Municipal Corporations Act 1882

PART IPreliminary.

1Short title.

This Act may be cited as the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882.

2Division of Act into Parts.

This Act is divided into Parts, as follows :

• PART I.—Preliminary.

• PART II.—Constitution and government of borough.

• PART III.—Preparations for and procedure at elections.

• PART IV.—Corrupt practices and election petitions.

• PART V.—Corporate property and liabilities.

• PART VI.—Charitable and other trusts and powers.

• PART VII.—Borough fund: borough rate: county rate.

• PART VIII.—Administration of justice.

• PART IX.—Police.

• PART X.—Freemen.

• PART XI.—Grant of charters.

• PART XII.—Legal proceedings.

• PART XIII.—General

3Extent.

This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland.

4Commencement.

This Act shall commence and have effect from and immediately after the thirty-first of December one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.

5Repeal.

The enactments described in the First Schedule are hereby repealed, subject to the exceptions and qualifications in this Act mentioned.

6Application.

This Act shall apply to every city and town to which the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, applies at the commencement of this Act, and to any town, district, or place whereof the inhabitants are incorporated after the commencement of this Act, and whereto the provisions of the Municipal Corporation Acts are under this Act extended by charter, but to no other place.

7Interpretation and construction.

(1)In this Act—

• " Borough " means, unless a contrary intention appears, a city or town to which this Act applies :

• " Municipal corporation " means the body corporate constituted by the incorporation of the inhabitants of a borough :

• " Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, " means the recited Act of King William the Fourth, the date of the passing whereof is the ninth of September one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five :

• " Municipal Corporations Acts " means this Act and any Act to be passed amending this Act:

• " Burgess " includes citizen:

• " Corporate seal " means the common seal of a municipal corporation :

• " Corporate office " means the office of mayor, alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor :

• " Corporate land " means land belonging to or held in trust for a municipal corporation :

• " Municipal election " means an election to a corporate office:

• " Parliamentary borough " means any borough, city, county of a city, county of a town, place, or combination of places, returning a member to serve in Parliament, and not being a county at large, or a riding, parts, or division of a county at large :

• " Parliamentary election " means an election of a member to serve in Parliament:

• " Parish " means any place for which a separate poor rate is or can be made :

• " Overseers " means overseers of the poor of a parish, township, or place, and includes all persons who execute the duties of overseers :

• " County " does not include a county of a city or county of a town, but includes a riding, parts, division; or liberty of a county:

• " Trustees " means trustees, commissioners, or directors, or the persons charged with the execution of a trust or public duty, however designated:

• " Person " includes a body of persons corporate or unincorporate:

• " Treasury " means the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury :

• " The Secretary of State " means one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.:

• " High Court " means Her Majesty's High Court of Justice:

• " Justice " means one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace :

• " Borough civil court " means an inferior court of record for the trial of civil actions which by charter, custom, or otherwise, is or ought to be holden in a borough, but does not include a county court:

• " Bank of England " means the Grovernor and Company of the Bank of England:

• " Schedule " means schedule to this Act, and " Part " means Part of this Act:

• " Writing " includes print, and " written " includes printed.

(2)Words in this Act referring to a borough, municipal corporation, authority, officer, or office, shall be construed distributively as referring to each borough, corporation, authority, officer, or office to which or to whom the provision is applicable.

(3)Words in this Act referring to a parish shall be construed, unless a contrary intention appears, as referring to every parish situate wholly or in part in a borough.

(4)The schedules shall be read and have effect as if they were part of this Act.

PART IIConstitution and Government of Borough.

Corporate Name.

8Name of municipal corporation.

The municipal corporation of a borough shall bear the name of the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough, or, in the case of a city, the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the city.

Burgesses.

9Qualification of burgess.

(1)A person shall not be deemed a burgess for any purpose of this Act unless he is enrolled as a burgess.

(2)A person shall not be entitled to be enrolled as a burgess unless he is qualified as follows :

(a)Is of full age ; and

(b)Is on the fifteenth of July in any year, and has been during the whole of the then last preceding twelve months, in occupation, joint or several, of' any house, warehouse, counting-house, shop, or other building, (in this Act referred to as qualifying property) in the borough ; and

(c)Has during the whole of those twelve months resided in the borough, or within seven miles thereof; and

(d)Has been rated in respect of the qualifying property to all poor rates made during those twelve months for the parish wherein the property is situate ; and

(e)Has on or before the twentieth of the same July paid all such rates, including borough rates (if any), as have become payable by him in respect of the qualifying property up to the then last preceding fifth of January.

(3)Every person so qualified shall be entitled to be enrolled as a burgess, unless he—

(a)Is an alien; or

(b)Has within the twelve months aforesaid received union or parochial relief or other alms ; or

(c)Is disentitled under any Act of Parliament.

Council; Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors.

10Constitution of council.

(1)The municipal corporation of a borough shall be capable of acting by the council of the borough, and the council shall exercise all powers vested in the corporation by this Act or otherwise.

(2)The council shall consist of the mayor, aldermen, and councillors.

11Qualification of councillor.

(1)The councillors shall be fit persons elected by the burgesses.

(2)A person shall not be qualified to be elected or to be a councillor, unless he—

(a)Is enrolled and entitled to be enrolled as a burgess ; or

(b)Being entitled to be so enrolled in all respects except that of residence, is resident beyond seven miles but within fifteen miles of the borough, and is entered in the separate non-resident list directed by this Act to be made ; and

(c)In either of those cases, is seised or possessed of real or personal property or both, to the value or amount, in the case of a borough having four or more wards, of one thousand pounds, and in the case of any other borough, of five hundred pounds, or is rated to the poor rate in the borough, in the case of a borough having four or more wards, on the annual value of thirty pounds, and in the case of any other borough of fifteen pounds.

(3)Provided, that every person shall be qualified to be elected and to be a councillor, who is, at the time of election, qualified to elect to the office of councillor ; which last-mentioned qualification for being elected shall be alternative for and shall not repeal or take away any other qualification.

(4)But if a person qualified under the last foregoing proviso ceases for six months to reside in the borough, he shall cease to be qualified under that proviso, and his office shall become vacant, unless he was at the time of his election and continues to be qualified in some other manner.

12Disqualifications for being councillor.

(1)A person shall be disqualified for being elected and for being a councillor, if and while he—

(a)Is an elective auditor or a revising assessor, or holds any office or place of profit, other than that of mayor or sheriff, in the gift or disposal of the council; or

(b)Is in holy orders, or the regular minister of a dissenting congregation; or

(c)Has directly or indirectly, by himself or his partner, any share or interest in any contract or employment with, by, or on behalf of the council:

(2)But a person shall not be so disqualified, or be deemed to have any share or interest in such a contract or employment, by reason only of his having any share or interest in—

(a)Any lease, sale, or purchase of land, or any agreement for the same; or

(b)Any agreement for the loan of money, or any security for the payment of money only ; or

(c)Any newspaper in which any advertisement relating to the affairs of the borough or council is inserted ; or

(d)Any company which contracts with the council for lighting or supplying with water or insuring against fire any part of the borough ; or

(e)Any railway company, or any company incorporated by Act of Parliament or Royal charter, or under the [25 & 26 Vict. c. 89.] Companies Act, 1862.

13.Term of office and rotation of councillors.

(1)The term of office of a councillor shall be three years.

(2)On the ordinary day of election of councillors in every year one third of the whole number of councillors for the borough or for the ward, as the case may be, shall go out of office, and their places shall be filled by election.

(3)The third to go out shall be the councillors who have been longest in office without re-election.

14Number, term of office, and rotation of aldermen.

(1)The aldermen shall be fit persons elected by the council.

(2)The number of aldermen shall be one third of the number of councillors.

(3)A person shall not be qualified to be elected or to be an alderman unless he is a councillor or qualified to be a councillor.

(4)If a councillor is elected to, and accepts, the office of alderman he vacates his office of councillor.

(5)The term of office of an alderman shall be six years.

(6)On the ordinary day of election of aldermen in every third year one half of the whole number of aldermen shall go out of office, and their places shall be filled by election.

(7)The half to go out shall be those who have been aldermen for the longest time without re-election.

15Qualification, term of office, salary, precedence, and powers of mayor.

(1)The mayor shall be a fit person elected by the council from among the aldermen or councillors or persons qualified to be such.

(2)An outgoing alderman is eligible.

(3)The term of office of the mayor shall be one year, but he shall continue in office until his successor has accepted office and made and subscribed the required declaration.

(4)He may receive such remuneration as the council think reasonable.

(5)He shall, subject to the provisions of this Act respecting justices, have precedence in all places in the borough.

(6)The mayor of a borough named in the schedules to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, shall be capable in law to do and suffer all acts which the chief officer of the borough might at the passing of that Act lawfully do or suffer, as far as the same were not altered or annulled by that Act, or have not been altered or annulled by any subsequent Act.

16Power of mayor to appoint deputy.

(1)The mayor may from time to time appoint an alderman or councillor to act as deputy mayor during the illness or absence of the mayor.

(2)The appointment shall be signified to the council in writing and be recorded in their minutes.

(3)A deputy mayor may, while acting as such, do all acts which the mayor as such might do, except that he shall not take the chair at a meeting of the council unless specially appointed by the meeting to do so, and shall not, unless he is a justice, act as a justice or in any judicial capacity.

Officers of Council.

17The town clerk and deputy.

(1)The council shall from time to time appoint a fit person, not a member of the council, to be the town clerk of the borough.

(2)The town clerk shall hold office during the pleasure of the council.

(3)He shall have the charge and custody of, and be responsible for, the charters, deeds, records, and documents of the borough, and they shall be kept as the council direct.

(4)A vacancy in the office shall be filled within twenty-one days after its occurrence.

(5)In case of the illness or absence of the town clerk, the council may appoint a deputy town clerk, to hold office during their pleasure.

(6)All things required or authorized by law to be done by or to the town clerk may be done by or to the deputy town clerk.

18The treasurer.

(1)The council shall from time to time appoint a fit person, not a member of the council, to be the treasurer of the borough.

(2)The treasurer shall hold office during the pleasure of the council.

(3)A vacancy in the office shall be filled within twenty-one days after its occurrence.

(4)The offices of town clerk and treasurer shall not be held by the same person.

19Other borough officers.

The council shall from time to time appoint such other officers as have been usually appointed in the borough, or as the council think necessary, and may at any time discontinue the appointment of any officer appearing to them not necessary to be re-appointed.

20Security by and remuneration of officers.

The council shall require every officer appointed by them to give such security as they think proper for the due execution of his office, and shall allow him such remuneration as they think reasonable.

21Accountability of officers.

(1)Every officer appointed by the council shall at such times during the continuance of his office, or within three months after his ceasing to hold it, and in such manner as the council direct, deliver to the council, or as they direct, a true account in writing of all matters committed to his charge, and of his receipts and payments, with vouchers, and a list of persons from whom money is due for purposes of this Act in connexion with his office, shewing the amount due from each.

(2)Every such officer shall pay all money due from him to the treasurer, or as the council direct.

(3)If any such officer—

(a)Refuses or wilfully neglects to deliver any account or list which he ought to deliver, or any voucher relating thereto, or to make any payment which he ought to make; or

(b)After three days notice in writing, signed by the town clerk or by three members of the council, given or left at his usual or last known place of abode, refuses or wilfully neglects to deliver to the council, or as they direct, any book or document which he ought so to deliver, or to give satisfaction respecting it to the council or as they direct ;

a court of summary jurisdiction having jurisdiction where the officer is or resides may, by summary order, require him to make such delivery or payment, or to give such satisfaction.

(4)But nothing in this section shall affect any remedy by action against any such officer or his surety, except that the officer shall not be both sued by action and proceeded against summarily for the same cause.

Meetings and Proceedings of Council; Committees.

22Quarterly and other meetings of council; appointment of committees, minutes, &c.

(1)The rules in the Second Schedule shall be observed.

(2)The council may from time to time appoint out of their own body such and so many committees, either of a general or special nature, and consisting of such number of persons, as they think fit, for any purposes which, in the opinion of the council, would be better regulated and managed by means of such committees ; but the acts of every such committee shall be submitted to the council for their approval.

(3)A member of the council shall not vote or take part in the discussion of any matter before the council, or a committee, in which he has, directly or indirectly, by himself or by his partner, any pecuniary interest.

(4)No act or proceeding, of the council, or of a committee, shall be questioned on account of any vacancy in their body.

(5)A minute of proceedings at a meeting of the council, or of a committee, signed at the same or the next ensuing meeting, by the mayor, or by a member of the council, or of the committee, describing himself as, or appearing to be, chairman of the meeting at which the minute is signed, shall be received in evidence without further proof.

(6)Until the contrary is proved, every meeting of the council, or of a committee, in respect of the proceedings whereof a minute has been so made, shall be deemed to have been duly convened and held, and all the members of the meeting shall be deemed to have been duly qualified; and where the proceedings are proceedings of a committee, the committee shall be deemed to have been duly constituted, and to have had power to deal with the matters referred to in the minutes.

Byelaws.

23Power of council to make byelaws.

(1)The council may, from time to time, make such byelaws as to them seem meet for the good rule and government of the borough, and for prevention and suppression of nuisances not already punishable in a summary manner by virtue of any Act in force throughout the borough, and may thereby appoint such fines, not exceeding in any case five pounds, as they deem necessary for the prevention and suppression of offences against the same.

(2)Such a byelaw shall not be made unless at least two thirds of the whole number of the council are present.

(3)Such a byelaw shall not come into force until the expiration of forty days after a copy thereof has been fixed on the town hall. ,

(4)Such a byelaw shall not come into force until the expiration of forty days after a copy thereof, sealed with the. corporate seal, has been sent to the Secretary of State; and if within those forty days the Queen, with the advice of Her Privy Council, disallows the byelaw or part thereof, the byelaw or part disallowed shall not come into force; but it shall be lawful for the Queen, at any time within those forty days, to enlarge the time within which the byelaw shall not come into force, and in that case the byelaw shall not come into force until after the expiration of, that enlarged time.

(5)Any offence against such a byelaw may be prosecuted summarily.

(6)Nothing in this section shall interfere with the operation of section one hundred and eighty-seven of the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 55.] Public Health Act, 1875; and that section shall have effect as if this section were therein referred to, instead of section ninety of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835; but nothing in the Public Health Act, 1875, shall be construed as having restricted the meaning or scope of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or as restricting the meaning or scope of this section, with respect to prevention or suppression of nuisances.

24Evidence of byelaws.

The production of a written copy of a byelaw made by the council under this Act, or under any former or present or future general or local Act of Parliament, if authenticated by the corporate seal shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of the due making and existence of the byelaw, and, if it is so stated in the copy, of the byelaw having been approved and confirmed by the authority whose approval or confirmation is required to the making or before the enforcing of the byelaw.

Accounts and Audit.

25The borough auditors.

(1)There shall be three borough auditors, two elected by the burgesses, called elective auditors, and one appointed by the mayor, called mayor's auditor.

(2)An elective auditor must be qualified to be a councillor, but may not be a member of the council or the town clerk or the treasurer.

(3)The mayor's auditor must be a member of the council.

(4)The term of office of each auditor shall be one year.

(5)The appointment of the mayor's auditor shall be made on the ordinary day of election of the elective auditors.

(6)On a casual vacancy in. his office an appointment to fill it shall be made within ten days after the occurrence of the vacancy.

26Half-yearly accounts of treasurer.

The treasurer shall make up his accounts half-yearly to such dates as the council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, from time to time appoint; and, subject to any such appointment, to the dates in use at the commencement of this Act.

27Audit and publication of treasurer's accounts.

(1)The treasurer shall within one month from the date to which he is required to make up his accounts in each half year, submit them, with the necessary vouchers and papers, to the borough auditors, and they shall audit them.

(2)After the audit of the accounts for the second half of each financial year the treasurer shall print a full abstract of his accounts for that year.

28Returns to Local Government Board.

(1)The town clerk shall make a return to the Local Government Board of the receipts and expenditure of the municipal corporation for each financial year.

(2)The return shall be made for the financial year ending on the twenty-fifth of March, or on such other day as the Local Government Board, on the application of the council, from time to time prescribe.

(3)The return shall be in such form and contain such particulars as the Local Government Board from time to time direct.

(4)The return shall be sent to the Local Government Board within one month after the completion of the audit for the second half of each financial year.

(5)If the town clerk fails to make any return required under this section, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds to be recovered by action on behalf of the Crown in the High Court.

(6)The Local Government Board shall in each year prepare an abstract of the returns made in pursuance of this section, under general heads, and it shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

Revising Assessors.

29Revising assessors in non-parliamentary boroughs.

(1)In every borough whereof no part of the area is coextensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, there shall be two revising assessors elected by the burgesses.

(2)Every person shall be eligible who is qualified to be a councillor and is not a member of the council or the town clerk or treasurer.

(3)The term of office of each revising assessor shall be one year.

(4)Every revising assessor shall, as soon as conveniently may be after his election, and from time to time as occasion requires, appoint, by writing signed by him, a person eligible to the office of revising assessor, to be his deputy, to act for him in case of his illness or incapacity to act.

(5)The appointment shall be signified to the council, in writing signed by the assessor, and be recorded in their minutes.

Division of Borough into Wards, or alteration of Wards.

30Proceedings for division of borough into wards or alteration of wards.

(1)If two thirds of the council of a borough agree to petition, and the council thereupon petition, the Queen for the division of the borough into wards, or for the alteration of the number and boundaries of its wards, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by Order in Council, to fix the number of wards into which the borough shall be divided; and the borough shall be divided into that number of wards.

(2)Notice of the petition, and of the time when it pleases Her Majesty to order that the same be taken into consideration by Her Privy Council, shall be published in the London Gazette one month at least before the petition is so considered.

(3)Where an Order in Council has been so made, the Secretary of State shall appoint a commissioner to prepare a scheme for determining the boundaries of the wards and apportioning the councillors among them.

(4)In case of division into wards, the commissioner shall apportion all the councillors among the wards.

(5)In case of alteration of wards, he shall so apportion among the altered wards the councillors for those wards as to provide for their continuing to represent as large a number as possible of their former constituents.

(6)In either case, each councillor shall hold his office in the ward to which he is assigned for the same time that he would have held it had the borough remained undivided or the wards unaltered.

(7)In case of division into wards the returning officer at the first election for each ward held after the division shall, notwithstanding anything in this Act, be the mayor or a person appointed by the mayor.

(8)If by reason of any division or alteration under this section any doubt arises as to which councillor should go out of office, the doubt may be determined by the council.

(9)The division of a borough into a greater number of wards shall not affect the qualification of aldermen or councillors.

(10)The number of councillors assigned to each ward shall be a number divisible by three; and in fixing their number the commissioner shall, as far as he deems it practicable, have regard as well to the number of persons rated in the ward as to the aggregate rating of the ward.

(11)The commissioner shall make the scheme in duplicate, and shall deliver one of the duplicates to the town clerk, and shall send the other to the Secretary of State, to he submitted by him to Her Majesty in Council for approval.

(12)The scheme shall be published in the London Gazette, and shall come into operation at the date of that publication, and thenceforth the boundaries of wards and apportionment of councillors determined and made by the scheme shall be observed and be in force.

(13)If Her Majesty in Council does not approve the scheme as originally prepared by the commissioner, it shall nevertheless be published in the London Gazette, and shall be in force for the purposes of any municipal election until Her Majesty in Council, on further information and report from the commissioner, definitely approves a scheme in that behalf.

(14)The commissioner may administer oaths, and may require any person having the custody of any book containing a poor rate made for a parish to produce the book for his inspection ; and every person required by the commissioner to answer any question put to him for the purposes of this section shall answer it.

(15)The commissioner shall have remuneration as appearing by the Fourth and Fifth Schedules.

Supplemental and Exceptional Provisions.

31Occupation of part of house.

In and for the purposes of this Act—

(a)The terms house, warehouse, counting house, shop, or other building include any part of a house, where that part is separately occupied for the purposes of any trade, business, or profession ; and any such part may, for the purpose of describing the qualification, be described as office, chambers, studio, or by any like term applicable to the case.

(b)Where an occupier is entitled to the sole and exclusive use of any part of a house, that part shall not be deemed to be occupied otherwise than separately by reason only that the occupier is entitled to the joint use of some other part.

32Claim by occupier to be rated.

(1)If an occupier of any qualifying property, whether the landlord is or is not liable to be rated to the poor rate in : respect thereof, claims to be rated to the poor rate in respect thereof, and pays or tenders to the overseers of the parish where the property is situate the full amount of the poor rate last made in respect of the property, the overseers shall put the occupier's name on the rate book in respect of that rate.

(2)If they fail to do so, he shall nevertheless for the purposes of this Act be deemed rated to that rate.

33Rules as to qualification of burgess on succession, &c.

(1)Where a person succeeds to qualifying property by descent, marriage, marriage settlement, devise, or promotion to a benefice or office, then, for the purpose of qualification, the occupancy of the property by a predecessor in title, and the rating of the predecessor in respect thereof, shall be equivalent to the occupancy and rating of the successor ; and rating in the name of the predecessor shall, until a new rate is made after the date of succession, be equivalent to rating in the name of the successor; and the successor shall not be required to prove his own residence, occupancy, or rating before the succession.

(2)The qualifying property need not be throughout the twelve, months constituting the period of qualification the same property or in the same parish.

(3)Where by law a borough rate is payable by instalments, payment by any person of any such instalment shall, as regards his qualification to be enrolled as a burgess, be deemed a payment of the borough rate in respect of the period to which the instalment applies.

(4)A person shall not be disentitled to be enrolled as a burgess by reason only—

(a)That he has received medical or surgical assistance from the trustees of the municipal charities, or has been removed, by order of a justice, to a hospital or place for reception of the sick, at the cost of any local authority; or

(b)That his child has been admitted to and taught in any public or endowed school.

34Obligation to accept office or pay fine.

(1)Every qualified person elected to a corporate office, unless exempt under this section or otherwise by law, either shall accept the office by making and subscribing the declaration required by this Act within five days after notice of election, or shall, in lieu thereof, be liable to pay to the council a fine of such amount not exceeding, in case of an alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor, fifty pounds, and in case of a mayor one hundred pounds, as the council by byelaw determine.

