authority, or else to submit to a jury the question of the liability of the defaulting authority to repair the highway.

If the county authority decide to submit the question to a jury they shall direct a bill of indictment to be preferred to the next practicable assizes to be holden in and for their county, with a view to try the liability of the defaulting authority to repair the highway. Until the trial of the indictment is concluded the order of the county authority shall be suspended. On the conclusion of the trial, if the jury find the defendants guilty, the order of the county authority shall forthwith be deemed to come into force; but if the jury acquit the defendants the order of the county authority shall forthwith become void.

The costs of the indictment, and of the proceedings consequent thereon, shall be paid by such parties to the proceedings as the court before whom the case is tried may direct. Any costs directed to be paid by the county authority shall be deemed to be expenses properly incurred by such authority, and shall be paid accordingly out of the county rate; and any costs directed to be paid by the highway authority shall be deemed to be expenses properly incurred by such authority in maintenance of the roads within their jurisdiction, and shall be paid out of the funds applicable to the maintenance of such roads. (x)

Duration of Office of Waywarden.

11. Notwithstanding anything in the Highway Acts, waywardens shall continue in office till the thirtieth day of April in the year following the year in which they were elected, and on that day their successors shall come into office. (y)

(x) As to the funds applicable to the maintenance of roads in the case of an urban sanitary authority, see s. 216 of the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 55). In the case of a Highway Board, the costs will be payable out of the district fund, see s. 7, ante, p. 187; and in the case of a highway parish under a surveyor or surveyors of highways, they will be payable out of the highway rate.

(y) With regard to the election of waywardens, see 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 10, and notes, ante, p. 91. Formerly, under that enactment, a waywarden was to continue to act until his successor was appointed; and upon such appointment being made, his successor would come into office. Under the present enactment the new waywarden, appointed during the term of office of his predecessor, will not have

Repeal of part of s. 7, of 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61.

12. So much of section seven of the Highway Act, 1862, as prohibits the inclusion in a highway district of any parish or place the highways of which were, at the time of the passing of that Act, or within six months afterwards, under the superintendence of a Board established in pursuance of section eighteen of the principal Act, unless with the consent of such Board, is hereby repealed. (z)

MAIN ROADS.

Disturnpiked Roads to become Main Roads, and half the expense of maintenance to be contributed out of County Rate.

13. For the purposes of this Act, and subject to its provisions, any road which has, within the period between the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy and the date of the passing of this Act, (a) ceased to be a turnpike road, and any road which, being at the time of the passing of this Act a turnpike road, may afterwards cease to be such, shall be deemed to be a main road (b); and one half of the expenses incurred from and power to act as waywarden until the 30th of April following the date of his appointment. An out-going waywarden is re-eligible for appointment under 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 10.

(z) Under s. 18 of the Highway Act, 1835, here mentioned, a "Board for repair of the highways" may be appointed by the vestry in a parish of which the population, according to the last census for the time being, exceeds five thousand. Hitherto a parish under such a Board could only be included in a highway district formed in pursuance of the Act of 1862, if the Board consented to the inclusion; now, however, proceedings for the formation of a Highway Board may be taken without reference to such parochial Board, though they would no doubt be entitled to oppose the formation of the district at the quarter sessions if they thought fit.

(a) That is to say, the 16th August, 1878. The 31st December, 1870, is the date since which the maintenance of disturnpiked roads has been thrown on the common funds of Highway Boards, by the 33 & 34 Vict. c. 73, s. 10, see note (e), infra. A return of the roads disturnpiked between the 31st December, 1870, and the 31st December, 1878, has been printed by order of the House of Commons, dated the 2nd August, 1878.

(b) See also s. 15, post, under which certain other roads may become "main roads," and s. 16, under which roads may cease to be main roads. Roads disturnpiked between the 31st December, 1870, and the 16th

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after the twenty-ninth day of September one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight by the highway authority in the maintenance of such road shall, as to every part thereof which is within the limits of any highway area (c), be paid to the highway authority of such area by the county authority of the county in which such road is situate out of the county rate (d), on the certificate of the surveyor of the

August, 1878, may be prevented from becoming main roads in accordance with this section, if proceedings are taken under the first clause of s. 16, post.

(c) The term "highway area" is defined by the following section, but as that definition is qualified by s. 38, post, which excludes from the definition of the term "urban sanitary district," as used in this Act, every Municipal Borough having a separate court of quarter sessions, no contribution will be payable from the county rate towards the repairs of any disturnpiked road which may be within the limits of any such borough; and on the other hand, by reason of the second proviso to the above section, every such borough will be exempt from any contribution towards the expenses repayable from the county rate in respect of the disturnpiked roads within the county and without the limits of the borough, and those expenses will, therefore, be charged exclusively on the parishes constituting the remaining highway areas in the county. The same observations apply in the case of the metropolis, which is not a "highway area,’ for the purposes of this Act, and is expressly exempted from contributing towards the repayment of the expenses of maintenance of main roads beyond its limits, by the first proviso to the present section.

