writing songs with him. This was my dream. I always wondered what it would be like to be playing music this hard."^[17] The duo toured in September and October 2008 to promote the album.

Side projects[link]

Thile is featured in the documentary Bluegrass Journey, along with the rest of Nickel Creek. He has also appeared on a number of other artists' recordings, including Béla Fleck's Perpetual Motion, playing arrangements of Baroque, Impressionist, Classical and other styles of music with Fleck and Edgar Meyer, the CD "Jam Session" with Mark O'Connor Frank Vignola Bryan Sutton and Jon Burr, the Dixie Chicks' Home, Kate Rusby's Awkward Annie, Julie Fowlis' Cuilidh, Dolly Parton's Little Sparrow, Dierks Bentley's Up on the Ridge, and Sarah Jarosz's Follow Me Down.

Thile has performed as a duo with guitarist and vocalist and Michael Daves since 2005.^[18] They released their debut album "Sleep With One Eye Open" on May 10, 2011. Recorded at Jack White's studio, the album consists of 16 classic bluegrass duets. Jack White also produced and played on the duo's 7" vinyl record "Man in the Middle" on Third Man Records. Thile and Daves met in 2005 at a bluegrass jam at NYC's Baggot Inn.

In 2009 Thile completed a mandolin concerto entitled Ad astra per alas porci. The work was commissioned by a consortium of orchestras including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. Thile performed the world premiere of the first movement with the Interlochen Arts Camp World Youth Symphony Orchestra under director Jung-Ho Pak, and premiered his entire concerto with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 17, 2009.^{[19][20][21][22]}

In 2011 he recorded The Goat Rodeo Sessions with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer and fiddle player Stuart Duncan.^[23] On October 25, 2011 he appeared on the Jay Leno show as a member of the Yo-Yo Ma and Friends musical act.^[24]

Awards and nominations[link]

• 1997 - Won Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe
• 1997 - Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Scotland" from True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe
• 1997 - IBMA award for Album of the Year for True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe
• 2001 - IBMA award for Mandolinist of the Year
• 2002 - Won Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album for "This Side" (with Nickel Creek)
• 2005 - Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for Deceiver
• 2006 - Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "The Eleventh Reel"
• 2007 - BBC's Folk Musician of the Year
• 2007 - Nominated for IBMA Mandolinist of the Year
• 2008 - Nominated for Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

Collaborations[link]

Nickel Creek[link]

Punch Brothers[link]

• 2008: Punch
• 2010: Antifogmatic
• 2012: Who's Feeling Young Now?

Mutual Admiration Society[link]

• 2004 Mutual Admiration Society (Nickel Creek and Glen Phillips)

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2012)

• Punch Brothers' website
• www.christhile.com
• Nickel Creek's website
• Chris Thile and Michael Daves Interview Pt I
• Nickel Creek on Myspace
• Punch Brothers on Myspace
• The Tensions Mountain Boys on Myspace
• How to Grow A Band on Myspace
• Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers at Telluride Bluegrass Festival
• How to Grow A Woman from the Ground Review on JamBase.com
• Chris Thile Interview and Feature Article
• 10 Questions For Chris Thile Interview
• NewMusicBox cover: Chris Thile in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, October 27, 2008 (includes video)
• Chris Thile Bio

Multimedia[link]

• Listen and/or watch Chris Thile on 5 episodes of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour: #165 as a member of Nickel Creek; #199 Chris Thile with Bryan Sutton; #287 Chris Thile and Mike Marshall, another master of the mandolin; #416 Chris Thile and the How To Grow a Band, #506 Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile

Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician who has worked with such stars as George Strait, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and Barbra Streisand, to name a few.^[1]. Recently Duncan joined forces with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer and mandolinist Chris Thile in The Goat Rodeo Sessions, an "ambitious and groundbreaking project that brings together four string virtuosos."^[2]

As a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band, he won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album in 1994 and 1996,^[3] and was named the Academy of Country Music Fiddle Player of the Year for 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004, and Specialty Instrument Player of the Year for 2006.^[1] In 2006, he toured with the Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris Roadrunning tour and is on the All The Roadrunning and Real Live Roadrunning albums. In 2008, he toured with the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss Raising Sand tour, to much acclaim. He appeared on Transatlantic Sessions Series 4 broadcast by the BBC in September/October 2009.

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• http://www.mikecompton.net/Photos/Promo/NBB.Bio_TwentyYearBlues.doc