(2)If there is no byelaw determining fines, the fine, in case of an alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor, shall be twenty-five pounds, and in case of a mayor fifty pounds.

(3)The persons exempt under this section are—

(a)Any person disabled by lunacy or imbecility of mind, or by deafness, blindness, or other permanent infirmity of body; and

(b)Any person who, being above the age of sixty-five years, or having within five years before the day of his election either served the office or paid the fine for non-acceptance thereof, claims exemption within live days after notice of his election.

(4)A fine payable under this section shall be recoverable summarily.

35Declaration on acceptance of office.

A person elected to a corporate office shall not, until he has made and subscribed before two members of the council, or the town clerk, a declaration as in the Eighth Schedule, act in the office except in administering that declaration.

36Fine on resignation, &c.

(1)A person elected to a corporate office may at any time by writing signed by him and delivered to the town clerk, resign the office, on payment of a fine provided for non-acceptance thereof.

(2)In any such case the council shall forthwith declare the office to be vacant, and signify the same by notice in writing, signed by three members of the council and countersigned by the town clerk, and fixed on the town hall, and the office shall thereupon become vacant.

(3)No person enabled by law to make an affirmation instead of taking an oath shall be liable to any fine for non-acceptance of office by reason of his refusal on conscientious grounds to take any oath or make any declaration required by this Act or to take on himself the duties of the office.

37Re-eligibility of office holders.

A person ceasing to hold a corporate office shall, unless disqualified to hold the office, be re-eligible.

38Mayor and aldermen to continue members of council.

The mayor and aldermen shall, during their respective offices, continue to be members of the council, notwithstanding anything in this Act as to councillors going out of office at the end of three years.

39Avoidance of office by bankruptcy or absence.

(1)If the mayor, or an alderman or councillor—

(a)Is declared bankrupt, or compounds by deed with his creditors, or makes an arrangement or composition with his creditors, under the [32 & 33 Vict. c. 71.] Bankruptcy Act, 1869, by deed or otherwise; or

(b)Is (except in case of illness) continuously absent from the borough, being mayor, for more than two months, or, being alderman or councillor, for more than six months :

he shall thereupon immediately become disqualified and shall cease to hold the office.

(2)In any such event the council shall forthwith declare the office to be vacant, and signify the same by notice signed by three members of the council, and countersigned by the town clerk, and fixed on the town hall, and the office shall thereupon become vacant.

(3)Where a person becomes so disqualified by being declared bankrupt, or compounding, or making an arrangement or composition, as aforesaid, the disqualification, as regards subsequent elections, shall, in case of bankruptcy, cease on his obtaining his order of discharge, and shall, in case of a compounding or composition as aforesaid, cease on payment of his debts in full, and shall, in case of an arrangement as aforesaid, cease on his obtaining his certificate of discharge.

(4)Where a person becomes so disqualified by absence, he shall be liable to the same fine as for non-acceptance of office, recoverable summarily, but the disqualification shall, as regards subsequent elections, cease on his return.

40Filling of casual vacancies.

(1)On a casual vacancy in a corporate office, an election shall be held by the same persons and in the same manner as an election to fill an ordinary vacancy; and the person elected shall hold the office until the time when the person in whose place he is elected would regularly have gone out of office, and he shall then go out of office.

(2)In case of more than one casual vacancy in the office of councillor being filled at the same election, the councillor elected by the smallest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected in the place of him who would regularly have first gone out of office, and the councillor elected by the next smallest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected in the place of him who would regularly have next gone out of office, and so with respect to the others; and if there has not been a contested election, or if any doubt arises, the order of rotation shall be determined by the council.

(3)Non-acceptance of office by a person elected creates a casual vacancy.

41Penalty on unqualified person acting in office.

(1)If any person acts in a corporate office without having made the declaration by this Act required, or without being qualified at the time of making the declaration, or after ceasing to be qualified, or after becoming disqualified, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, recoverable by action.

(2)A person being in fact enrolled in the burgess roil shall not be .liable to a fine for acting in a corporate office on the ground only that he was not entitled to be enrolled therein.

42Validity of acts done notwithstanding disqualification, &c.

(1)The acts and proceedings of a person in possession of a corporate office, and acting therein, shall, notwithstanding his disqualification or want of qualification, be as valid and effectual as if he had been qualified.

(2)An election of a person to a corporate office shall not be liable to be questioned by reason of a defect in the title, or want of title, of the person before whom the election was had, if that person was then in actual possession of, or acting in, the office giving the right to preside at the election.

(3)A burgess roll shall not be liable to be questioned by reason of a defect in the title, or want of title, of the mayor or any revising authority by whom it is revised, if he was then in actual possession and exercise of the office of mayor or revising authority.

43Duties of town clerk, deputy, and treasurer during vacancy or incapacity.

If there is no town clerk, and no deputy town clerk, or there is no treasurer, or the town clerk, deputy town clerk, or treasurer (as the case may be) is incapable of acting, all acts by law authorized or required to be done by or with respect to the town clerk or the treasurer (as the case may be) may, subject to the provisions of any other Act, be done by or with respect to a person appointed in that behalf by the mayor.

PART IIIPreparations for and Procedure at Elections.

Parish Burgess Lists; Burgess Rolls ; Ward Rolls.

44Preparation and revision of parish burgess lists.

(1)Where the whole or part of the area of a borough is coextensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, the lists of burgesses are to be made out and revised, and claims and objections relating thereto are to be made, in accordance with the provisions of the [41 & 42 Vict. c. 26.] Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878.

(2)Where no part of the area of a borough is co-extensive with, or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, the lists of burgesses shall be made out and revised, and claims and objections relating thereto may be made, in accordance, as nearly as may be, with the provisions of Part I. of the Third Schedule.

(3)In either case the lists shall be styled the parish burgess lists.

45The burgess roll and ward rolls.

(1)When the parish burgess lists have been revised and signed, the revising authority shall deliver them to the town clerk, and a printed copy thereof, examined by him and signed by him, shall be the burgess roll of the borough.

(2)The burgess roll shall be completed on or before the twentieth of October in each year, and shall come into operation on the first of November in that year, and shall continue in operation for the twelve months beginning on that day.

(3)The names in the burgess roll shall be numbered by wards or by polling districts, unless in any case the council direct that the same be numbered consecutively without reference to wards or polling districts.

(4)Where the borough has no wards, the burgess roll shall be made in one general roll for the whole borough.

(5)Where the borough has wards, the burgess roll shall be made in separate rolls, called ward rolls, one for each ward, containing the names of the persons entitled to vote in that ward, and the ward rolls collectively shall constitute the burgess roll.

(6)A burgess shall not be enrolled in more than one ward roll.

(7). Where a duplicate of a burgess list is made under section thirty-one of the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, it shall have the same effect as the original, and may be delivered instead thereof.

(8)Every person enrolled in the burgess roll shall be deemed to be enrolled as a burgess, and every person not enrolled in the burgess roll shall be deemed to be not enrolled as a burgess.

(9)No stamp duty shall be payable in respect of the enrolment of a burgess.

46Arrangement of lists and rolls.

(1)If and as far as the council so direct, the parish burgess lists, and the burgess roll, and the ward rolls (if any), and the lists of claimants and respondents, or any of those documents, shall be arranged in the same order in which the qualifying properties appear in the rate book for the parish in which they are situate, or otherwise in such order as will cause those lists and rolls to record the qualifying properties in successive order in the street or other place in which they are situate.

(2)Subject to any such direction, and to the provisions of this Act as to polling districts, the arrangement of the lists and rolls shall be alphabetical.

47Correction of burgess roll.

(1)Where the parish burgess lists are revised under the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, the burgess roll is subject to alteration or correction in manner provided by section thirty-five of that Act.

(2)Where the parish burgess lists are revised under this Act, any person whose claim has been rejected or name expunged at the revision of the lists may apply, within two months after the last sitting of the revision court, to the High Court in the Queen's Bench division for a mandamus to the mayor to insert his name in the burgess roll; and thereupon the court shall inquire into the title of the applicant to be enrolled.

(3)If the court grants a mandamus, the mayor shall insert the name in the burgess roll, and shall add thereto the words " by order of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice, " and shall subscribe his name to those words.

48Printing and sale of burgess roll and other documents.

(1)The town clerk shall cause the parish burgess lists, the lists of claimants and respondents, and the burgess roll, to be printed, and shall deliver printed copies to any person on payment of a reasonable price for each copy.

(2)Subject to section thirty of the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, the proceeds of sale shall go to the borough fund.

49Separate list of persons qualified to be councillors but not to be burgesses.

(1)The overseers of each parish shall at the same time that they make the parish burgess list make a list of the persons entitled in respect of the occupation of property in that parish to be elected councillors, as being resident within fifteen miles although beyond seven miles from the borough.

(2)The provisions of this Act as to the parish burgess lists, and claims and objections relating thereto, and the revision of those lists shall, as nearly as circumstances admit, apply to the lists made under this section.

(3)The town clerk shall arrange the names entered in these lists, when revised, in alphabetical order as a separate list (in this Act called the separate non-resident list), with an appropriate heading, at the end of the burgess roll.

Election of Councillors.

50Borough and ward elections.

(1)Where a borough has no wards, there shall be one election of councillors for the whole borough.

(2)Where a borough has wards, there shall be a separate election of councillors for each ward.

51Title to vote.

(1)At an election of councillors a person shall be entitled to subscribe a nomination paper, and to demand and receive a voting paper, and to vote, if he is enrolled in the burgess roll, or, in the case of a ward election, the ward roll, and not otherwise.

(2)No person shall subscribe a nomination paper in "or for more than one ward, or vote in more than one ward.

(3)Nothing in this section shall entitle any person to do any act therein mentioned who is prohibited by law from doing it, or relieve him from any penalty to which he may be liable for doing it.

52Day of election.

The ordinary day of election of councillors shall be the first of November.

53Returning officer at election.

(1)At an election of councillors for a whole borough the returning officer shall be the mayor.

(2)At an election for a ward the returning officer shall be an alderman assigned for that purpose by the Council at the meeting of the ninth of November.

54Notice of election.

Nine days at least before the day for the election of a councillor, the town, clerk shall prepare and sign a notice thereof, and publish it by fixing it on the town hall, and, in the case of a ward election, in some conspicuous place in the ward.

55Nomination of candidates.

The nomination of candidates for the office of councillor shall be conducted in accordance with the rules in Part II. of the Third Schedule.

56Relation of nomination to election.

(1)If the number of valid nominations exceeds that of the vacancies, the councillors shall be elected from among the persons nominated.

(2)If the number of valid nominations is the same as that of the vacancies, the persons nominated shall be deemed to be elected.

(3)If the number of valid nominations is less than that of the vacancies, the persons nominated shall be deemed to be elected, and such of the retiring councillors for the borough or ward as 'were highest on the poll at their election, or, if the poll was equal, or there was no poll, as are selected for that purpose by the mayor, shall be deemed to be re-elected to make up the required number.

(4)If there is no valid nomination, the retiring councillors shall be deemed to be re-elected.

57Publication of uncontested election.

If an election of councillors is not contested, the returning officer shall publish a list of the persons elected not later than eleven o'clock in the morning on the day of election.

58Mode of conducting poll at contested election.

(1)If an election of councillors is contested, the poll shall, as far as circumstances admit, be conducted as the poll at a contested parliamentary election is by the [35 & 36 Vict. c. 33.] Ballot Act, 1872, directed to be conducted, and, subject to the modifications expressed in Part III. of the Third Schedule, and to the other provisions of this Act, the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, relating to a poll at a parliamentary election (including the provisions relating to the duties of the returning officer after the close of the poll), shall apply to a poll at an election of councillors.

(2)Every person entitled to vote may vote for any number of candidates not exceeding the number of vacancies.

(3)The poll shall commence at nine o'clock in the forenoon and close at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day.

(4)But if one hour elapses during which no vote is tendered, and the returning officer has not received notice that any person has within that hour been prevented from coming to the poll by any riot, violence, or other unlawful means, the returning officer may, if he thinks fit, close the poll at any time before four o'clock.

(5)Where an equality of votes is found to exist between any candidates, and the addition of a vote would entitle any of those candidates to be declared elected, the returning officer, whether entitled or not to vote in the first instance, may give such additional vote by word of mouth or in writing.

(6)Nothing in the Ballot Act, 1872, as applied by this Act, shall be deemed to authorize the appointment of any agents of a candidate at a municipal election; but if, in the case of a municipal election, an agent of a candidate is appointed, and notice in writing of the appointment is given to the returning officer, one clear day before the polling day, then the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, with respect to agents of candidates, shall, as far as regards that agent, apply in the case of that election.

59Questions which may be put to voters.

(1)At an election of councillors, the presiding officer shall, if required by two burgesses, or by a candidate or his agent, put to any person offering to vote, at the time of his presenting himself to vote, but not afterwards, the following questions, or either of them :

(a)Are you the person enrolled in the burgess [or ward] roil now in force for this borough [or ward] as follows [read the whole entry from the roll] ?

(b)Have you already voted at the present election (add, in case of an election for several wards, in this or any other ward] ?

(2)The vote of a person required to answer either of these questions shall not be received until he has answered it.

(3)If any person wilfully makes a false answer thereto he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.

(4)Save as by this Act authorized, no inquiry shall be permitted at an election as to the right of any person to vote.

Election of Aldermen.

60Time and mode of election of aldermen.

(1)The ordinary day of election of aldermen shall be the ninth of November, and the election shall be held at the quarterly meeting of the council.

(2)The election shall be held immediately after the election of the mayor, or, if there is a sheriff, the appointment of the sheriff. .

(3)An outgoing alderman, although mayor elect, shall not vote.

(4)Every person entitled to vote may vote for any number of persons not exceeding the number of vacancies, by signing and personally delivering at the meeting to the chairman a voting paper containing the surnames and other names and places of abode and descriptions of the persons for whom he votes.

(5)The chairman, as soon as all the voting papers have been delivered to him, shall openly produce and read them, or cause them to be read, and then deliver them to the town clerk to be kept for twelve months.

(6)In case of equality of votes the chairman, although as an outgoing alderman or otherwise not entitled to vote in the first instance, shall have the casting vote.

(7)The persons, not exceeding the number of vacancies, who have the greatest number of votes, shall be declared by the chairman to be, and thereupon shall be, elected.

Election of Mayor.

61Time and mode of election of mayor.

(1)The ordinary day of election of mayor shall be the ninth of November,

(2)The election of mayor shall be the first business transacted at the quarterly meeting of the council on the day of election.

(3)An outgoing alderman may vote although the person for whom he votes is an alderman.

(4)In case of equality of votes, the chairman, although not entitled to vote in the first instance, shall have the casting vote.

Election of Auditors and Assessors.

62Time and mode of election of auditors and assessors.

(1)The ordinary day of election of elective auditors shall be the first of March, or such other day as the council, with the approval of the Local Government Board, from time to time appoint.

(2)The ordinary day of election of revising assessors shall be the first of March.

(3)If the election of elective auditors and that of revising assessors are held at the same time, then at the poll one voting paper only shall be used by any person voting. The names of the candidates for the respective offices shall be therein separate, and distinguished so as to show the office for which each is a candidate, and the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, shall be varied accordingly; but in the counting of the votes every voting paper shall be deemed to be a separate voting paper in respect of each office, and any objections thereto shall be considered and dealt with accordingly.

(4)An elector shall not vote for more than one person to be elective auditor or revising assessor.

(5)Elections of elective auditors and of revising assessors shall be held at the town hall or some one other convenient place appointed by the mayor.

(6)Save as in this section provided, all the provisions of this Act with respect to the nomination and election of councillors for a borough not having wards shall apply to the nomination and election of elective auditors and revising assessors.

Supplemental and Exceptional Provisions.

63Right of women to vote.

For all purposes connected with and having reference to the right to vote at municipal elections words in this Act importing the masculine gender include women.

64Polling districts.

The council may divide the borough or any ward into polling districts, and thereupon the overseers shall, as far as practicable, make out the parish burgess lists so as to divide the names in conformity with the polling districts.

65Notices as to elections.

Any notice required to be given in connexion with a municipal election may, as to elective auditors and revising assessors, be comprised in one notice, and may, as to ward elections, comprise matter necessary for several wards.

66Time for filling casual vacancies.

(1)On a casual vacancy in a corporate office, the election shall be held within fourteen days after notice in writing of the vacancy has been given to the mayor or town clerk by two burgesses.

(2)Where the office vacant is that of mayor, the notice of the meeting for the election shall he signed by the town clerk.

(3)In other cases the day of election shall he fixed by the mayor.

67Illness, &c. of mayor or returning officer.

(1)If the mayor is dead, or is absent or otherwise incapable of acting in the execution of his powers and duties as to elections under this Act, the council shall forthwith choose an alderman to execute those powers and duties in the place of the mayor.

(2)In case of the illness, absence, or incapacity to act of the alderman assigned to be returning officer at a ward election, the mayor may appoint to act in his stead another alderman, or, if the number of aldermen does not exceed the number of wards, a councillor not being a councillor for that ward, and not being enrolled in the ward roll for that ward.

68Election of councillor in more than one ward.

If a person is elected councillor in more than one ward, he shall, within three days after notice thereof, choose, by writing signed by him and delivered to the town clerk, or in his default the mayor shall, within three days after the time for choice has expired, declare, for which of those wards he shall serve, and the choice or declaration shall be conclusive.

69Elections not in churches.

A municipal election shall not be held in any church, chapel, or other place of public worship.

70Omission to hold election, or election void.

(1)If a municipal. election is not held on the appointed day or within the appointed time, it may be held on the day next after that day or the expiration of that time.

(2)If a municipal election is not held on the appointed day or within the appointed time, or on the day next after that day or the expiration of that time, or becomes void, the municipal corporation shall not thereby be dissolved or be disabled from electing, but the High Court may, on motion, grant a mandamus for the election to be held on a day appointed by the court.

(3)Thereupon public notice of the election shall, by such person as the court directs, be fixed on the town hall, and shall be kept so fixed for at least six days before the day appointed for the election; and in all other respects the election shall be conducted as directed by this Act respecting ordinary elections.

71Burgess roll to be in operation until revision of new burgess roll.

(1)If a parish burgess list is not made or revised in due time, the corresponding part of the burgess roll in operation before the time appointed for the revision shall be the parish burgess list until a burgess list for the parish has been revised and become part of the burgess roll.

(2)If a burgess roll is not made in due time, the burgess roll in force before the time appointed for the revision shall continue in force until the new burgess roll is made.

72Non-compliance with rules.

An election shall not be invalidated by non-compliance with the rules in the Third Schedule, or mistake in the use of the forms in the Eighth Schedule, if it appears to the court having cognisance of the question that the election was conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the body of this Act.

73Election valid unless questioned within twelve months.

Every municipal election not called in question within twelve months after the election, either by election petition or by information in the nature of a quo warranto, shall be deemed to have been to all intents a good and valid election.

74Offences in relation to nomination papers.

(1)If any person forges or fraudulently defaces or fraudulently destroys any nomination paper, or delivers to the town clerk any forged nomination paper, knowing it to be forged, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be liable to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour.

(2)An attempt to commit any such offence shall be punishable as the offence is punishable.

75Offences in relation to lists and elections.

(1)If a mayor or revising assessor neglects or refuses to revise a parish burgess list, or a mayor or alderman neglects or refuses to conduct or declare an election, as required by this Act, he shall for every such offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, recoverable by action.

(2)If—

(a)An overseer neglects or refuses to make, sign, or deliver a parish burgess list, as required by this Act; or

(b)A town clerk neglects or refuses to receive, print, and publish a parish burgess list or list of claimants or respondents, as required by this Act; or

(c)An overseer or town clerk refuses to allow any such list to be inspected by a person having a right thereto ;

he shall for every such neglect or refusal be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, recoverable by action.

(3)An action under this section shall not lie after three months from the neglect or refusal. A moiety of any fine recovered therein shall, after payment of the costs of action, be paid to the plaintiff.

76Revival of former law on expiration of Ballot Act.

(1)If the Ballot Act, 1872, ceases to be in force, so much of this Act as directs that the poll at a contested election of councillors shall be conducted as the poll at a contested parliamentary election is by the Ballot Act, 1872, directed to be conducted, and as applies provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, to a poll at a contested election of councillors, shall forthwith cease to be in force, and thereupon the enactments in Part IV of the Third Schedule shall revive and be in force.

(2)But this cesser and revivor shall not affect any act done, right acquired, or liability or fine incurred, or the institution or prosecution to its termination of any proceeding in respect of any such right, liability, or fine.

PART IVCorrupt Practices and Election Petitions.

Corrupt Practices.

77Definitions.

In this Part—

• " Bribery, " " treating, " " undue influence, " and " personation, " include respectively anything done before, at, after, or with respect to a municipal election, which if done before, at, after, or with respect to a parliamentary election would make the person doing the same liable to any penalty, punishment, or disqualification for bribery, treating, undue influence, or personation, as the case may be, under any Act for the time being in force with respect to parliamentary elections:

• " Corrupt practice " means bribery, treating, undue influence, or personation:

• " Candidate " means a person elected, or having been nominated, or having declared himself a candidate for election, to a corporate office:

• " Canvasser " means any person who solicits or persuades, or attempts to persuade, any person to vote or to abstain from voting at a municipal election, or to vote or to abstain from Voting for a candidate at a municipal election :

• " Voter " means a burgess or a person who votes or claims to vote at a municipal election :

• " Election court " means a court constituted under this Part for the trial of an election petition:

• " Municipal election petition " or " election petition " means a petition under this Part complaining of an undue municipal election:

• " Parliamentary election petition " means a petition under the [31 & 32 Vict. c. 125.] Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868 :

• " Prescribed " means prescribed by general rules made under this Part:

• " Borough " and " election " when used with reference to a petition mean the borough and election to which the petition relates.

78General penalties for corrupt practices.

A person guilty of a corrupt practice at a municipal election shall be liable to the like actions, prosecutions, penalties, forfeitures, and punishments as if the corrupt practice had been committed at a parliamentary election.

79Disqualifications and avoidance of election for corrupt practices by candidates.

