CONSERVATOR of the Peace, in the ancient English
customs, was a person who had an especial charge, by
virtue of his office, to see the king's peace kept. Till
the erection of justices of the peace by King Ed-
ward III. there were several persons who by common
law were interested in keeping the same: some having
that charge as incident to other offices; and others
simply, or of itself, called custodes, or conservators of
the peace. The chamberlain of Chester is still a con-
servator
servator in that county; and petty constables are, by the common law, conservators, &c. in the first sense, within their own jurisdiction: so are also the coroner and the sheriff within their own county. The king is the principal conservator of the peace within all his dominions: the lord chancellor, lord treasurer, lord high steward, lord marshal, lord high constable, all the justices of the court of king's bench, by their office, and the master of the rolls, by prescription, are general conservators of the peace through the whole kingdom, and may commit breakers of the peace, and bind them in recognizances to keep it.