JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. A public of ficer invested with judicial powers for the purpose of preventing breaches of the peace and bringing to punishment those who have violated the laws.
A new class of officials was appointed in Eng land in 1327 specially entrusted with the conserva tion of the peace. Later they were allowed to re ceive indictments and to send those indicted for trial to the justices of gaol delivery. In 1399 they were to hear and determine felonies and trespasses. In 1360 they were assigned to every county in Eng land, one lord and three or four of the most worthy in the county, with some learned in the law, to keep the peace, to arrest and imprison offenders, to imprison and take surety of suspected persons and to hear and determine felonies and trespasses ; and were, about this time, styled by their present name. The number varied. By one act they must be the most sufficient knights, esquires and gentle men of the land; by another, residents in their counties. They were appointed by the crown. They were the permanent rulers of the county. More recently their administrative powers had been giv en to elective boards. They were subject to the control of the courts of common law by means of the prerogative writs; by certiorari, their deci sions can be questioned, and by mandamus they can be ordered to hear a case falling within their jurisdiction. 1 Holdsw. Hist. E. L. 124.
To the 18th century they were called justices or peace. Pollock, King's Peace ; Pollock Expan. of C. L. 101. They were the king's officers appointed to aid the performance of his office in their re spective counties. id.
In People em rel. Burby v. Howland, it was held by the New York appellate divi sion of the supreme court that the legisla tune could not abolish the office of justice of the peace ; 17 App. Div. 165, 45 N. Y. Supp. 347, 55 Alb. L. J. 319. The court said : "The office of justice of the peace is one of the oldest known to the English law. Orig inally it was merely a peace office, with no civil jurisdiction, but from a time long ante dating the constitution (of New York) it was an office with both civil and criminal jurisdiction. Its most important functions
are those of conservators of the peace, and administrators of the criminal law. The statutes conferring the powers and duties of the office date so far back in the history of English law that they may be said to be common-law powers, adopted by us with the office and inseparable therefrom." The office has existed in New York for two centuries, and is a constitutional office of great importance; People v. Howland, 155 N. Y. 270, 49 N. E. 775, 41 L. R. A. 838.
At common law justices of the peace have a double power in relation to the arrest of wrong-doers : when a felony or breach of the peace has been committed in their pres ence, they may personally arrest the offend er, or command others to do so, and, in or der to prevent the riotous consequences of a tumultuous assembly, they may command others to arrest affrayers when the' affray has been committed in their presence. If a magistrate be not present when a crime is committed, before he can take a step to ar rest the offender, an oath or affirmation must be made, by some person cognizant of the fact, that the offence has been committed, and that the person charged is the offender, or there is probable cause to believe that he has committed the offence.
Probably the most important function of justices of the peace, in the administration of criminal law, is their power of commit ting magistrates. This they have always, and in most states they have also jurisdic tion, either sole or concurrent, with some criminal court of petty offences.
The constitution of the United States di rects that "no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirma tion." Amendm. IV. After his arrest, the person charged is brought before the justice of the peace, and after hearing he is dis charged, held to bail to answer to the com plaint, or, for want of bail, committed to prison.