An Act to provide for the appointment and functions of justices of the peace; and for other purposes.
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Name of Act
This Act is the Justices of the Peace Act 2002.
2 Commencement
This Act commences on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation.
3 Definitions
In this Act:exercise a function includes perform a duty.function includes a power, authority or duty.justice of the peace means a person who holds office as a justice of the peace under this Act.
Part 2 Appointment and functions of justices of the peace
4 Appointment of justices of the peace
(1) The Governor may, on the recommendation of the Minister, appoint a person as a justice of the peace.(2) A person may not be appointed as a justice of the peace unless the person is eligible to be so appointed.(3) A person appointed as a justice of the peace is to hold office for a period of 5 years from the date of his or her appointment and may, if eligible to be appointed as a justice of the peace, be re-appointed:(a) by the Governor, on the recommendation of the Minister, or(b) by the Director-General of the Attorney General’s Department.(4) Despite subsection (3), if an application for re-appointment is duly made by a person, the person’s appointment as a justice of the peace continues in force until a determination is made in respect of the application.(5) The Director-General of the Attorney General’s Department may delegate his or her function under subsection (3) to a senior officer of the Department.s 4: Am 2008 No 15, Sch 1 [1] [2]; 2008 No 114, Sch 1.11.
5 Persons who are eligible to be appointed as justices of the peace
(1) A person is eligible to be appointed as a justice of the peace if the person meets all of the following requirements:(a) the person is at least 18 years of age,(b) the person is nominated for appointment by a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council,(c) the person satisfies the criteria for appointment as a justice of the peace prescribed by the regulations.(2) A person seeking re-appointment as a justice of the peace is not required to be nominated for re-appointment by a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council.(3) The Minister may issue guidelines with respect to the appointment of justices of the peace.
6 Applications to Minister
(1) A person may apply to the Minister for appointment or re-appointment as a justice of the peace.(2) An application is to be in the form approved by the Minister and accompanied by:(a) except in the case of an application for re-appointment, a written nomination signed by a member of the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council, and(b) any other documents required by the Minister.
7 Oaths of office to be taken
(1) A person who is appointed as a justice of the peace must not exercise the functions of a justice of the peace unless the person has taken an oath of office in the form and manner prescribed by the regulations.(2) A person who is re-appointed as a justice of the peace is not required to take another oath of office if the person held office as a justice of the peace immediately before that re-appointment.s 7: Am 2005 No 31, Sch 7 [1].
8 Functions of justices of the peace
(1) A justice of the peace may exercise any function conferred or imposed on a justice of the peace by or under the Oaths Act 1900 or any other Act.(2) The Minister may issue guidelines with respect to the exercise of specified functions by justices of the peace under this or any other Act.(3) The guidelines are to incorporate relevant provisions of any code of conduct for justices of the peace that has been prescribed by the regulations.s 8: Am 2008 No 15, Sch 1 [3].
9 Vacation of office
(1) A person ceases to hold the office of a justice of the peace if the person:(a) completes a term of office and is not re-appointed, or(b) resigns the office by instrument in writing addressed to the Minister, or(c) is removed from office by the Governor under subsection (2).(2) The Governor may at any time, on the recommendation of the Minister, remove a justice of the peace from office.(3) Without limiting subsection (2), the Governor may at any time, on the recommendation of the Minister, remove a justice of the peace from office:(a) if the person becomes bankrupt, applies to take the benefit of any law for the relief of bankrupt or insolvent debtors, compounds with his or her creditors or makes an assignment of his or her remuneration for their benefit, or(b) if the person becomes a mentally incapacitated person, or(c) if the person is convicted in New South Wales of an offence that is punishable by imprisonment for 12 months or more or is convicted elsewhere than in New South Wales of an offence that, if committed in New South Wales, would be an offence so punishable, or(d) in any other circumstances prescribed by the regulations.s 9: Am 2008 No 15, Sch 1 [4].
Part 3 Miscellaneous
10 Notification of matters to Minister
(1) A justice of the peace must notify the Minister in writing of the following:(a) any matter that may cause the justice of the peace to cease to satisfy the prescribed criteria for appointment as a justice of the peace,(b) if the justice of the peace satisfies any of the grounds for removal from office under section 9 (3).(2) The notice must be given as soon as practicable after the justice of the peace becomes aware of the matter concerned.Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.
11 Register of justices of the peace
(1) The Minister is to cause to be kept and maintained a register of justices of the peace.(2) The register is to be in the form determined by the Minister and is to contain the particulars prescribed by the regulations.(3) The register is to be available for inspection by the public, free of charge, during business hours at such places as the Minister determines.(4) The Director-General of the Attorney General’s Department may issue a certificate certifying as to whether a person was registered on the register at a particular time. The certificate is admissible in legal proceedings as evidence of the matters certified.(5) Information entered on the register is presumed (in the absence of evidence to the contrary) to be correct.
12 Nature of proceedings for offences
Proceedings for an offence under this Act or the regulations may be dealt with summarily before the Local Court.s 12: Am 2007 No 94, Sch 2.
13 Guidelines to be publicly available
The Minister must ensure that guidelines issued by the Minister under this Act are publicly available.
14 Regulations
(1) The Governor may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, for or with respect to any matter that is required or permitted to be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.(2) The regulations may create offences punishable by a penalty not exceeding 10 penalty units.
15 Savings and transitional provisions
Schedule 1 has effect.
16 (Repealed)
s 16: Rep 2005 No 64, Sch 3.
17 Review of Act
(1) The Minister is to review this Act to determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing those objectives.(2) The review is to be undertaken as soon as possible after the period of 5 years from the date of assent to this Act.(3) A report of the outcome of the review is to be tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months after the end of the period of 5 years.
Schedule 1 Savings and transitional provisions
(Section 15)
1 Regulations
(1) The regulations may contain provisions of a savings or transitional nature consequent on the enactment of the following Acts:this Act(2) Any such provision may, if the regulations so provide, take effect from the date of assent to the Act concerned or a later date.(3) To the extent to which any such provision takes effect from a date that is earlier than the date of its publication in the Gazette, the provision does not operate so as:(a) to affect, in a manner prejudicial to any person (other than the State or an authority of the State), the rights of that person existing before the date of its publication, or(b) to impose liabilities on any person (other than the State or an authority of the State) in respect of anything done or omitted to be done before the date of its publication.
2 Existing justices of the peace
(1) A person who, immediately before the commencement of section 4, was appointed, or held office, as a justice of the peace for the State, is taken to be so appointed, or to hold such office, under this Act until the third anniversary of the commencement of section 4, unless the justice of the peace sooner ceases to hold office.(2) Nothing in this clause prevents a person referred to in subclause (1) from being re-appointed, or from resigning or being removed from office, in accordance with this Act, as a justice of the peace.
3 Amendments made by Courts Legislation Amendment Act 2005
The amendment made to section 7 by the Courts Legislation Amendment Act 2005 applies to any re-appointment made on or after the commencement of that amendment, regardless of when the person being re-appointed was first appointed as a justice of the peace.
sch 1: Am 2005 No 31, Sch 7 [2] [3].