3. Coroner.

To the borough coroner (subject to the provisions of any other Act relating to coroners)

For every inquisition which he duly takes in the borough

and

For every mile exceeding two miles which he

is compelled to travel from his usual

Twenty shillings.

place of abode to take such inquisition - Ninepence.

The 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 68, contains provisions enabling the council at a quarterly meeting to make a schedule of the several fees, allowances, and disbursements to be paid on the holding of an inquest, with power from time to time to vary and alter such schedule. Until such schedule is made, the coroner is to pay, in his discretion, all reasonable expenses, and the same shall be repaid out of the borough fund.

By the same Act it is provided that coroners shall lay their accounts before the council, and the council, if satisfied of the correctness, must pay such disbursements out of the borough fund, together with six shillings and eightpence for every inquest, over and above all other fees and allowances to which the coroner was then by law entitled.

At that time the coroner was entitled to a fee of twenty shillings for every inquisition, and mileage (see 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 62).

It seems, therefore, that the coroner is still entitled, in addition to the fee mentioned in the above schedule, to the fee of six shillings and eightpence under the 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 68.

Payments which may be made without Order.

1. Remuneration (if any) of the mayor, of the recorder (if any) in his capacity either of recorder or of judge of a borough civil court, of the stipendiary magistrate (if any), of the town

4th Sched.

5th Sched. clerk, of the treasurer, of the clerk of the peace when paid by salary, of every other officer appointed by the council, and of the clerk to the justices.

PART I.

2. The remuneration and allowances certified by the Treasury to be payable to the Treasury in respect of an election petition.

3. The remuneration certified by the recorder to be due to any assistant recorder, assistant clerk of the peace, or additional crier.

13 & 14 Vict. c. 42, s. 3.

PART II.

Payments which may not be made without Order.

1. The expenses incurred by overseers, and by the town clerk and other municipal authorities, in relation to the enrolment of burgesses and the holding of municipal elections, or so much of those expenses as is not otherwise provided for under 41 & 42 Vict. section thirty of the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878.

c. 26.

2. The expenses incurred by the town clerk in providing accommodation for an election court held under this Act.

3. The expenses of providing, furnishing, maintaining, or improving the corporate buildings, including the justices' room (if any), and the necessary expenses of that room.

4. The fees payable to the clerk of the peace if not paid by salary, and under this Act to the borough coroner.

5. The payments to be made under this Act to or in respect of the borough police and to any special constable, including the following payments (namely):

(a.) Such salaries, wages, and allowances to the borough

constables, and at such periods, as the watch committee, with the approbation of the council, direct; and

(b.) Such further sum as may be awarded by the watch committee, subject to the approbation of the council,

PART II.

or by the court of quarter or petty sessions, to a 5th Sched. borough constable as a reward for extraordinary diligence or exertion, or as a compensation for wounds or severe injuries received in the performance of his duty, or as may be awarded by the watch committee, subject to the approbation of the council, to a borough constable, as an allowance to him when disabled by bodily injury, or worn out by length of service; and (c.) Any extraordinary expenses which a borough constable appears to have necessarily incurred in apprehending offenders, and executing the orders of any justice having jurisdiction in the borough, such expenses having been first examined and approved by that justice; and

(d.) All other charges and expenses which the watch committee, subject to the approbation of the council, direct to be paid for the purposes of the borough constabulary force.

In the case of Reg. v. Mayor, &c., of Exeter, 44 L. T. (N.s.) 101, a rule nisi had been obtained for a writ of certiorari to bring up for the purpose of quashing it, an order of the town council to pay certain costs out of the borough fund or rate under the Act of 1835.

Mr. Justice FIELD said: "The short question is whether it is competent for the town council to direct these expenses to be paid out of the borough fund. The circumstances under which the expenses were incurred were, that the chief constable was directed by the justices to prosecute a person for conspiracy; but the justices had no power to order the chief constable to prosecute so as to bind him. The necessary elements of an action for malicious prosecution are absence of reasonable and probable cause, and malice. The jury have found malice, and have given substantial damages. Apparently the constable was thought to have acted with undue zeal, or personal feeling, and he must be taken to have committed a personal wrong. It is no part of the duty of the chief constable to lay informations, certainly not to do so without reasonable and probable cause, and maliciously. Can the expenses, under these circumstances, be brought within the words of section 82? The case is clearly not within the words 'extraordinary expenses which such persons shall appear to have necessarily incurred in apprehending offenders and executing the orders of any justice of the peace having jurisdiction within the borough.' These words obviously apply, not to directions such as those in the present case, which the justices voluntarily give, but to orders which they have jurisdiction to make, and which are legally binding. Then, are they charges and expenses which the watch committee shall, subject to the approbation of the council, direct to be paid for the purposes of the constabulary forces under this Act?, I think not. The purposes of the constabulary force are defined by

5th Sched. sect. 76 of the Act, and these expenses cannot be held to be for the purposes of the constabulary force. I am of opinion, therefore, that the rule must be made absolute."

