THE ENGLISH MUNICIPAL CODE: BEING THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT, 1882 (45 & 46 VICTORIA, CHAPTER 50); WITH HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION, NOTES, COMMENTS, THE GENERAL ORDERS OF THE JUDGES UNDER THE CORRUPT PRACTICES (MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS) ACT; J. R. SOMERS VINE, F.S.S. AUTHOR OF ENGLISH MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS- THEIR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT;' Y LONDON: WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED, LONDON WALL, E.C. TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR WM. VERNON HARCOURT, Q.C., M.P. ETC. ETC. ETC. HER MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT, PREFACE. FIFTY years' experience of the working of the Municipal Corpo rations Act of 1835 revealed many shortcomings. These were chiefly due to the difficulty of dealing with existing laws, statutes, and usages, charters, grants, and letters patent, so as to effectually provide against injustice when bringing their operations within the scope of a uniform measure. Progressive legislation effected many important changes which required corresponding modifications of the original Act. The Municipal Corporation Elections Act, 1869, shortening the term of residence and admitting women to the municipal franchise, the Ballot Act, and the Corrupt Practices (Municipal Elections) Act, 1872, the Municipal Elections Act, 1875, the Municipal Corporations (New Charters) Act, 1877, the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, and the Town Council and Local Boards Act, 1880, diffused the law through many channels and eventually rendered consolidation a matter of imperative necessity. While the Act dealt with in this volume, is, to use the words of Mr. Hibbert, the member for Oldham, one intended “ merely to consolidate all municipal Acts relating to England," it at the same time effects by no means unimportant alterations and amendments, most of which are more particularly noticed under the several sections in which they appear. |