Surety of the Peace Law and Legal Definition
Surety of the peace means a surety who undertakes before a court or officer that a person will not commit a future offense. It is taken against those who could be suspected of future misbehavior. A recognizance to keep the peace by a surety of the peace will be forfeited only by an actual attack or threat of bodily harm, or burning a house, and not by bare words. In Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 1973 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 73 (Pa. C.P. 1973), the court observed that “The elements of the statutory offense of surety of the peace are: (1) the making of a threat, (2) to some person or his property and, (3) with the result that the threatened person is put in fear or danger of being injured.”
