that houses in danger of falling be thrown down." The Dean of Guild exercises his authority in a Court of which he is either the sole or the principal judge. (Ersk. i. 4. 25.)

2155. No building within the old or extended royalty of Edinburgh can be erected, or taken down, or materially altered, without a warrant from the Dean of Guild Court, which is only granted after the neighbouring proprietors of the applicant and others interested have been cited, and had an opportunity of being heard for their interests. The Dean of Guild's jurisdiction does not extend to that portion of the burgh brought under the magistrates' jurisdiction by a recent statute. (19 and 20 Vict. c. 32, sec. 3 (1856).)

VI. JUSTICE OF PEACE COURTS.

2156. The office of Justice of the Peace is of English origin.

2157. It was introduced into Scotland in the reign of King James VI., by the same statute (1587, c. 82) by which circuits for the despatch of criminal business were instituted; and the justices were entrusted with the double duty of bringing offences of the graver sort before the judges, and of trying and disposing of those of a more venial kind "at their courts and meetings to be kept four times every year." These courts were the origin of our present Quarter Sessions. But it was during the Protectorate of Cromwell that the office was put on its present footing. The rules by which it has ever since been regulated were prescribed by an Act which was passed immediately after the Restoration (1661, c. 38), and in which the Instructions of the previous year were embodied.

2158. By the Eighteenth Article of the Treaty of Union, the justices of the peace in Scotland were invested with the same powers in matters connected with excise and customs which were previously possessed by the justices in England; and by

a subsequent statute (6 Anne, c. 6, sec. 2) their criminal jurisdiction was also assimilated to that of the English justices; the Scottish forms of trial, however, being retained.

2159. The commission by which justices of the peace are appointed falls by the demise of the Crown.

2160. Several officials-such as the judges of the Court of Session, the Lord Advocate, and the Solicitor-General, and all Sheriffs and Sheriff-substitutes-are included in every commission of the peace.

2161. No solicitor or procurator in any inferior court can act as a justice of the peace. (6 Geo. Iv. c. 48, sec. 27.) By a recent statute (19 and 20 Vict. c. 38) it is provided that where any such person shall be elected to the office of Magistrate or Dean of Guild in a burgh, the Magistrates or Dean of Guild of which are ex officiis justices of the peace, he shall be entitled to act as a justice during his tenure of office, provided he, and any partner or partners he may have, shall cease to practise before any Justice of the Peace Court in the county within which the burgh lies.

2162. The antiquated form of commission still in use was drawn up in England in the thirty-third year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1590).

2163. No qualification of rank of property is required by a justice of the peace in Scotland, and he receives no pecuniary recompense. He is reimbursed by the county for the sums actually expended by him in the public service.

2164. The regular days for holding Quarter Sessions are, the first Tuesday of March, May, and August, and the last Tuesday of October.

2165. Petty Sessions are called when required by the clerk of the peace.

2166. Quarter Sessions have the power of reviewing the judgments of the justices in Petty Sessions.

2167. Two justices are a quorum; though in some of the

larger counties it is a rule, that a greater number shall be present at Quarter Sessions.1

2168. One justice cannot act as a judge, though he may grant a warrant to apprehend an accused party, and bring him before himself for examination, or before a court of two or more justices for judgment. One justice may call the roll of causes, pronounce decrees in absence, receive returns of the execution of citations, grant warrants for citations de novo (6 Geo. IV. c. 48, sec. 15), and sign a summary warrant for recovery of poor-rates under the Poor Law Act, 1845. (Oakeley, 1867, 6 Macph. 12.)

2169. An appeal to the Circuit Court of Justiciary is competent both from the Petty and Quarter Sessions, when exercising their ordinary jurisdiction. Where they are acting under a statute, the existence or non-existence of an appeal is generally regulated by its provision. Where there is no provision, the right of appeal exists.

2170. The chairman of a bench of justices has no double vote; and in case of equality, one of the justices retires, or another is called in.

