of beneficial 208.-(1.) Nothing before in this Part contained shall Freemen. apply to any claim, right, or title of a freeman or of any person Reservation to any discharge or exemption from any tolls or dues levied exemptions wholly or in part by or for the use or benefit of any borough and others. 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. [The effect of section 2 of the Act of 1835, and section 9 of 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 104 (1836), is preserved in this clause]. to freemen parliamentary 209.-(1.) Every person who, if the Municipal Corporations Reservation of Act, 1835, had not been passed, would have enjoyed as a free- franchise, &c. man, 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. [The effect of section 4 of the Act of 1835, and 1 & 2 Vict. c. 35 (1838), is preserved in this clause]. Grant of Power to Crown in granting charter to borough to provisions of the Municipal Corporations PART XI. GRANT OF CHARTERS. 210.-If on the petition* to the Queen of the inhabitant householders of any town or towns or district in England, or of extend to it the any of these 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 Corporations Acts. [The effect of section 3 of 40 & 41 Vict. c. 69 (1877) is preserved in this clause. The powers of the Crown in regard to the grant of charters of incorporation, and the mode in which these powers are to be exercised, are, however, so important, that it will be useful to state in a suminary manner the propositions affirmed by the Court of Queen's Bench in the leading case on the subjectthat of the incorporation of Manchester (reported as Rutter v. Chapman, (8 M. & W., 1). It was there held 1. That the grant of a charter of municipal incorporation is still an exercise of the common law prerogative of the Crown, although such charter invests the corporation with the functions conferred by the Act upon the then existing municipal corporations. 2. That the Crown may grant the charter to a part only (to be defined therein) of a town or borough, and need not grant it to the whole of the inhabitants of such town or borough, although the prayer of the petition is for a grant of a charter of incorporation to the inhabitant householders of the said borough. 3. That a petition, to be within the meaning of the Acts, need not proceed from the majority of the inhabitant householders of the place or of the male inhabitant householders of the place. 4. That whether such petition was, under all the circumstances, the petition of the inhabitant householders within the meaning of the Acts, is a question of fact for a jury. 5. That when the whole number of the inhabitant householders was 48,000, and a petition was presented to the Crown signed by 4,000 in favour of a grant of a charter of incorporation, and another was subsequently presented by 6,000 against it, the jury were quite right in their verdict, that the former petition expressed the wish of the inhabitant householders By section 56 of the Local Government (England and Wales) Act, 1888, the presentation of a petition must now be notified to the county council of the county in which the proposed borough is situated, and also to the Local Government Board. See Appendix. within the meaning of the Acts; (the direction of the learned judge at the Grant of trial being that, notwithstanding such last petition, the Crown had power, Charters. in his opinion, to grant the charter by virtue of the first petition, which direction was also correct). 6. That the Crown, in the charter, besides defining the district within which the powers and jurisdiction of the corporation are to be exercised, may, by its common law prerogative, appoint the number and set out the wards of the new borough. 7. That a charter so granted was valid (having been accepted); but that the determination of the Privy Council to advise the Crown to grant the charter is not decisive of the question as to the sufficiency of the petition in favour of the charter. 8. That the Crown may, in the charter, delegate to an individual the power of appointing the first members of the corporate body; or may at all events appoint a person to ascertain who are the individuals possessed of the qualifications which the corporations are to have; in other words, who are to be burgesses; and may appoint, in the charter, another person to revise the list of burgesses, and to act as the returning officer at the first election of officers under the charter. The Crown has always possessed the privilege of creating corporations and conferring franchises; but when privileges and powers are to be conferred which are not recognised by the common or statute law, an Act of Parliament is necessary. Section 210, although it does not at all abridge the common law prerogative of the Crown, prevents it granting charters of incorporation with the powers conferred by this Act, save with the advice of the Privy Council, and on petition by the inhabitant householders.* The court will not grant a quo warranto against an individual to try the legality of a charter of municipal incorporation. Reg. v. Jones (8 L. T., N. S., 503). The court will not inquire into the validity of a charter, but will act upon it as being valid until proper proceedings are taken to set it aside. A charter of incorporation, granted under 7 Will. 4 and 1 Vict. c. 78, to a borough previously possessing a body corporate, but not named in the schedules to 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, confers upon it the same powers and privileges as if it had been so named. The corporation established under the charter is identical with that previously existing although the governing body may be different, and the property of the old corporation becomes vested in the new by virtue of the charter.-Attorney-General v. Avon (Port-reeve, Aldermen, and Burgesses). 9 Jur., N. S., 1117. The power of the Crown to grant a charter of incorporation under 1 Vict. c. 78, s 49, attaches on the presentation of a petition under the Act, and whatever happens afterwards only affects its discretion. Such a petition must be a petition representing the wishes of the majority of the inhabitant householders, and this is a question of fact for the jury.-Semble, that "inhabitant householders in this section includes compound householders (under 13 & 14 Vict. c. 95) as well as ratepayers.-Reg. v. Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Aberavon (13 W. R., 90)]. Committee of Council, and petition for notice of charter. 211.-(1.) Every petition for a charter under this Act shall Reference to 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 "Under the word 'persons,' says a learned commentator upon the Act of 1835, it is apprehended that a corporation would be included, and would consequently be entitled to the protection afforded by this section." In several cases the word person," in a similar clause as to actions, has been held to include an incorporated company. 66 Grant of Power by charter to as the Committee direct for the purpose of making it known to all persons interested. [The effect of section 4 of 40 & 41 Vict. c. 69 (1877) is preserved in this clause]. 212.—(1.) Where Her Majesty by a charter extends the settle wards, 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: dates and otherwise to adapt the Municipal Corporations Acts to first constitution of new borough. Scheme for continuance or (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 authorized 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. [The effect of section 5 of 40 & 41 Vict. c. 69 (1877) is preserved in this clause.] * 213.-(1.) Where a petition for a charter is referred to the abolition of and Committee of Council, and it is proposed by the charter to ex adjustment of righ 8 of existing local authority and officers. See Appendix for the School Boards Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Viet. c. 38), which provides that so far as school boards, on the incorporation of a borough, are concerned, it is to be read as one with this Act, Charters. tend the Municipal Corporation Acts to the municipal borough Grant of 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 cne 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 By section 15 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 18), every body referred to in the First Schedule of that Act is to be deemed a "local" authority within the meaning of this section. See Appendix. |