A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or puisne 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.
Clonakilty, sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population was 4,946 at the 2022 census. The town is a tourism hub in West Cork, and was recognised as the "Best Town in Europe" in 2017, and "Best Place of the Year" in 2017 by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. Clonakilty is in the Dáil constituency of Cork South-West, which has three seats.
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland established quarter sessions in the 17th century. Quarter sessions were also established in Ireland and British colonies overseas.
A recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions.
Bandon was a parliamentary constituency representing the town of Bandon in County Cork, Ireland from 1801 to 1885. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Sir John Holt was an English lawyer who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 17 April 1689 to his death. He is frequently credited with playing a major role in ending the prosecution of witches in English law.
A clerk of the peace held an office in England and Wales whose responsibility was the records of the quarter sessions and the framing of presentments and indictments. They had legal training, so that they could advise justices of the peace.
The Courts of Justice Act 1924 was an Act of the Oireachtas that established a new system of courts for the Irish Free State. Among the new courts was the Supreme Court of the Irish Free State, and the first Chief Justice of the Irish Free State was also appointed under the Act.
Thomas William Saunders (1814–1890), was an English metropolitan police magistrate. And a notable revising Barrister-at-law.
The Recorder of Dublin was a judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland.
Sir Richard Cox, 1st Baronet PC was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland from 1701 to 1703, Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1703 to 1707 and as Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench for Ireland from 1711 to 1714.
The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was responsible for the safekeeping of the Chancery records such as close rolls and patent rolls. The office was created by letters patent in 1333, the first holder of the office being Edmund de Grimsby. As the Irish bureaucracy expanded, the duties of the Master of the Rolls came to be performed by subordinates and the position became a sinecure which was awarded to political allies of the Dublin Castle administration. In the nineteenth century, it became a senior judicial appointment, ranking second within the Court of Chancery behind the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The post was abolished by the Courts of Justice Act 1924, passed by the Irish Free State established in 1922.
The High Sheriff of County Cork was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Cork. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became an annual appointment following the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judicial importance, the sheriff had ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs.
United States v. More, 7 U.S. 159 (1805), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that it had no jurisdiction to hear appeals from criminal cases in the circuit courts by writs of error. Relying on the Exceptions Clause, More held that Congress's enumerated grants of appellate jurisdiction to the Court operated as an exercise of Congress's power to eliminate all other forms of appellate jurisdiction.
The chief justice of Munster was the senior of the two judges who assisted the Lord President of Munster in judicial matters. Despite his title of Chief Justice, full judicial authority was vested in the lord president, who had "power to hear and determine at his discretion all manner of complaints in any part of the province of Munster", and also had powers to hold commissions of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery.
Henry Gosnold or Gosnell was an English-born lawyer who spent most of his very long life in Ireland. He sat in the Irish House of Commons and held office as Chief Justice of Munster and Deputy Admiralty judge for the same province. He is now mainly remembered for his friendship with Francis Bacon. He was also famous in his own lifetime for his wit: a few of his jokes still survive.
The recorder of Cork was a judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland. The recorder was the chief magistrate of Cork city: his principal duty was to keep the peace. The office was very similar to that of the recorder of Dublin, except that the recorder of Cork, unlike his Dublin counterpart, did not have the power to preside over any trial involving a capital crime. A statute of 1877 stated that wherever possible the recorder should also be the Chairman of the Cork East Riding Quarter Sessions. The office of the recorder of Cork, like the recorder of Dublin, was an onerous one, involving at least two sittings of the Court every week; as a rule, the recorder had a deputy recorder to assist him. William Waggett, appointed in 1808, delegated all his duties to his Deputy Mr. Wilmot until the latter died in 1815.
Sir John Lyndon was an Irish judge and politician of the seventeenth century. He was the first holder of the office of Third Serjeant-at-law, which was created especially for him, apparently as a "consolation prize" for not being made a High Court judge the first time he sought that office. He was also Recorder of Carrickfergus for many years, a position held by several members of the Lyndon family over the best part of a century.
The recorder of Kinsale was a judicial office-holder in pre-independence Ireland. He was the chief magistrate of the town of Kinsale. Given the population of the town, which has fluctuated between 5000 and 7000 over the years, the need for a full-time judge may be questioned. However Kinsale has been a chartered town since 1334, and the charter granted by Elizabeth 1 in 1589 explicitly provided for the office of Recorder, as did that granted to Clonakilty by James I in 1613. The first recorder of Kinsale whose name is definitely known is Robert Slighe, who served in that office between approximately 1601 and 1615.
The recorder of Carrickfergus was a judicial office-holder in pre-independence Ireland. The office dates from 1593, shortly after the incorporation of Carrickfergus. It was abolished by the new Government of Northern Ireland after the Partition of Ireland in 1921.