A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower court, elected or appointed by means of a commission 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 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.
Justice of the Peace office in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
A justice of the peace in Taos County, New Mexico hears a case (1941).
Hubert Walter was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter began the keeping of the Charter Roll, a record of all charters issued by the chancery. Walter was not noted for his holiness in life or learning, but historians have judged him one of the most outstanding government ministers in English history.
Statue of Hubert Walter from the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral
The capture of King Richard I from the Chronicle of Petrus de Ebulo, 1197
King John from the medieval manuscript, Historia Anglorum c. 1250–1259
Walter's tomb was opened in 1890 and his pair of buskins, crozier, paten (illustrated here) and chalice were discovered.