33 



JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 



JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. 



34 



vol. xxvii., pp. 653-1297 ; and from the discussions on the Regency Bill 

 from the beginning of November, 1810, to the middle of February, 

 1811, which nearly fill the 18th volume of the ' Parliamentary Debates.' 

 One of the speeches which attracted most attention on the latter occa- 

 sion for its argument and research (that delivered by John Leach, Esq., 

 afterwards vice-cbaucellor) was published in an authentic form, and 

 may on this subject be usefully consulted. 



JUSTICES OF THE PEACE are persons appointed to keep the 

 peace within certain prescribed limits, with authority to act judicially 

 in criminal causes, and in some of a civil nature arising within those 

 limits, and also to do certain other things in which they act not judi- 

 cially but ministerially, that is, as servants of the crown performing 

 official acts in respect of which they are entrusted with no j udicial 

 discretion. The authority of justices of the peace is derived from the 

 king's prerogative of making courts for the administration of the law, 

 or created by different statutes ; their duties are expressed in the 

 royal commission appointing them to the office, or are prescribed by 

 those statutes. 



Before the reign of Edward III. there were in every county con- 

 servators of the peace, whose duty it was to afford protection against 

 illegal force and violence. These conservators were chosen by the 

 freeholders assembled in the county court under the king's writ. 



The lord chancellor, the judges of the king's bench, and every 

 sheriff and coroner, were conservators, and are now justices of the 

 peace, by virtue of their office ; and some lands are holden under the 

 service annexed to the tenure of such lands of being conservators of 

 the peace, or of providing fit persons to perform the duties of that 

 office. High and petty constables are also by virtue of their offices 

 conservators of the peace. The authority of conservators of the peace 

 at the common law was the same as that now exercised by constables 

 within their respective townships ; and their duty consisted in acting 

 themselves, and commanding the assistance of others, in arresting and 

 quieting those who in their presence and within the limits of then- 

 jurisdiction went about to break the peace. 



The following account is generally given of the origin of the present 

 justices of the peace. Upon the compulsory resignation of Edward II., 

 Erhvard III., or rather his mother Isabella, in his name, sent writs to 

 the different sheriffs, stating that his accession had taken place with his 

 father's assent, and commanding that the peace should be kept on pain 

 of disinheritance and loss of life and limb. Within a few weeks from 

 this time it was ordained, by 1 Edward III., stat. 2, c. 16, that for the 

 better keeping and maintaining of the peace in every county, good and 

 lawful men who were not maintainers of barratry (malveiz barrets) 

 should be assigned to keep the peace. The mode in which these new 

 keepers of the peace were to be assigned was construed to be by the 

 king's commission ; and this ordinance had the double effect of truns- 

 ferring the appointment from the people to the crown, and of laying a 

 ition for the gradual accession of those powers which are now 

 ed by justices of the peace. 



By 12 Richard II., c. 1U, the wages of justicesof the peace were fixed 

 at four shillings per day of sessions, and two shillings for their clerks, 

 payable out of the fines and amerciamentd at such sessions; but these 

 wages, like those of members of parliament, have long ceased to be 

 received, and the provisions respecting them were repealed by the stat. 

 18 & 19 Viet. c. 126. 



Justices of the peace are appointed either by act of parliament, by 

 royal charter (in the case of justices in boroughs not within the 

 Municipal Corporation Act the charter usually appointing certain 

 municipal officers to be justices, and prescribing the manner in which 

 vacancies in the offices are to be filled up), or by a commission from 

 the crown under the statute of 1 Edward III. The form of the com- 

 mission of the peace has from time to timu been altered, and the 

 authority of the justices enlarged. As now framed it consists of two 

 distinct parts, and contains two separate assignments or grants of 

 authority. Of these the former gives to any one or more justices not 

 only all the power relating to the maintenance of the peace which was 

 possessed by the conservators at common law, but also all the additional 

 authority mentioned in the statutes. The latter assignment defines 

 f justices when the whole body, or such of them as choose 

 to attend, act together in general sessions. [SESSIONS.] 



By 5 Oeo. II., c. 18, no attorney , solicitor, or proctor shall be a justice 

 of the peace for any county whilst he continues in practice, and a 

 ximilar provision is contained in the 6 & 7 Viet., c. 73, a. 33. By 

 18 Ueo. II., c. 20, no person shall be capable of acting as a justice of 

 ice for any county, riding, or division, within England or Wales, 

 who shall not have, in law or equity, to and for his own use and benefit, 

 in possession a freehold, copyhold, or customary estate for life, or for 

 some greater estate, or an estate for some long term of years determin- 

 ipon life or lives, or for a certain term originally created for 

 twenty-one yearn or more, in lands, tenements, or hereditaments in 

 England <>r W;,|.^, of the clear yearly value of 1001. over and above all 

 incumbrances affecting, and all rents and charges payable out of or in 

 respect of the same, or who shall not be seised of or entitled to, in law 

 or equity, to and for his own use and benefit, the immediate reversion 

 or remainder of and in lands, tenements, and hereditaments, leased for 

 vo, or three lives, or for any term of years detenniuable on lives 

 upon reserved rents, and which are of the yearly value of 30(M., and 

 who shall not have taken and subscribed an oath stating the nature of 



ABT3 ASD SCI. DIV. VOL. V. 



the qualifying estate. The third section of this statute imposes a 

 penalty of 10(M. upon those who act without having taken and sub- 

 scribed the oath, and for acting without being qualified. The statute, 

 however, excepts from these provisions certain official persons, &c., 

 and other exceptions have been since introduced. Thus the judges of 

 the County Court may sit without the qualification (9 & 10 Viet., 

 c. 95, s. 21.) A justice of the peace cannot legally act after he has 

 ceased to be qualified ; but it is not necessary that he should continue 

 to retain the same qualification, nor will the absence of a qualification 

 render his acts absolutely void. 



