Statute Law Repeals - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

5.17 The Hereford County Offices Act 1815 13 enabled the county justices, as works
commissioners, to use the old gaol site for construction of the courts and offices
complex, to acquire the necessary adjoining land (with limited compulsory
purchase powers), and to raise the requisite moneys by levy of a special county
rate and by secured borrowing. A 3-year time limit was placed on the construction
works. When the building project was complete, responsibility for the upkeep of
the old shire hall was to pass back to the city of Hereford corporation.
5.18 The new shire hall, on St. Peter’s Square, operated as a court house for the
county until local government reorganisation in 1974. The building today is used
as council offices and reception rooms for the Herefordshire unitary authority
formed in 1998. There is no court usage. The 1815 Act is now spent.
GROUP 7 - HERTFORDSHIRE
St. Albans court house
5.19 By the late 1820s the town hall and court house serving the borough of St.
Albans had fallen out of repair and had become too small to hold mayoral and
quarter sessions courts and to conduct other public business. Rebuilding on the
same site was impractical because of its confined nature and its location.
5.20 The St. Albans Court House Act 1829 14 empowered the borough justices to
acquire a suitable site for a new court house and to undertake the construction
works, financing the project from the liberty (two-thirds) and borough (one-third)
rates and by borrowing on mortgage. Once built the court house was to vest in
the borough corporation (for use as a council chamber) and the borough justices
(to be used for the borough quarter sessions), and the corporation was
authorised to sell the existing town hall and court house, subject to applying the
proceeds of sale towards the project. The borough gaol beneath the old town hall
was decommissioned and the borough justices were permitted (in return for a
contribution) to commit prisoners to the liberty gaol and house of correction.
5.21 The new court house was built in St. Peter’s Street in St. Albans and operated as
such until abolition of quarter sessions in 1972. Today it provides a venue for
municipal functions and arts events, under the care of St. Albans City Council. It
no longer has a judicial function.
GROUP 8 - LEICESTERSHIRE
Ashby de la Zouch court of requests
5.22 In 1838 two statutes were enacted relating to a court of requests to be
established to serve various market towns within Leicestershire, Derbyshire,
Warwickshire and Staffordshire. The court of requests was designed to facilitate
the recovery of small debts which, viewed cumulatively, accounted for a
significant monetary sum in the local economy.
13 55 Geo.3 c.ix (1815).
14 10 Geo.4 c.xxxiii (1829).
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