Local Government Act 1888
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1888 c. 41 |
Local Government Act, 1888
(51 & 52 Vict.) CHAPTER 41.
An Act to amend the Laws relating to Local Government in England and Wales, and for other purposes connected therewith.
[13th August 1888]
BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
PART I.
County Councils.
Constitution of County Council.
1 Establishment of county council.
1. A council shall be established in every administrative county as defined by this Act, and he entrusted with the management of the administrative and financial business of that county, and shall consist of the chairman, aldermen, and councillors.
2 Composition and election of council and position of chairman.
(1)2.—(1.) The council of a county and the members thereof shall be constituted and elected and conduct their proceedings in like manner, and be in the like position in all respects, as the council of a borough divided into wards, subject nevertheless to the provisions of this Act, and in particular to the following provisions, that is to say:—
(2) (2.) As respects the aldermen or councillors—
(a .) clerks in holy orders and other ministers of religion shall not be disqualified for being elected and being aldermen or councillors;
(b .) a person shall be qualified to be an alderman or councillor who, though not qualified in manner provided by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 , as applied by this Act, is a peer owning property in the county, or is registered as a parliamentary voter in respect of the ownership of property of whatsoever tenure situate in the county;
(c .) the aldermen shall be called county aldermen, and the councillors shall be called county councillors; and a county alderman shall not, as such, vote in the election of a county alderman;
(d .) the county councillors shall be elected for a term of three years, and shall then retire together, and their places shall be filled by a new election; and
(e .) the divisions of the county for the purpose of the election of county councillors, shall be called electoral divisions and not wards, and one county councillor only shall be elected for each electoral division:
(3) (3.) As respects the number of the county councillors, and the boundaries of the electoral divisions in every county—
(a .) the number of the county councillors, and their apportionment between each of the boroughs which have sufficient population to return one councillor and the rest of the county, shall be such as the Local Government Board may determine; and
(b .) any borough returning one councillor only shall be an electoral division; and
(c .) in the rest of the county the electoral divisions shall be such as in the case of a borough returning more than one councillor the council of the borough, and in the rest of the county the quarter sessions for the county, may determine, subject in either case to the directions enacted by this Act; and in the case of elections after the first, to any alterations made, in accordance with the said directions, in manner in this Act mentioned:
(4) (4.) As respects the electors of the county councillors—
the persons entitled to vote at their election shall be, in a borough, the burgesses enrolled in pursuance of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 , and the Acts amending the same, and elsewhere the persons registered as county electors under the County Electors Act, 1888 :
(5) (5.) As respects the chairman of the county council—
(a .) he shall be called chairman instead of mayor; and
(b .) he shall, by virtue of his office, be a justice of the peace for the county; but before acting as such justice he shall, if he has not already done so, take the oaths required by law to be taken by a justice of the peace other than the oath respecting the qualification by estate.
(6) (6.) The county council may from time to time appoint a member of the council to be vice-chairman, to hold office during the term of office of the chairman, and, subject to any rules made from time to time by the county council, anything authorised or required to be done by, to, or before the chairman may be done by, to, or before such vice-chairman.
Powers of County Council.
3 Transfer to county council of administrative business of quarter sessions.
3. There shall be transferred to the council of each county on and after the appointed day, the administrative business of the justices of the county in quarter sessions assembled, that is to say, all business done by the quarter sessions or any committee appointed by the quarter sessions, in respect of the several matters following, namely,—
(i.) The making, assessing, and levying of county, police, hundred, and all rates, and the application and expenditure thereof, and the making of orders for the payment of sums payable out of any such rate or out of the county stock or county fund, and the preparation and revision of the basis or standard for the county rate;
(ii.) The borrowing of money;
(iii.) The passing of the accounts of and the discharge of the county treasurer;
(iv.) Shire halls, county halls, assize courts, judges lodgings, lock-up houses, court houses, justices rooms, police stations, and county buildings, works, and property, subject as to the use of buildings by the quarter sessions and the justices to the provisions of this Act respecting the joint committee of quarter sessions and the county council;
(vi.) The provision, enlargement, maintenance, management, and visitation of and other dealing with asylums for pauper lunatics;
(vii.) The establishment and maintenance of and the contribution to reformatory and industrial schools;
(ix.) The tables of fees to be taken by and the costs to be allowed to any inspector, analyst, or person holding any office in the county other than the clerk of the peace and the clerks of the justices;
(xi.) The salary of any coroner whose salary is payable out of the county rate, the fees, allowances, and disbursements allowed to be paid by any such coroner, and the division of the county into coroners' districts, and the assignment of such districts;
(xii.) The division of the country into polling districts for the purposes of parliamentary elections, the appointment of places of election, the places of holding courts for the revision of the lists of voters, and the costs of and other matters to be done for the registration of parliamentary voters;
(xv.) The registration of rules of scientific societies under the Act of the session of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter thirty-six; the registration of charitable gifts under the Act of the session of the fifty-second year of the reign of George the Third, chapter one hundred and two; the certifying and recording of places of religious worship under the Act of the session of the fifty-second year of the reign of George the Third, chapter one hundred and fifty-five; the confirmation and record of the rules of loan societies under the Act of the session of the third and fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and ten; and
(xvi.) Any other business transferred by this Act.
4 Transfer of certain powers under local Acts.
4. Where it appears to the Local Government Board that any powers, duties, or liabilities of any quarter sessions or justices, or any committee thereof, under any local Act are similar in character to the powers, duties, and liabilities transferred to county councils by this Act, or relate to property transferred to a county council by this Act, the Board may, if they think fit, make a Provisional Order for transferring such powers, duties, and liabilities to the county council.
5 Appointment of coroners by county council.
(1)5.—(1.) After the appointed day a coroner for a county shall not be elected by the freeholders of the county, and on any vacancy occurring in the office of a coroner for a county, who is elected to that...
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