Duties & Responsibilities of Justice of the Peace

The following is an excerpt from the State of Vermont, Office of the Secretary of State website. There are basically 5 categories of responsibilities for justices of the peace.

1. They serve as a member of the board of civil authority, which by law is responsible for adding and removing names from the checklist, and for serving collectively as the local election officials at any municipal or state election. As a justice, they also are responsible for delivering absentee ballots to voters at election time.
2. They have a responsibility in the town's tax appeal process. As a member of the board of civil authority, they sit to hear the tax appeals of citizens aggrieved by the final decision of the listers. They also sit as a member of the municipal board for abatement of taxes.
3. They may solemnize marriages in Vermont.
4. They may administer oaths in all cases where an oath is required, unless the law makes a different provision.
5. Finally, they may serve as a magistrate when so commissioned by the supreme court.

For more information, check out the Vermont Justice of the Peace Guide (PDF), published by Deborah L. Markowitz, Secretary of State, 2010.