Justices of the Peace Act 1361

The Justices of the Peace Act 1361 (34 Edw. 3. c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act, although amended, remains enforceable in England and Wales in 2022. Maintaining the peace had long been a concern of society and part of the common law, but that aspect of the common law was enshrined into statute by the enactment of the Justices of the Peace Act 1361. The primary reason for the legislation was due to concerns about soldiers returning from the war in France, and the potential of them not reintegrating back into their communities as peaceful citizens. The Act defined who was eligible to become a justice of the peace, their duties and their powers. It detailed that each county assigned a lord and three of four worthy people to become justices of the peace. The role of a justice of the peace was to deal with 'offenders, rioters, and all other barators'. It empowered them to apprehend, arrest, and punish them, in accordance with the 'law and customs of the realm'. The Act empowered a justice of the peace to imprison offenders, bind them over with sureties to be of good behaviour towards the Crown and people of the realm, and set fines, specifying the fine should be 'reasonable and just' according to the circumstances of the offence. The Act applied to Ireland, but was not of much importance until the so-called Land War of 18791882, a highly organised campaign for tenant's rights. Lay magistrates, anxious to find a legal device to suppress the mass meetings which were a key part of the campaign, sought legal advice from the central government. The Crown's legal advice was that they should invoke the power in the 1361 Act to bind offenders over to keep the peace. The advice was controversial due to the reference in the Act to "rioters": it was argued that since the meetings were largely peaceful they could not possibly come within the definition of riot. Due to these concerns, widespread use of the Act soon ceased. Magistrate (England and Wales) The role of justice of the peace, now often known as magistrates, originates from the Justices of the Peace Act 1361.