he office of Justice of the Peace has its roots in commissions of citizens appointed as early as the thirteenth century. During the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) the office was formally established, consisting of royally appointed justices who in each county constituted a court of record. Especially under the Tudors, justices acquired many duties, including enforcement of labor, mercantile and poor laws, and religious regulations. American historian Charles Beard observed that creation of justice courts was “an important factor in the long process by which all men and all institutions were brought under the direct and supreme authority of the state.” Since many justices were not lawyers, they needed instruction. As early as 1579, William Lambarde published Eirenarcha, or Of the Office of Justices of Peace, the first of many manuals intended to assist lay judges.

British justice manuals currently on display include Richard Chamberlain, The Compleat Justice (1681); Richard Burn, The Justice of the Peace, and Parish Officer (1785); William Robinson, The Magistrate’s Pocket-Book (1825); William Lambarde, Eirenarcha (1614); George Tait, A Summary of the Powers and Duties of a Justice of the Peace in Scotland (1815); and William Nelson, The Office and Authority of a Justice of the Peace (1718).

In British North America , justices of the peace brought the forms of law to communities that lacked trained lawyers. Early in United States history, justices in southern states also supervised county patrols, an activity that merged police and militia activities. Not surprisingly, justice manuals were prominent in southern legal literature. Henry Hitchcock’s The Alabama Justice (1822) was in fact the first book written and published in the state of Alabama .

In the twentieth century, justices of the peace, once the tools of a royal power, were perceived as superannuated and inefficient. The office of justice of the peace in Alabama was abolished by constitutional amendment prior to the adoption of the 1975 code.

Antebellum justice manuals from the southern United States currently on display include William Waller Henning, The New Virginia Justice (1810); Henry Hitchcock, The Alabama Justice (1822); Rhodom A. Greene and John W. Lumpkin, The Georgia Justice (1835); and William R. Smith, The Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace (1859).