The office of Justice of the Peace is one of the oldest in the English legal system. Acting as individuals exercising judicial authority, justices have been appointed in the North-West Territories since 1870 to serve as entry points into the legal system. Changes in the powers and types of courts, as well as the increasing number of magistrates and judges over the past century, has narrowed the role of justices of the peace in Alberta to overseeing traffic and bylaw offenses.
The office of Justice of the Peace is one of the oldest in the English legal system. Acting as individuals exercising judicial authority, justices have been appointed in the North-West Territories since 1870 to serve as entry points into the legal system. Changes in the powers and types of courts, as well as the increasing number of magistrates and judges over the past century, has narrowed the role of justices of the peace in Alberta to overseeing traffic and bylaw offenses.
An Act Respecting Police Magistrates and Justices of the Peace, Statutes of Alberta, 1906, c. 13.