Justices appointed by Act of Parliament or by the king's charter are 

 not removable except for misconduct, but the authority of a justice 

 appointed by the king's commission may be determined at the pleasure 

 of the crown, either directly by writ under the great seal, or impliedly, 

 by making out a new commission, from which his name is omitted. 

 But until notice of the revocation of the authority, or pub'ication of a 

 new commission, the acts of the ex-justice are valid in law, and the 

 wan-ant of a justice remains in force until it be executed, although he 

 die before its execution. The commission is also determined by the 

 death of the king by whom it was issued ; but by 6 Anne, c. 7, s. 8, all 

 offices, civil and military, are to continue for six mouths after the 

 demise of the crown, unless sooner determined. 



The 9 Geo. IV., c. 17, repeals the statutes which imposed the taking 

 the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a qualification for office, aud 

 requires the following declaration : " I, AB,do solemnly and sincerely, 

 in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, on the true faith 

 of a Christian, that I will never exercise any power, authority, or 

 influence which I may possess by virtue of the office of justice of the 

 peace, to injure or weaken the Protestant church as it is by law 

 established in England, or to disturb the said church, or the bishops 

 and clergy of the said church, in the possession of any rights or 

 privileges to which such church or the said bishops or clergy are or 

 may be entitled." The omission to subscribe this declaration does not 

 subject a person acting as a justice of the peace to any penalty ; the 

 statute (s. 5) merely renders the appointment void ; and whilst the 

 justice continues in the exercise of his office his acts are not either 

 void or voidable so as to affect the rights of those who are not privy to 

 such omission. 



The judicial authority of a justice out of sessions is both civil and 

 criminal : civil, where he is authorised by statute to adjudicate between 

 master and servant, or to enforce the payment of rates tithes, &c. ; 

 criminal, where he requires surety of the peace or a recognisance for 

 the peace or for good behaviour, or where he acts in the suppression of 

 riots, or where he acts with summary power to decide upon the guilt 

 or innocence of the party accused, according to the view which he may 

 take of the evidence, and to punish the offender. But all proceedings 

 before Justices, whether civil or criminal, if removed into the Queen's 

 Bench, are there treated as belonging to the crown side of the court. 



By two Acts of Parliament (11 k 12 Viet. co. 42 & 43), commonly 

 called ' Jervis'a Acts,' repealing various earlier statutes, the duties of 

 justices of the peace out of sessions (that is, when not assembled in 

 quarter or general sessions for the county) in England and Wales are 

 facilitated and defined. The one statute (c. 42) relates to the duties of 

 justices out of sessions with respect to persons charged with indictable 

 offences, and the other (c. 43) to summary convictions and orders. 



Under the former' statute, where a charge or complaint is made 

 before a justice, that any person has committed, or is suspected to 

 have committed, any treason, felony, or indictable misdemeanor, or 

 other indictable offence whatsoever within the limits of the j urisdiction 

 of the justice, or that any person guilty, or suspected to be guilty, of 

 having committed any such crime or offence elsewhere, is residing 

 within such jurisdiction, the justice may issue a warrant under seal 

 directed to peace officers for his apprehension, founded on information 

 on oath (or a summons not founded on oath in the first instance, 

 followed by a warrant if disobeyed). Upon the accused person being 

 brought before the justices, they must, before committing him to 

 prison for trial or admitting him to bail, in his presence (but in open 

 court or privately, at their discretion), take the statement on oath of 

 the witnesses (to compel the attendance of whom justices have power 

 to issue summonses and warrants), and reduce the evidence into 

 written depositions, to be signed by the witnesses. These depositions 

 are read over to the accused, and his own statement (if any) taken in a 

 prescribed form, so as to exclude any threat or inducement. Ample 

 powers are given to the justices to remand, dismiss, commit for trial, 

 or hold the accused to bail, and to bind over prosecutors and witnesses 

 by recognisance. 



By more recent statutes, instead of committing for trial, justices 

 may summarily convict (unless the accused prefers to be tried by a 

 jury) in trifling cases of larceny, or where the offenders are under six- 

 teen. (See 10 & 11 Viet. c. 82 ; 18 & 19 Viet c. 12B; 19 & 20 Viet, 

 c. 118; and Blackstone's 'Commentaries,' by Kerr, vol. iv., p. 333.) 

 Justices may also issue warrants to apprehend parties against whom 

 indictments have been already found, and without further inquiry 

 commit them for trial or admit them to bail, or, if already in prison, 

 may order their detention. 



The 11 & 12 Viet. c. 43, relating to summary convictions, empowers 

 the justices to issue a summons ; or, for any offence punishable on 

 conviction, they may issue a warrant (founded on an information on 



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