The county court

An illustration of a county court from the book 'Journeys through London, or, byways of modern Babylon' by James Greenwood, undated, c.1873. Greenwood visited a county court to record the proceedings: 'Ten o'clock is the hour at which the doors of the court are opened, and at ten o'clock the whole number of plaintiffs and defendants concerned in the day's business - to the number of a least three hundred - are bound to attend; and, packed in the stifling justice-room, hanging about the stone-paved lobby, or beguiling the time at the public-house next door, and over the way, and round the corner, wait till their "case" comes on, which may happen at twelve, two, or four o'clock, according the programme'.