The justice of the peace is one of the most important public officials in Kentucky. He is an officer whose election, compensation, term, and qualifications are set forth in the constitution. He is both a judicial and an administrative officer, presiding over his own court for the trial of petty civil and criminal cases, and serving as a member of the fiscal court, or county board. County judicial, legislative, and administrative functions are rolled into one in the person of the justice of the peace. In this respect, the county system of government in Kentucky has a striking resemblance to the English county of the thirteenth century.

The Kentucky fiscal court is normally a body consisting of the justices of the peace in a county together with the county judge, and having the usual powers conferred upon boards of county commissioners or supervisors in the other states. The constitution provides that each county shall be divided into districts in such manner as the general assembly may direct, and that in each district one justice of the peace shall be elected, with the further requirement that no county shall have fewer than three nor more than eight districts. But in addition, the constitution provides that a county may have a fiscal court composed of three commissioners, elected at large from the county, and the county judge.