Four new Justices of the Peace for Northland

Ralph Correa (left), Sheryl Mai, Paea Paki and Sara Bell are Northland's newest Justices of the Peace, but hopefully they won't be required to quell the rioters any time soon. Photo / John Stone

Four upstanding Northlanders, among them Whangarei's mayor, have become the region's newest Justices of the Peace.

Sara Bell of Ruawai, Ralph Correa of Whangarei, Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai, and Paea Paki of Bream Bay were sworn in at Whangarei District Court last week.

Mayor Mai took up the role ex-officio, by virtue of her mayoral post, but said she planned to do some study during the next year or so, which would allow her to become a fully-fledged JP.

Mr Correa, chairman of the Northland Indian Association among the roles on his CV, was making history as the region's first Indian JP.

The swearing in required allegiance and loyalty to the Queen, Mayor Mai also repeated her oath in te reo Maori.

But while the ceremony was grandiose, in language at least, the day-to-day duties of JPs are humble and behind the scenes. The role mainly includes witnessing signatures, documents and affidavits.

Ms Paki said she wanted to serve the community.

"I guess everyone says that ... But I want to alleviate stress for the communities that might have to travel. Bearing in mind I live in the Bream Bay area and there's no public transport."

The job of a JP was not always so gentle. Keepers of the peace have existed in England since ancient times but a law change under Edward III in 1361 gave them power to try felons and take the title "Justices".

King Edward's law stated that the justices "shall have the power to restrain the offenders, rioters, and all other barators [brawlers], and to pursue, arrest, take and chastise them according to their trespass or offence".

The idea was that each community needed someone who was learned in the law. To this day in New Zealand justices are often assisted by court officials and some have the power to preside over minor court matters, such as traffic infringements.

Thomas Kendall was appointed as New Zealand's first JP, based in the Bay of Islands, in 1814.

The first female JP in the British Empire was New Zealander Elizabeth Yates, also the first female mayor in the empire and elected by the Onehunga Borough electorate in 1893. She took up the JP role in 1894 ex-officio, like Mayor Mai.

After this Mrs Yates occasionally presided over cases, but only those involving women.
There was resistance to her taking both the role of JP and mayor. The town clerk and four of her councillors resigned immediately, and three other councillors set out to sabotage her policies.