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Policing Peterborough

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The Soke of Peterborough and The Liberty Quarter Sessions

(This is part of the history published by the Peterborough Combined Police in 1957 celebrating 100 years of policing and for the opening of the new Headquarters at Bridge Street)

To all interested in police matters, the origin of the term "The Soke of Peterborough" and the peculiar powers of the Liberty Justices in Quarter Sessions must have some significance.

The word "Soke" is derived from an old Anglo-Saxon word "Soc" or "Sac," which means that a privilege was granted to the Abbot and Convent, to exercise certain extraordinary legal rights. It actually dates from the time of King Edgar in 927 and carries with it the power of Gaol Delivery and punishment by death. A similar jurisdiction was obtained at St. Albans but this was abolished under Queen Victoria and the Liberty of Peterborough is the last county franchise which retains such a privilege.

The Liberty Justices in Quarter Sessions have thereby long held powers in excess of those of most other Quarter Sessions. They can try and decide many serious crimes, including treason and murder, which normally can only be heard and determined in a Court of Assize, but in view of the special powers of the Liberty Justices, a Judge of Assize has no power to act in the Liberty of Peterborough.

Until the time of the dissolution of the Peterborough Monastery in 1539, the Abbot had been empowered to appoint Justices of the Peace for the Hundred of Nassaburgh which was also known as the Liberty of Nassaburgh.

When the Monastery was dissolved the Abbot was made the first Bishop and the following year, Henry VIII granted three Commissions of the Peace to the Liberty of Peterborough. They were :--
(I) The Commission of the Peace for the appointment of Justices to sit in Petty Sessional Courts and exercise the ordinary duties of the magistracy:
(II) The Commission for Gaol Delivery, and
(III) The Commission of Oyer and Terminer-that is to hear and determine - which empowers the Justices of the Liberty to hear assize offences at Quarter Sessions.

The last Commission gives to the Justices of the Liberty, power to enquire more fully " .. . by the oath of good and lawful men of the Liberty of Peterborough, by whom the truth of the matter may be better known and by other ways, means and methods by which they shall or better know, of the treasons ... insurrections ... rebellions, counterfeitings, clippings, wastings, false coinings ... murders, felonies, manslanghters" ... and many other grave offences mentioned therein which in other counties are only triable by a Judge of Assize, and the Justices are commanded at days appointed for this purpose to make diligent enquiries into and to hear and determine the above mentioned offences.

In 1877 Queen Victoria confirmed these Commissions and endorsed the ancient privileges of jurisdiction of the Liberty Justices and at the same time excluded the Sheriff of the County of Northampton from exercising his authority in the Liberty.

The Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery were not renewed by the Monarchs immediately succeeding Queen Victoria and in 1920 the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed a conviction recorded at Peterborough Quarter Sessions. It was held that three of the Liberty Magistrates adjudicating at the hearing were not in order as the Assize Authority of the Court then derived from Commissions granted during the reign of Queen Victoria. The three Justices in question had been appointed to the Commission of the Peace subsequent to her death and only Justices appointed during her reign were in order in adjudicating at such a Court.

This resulted in a renewal of the Commissions in continuation of the ancient Assize jurisdiction, and an announcement was made at the Easter Quarter Sessions in 1921 that "whatever may have happened as a result of a recent case in the Court of Criminal Appeal by authority of this Commission now granted, this Court will continue to exercise this ancient jurisdiction in the same manner as it has done under similar commissions since the days of Charles I."

In fact, the Justices of the Liberty do not exercise their full powers although they have always been jealous of their special and historic privileges. In 1949, the Marquess of Exeter, who was then the Lord Paramount of the Liberty, moved an amendment in the Lords to the Justices of the Peace Bill. This was necessary to safeguard the special position of the Liberty jurisdiction as the new Bill provided there should be a separate commission of the peace for every administrative county and county borough and not for any other area. Accordingly, an amendment was accepted by the Lord Chancellor and the following paragraph was inciuded in the Act :--

SAVING FOR SOKE OF PETERBOROUGH: The Justices for the Soke of Peterborough shall, by virtue of the Commission of the Peace and without any further commission, have within the county the same jurisdiction as before the coming into force of Section 10 of this Act the Justices for the Liberty of Peterborough had within the Liberty by virtue of the Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery customarily issued to those Justices, but as respects any matters within their competence as Justices of the Peace, shall act as such and not as Justices of Oyer and Terminer or Justices of Gaol Delivery.

In accepting the amendment the Lord Chancellor said that in murder cases this ancient jurisdiction had survived all these years only because it had never been exercised and he added, "if the Justices ever appear to act upon the powers they possess, I shall be the first to come and remove those powers for them."

This page was last modified: 11 October 2025, 09:20

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