Bow Street Magistrates Court has been the most famous magistrates court in England for much of its existence. It is located in Bow Street in central London close to Covent Garden. A magistrates court or petty sessions is the lowest kind of court in England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... Bow Street is a thoroughfare in Covent Garden, Westminster London. ... Central London is a much used but unoffical and vaguely defined term. ... St. ... Covent Garden is a shopping and entertainment complex in central London. ...

There has been a court at Bow Street since 1739 or 1740, when Colonel Thomas De Veil sat as a magistrate in his home at Number 4. The house was taken over by the novelist Henry Fielding in 1747 when he became a Justice of the Peace. He was appointed a Westminster magistrate in 1748 at a time when the problem of gin consumption and resultant crime was at its height. There were eight licensed premises in the street and Fielding reported that every fourth house in Covent Garden was a gin shop. In 1749 as a response to the call to find an effective means to tackle the increasing crime and disorder, Fielding brought together eight reliable constables, who soon gained a reputation for honesty and efficiency in their pursuit of criminals. Initially nicknamed Robin Redbreasts, on account of their scarlet waistcoats, the constables came to be known as the Bow Street Runners. Fielding's blind half brother Sir John Fielding (known as the "Blind Beak of Bow Street") succeeded his brother as magistrate in 1754 and refined the patrol into first truly effective police force for the capital. A magistrate is a judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. ... Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707 – October 8, 1754) was an English novelist and dramatist, best known as author of the novel Tom Jones. ... A Justice of the Peace (JP) is a magistrate appointed by a commission to keep the peace, dispense summary justice and deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. ... The City of Westminster is a London borough and a city in its own right, situated to the west of the City of London and north of the River Thames. ... Gin and tonic This article concerns the beverage. ... The Bow Street Runners were Londons first professional constables. ... Sir John Fielding (1721-4 September 1780) was a notable English magistrate and social reformer of the 18th century. ...

When the Metropolitan Police Service was established in 1829, a station house was sited at numbers 25 and 27. In 1876 the Duke of Bedford leased a site on the eastern side of Bow Street to the Commissioners of HM Works and Public Buildings for an annual rent of £100. Work began in 1878 and was completed in 1881. The date of 1879 in the stonework above the door of the present building is the date on which it had been hoped that work would finish. In its later years the court housed the office of the Senior District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) who heard high profile matters, such as extradition cases or those involving eminent public figures. Metropolitan Police redirects here. ... The titles of Earl or Duke of Bedford were created several times in the peerage of England. ...

In 2004 the court was put up for sale by its joint owners, the Greater London Magistrates Courts Authority and the Metropolitan Police Authority. In July 2005 The Times reported that the building was expected to be sold to an Irish property developer called Gerry Barrett who planned to convert it into a boutique hotel. [1]. It is expected that it will cease to operate as a court in 2006. The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ... Boutique hotel is a term originating in North America to describe intimate, usually luxurious or quirky hotel environments. ...

Famous defendants

Many famous accused people have passed through Bow Street - often on their way to be tried elsewhere - including:

• Oscar Wilde
• Dr Crippen
• Roger Casement
• William Joyce
• the Kray Twins
• General Pinochet

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. ... Taken pre-1910. ... Sir Roger Casement, commemorated on an Irish stamp Sir Roger David Casement (September 1, 1864 - August 3, 1916) was a British diplomat by profession and a poet, Irish revolutionary and nationalist by inclination. ... William Joyce (April 24, 1906 – January 3, 1946), known as Lord Haw-Haw was a fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during World War II. He was born in New York, to Irish parents who had taken United States nationality. ... Ronald Kray (24 October 1933 – 17 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 1933 – 1 October 2000) were twin brothers, and the foremost organised crime leaders in North and East London in the 1960s. ... General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte1 (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...

See also

• Royal Courts of Justice
• Central Criminal Court
• Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court