Short answers, pulled from the story.
King Richard I of England and his minister Hubert Walter commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace in 1195, creating the first formalized version of the justice of the peace. The title justice of the peace itself derives from 1361, in the reign of Edward III, marking a pivotal moment when the role became institutionalized within the English legal system.
Esther Hobart Morris became the first female justice of the peace in the United States in 1870. She began her tenure as justice in South Pass City, Wyoming, on the 14th of February 1870, serving a term of nearly 9 months.
A Texas justice of the peace presides over civil matters, criminal matters involving traffic violations and class C misdemeanors, and has exclusive jurisdiction of evictions. They also magistrate prisoners, set bail, hear juvenile violations, issue warrants, and perform marriage ceremonies.
Women were not allowed to become JPs in the United Kingdom until 1919, the first woman being Ada Summers, the Mayor of Stalybridge, who was a JP by virtue of her office. In October 1920 Summers was appointed a JP in her own right, alongside other pioneers including Edith Sutton and Miriam Lightowler OBE in Halifax.
As of August 2022, there are currently around 3500 JPs and bail justices in Victoria, who collectively sign more than 1.5 million documents and assist more than 350,000 people each year.
The office of the Justice of the Peace was abolished in Minnesota in 1977. It has not existed for 40-plus years although some people who offer private wedding officiant services erroneously claim to be Justices of the Peace.