Queen's Peace - Justice of The Peace

Justice of The Peace

Historically, and in particular before the founding of the police and the modern legal system, the concept of the Queen's peace was much more important. Knights of the Peace were appointed in each shire, and it was their duty to maintain the Queen's peace. These Knights of the Peace later became known as Justices of the Peace, or JPs, and subsequently as magistrates. In the United Kingdom, paid magistrates are now called District Judges, and are drawn from the ranks of local solicitors and barristers. Unpaid magistrates are volunteers from the community – the requirements are that they must be of good character and local residence.

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Famous quotes containing the words justice and/or peace:

    “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”
    —Frederick Douglass (c. 1817–1895)

    “And so we ask for peace for the gods of our fathers, for the gods of our native land. It is reasonable that whatever each of us worships is really to be considered one and the same. We gaze up at the same stars, the sky covers us all, the same universe compasses us. What does it matter what practical systems we adopt in our search for the truth. Not by one avenue only can we arrive at so tremendous a secret.”
    —Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (A.D. c. 340–402)