Where a highway district is partly in one county and partly in another, the parts will for the purposes of this section be treated as distinct highway districts in each county, see s. 19, post; and so also a turnpike road will be treated as a separate turnpike road in each county through which it passes, under s. 17.

(d) With regard to the county rate, see 1 Vict. c. 81; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 101, s. 10; 15 & 16 Vict. c. 81, and 21 & 22 Vict. c. 33.

"The Act does not prescribe in express terms how often or at what periods the repayments should be made, but it seems evident from section 18 that the Legislature contemplated that they should be made yearly. With regard to the date at which the year should terminate, it will be seen that in future the general accounts of the highway authorities of all highway districts and highway parishes are to be made up and balanced to the 25th of March in each year for the purpose of audit, and the most convenient arrangement will doubtless be that the accounts to be transmitted to the county authority should cover the same period, and the repayments be made accordingly. This arrangement, will, however, necessitate that the first accounts and repayments should be in respect of half a year only, terminating on the 25th March next." Circular letter of the Local Government Board of the 18th Sept., 1878.

county authority, or of such other person or persons as the county authority may appoint, to the effect that such main road has been maintained to his or their satisfaction. (e) Provided that no part of such expenses shall be included

in

(1.) Any precept or warrant for the levying or collection of county rate within the metropolis, (f) subject and without prejudice to any provision to be hereafter made; or

(2.) Any order made on the council of any borough having a separate court of quarter sessions under

section one hundred and seventeen of the Municipal Corporation Act, 1835. (g)

The term "expenses" in this section shall mean the cost of repairs defrayed out of current rates, and shall not include any repayment of principal moneys borrowed, or of interest payable thereon.

Description of Highway Areas.

14. The following areas shall be deemed to be highway areas for the purposes of this Act; (that is to say,)

For the purposes of the above provisions every liberty not being assessable to the county rate of the county or counties within which it is locally situate (as Peterborough, Ripon, the Isle of Ely, and the Cinque Ports), is, by s. 38, post, to be deemed to be a separate county, and the county within which any such liberty is situate will consequently not be liable to contribute to the maintenance of main roads in the liberty.

(e) The whole of the expense of maintenance of the portion within any highway district of a road which ceased to be a turnpike after the 9th August, 1863, was formerly (that is to say, since the 31st December, 1870, and previously to the passing of the present Act), charged on the district fund by s. 10 of the 33 & 34 Vict. c. 73, post, p. 268; and now the portion of the expense of maintenance of a main road, which is not paid out of the county rate under the present provision will still be charged on that fund. The contribution from the county rate, may be withheld if the highway authority fails to comply with the provisions of s. 18, post (p. 204), relating to the accounts of expenditure on the maintenance of main roads.

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(f)" Metropolis," here includes the City of London; see s. 38, post. See also note (c), ante, p. 200,

(g) See note (c), ante, p. 200.

(1.) Urban sanitary districts: (h)

(2.) Highway districts: (i)

(3.) Highway parishes (j) not included within any highway district or any urban sanitary district.

Power to declare Ordinary Highway to be a Main Road. 15. Where it appears to any highway authority that any highway within their district ought to become a main road by reason of its being a medium of communication between great towns, or a thoroughfare to a railway station, or otherwise, such highway authority may apply to the county authority for an order declaring such road, as to such parts as aforesaid, to be a main road; and the county authority, if of opinion that there is probable cause for the application, shall cause the road to be inspected, (k) and, if satisfied that it ought to be a main road, shall make an order accordingly (1).

A copy of the order so made shall be forthwith deposited at the office of the Clerk of the Peace of the County, and shall be open to the inspection of persons interested at all reasonable hours; and the order so made shall not be of any validity unless and until it is confirmed by a further order of the county authority made within a period of not more than six months after the making of the first-mentioned order.

(h) The term "urban sanitary district" in this Act does not include all urban sanitary districts as defined by the Public Health Act, 1875, but all boroughs having separate courts of quarter sessions, and all parts of parishes which are included in such boroughs for the purpose of the repairs of highways, are excluded from the term by s. 38, post, p. 222.

(i) Highway district means a district constituted in pursuance of the Highway Acts, 1862 and 1864, or one of those Acts; s. 38, post. (j) A "highway parish" is a parish or place included or capable of being included in a highway district; s. 38, post.

(k) The section does not specify any particular person who shall make the inspection, and the justices may, therefore, cause the road to be inspected by members of their own body, or by their surveyor.

(7) It will be noticed that the county authority are not empowered to declare a road to be a main road, unless the highway authority of the district in which the road is situated have made an application to them with that object. As to the incidence of the expenses of maintenance of" main roads," see s. 13, ante.

Roads may cease to be main roads in pursuance of s. 16.