Peace

The concord or final agreement in a fine of land. 18 Edw. I. modus levandi f Inis. I'lie tranquillity enjoyed by a political society, internally by the good order which reigns among its members, and externally by the good understanding it has with all other nations. Applied to the internal regulations of a nation, peace imports, in a technical sense, not merely a state of repose and security as opposed to one of violence or warfare, but likewise a state of public order and decorum.

Hamm. N. P. 13!); 12 Mod. 5GG; People v. Johnson, 8G Mich. 175, 48 N. W. 870, 13 L. It. A. 1G3, 24 Am. St. Rep. 11G.

The term peace in English and American law is used in a general way to express that condition which is violated by the commission of crime. In modern times it is expressed in England by the phrase king's peace, and in this country peace of the state or commonwealth. (There is a peace of the United States; In re Neaglc, 135 U. S. 1, 10 Sup. Ct. 658, 34 U. Ed. 55.) Originally the phrase king’s peace had no such broad meaning, but was used only in connection with crimes committed against persons, or in places, or at times and seasons, which were under the special protection of the king. See Pax Regis. "Breach of the king’s peace was an act of personal disobedience, and a much graver matter than an ordinary breach of public order; it made the wrong-doer the king’s enemy. The notion of the king’s peace appears to have had two distinct origins. These were, first, the special sanctity of the king’s house, which may be regarded as differing only In degree from that which Germanic usage attached everywhere to the homestead of a freeman; and, secondly, the special protection of the king’s attendants and servants, and other persons whom he thought fit to place on the same footing.... The rapid extension of the king’s peace till it becomes, after the Norman Conquest, the normal and general safeguard of public order, seems peculiarly English. On the continent the king appears to have been recognized as protector of the general peace, besides having power to grant special protection or peace of a higher order, from a much earlier time."

1 Poll. & Maitl. 22.

There was the peace of the church, both that of the parish and the minister; so there was the peace of the sheriff, and of each lord, and indeed of every householder, for the breach of which atonement could bo exacted. In writing of the criminal law of England in the twelfth century it is said, "The time has not yet come when the king’s peace will be eternal and cover the whole land. Still we have here an elastic notion; if the king can bestow his peace on a privileged person by a writ of protection, can he not put all men under his peace by proclamation."

See 2 Poll. & Maitl. 451-2.

The phrase peace of the king was in that period used to express the idea that the crime which was alleged to be in breach of the "peace of God and of our lord the king,” was one of those reserved as specially punishable in behalf of the king himself. These crimes were the original pleas of the crown but the king’s peace by an easy process extended itself "until it had become an all-embracing atmosphere;’’ id.

462.

That general peace which is now denominated the peace of the king or of the state, as the case may be, was in the early days protected only by the hundred court and the ealdorman. It is possible that mediaeval usage which applied to an inferior court the phrase the peace of the lord, who held it, dates from the earliest period of the administration of justice. There is said to be some also Pollock, The King's Pence, Oxford Lectures; Inderwick, The King's Peace. Judges of the federal supreme and district courts, commissioners of district courts and judges and other magistrates of the several states may hold to security of the peace in cases under the United States constitution and laws; U. S. Comp. Stat. § 727.

See, generally, Bacon, Abr. Prerogative (D 4); Hale, Hist. Comm. Pleas 1G0; Harrison, Dig. Officer (V 4); 2 Bentli. Ev. 319, note; Good Behavior; Surety or the Peace; Articles of the Peace; Breach of the Peace; Conservator of the Peace; Treaty of Peace.