III.A. YORK CROWN COURT

Here we explore the rich history of the Court system in York. The York Courthouse was built in the 1770s and is the original site of the York County Assizes. There are many records of the trials held at the York Assizes between 1785-1851, some of which we will explore. In 1971 the York Assizes was replaced by the York Crown Court, however this is located  within the original Assizes building. The Crown Court is the only English Court to use a jury on a regular basis, it presides over serious criminal cases such as murder, rape and robbery as well as cases passed from and appeals against the magistrates court. As we can see from the evidence below, many of the crimes the York Assizes would rule on were crimes of poverty.  ​