The Newark Borough bench dealt with offences committed in the town and the Newark County bench with those from surrounding villages. The most serious crimes were referred to the Assize court in Nottingham to be tried before a royal judge on progress. Quarter Sessions and Assizes continued until 1972 when their judicial role was replaced by the Crown Court. In 1974 the Newark borough and county benches were combined. In 1978 the Southwell bench was merged with Newark, bringing into existence the Newark and Southwell Petty Sessional Division - the area covered by today's Magistrates' Court in Newark.
Magistrates courts continue to play a vital role in dealing with crime at the local level.
Sadly no official record survives of the cases heard by Newark Borough magistrates in their early years, but the pages of the Advertiser more than make up for this in more recent times. Here are recorded both the changing nature of crime and the punishments considered appropriate. In August 1912, for instance, the court heard of a drunken brawl in Taylor's Yard off Albion Street during which one of the participants' ears was half bitten off. The magistrates sentenced the main protagonist to six weeks in prison with hard labour and his neighbour to 21 days. The magistrates said that they would have preferred to send him to a Borstal Institution for a year or have him whipped, but at 17 he was too old for either punishment.