Local Government Law and Legislation for the Year ...

LONDON:

HADDEN, BEST & Co., PRINTERS, 5, WEST HARDING STREET, & 26, FETTER LANE, E.C

PREFACE.

The number of Acts passed in 1903 in which local authorities are interested is above the average and embraces several, such as the Borough Funds Act, the Employment of Children Act, the Housing of the Working Classes Act, the Motor Cars Act, and others, of considerable importance. All of them have in this volume been duly annotated and supplemented by the official orders, circulars, and memoranda which bear upon their provisions.

In the sphere of earlier legislation there has been continuous activity on the part of the central authorities. This has especially been so in the case of the Board of Education who have been indefatigable in the production of orders, regulations, etc., designed to bring the educational system into line with the requirements of the Education Act, 1902. Part III. of this issue will for this reason be particularly useful to local education authorities.

January, 1904.

W. H. D.

PREFACE TO FIRST ANNUAL VOLUME.

New legislation and the reported decisions of the Courts, continually render the most comprehensive text books on local government out of date and deficient in some particulars.

Until the gap is filled by new works or editions or by some other means, members and officers of local authorities necessarily experience difficulty in keeping in touch with the law and in grappling with the problems which invariably press for solution when changes take place in the law relating to local government. It is true that legislation of a novel character when of sufficient importance is generally followed at no great length of time by explanatory treatises, but this is seldom so in the case of less important statutes. These may not be dealt with at all, or even if they amend previous Acts, may often have to wait a somewhat prolonged period before their provisions are incorporated in new editions of standard works. The results of cases decided in the Courts since the publication of any particular text book can only be gathered by a close search in digests and various current reports dealing with every branch of the law which are not in

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every instance readily accessible. Busy men have long felt the need of a handy year book which would meet their difficulty and practically form a supplement bringing up to date all other text books.

The present work, which is intended to be the first of a series to be issued at the close of each parliamentary and legal year, has been prepared for the express purpose of bringing together in a convenient form the legislation and cases of the year which affect the powers and duties of county, borough, district and parish councils, and boards of guardians. The text of the Acts of the year is fully annotated and explained, and so much of any previous legislation is reprinted as may be necessary to elucidate the new enactments. Each Act is followed by the Official Circulars, Orders, or other information which bear upon its provisions. Miscellaneous Orders, Circulars, and other official information issued by Government departments in relation to matters not arising out of Acts of the year, are collected together in a separate Part of the book. The Digest of all cases decided and reported during the year contains full references to the recognised reports, and the notes have been carefully framed to show clearly the point raised and decided by each case. A list of Public Bills stating briefly their subject matter and the progress which they made, will it is hoped complete the usefulness of the book as a ready work of reference for those who are interested in the progress of local government.

Acts and other matters relating exclusively to the administrative county of London in which special enactments as to local government are in force, have generally not been included in the work; but notes of cases relating to those enactments which throw any light upon similar provisions in force in the provinces will be found among the cases noted in the Digest.

Each Part has, so far as the subject matter permits, been arranged alphabetically; a general Table of Contents is inserted at the commencement of the book further to facilitate reference.

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