Justices of the Peace Indexes
These Indexes have been compiled from Series ID 5739, Oaths of Allegiance Administered to Justices of the Peace, 1857-1976.
Background
This series was created by the Supreme Court, Moreton Bay later to become known as the Supreme Court of Queensland and now known as the Supreme Court, Southern District, Brisbane.
The years 1857 to 1894 have been indexed to date. Justices of the Peace are required to sign an oath of allegiance prior to carrying out any duties as Justices.
Each page is an oath of allegiance to the Queen/King and also an oath to faithfully serve as a Justice of the Peace. Information includes the full name of the Justice of the Peace, his/her signature and the signature of the certified witness - usually a judge or another Justice of the Peace. The later oaths give the fee paid, the Government Gazette reference and the address of the Justice of the Peace. Occasionally there is some related correspondence bound with the oaths which can include letters of request, letters of appointment and notices of gazettal from the Chief Secretary.
The oaths have been numbered and bound into volumes and this index will allow easy access to the documents. Sometimes there is an additional document addressed to another Justice, requesting that he administer the oath.
Note: A/4832 - A/4869 were not in archival custody for an unknown period of time during which some of the registers were severely vandalised.
The image below (click for larger image) is an example of the Oath of Allegiance of Samuel Walker Griffith made in 1878.
Explanatory Notes
- ? indicates there is doubt about the entry due to difficulty in interpreting handwriting
- More than one entry may be found for a person
- Check all possible spelling variants
- Some given names are abbreviated as they appear in the original record
- Mc and Mac names are interfiled
- - or a blank cell indicates that there is no information recorded in the original
- Names are not indexed with an apostrophe e.g. O DWYER
- Asiatic names have not been anglicised and appear as recorded in the original record.
- There may be more than one entry for an individual with the same date, this indicates different documents
Search the Indexes
Justice of the Peace Index 1859-1880 (PDF 60 KB)
