Peace is a term of important significance in law. International law regards peace as the normal relation of one state to another; this relation is disturbed by war, but when war is over the combatants revert to their former rights, except in so far as these may have been altered by the war. In municipal law peace means the protection accorded to subjects of an established authority; thus, vassals were within the peace of their feudal lord. All subjects are within the peace of the sovereign, and judges and justices are appointed to keep the peace within their respective jurisdictions. A person who commits an assault, or otherwise wantonly invades the rights of another, is guilty of a breach of the peace. If a law-abiding person is threatened with injury to himself, his wife or child, or his property, he may seek protection and 'exhibit articles of the peace' before a court or magistrate. Justices are empowered, on sworn information, to bind persons over to keep the peace; parties so bound and their sureties forfeit the amount of their recognisances if they offend. Under a statute of 34 Edward III. parties may be bound over to be of good behaviour. For conservators and justices of the peace, see JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.
The PEACE SOCIETY was founded in London in 1816, chiefly, but not exclusively, by members of the Society of Friends, and was a result of the deep feeling everywhere aroused by the long continental wars terminated by the peace of Paris in 1815. It was from the first a religious body, adopting as the basis of its operations the principle that 'war is inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity and the true interests of mankind.' It has always been unsectarian and international, and has endeavoured to secure the co-operation of Christian men and philanthropists in all countries. It advocates Arbitration (q.v.) as a substitute for war, the ultimate establishment of a code of international law and a court of nations, and the reduction, with a view to the final abolition, of standing armies. This society claims to be the centre of the peace movement, and among its triumphs may be mentioned the solemn recognition of the principle of arbitration in one of the protocols of the treaty of Paris in 1856, secured by a deputation to the plenipotentiaries of the Great Powers. But the most signal token of its influence and success is seen in the fact that since its commencement there have been sixty actual cases of successful arbitration, and a large number of instances in which an arbitration clause has been inserted in treaties. There are in America forty peace societies, and many in Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. In England other great associations have been formed under the auspices of the Peace Society. The Workmen's Peace Association, founded in 1870 by members of the Reform League (now the International Arbitration League), is a large organisation of the working-men of London, which has now one hundred honorary agents in different towns. The International Arbitration and Peace Association for Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1880, and a Universal Peace Congress was held in Paris in June 1889. This proved so successful that it was resolved that such a congress should be held annually in the different great cities of the world (London in 1890, Rome in 1891, &c.).