Old Bailey is the common name for the Central Criminal Court in London. The Old Bailey has several courts, and each one holds sessions at least four times a year. It is located on a street called Old Bailey. This street once formed part of a bailey (an area between the inner and outer city walls) in medieval London.
The city government built the Sessions House in 1550. This building became known as the Old Bailey. People held at nearby Newgate Prison were tried in the Old Bailey (see Newgate Prison ). Famous cases held there included the treason trial of judges responsible for the execution of King Charles I; the treason trial of William Joyce, who broadcast for Nazi Germany during World War II as Lord Haw Haw; and the morals trial of the author and playwright Oscar Wilde.
