HISTORY – WOMEN JUSTICES OF THE PEACE

When the Auckland Justices of the Peace Association was formed in 1922 it was an all-male affair: women had been campaigning to be eligible for appointment to the office of Justice of the Peace for 30 years. It had been a long, hard, struggle that was not to show real progress until 1896 when legislation was proposed, allowing women as Justices of the Peace. Members of Parliament, all men, voted the measure down, as they did on several subsequent occasions over the years until August 1926 when the  Justices of the Peace Amendment Act became law, assuring women of their place as Justices of the Peace. Thanks to Ric Carlyon for this historical insight.