(1)Where it is found by the report of an election court that a corrupt practice has been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of a candidate at a municipal election, that candidate shall be deemed to have been personally guilty of a corrupt practice at the election, and his election, if he has been elected, shall be void ; and he shall (whether elected or not) during seven years from the date of the report be subject to the following disqualifications :

He shall be incapable of—

(a)Holding or exercising any corporate office or municipal franchise, or being enrolled or voting as a burgess :

(b)Acting as a justice or holding any judicial office :

(c)Being elected to or sitting or voting in Parliament:

(d)Being registered or voting as a parliamentary voter :

(e)Being employed by a candidate in a parliamentary or municipal election:

(f)Acting as overseer or as guardian of the poor.

(2)If any person is on indictment or information found guilty of a corrupt practice at a municipal election, or is in any action or proceeding adjudged to pay a penalty or forfeiture for a corrupt practice at a municipal election, he shall, whether he was a candidate at the election or not, be subject during seven years from the date of the conviction or judgment to all the disqualifications mentioned in this section.

(3)If after a person has become disqualified under this Part any witness on whose testimony he has become disqualified is, on his prosecution, convicted of perjury in respect of that testimony, the High Court may, on motion, and on proof that the disqualification was procured by means of that perjury, order that the disqualification shall cease.

80Disqualifications and avoidance of election for corrupt practices by agents, and for offences against this Part.

If it is found by an election court that a candidate has by an agent been guilty of a corrupt practice at a municipal election, or that any offence against this Part has been committed at a municipal election by a candidate, or by an agent for a candidate with the candidate's knowledge and consent, the candidate shall during the period for which he was elected to serve, or for which, if elected, he might have served, be disqualified for being elected to aad for holding any corporate office in the borough, and if he was elected his election shall be void.

81Avoidance of election for general corruption.

A municipal election shall be wholly avoided by such general corruption, bribery, treating, or intimidation at the election as would by the common law of Parliament avoid a parliamentary election.

82Paid agents and canvassers.

(1)A burgess of a borough shall not be retained or employed for payment or reward by or on behalf of a candidate at a municipal election for that borough or any ward thereof as a canvasser for the purposes of the election.

(2)If any person is retained or employed in contravention of this prohibition, that person and also the person by whom he is retained or employed shall be guilty of an offence against this Part, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(3)An agent or canvasser retained or employed for payment or reward for any of the purposes of a municipal election shall not vote at the election, and if he votes he shall be guilty of an offence against this Part, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

83Payment for conveyance of voters.

If a candidate or an agent for a candidate pays or agrees to pay any money on account of the conveyance of a voter to or from the poll, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Part, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

84Prosecutions for corrupt practices.

(1)The costs and expenses of a prosecutor and his witnesses in the prosecution of any person for bribery, undue influence, or personation at a municipal election, with compensation for trouble and loss of time, shall, unless the court otherwise directs, be allowed, paid, and borne as in cases of felony.

(2)The clerk of the peace of the borough, or, if there is none, of the county in which the borough is situate, shall, if so directed by an election court, prosecute any person for bribery, undue influence, or personation at the election in respect of which the court acts, or sue or proceed against any person for penalties for bribery, treating, undue influence, or any offence against this Part at the election.

85Striking off votes.

The votes of persons in respect of whom any corrupt practice is proved to have been committed at a municipal election shall be struck off on a scrutiny.

86Personation.

The enactments for the time being in force for the detection of personation and for the apprehension of persons charged with personation at a parliamentary election shall apply in the case of a municipal election.

Election Petitions.

87Power to question municipal election by petition.

(1)A municipal election may be questioned by an election petition on the ground—

(a)That the election was as to the borough or ward wholly avoided by general bribery, treating, undue influence, or personation; or

(b)That the election was avoided by corrupt practices or offences against this Part committed at the election; or

(c)That the person whose election is questioned was at the time of the election disqualified; or

(d)That he was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes.

(2)A municipal election shall not be questioned on any of those grounds except by an election petition.

88Presentation of petition.

(1)An election petition may be presented either by four : or more persons who voted or had a right to vote at the election or by a person alleging himself to have been a candidate at the election.

(2)Any person whose election is questioned by the petition, and any returning officer of whose conduct a petition complains, may be made a respondent to the petition.

(3)The petition shall be in the prescribed form and shall be signed by the petitioner, and shall be presented in the prescribed manner to the High Court in the Queen's Bench Division, and the prescribed officer shall send a copy thereof to the town clerk, who shall forthwith publish it in the borough.

(4)It shall be presented within twenty-one days after the day on which the election was held, except that if it complains of the election on the ground of corrupt practices, and specifically alleges that a payment of money or other reward has been made or promised since the election by a person elected at the election, or on his account or with his privity, in pursuance or furtherance of such corrupt practices, it may be presented at any time within twenty-eight days after the date of the alleged payment or promise, whether or not any other petition against that person has been previously presented or tried.

89Security for costs.

(1)At the time of presenting an election petition or within three days afterwards, the petitioner shall give security for all costs, charges, and expenses which may become payable by him to any witness summoned on his behalf, or to any respondent.

(2)The security shall be to such amount, not exceeding five hundred pounds, as the High Court, or a Judge thereof, on summons, directs, and shall be given in the prescribed manner, either by a deposit of money, or by recognisance entered into by not more than four sureties, or partly in one way and partly in the other.

(3)Within, five days after the presentation of the petition the petitioner shall in the prescribed manner serve on the respondent a notice of the presentation of the petition, and of the nature of the proposed security, and a copy of the petition.

(4)Within five days after service of the notice the respondent may object in writing to any recognisance on the ground that any surety is insufficient or is dead, or cannot be found or ascertained for want of a sufficient description in the recognisance, or that a person named in the recognisance has not duly acknowledged the same.

(5)An objection to a recognisance shall be decided in the prescribed manner.

(6)If the objection is allowed, the petitioner may, within a further prescribed time not exceeding five days, remove it by a deposit in the prescribed manner of such sum of money as will, in the opinion of the court or officer having cognisance of the matter, make the security sufficient.

(7)If no security is given, as prescribed, or any objection is allowed and is not removed, as aforesaid, no further proceedings shall be had on the petition.

90Petition at issue.

On the expiration of the time limited for making objections, or, after objection made on the objection being disallowed or removed, whichever last happens, the petition shall be at issue.

91Municipal election list.

(1)The prescribed officer shall as soon as may be make a list, in this Act referred to as the municipal election list, of all election petitions at issue, placing them in the order in which they, were presented, and shall keep at his office a copy of this list, open to inspection in the prescribed manner.

(2)The petitions shall, as far as conveniently may be, be tried in the order in which they stand in the list.

(3)Two or more candidates may be made respondents to the same petition, and their cases may be tried at the same time, but for the purposes of this Part the petition shall be deemed to be a separate petition against each respondent.

(4)Where more petitions than one are presented relating to the same election, or to elections held at the same time for different wards for the same borough, they shall be bracketed together in the list as one petition, but shall, unless the High Court otherwise directs, stand in the list in the place where the last of them would have stood if it had been the only petition relating to that election.

92Constitution of election court.

(1)An election petition shall be tried by an election court consisting of a barrister qualified and appointed as in this section provided, without a jury.

(2)A barrister shall not be qualified to constitute an election court if he is of less than fifteen years standing, or is a member of the Commons House of Parliament, or holds any office or place of profit under the Crown, other than that of recorder.

(3)A barrister shall not be qualified to constitute an election court for trial of an election petition relating to any borough for which he is recorder, or in which he resides, or which is included in a circuit of Her Majesty's judges on which he practices as a barrister.

(4)As soon as may be after a municipal election list is made out the prescribed officer shall send a copy thereof to each of the judges for the time being on the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions; and those judges or two of them shall forthwith determine the number of barristers, not exceeding five at any one time, necessary to be appointed for the trial of the election petitions at issue, and shall appoint that number accordingly as commissioners under this Part, and shall assign the petitions to be tried by each.

(5)If a commissioner to whom the trial of a petition is assigned dies, or declines or becomes incapable to act, the said judges or two of them may assign the trial to be conducted or continued by any other of the commissioners appointed under this section.

(6)The election court shall for the purposes of the trial have the same powers and privileges as a judge on the trial of a parliamentary election petition, except that any fine or order of committal by the court may on motion by the person aggrieved be discharged or varied by the High Court, or in vacation by a judge thereof, on such terms, if any, as the High Court or judge thinks fit.

93Trial of election petition.

(1)An election petition shall be tried in open court, and notice of the time and place of trial shall be given in the prescribed manner not less than seven days before the day of trial.

(2)The place of trial shall be within the borough, except that the High Court may, on being satisfied that special circumstances exist rendering it desirable that the petition should be tried elsewhere, appoint some other convenient place for the trial.

(3)The election court may in its discretion adjourn the trial from time to time, and from any one place to any other place within the borough or place where it is held.

(4)At the conclusion of the trial the election court shall determine whether the person whose election is complained of, or any and what other person, was duly elected, or whether the election was void, and shall forthwith certify in writing the determination to the High Court, and the determination so certified shall be final to all intents as to the matters at issue on the petition.

(5)Where a charge is made in a petition of any corrupt practice or offence against this Part having been committed at the election the court shall, in addition to the certificate, and at the same time, report in writing to the High Court as follows :

(a)Whether any corrupt practice or offence against this Part has or has not been proved to have been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of any candidate at the election, and the nature of the corrupt practice or offence :

(b)The names of all persons (if any) proved at the trial to have been guilty of any corrupt practice or offence against this Part;

(c)Whether any corrupt practices have, or whether there is reason to believe that any corrupt practices have, extensively prevailed at the election in the borough or in any ward thereof.

(6)The election court may at the same time make a special report to the High Court as to any matters arising in the course of the trial, an account of which ought, in the judgment of the election court, to be submitted to the High Court.

(7)If, on the application of any party to a petition made in the prescribed manner to the High Court, it appears to the High Court that the case raised by the petition can be conveniently stated as a special case, the High Court may direct the same to be stated accordingly, and any such special case shall be heard before the High Court, and the decision, of the High Court shall be final,

(8)If it appears to the election court on the trial of a petition that any question of law as to the admissibility of evidence, or otherwise, requires further consideration by the High Court, the election court may postpone the granting of a certificate until the question has been determined by the High Court, and for this purpose may reserve any such question, as questions may be reserved by a judge on a trial at nisi prius.

(9)On the trial of a petition, unless the election court, otherwise directs, any charge of a corrupt practice or offence against this, Part may be gone into, and evidence in relation thereto received before any proof has been given of agency on behalf of any candidate in respect of the corrupt practice or offence.

(10)On the trial of a petition complaining of an undue election and claiming the office for some person, the respondent may give evidence to prove that that person was not duly elected, in the same manner as if he had presented a petition against the election of that person.

(11)The trial of a petition shall be proceeded with notwithstanding that the respondent has ceased to hold the office his election to which is questioned by the petition.

(12)A copy of any certificate or report made to the High Court on the trial of a petition, and, in the case of a decision by the High Court on a special case, a statement of the decision, shall be sent by the High Court to the Secretary of State.

(13)A copy of any such certificate and a statement of any such decision shall also be certified by the High Court, under the hands of two or more judges thereof, to the town clerk of the borough.

94Witnesses.

(1)Witnesses at the trial of an election petition shall be summoned and sworn in the same manner, as nearly as circumstances admit, as witnesses at a trial at nisi prius, and shall be liable to the same penalties for perjury.

(2)On the trial the election court may, by order in writing, require any person who appears to the court to have been concerned in the election to attend as a witness, and any person refusing to obey the order shall be guilty of contempt of court.

(3)The court may examine any person so required to attend or being in court although he is not called and examined by any party to the petition.

(4)A witness may, after his examination by the court, be cross-examined by or on behalf of the petitioner and respondent or either of them.

(5)A witness on an election petition shall not be excused from answering any question relating to a corrupt practice or offence against this Part committed at or connected with the election on the ground that the answer thereto may criminate or tend to criminate him ; but if he answers it he shall be entitled to receive from the court a certificate stating that he was on his examination required by the court to answer questions the answers whereto criminated -or tended to criminate him, and that he answered all such questions.

(6)If any information, indictment, or action is at any time thereafter pending against the witness in any court for any corrupt practice or offence against this Part committed at or in relation to the election before the time of his giving his evidence, that court shall, on production and proof of the certificate, stay the proceedings, and may, in its discretion, award to him such costs as he has been put to therein.

(7)The giving of or refusal to give any such certificate by the election court shall be final and conclusive.

(8)A statement made by any person in answer to a question put to him by or before an election court shall not, except in cases of indictment for perjury, be admissible in evidence in any proceeding, civil or criminal.

(9)The reasonable expenses incurred by any person in appearing to give evidence at the trial of an election petition, according to the scale allowed to witnesses on the trial of civil actions at the assizes, may be allowed to him by a certificate of the election court or of the prescribed officer, and if the witness was called and examined by the court, shall be deemed part of the expenses of providing, a court, but otherwise shall be deemed costs of the petition.

95Withdrawal of petition.

(1)A petitioner shall not withdraw an election petition without the leave of the election court or High Court on special application, made in the. prescribed manner, and at the prescribed time and place.

(2)The application shall not be made until the prescribed notice of the intention to make it has been given in the borough.

(3)On the hearing of the application any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the court to be substituted as a petitioner, and the court may, if it thinks fit, substitute him accordingly.

(4)If the proposed withdrawal is in the opinion of the court induced by any corrupt bargain or consideration, the court may by order direct that the security given on behalf of the original petitioner shall remain as security for any costs that may be incurred by the substituted petitioner, and that to the extent of the sum named in the security, the original petitioner and his sureties shall be liable to pay the costs of the substituted petitioner.

(5)If the court does not so direct, then security to the same amount as would be required in the ease of a new petition, and subject to the like conditions, shall be given on behalf of the substituted petitioner before he proceeds with his petition and within the prescribed time after the order of substitution.

(6)Subject as aforesaid, a substituted petitioner shall, as nearly as may be, stand in the same position and be subject to the same liabilities as the original petitioner.

(7)If a petition is withdrawn, the petitioner shall be liable to pay the costs of the respondent.

(8)Where there are more petitioners than one, an application to withdraw a petition shall not be made except with the consent of all the petitioners.

96Abatement of petition.

(1)An election petition shall be abated by the death of a sole petitioner or of the survivor of several petitioners.

(2)The abatement of .a petition shall not affect the liability of the petitioner or of any other person to the payment of costs previously incurred.

(3)On the abatement of a petition the prescribed notice thereof shall be given in the borough, and, within the prescribed time after the notice is given, any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the election court or High Court in the prescribed manner and at the prescribed time and place to be substituted as a petitioner; and the court may, if it thinks fit, substitute him accordingly.

(4)Security shall be given on behalf of a petitioner so substituted, as in the case of a new petition.

97Withdrawal and substitution of respondents.

(1)If before the trial of an election petition a respondent other than a returning officer—

(a)Dies, resigns, or otherwise ceases to hold the office to which the petition relates; or

(b)Gives the prescribed notice that he does not intend to oppose the petition;

the prescribed notice thereof shall be given in the borough, and within the prescribed time after the notice is given any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the election court or High Court to be admitted as a respondent to oppose the petition, and shall be admitted accordingly, except that the number of persons so admitted shall not exceed three.

(2)A respondent who has given the prescribed notice that he does not intend to oppose the petition shall not be allowed to appear or act as a party against the petition in any proceedings thereon.

98Costs on election petitions.

(1)All costs, charges, and expenses of and incidental to the presentation of an election petition, and the proceedings consequent thereon, except such as are by this Act otherwise provided for, shall be defrayed by the parties to the petition in such manner and proportions as the election court determines; and in particular any costs, charges, or expenses which in the opinion of the court have been caused by vexatious conduct, unfounded allegations, or unfounded objections on the part either of the petitioner or of the respondent, and any needless expense incurred or caused on the part of petitioner or respondent, may be ordered to be defrayed by the parties by whom it has been incurred or caused, whether they are or not on the whole successful.

(2)The costs may be taxed in the prescribed manner, but according to the same principles as costs between solicitor and client in an action in the High Court, and may be recovered as the costs of such an action, or as otherwise prescribed.

(3)If a petitioner neglects or refuses for three months after demand to pay to any person summoned as a witness on his behalf, or to the respondent, any sum certified to be due to him for his costs, charges, and expenses, and the neglect or refusal is, within one year after the demand, proved to the satisfaction of the High Court, every person who has under this Act entered into a recognisance relating to the petition shall be held to have made default in the recognisance, and the prescribed officer shall thereon certify the recognisance to be forfeited, and it shall be dealt with as a forfeited recognisance relating to a parliamentary election petition.

99Reception of and attendance on the election court.

(1)The town clerk shall provide proper accommodation for holding the election court; and any expenses incurred by him for the purposes of this section shall be paid out of the borough fund or borough rate.

(2)All chief and head constables, superintendents of police, head-boroughs, gaolers, constables, and bailiffs shall give their assistance to the election court in the execution of its duties, and if any gaoler or officer of a prison makes default in receiving or detaining a prisoner committed thereto in pursuance of this Part, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the default continues.

(3)The election court may employ officers and clerks as prescribed.

(4)A shorthand writer shall attend at the trial of an election petition, and shall be sworn by the election court faithfully and truly to take down the evidence given at the trial. He shall take down the evidence at length. A transcript of the notes of the evidence taken by him shall, if the election court so directs, accompany the certificate of the election court. His expenses, according to a prescribed scale, shall be treated as part of the expenses incurred in receiving the court.

100Rules of procedure and jurisdiction.

(1)The judges for the time being on the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions, may from time to time make, revoke, and alter General Rules for the effectual execution of this Part, and of the intention and object thereof, and the regulation of the practice, procedure, and costs of municipal election petitions, and the trial thereof, and the certifying and reporting thereon.

(2)All such rules shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within three weeks after they are made, if Parliament is then sitting, and if not, within three weeks after the beginning of the then next session of Parliament, and shall, while in force, have effect as if enacted in this Act.

(3)Subject to the provisions of this Act, and of the rules made under it, the principles, practice, and rules for the time being observed in the case of parliamentary election petitions, and in particular the principles and rules with regard to agency and evidence, and to a scrutiny, and to the declaring any person elected in the room of any other person, declared to have been not duly elected, shall he observed, as far as may be, in the case of a municipal election petition.

(4)The High Court shall, subject to this Act, have the same powers, jurisdiction, and authority with respect to a municipal election petition and the proceedings thereon as if the petition were an ordinary action within its jurisdiction.

(5)The duties to be performed by the prescribed officer under this Part shall be performed by the prescribed officer of the High Court.

(6)The general rules in force at the commencement of this Act with respect to matters within this Part shall, until superseded by rules made under this section, and subject to any amendment thereof by rules so made, have effect, with the necessary modifications, as if made under this section.

101Expenses of election court.

(1)The remuneration and allowances to be paid to a commissioner for his services in respect of the trial of an election petition, and to any officers, clerks, or shorthand writers employed under this Part, shall be fixed by a scale made and varied by the election judges on the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions, with the approval of the Treasury. The remuneration and allowances shall be paid in the first instance by the Treasury, and shall be repaid to the Treasury, on their certificate, out of the borough fund or borough rate.

(2)But the election court may in its discretion order that such remuneration and allowances, or the expenses incurred by a town clerk for receiving the election court, shall be repaid, wholly or in part, to the Treasury or the town clerk, as the case may be, in the cases, by the persons, and in the manner following (namely):

(a)When in the opinion of the election court a petition is frivolous and vexatious, by the petitioner;

(b)When in the opinion of the election court a respondent has been personally guilty of corrupt practices at the election, by that respondent.

(3)An order so made for the repayment of any sum by a petitioner or respondent may be enforced as an order for payment of costs; but a deposit made or security given under this Part shall not be applied for any such repayment until all costs and expenses payable by the petitioner or respondent to any party to the petition have been satisfied.

102Acts done pending a petition not invalidated.

Where a candidate who has been elected to a corporate office is, by a certificate of an election court or a decision of the High Court, declared not to have been duly elected, acts done by him in execution of the office, before the time when the certificate or decision is certified to the town clerk, shall not be invalidated by reason of that declaration.

103Provisions as to elections in the room of persons unseated on petition.

Where on an election petition the election of any person to a corporate office has been declared void, and no other person has been declared elected in his room, a new election shall be hold to supply the vacancy in the same manner as on a casual vacancy ; and for the purposes of the election any duties to be performed by a mayor, alderman, or other officer, shall, if he has been declared not elected, be performed by a deputy, or other person who might have acted for him if he had been incapacitated by illness.

104Prohibition of disclosure of vote.

A person who has voted at a municipal election by ballot shall not in any proceeding to question the election be required to state for whom he has voted.

PART VCorporate Property and Liabilities.

Corporate Land.

105Power to purchase land for town hall, &c.

A municipal corporation may contract for the purchase of and hold any land not exceeding in the. whole five acres, either in or out of the borough, and thereon, or on any land belonging to or held in trust for the Corporation, may build a town hall, council house, justices' room, with or without a police station and cells, or lock-ups, or a quarter and petty sessions-house, or an assize courthouse, with or without judges' lodgings, or a polling station, or any other building necessary or proper for any purpose of the borough.

106Power to borrow with approval of Treasury.

The council may, with the approval of the Treasury, borrow at interest on the security of any corporate land, or of any land proposed to be purchased by the council under this Act, or of the borough fund or borough rate, or of all or any of those securities, such sums as the council from time to time think requisite, for the purchase of land, or for the building of any building which the council are by this Act authorised to build.

107Power to acquire land with the approval of the Treasury.

(1)Where a municipal corporation has not power to purchase or acquire land, or to hold land in mortmain, the council may, with the approval of the Treasury, purchase or acquire any land in such manner and on such terms and conditions as the Treasury approve, and the same may be conveyed to and held by the corporation accordingly.

(2)The provisions of the [8 & 9 Vict. c. 18.] Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts, 1845, [23 & 24 Vict. c. 106.] 1860, and [32 & 33 Vict. c. 18.] 1869, relating to the purchase of land by agreement, and to agreements for sale, and conveyances, sales, and releases of any lands or hereditaments, or any estate or interest therein by persons under disability, shall extend to all purchases of land under this section.

