Municipal Corporations Act 1882

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1882 c. 50


Municipal Corporations Act, 1882.

(45 & 46 Vict.) CHAPTER 50.

An Act for consolidating, with Amendments, enactments relating to Municipal Corporations in England and Wales.

[18th August 1882]

W HEREAS divers bodies corporate at sundry times have been constituted in the cities, towns, and boroughs of England and Wales, to the intent that the same might for ever be and remain well and quietly governed:

And whereas the Act of the session of the fifth and sixth years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter seventy-six, ‘to provide for the regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales,’ applies to most of those bodies constituted before the passing of that Act, and to every of those bodies constituted after the passing of that Act; and that Act having been from time to time much altered and added to by other Acts, it is expedient that all the Acts aforesaid be reduced into one Act with some amendments:

Be it therefore 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:

I Preliminary .

PART I.

Preliminary .

S-1 Short title.

1 Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as theMunicipal Corporations Act, 1882.

S-2 Division of Act into Parts.

2 Division of Act into Parts.

2. This Act is divided into Parts, as follows:

PART I.—Preliminary.

PART II.—Constitution and government of borough.

PART III.—Preparations for and procedure at elections.

PART IV.—Corrupt practices and election petitions.

PART V.—Corporate property and liabilities.

PART VI.—Charitable and other trusts and powers.

PART VII.—Borough fund: borough rate: county rate.

PART VIII.—Administration of justice.

PART IX.—Police.

PART X.—Freemen.

PART XI.—Grant of charters.

PART XII.—Legal proceedings.

PART XIII.—General.

S-3 Extent.

3 Extent.

3. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland.

S-4 Commencement.

4 Commencement.

4. This Act shall commence and have effect from and immediately after the thirty-first of December one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.

S-5 Repeals.

5 Repeals.

5. The enactments described in the First Schedule are hereby repealed, subject to the exceptions and qualifications in this Act mentioned.

S-6 Application.

6 Application.

6. This Act shall apply to every city and town to which the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, applies at the commencement of this Act, and to any town, district, or place whereof the inhabitants are incorporated after the commencement of this Act, and whereto the provisions of the Municipal Corporation Acts are under this Act extended by charter, but to no other place.

S-7 Interpretation and construction.

7 Interpretation and construction.

(1)7.—(1.) In this Act—

‘Borough’ means, unless a contrary intention appears, a city or town to which this Act applies:

‘Municipal corporation’ means the body corporate constituted by the incorporation of the inhabitants of a borough:

‘Municipal Corporations Act, 1835,’ means the recited Act of King William the Fourth, the date of the passing whereof is the ninth of September one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five:

‘Municipal Corporations Acts’ means this Act and any Act to be passed amending this Act:

‘Burgess’ includes citizen:

‘Corporate seal’ means the common seal of a municipal corporation:

‘Corporate office’ means the office of mayor, alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor:

‘Corporate land’ means land belonging to or held in trust for a municipal corporation:

‘Municipal election’ means an election to a corporate office:

‘Parliamentary borough’ means any borough, city, county of a city, county of a town, place, or combination of places, returning a member to serve in Parliament, and not being a county at large, or a riding, parts, or division of a county at large:

‘Parliamentary election’ means an election of a member to serve in Parliament:

‘Parish’ means any place for which a separate poor rate is or can be made:

‘Overseers’ means overseers of the poor of a parish, township, or place, and includes all persons who execute the duties of overseers:

‘County’ does not include a county of a city or county of a town, but includes a riding, parts, division, or liberty of a county:

‘Trustees’ means trustees, commissioners, or directors, or the persons charged with the execution of a trust or public duty, however designated:

‘Person’ includes a body of persons corporate or unincorporate:

‘Treasury’ means the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury:

‘The Secretary of State’ means one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State:

‘High Court’ means Her Majesty's High Court of Justice:

‘Justice’ means one of Her Majesty's justices of the peace:

‘Borough civil court’ means an inferior court of record for the trial of civil actions which by charter, custom, or otherwise, is or ought to be holden in a borough, but does not include a county court:

‘Bank of England’ means the Governor and Company of the Bank of England:

‘Schedule’ means schedule to this Act, and ‘Part’ means Part of this Act:

‘Writing’ includes print, and ‘written’ includes printed.

(2) (2.) Words in this Act referring to a borough, municipal corporation, authority, officer, or office, shall be construed distributively as referring to each borough, corporation, authority, officer, or office to which or to whom the provision is applicable.

(3) (3.) Words in this Act referring to a parish shall be construed, unless a contrary intention appears, as referring to every parish situate wholly or in part in a borough.

(4) (4.) The schedules shall be read and have effect as if they were part of this Act.

II Constitution and Government of Borough .

PART II.

Constitution and Government of Borough .

Corporate Name.

Corporate Name.

S-8 Name of municipal corporation.

8 Name of municipal corporation.

8. The municipal corporation of a borough shall bear the name of the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough, or, in the case of a city, the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the city.

Burgesses.

Burgesses.

S-9 Qualification of burgess.

9 Qualification of burgess.

(1)9.—(1.) A person shall not be deemed a burgess for any purpose of this Act unless he is enrolled as a burgess.

(2) (2.) A person shall not be entitled to be enrolled as a burgess unless he is qualified as follows:

(a. ) Is of full age; and

(b. ) Is on the fifteenth of July in any year, and has been during the whole of the then last preceding twelve months, in occupation, joint or several, of any house, warehouse, counting-house, shop, or other building (in this Act referred to as qualifying property), in the borough; and

(c. ) Has during the whole of those twelve months resided in the borough, or within seven miles thereof; and

(d. ) Has been rated in respect of the qualifying property to all poor rates made during those twelve months for the parish wherein the property is situate; and

(e. ) Has on or before the twentieth of the same July paid all such rates, including borough rates (if any) as have become payable by him in respect of the qualifying property up to the then last preceding fifth of January.

(3) (3.) Every person so qualified shall be entitled to be enrolled as a burgess, unless he—

(a. ) Is an alien; or

(b. ) Has within the twelve months aforesaid received union or parochial relief or other alms; or

(c. ) Is disentitled under any Act of Parliament.

Council; Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors.

Council; Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors.

S-10 Constitution of council.

10 Constitution of council.

(1)10.—(1.) The municipal corporation of a borough shall be capable of acting by the council of the borough, and the council shall exercise all powers vested in the corporation by this Act or otherwise.

(2) (2.) The council shall consist of the mayor, aldermen, and councillors.

S-11 Qualification of councillor.

11 Qualification of councillor.

(1)11.—(1.) The councillors shall be fit persons elected by the burgesses.

(2) (2.) A person shall not be qualified to be elected or to be a councillor, unless he—

(a. ) Is enrolled and entitled to be enrolled as a burgess; or

(b. ) Being entitled to be so enrolled in all respects except that of residence, is resident beyond seven miles but within fifteen miles of the borough, and is entered in the separate non-resident list directed by this Act to be made; and

(c. ) In either of those cases, is seised or possessed of real or personal property or both, to the value or amount, in the case of a borough having four or more wards, of one thousand pounds, and in the case of any other borough, of five hundred pounds, or is rated to the poor rate in the borough, in the cue of a borough having four or more wards, on the annual value of thirty pounds, and in the case of any other borough of fifteen pounds.

(3) (3.) Provided, that every person shall be qualified to be elected and to be a...

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