A Brief History of the Justice of the Peace Bench

The office of Justice of the Peace was transplanted from England to Canada in 1763 as a result of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which decreed that the law of England, both civil and criminal, was to be imposed upon all the territory of what subsequently became Canada.

The Association of Justices of the Peace of Ontario was formed in 1980 when the Toronto Regional Association and the Ontario-wide Association joined forces, with the mandate to represent Justices of Peace in Ontario as judicial officers in all matters of general interest as per their Constitution.