Justices - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition justices

Definition :

Justices, officers deputed by the Crown to ad-minister justice and do right by way of judgment. The judges of the Supreme Court are called justices, but the word is usually applied to petty magistrates who sit to administer summary justice in minor matters, and who are commonly called justices of the peace. They were first appointed in 1327 by 1 Edw. 3, st. 2, c. 16, and are now appointed by the king's special commission under the Great Seal, the form of which was settled by all the judges in 1590, and continues, with little alteration, to this day. Consult Putnam's Early Treatises on the Practice of the Justices of the Peace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. This appoints them all, jointly and severally, to keep the peace in the county named; and any two or more of them to inquire of and determine felonies and other misdemeanours in such county committed, in which number some particular justices, or one of them, are directed to be always included, and no business done without their presence, the words of the commission running thus:-Quorum aliquem vestrum, A., B., C., D., etc., unum esse volumus, whence the justices so named were usually called justices of the quorum; but the modern practice is to include all the justices in the quorum clause. A justice named in the commission is not at liberty to act until he has taken the oath of allegiance and judicial oath in the form respectively prescribed by the (English) Pro-missory Oaths Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. 82), and the (English) Promissory Oaths Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 48), s. 2. These justices ('stipendiary magistrates' excepted: see MAGISTRATE) act gratuitously, receiving no salary or fees.

By the (English) Justices Qualification Act, 1744 (18 Geo. 2, c. 20), every justice for a county had to have an estate of freehold, copyhold, or customary tenure, in fee, for life, or a given term, of the yearly value of 100l., or a reversion or remainder expectant upon such lease as in the Act mentioned, with reserved rents of the clear yearly value of 300l. per annum; but two years' occupation of a dwelling-house of not less than 100l. annual value would of itself give a qualification by the Justices Qualification Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 54); but both these Acts are repealed by the (English) Justices of the Peace Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 16), by which 'the qualification by estate required in the case of a Justice of the peace for any county' is abolished, as also is the residential qualification required by 2 Hen. 5, st. 2, c. 1, in the case of justices residing within seven miles of the county. The Act of 1906 also allows a solicitor, if otherwise qualified, to be appointed a county justice (reproduced by (English) Solicitors Act, 1932 (22 & 23 Geo. 5, c. 37) s. 54), but prohibits any solicitor being a justice, or any partner of his, from practising directly or indirectly before the justices for that county or any borough within the county. A clergyman is not, as a rule, appointed if a layman is available (see 19 Sol. Journ. 896).

Borough Justices (in addition to the mayor and ex-mayor, who are justices ex officio in every borough) are appointed by the Crown in boroughs having a separate commission of the peace. They must reside, while acting, in or within seven miles of the borough, or occupy property therein, but they need not be burgesses or have such qualification by estate as was required for a justice of the county, Mun. Corp. Act, 1882, ss. 155-157. See also (Eng-lish) Local Government Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 51), s. 18.

By s. 304 of the (English) Public Health Act, 1936, a justice of the peace is not to be disqualified from acting in cases arising under that Act by reason only of his being liable in common with others to contribute to or be benefited by any council rate or fund for payment of expenses.

Women may be appointed justices of the peace. [(English) Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, 1919, s. 1]

The office of Justice of the Peace subsists during the pleasure of the Crown, and is determinable (1) by express writ under the Great Seal; (2) by writ of supersedeas; (3) by a new commission; (4) by accession to the office of sheriff during the year of the shrievalty.

The duties of a justice of the peace are of a varied character. They are of fouprincipal kinds: (1) To commit offenders to trial before a judge and jury, upon being satisfied that there is a prima facie case against them. This power is chiefly regulated by 'Jervis's Act' (No. 1), 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42: see, especially, ss. 9, 25. (2) To convict and punish summarily the procedure in these matters is chiefly regulated by (English) 'Jervis's Act' (No. 2) (11 & 12 Vict. c. 43), the (English) Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, and the (English) Criminal Justice Ad-ministration Act, 1914, while the power itself is given by the particular statute dealing with the subject-matter of the offence. (3) To act, if county justices, as judges at Quarter Sessions, where their chairman presides and tries indictments with a jury, and such justices as attend the Quarter Sessions sit as a Court of Appeal from the decisions of justices in petty sessions. (4) The licensing of places for the sale of intoxicating liquor, and of persons to deal in game.

As to procedure against juvenile offenders, see Children and Young Persons Act, 1933 (23 Geo. 5, c. 12), and JUVENILE COURTS, JUVENILE OFFENDERS.

The management of such administrative business as the licensing of theatres, the levying of county rates, the establishment and maintenance of reformatory and industrial schools, etc., is transferred from the justices to county councils (see that title) by s. 3 of the (English) Local Government Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41), as amended by (English) Local Government Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 51).

Consult Burn's Justice; Stone's Justices' Manual; Leeming and Cross's Quarter Sessions Practice, and Pritchard's Quarter Sessions. See Chit. Stat., tit. 'Justices,' and SESSIONS OF THE PEACE; QUARTER SESSIONS; PETTY SESSIONS; METRO-POLITAN POLICE; SUMMARY JURISDICTION, COURT OF.