Local Government Act 1888

Proceedings of Councils and Committees.

79Incorporation of county council.

(1)The council of each county shall be a body corporate by the name of the county council with the addition of the name of the administrative county, and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and power to acquire and hold land for the purposes of their constitution without licence in mortmain.

(2)All duties and liabilities of the inhabitants of a county shall become and be duties and liabilities of the council of such county.

(3)Where any enactment (whether relating to lunatic asylums or bridges, or other county purposes, or to quarter sessions) requires or authorises land to be conveyed or granted to, or any contract or agreement to be made in the name of, the clerk of the peace, or any justice or justices or other person, on behalf of the county or quarter sessions, or justices of the county, such land shall be conveyed or granted to, and such contract and agreement shall be made with, the council of the administrative county concerned.

80Payments out of fund and finance committee of county council.

(1)All payments to and out of the county fund shall be made to and by the county treasurer, and all payments out of the fund shall, unless made in pursuance of the specific requirement of an Act of Parliament or of an order of a competent court, be made in pursuance of an order of the council signed by three members of the finance committee present at the meeting of the council and countersigned by the clerk of the council, and the same order may include several payments. Moreover all cheques for payment of moneys issued in pursuance of such order shall be countersigned by the clerk of the council or by a deputy approved by the council.

(2)Any such order may be removed into the High Court of Justice 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.

(3)Every county council shall from time to time appoint a finance committee for regulating and controlling the finance of their county; and an order for the payment of a sum out of the county fund, whether on account of capital or income, shall not be made by a county council, except in pursuance of a resolution of the council passed on the recommendation of the finance committee, and (subject to the provisions of this Act respecting the standing joint committee) any costs, debt, or liability exceeding fifty pounds shall not be incurred except upon a resolution of the council passed on an estimate submitted by the finance committee.

(4)The notice of the meeting at which any resolution for the payment of a sum out of the county fund (otherwise than for ordinary periodical payments) or any resolution for incurring any costs, debt, or liability exceeding fifty pounds will be proposed, shall state the amount of the said sum, costs, debt, or liability, and the purpose for which they are to be paid or incurred.

(5)This section shall not apply to county boroughs.

81Appointment of joint committees.

(1)Any county council or councils, and any court or courts of quarter sessions, may from time to time join in appointing out of their respective bodies a joint committee for any purpose in respect of which they are jointly interested.

(2)Any council or court taking part in the appointment of any joint committee under this section, may from time to time delegate to the committee any power which such council or court might exercise for the purpose for which the committee is appointed.

(3)Provided that nothing in this section shall authorise a council to delegate to a committee any power of making a rate or borrowing any money.

(4)Subject to the terms of delegation, any such joint committee shall, in respect of any matter delegated to it, have the same power in all respects as the councils and courts appointing it, or any of them, as the case may be.

(5)The members of a joint committee appointed under this Act shall be appointed at such times and in such manner as may be from time to time fixed by the council or court who appointed them, and shall hold office for such time as may be fixed by the council or court who appointed them, so that where any members of the committee were appointed by the county council, such committed do not continue for more than three months after any triennial election of councillors of such county council.

(6)The costs of a joint committee shall be defrayed by the Council by whom any of its members were appointed, or if appointed by more than, one council in the. proportion agreed to by them j- and the accounts of such joint committee and their officers shall, for the purposes of the provisions of this Act, be deemed to be accounts of the county council and their officers.

(7)This section shall apply to the councils of county boroughs in like manner as to councils of administrative counties, and a standing joint committee may be appointed for two or more administrative counties, inclusive of county boroughs, and the members of such joint committee shall be appointed by the several quarter sessions and councils in such proportion and manner as they respectively may arrange, and in default of arrangement as may be directed by a Secretary of State.

(8)This section shall apply to the standing joint committees.

82Proceedings of committees.

(1)A county council appointing under this Act any committee may from time to time make, vary, and revoke regulations respecting the quorum and proceedings of such committee, and as to the area (if any) within which it is to exercise its authority; and subject to such regulations the proceedings and quorum and the place of meeting whether within or without the county, shall be such as the committee may from time to time direct, and the chairman at any meeting of the committee shall have a second or casting vote.

(2)Every committee shall report its proceedings to the council by whom it was appointed, but to the extent to which the council so direct, the acts and proceedings of the committee shall not be required by the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, to be submitted to the council for their approval.

(3)In the case of a joint committee the councils and courts appointing the joint committee shall jointly have the powers given by this section, and the provisions of this section shall apply accordingly.