Justice of the Peace in New York State has evolved into Town (and/or Village) Justice, which we still have. I am in my 14th year as a non-lawyer Town Justice.
Town Justice duties involve handling all violations and misdemeanors from arraignment to plea, trial and in the event of a guilty verdict or plea, sentencing. We can sentence misdemeanor violators up to one year in county jail or three years probation.
We also have preliminary jurisdiction for felony charges. We do the arraignment and make a release decision on felony charges. We are not allowed to grant bail on the most serious (Class A) felony charges (we must remand without bail). We also cannot set bail on a defendant who has two prior felony charges and is charged with a (new) felony.
If a defendant is remanded on a felony charge, he has a right to a Preliminary Hearing within five days (six days if it involves a holiday or weekend) to determine if any felony has been committed. I, personally, have done Preliminary Hearings on (separate) Murder 2nd and Rape 1st cases.
Our town court is the second busiest in our county, with only the county seat being busier. We typically see about 30 - 40 defendants per week in our court.
We also do civil cases and perform marriages.
No bastard warrants, though...
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