what is the job of justice of the peace
dispense summary justice
title: Justice of the peace text: presiding justice of the peace. Administrative justice of the peace are court officers appointed by the Minister of Justice, and perform duties such as receiving criminal informations and issuing warrants. Presiding justice of the peace are appointed by commission under the Great Seal, and can try some criminal matters and issue warrants. They are appointed from advocates of at least ten years' standing and serve full-time until the age of 70. In Yukon, justices of the peace are lay officers of the court. They sit in the Justice of the Peace Court, which is part of the Territorial Court of title: Justice of the peace text: Justice of the peace 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 title: Justice of the peace text: Yukon. In Hong Kong, the historical functions of justices of the peace have been replaced by full-time, legally qualified magistrates. Nowadays, justices of the peace are essentially titles of honour given by the Government to community leaders, and to certain officials while they are in their terms of offices. They have no judicial functions, and their main duties include visiting prisons, institutions for young offenders and drug addicts, psychiatric hospitals, remand homes, places of refuge, reception and detention centres, administering statutory declarations, and serving as members of advisory panels. In India, justices of the peace do exist, but they no title: Justice of the peace text: the peace, or wardens of the peace. The title "justice of the peace" derives from 1361, in the reign of Edward III. 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 title: Justice of the peace text: preside over cases within the prison system. In Belgium, the justice of the peace (, ) is a law-trained judge who sits the lowest Court of record with original jurisdiction over small claims (less than €2500) matters of civil, commercial, and family law, including: tenancy and lease disputes, neighborhood disputes (party structures, trespassing, noise pollution), apartment buildings, small deceased estates, alimony, guardianships & adoption, and the commitment of mental patients and oversight of their care. Litigants may opt either for conciliation or trial. Lawyers may act as "locum tenens" JPs. In Canada, justices of the peace play a role in