Government has consented to a very important change in the
qualification of Justices of the Peace. At present no man can be appointed a county magistrate unless he possesses £100 a year in freehold. By a clause in Lord Albemarle's Bill, suggested by the Lord Chancellor on Tuesday night, the qualification is extended to any person who has occupied a dwelling-hou-e in the county rated to the Inhabited House Duty at £100 a year, for two consecutive years previous to appointment. This clause makes a new class eligible to the magistracy, and marks the progress of a great social change. It gets rid, too, of the absurdity that a retired Judge might be disqualified for a magistracy granted to the nearest landlord, and will in most places render it easy for the Lords-Lieutenant to secure an educated Bench without appointing so many clergymen. At the same time, it still leaves us without a guarantee for the competence of the Justices of the Peace, who may be Queen's Counsel, and may be drinking squireens.
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