_Administration of Justice._--The city has quarter-sessions for criminal cases, presided over by the recorder, and held eight times in the year. At least two police courts sit daily, and more if required. One is presided over by the stipendiary magistrate and the others by the lay magistrates and the coroner. The court of passage is a very ancient institution, possibly dating from the foundation of the borough by King John, and intended for cases arising out of the imports and exports passing through the town. Its jurisdiction has been confirmed and settled by parliament and it is competent to try civil cases arising within the city to any amount. The mayor is _ex-officio_ the judge, but the presiding judge is an assessor appointed by the crown and paid by the corporation. The court sits about five times a year. There is a Liverpool district registry of the chancery of the County Palatine of Lancaster which has concurrent jurisdiction with the high court (chancery division) within the hundred of West Derby. The vice-chancellor holds sittings in Liverpool. There is a Liverpool district registry of the high court of justice with common law, chancery, probate and admiralty jurisdiction, under two district registrars. The Liverpool county court has the usual limited jurisdiction over a wide local area, together with bankruptcy jurisdiction over the county court districts of St Helens, Widnes, Ormskirk and Southport, and admiralty jurisdiction over the same districts with the addition of Birkenhead, Chester, Runcorn and Warrington. There are two judges attached to the court. _Ecclesiastical._--The see of Liverpool was created in 1880 under the act of 1879, by the authority of the ecclesiastical commissioners, an endowment fund of about £100,000 having been subscribed for the purpose. The parish, which was separated from Walton-on-the-Hill in 1699, contained two churches, St Nicholas, the ancient chapel, and St Peter's, then built. There were two rectors, the living being held in medieties. Of recent years changes have been sanctioned by parliament. The living is now held by a single incumbent, and a large number of the churches which have since been built have been formed into parishes by the ecclesiastical commissioners. St Peter's has been constituted the pro-cathedral, pending the erection of the cathedral. Besides the two original parish churches, there are 103 others belonging to the establishment. The Roman Catholics form a very numerous and powerful body in the city, and it is estimated that from a third to a fourth of the entire population are Roman Catholics. A large part of these are Irish settlers or their descendants, but this district of Lancashire has always been a stronghold of Roman Catholicism, many of the landed gentry belonging to old Roman Catholic families.