| Description | This sub-fonds relates to the appointment, qualification, and oaths of the Justices of the Peace. It consists of records relating to Justices' oaths, including:
- Justices' oaths, including files containing writs of dedimus potestatem, oaths of office (as Justices), allegiance, abjuration and supremacy, with signed certificates of the Justices administering the oaths. Some of these oaths are unsigned; from 1863 there are oaths of allegiance and office only [1766-1820; 1863-1869]
- Justices' oath rolls or registers of Justices renewing oaths on the accession of a new sovereign. They include signatures of Justices, date, and some attestations by either the Clerk or the deputy Clerk [1762-1838]
- Justices' oaths and qualification oaths. These are mainly files containing oaths of allegiance, office, declarations not to injure the established church (after 1828) and oaths of qualification. They include oaths of allegiance, office, and qualification only after 1870, and oaths of office and allegiance only after 1906 [n.d. (19th century), 1831-1927]
- certificates of return and filing of writs of dedimus potestatem in the Petty Bag Office [1771-1781, 1802-1803, 1837-1850]
- correspondence relating to the taking of oaths and qualification oaths [1858-1901]
- register of Chairmen of Urban District and Rural District Councils taking the oath as Justices of the Peace under the Local Government Act, 1894 s.22 [1895-1968]
- magistrates' oath book: register of persons taking the oaths of allegiance and office as Justices with signatures attested by the Clerk of the Peace [1927-1971]
- original oaths of allegiance and office as Justices [1961-1968] |
| Administrative history | Justices took oaths of allegiance, office, declarations not to injure the established church (after 1828) and oaths of qualification. After 1870 there are only oaths of allegiance, office and qualification, and after 1906 only oaths of office and allegiance.
Writs of dedimus potestatem were issued to Justices in office, authorizing them to take the oaths of new Justices. An Act of 1760 (1 George III cap. 13) to dispense with the need of suing out new writs on the death of the sovereign enacted that on the issue of a new commission, Justices already acting were to subscribe to an oath roll made out by the Clerk of the Peace. |