PART II.

A member of the constabulary force of the borough of Liverpool was made the subject of a libellous article in a newspaper, in reference to his conduct as inspector of public-houses, in giving a good character to an applicant for a license, at the meeting of the magistrates of the borough in licensing session, whom he knew to have been the keeper of a house of ill-fame. Upon an intimation from, though without the official sanction of, his superior authorities, he took criminal proceedings, by way of summons before a magistrate, against the publisher of the libel, and incurred expenses thereon. The watch committee, with the subsequent approbation of the town council, made an order on the borough treasurer for the payment of a sum of money on account of such expenses. The Liverpool borough fund has a surplus. Held, that such order was not in respect of an allowance, nor a charge or an expense for the purposes of the constabulary force within 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 82, nor an application of the fund for the public benefit of the inhabitants of the borough within sect. 92, and that a rule must go for a certiorari to bring up the order for the purpose of being quashed. (Reg. v. Liverpool (Mayor and Town Council), 41 L. J. Q. B. 175; 28 L. T. (N.S.) 500.)

It appears, however, that the council could now make an order for the payment of such expenses under sect. 226, if the action, prosecution, or proceeding were for any act done in pursuance or execution or intended execution of the Act, or in respect of any alleged neglect or default in the execution of the Act.

These words are very extensive, but they should not be interpreted to cover the case of a person acting in bad faith or with culpable negligence.

6. The costs and expenses payable by the corporation in respect of the prosecution, maintenance, conveyance, transport, or punishment of offenders.

7. All sums payable under this Act by the corporation of the borough to the treasurer of a county.

8. The expenses of and incidental to the division of a borough into wards or the alteration of wards, including the remuneration of the commissioner appointed for the purposes of the division or alteration.

9. Such remuneration to the clerk to any commissioners for taxes in respect of making copies of assessments as the council think reasonable.

10. The expenses of and relating to a charter of incorporation for a borough, and of and relating to all elections, acts, and proceedings under the charter.

11. All expenses charged on the borough fund by any Act of Parliament or otherwise by law.

12. All other expenses, not by this Act otherwise provided 5th Sched. for, necessarily incurred in carrying this Act into effect.

These rules are to a large extent a reproduction of the 92nd section of the Act of 1835. The following decisions upon that section may be consulted. Although one or two of them take, unfortunately, much too narrow a view of the powers of expenditure possessed by councils, the rest recognize the necessities and obligations cast upon the body which is entrusted with the duties of local self-government. From these it may be gathered that councils may now rely upon the courts giving full effect to the provisions made by the above rules, and thus remove many of the difficulties which stand in the way of a successful administration of the Act. It is impossible for the legislature to foresee all the exigencies that may arise under the increasing complications of our social system. Nevertheless it has done what it could when it declares that all expenses necessarily incurred under an Act which was passed with the intention to secure good and quiet government for our towns, may be lawfully incurred.

Councils would have no occasion to complain if the law were interpreted in this spirit.

In the case of Attorney-General v. Mayor, &c., of Norwich, 2 Myl & Cr. 406, 425, 428, affirming the judgment in 1 Keen, 700, the LORD CHANCELLOR observed: "This clause, after providing that the council shall be at liberty to pay all other expenses not otherwise provided for, which shall be necessarily incurred in carrying into effect the provisions of this Act-which cannot merely mean expenses to carry into effect that which must be done to set the Act of Parliament in operation, but must mean also those expenses which would arise out of the duties imposed on the parties by the Act-goes on to say, that a surplus shall be applied under the direction of the council for the public benefit of the inhabitants and the improvement of the borough; a very large discretion, and, like every other discretion given for public purposes, to be honestly and faithfully exercised."

Where a bill had been presented to Parliament containing powers for the construction of waterworks, and for the doing of acts which, if done, would interfere with the stream of a river passing through a particular borough town, so as to prevent the efficient action of the stream in removing the sewage of the town, and thus indirectly affect the value of the rateable houses in the borough, the tolls of the market, and the other property forming the borough fund, and the corporation had applied part of the surplus of the borough fund in a partially successful opposition to the passing of the bill, it was decided by one of the Vice-Chancellors, that under the Act of 1835, the corporation, whether they had any surplus borough fund or not, were justified in applying their funds in opposing such a bill, and, upon appeal, it was held that the payment of such expenses out of such a fund was not so clearly contrary to the spirit of the 90th and 92nd sections of that Act, which provides for the application of the surplus of the borough fund, as to warrant the court in granting an interlocutory injunction to restrain such application. (AttorneyGeneral v. Mayor, &c., of Wigan, 23 L. J., Equity, 429.)

A corporation is justified, if acting bona fide, in applying its funds in opposing Parliamentary bills which would affect its existence, and materially injure its powers as a corporation, though no such power

PART II.