Justice of the Peace

A Justice of the Peace (JP) is a magistrate appointed by a commission to keep the peace, dispense summary justice and deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of the Peace are appointed from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are (or were) usually not required to have a formal legal education in order to qualify for the office.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, Justices of the Peace have largely been replaced in magistrates' courts by legally-qualified (first-class) stipendiary magistrates. However, state governments continue to appoint Justices of the Peace as honours. In 2004 some associations of Justices of the Peace pressed the federal government to allow Justices of the Peace to sit as second-class magistrates in order to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts.

Related Topics:
Malaysia - 2004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~