108Restrictions on alienation of corporate land without approval of Treasury.

(1)The council shall not, unless authorized by Act of Parliament, sell, mortgage, or alienate any corporate land without the approval of the Treasury.

(2)The council shall not, unless authorized by Act of Parliament, lease or agree to lease any corporate land without the approval of the Treasury, except as follows ;

(a)They may make a lease or agreement for a lease for a term not exceeding thirty-one years from the date of the lease or agreement, so that there be. reserved and made payable during the whole of the term such clear yearly rent as to the council appears reasonable, without any fine.

(b)They may make a lease or agreement for a lease for a term not exceeding seventy-five years from the date of the lease or agreement, and either at a reserved rent or on a fine, or both, as the council think fit,—

(i)Of tenements or hereditaments, the greater part of the yearly value of which, at the date of the lease or agreement, consists of any building or buildings; or

(ii)Of land proper for the erection of any houses or other buildings thereon, with or without gardens, yards, curtilages, or other appurtenances to be used therewith; or

(iii)Where the lessee or intended lessee agrees to erect a building or buildings thereon of greater yearly value than the land,—of land proper for gardens, yards, curtilages or other appurtenances to be used with any other house or other building erected or to be erected on any such land, belonging either to the corporation or to any other proprietor, or proper for any other purpose calculated to afford convenience or accommodation to the occupier of any such house or building.

109Power to dispose of land with approval of Treasury.

The council may, with the approval of the Treasury, dispose of any corporate land either by way of absolute sale, or by way of exchange, mortgage, charge, demise, lease, or otherwise, in such manner and on such terms and conditions as the Treasury approve.

110Council may renew leases, &c.

In the following cases,—

(a)Where a body corporate of a borough was on the fifth of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five bound or engaged by any covenant or agreement, expressed or implied, or was enjoined by any deed, will, or other document, or was sanctioned or warranted by ancient usage or by custom or practice, to make any renewal of any lease for years, or for life or lives, or for years determinable with any life or lives at any fixed or determinate or known or accustomed period, or after the lapse of any number of years, or on the dropping of any life or lives, and years determinable after the lapse of any number of years, at a fine certain, or under any special or specific terms or conditions :

(b)Where a body corporate of a borough theretofore ordinarily made renewal of any lease for years, or for life or lives, or for years determinable with any life or lives at any fixed or determinate or known or accustomed period, or after the lapse of any number of years, or on the dropping of any life or lives, on the payment of an arbitrary fine,—

Then, notwithstanding anything in this Act, the council of the borough may renew the lease for such term or number of years, either absolutely or determinable with any life or lives, or for such life or lives, and at such rent, and on the payment of such fine or premium, either certain or arbitrary, and with or without any covenant for the future renewal thereof, as the council could or might have done if this Act had not been passed.

Working Men's Dwellings.

111Sites for working men's dwellings.

(1)If a municipal corporation determines to convert any corporate land into sites for working men's dwellings, and obtains the approval of the Treasury for so doing, the corporation may, for that purpose, make grants or leases for terms of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, or any shorter term, of any parts of the corporate land.

(2)The corporation may make on the land any roads, drains, walls, fences, or other works requisite for converting the same into building land, at an expense not exceeding such sum as the Treasury approve.

(3)The corporation may insert in any grant or lease of any part of the land (in this section referred to as the site) provisions binding the grantee or lessee to build thereon as in the grant or lease prescribed, and to maintain and repair the building, and prohibiting the division of the site or building, and any addition to or alteration of the character of the building, without the consent of the corporation, and for the re-vesting of the site in the corporation, or its re-entry thereon, on breach of any provision in the grant or lease.

(4)Every such provision shall be valid in law to all intents, and binding on the parties.

(5)All costs and expenses incurred or authorized by a corporation in carrying into execution or otherwise in pursuance of this section, shall be paid out of the borough fund and borough rate, or by money borrowed by the corporation under this Part.

(6)In this section the term working men's dwellings means buildings suitable for the habitation of persons employed in manual labour and their families; but the use of part of a building for purposes of retail trade or other purposes, approved by the council, shall not prevent the building from being deemed a dwelling.

Repayment of Loans.

112Power for Treasury to impose conditions as to repayment of money borrowed.

(1)Where the Treasury approve a mortgage or charge under this Part they may, as a condition of their approval, require that the money borrowed on the security of the mortgage or charge be repaid, with all interest thereon, in thirty years, or any less period, and either by instalments or by means of a sinking fund, or both.

(2)In that case the sums required for providing for the repayment of the principal and interest of the money borrowed shall be by virtue of this Act a charge on all or any of the following securities, namely, the land comprised in the mortgage (without prejudice to the security thereby created), or any other corporate land, or the borough fund, or the borough or other rates legally applicable to payment of the money borrowed or of the expenses which the money is borrowed to defray, as the Treasury direct.

113Provisions as to sinking fund.

(1)Where money borrowed under this Part is directed to be repaid by means of a sinking fund, the council shall, out of the rents and profits of the land on which, or out of the borough fund or rates on which, the sums required for the sinking fund are charged under this Act, invest such sums, at such times, and in such Government annuities, as the Treasury direct, and shall also from time to time invest in like manner all dividends of those annuities.

(2)The annuities shall, in the books of the Bank of England, be placed to the account of the corporation, and in the matter of this Act or of any previous Act under which the investment is made.

(3)The dividends of the annuities shall be received and invested by such persons as the council by power of attorney under the corporate seal from time to time appoint.

(4)No transfer shall be made of the annuities, or of any part thereof, without the consent in writing of the Treasury addressed to the chief accountant of the Bank of England.

(5)The direction in writing of the council by power of attorney under the corporate seal, with the consent in writing of the Treasury, shall be sufficient authority to the Bank for permitting any such transfer.

Purchase or Compensation Money.

114Provision for replacing purchase or compensation money paid to treasurer.

(1)Where purchase money or compensation has been paid to the Bank of England under an Act of Parliament in respect of land or any interest therein purchased or taken from a municipal corporation, or in respect of permanent damage to land of a municipal corporation, and the Treasury approve of the payment of the money or compensation, or of any money to arise from the sale of any Government securities in which the same has been invested, to the corporation or the treasurer, the Treasury may, as a condition of their approval, require provision to be made for raising and for investing in Government annuities a sum equivalent to the amount of money so paid.

(2)The foregoing provisions of this Part applicable in the case of a sinking fund, as regards the mode of investing, payment of dividends, and transfer of annuities, shall be applicable in the case of investments under this section.

(3)The Treasury shall, when it appears to them that an amount of annuities equivalent to the amount so paid has been raised by investment, direct that the accumulation shall cease; and the annuities and the dividends thereof shall thenceforth be applicable as if the annuities had risen from the investment under the Act of Parliament under which the purchase money or compensation became payable.

(4)But this section shall not apply to money payable to a municipal corporation when provision for the application of the money, or of the price or compensation from which the money is derived, is contained in any local Act of Parliament relating thereto, and the money is to be paid to the corporation to be applied in conformity with that provision.

115Investment of proceeds of sale, or exchange authorised by Treasury.

(1)Where the Treasury approve of the sale or exchange of any corporate land or of any interest therein, their approval may be subject to such conditions as they think fit in relation to the investment for the benefit of the corporation of the money arising from the sale or exchange.

(2)If the Treasury direct the money to be invested in Government annuities, the foregoing provisions of this Part respecting the mode of investing, payment of dividends, and transfer of annuities shall be applicable, but not so as to make any accumulation necessary.

(3)If the Treasury consent to the application of the money or of any part thereof for the benefit of the inhabitants of the borough, they may, as a condition of their consent, require the like provision to be made as they are authorized to require in the case of their approval of payment to a municipal corporation or the treasurer.

116Power for Treasury to authorise application of certain investments for benefit of borough.

The Treasury may at any time approve of the application of any annuities arising from investments under either of the two last preceding sections, or of the money to arise from the sale thereof, or any part there of respectively, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the borough; and, as a condition of their approval, may require the like provision to be made as they are authorized to require in the case of their approval of payment to a municipal corporation or the treasurer, and so from time to time, and the provisions of this Part shall be applicable accordingly; but it shall not be imperative on the Treasury to impose the condition aforesaid where by reason of the application of the annuities or money to improvement of the property of the corporation or for the permanent benefit of the borough, or otherwise, under the special circumstances of the case, the Treasury in their discretion think fit to dispense with the condition.

Misappropriation.

117Penalty for misappropriation of moneys.

If any person authorized to receive money to arise from the sale of any annuities or securities purchased or transferred under the foregoing provisions of this Part, or under any Act repealed by this Act, or any dividends thereon, or any other such money as aforesaid, appropriates the same otherwise than as directed by this Act, or by the Treasury in pursuance thereof, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be subject in respect thereof to the provisions of the [24 & 25 Vict. c. 96. s. 75.] Larceny Act, 1861, applicable to a person guilty of a misdemeanour under section seventy-five of that Act, or to the provisions of any enactment for the time being substituted for that section.

Corporate Stock.

118Transfer of and other dealings with corporate stock.

(1)Any stocks, funds, or public securities (in this section referred to as stock) standing in the books of the Bank of England or of any other public company or society in the name of a municipal corporation, under any style or title of incorporation, and the dividends and interest thereof and all bonuses and accretions thereto, belonging to the municipal corporation, without being subject to any trust for charitable purposes, may be transferred by and paid to such persons as the council appoint by an instrument under the corporate seal, signed and sealed also by the clerk to the trustees of the municipal charities, who shall on request sign and seal it.

(2)Any stock and money so standing belonging to the trustees of the municipal charities solely on charitable trusts may be transferred by and paid to persons appointed under the hands and seals of the greater part of the trustees, the appointment being attested under the hand and seal of their clerk, and being also sealed with the corporate seal, which seal the mayor shall on request cause to be affixed thereto.

(3)The dividends and interest of any stock and money so standing, belonging partly to the municipal corporation but subject to charitable trusts, may be paid to persons authorised to have the same paid to them by an instrument in writing under the corporate seal, and appointed under the hands and seals of the greater part of the trustees, the appointment being attested under the hand and seal of their clerk.

(4)In every case the receipt of the persons authorized to give a receipt to the company or society by an instrument under the corporate seal, and signed and sealed by the clerk to the trustees of the municipal charities, shall be an effectual discharge to the company or society.

(5)So much of the money so paid as is held on charitable trusts shall be paid over to the trustees of the municipal charities, and so much as the municipal corporation is entitled to beneficially shall go to the borough fund.

(6)But the company or society shall not be bound to see to the application of that money, or to the validity of the appointment of the clerk to the trustees of the municipal charities, or to the execution of any instrument by any of them, or to inquire whether or not the stock or money is charged with or held on any charitable trust.

(7)Every person authorized to so receive any money shall account to the council and to the trustees of the municipal charities for all money received by him, and on his failure so to account a court of summary jurisdiction may, on complaint either of the council or of the trustees, by summary order require him to do so.

Borough Bridges.

119Maintenance of borough bridges.

(1)Every bridge which is either wholly or in part in a borough and which the borough and not the county wherein the borough is situate is legally bound to maintain or repair shall, as to the whole of the bridge if it is wholly in the borough, or as to such part only as is in the borough, be maintained, altered, widened, repaired, improved, or rebuilt under the sole management and control of the council.

(2)For that purpose the council shall have all the powers which the justices of a county have with respect to county bridge, but the notices required in the case of a county bridge shall not be required in the case of borough bridge.

(3)All expenses incurred for the purposes of this section shall be paid out of the borough fund or borough rate, or out of money borrowed on the security thereof.

(4)The council, with the consent of the Treasury, may from time-to time borrow on that security such sums as they deem requisite for any of those purposes, and may mortgage the borough fund and borough rate for the purpose of securing the repayment, with interest, of any money so borrowed.

Loans for Municipal Buildings.

120Power to borrow for buildings.

The council of a borough may borrow money from the Public Works Loan Commissioners for the purpose of building, enlarging, repairing, improving, and fitting up any building which they are by this Act authorized to build, and may levy a rate or an increase of the borough rate for the purpose of paying the principal and interest of the loan, and may mortgage the rate or borough rate to the Commissioners in accordance with the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 89. s. 40.] Public Works Loans Act, 1875, or any amendment thereof, in such manner and form as the Commissioners direct.

Advowsons and similar Bights.

121Obligations and powers in respect of advowsons, &c.

(1)Notwithstanding any sale by a municipal corporation of any advowson, or of any right of nomination or presentation to a benefice, ecclesiastical preferment, or office of priest, curate, preacher, or minister, whether the sale is made before or after the commencement of this Act, the corporation and its property shall continue liable to the same obligation (if any) of providing for and maintaining or contributing to the maintenance of any priest, curate, preacher, or minister, as if the sale had not been made; and that liability may be enforced by the same means, at the instance of the Crown or otherwise, as if this Act had not been passed, and the advowson or right had remained vested in the corporation.

(2)Where a municipal corporation holds land subject to an obligation to provide a priest, curate, preacher, or minister, nothing in this Act shall preclude the corporation from augmenting or endowing his office, either by assigning to him and his successors in office a competent portion of the land, or by charging thereon an annual stipend, either in money or in kind, for his and their use and benefit, except that no such augmentation or endowment shall be valid without the approval of the Treasury.

(3)Where a municipal corporation sells a right of nomination to an ecclesiastical preferment, not being a benefice or perpetual curacy, that preferment shall, from and after the sale, be a benefice presentative, and the holder thereof and his successors shall be a body corporate, having perpetual succession and capable of taking and holding in perpetuity all property granted to or purchased for them by the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne, or by other persons contributing with those governors as benefactors.

122Regulations as to sale of ecclesiastical patronage belonging to municipal corporation.

(1)Where at the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, a body corporate, or any particular class, number, or description of members thereof, or the governing body thereof, were in their corporate capacity, and not as trustees of a charity, seised or possessed of any manor or land whereto any advowson, or right of nomination or presentation to any benefice or ecclesiastical preferment was appendant or appurtenant, or of any advowson in gross, or of any right of nomination or presentation to a benefice, ecclesiastical preferment, or office of priest, curate, preacher, or minister, the advowson or right, if not sold before the commencement of this Act, shall be sold at such time and in such manner as the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England direct, so that the best price be obtained for the same.

(2)Upon any such sale the council shall, with the consent in writing of those Commissioners, signed by any three or more of them, convey, under the corporate seal, the advowson or right to the purchaser, or as he directs, and the advowson or right shall vest accordingly.

(3)The proceeds of sale shall be paid to the treasurer and invested in Government securities, and the income thereof shall go to the borough fund ; or those proceeds, or any part thereof, may be applied towards the liquidation of any debt contracted by the body corporate before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835.

(4)Any vacancy arising before the sale shall be supplied by the presentation or nomination of the bishop or ordinary of the diocese in which the benefice or preferment is situate.

Special Rates.

123Power to continue rates for special purposes.

Where before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, a rate might be levied in a borough for the purpose of watching conjointly with any other purpose, nothing in this Act shall prevent the levying and collecting of such a rate for that other purpose solely, or affect the powers given in any Act anterior to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, as far as they relate to that other purpose ; but where the amount of that rate might not before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, exceed a given rate in the pound on the value of property rateable thereto, the rate to be levied for the other purpose solely shall not exceed such proportion of that given rate as appears to have been expended for that other purpose by an account of the average yearly expenditure during the last seven years before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or during those of the same seven years during which the rate was levied.

Misapplication of Corporate Property.

124Prohibition of expenditure of corporate funds on parliamentary elections.

(1)It shall not be lawful for a municipal corporation, or the council of a borough, or a corporate officer, or a trustee, or other person acting for a municipal corporation, to pay or apply any money, stocks, funds, securities, or personal property, of or held in trust for the corporation, in payment of any expenses occasioned by a parliamentary election or incurred by any person offering himself as a candidate at or before a parliamentary election.

(2)Any bond, covenant, recognisance, or judgment given by a corporation, council, officer, trustee, or person as aforesaid, for securing payment of such expenses, shall be void.

(3)Any payment, application, bond, covenant, recognisance, or judgment made or given by a corporation, council, officer, trustee, or person as aforesaid, for inducing any person to labour in a parliamentary election at a future time, or to pay or incur expenses as aforesaid at a future time, shall be deemed to be forbidden and declared void by this section, although colourably made or given for any other cause or consideration.

(4)Any mortgage or other disposition of corporate land for securing or satisfying any expenses or engagements incurred or to be incurred as aforesaid, and any estate or charge thereby created) shall be void.

(5)Any resolution, byelaw, or other proceeding of a council, purporting to direct or authorize any payment or thing forbidden by this section, or made or adopted for evading the provisions thereof, shall be void.

(6)If any member of a municipal corporation authorizes or directs any payment or application forbidden by this section, or assents to, or concurs or participates in, any affirmative vote or proceeding relating thereto, or signs or seals in his individual capacity, or affixes the corporate seal to, any instrument by this section declared void, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and, on conviction thereof in the High Court, shall, in addition to such punishment as the court awards, be for ever disabled to take, hold, or exercise any office in the same corporation.

(7)If any corporate officer, trustee, or other person as aforesaid, makes, or concurs in making, any payment or application of money or property as aforesaid, he shall be deemed to have done so in his own wrong, and he shall be individually liable to repay and make good the amount or value thereof to the corporation, notwithstanding any release or pretended indemnity given to him in the name or on behalf of the corporation.

(8)Any two or more burgesses may bring and prosecute any action in the name of the corporation against any officer, trustee, or person making any illegal payment or application as aforesaid, as if they, their executors and administrators, were jointly and severally appointed the irrevocable attorneys of the corporation for that purpose; but the plaintiffs shall, on the application of the defendant, give reasonable security, as the court directs, for costs, as between solicitor and client.

(9)Nothing in this section shall affect the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872, or of any other Act for the time being in force regulating the payment by the returning officer or otherwise of expenses relating to parliamentary elections.

Transitory Provisions.

125Transfer of investments made before 1860 in names of trustees.

(1)In the several cases following:

(a)Where before the fifteenth of May one thousand eight hundred and sixty the Treasury on approving of a mortgage of corporate land had required a sinking fund in names of trustees;

(b)Where before the same day the Treasury, on approving of the payment to a corporation or their treasurer of purchase money for or compensation in respect of corporate land, or of money arising from sale of Government securities in which the same had been invested, had required provision for raising by investments in names of trustees an amount equivalent to the amount so paid ;

(c)Where before the same day the Treasury, on approving of a sale or alienation of corporate land, had required the investment of the proceeds in names of trustees ;

The Treasury, if they have not so done before the commencement of this Act, may require any securities in which any such investments had been made to be transferred into the name of the corporation in the matter of this Act, or may require any money applicable for the purposes of such sinking fund to be invested in the purchase of Government annuities in the name of the (corporation and in the matter of this Act.

(2)The order in writing of the Treasury for that purpose shall be a sufficient discharge to the trustees from all claims in respect of the transfer of the securities in pursuance of the order.

(3)The Treasury may, in the cases aforesaid, give such directions as they might give in the analogous cases in this Tart provided for, arising after the commencement of this Act, or as near thereto as circumstances require, and the provisions of this Part shall apply accordingly.

(4)Where any such transfer as aforesaid has before the commencement of this Act been made into the name of the corporation in the matter of any Act repealed by this Act, this Act shall, if the Treasury so direct, be substituted in the title of the account for that Act.

126Scheme respecting mortgage debts incurred before 1860.

Where in a borough any mortgage debt had been, before the fifteenth of May one thousand eight hundred and sixty incurred, for discharge of which no adequate provision then existed, the council, if they have not so done before the commencement of this Act, may submit to the Treasury any scheme for the discharge thereof by instalments, or a sinking fund, or both, extending over any term of years, and if the Treasury approve of the scheme, the sums required for discharge of the debt as proposed therein shall by virtue of this Act become charged on all or any part of the corporate land, or the borough fund, or borough rate, or any other rate applicable to discharge of the debt, or on all or any of those securities, as the Treasury direct, and the provisions of this Part applicable for repayment of money borrowed on mortgage by a sinking fund, or instalments, or both, except the limitation to a period of thirty years, shall apply for discharge of the debt.

127Consolidation of debts incurred before 1860.

Where in a borough debts had from time to time, before the fifteenth of May one thousand eight hundred and sixty, been incurred under Acts of Parliament, with different periods assigned for discharge thereof, the council, if they have not so done before the commencement of this Act, may, with the consent of the Treasury, and with the previous consent in writing of the persons or bodies corporate to whom the debts are owing, consolidate the debts into one, and provide for discharge of the consolidated debt by annual instalments, or a sinking fund, or both, extending over a period not exceeding thirty years, and make the instalments or payments a charge on the borough fund, or borough rate, or any other rate applicable to the discharge of the debts, or on all or any of those securities, as the Treasury direct.

128Saving for sales, &c. in pursuance of past contracts and resolutions.

Nothing in. this Act shall affect any power to sell, mortgage, alienate, or lease corporate lands in pursuance of an agreement made on or before the fifth day of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, or of a resolution entered in the books of a body corporate on or before that date.

129Saving for rates in respect of past debts.

Nothing in this Act shall prevent the levying or collection of any rate for the purpose of paying any debt contracted before the commencement of this Act or any interest thereon.

130Saying for rights of creditors in respect of tolls or dues.

It shall not be lawful for the council of a borough of which the body corporate had before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, contracted any lawful debt chargeable on any tolls or dues belonging or payable to that body corporate, or to any member or officer thereof in his corporate capacity, or towards the satisfaction whereof such tolls or dues or any part thereof were or was applicable before the passing of that Act, to alter or reduce the amount to be levied and payable of such tolls or dues, or to grant for any consideration any remission thereof or exemption therefrom or of or from any part thereof, except with the consent in writing, under the hands of a majority in number and amount, of the creditors to whom the debt is due, until after the debt and all arrears of interest due thereon have been fully paid and satisfied.

131Saving for lawful debts contracted before 5 & 6 Will.4 c.76.

(1)Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the application of the borough fund to the several payments specified in the Fifth Schedule or otherwise authorized by this Act shall be subject to the payment of any lawful debt due from the municipal corporation to any person which was contracted before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and is unredeemed, or of so much thereof as the council from time to time are required or deem it expedient to redeem, and to the payment from time to time of the interest on so much thereof as remains unredeemed.

