Definition
Of the peace is an adjectival phrase used in legal nomenclature to denote courts, officers, or proceedings connected with the preservation of public order and the suppression of civil disturbance. The phrase does not stand alone as a substantive term but functions as a qualifier that appears in several distinct legal contexts:
1. Court of the Peace / Quarter Sessions. In English and early American usage, a court "of the peace" refers to the tribunal empowered to maintain the king's (or the state's) peace — most recognizably the court of general quarter sessions of the peace, presided over by justices of the peace. The phrase signals both the court's subject-matter jurisdiction (offenses against public order, misdemeanors) and its legitimating authority (the sovereign's peace).
2. Pennsylvania Court of Quarter Sessions. In American law, "court of quarter sessions of the peace" refers specifically to a Pennsylvania court of criminal jurisdiction with authority to try misdemeanors and to exercise certain administrative functions. One such court sits in each county. Historically, its sessions were held concurrently with, and by the same judges as, the court of oyer and terminer and general jail delivery. The phrase "of the peace" in this context is part of the court's formal title and carries jurisdictional weight, distinguishing it from the higher felony tribunal.
3. Justices "of the Peace." Officers commissioned "of the peace" are magistrates whose authority derives from the sovereign commission to keep and preserve public order. The phrase identifies the source and nature of their power.
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Common Confusion
"Of the peace" appears in several overlapping titles — justice of the peace, court of quarter sessions of the peace, surety of the peace, breach of the peace — and researchers can misread a reference to one as applying to another. A "court of the peace" is not the same as a "justice of the peace" acting judicially; nor is a proceeding "of the peace" (such as a surety bond) the same as a criminal prosecution before a court bearing that name. Context — especially whether the source is English, colonial, or American — governs which meaning applies.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter "of the peace" in at least three distinct research tracks, and conflating them produces errors.
First, when tracing the jurisdiction of a Pennsylvania court of quarter sessions, the phrase "of the peace" is not ornamental — it identifies a court with a specific statutory structure and a particular relationship to the oyer and terminer court sitting simultaneously. A record that appears to be from a general felony court may actually originate in the quarter sessions, affecting what crimes and procedures apply.
Second, in English common law sources and colonial American materials, "of the peace" almost always keys to the justices of the peace system and the quarter sessions structure transplanted from England. Researchers working in pre-Revolutionary or early Republic records should not assume that a reference to a "court of the peace" maps cleanly onto any post-1800 American tribunal.
Third, the phrase connects to the broader peace bond and surety-of-the-peace tradition. Historical pleadings and recognizances often use language like "to keep the peace" or "against the peace" (as in the Latin contra pacem). Encountering "of the peace" in a procedural pleading context is different from encountering it as a court or officer title, and the two should not be read interchangeably.
Black's Law Dictionary entry for this phrase focuses narrowly on the Pennsylvania court and gestures toward procedural cross-references (Brightly's Purdon's Digest). Researchers wanting the full English and colonial background will need to look beyond the Black's entry.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Bouvier's Law Dictionary are in agreement on the core American definition: "of the peace" as a descriptor attaches most specifically, in domestic American law, to the Pennsylvania court of quarter sessions. Both sources note the court's criminal misdemeanor jurisdiction and its structural linkage to the oyer and terminer court. Bouvier uses "gaol" where Black's uses "jail" — a minor orthographic divergence reflecting Bouvier's closer adherence to English spelling conventions, not a substantive legal difference.
Neither dictionary provides significant treatment of the phrase in its broader English common law sense — the peace commission, the role of the sovereign's peace as the conceptual foundation for the entire magistracy, or the historical development from Anglo-Saxon frith to the Henrician and Stuart justice of the peace system. Researchers relying solely on these two sources will get the Pennsylvania snapshot but miss the deep structural meaning the phrase carries in earlier sources. For that history, Blackstone's Commentaries (Book IV) and contemporaneous English quarter sessions records are indispensable supplements.
What both sources also omit is the phrase's recurring appearance in pleading formulas — particularly in indictments alleging that an offense was committed "against the peace of the state" or "against the peace and dignity" of the commonwealth. That usage, while related in origin, is a pleading convention rather than a jurisdictional label.
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Jurisdictional Note
The specific tribunal described by Black's and Bouvier's — the court of quarter sessions of the peace — is a Pennsylvania institution. Other states had analogous courts under different names, and the English quarter sessions structure was not uniformly received across American jurisdictions. Researchers working outside Pennsylvania should treat references to a "court of the peace" cautiously and verify the local court structure rather than assuming the Pennsylvania model applies.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
"Disorderly Conduct and Breach of Peace" — The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia (criminal_107)
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