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 warrant 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, a. 8, all offices, civil and military, are to continue for six months 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, and requires the following declaration :—" I, A B, 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' (a. 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, &e. ; 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 & 12 Vict. co. 42 & 43), commonly called `Jen•ia's 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 offeuce whatsoever within the limits of the jurisdiction of the justice, or that any person guilty, or suspected to be guilty, of having committed any such crime or offeuce 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.