JUSTICE. 
ed) recognitions in affifes; rhe moft difficult of which 
they are direfled to adjourn into the court of Common 
Pleas, to be there determined. The itinerant juftices were 
fometimes mere Juftices of Affife, or of Dower, orof Gaol- 
delivery, and the like ; and they had fometimes a more 
general commiffion, to determine all manner of caufes, 
being conftituted Juficiarii ad omnia placita. Brail. 1 . 3. tr. 
1. c. 11. But the prefent Juftices of Affife and Nifi Prius 
are more immediately derived from the ftat. Weftm. 2, 
which directs them to be afligned out of the king’s 
fworn juftices, afl'ociating to themfelves one or two dif- 
creet knights of each county. By ftat. 27 Edw. I. c. 4, 
(explained by 12 Edw. II. c. 3,) affifes and inquefts were 
allowed to be taken before any one juftice of the court in 
which the plea was brought; afl'ociating to him one 
knight, or other approved man of the county. And, laft- 
ly, by ftat. 14 Edw. III. c. 16, inquefts of Nifi Prius may 
be taken before any juftice of either bench, (though the 
plea be not depending in his own court,) or before the 
chief baron of the exchequer, if he be a man of the law; 
or otherwife before the Juftices of Affife, fo that one of 
fuch juftices be a judge of the King’s Bench or Common 
Pleas, or the king’s ferjeant fworn. They ufually make 
their circuits in the refpeftive vacations after Hilary and 
Trinity Terms ; affifes being allowed to be taken in the 
holy time of Lent by confentof the biffiops at the requeft 
of the king, -as exprefled in ftat. Weftm. 1. 3 Edw. 1. c. 
51. And it was alfo ufual, during the times of popery, 
for the prelates to grant annual licences to the Juftices of 
Affife to adminifter oaths in holy times ; for, oaths being 
of a facred nature, the logic of thole ages concluded that 
they muftbe of ecclefialtical cognizance. Inftances hereof 
may be met with in the Appendix to Spelman’s Original 
of the Terms, and in Parker’s Antiquities, 209. The 
prudent jealoufy of our anceftors ordained, that no man 
of law ftiould be Judge of Affife in his own county where¬ 
in he is born or doth inhabit. But this reftraint is now 
taken off, as to Juftices of Oyer and Terminer, by ftat. 12 
Geo. II. c. 27. 
The fourts of Nifi Prius in London and Middlefex are 
called Jittings ; and thole for Middlefex were eftablilhed 
by the legiilature in the reign of queen Elizabeth. In 
ancient times all illues in actions brought in that county 
were tried at Weltminfter in the terms, at the bar of the 
court in which the aftion was inftituted ; but, when the 
bufinefs of the courts increafed, thefe trials were found fo 
great an inconvenience, that it was enacted by ftat. 18 
Eliz. c. 12, that the Chief Juftice of the King’s Bench 
ibould be empowered to try within the term, or within 
four days after the end of the term, all the iffues joined 
in the courts of Chancery and King’s Bench; and that 
the Chief Juftice of the Common Pleas, and the Chief 
Baron of the Exchequer, Ihould in like manner try the 
iffues joined in their refpeflive courts. In the abfence of 
any one of the chiefs, the fame authority was given to 
two of the judges or barons of his court. The ftat. 12 
Geo. I. c. 31, extended the time to eight days after term; 
and impowered one Judge or Baron to fit in the abfence 
of the chief. Stat. 24 Geo. II. c. 18, extended the time 
after term ftiil further to fourteen days. 
Justices in Eyre, JuJliciarii itinerantes ; fo termed of 
the old French word erre, as a grand erre, i. e. magnis iti- 
neribus, proverbially fpoken. Thefe, in ancient time, 
were lent with commiffion into divers counties to hear 
fuch-caufes efpecially, as were termed pleas of the crown. 
And this was done for the eafe of the people, who muft 
elfe have been hurried to the King’s Bench, if the cafe 
were too high for the county-court. They differed from 
the Juftices of Oyer and Terminer, who were fent upon 
one or a few fpecial caufes, and to one place; w’hereas 
the Juftices in Eyre were fent through the provinces and 
counties of the land, with a more indefinite and general 
commiffion, as appeareth by Brafton, lib. iii. cc. 11, 12, 
13. and Britton, cap. 2. And again, becaufe the Juftices 
of Oyer and Terminer were fent uncertainly upon any 
65Q 
uproar, or other occafion, In the country; but thefe in 
Eyre (as Mr. Gwin fets down in the Preface to his Read¬ 
ing) were lent but once in every feven years; with whom 
agrees Horn in his Mirror of Juftices, 1 . 2. But, accord¬ 
ing^ Orig. Juridicialcs, they went oftener. Thefe were 
inftituted by king Henry II. as Camden in his Brit, wit- 
neffeth, p. 104. In fome relpects they refembled our Juf¬ 
tices of Affife at prefent, though their authority and man¬ 
ner of proceeding much differ. 1 Inf. 293. 