2171. The judicial powers of justices of the peace are restricted to the county for which they are appointed; but they may receive affidavits, ratifications by married women, and the like, anywhere in Scotland-these being voluntary acts.

2172. The jurisdiction of justices of the peace in Scotland may be said to be wholly statutory.

2173. In the recovery of servants' wages it extends to any amount, "if the servants please rather to pursue before them than any other judge." (Stat. 1661, c. 38.)

2174. Actions for aliment of bastard children are sometimes brought before the justices; but these cases are competent only where the paternity of the child is admitted.

1 Barclay's Digest of the Law of Scotland for Justices of the Peace, 4th ed. p. 542.

2175. Warrants against debtors, as in meditatione fuge, are frequently granted by justices of the peace.

2176. The justices are also in use to ordain parties to find surety to keep the peace. This proceeding, which in the legal phraseology of Scotland is called "a warrant of law-burrows," was more common in former times, when the police regulations were less complete than at present.

2177. It has never been the custom for justices of the peace in Scotland to try criminal cases by a jury, as is common in England. Practically, their criminal jurisdiction is confined to breaches of the peace and trifling assaults; and it is rare for them to inflict a heavier punishment than a small fine or a short imprisonment.

2178. In a case in which the justices imposed a heavy fine for fraud and wilful imposition, the Court of Justiciary remarked that it was not a proper case for their jurisdiction (Watson and Ramsay v. Meek, 27th Jan. 1813); and the same observation has been made in other cases.

2179. The Act 19 and 20 Vict. c. 48 (July 14, 1857) assimilates proceedings before justices of the peace and magistrates of burghs to those in the summary trial of offences before the Sheriff, and extends to them the powers conferred on him by 14 and 15 Vict. c. 27, and 17 and 18 Vict. c. 86, in regard to whipping juvenile offenders and imposing hard labour.

2180. The justices possess various statutory powers in reference to revenue matters, highways, fishings, game, publichouses, and the like. Under some of these the jurisdiction of the justices is exclusive; under others, it is cumulative with that of the Sheriff.

2181. The duty of granting licences to publicans to sell excisable liquors to be consumed on the premises, is exercised by the justices in counties, and by the magistrates in royal burghs, at half-yearly meetings appointed to be held for the purpose. (9 Geo. IV. c. 58.) If there are not a sufficient

number of magistrates in a burgh, the justices are empowered to act for them.

2182. As these certificates are in force only for one year, their constant renewal, and the inquiries that are requisite regarding them, cause a great amount of labour to such justices as are conscientious in the discharge of this part of their duty.

2183. Complaints for the violation of this Act are competent either before the Sheriff, the Court of a royal burgh, or two or more justices of the peace.

VII. JUSTICES' SMALL DEBT COURTS.

2184. It is chiefly as judges under the various Acts which have been passed during the last seventy years (the first is 35 Geo. III. c. 123 (1795)) to facilitate the recovery of small debts, that the civil jurisdiction of the justices of the peace is practically exercised.

2185. The existing code for their guidance in this branch of their duties is 6 Geo. Iv. c. 48 (1825), amended by 12 and 13 Vict. c. 34 (1849).

2186. By the first of these Acts the jurisdiction of the justices. is confined to cases not exceeding £5 (sec. 2), and this provision remains unaltered.

2187. The recent statute, by which the jurisdiction of the Sheriffs in their Small Debt Courts is raised from £8, 6s. 8d. to £12 (16 and 17 Vict. c. 80, sec. 26), has no application to the Small Debt Courts either of justices of the peace or of magistrates of burghs.

2188. Parties state their own cases in these courts vira voce, and no record is kept either of the arguments or of the evidence.

2189. Procurators cannot practise in them, even with leave of the justices. (6 Geo. iv. c. 48, sec. 5.)

2190. The decrees of the justices in their Small Debt Courts