(2)The council may from time to time execute under the corporate seal any deed or obligation in the name of the corporation for securing repayment and satisfaction of any such debt or obligation contracted by or on behalf of the corporation before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835.

(3)Money borrowed by a council for the purpose of being applied, and applied, in or towards satisfaction and discharge of any such pre-existing debt or obligation, shall be deemed to be a debt contracted by or on behalf of the corporation before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835.

132Saving against new liability to debts contracted before 5 & 6 Will.4 c.76.

Nothing in this Act shall make liable to the payment of any debt contracted by any body corporate of a borough before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, any part of the real or personal estate of that body corporate which before the passing of that Act was not liable thereto or authorize the levy of any rate within any part of any borough for the purpose of paying any debt contracted before the passing of that Act, which before the passing of that Act could not lawfully be levied therein towards payment of the same.

PART VICharitable and other Trusts and Powers.

Charitable Trusts.

133Administration of charitable trusts and vesting of legal estate.

(1)Where at the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the body corporate of a borough, or any one or more of the members thereof, in his or their corporate capacity, stood solely, or together with any person or persons elected solely by that body corporate, or solely by any particular number, class, or description of members thereof, seised or possessed, for any estate or interest, of land, in whole or in part in trust or for the benefit of any charitable uses or trusts, and the legal estate in that land was, at the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, vested in the body corporate or person or persons so seised or possessed thereof, and was by the [16 & 17 Vict. c. 137. s. 65.] Charitable Trusts Act, 1853, vested in the trustees appointed by the Lord Chancellor under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or such of them as should be surviving and continuing trustees under that appointment, according to the respective estates and interests therein, and subject to such and the same charges and incumbrances, and on such and the same trusts, as the same were subject to before such vesting, then, in every case, on the death, resignation, or removal of any trustee, and on any appointment of a new trustee, the legal estate in that land and in all other lands subject to any such charitable uses or trusts for the time being vested in the trustees or any of them, or in any persons or the heirs or devisees of any person deceased, resigned, or removed, shall vest in the persons who after such death, resignation, . or removal, and such appointment of a new trustee, continue or are the trustees for the time being, without any conveyance or assurance.

(2)Nothing in this section shall take away, abridge, or prejudicially affect any power, authority, or jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales.

Special Trusts and Powers.

134Corporation to be trustee where corporators trustees.

The municipal corporation of a borough shall be trustees for executing by the council the powers and provisions of all Acts of Parliament made before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 (other than Acts made for securing charitable uses and trusts), and of all trusts (other than charitable uses and trusts) of which the body corporate of the borough, or any of the members thereof in their corporate capacity, was or were sole trustees before the first election of councillors in the borough under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835.

135Appointment of members of council to be trustees in cases of joint trusts and other cases.

(1)In every borough in which the body corporate, or a particular or limited number, class, or description of members thereof, or of persons appointed by the body corporate, was or were before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, trustees jointly with other trustees for the execution of any Act of Parliament, or of any trust, or in which the body corporate, or any particular or limited number, class, or description of members or nominees thereof, by any statute, charter, byelaw, or custom, before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, was or were, lawfully appointed to or exercised any powers, duties, or functions, not otherwise in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or this Act, provided for, and the continuance of which is not inconsistent with the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or this Act, the council, on the day prescribed in any Act of Parliament as aforesaid, or in the deed or will by which the trust is created, for a new election, nomination, or appointment of trustees, or on which a new election, nomination, or appointment has usually been made, (and if there is no day prescribed or usually observed, then on or within ten days after the first of January in every year,) shall-appoint the like number of members of the council, or as near as may be to the like number of members of the council, as there where theretofore members or nominees of the body corporate of the borough who in right of their office were such trustees, or charged with the execution of such powers, duties, and functions, in room of the members or nominees of the body corporate ceasing to be trustees, Or ceasing to exercise such powers, duties, and functions by virtue of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835.

(2)In every case of extraordinary vacancy among the trustees or persons so appointed, the council shall forthwith appoint one other member of the council in the room of the person by whom the vacancy has been made, to hold his trust or office for such time as that person would regularly have held it.

Local Acts.

136Transfer of powers of local authorities to municipal corporations.

(1)The trustees appointed or acting by or under any local Act of Parliament for the time being in force, for paving, lighting, supplying with water or gas, cleansing, watching, regulating, or improving, a borough, or any part thereof, or for providing or maintaining a cemetery or market in or for a borough, or any part thereof, whether in any such case their powers under the local Act do or do not extend beyond the borough, may, if they think fit, at a meeting called for this purpose, transfer to the municipal corporation of the borough, with the consent of the council but not otherwise, all the rights, powers, estates, property, and liabilities for the time being vested in or imposed on the trustees under the local Act.

(2)The transfer shall be made in writing under the" common seal of the trustees if they are a corporation, and if not, then by deed executed by the trustees, or by any two of them acting by their authority and on their behalf.

(3)On the transfer being made, the municipal corporation shall become and be the trustees for executing by the council the powers and provisions of the local Act; and all the rights, powers, estates, and property vested in the transferring trustees shall vest in the corporation ; and all the liabilities and obligations of the transferring trustees shall he transferred to and borne by the corporations and the transferring trustees shall be discharged therefrom.

137Power for council to extend local lighting Act.

(1)Where at the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, there was a local Act of Parliament for lighting part of a borough then incorporated, the council may, if they think fit, make an order that any specified part of the borough not within the provisions of any such local Act shall, after a day fixed in the order, be within those provisions; and after that day the part so specified shall be within those provisions, as far as relates to lighting, or to any rate authorized to be levied for lighting.

(2)But the part so specified shall be lighted in like manner as those parts of the borough which before the making of the order were within those provisions ; and any rate raised for the purpose of defraying the expenses of lighting the part so specified shall not exceed the average expense in the pound of lighting the other parts of the borough.

138Exercise of powers under local Acts.

Everything provided under any local Act of Parliament in force on the twentieth or August, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, to be done exclusively by a particular or limited number, class, or description of the members of any body corporate named in the Schedules to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the continuance of which was not inconsistent with the provisions of that Act, and everything provided in any such local Act to be done by the justices, or by some particular class or description, or members of such body corporate, being justices, at a court of quarter sessions, which did not relate to the business of a court of criminal or civil judicature, if the same respectively has been lawfully continued to be done up to the commencement of this Act by the council, or a committee thereof, shall be continued thereafter to be done by the council at a quarterly meeting, or by any three of a committee of the council appointed at such a meeting.

PART VIIBorough Fund: Borough Rate: County Rate.

Borough Fund.

139Payments to borough fund.

The rents and profits of all corporate land, and the interest, dividends, and annual proceeds of all money, dues, chattels, and valuable securities belonging or payable to a municipal corporation, or to any member or officer thereof in his corporate capacity, and every fine or penalty for any offence against this Act (except where and as far as the application thereof is otherwise provided for) shall go to the borough fund.

140Application of borough fund.

(1)The borough fund shall be applicable to and charged with the several payments specified in the Fifth Schedule.

(2)The payments specified in Part I. of that schedule may be made without order of the council; those specified in Part II. may not be made without such order.

(3)No other payment shall be made out of the borough fund, except—

(a)Under the authority of an Act of Parliament; or

(b)By order of the council; or

(c)By order of the court of quarter sessions for the borough; or

(d)By order of a justice in pursuance of this Act; or

(e)In cases in which the court of quarter sessions for a county, or a justice acting in and for a county in the discharge of his judicial duty, might make an order for the payment of money on the treasurer of the county.

(4)Saving, nevertheless, in relation to the application of the borough fund as authorized by this section, or otherwise by this Act, all rights, interests, and demands of all persons in or on the real or personal estate of the municipal corporation, by virtue of any legal proceeding, or of any mortgage, or otherwise.

141Orders for payment of money.

(1)An order of the council for payment of money out of the borough fund shall be signed by three members of the council, and countersigned by the town clerk.

(2)Any such order may be removed into the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court by writ of certiorari, and may be wholly or partly disallowed or confirmed on motion and hearing, with or without costs, according to the judgment and discretion of the court.

142Payments to and by treasurer.

(1)All payments to and out of the borough fund shall be made to and by the treasurer.

(2)All payments to the treasurer shall go to the borough fund.

143Application of surplus of borough fund.

(1)If the borough fund is more than sufficient for the purposes to which it is applicable under this Act, or otherwise by law, the surplus thereof shall be applied under the direction of the council for the public benefit of the inhabitants and improvement of the borough.

(2)If the surplus arises from the rents and profits of the property of the municipal corporation, and not from a borough rate. and the borough is a sanitary district under the Public Health Act, 1875, then the municipal corporation, as the sanitary authority for the borough, may apply the surplus in payment of any expenses incurred by them as such sanitary authority, before or after the commencement of this Act, in improving the borough, or any part thereof, by drainage, enlargement of streets, or otherwise, under the Public Health Act, 1875, or any Act thereby repealed.

Borough Rate.

144Power for council to make borough rate and assess contribution thereto.

(1)If the borough fund is insufficient for the purposes to which it is applicable under this Act or otherwise by law, the council shall from time to time estimate, as correctly as may be, what amount, in addition to the borough fund, will be sufficient for those purposes.

(2)In order to raise that amount, the council shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, from time to time order a rate, called a borough rate, to be made in the borough.

(3)A borough rate may be made retrospectively, in order to raise money for the payment of charges and expenses incurred, or which have come in course of payment, at any time within six months before the making of the rate.

(4)The council shall assess the contributions to the borough rate on the several parishes and parts of parishes in the borough in proportion to the total annual value of the hereditaments in each parish or part which are rateable to the poor, or in respect of which a contribution is made to the poor rate.

(5)That value shall be estimated according to the valuation list (if any) in force for the time being, and if there is none, according to the last poor rate.

(6)But if for any reason the council think that the valuation list or poor rate is not a fair criterion of value they may cause an independent valuation to be made.

(7)For the purpose of assessing a borough rate, or for the purpose of an independent valuation, the council from time to time may cause any of the books of assessment of any rates or taxes, parliamentary or parochial, on any property, and the valuation by which the assessment is made, in the hands of the overseers, to be brought before them, and may take copies thereof or extracts therefrom, or may direct any person to take copies of or extracts from such books being in his hands, without having the same brought before the council, or may call before them any overseer to give evidence respecting the same; and may cause copies of the total amount assessed in each parish in respect of any tax payable to the Crown, and the total amount of the valuation of the property on which that assessment was made in any past year, to be made out by the clerk to the commissioners of each district.

(8)The overseers and such persons as they select, by warrant of the council, signed by the mayor and sealed with the corporate seal, may enter on, view, and examine any land chargeable to the borough rate, in order to ascertain the annual value at which it ought to be charged ; but no such entry shall in any case be made unless fourteen days previous notice in writing, signed by the mayor and sealed with the corporate seal, of the intention to make the entry, has been given to the overseers and to the persons on whose land the entry is to be made.

(9)If on any occasion the overseers of a parish think that their parish is aggrieved by a borough rate, on account of the proportions assessed as the contributions of the respective parishes being unequal, or on account of some parish being without sufficient cause omitted, or on account of any other just cause of complaint, they may appeal to the recorder at the next quarter sessions for the borough, or if there is none, to the next quarter sessions for the county wherein the borough is situate, or whereto it is adjacent, against such part of the rate only as affects their parish.

(10)The recorder or quarter sessions shall hear and finally determine the appeal, and either confirm such parts of the rate as are appealed against, or correct any inequalities, disproportions, or omissions proved to exist therein, as to him or them appears just.

(11)The expenses of the appeal shall be paid by such parishes or persons and in such proportions as the recorder or court having cognisance of the appeal directs.

(12)If any person having custody of any book for which the council call under this section, fails to produce it to the council or to permit any copy thereof or extract therefrom to be made or taken, or to give such evidence as the council require, he shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

(13)If any clerk to the commissioners of a district fails to make any copy, which he is required to make under this section, within a reasonable time after his receipt of the order to make it, he shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

145Collection of borough rate in undivided parish.

(1)Where a parish is wholly in a borough, the council may from time to time, if they think fit, order the overseers to pay the contribution of the parish to the borough rate out of the poor rate made or to be made for the parish.

(2)The overseers shall pay the contribution to the council or as they order.

(3)If the overseers fail to pay as ordered, the amount may be levied off the goods of them or any of them, by distress, by virtue of a warrant signed by the mayor and sealed with the corporate seal, or signed by two justices in and for the borough.

146Collection of borough rate in divided parish.

(1)Where a parish is partly in and partly out of a borough, the overseers, on receipt of an order for payment of money for the contribution of the part in the borough towards a borough rate, which order the council may make as if the whole parish was in the borough, shall assess on and levy from the occupiers of hereditaments rateable to the poor rate in that part of the parish the amount necessary for the contribution, either as a separate rate, for which the overseers shall have all the powers which belong to them for levying a poor rate, or with and as part of the poor rate to which occupiers in that part of the parish are liable in common with occupiers in the other part.

(2)Any person rated under this section may appeal against the rate in like manner and with the like consequences, and subject to the like provisions and regulations, as in appeals against a poor rate.

(3)The overseers shall pay the amount of the contribution to the council, or as they order, and in default thereof shall be subject to all provisions and penalties provided by law concerning nonpayment of contribution to a borough rate.

(4)Every overseer and collector shall account for the money collected and expended under this section to the auditor of the district comprising the parish in the like manner, and with the like incidents, consequences, liabilities, and power of appeal as in the case of the poor rate; and the Local Government Board shall have the like power to make orders to regulate the mode of accounting as they have in regard to other local rates.

(5)If any balance is found in the hands of any such overseer or collector he shall apply it towards the next rate required under this section, or pay it to his successor in office.

(6)In default of his so applying it while in office, or making payment to his successor within seven days after the balance is found, the auditor shall proceed to recover it.

(7)The officers ordinarily employed in the collection of the poor rate shall, if required by the overseers, collect the rate under this section, and shall receive thereout such remuneration for the additional duty as the overseers, with the consent of the vestry, determine.

(8)The collector or other person appointed shall, for the purposes of this section, have all the powers of overseers.

(9)The overseers, in estimating the amount of their assessment under this section, may include a sum for costs of assessment and collection, and a reasonable sum for rates excused or irrecoverable.

147Rating of owners instead of occupiers for borough rate in certain cases.

Where the vestry of a parish has made or makes, before or after the commencement of this Act, under section four of The [32 & 33 Vict. c. 41.] Poor Hate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, an order, as in that section provided, to the effect that the owners, instead of the occupiers, of such rateable hereditaments, as therein mentioned, shall be rated to the poor rate in respect thereof, every such order, while in force after the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed to apply to and include rating to the borough rate, with the same incidents, conditions, powers, liabilities, and remedies as if the borough rate were a poor rate.

148Warrants for levy of borough rate.

Any warrant required for the levy or collection of a borough rate may be issued by the mayor, signed by him, and sealed with the corporate seal.

149Borough rate to go to borough fund; and its application.

All sums levied in pursuance of the borough rate shall go to the borough fund ; and, subject to the foregoing provisions of this Part, the same shall be applied to all purposes to which the borough fund is applicable under this Act, or otherwise by law; and, as regards a borough named in the schedules to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, to all purposes to which, before the passing of that Act, borough rate was by law applicable in the borough, or a county rate was applicable in a county.

County Rate.

150General exemption of quarter sessions boroughs from county rate.

(1)Where a borough has a separate court of quarter sessions, the justices of a county wherein the borough or any part thereof is situate shall not assess any hereditaments in the borough to any county rate ; and, except as is expressly by this Act provided, every part of the borough shall be wholly free from contributing to any rate or assessment of any kind of and for that county.

(2)But nothing in this section shall prevent the levy or collection of arrears of any county rate made before the grant of a, separate court of quarter sessions.

151Liability of quarter sessions borough for prosecution expenses of county.

The municipal corporation of a borough having -a separate court of quarter sessions shall be liable to pay such sums, if any, as are expended out of the county rate of the county in which the borough is situate, and as are not otherwise paid or chargeable, in respect of the costs arising out of the prosecution, maintenance, conveyance, transport, or punishment of all offenders committed for trial from the borough to the assizes for the county.

152Liability of certain quarter sessions boroughs to other county expenses.

(1)If the whole or any part of the area for the time being comprised in a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions was, before the eleventh of July one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, chargeable with or liable to contribute to the county rate of the county in which it is situate, the municipal corporation shall, in addition to its liability to pay for the purposes mentioned in the last foregoing section, continue liable to contribute to the county rate for other purposes (in this Act referred to as general county purposes), as if this Act had not been passed.

(2)General county purposes shall not include the costs arising out of coroners inquests, or the expenses incurred under the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 63.] Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1875, in respect of the county, or, in the case of a borough having its own inspector of weights and measures, the expenses relating to the inspection of weights and measures for the county, or payments to or in respect of special constables.

153Mode of accounting by borough to county.

(1)The treasurer of each county shall, not more than twice in every year, send to the council of each borough situate in the county and having a separate court of quarter sessions an account shewing separately—

(a)The sums, if any, expended out of the county rate in respect of the costs arising out of the prosecution, maintenance, conveyance, transporter punishment of offenders committed for trial from the borough to the assizes for the county ; and

(b)If the borough is liable to contribute to the county rate for general county purposes, all sums expended out of the county rate for general county purposes, and all sums received in aid or on account of the county rate, and the proportion chargeable on the borough of the sums so expended after deduction of the sums so received;

and shall make an order on the council for the payment of the sum appearing by this account to be due from the municipal corporation of the borough.

(2)The- council shall thereupon forthwith order the sum so appearing to be due with all reasonable charges of making and sending the account, to be paid to the treasurer of the county oat of the borough fund.

(3)If the order is not complied with, two justices for the county may, on the complaint of the treasurer of the county, made within one month after the issue of the order, issue and send to the treasurer of the borough a warrant requiring him to pay to the treasurer of the county, besides the sum mentioned in the order, the additional sum mentioned in the warrant, the same being calculated in the proportion of one shilling to every ten on the sum mentioned in the order; and until payment thereof the treasurer of the county shall have, in respect of the warrant, all the powers for the recovery thereof which are given against a guardian or overseer for the recovery of county rates and surcharges.

(4)If any difference arises concerning the account, it shall be decided by the arbitration of a barrister, named, on the application either of the treasurer of the county or of the treasurer of the borough, by the Secretary of State. The arbitrator may, if he thinks fit, adjourn the hearing from time to time, and may require all such information to be afforded by either party as he thinks fit. He shall by his award in writing determine the amount to be paid by the council to the treasurer of the county, and his award shall be final and conclusive. He shall also assess the costs of the arbitration and determine by whom and out of what fund they shall be paid.

PART VIIIAdministration of Justice.

County Justices.

154Jurisdiction of county justices in borough.

(1)Where a borough has not a separate court of quarter sessions, the justices of the county in which the borough is situate shall exercise the jurisdiction of justices in and for the borough as fully as they can or ought in and for the county.

(2)No part of a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions shall be within the jurisdiction, exerciseable out of quarter sessions, of the justices of a county, where the borough was exempt therefrom before the passingof the Municipal Corporations Act,1835.

Borough Justices.

155Mayor and last mayor to be borough justices.

(1)The mayor shall, by virtue of his office, be a justice for the borough, and shall, unless disqualified to be mayor, continue to be such a justice during the year next after he ceases to be mayor.

(2)The mayor shall have precedence over all other justices acting in and for the borough, and be entitled to take the chair at all meetings of justices held in the borough at which he is present by virtue of his office of mayor; except that he shall not by virtue of this section have precedence over the justices acting in and for the county in which the borough or any part thereof is situate, unless when acting in relation to the business of the borough, or over any stipendiary magistrate engaged in administering justice.

156Separate commission of peace.

It shall be lawful for the Queen, on the petition of the council of a borough, to grant to the borough a separate commission of the peace

157Qualification of borough justice.

(1)It shall be lawful for the Queen, from time to time, to assign to any persons Her Majesty's commission to act as justices in and for each borough having a separate commission of the peace.

(2)A justice for a borough shall not be capable of acting as such until he has taken the oaths required to be taken by justices, except the oath as to qualification by estate, and made before the mayor or two other members of the council a declaration as in the Eighth Schedule.

(3)He must, while acting as such, reside in or within seven miles of the borough, or occupy a house, warehouse, or other property in the borough.

(4)He need not be a burgess or have such qualification by estate as is required for a justice of a county.

158Jurisdiction of borough justices.

(1)A justice for a borough shall, with respect to offences committed and matters arising within the borough, have the same jurisdiction and authority as a justice for a county has under any local or general Act with respect to offences committed and matters arising within the county ; except that he shall not, by virtue of his being a justice for the borough, act as a justice at any court of gaol delivery or quarter sessions, or in making or levying any county or borough rate.

(2)A justice shall not be disabled from acting in the execution of this Act by reason of his being liable to the borough rate.

159Clerk to borough justices.

(1)The justices for a borough shall from time to time appoint a fit person to be their clerk, to be removeable at their pleasure.

(2)They shall not appoint or continue as their clerk an alderman or councillor of the borough, or the clerk of the peace of the borough, or of the county in which the borough is situate, or the partner of any such clerk of the peace.

(3)The clerk to the justices shall not, by himself or his partner or otherwise, be directly or indirectly employed or interested in the prosecution of any offender committed for trial by those justices, or any of them, at any court of gaol delivery or quarter sessions.

(4)If any person acts in contravention of the last foregoing provision of this section, he shall for every offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, recoverable by action.

(5)One moiety of any fine so recovered shall, with costs, be paid to the person bringing the action to recover it.

(6)Nothing in this Act shall prevent the justices for a borough from re-appointing as their clerk any person being clerk of the peace of the borough or of the county in which the borough is situate, or partner of any such clerk of the peace, if the person re-appointed was, on the sixth of August one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, or has not ceased to be at the time of re-appointment, the clerk of those justices.

160Justices room.

(1)The council of a borough having a separate commission of the peace shall provide and furnish a suitable justices room, with offices, for the business of the borough justices.

(2)No room in a house licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors may be used for this purpose.

Stipendiary Magistrate.

