When Mink and his wife get married in the area of the convict camp in The Hamlet, the local Justice of the Peace "removed his chew of tobacco" before performing the ceremony (264). (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
The first Justice who appears in "Barn Burning" is a "shabby, collarless, graying man in spectacles"; he presides over the Ab Snopes' trial in makeshift court in a general store (4). Described as having a "kindly" face, he discourages Harris from making young Sarty Snopes undergo questioning (4). While the Justice does not have enough evidence to convict Ab of burning Harris' barn, he tells him: "I can't find against you, Snopes, but I can give you advice. Leave this country and don't come back to it" (5).
The second "Justice of the Peace" who appears in "Barn Burning" also holds court in a general store (17). He too is a "man in spectacles" (17). In the civil case he presides over, brought by Ab Snopes against Major de Spain, he decides how much Ab must pay for ruining Mrs. de Spain's rug. (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
In Intruder in the Dust Chick assumes he and his Uncle Gavin will have to "find a J.P.," a Justice of the Peace, to get legal permission to exhume Vinson Gowrie's body (72). (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
When Monk is arraigned, he tries to "make a speech" before this "J.P." - Justice of the Peace (42). (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
In "Miss Zilphia Gant" this local officer officiates at the marriage between Zilphia and her husband. (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
In Absalom, Absalom! Thomas Sutpen is arraigned before a justice of the peace. (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
In both the short story "By the People" and the novel The Mansion this is the unnamed Justice of the Peace in Frenchman's Bend whom Will Varner orders to make Clarence Snopes a constable. (The office of justice of the peace derives from traditional British legal practice, where justices belonged to the landed gentry. In Mississippi the office is an elected one.
In The Town Judge Long is the local judge who doesn't preside over Montgomery Ward Snopes' trial; in The Mansion, on the other hand, Judge Long is the presiding judge at Montgomery Ward Snopes' trial. Apparently between writing the two books Faulkner forgot the trouble that Flem Snopes went to in the first one to make sure his relative never appeared in Long's courtroom. In this second novel, Montgomery Ward refers to him as "that old sanctimonious lantern-jawed son of a bitch up there on that Federal bench" (77).
Judge Gowan is the judge in "A Point of Law" and again in Go Down, Moses who quickly and informally finds a common-sense way to dispose of the case against Lucas and George. Although he only appears in this one episode, Faulkner gives him a long history in Yoknapatawpha when, in the short story, Lucas recognizes him as the gentleman who, "thirty and forty years ago," used to stay with "Old Zach Edmonds" on the plantation during quail hunting season (222). The novel lengthens this pedigree: there Lucas remembers him from "old Cass' time forty and fifty years ago" (71).
