Justices of the Peace

Also see Quarter Sessions: Justices of the Peace

The office of 'Justice of the Peace' dates from the medieval period where certain knights were appointed to be protectors of the King's Peace and maintain law. An act of 1327 had referred to "good and lawful men" to be appointed in every county in the land to "guard the peace"; such individuals were first referred to as conservators of the peace, or wardens of the peace. The title "justice of the peace" derives from 1361, in the reign of King Edward III Plantagenet. The "peace" to be guarded is the "king's peace" or (currently) queen's peace, the maintenance of which is the duty of the Crown under the royal prerogative. Justices of the peace still use the power conferred or re-conferred on them in 1361 to bind over unruly persons "to be of good behaviour." Breaking the Kings Peace was one of the charges levied at the particpants of The Peasants Revolt.

The justices' alternative title of "magistrate" dates from the sixteenth century, although the word had been in use centuries earlier to describe some legal officials of Roman times. The two terms are sometimes interchangable, so that Justices of the Peace are also called magistrates see Magistrates. In the centuries from the Tudor period until the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the JPs constituted a major element of the English (later British) government system, which had been termed sometimes squirearchy (i.e., dominance of the land-owning gentry).

Being an unpaid office, undertaken more for the sake of renown and to confirm the justice's standing within the community, the justice was typically a member of the gentry. The Justices of the Peace conducted arraignments in all criminal cases, and tried misdemeanours and infractions of local ordinances and bylaws. Towns and boroughs with enough burdensome judicial business that could not find volunteers for the unpaid role of Justice of the Peace had to petition the Crown for authority to hire a paid stipendiary magistrate see Magistrates.

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 stripped the power to appoint normal JPs from those municipal corporations that had it. This was replaced by the present system, where the Lord Chancellor nominates candidates with local advice, for appointment by the Crown.

Until the introduction of elected county councils in the 19th century, JPs, in Quarter Sessions, also administered the county at a local level. They fixed wages, regulated food supplies, built and controlled roads and bridges, and undertook to provide and supervise locally those services mandated by the Crown and Parliament for the welfare of the county.

Women in Britain were not allowed to become JPs until 1919, the first woman being Ada Summers, the Mayor of Stalybridge, who was a JP by virtue of her office. Now in Britain 50% of JPs are women.

Justices of the Peace appear in Quarter Sesions papers and also signing the books in the Registry of Deeds to confirm their legal status. The names of Justices of the Peace are recorded in various records including QT1/1 oaths of office 1872-1950, QT3/1 oaths 1770-1859 and QD1/179 appointment of JPs 1936-1950. Justices also oversaw major judicial processes such as the listing of Roman Catholic estates between 1716 and 1790 (ref: QE28/15-179).