Justices appointed by act of parliament or by the king's charter are not remove able except for misconduct, but the autho rity 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 publication of a new commission, the acts of the ex-justice are valid in law, and the warrant of a justice remains in force until it be executed, although he die be fore its execution. The commission is also determined by the death of the king by whom it was issued; but now by 6 Anne, e. 7, § 8, all offices, civil and mili tary, are to continue for six months after the demise of the crown, unless sooner determined.
The 9 Geo. IV. c. 17, repeals the sta tutes which imposed the taking the sacra ment of the Lord's Supper as a qualifica tion for office, and 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 jus tice of the peace, to injure or weaken the Protestant church as it is by law es tablished 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 (§ 5) merely renders the appointment void ; and whilst the jus tice 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. Persons of the Jewish religion have therefore in a few instances acted as county magistrates.
The act passed in 1845 for the relief of persons of the Jewish religion applies only to offices in municipal boroughs. [JEws.] Justices of the peace, when they are out of the county, &c. for which they are appointed, have no coercive power ; but examinations, recognizances, and infor. mations voluntarily taken before them in any place are good. But by 28 Geo. III. c. 49, justices who act for two or more adjoining counties may act in one of those counties for another of them ; and those who act for a county at large may act for such county within any city, town, &c. being a county of itself, and situated within, surrounded by, or adjoining to any such county at large ; and by 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 63, a similar power is given
to county justices to act within any city, town, 8cc. having exclusive jurisdiction, though not a county of itself. In towns which have a separate quarter sessions under the Municipal Corporations Act, the county justices have no authority.
Justices of the peace have in general no authority over matters arising out of the district for which they are appointed, but they may secure the persons of those who are charged before them with felony or breach of the peace ; and by the Mu nicipal Corporations Act, § Ill, in every borough to which the king does not grant a separate court of quarter-sessions the justices of the county within which such borough is situated are to exercise in it the same jurisdiction as in any other part of the county.
By 24 Geo. III. c. 55, if any person against whom a warrant is issued escape, go into, reside, or be in any other county, &c. out of the jurisdiction of the justice granting the warrant, any justice of the county, Scc. where such person escapes, &c., upon proof on oath of the hand writing of the justice granting the war rant, is to indorse his name thereon, which will be a sufficient authority to execute the warrant in such other juris diction, and carry the offender before the justice who indorsed the warrant, or some other justice of the county, &c. where it was indorsed. Summonses and warrants issued by borough justices, appointed under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, in a matter within their jurisdiction, may be executed at any place within the county in which the borough is situated, or at any place within seven miles of such borough, without being backed. 1CONSTABLE, p. 614.] The authority of a justice out of sessions is both civil and criminal— civil, where he is authorized by statute to adjudicate between master and servant, or to enforce the payment of rates, &c., or the observance of the regulations of friendly societies, Sze.; criminal, where he requires surety of the peace or a recognizance 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 or innocence of the party ac according to the view which he may take of the evidence, and to punish the offender. (See LAW, CRI MINAL, for a notice of offences punishable on summary conviction, and for some remarks on the subject of summary pu nishment.) But all proceedings before justices, whether civil or criminal, if re moved into the Queen's Bench, are there treated as belonging to the crown side of the court.