List of Justices of the Peace (1864 – Riverina region)

In 1864 a review was carried out of the Justices of the Peace constituted under the Commission of the Peace in the Colony of New South Wales.  The review reduced the number of Justices of the Peace in the Colony from 1,295 to 620.  Of the persons omitted, many were permanently absent from the Colony or had died.  Other criteria used to cull names from the list were as follows: “persons who are thought to be by education, means, or character unfit to be justices of the peace”; where there were members of the same family “residing in the same neighbourhood, and likely to attend the same Bench”, all but one were omitted from the list; “people in active business generally, unless retained by reason of paucity of eligible persons in their district”; “medical men in many instances”; “persons who have rarely or never attended any Bench”; “persons about whom no information could be obtained”; and, “Public officers, whose position and duties were considered to be incompatible with the due discharge of magisterial functions”.  Members of the Legislature, formerly magistrates, were retained in the new Commission.