Justice of the Forest, Juficiarius For eft a ; is a lord 
by his office, and he hears and determines all offences 
within the forelt, committed againft vert or venifon. Of 
thefe there are two, whereof one hath jurifdiftion over all 
forefts on this lide Trent, the other of all beyond it. The 
chief point of their jurifdiftion confifteth upon the arti¬ 
cles of the king’s charter, called Charta de Forefta, made 
9 Hen. III. concerning which fee Camd. Brit. p. 214. 
The court where this juftice fits and determines, is called 
the Juftice-feat of the Foreft, held once every three years. 
Maniuood's Forejl-Laws, cap. 24. He is alfo called Juftice 
in Eyre of the Foreft ; and is the only juftice that may 
appoint a deputy by the ftatute of 32 Hen. VIII. c. 35. 
See Forest, vol. vii. p. 566. 
Justices of Gaol-delivery, Jafiiciarii ad Gaolas deli- 
berandas , are thofe who are fent with commiffion to hear 
and determine all caufes appertaining to fuch who for 
any offence are call; into gaol ; part of their authority is 
to punilh fuch as let to mainprize thofe prifoners who are 
not bailable by law, nor by the ftatute de finibus, cap. 3. 
F.N.B. 151. Thefe feem in ancient time to have been 
fent into the country upon feveral occafions ; but after¬ 
wards Juftices of Affife were likewil'e authorized to the 
like purpofes. 4 Edw. III. c. 3. Their oath is fimilar to 
others of the king’s juftices of either bench. 2 Edw. III. 
c. 2. Old Abridgment of the Statutes, tit. Sacramentum JuJli~ 
ciariorum. Cowell. Juftices of Aflife, if laymen, Ihall de¬ 
liver the gaols. 27 Edzo. I . f. 1. c. 3. The Juftices of 
Peace Ihall deliver over their indictments to the Juftices 
of Gaol-delivery. 4 Edw. III. c. 2. See Justices of 
Gaol-Delivery, vol. viii. 
Justices of the Jews, Juficiarii ad cujlodiam Juda- 
orum afignati. King Richard I. after his return out of 
the Holy Land, anno 1194, appointed particular juftices, 
laws, and orders, for preventing the frauds, and regulat¬ 
ing the contrafts and ufury, of the Jews. Hoveden, parte 
pofl, p. 745. Clauf. 3 Edw. 1 . m. 19. 
Justices of Labourers ; Juftices heretofore appoint¬ 
ed to redrels the frowardnels of labouring men, who 
would either be idle, or have unreafonable wages. See 
the old ftatutes, 21 Edw. III. c. 1. 25 Edw. III. c. 8. 31 
Edw. I. c. 6 . 
Justices of Nisi Prius. Thefe are at this time the 
fame with Juftifes of Affife ; for it is a common adjourn¬ 
ment of a caufe in the Common Picas, to put it off to 
fuch a day, Nifi prius JuJliciarii venerint ad cas partes ad ca~ 
piendas ajjfas ; “ Unlefs the juftices ffial) firlt come to a 
place named to take the affifes;” which they are lure to- 
do ; and upon this claufe of adjournment they are called 
Juftices of Nifi Prius, as well as Juftices of Affife. Their 
commiffion may be feen in Cromp. Juris, fol. 204; yet, 
with this difference between them, that juftices of Affile 
have power to give judgment in a caufe, but Juftices of 
Nifi Prius only to take the verdiCt. But, in the nature of 
both their funClions, this l'eems to be the greateft differ¬ 
ence, that Juftice of Nifi Prius have to deal in caufes per- 
fonal as well as real; whereas Juftices of Affife, in ItriCt 
acceptation, meddle only with the pofl'effoiy writs called 
affife. Cowell. 
Justices of Oyer and Terminer, Juficiarii ad au- 
diendum & terminandum ; were juftices deputed upon fome 
fpecial or extraordinary occafions. FJtzberbert in his 
Nat. Brev. faith, That the commiffion d’Oyer and Termi¬ 
ner is directed'to certain perfons upon any great riot, in- 
furreftion, heinous mifdemeanors, or tfefpaifes committed. 
And, becaufe the occafion of granting this commiffion 
Ihould 