161Appointment of stipendiary magistrate.

(1)If the council desire the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate for the borough, they may present a petition for the appointment to the Secretary of State, and thereupon it shall be lawful for the Queen to appoint to that office a barrister of seven years standing.

(2)He shall hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure.

(3)He shall, by virtue of his office, be a justice for the borough.

(4)There shall be paid to him such yearly salary, not exceeding, except with the consent of the council that mentioned in the petition, as Her Majesty from time to time directs.

(5)It shall be paid by four equal quarterly payments, and in the same proportion up to the time of his death or ceasing to act.

(6)On a vacancy, a new appointment shall not be made until the council again make application as before the first appointment.

(7)More than one stipendiary magistrate may be appointed for a borough.

Borough Quarter Sessions: Recorder: Clerk of the Peace.

162Grant of separate court of quarter sessions.

(1)It shall be lawful for the Queen, on the petition to Her Majesty in Council of the council of a borough, to grant that a separate court of quarter sessions be hold en in and for the borough.

(2)The petition shall set forth the grounds of the application and the salary which the council are willing to pay to the recorder.

(3)The grant may be made on and subject to such terms and conditions, if any, as to Her Majesty in Council seem fit.

(4)Within ten days after receipt of the grant the council shall send a copy thereof, sealed with the corporate seal, to the clerk of the peace of the county, or each county if more than one, in which the borough or any part thereof is situate.

163The recorder.

(1)It shall be lawful for the Queen from time to time to appoint for a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions a barrister of five years standing to be recorder of the borough.

(2)He shall hold office during good behaviour.

(3)He shall, by virtue of his office, be a justice for the borough.

(4)He shall not act as recorder, or as a justice, until he has taken the oaths required to be taken by a borough justice, and made before the mayor or two other members of the council a declaration as in the Eighth Schedule.

(5)He shall have precedence in all places within the borough next after the mayor.

(6)He shall not, during his office, be eligible to serve in Parliament for the borough, or be an alderman, councillor, or stipendiary magistrate of the borough; but he may be appointed revising barrister for the borough, and shall be eligible to serve in Parliament except for the borough.

(7)There shall be paid to him such yearly salary, not exceeding that stated in the petition on which the grant of a separate court of quarter sessions was made, as Her Majesty directs ; but the same may at any time be increased by resolution of the Council, approved by the Secretary of State, without the resignation and re-appointment of the recorder being necessary.

(8)A person may be appointed recorder of two or more boroughs conjointly.

164The clerk of the peace.

(1)The council of a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions shall from time to time appoint a fit person to be the clerk of the peace for the borough.

(2)The clerk of the peace shall hold office during good behaviour.

(3)The clerk of the peace may from time to time, by writing signed by him, appoint a fit person to act as deputy for him, in case of his illness, incapacity, or absence.

(4)The appointment of the deputy shall be signified in writing, signed by the clerk of the peace, to the council, and shall be recorded in their minutes.

(5)Where a table of the fees to be taken by the clerk of the peace has been made by the council and confirmed by the Secretary of State, and is for the time being in force, the clerk of the peace, if paid by fees, may take the. fees to which he appears by that table to be entitled.

(6)The council may from time to time make a new table of the fees to be taken by the clerk of the peace, but shall submit every such table to the Secretary of State for confirmation, and he may confirm and allow the same, either as submitted, or with such alterations, additions, or abatements as he thinks proper, and any such table shall be of no validity until it is so confirmed.

165Recorder to hold court of quarter sessions.

(1)The recorder shall hold, once in every quarter of a year, or oftener, if and as he thinks fit, or the Secretary of State directs, a court of quarter sessions in and for the borough.

(2)He shall sit as sole judge of the court.

(3)The court shall be a court of record, and shall have cognisance of all crimes, offences, and matters cognisable by courts of quarter sessions for counties in England; and the recorder .shall, notwithstanding his being sole judge, have power to do all things necessary for exercising that jurisdiction as fully as those courts.

(4)But the recorder shall not, by virtue of his office, have power

(a)To allow, apportion, make, or levy any borough rate; or

(b)Subject to the provisions of this Act respecting appeals from a rate, to do any act in relation to the allowance, apportionment, making, or levying of any rate whatsoever ; or

(c)To grant any licence or authority to any person to keep an inn, alehouse, or victualling house to sell exciseablo liquors by retail; or

(d)To exercise any power by this Act specially vested in the council.

166Power to appoint deputy recorder.

(1)The recorder may, in case of sickness or unavoidable absence, appoint, by writing signed by him, a barrister of five years standing to act as deputy recorder at the quarter sessions then next ensuing or then being held, and not longer or otherwise.

(2)But the sessions shall not be illegal, nor shall the acts of a deputy recorder be invalid, by reason of the cause of the absence of the recorder not being unavoidable.

167Powers of mayor in absence of recorder and deputy recorder.

(1)In the absence of the recorder and deputy recorder, the mayor shall, at the times for the holding of the court of quarter sessions, open the court, and adjourn the holding thereof, and respite all recognisances conditioned for appearing thereat, until such day as he then and there, and so from time to time, causes to be proclaimed.

(2)But nothing in this section shall authorize the mayor to sit as a judge of the court for the trial of offenders, or, save as aforesaid, to do any other act in the character of a judge of the court.

168Power for recorder to form a second court.

(1)If at any time it appears to the recorder that the quarter sessions are likely to last more than three days, including the day of assembling, he may in his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this section, order a second court to be formed, and appoint by writing signed by him a barrister of five years standing to preside therein, and try such felonies and misdemeanours as shall be referred to him therein.

(2)The barrister so appointed shall be styled assistant recorder, and shall have and exercise the same powers, subject to the same regulations (save as regards the making of a declaration as in the Eighth Schedule) as the recorder ; and the proceedings had by and before the assistant recorder shall be as effectual as if had by or before the recorder, and shall be enrolled and recorded accordingly.

(3)But the assistant recorder shall not have any power or jurisdiction except while the recorder is sitting in quarter sessions ; save that the assistant recorder may finish any case in which the prisoner has pleaded, and in the trial whereof the assistant recorder is actually engaged at the time when the recorder ceases to sit, and may sentence any prisoner tried before him, but not then sentenced.

(4)If at any time during the sitting of the second court the recorder is of opinion that it is no longer required, he may direct the assistant recorder at a proper opportunity to adjourn it.

(5)Where a second court is so formed, the clerk of the peace shall, on the request of the recorder, appoint an assistant, and the recorder shall appoint an additional crier for the second court.

(6)The recorder shall not exercise the powers given by this section unless—

(a)It has been before each quarter sessions certified to him in writing signed by the mayor or two aldermen or the town clerk that the council have resolved that it will be expedient that those powers be exercised ; and

(b)The name of the barrister to be appointed has at some previous time been approved by the Secretary of State as that of a fit person to be from time to time so appointed.

(7)Where a resolution of the council is so certified, the resolution and certificate shall, if the resolution so provides, continue in force during twelve months from the date of the resolution, and during such continuance no fresh resolution or certificate shall be necessary.

(8)An assistant recorder, assistant clerk of the peace, and additional crier shall have remuneration as appearing by the Fourth and Fifth Schedules.

(9)The powers given to the recorder by this section may be exercised by the deputy recorder.

(10)Appointments made and certificates given under this section shall not be subject to any stamp duty or other tax.

169Liability of borough having quarter sessions for prosecutors expenses.

A municipal corporation of a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions shall be liable to pay the costs and expenses attending the prosecution of any felony committed or supposed to have been committed in the borough, and of any other offence committed or supposed to have been committed in the borough the costs and expenses attending the prosecution whereof are by law payable as in the case of a felony. The amount of those costs and expenses shall be ascertained as directed by law, and the order of the court for the payment thereof shall be directed to the treasurer of the borough.

Sheriff.

170Appointment of sheriff in counties of cities and counties of towns.

(1)The council of every borough being a county of itself, and of the city of Oxford, shall on the ninth of November in every year appoint a fit person to execute the office of sheriff.

(2)The appointment shall be made at the quarterly meeting of the council immediately after the election of the mayor.

(3)The sheriff shall hold office until the appointment of his successor.

(4)He shall have the same duties and powers as" the sheriff or the person filling the office of sheriff in the respective borough or city would have had if this Act had not been passed.

Coroner.

171Appointment, fees, &c. of borough coroner in boroughs having separate quarter sessions.

(1)The council of a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions shall, within ten days next after receipt of the grant thereof by the council, and thenceforward from time to time, appoint a fit person, not an alderman or councillor of the borough, to be coroner of the borough; and thereafter no person other than the coroner so appointed shall take in the borough any inquisition belonging to the office of coroner.

(2)The coroner shall hold office during good behaviour.

(3)A vacancy in the office shall be filled up within ten days after it occurs.

(4)The coroner shall have, by order of the recorder, remuneration as appearing in the Fourth and Fifth Schedules.

172Power of borough coroner to appoint a deputy.

(1)In case of illness or unavoidable absence, the coroner shall appoint by writing signed by him a fit person, being a barrister or solicitor, and not an alderman or councillor of the borough, to act for him as deputy coroner during his illness or unavoidable absence, but not longer or otherwise.

(2)The mayor or two justices for the borough shall on each occasion certify by writing signed by him or them the necessity for the appointment of a deputy coroner. This certificate shall state the cause of absence of the coroner, and shall be openly read to every inquest jury summoned by the deputy coroner.

173Returns by borough coroners.

On or before the first of February in every year the coroner shall send to the Secretary of State a return in writing, in such form as the Secretary of State directs, of the particulars of each case in which the coroner or his deputy was called upon to hold an inquest during the year ending on the then last thirty-first of December.

174Acting of county coroner in borough.

(1)Where a borough has not a separate court of quarter sessions no person other than the coroner for the county or district in which the borough is situate shall take in the borough any inquisition belonging to the office of coroner.

(2)That coroner shall, for every inquisition duly taken by him within the borough, be entitled to such rateable fees and salary as would be allowed and due to him, and to be allowed and paid in like manner, as for any other inquisition taken by him within the county or district.

Borough Civil Court.

175Judge of borough civil court where there is a recorder.

(1)The recorder, if there is one, shall continue to be the judge of the borough civil court, except in the following cases, that is to say, where the court is regulated by a local Act of Parliament, or where a barrister of five years standing acted at the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, as judge or assessor of the court.

(2)The recorder, if judge, may, in case of his illness or unavoidable absence, appoint by writing signed by him a barrister of five years standing to act for him as deputy judge of the court at the court or courts then next to be holden, or then being holden, and not longer or otherwise.

(3)The recorder on every occasion of his appointing a deputy judge shall forthwith send to the Secretary of State a statement of his reason for so doing.

(4)A court shall not be illegal, nor shall the acts of the deputy judge be invalid, by reason of the absence of the recorder not being unavoidable.

(5)The recorder, where judge, and the deputy judge, shall have such remuneration as the council fix by byelaw.

(6)Where the recorder is judge, the court may in his absence be holden for all purposes within the competency of the court, except the trial of issues of fact or of law, before any person, being a barrister of five years standing or a solicitor of five years practice, from time to time appointed for that purpose by the recorder by writing signed by him.

(7)Where the recorder or his deputy is judge, all orders, affidavits, and matters, except the trial of issues in law or in fact, relating to the business of the court, if not regulated by a local Act, may be made, sworn, or done in or out of court in the absence of the recorder and his deputy by or before the registrar or such other person, being a barrister of five years standing, or a solicitor of five years practice, as the recorder appoints by writing signed by him.

176Judge of borough civil court where there is no recorder.

Where there is a borough civil court, but no recorder, such officer of the borough as by the charter constituting the court, or by custom, is the judge of the court, shall continue to be and act as such judge ; and the council, whether the court is regulated by a local Act or not, shall have power for that purpose to appoint the necessary officer.

177Tenure of judge.

Every judge or assessor of a borough civil court, other than the mayor, shall hold his office during good behaviour.

178Registrar and other officers and fees.

(1)Except where the town clerk acts as registrar, the council shall from time to time appoint a registrar of the borough civil court.

(2)The council shall from time to time appoint other requisite officers and servants of the court.

(3)The fees to be taken by the registrar and other officers of the court shall be from time to time fixed by the council, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State.

(4)If and as far as the fees are not so fixed, they shall be those usually taken before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835.

179Solicitors.

(1)The registrar of a borough civil court, or any other officer of the court, shall not himself, or by any partner or clerk, practise as a solicitor or attorney, in the court; nor shall any partner or clerk of the registrar act as agent for any other solicitor or attorney in the court.

(2)Unless so disqualified, every solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature may practise as solicitor in the court.

180Time of holding court.

(1)Each borough civil court shall be holden for trial of issues of fact and of law four times at least in each year, and with no greater interval than four months between two successive courts.

(2)Subject as aforesaid, where the recorder is judge, the court shall be holden at such times as the recorder thinks fit, or as the Secretary of State from time to time directs.

181Procedure.

Every personal action brought in a borough civil court shall be commenced by writ of summons.

182Power for judge to make rules of procedure.

(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, the judge of a borough civil court may from time to time make rules for regulating the times of holding the court and the procedure, practice, and pleadings therein, and the fees of solicitors therein, and may by any rule revoke or alter any former rule.

(2)But where there is a recorder and he is not the judge of the court, every rule made by the judge shall be subject to the approval of the recorder in writing signed by him; save that this provision shall not apply where the recorder acts as deputy of the judge.

(3)In every case (whether the recorder is judge or not) rules made by the judge under this section shall be subject to the approval of three judges of the High Court.

183Jurisdiction of Court.

(1)Where by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, jurisdiction was conferred on a borough civil court whereof the recorder is judge, or wherein a barrister of five years standing acts as judge or assessor, to try personal actions wherein the sum sought to be recovered does not exceed twenty pounds, and actions of ejectment between landowner and tenant wherein the annual rent of the property whereof possession is sought to be recovered does not exceed twenty pounds, no fine having been reserved or made payable, then that court shall continue to have that jurisdiction.

(2)Any action wherein the title to land of any tenure, or to any tithe, toll, market, fair, or other franchise is in question shall not be tried in a borough civil court which before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, had not authority to try actions wherein such titles were in question. If it appears to such a court that such a title is in question in an action the jurisdiction of the court in the matter of the action shall cease; and the court may, if it thinks fit, award costs against the party commencing the action.

184Saving for borough civil courts and for 35 & 36 Vict. c.86.

(1)Nothing in this Act shall take away or abridge in respect of local extent, amount, or otherwise, any power, jurisdiction, or authority of a borough civil court, or of a judge, or assessor, or registrar thereof, or of any deputy of a judge, or assessor, or registrar thereof, or affect the constitution or procedure thereof; and, subject to the express provisions of this Act, such power, jurisdiction, authority, constitution, and procedure, shall continue and be as if this Act had not been passed.

(2)Nothing in this Act shall affect the Borough and Local Courts of Record Act, 1872.

185Power to extend jurisdiction of borough civil court.

It shall be lawful for the Queen, by Order in Council, on the joint petition of the justices of a county in quarter sessions and of the council of a borough, to grant that the jurisdiction of the borough civil court shall extend over any district adjacent to the borough within the jurisdiction of those quarter sessions ; and the same shall extend accordingly.

Borough Juries.

186Provisions as to juries in boroughs.

(1)Every burgess of a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions or a borough civil court shall, unless by law exempt or disqualified, be qualified and liable to serve on grand juries in the borough, and on juries for the trial of issues joined in either of those courts.

(2)The clerk of the peace shall give public notice of the time and place of holding the court of quarter sessions ten days at least before the holding thereof, and shall, seven days at least before the holding thereof, summon a sufficient number of persons, qualified and liable, to serve as grand jurors at the sessions.

(3)The clerk of the peace and registrar of the borough civil court respectively shall also summon a sufficient number of persons, qualified and liable, to serve as jurors at every such sessions, and at the holding of every such civil court for the trial of causes, if there is any cause then to be tried.

(4)The summons may be made by showing to the person to be summoned, or, if he is absent from his usual place of abode, by leaving with some person therein inhabiting a notice containing its substance, and signed by the clerk of the peace or registrar, as the case may be.

(5)The clerk of the peace and registrar shall make out lists containing the surnames and other names, abodes, and descriptions of the persons summoned by them respectively.

(6)No person shall be summoned under this section to serve as a juror more than once in any year, unless every person qualified and liable so to serve has been already summoned once in that year.

(7)If any person, having been duly summoned under this section, fails to attend according to the summons, or, being thrice called, does not answer to his name, or after his appearance wilfully withdraws himself from the court, he shall (unless some reasonable excuse is proved by him to the satisfaction of the court), be liable to pay a fine of such amount as the court thinks fit.

(8)If the person on whom any such fine is imposed refuses to pay it to the person authorized by the court to receive it, the court may, then or at the next sitting, by order of the court signed by the clerk of the peace or registrar, cause to be levied, by distress and sale of the goods of the person on whom the fine is imposed, the fine and the reasonable charges of the distress and sale.

(9)Nothing in this Act shall affect the [33 & 34 Vict. c. 77.] Juries Act, 1870.

Exceptional Provisions.

187Grants to boroughs not affected by subsequent grants to counties.

The grant to a borough of a separate commission of the peace, or of a separate court of quarter sessions, shall not be prejudicially affected by any subsequent grant to or for any county of a commission of the peace or other commission.

188Trial of offences committed in counties of cities and counties of towns.

(1)Until Her Majesty is pleased to direct a commission of over or terminer and gaol delivery to be executed within any borough being a county of a city or county of a town, all bills of indictment for offences committed within that borough shall be preferred, and all proceedings thereon shall be had, in the manner authorized by the Act of the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King George the Third, chapter fifty-two, " to regulate the trial of causes, " indictments, and other proceedings which arise within the counties " of certain cities and towns corporate within the kingdom."

(2)For the purposes of that Act each borough named in the Sixth Schedule shall be considered as next adjoining the county named in conjunction therewith.

189Jurisdiction in places separated from borough.

Where under any Act a place has ceased or ceases to be part of a borough or the liberties thereof, all matters by virtue of a local Act of Parliament or otherwise cognisable by a justice or by the quarter sessions having jurisdiction within that place shall be cognisable by the justices or the quarter sessions of the county, liberty, or jurisdiction within which the place is situate, in the same manner and subject to the same provisions as they were within the jurisdiction of the justices or the quarter sessions for that place.

PART IXPolice.

Watch Committee; Constables.

190Council to appoint watch committee.

(1)The council shall from time to time appoint, for such time as they think fit, a sufficient number not exceeding one third of their own body, who, with the mayor, shall be the watch committee.

(2)The watch committee may act by a majority of those present at a meeting thereof, but shall not act unless three are so present.

191Appointment, duties, and powers of borough constables.

(1)The watch committee shall from time to time appoint a sufficient number of fit men to be borough constables.

(2)A borough constable shall be sworn in before a justice having jurisdiction in the borough, and when so sworn shall, in the borough, in the county in which the borough or any part thereof is situate, and in every county being within seven miles from any part of the borough, and in all liberties in any such county, have all such powers and privileges, and be liable to all such duties and responsibilities, as any constable has and is liable to for the time being in his constablewick, at common law or by statute, and shall obey all such lawful commands as he receives from any justice having jurisdiction in the borough or in any county in which the constable is called on to act.

(3)The watch committee may from time to time frame such regulations as they deem expedient for preventing neglect or abuse, and for making the borough constables efficient in the discharge of their duties.

(4)The watch committee, or any two justices having jurisdiction in the borough, may at any time suspend, and the watch committee may at any time dismiss, any borough constable whom they think negligent in the discharge of his duty, or otherwise unfit for the same.

(5)When a borough constable is so dismissed, or ceases to belong to the constabulary force of the borough, all powers vested in him as a constable by virtue of this Act shall immediately cease.

(6)Nothing in this section shall interfere with the operation of an Act of the session of the third and fourth years of Her Majesty's reign " to amend the Act for the establishment of county and district constables "; and throughout that Act a reference to this Act shall be deemed to be substituted for a reference to the [3 & 4 Vict. c. 88.] Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and any Act amending it.

192Quarterly returns as to borough constables.

The watch committee shall, on the first of January, the first of April, the first of July, and the first of October in every year, send to the Secretary of State a copy of all rules from time to time made by the watch committee or the council for the regulation and guidance of the borough constables.

193Power of constables to apprehend disorderly persons, &c.

A borough constable may, while on duty, apprehend any idle and disorderly person whom he finds disturbing the public peace, or whom he has just cause to suspect of intention to commit a felony, and deliver him into the custody of the borough constable in attendance at the nearest watch-house, in order that he may either be secured until he can be brought before a justice, or, where the constable in attendance is empowered and thinks fit to take bail, give bail for his appearance before a justice.

194Penalties on constables for neglect of duty.

If a borough constable is guilty of neglect of duty, or of disobedience to a lawful order, he shall for every such offence be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for any time not exceeding ten days, or, in the discretion of the court, to a fine not exceeding forty shillings, or to be dismissed from his office.

195Penalty for assaults on constables.

(1)If any person assaults or resists a borough constable in the execution of his duty, or aids or incites any person so to assault or resist, he shall for every such offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(2)But nothing in this section shall prevent any prosecution by way of indictment against any such offender, except that he shall not be prosecuted both by indictment and in a summary manner for the same offence.

Special Constables.

196Appointment of special constables.

(1)Two or more of the justices having jurisdiction in a borough shall, in October in every year, appoint, by precept signed by them, so many as they think fit of the inhabitants of the borough, not legally exempt from serving the office of constable, to act as special constables in the borough.

(2)Every such special constable shall make a declaration to the effect of the oath set forth in the [1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 41.] Act of the session of the first and second years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter forty-one, "for amending the laws relative to the " appointment of special constables, .and for the better preservation " of the peace," and shall have the powers and immunities, and be liable to the duties and penalties, enacted by that Act.

(3)He shall act when so required by the warrant of a justice having jurisdiction in the borough, but not otherwise.

(4)The warrant shall recite that in the opinion of the justice the ordinary police force of the borough is insufficient at the date of the warrant to maintain the peace of the borough.

(5)Nothing in this section shall make any person having a right to vote at a parliamentary election liable or compellable to serve as a special constable at or during the election.

