How Does a Justice of the Peace Spend a Workday

A justice of the peace spends a lot of the day hearing various court cases. There could be up to five hours a day being spent in the courtroom listening to un-represented people and attorneys making pleas to the court regarding their case or making arguments against a plea that was entered against them. The justice of the peace makes a ruling right then and there or advises that the matter will need to be thought over and that it will be ruled on at a later time. This generally leaves very little time for a marriage to be performed. And that is probably why people have to call so far in advance to have a date set for their wedding.

Even though there will be a wedding or marriage to attend to from time to time, many people in this career find that they are busy splitting up their work week between hearing criminal cases, hearing civil cases, and setting arraignments. This does not leave a lot of time for a wedding, which is probably why these marriage ceremonies, when they happen, are generally short, sweet, and to the point.

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When the justice of the peace is not hearing court cases or dealing with a wedding they are usually spending their time on pending cases. There is generally two hours per day, around marriage ceremonies and court cases that is, spent on simply reviewing court cases. Reviewing the court cases could include examining exhibits or evidence and researching case-specific laws in order to be prepared for the case to be heard within the courtroom.

Once the cases are ready to be heard people will finally have their day in court to plead their case. The justice of the peace can either make a decision right then and there or advise that more time is needed to look into the matter. The time spent reviewing the case and making a decision on the order is done during the workday when time allows. This may be between other court cases or in between a marriage that may be scheduled for the day. There could be a wedding scheduled once a week or on a few different days of the week.

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Of course, there are other duties besides just attending to court hearings and performing a wedding or two. There is the duty of swearing in newly elected officials or heading out to attend to public events. Dedication ceremonies and graduations are two public events that a justice of the peace attends. Sometimes, a marriage ceremony can be requested to be held somewhere outside of the courtroom. In these cases, the justice of the peace can schedule enough time in the day to travel, within a reasonable distance, to tend to a wedding. This will take advance planning on the part of the couple having the wedding, as this takes a lot of valuable time out of the day of the justice of the peace. Because of this, someone wanting a wedding done by a justice of the peace outside of the courtroom should call and try to schedule this wedding at least several months in advance. The more in advance a person calls for such wedding arrangements, the better the chance will be that the justice of the peace will be able to perform the marriage ceremony in the place of preference for the future married couple.

As you can see, a day in the life of a justice of the peace is anything but peaceful. It is hectic and is oftentimes stressful, as there is so much to do. It is though a personally and financially rewarding career choice.