A justice of the peace court is the least authoritative type of criminal court in Scotland. The court operates under summary procedure and deals primarily with less serious criminal offences.

History

The commission of the peace was originally instituted in Scotland in the 16th century. Initially, justices were given the task of administering the county within which they resided until this work passed to the County Councils with their establishment in 1888. Justices of the peace were then left with jurisdiction in the licensing board and minor criminal cases.

District courts were introduced in 1975 as a replacement for burgh police courts and sat in each local authority area under summary procedure only. The Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007 enabled the Scottish Ministers to replace district courts by "justice of the peace courts".

The Justice of the Peace Courts are managed by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Responsibility for the courts was transferred from the local authorities in a rolling programme of court unification that concluded in February 2010. The district courts were replaced by Justice of the Peace Courts as follows:

A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer, of a lower or puisne court, elected or appointed by means of a commission (letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of the peace are appointed or elected from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are (or were) usually not required to have any formal legal education in order to qualify for the office. Some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs.

History

In 1195, Richard I ("the Lionheart") of England commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace in unruly areas. They were responsible to the King for ensuring that the law was upheld and preserving the "King's peace". Therefore, they were known as "keepers of the peace".

An act of 1327 had referred to "good and lawful men" to be appointed in every county in the land to "guard the peace"; such individuals were first referred to as conservators of the peace, or wardens of the peace. The title justice of the peace derives from 1361, in the reign of King Edward III Plantagenet. The "peace" to be guarded is the sovereign's, the maintenance of which is the duty of the Crown under the royal prerogative. Justices of the peace still use the power conferred or re-conferred on them since 1361 to bind over unruly persons "to be of good behaviour". The bind over is not a punishment, but a preventive measure, intended to ensure that people thought likely to offend will not do so. The justices' alternative title of "magistrate" dates from the 16th century, although the word had been in use centuries earlier to describe some legal officials of Roman times.

The magistrates' courts (Russian: Мировой суд), an office held by a magistrate or justice of the peace (Мировой судья), is a court within the judiciary of Russia.

Magistrates' courts handle criminal cases where imprisonment is for less than three years such as petty hooliganism, public drunkenness, and serious traffic violations of a non-criminal nature, minor civil cases such as simple divorces, some property cases, disputes over land, and some labor cases, as well as some federal administrative law cases.

It consists of one magistrate or justice of the peace.

History

It was introduced in Russian Empire in 1864 as part of the judicial reform of Alexander II. It was based on the British justice of the peace. It was replaced by other offices after the Russian Revolution but reintroduced formally in Russia by the 1996 Constitutional Law on the Judicial System.

The regulations in the Russian Empire provided for establishment of local courts with justices of the peace to deal with minor offences, who could not impose sentence more than one year of imprisonment. Each justice of the peace was supposed to serve in a circuit one uyezd comprising several circuits. They were elected for three years by zemstvos. However, in many areas, there was not enough candidates who could meet the requirements for election, and in other areasm, local authorities hindered the process of election. In several western regions, justices of the peace were eventually appointed by the Minister of Justice. In 1889, the whole institution was abolished everywhere except for Moscow and St. Petersburg. The powers of justices of the peace were vested in local executive authorities. They were restored in 1912, but the monarchy was already about to collapse.

The Justice of the Peace (Dutch: Vrederechter, French: justice de Paix) in Belgium is the small claims court in the Belgian judicial system.

Organisation & competences

Belgium is divided in 225 judicial cantons, each with its own justice of the peace.

The Justice of the Peace has competence in some 80 type cases, for instance civil and commercial cases up to maximum 2500 euro. Besides those cases, the Justice of the Peace has full competence regardless of the amount with regards to:

The Justice of the Peace also has various competences in the domain of family law (appointment of a guardian, alimony, collocation of the mentally ill,...)

Decisions by the Justice of the Peace can be appealed at the Court of First Instance.