In I609 King James VI decided that the English system
of lay justice, established there since the 14th century, could provide a means of
controlling an increasingly lawless society north of the border. Thus the Justices
of the Peace were born and over nearly four centuries have discharged an amazing range
of duties in local communities from ensuring the quality of bread and ale and preventing
riot, to checking the standard of linen, combating vagrancy and administering oaths. The
author describes the evolution of the English system and the workings of the Scottish
Peace Commission during the troubled years of the 17th century with its enhanced role
during Cromwell's Protectorate. Surviving records are used to illustrates the way in which the
justices operated through the 18th and 19th centuries and into the modern era. Throughout the
book the relationship between the justices and the formal legal system is explained and
exemplified. The book concludes with a review of the 20th century and offers some ideas for
the future. The book is aimed at the general reader but will especially interest those
involved in the administration of lay justice in modern Scotland.JOHAN FINDLAY has been a Justice of the Peace for 12 years and was for a time Chairman of the Justices of Dumfries and Galloway. She is an Honorary Sheriff and sits regularly in Sheriff and District Courts. Mrs Findlay is also a member of the District Court's Association, the Criminal Justice Forum and of the Scottish Association for the Study of Delinquency. For many years she has lectured on the history and work of justices and this book is the result of a considerable research in the surviving records of justice courts.