(6)Special constables shall be entitled to remuneration as appearing by the Fourth and Fifth Schedules.

Watch Rate.

197Levy of watch rate.

(1)Where at the commencement of this Act any rate might be levied in a borough, or in any part of a borough, for the purpose of watching solely by day or by night, or for the purpose of watching by day or by night conjointly with any other purpose, the council may from time to time make and levy a watch rate on the occupiers of all hereditaments within such parts of the borough as are watched by day and by night, and as are from time to time, by order of the council, declared liable to watch rate.

(2)The watch rate shall be made on an estimate of the net annual value of the several hereditaments rated thereto, that is to say, of the rent at which, one year with another, they might in their actual state be reasonably expected to let from year to year, the probable annual average cost of the repairs, insurances, and other expenses necessary to maintain them in their actual state, and all rates, taxes, and public charges, except tithes or tithe commutation rentcharge (if any), being paid by the tenant.

(3)The watch rate may be made by one rate made yearly, or by two or more rates made half-yearly or otherwise, and may be of any amount, in the discretion of the council, not exceeding in any year eightpence in the pound on the net annual value of the hereditaments rated thereto.

(4)For the purposes of the watch rate the council and all persons concerned, including overseers, shall have all powers given to them in respect of the borough rate for ordering, making, assessing, levying, raising, collecting, or paying the same, or as near thereto as the nature of the case admits.

(5)The provision of this Act relating to orders of vestries for the rating, in some cases, of owners, instead of occupiers, shall extend to the watch rate.

(6)Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section (except the general power to levy a watch rate) shall apply to any borough in which the borough fund is sufficient with the aid of the amount only of watch rate which could for the time being be raised therein under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and without the aid of any borough rate, to defray the expenses of the constabulary force of the borough, with all other expenses legally payable out of the borough fund; but nothing in the present provision shall affect any benefit or right reserved by Part X, or make the borough fund liable to any expenses with which it would not be otherwise chargeable.

(7)Nothing in this section shall affect the liability of the borough fund to make good any deficiency of the watch rate towards the expenses of the police.

(8)Nothing in this section shall make liable to watch rate any hereditaments exempted by any local Act from payment of watch rate.

(9)Nothing in this section shall alter the comparative liability to watch rate of any hereditaments which are under any local Act in respect of any watch rate entitled to any deduction from, or chargeable with any increase on, an equal pound rate; but the like comparative deductions and increased charges shall be made under this section.

198Watch rate in divided parish.

(1)Where part only of a parish is liable to watch rate, the overseers shall not pay out of the poor rate the amount of the watch rate charged by the council on that parish, but shall make a separate rate or assessment on the part or parts only of the parish liable to watch rate ; which rate shall be made in like manner and under like regulations and with like means and remedies for recovery thereof as in the case of a rate levied in respect of the contribution towards a borough rate.

(2)No such separate rate shall be demanded, collected, or payable until it has been allowed by two justices usually acting in and for the borough and has been published, as a poor rate is by law required to be allowed and published.

(3)Any person who thinks himself aggrieved by such a separate rate may appeal to the recorder at the next quarter sessions for the borough, or if there is none to the next court of quarter sessions for the county wherein the borough is situate, or whereto it is adjacent; and the recorder or court shall hear and determine the same, and shall award relief in the premises as in cases of appeal against a poor rate.

(4)Every such separate rate may be of the rate in the pound necessary for raising the sum charged by the council, but not exceeding twopence in the pound beyond the rate in the pound at which the council have computed the watch rate charged by them.

(5)The overseers shall account for money collected under such a separate rate as for money collected under a poor rate; and if there is a surplus in their hands, they shall pay it to the treasurer, to go to the borough fund, to the credit of the place for which the rate was made, and in part payment of the next watch rate laid on that place by the council.

(6)The council or a committee appointed for this purpose, on application on behalf of any person rated to such a separate rate to be discharged therefrom, and on proof of his inability through poverty to pay the amount charged on him, may order that he be excused from the payment thereof, and may strike out his name therefrom ; and the sum at which he was rated shall not thereafter be collected, nor shall any person be charged with it or be liable to account for it or for omitting to collect or receive it,

(7)The overseers making any such separate rate may, by warrant from two justices usually acting in and for the borough, levy on every person refusing to pay the rate the amount charged on him, with the costs and charges of recovering and enforcing payment thereof to be ascertained by the justices, by distress and sale of the offender's goods, rendering to him the overplus; and in default of such distress two justices may commit him to prison, there to remain without bail until payment of the amount and arrearages.

199Warrant for levy of watch rate.

Any warrant required for the levy or collection of a watch rate or separate rate may be issued by the mayor, signed by him, and sealed with the corporate seal.

200Watch rate to go to borough fund.

All money raised by a watch rate, or by a separate rate as last aforesaid, shall go to the borough fund.

PART XFreemen.

201Definition of freeman.

In this Part the term freeman includes any person of the class whose rights and interests were reserved by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, under the name either of freemen or of burgesses.

202Freedom not by gift or purchase.

No person shall be admitted a freeman by gift or by purchase.

203The freemen's roll.

The town clerk of every borough for which at the commencement of this Act there is a Freemen's Roll shall continue to keep a list, called the Freemen's Roll.

204Admission to freedom.

Where a person is entitled to be admitted a freeman for the purposes of this Part in respect of birth, servitude, or marriage, and claims accordingly, the mayor shall examine into the claim, and on its being established the claimant shall be admitted and enrolled by the town clerk on the Freemen's Roll.

205Reservation of rights of property to freemen and others.

(1)Every person who had before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, been, admitted a freeman, or if that Act had not been passed might have been so admitted otherwise than by gift or purchase, and

(2)Every person who for the time being is—

(a)An inhabitant of a borough, or

(b)Wife, widow, son, or daughter of a freeman, or

(c)Husband of a daughter or widow of a freeman, or

(d)Bound an apprentice,—

shall, subject to the provisions of this Part, have and enjoy and be entitled to acquire and enjoy the same share and benefit of the hereditaments, and of the rents and profits thereof, and of the common lands and public stock of any borough or body corporate, and of any property held in whole or in part for any charitable uses or trusts, as if the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or this Act, had not been passed.

206Limit of value and saving as to conditions precedent.

(1)The total amount to be divided among the persons whose rights are by the last foregoing section reserved shall not exceed the surplus remaining after payment of the interest of all lawful debts chargeable on the property out of which the sums so to be divided have arisen, together with the salaries of municipal officers and all other lawful expenses which, on the fifth of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, were defrayed out of or chargeable on the same.

(2)Where, if the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or this Act, had not been passed, any such person would have been liable by statute, byelaw, charter, or custom, to pay any fine, fee, or sum of money to any body corporate, or to any member, officer, or servant thereof, in consideration of his freedom, or of his or her title to those reserved rights, or there was any condition precedent to any person being entitled to those rights, he or she shall not have any benefit in respect of those rights until he or she has paid that fine, fee, or sum to the treasurer on account of the borough fund, or has fulfilled that condition, as far as it is capable of being fulfilled according to the provisions of this Act.

207Saving for power to question right.

Nothing in this Act shall strengthen or confirm any claim, right, or title of any freeman or of any person to the benefit of any right in this Part, reserved, but the same may in every case be brought in question, impeached, and set aside, as if this Act had not been passed.

208Reservation of beneficial exemptions to freemen and others.

(1)Nothing before in this Part contained shall apply to any claim, right, or title of a freeman or of any person to any discharge or exemption from any tolls or dues levied wholly or in part by or for the use or benefit of any borough or body corporate.

(2)No person shall have any such discharge or exemption except a person who, on the fifth of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, was an inhabitant, or was admitted or entitled to be admitted a freeman, or was the wife, widow, son, or daughter of a freeman, or was bound an apprentice ; and every such person shall be entitled to the same discharge or exemption as if the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or this Act, had not been passed.

(3)But nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any person claiming such discharge or exemption otherwise than as inhabitant or freeman, or member of a municipal corporation, or widow or kin of such an inhabitant, freeman, or member.

209Reservation of parliamentary franchise, &c.

(1)Every person who, if the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, had not been passed, would have enjoyed as a freeman, or might thereafter have acquired, in respect of birth or servitude, as a freeman, the right of voting in a parliamentary election, shall be entitled to enjoy or acquire that right as if that Act or this Act had not been passed.

(2)No stamp duty shall be chargeable on the admission of any person as a freeman in respect of birth or servitude in a parliamentary borough.

(3)The town clerk shall do all things appertaining by law to the registration of freemen for parliamentary elections.

PART XIGRANT OF CHARTERS.

210Power to Crown in granting charter to borough to extend to it the provisions of the Municipal corporations Acts.

If on the petition to the Queen of the inhabitant householders of any town or towns or district in England, or of any of those inhabitants, praying for the grant of a charter of incorporation, Her Majesty, by the advice of Her Privy Council, thinks fit by charter to create such town, towns, or district, or any part thereof specified in the charter, with or without any adjoining place, a municipal borough, and to incorporate the inhabitants thereof, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty by the charter to extend to that municipal borough and the inhabitants thereof so incorporated the provisions of the Municipal Corporation Acts.

211Reference to Committee of Council, and notice of petition for charter.

(1)Every petition for a charter under this Act shall be referred to a Committee of the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council (in this Part called the Committee of Council).

(2)One month at least before the petition is taken into consideration by the Committee of Council, notice thereof and of the time when it will be so taken into consideration shall be published in the London Gazette, and otherwise in such manner as the Committee direct for the purpose of making it known to all persons interested.

212Power by charter to settle wards, and by fixing dates and otherwise to adapt the Municipal Corporations Acts to first constitution of new borough.

(1)Where Her Majesty by a charter extends the Municipal Corporation Acts to a municipal borough it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by the charter, to do all or any of the following things :

(a)To fix the number of councillors, and to fix the number and boundaries of the wards (if any), and to assign the number of councillors to each ward ; and

(b)To fix the years days and times for the retirement of the first aldermen and councillors ; and

(c)To fix such days times and places, and nominate such persons to perform such duties, and make such other temporary modifications of the Municipal Corporations Acts as may appear to Her Majesty to be necessary or proper for making those Acts applicable in the case of the first constitution of a municipal borough.

(2)The years days times and places fixed by the charter, and the persons nominated therein to perform any duties, shall, as regards the borough named in the charter, be respectively substituted in the Municipal Corporations Acts for the years, days, times, places, officers, and persons therein mentioned, and the persons so nominated shall have the like powers, and be subject to the like obligations and penalties, as the officers and persons mentioned in those Acts for whom they are respectively substituted.

(3)Subject to the provisions of the charter authorised by this section, the Municipal Corporations Acts shall, on the charter coming into effect, apply to the municipal borough to which they are extended by the charter ; and, where the first mayor aldermen and councillors or any of them are named in the charter, shall apply as if they were elected under the Municipal Corporations Acts, and, where they are not so named, shall apply to their first election.

213Scheme for continuance or abolition of and adjustment of rights of existing local authority and officers.

(1)Where a petition for a charter is referred to the Committee of Council, and it is proposed by the charter to extend the Municipal Corporation Acts to the municipal borough to be created by the charter, the Committee of Council may settle a scheme for the adjustment of the powers, rights, privileges, franchises, duties, property, and liabilities of any then existing local authority whose district comprises the whole or part of the area of that borough, either with or without any adjoining or other place, and also of any officer of that authority.

(2)The scheme, so far as it appears to the Committee of Council to be necessary or proper for carrying into effect the said adjustment as regards any local authority existing at the time of the' making of the scheme, may contain provisions for the continuance of that authority, or for the abolition total or partial of that authority, or for the creation of another authority or authorities, and the alteration of the district of the existing local authority, and the union or other relation of the existing local authority and the authority or authorities so created, and for the continuance, modification, transfer, vesting, and extension to the whole of the borough of all or any of the powers, rights, privileges, franchises, duties, property, and liabilities of the existing local authority, and may contain such provisions as appear to the Committee of Council to be necessary or proper for fully carrying into effect any such adjustment and provisions as aforesaid.

(3)The scheme, when settled by the Committee of Council, shall be published in the London Gazette, and shall not be of any effect unless confirmed as herein-after mentioned.

(4)Where, within one month after the publication of the scheme in the London Gazette, a petition against it by any local authority affected thereby, or by not less than one twentieth of the owners and ratepayers of the borough (such twentieth to be one twentieth in number of the owners and ratepayers of the borough taken together, or the owners and ratepayers in respect of one twentieth of the rateable property in the borough and the owners and ratepayers in all cases to include women not under coverture) has been received by the Committee of Council, and is not withdrawn, the scheme shall require the confirmation of Parliament, and the Committee of Council may, if they think fit, submit it to Parliament for confirmation ; but otherwise, at any time after the expiration of the said month, or after the withdrawal of any petition that has been presented, the Committee of Council may, if they think fit, submit the scheme for confirmation, either to Parliament or to Her Majesty in Council, and in the latter case it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to confirm the scheme by Order in Council.

(5)A scheme, when confirmed by Parliament or by Order in Council, shall have full operation, with, in the former case, such modifications, if any, as are made therein by Parliament, as if the scheme were part of this Act.

(6)A local authority for the purposes of this Part means a sanitary authority, (not being the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of a borough subject to the Municipal Corporations Acts,) also the corporation of a borough not subject to the Municipal Corporations Acts, a burial board, trustees, commissioners or other persons who, as a public body and not for their own profit, act under any Act for paving, lighting, supplying with water or gas, cleansing, watching, regulating or improving any town or place, or for providing or maintaining a cemetery or market in or for any town or place, and any commissioners, trustees, or other persons (not being justices) maintaining any police force, and any other authority not in this section excepted, and not being a school board, and having powers of local government and of rating for public purposes.

(7)The district of a local authority for the purposes of this section means the area within which such authority can exercise any powers or rights.

214Supplemental provisions as to scheme and charter.

(1)A scheme shall, before being settled by the Committee of Council, be referred for consideration to the Secretary of State and the Local Government Board, and, if and as far as it is intended to affect any authority which is a harbour authority within the meaning of the [24 & 25 Vict. c. 47.] Harbours and Passing Tolls, &c. Act, 1861, to the Board of Trade.

(2)A scheme shall in every case provide for placing the new borough within the jurisdiction of the council as the sanitary authority.

(3)The regulations contained in the Seventh Schedule with respect to the scheme shall be observed.

(4)If the Committee of Council are satisfied that a local authority or other petitioners have properly promoted or properly opposed a scheme before them, and that for special reasons it is right that the reasonable costs incurred by the authority or other petitioners in such promotion or opposition should be paid as expenses properly incurred by the local authority in the execution of their duties, the Committee of Council may order those costs to be so paid, and they shall be paid accordingly.

215Provision as to police force in new borough.

Nothing in any scheme or in the Municipal Corporation Acts shall authorize the establishment in a borough to which a charter is granted under this Act of a new separate police force not consolidated with the county police force, unless the district incorporated by the charter contained twenty thousand inhabitants or upwards, according to the census taken next before the date of the incorporation.

216Validity of charters.

(1)A charter creating a municipal borough which purports to be granted in pursuance of the royal prerogative and in pursuance of or in accordance with this Act, shall after acceptance be deemed to be valid and within the powers of this Act and Her Majesty's prerogative and shall not be questioned in any legal proceeding whatever.

(2)Every such charter shall he laid before both Houses of Parliament within one month after it is granted, if Parliament is then sitting, or if not, within one month after the beginning of the then next sitting of Parliament.

217Power to settle scheme in case of recent charters.

Where a charter was granted to a borough within seven years before the fourteenth of August one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, the Committee of Council, on the petition to the Queen of the council of the borough, or of any existing local authority whose district comprises the whole or any part of the area of the borough, either with or without any adjoining or other place, may settle a scheme under this Act in like manner as if the petition for the grant of a charter to the borough had been referred to the Committee of Council after the commencement of this Act, and the provisions of this Act with respect to a scheme shall apply accordingly, with the necessary modifications; and if within one month after the publication of the scheme in the London Gazette a petition against the scheme from the council of the borough has been received by the Committee of Council and is not withdrawn the scheme shall require the confirmation of Parliament.

218Power to amend scheme.

(1)Where a scheme for a borough has been confirmed under this Part, or any former enactment, and the municipal corporation of the borough or one-twentieth of the owners and ratepayers of the borough (estimated as in this Part mentioned), or a local authority affected by the scheme, petition the Queen for an amending scheme, the petition shall be referred to a Committee of the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council (included in the term the Committee of Council in this Part), and shall be proceeded on, and this Part shall apply thereto, as nearly as may be, as if the same were a petition for a charter extending the Municipal Corporations Acts to a municipal borough to be incorporated.

(2)The Committee of Council, if they think fit to submit the amending scheme for confirmation, shall submit the same to Parliament, or they may submit the same to Her Majesty in Council, if the original scheme was confirmed by Order in Council, and in the latter case it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to confirm the amending scheme by order in Council.

(3)An amending scheme, when confirmed by Parliament, or by Order in Council, as the case may require, shall have full operation, with, in the former case, such modifications, if any, as are made therein by Parliament, as if the amending scheme were part of this Act.

PART XIILegal Proceedings.

219Prosecution of offences and recovery of fines.

(1)In summary proceedings for offences and fines under this Act the information shall be laid within six months after the commission of the offence.

(2)Any person aggrieved by a conviction of a court of summary jurisdiction under this Act may appeal therefrom to a court of quarter sessions.

(3)Any fine incurred under this Act and not recoverable summarily may be recovered by action in the High Court.

220Exclusion of certiorari.

A conviction, order, warrant, or other matter made or done or purporting to be made or done by virtue of this Act shall not be quashed for want of form, and shall not, unless it is an order of the council for payment of money out of the borough fund, be removed by certiorari or otherwise into the High Court.

221Application of penalties in quarter sessions boroughs.

(1)Where by any Act passed or to be passed, any fine, penalty, or forfeiture is made recoverable in a summary manner before any justice or justices and payable to the Crown or to any body corporate, or to any person whomsoever, the same if recovered and adjudged before any justice of a borough having a separate court of quarter sessions shall, notwithstanding anything in the Act under which it is recovered, be recovered for and adjudged to be paid to the treasurer of the borough.

(2)But this section shall not apply to a fine, penalty, or forfeiture, or part thereof, where the Act under which it is recovered—

(a)Directs payment thereof to the informer or to any person aggrieved; or

(b)If passed since the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, directs that the same shall go in any other manner and not to the borough fund; or

(c.)Relates to the customs, excise, or post office, or to trade or navigation, or to any branch of the revenue of the Crown.

222Duties of clerk of peace as to fines and forfeitures.

Where the offices of. town clerk and clerk of the peace for a borough are not held by the same person, -the clerk of the peace shall perform all duties imposed on the town clerk by the Act of the third year of King George the Fourth, chapter forty-six, " for " the more speedy return and levying of fines, penalties, and " forfeitures, and recognizances estreated;" and the clerk of the peace shall make all returns, issue all processes, and do all other acts required by that Act to be made, issued, and done by the town clerk.

223Service of summons or warrant.

Any summons for appearance, warrant to enforce appearance, warrant for apprehension, or search warrant, may, if issued by a justice for a borough, be served or executed in any county wherein the borough or any part thereof is situate, or within any distance not exceeding seven miles from the borough, and, within those limits, shall have the same effect as if it had been issued or indorsed by a justice having jurisdiction in the place where it is served or executed, and may be served or executed by the constable or special constable to whom if is directed.

224Procedure in penal actions against corporate officers.

(1)An action to recover a fine from any person for acting in a corporate office without having made the requisite declaration, or without being qualified, or after ceasing to be qualified, or after becoming disqualified, may not be brought except by a burgess of the borough, and shall not lie unless the plaintiff has, within fourteen days after the cause of action arose, served a notice in writing personally on the person liable to the fine of his intention to bring the action, nor unless the action is commenced within three months after the cause of action arose.

(2)The court or a judge shall, on the application of the defendant within fourteen days after he has been served with writ of summons in the action, require the plaintiff to give security for costs.

(3)Unless judgment is given for the plaintiff, the defendant shall be entitled to costs, to be taxed as between solicitor and client.

(4)Where any such action is brought against a person on the ground of his not being qualified in respect of estate, it shall lie on him to prove that he was so qualified.

(5)A moiety of the fine recovered shall, after payment of the costs of action, be paid to the plaintiff.

225Quo warranto and mandamus.

(1)An application for an information in the nature of a quo warranto against any person claiming to hold a corporate office shall not be made after the expiration of twelve months from the time when he became disqualified after election.

(2)In the case of such an application, or of an application for a mandamus to proceed to an election of a corporate officer, the applicant shall give notice in writing of the application to the person to be affected thereby (in this section called the respondent) at any time not less than ten days before the day in the notice specified or making the application. .

(3)The notice shall set forth the name and description of the applicant, and a statement of the grounds of the application.

(4)The applicant shall deliver with the notice a copy of the affidavits whereby the application will be supported.

(5)The respondent may show cause in the first instance against the application.

(6)If sufficient cause is not shown, the court, on proof of due service of the notice, statement, and copy of affidavits used in support of the application, may, if it thinks fit, make the rule for the information or mandamus absolute.

(7)The court may, if it thinks fit, direct that any issue of fact on an information be tried by jury in London or at Westminster.

(8)The court may, if it thinks fit, direct that any writ of mandamus issued shall be peremptory in the first instance.

226Provisions for protection of persons acting under Act.

(1)An action, prosecution, or proceeding against any person for any act done in pursuance or execution or intended execution of this Act, or in respect of any alleged neglect or default in the execution of this Act, shall not lie or be instituted unless it is commenced within six months next after the act or thing is done or omitted, or, in case of a continuance of injury or damage, within six months next after the ceasing thereof.

(2)Where the action is for damages, tender of amends before the action was commenced may, in lieu of or in addition to any other plea, be pleaded. If the action was commenced after the tender, or is proceeded with after payment into court of any money in satisfaction of the plaintiff's claim, and the plaintiff does not recover more than the sum tendered or paid, he shall not recover any costs incurred after the tender or payment, and the defendant shall be entitled to costs, to be taxed as between solicitor and client, as from the time of the tender or payment; but this provision shall not affect costs on any injunction in the action.

