QUARTER (through Fr. from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. quartarius,

See also:

• FOURTH

fourth

See also:

• PART

part)  , to some extent civil jurisdiction . As a court of record it has, a word with many applications of its original meaning, namely, in addition to its other jurisdiction, power to punish summarily one of the four divisions of anything; thus as a measure of without the assistance of a jury contempts committed in its weight a quarter equals 28 lb, one-fourth of the hundredweight presence, such as insults to the justices or disturbance of its of 112 lb; as a measure of capacity or grain it equals 8 bushels; proceedings . At the present time the whole of England and similarly in liquid measure the shorter form " quart "is a quarter Wales is within the local jurisdiction of some court of quarter of a gallon = 2 pints, so " quartern " is a quarter of a pint (a gill), sessions . But the history of the court in counties is quite or. as a measure for bread, 4 lb . " Quarter " is also used of distinct from its history in boroughs . the fourth part of the moon's monthly revolution, and of a Counties.—As regards counties the court originated in fourth part of the legal year, marked off by the " quarter-days " statutes of 1326, 1344 and 136o, which provided for justices (see below) . For the division of the heraldic shield into four in counties, and the commission of the peace . The court " quarters " and the use of the term " quartering," the marshal- derived its name from the direction in a statute of 1388 that the ling of several coats on one shield, see HERALDRY . From the " justices shall keep their sessions in every quarter of the year four principal points of the compass and the corresponding at the least." By a statute of 1414 they were directed to make division of the horizon, &c., the word is used generally of their sessions four times in the year: that is to say, in the first direction or situation, and hence of a district in a town, &c., week after the feasts of St Michael, the Epiphany, the clause of especially when assigned to or occupied by a particular class .