(3)Subject and without prejudice to any other powers, the council, where the defendant in any such action, prosecution, or other proceeding is their officer, agent, or servant, may, if they think fit, except so far as the court before which the action, prosecution, or other proceeding is heard and determined otherwise directs, pay out of the borough fund or borough rate all or any part of any sums payable by the defendant in or in consequence of the action, prosecution, or proceeding, whether in respect of costs, charges, expenses, damages, fine, or otherwise.

227Power for borough constables to take bail.

(1)Where a person charged with a petty misdemeanour is brought without the warrant of a justice into the custody of a borough constable during his attendance at a watch-house in the borough, at any time (by day or night) at which a justice is not actually sitting for the public administration of justice at the justices' room, or town hall, or other place used for that purpose in the borough, the constable may, if he thinks fit, take bail without fee from that person, by recognisance conditioned for his appearance for examination within two days before a justice in the borough at some time and place therein specified.

(2)A recognisance so taken shall be of equal obligation on the parties entering into the same, and liable to the same proceedings for the estreating thereof, as if taken before a justice.

(3)The constable shall enter in a book, kept for that purpose in every watch-house, the name, residence, and occupation of the person entering into the recognisance, and of his surety or sureties, if any, with the condition of the recognisance, and the sums acknowledged.

(4)The constable shall lay the book before the justice present at the time when and place where the recognisor is required to appear.

(5)If the recognisor does not appear at the time and place required, or within one hour after, the justice shall cause a record of the recognisance to be drawn up and signed by the constable, and shall return the same to the next court of quarter sessions for the borough, or, if the borough has no separate court of quarter sessions, for the county in which the borough is situate, with a certificate at the back thereof, signed by the justice, that the recognisor has not complied with the obligation therein contained.

(6)The clerk of the peace shall make the like estreats and schedules of every such recognisance as of recognisances forfeited in quarter sessions.

(7)If the recognisor applies by any person on his behalf to postpone the hearing of the charge against him, and the justice thinks fit to consent thereto, the justice may enlarge the recognisance to such further time as he appoints.

(8)When the matter is heard and determined, either by the dismissal of the charge, or by binding over the recognisor to answer the matter of the complaint at quarter sessions, or otherwise, the recognisance for his appearance before a justice shall be discharged without fee.

PART XIIIGeneral.

Boundaries.

228Boundaries of boroughs and transfer of parts to counties.

(1)Every place at the commencement of this Act included within each borough then existing, and no other place, shall be part of the borough, and in each borough then existing which is a county of itself, shall be part of that county and of no other, as if this Act had not been passed.

(2)Where under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or any Act amending it, any such county or borough does not, at the commencement of this Act, include a place which, before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, was part thereof, that place shall continue to be part of the county wherein it is situate, or with which it has the longest common boundary, as if this Act had not been passed.

(3)But nothing in this Act shall prevent any gaol, house of correction, lunatic asylum, court of justice, or judges lodging, which at the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, was, and at the commencement of this Act is, taken to be, for any purpose, in any county, from being still, for that purpose, taken to be in that county, as if this Act had not been passed.

(4)Any gaol, court, depot for arms, and any land thereto belonging, which at the commencement of this Act is parcel of a county shall continue to be parcel of the county, and under the exclusive jurisdiction of the authorities of the county, as if this Act had not been passed.

(5)Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the assessments of the land tax or assessed taxes, as those assessments exist at the commencement of this Act, or to extend or diminish the jurisdiction of any commissioners of those taxes, as such commissioners then exist; but all lands, and all parishes, parts of parishes, and places shall continue to be charged as at the commencement of this Act towards the land tax charged on the county or other district whereof at the commencement of this Act they are part, and to be subject in that behalf to the jurisdiction, of the commissioners of the same county or other district, as if this Act had not been passed.

229Adjustment between boroughs and counties on change of boundaries.

If any place, which under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or any Act amending it, ceased to be included in a borough or county of a town or city, was before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, liable to contribute to any rate for satisfying any lawful debt to which the ratepayers of that borough or county were then liable, and if after the commencement of this Act any difference arises concerning the proportion of that debt to be contributed in respect of that place, the Secretary of State, on the application of the council, or of the chairman of a public meeting of the ratepayers of the place, may appoint by writing under his hand a barrister not having any interest in the question to arbitrate between the parties, and by his award under his hand and seal to assess the proportion aforesaid, if any; and the arbitrator shall assess the costs of the arbitration, and direct by whom and in what proportion and out of what fund they shall be paid; and the rate aforesaid shall continue to be levied by warrant of the council and to be paid by the place aforesaid to the treasurer of the borough, as if the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or any Act amending it, or this Act, had not been passed, until the proportion aforesaid is satisfied, and no longer.

Time.

230Computation of time.

(1)Where by this Act any limited time from or after any date or event is appointed or allowed for the doing of any act or the taking of any proceeding, then in the computation of that limited time the same shall be taken as exclusive of the day of that date or of the happening of that event, and as commencing at the beginning of the next following day; and the Act or proceeding shall be done or taken at the latest on the last day of the limited time as so computed, unless the last day is a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, or Monday or Tuesday in Easter week, or a day appointed for public fast, humiliation, or thanksgiving, in which case any act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards, not being one of the days in this section specified.

(2)Where by this Act any act or proceeding is directed or allowed to be done or taken on a certain day, then if that day happens to be one of the days in this section specified, the act or proceeding shall be considered as done or taken in due time if it is done or taken on the next day afterwards, not being one of the days in this section specified.

(3)Where by this Act any act or proceeding is directed or allowed to be done or taken within any time not exceeding seven days, the days in this section specified shall not be reckoned in the computation of such time.

Distance.

231Measurement of distances.

The distances mentioned in this Act shall be measured in a straight line on a horizontal plane, and may be determined by the map made under the survey commonly known as the Ordnance Survey.

Notices.

232Notices on town hall.

Any notice or other document required by this Act to be fixed on the town hall shall be fixed in some conspicuous place on or near the outer door of the town hall, or, if there is no town hall, in some conspicuous place in the borough or ward to which the notice or document relates.

Inspection and Copies.

233Inspection of documents.

(1)The minutes of proceedings of the council shall be open to the inspection of a burgess on payment of a fee of one shilling, and a burgess may make a copy thereof or take an extract therefrom.

(2)A burgess may make a copy of or take an extract from an order of the council for the payment of money.

(3)The treasurer's accounts shall be open to the inspection of the council, and a member of the council may make a copy thereof or take an extract therefrom.

(4)The abstract of the treasurer's accounts shall be open to the inspection of all the ratepayers of the borough, and copies thereof shall be delivered to a ratepayer on payment of a reasonable price for each copy.

(5)The Freemen's Roll shall be open to public inspection, and the town clerk shall deliver copies thereof to any person on payment of a reasonable price for each copy.

(6)A document directed by this Act to be open to inspection shall be so open at any reasonable time during the ordinary hours of business, and without payment, unless it is otherwise expressed.

(7)If a person having the custody of any document in this section mentioned,—

(a)Obstructs any person authorized to inspect the same in making such inspection thereof as in this section mentioned; or

(b)Refuses to give copies or extracts to any person entitled to obtain the same under this section ;

he shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

Fees.

234Tables of fees to be posted.

The town clerk of every borough shall cause a true copy of the tables of fees for the time being authorized to be taken by the clerk of the peace (if any) for the borough, by the clerk to the justices (if any) for the borough, and by the registrar and officers of the borough civil court (if any), to be posted conspicuously in the following places :

(a)The room where the business of the town clerk's office is transacted;

(b)The room, if any, where the justices of the borough sit for transacting their business ;

(c)The room, if any, where the court of quarter sessions of the borough is held; and

(d)The room, if any, where the borough civil court is held.

Seals and Signatures.

235Forgery.

If any any person forges the seal or signature affixed or subscribed to a byelaw made under this Act, or the signature subscribed to any minute of proceedings of the council, or tenders in evidence any such document with a false or counterfeit seal or signature, knowing it to be false or counterfeit, he shall be liable to imprisonment with hard labour for any term not exceeding two years.

Applications to Treasury.

236Notice of application to and correspondence with Treasury.

(1)Where the council intend to apply to the Treasury for their approval of any sale, loan, or other financial arrangement under this Act notice of the intention to make the application shall be fixed on the town hall one month at least before the application, and a copy of the intended application shall during that month be kept in the town clerk's office, and be open to public inspection.

(2)If the Treasury either refuse their approval or grant it conditionally or under qualifications, notice of the correspondence between the Treasury and the council shall forthwith and during one month be fixed on the town hall, and a copy of the correspondence shall during that month be kept in the town clerk's office, and be open to public inspection.

Deputy.

237Acts of deputy not to be invalidated by defect in appointment.

No defect in the appointment of a deputy under this Act shall invalidate his acts.

Overseers.

238Notices to and acting of overseers.

(1)Every matter by the Municipal Corporations Acts directed, to be done by overseers may be lawfully done by the major part of them.

(2)Any notice by the Municipal Corporations Acts required to be given to overseers may be delivered to any one of ; them, or left at his place of abode, or at his office for transacting parochial business.

Declarations and Oaths.

239Power to administer oaths, &c.

(1)Where by or under this Act a declaration or oath is required to be made or taken by the holder of a corporate office or other person before the council or any members thereof, or any other persons, they shall have authority to receive and administer the same without any commission or authority other than this Act.

(2)Nothing in this Act in any case shall require or authorise the taking or making of any oath or declaration that would not have been required or authorised under the Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, or otherwise by law, if this Act had not been passed, or interfere with the operation of the [31 & 32 Vict. c. 72.] Promissory Oaths Act, 1868.

Forms.

240Forms in schedule.

The forms in the Eighth Schedule or forms to the like effect, varied as circumstances require, may be used, and shall be sufficient in law.

Misnomer or Inaccurate Description.

241Misnomer or inaccurate description not to hinder.

No misnomer or inaccurate description of any person, body corporate, or place named in any schedule to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or in any roll, list, notice, or voting paper required by this Act, shall hinder the full operation of this Act with respect to that person, body corporate, or place, provided the description of that person, body corporate, or place be such as to be commonly understood.

Substitution informer Acts.

242Provision for references in unrepealed enactments to 5 & 6 Will.4 c.76, &c.

(1)In the several enactments described in Part I. of the Ninth Schedule, a reference to this Act shall be deemed to be substituted for a reference to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, and any Act amending it.

(2)In each of the enactments described in Part II of the Ninth Schedule, there shall be substituted for the respective provision of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, in that part mentioned in connexion therewith, such provision of this Act as is also mentioned in connexion therewith.

(3)Where any Act passed before this Act, and not specified in the First or in the Ninth Schedule, refers to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or any Act amending it, or to boroughs or corporations subject to that Act or any Act amending it, the reference shall be deemed to be to this Act or to the corresponding provision of this Act, or to boroughs or corporations subject to this Act (as the case may require).

(4)All enactments to which this section relates shall, except as in this section provided, continue to operate as if this Act had not been passed.

243Short titles of Acts partly repealed.

Such of the Acts specified in the First Schedule as will remain in force to any extent after the commencement of this Act may continue to be cited by the short titles -in that schedule mentioned.

Returning Officers at Parliamentary Elections.

244Mayor of certain boroughs to be returning officer in parliamentary elections.

(1)In boroughs, other than cities and towns being counties of themselves, the mayor shall be the returning officer at parliamentary elections; but this provision shall not extend to the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

(2)If there are more mayors than one within the boundaries of a parliamentary borough, the mayor of that borough to which the writ of election is directed shall be the returning officer.

(3)If when a mayor is required to act as returning officer the mayor is absent, or incapable of acting, or there is no mayor, the council shall forthwith choose an alderman to be returning officer.

Disfranchised Parliamentary Boroughs.

245Electors in disfranchised boroughs.

Where a borough has, in pursuance of the [30 & 31 Vict. c. 102.] Representation of the People Act, 1867, or of any Act passed in the session of the thirty-first and thirty-second years of the reign of Her Majesty, ceased to return a member to serve in Parliament, and the persons entitled to vote for the member or members formerly returned by the borough were by law electors for any other purpose, the burgesses of the borough shall be electors for that purpose, and shall in all respects, as regards that purpose, be substituted for the persons so entitled to vote.

Licensing.

246Explanation of terms " town corporate " &c. in Licensing Act.

In the Act of the ninth year of the reign of King George the Fourth, chapter sixty-one, " to regulate the granting of licences to keepers of inns, alehouses, and victualling houses in England," the expressions "town corporate," " county or place," and " division or place," include every borough having a separate commission of the peace, and the expression " high constable " includes any constable of any such borough to whom the justices of the borough direct their precept under that Act.

Freedom of Trading.

247Right of free trading in boroughs.

Notwithstanding any custom or byelaw, every person in any borough may keep any shop for the sale of all lawful wares and merchandises by wholesale or retail, and use every lawful trade, occupation, mystery, and handicraft for hire, gain, sale, or otherwise within any borough.

Cinque Forts.

248Special provisions as to certain of the Cinque Ports.

(1)The boroughs of Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, being four of the Cinque Ports, and the borough of Rye, are in this section referred to as the five boroughs.

(2)The jurisdiction, powers, and authorities of the court of quarter sessions, recorder, coroner, and clerk of the peace for each of the five boroughs shall extend to the non-corporate members and liberties thereof, and to such corporate members thereof as have not a separate court of quarter sessions.

(3)The jurisdiction, powders, and authorities of the persons constituted justices within and throughout the liberties of the Cinque Ports by virtue of their commission, shall extend to all places being within the limits of the five boroughs or of their members or liberties, corporate or non-corporate, and not being within the limits of a borough having a separate commission of the peace.

(4)The justices for the five boroughs respectively shall have all the jurisdiction, powers, and authorities of justices for a county relating to the granting of licences or authorities to persons to keep inns, ale-houses, or victualling houses, or to sell exciseable liquors by retail within any of the corporate or non-corporate members or liberties of the five boroughs respectively, not being within the limits of a borough having a separate commission of the peace.

(5)The non-corporate members and liberties of the five boroughs and such corporate members thereof as have not a separate court of quarter sessions shall be charged by the respective courts of quarter sessions of the five boroughs, with a due proportion of all those expenses of the five boroughs, to the payment whereof rates in the nature of county rates are applicable; and such rates may be assessed and levied in the manner in which rates of that description were assessed and levied before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, under any enactment then in force, but subject to the operation of any subsequent enactment affecting the same.

(6)A due proportion of inhabitant householders to serve as grand jurors and jurors at the respective courts of quarter sessions of the five boroughs shall be summoned by the clerks of the peace thereof from the non-corporate members and liberties thereof, and such corporate members thereof as have not a separate court of quarter sessions; and the attendance of such jurors shall be enforced, and their defaults punished, in the manner by this Act directed with respect to jurors in boroughs.

(7)Nothing in this section shall affect the [32 & 33 Vict. c. 53.] Cinque Ports Act, 1869, or the Acts therein recited.

Cambridge.

249Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge.

(1)It shall be lawful for the Queen, from time to time, by her commission of the peace for the borough of Cambridge, to constitute the Vice-Chancellor for the time being of the University of Cambridge a justice for that borough.

(2)He shall not, by reason of being so constituted, have any greater authority as to the grant of licences to alehouses than any other justice named in the commission.

(3)But nothing in this section shall affect the rights and privileges which the Vice-Chancellor lawfully has or enjoys, or might have lawfully had or enjoyed if he were not so constituted a justice.

Savings.

250Saving for existing corporations.

(1)Nothing in this Act shall prejudicially affect any charter granted before the commencement of this Act, or take away, abridge, or prejudicially affect any of the rights, powers, privileges, estates, property, duties, liabilities, or obligations vested in or imposed on any municipal corporation existing at the commencement of this Act, or in or on the mayor, or the council of a borough then existing, or any members or committee of the council, by the incorporation of the inhabitants of the borough, or by transfer from any other authority, or otherwise; but every such charter shall continue to operate, and every such corporation shall continue to have perpetual succession and a common seal, and to be capable in law by the council to do and suffer all acts which at the commencement, of this Act they and their successors respectively may lawfully do or suffer, and the corporation and all members and officers thereof and their sureties, and every such mayor, and every such council and committee, and every such officer, shall continue to have, enjoy, and be subject to the like rights, powers, offices, privileges, estates, property, duties, liabilities, and obligations, as if this Act had not been passed, without prejudice, nevertheless, to the operation of the repeal of enactments by this Act, and to the other express provisions of this Act.

(2)Nothing in this Act shall alter the boundaries of any borough existing at the commencement of this Act, or the number, apportionment, or qualification of the aldermen or councillors thereof, or the division thereof into wards.

(3)Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the council of a borough to collect by their own officers the borough rate and watch rate, or either of them, where, at the commencement of this Act, they are authorized by law to so collect, and are so collecting, the same.

(4)Nothing in this Act shall alter the respective jurisdiction of county and borough justices.

(5)Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any borough named in Schedule (A.) to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, to have a separate commission of the peace.

251Saving for local Acts.

Nothing in this Act shall alter the effect of any local Act of Parliament.

252Saving for Prison Acts.

Nothing in this Act, except the provision referring to the Ninth Schedule, shall affect the [28 & 29 Vict. c. 126.] Prison Act, 1865, or the [40 & 41 Vict. c. 21.] Prison Act, 1877, and nothing in this Act shall affect the Act of the session of the fifth and sixth years of Her Majesty, chapter ninety-eight, " to amend the laws concerning prisons," or revive or restore any enactment which, being contained in that Act, or in the [13 & 14 Vict. c. 91.] Municipal Corporation (Justices) Act, 1850, or in any other Act, is virtually repealed or superseded by the Prison Act, 1865, or the Prison Act, 1877.

253Saving for military and naval officers, &c.

Nothing in this Act shall compel the acceptance of any office or duty whatever in any borough by any military, naval, or marine officer in. Her Majesty's service on full pay or half pay, or by any officer or other person employed and residing in any of Her Majesty's dockyards, victualling establishments, arsenals, barracks, or other naval or military establishments.

254Saving for dockyards, barracks, &c.

Nothing in this Act shall affect the watching, paving, or lighting, or the internal regulations for the government, of any of Her Majesty's dockyards, victualling establishments, arsenals, barracks, or other naval or military establishments, or make the tenements therein or the inhabitants thereof liable to any rate for watching, paving, or lighting.

255Saving as to Admiralty.

Nothing in this Act shall affect the authority of justices vested in the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, or any authority to appoint coroners to act within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty.

256Saving for Lord Warden.

Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction and office of the Lord Warden in his office of Admiral of the Cinque Ports.

257Saving for universities.

Nothing in this Act shall—

(1)Affect the rights, privileges, duties, or liabilities of the chancellor, masters, and scholars of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively, as by law possessed under the respective charters of those universities or otherwise; or

(2)Entitle the mayors of Oxford and Cambridge respectively to any precedence over the vice-chancellors of those universities respectively; or

(3)Entitle any person to be enrolled a citizen of the city of Oxford or burgess of the borough of Cambridge by reason of his occupation of any rooms, chambers, or premises in any college or hall of either of those universities ; or

(4)Compel any resident member of either of those universities to accept any office in or under the municipal corporation of Oxford or of Cambridge ; or

(5)Authorize the levy of any rate within the precincts of those universities, or of any of the colleges or halls thereof, which now by law cannot be levied therein, or make either of those universities, or the members thereof, liable to any rate to which they are not liable to contribute at the commencement of this Act; or

(6)Authorize the transfer of any rights or liabilities by a local authority to the municipal corporation of the borough of Cambridge without the consent of the chancellor, master, and scholars of the University of Cambridge; or

(7)Affect the rights or privileges granted by charter or Act of Parliament to the University of Durham.

258Saving for jurisdiction over cathedral precincts.

Nothing in this Act shall prevent any jurisdiction or authority exercised in or over the precinct or close of any cathedral from being continued concurrently with the jurisdiction and authority of the justices of the borough in which the precinct or close is situate.

259Saving for royal prerogative.

Nothing in this Act shall prejudicially affect Her Majesty's royal prerogative ; and the enabling provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the powers exerciseable by Her Majesty by virtue of her royal prerogative.

260Saving as to repealed enactments.

(1)The repeal effected by this Act shall not affect—

(a)Anything done or suffered before the commencement of this Act under any enactment repealed by this Act; or

(b)Any proceeding or thing pending or in course of being done at the commencement of this Act under any enactment repealed by this Act; or

(c)Any jurisdiction or practice established, confirmed, or transferred, or right or privilege acquired or confirmed, or duty or liability imposed or incurred, or compensation secured, by or under any enactment repealed by this Act; or

(d)Any disability or disqualification existing at the commencement of this Act under any enactment repealed by this Act; or

(e)Any fine, forfeiture, punishment, or other consequence incurred or to be incurred in respect of any offence committed before the commencement of this Act against any enactment repealed by this Act; or

(f)The institution or the prosecution to its termination of any legal proceeding or other remedy for ascertaining, enforcing, or recovering any such jurisdiction, practice, right, privilege, duty, liability, compensation, disability, disqualification, fine, forfeiture, punishment, or consequence as aforesaid; or

(g)The terms on which any money has been borrowed before the commencement of this Act under any enactment repealed by this Act.

(2)The repeal effected by this Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland, and shall not, as regards the enactments described in Part II. of the 'First Schedule, operate in respect of any place other than a borough to which this Act applies, and shall not revive or restore any statute, law, usage, custom, royal or other charter, grant, letters patent, byelaw, jurisdiction, office, right, title, claim, privilege liability, disqualification, exemption, restriction, practice, procedure, or other matter or thing abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or not in force or existing at the commencement of this Act, or otherwise affect the past operation of any enactment repealed by this Act.

(3)All elections, declarations, appointments, byelaws, rates, tables of fees, and regulations made, or pending, or in the course of being made, and all other things done, or pending, or in the course of being done, under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, or any other enactment repealed by this Act, before or at the commencement of this Act, shall for the purposes of this Act be of the like effect as if they had been made or done, or were pending, or in the course of being made or done under this Act, and shall, as far as may be requisite for the continuance, validity, and effect thereof, be deemed to have been made or done, or may be carried on and be made or done, as the case may require, under this Act.