Sect.

Substitution in former Acts.

242. Provision for references in unrepealed enactments to 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, &c.

243. Short titles of Acts partly repealed.

Returning Officers at Parliamentary Elections.

244. Mayor of certain boroughs to be returning officer in parliamentary elections (f. e. 1835-s. 57).

Disfranchised Parliamentary Boroughs.

245. Electors in disfranchised boroughs (f. e. 31 & 32 Vict. c. 41).

Licensing.

246. Explanation of terms "town corporate," &c., in Licensing Act (f. e. 1861-s. 4).

Freedom of Trading.

247. Right of free trading in boroughs (f. e. 1835—s. 14).

Cinque Ports.

248. Special provisions as to certain of the Cinque Ports (f. e. 1835ss. 134, 135; 1836A-ss. 10, 11).

Cambridge.

249. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge (f. e. 1836A—s. 12).

Savings.

250. Saving for existing corporations.

251. Saving for local Acts (f. e. 1836B-s. 4).

252. Saving for Prison Acts.

253. Saving for military and naval officers, &c. (f. e. 1835—s. 51).

254. Saving for dockyards, barracks, &c. (f. e. 1835—s. 89).

255. Saving as to Admiralty (f. e. 1835—ss. 64, 89; 2 & 3 Will. 4,

c. 40).

256. Saving for Lord Warden (f. e. 1835-s. 108).

257. Saving for universities (f. e. 1835—ss. 137, 138; 1839A-s. 2; 1857-s. 2; 1861-s. 2).

258. Saving for jurisdiction over cathedral precincts (ƒ. e. 1835—

s. 138).

259. Saving for royal prerogative (f. e. 1877-s. 10).

SCHEDULES.

THE FIRST SCHEDULE.

ENACTMENTS REPEALED.

PART I.-Enactments repealed generally.

PART II.-Enactments repealed only as to Boroughs within this Act.

THE SECOND SCHEDULE.

MEETINGS AND PROCEEDINGS OF COUNCIL.

(f. e. 1835-s. 69; 1873-s. 3).

THE THIRD SCHEDULE.

ELECTIONS.

PART 1.-Preparation and Revision of Parish Burgess Lists in Boroughs not Parliamentary (f. e. 1835—ss. 15-19, 44; 1857—s. 7). PART II.-Rules as to Nomination in Elections of Councillors (f. e. 1875—ss. 1, 27; 1878—s. 34).

PART III.-Modifications of the Ballot Act in its Application to Municipal Elections (f. e. 35 & 36 Vict. c. 33, s. 20; 1875— ss. 3, 4).

PART IV.-Enactments which are to revive on the Expiration of the Ballot Act (f. e. 1835-ss. 32-35).

THE FOURTH SCHEDULE.

FEES AND REMUNERATION.

(f. e. 1835—ss. 62, 83; 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 19, s. 2; 1859-s. 3).

THE FIFTH SCHEDULE.

PAYMENTS OUT OF THE BOROUGH FUND

PART I.-Payments which may be made without Order (f. e. 1835— s. 92; 1836A-s. 9; 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 19, s. 2; 1872s. 22).

PART II.-Payments which may not be made without Order (f. e. 1835– ss. 24, 62, 82, 83, 92, 100, 113, 114; 1850-s. 3; 1872-s. 20 ; 55 Geo. 3, c. 51, ss. 9, 16).

THE SIXTH SCHEDULE.

COUNTIES TO WHICH CERTAIN BOROUGHS ARE TO BE CONSIDERED ADJOINING FOR PURPOSES OF CRIMINAL TRIALS. (f. e. 1835-s. 109).

THE SEVENTH SCHEDULE.

PROCEDURE FOR SCHEME ON GRANT OF NEW CHARTER.
(f. e. 1877).

THE EIGHTH SCHEDULE.

FORMS.

PART I.-Declarations on accepting Office (f. e. 1835—ss. 50, 104). PART II.-Forms relating to Elections (f. e. 1835—ss. 15, 17; 1875-ss. 1, 6).

PART III.-Forms relating to Working Men's Dwellings (f. e. 1874). PART IV.-Forms relating to Borough Bridges (f. e. 1850A-s. 3).

THE NINTH SCHEDULE.

ENACTMENT IN WHICH A REFERENCE TO THIS ACT IS TO BE SUBSTITUTED.

PART I.-General References.

PART II.-Particular References.

**f. e. refers to former enactments.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT, 1882.

45 & 46 VICT. CAP 50.

An Act for consolidating, with Amendments, enactments relating to Municipal Corporations in England and Wales. [18th August, 1882.]

WHEREAS 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 (a):

(a) The preamble should be carefully noted. The preamble has been said to be a good means to find out the meaning of a statute, and, as it were, a key to the understanding of it. (See "Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes," p. 35.)

The meaning of several of the enactments of this Act may be open to doubt, and in such cases the preamble should be consulted. The main object of the Act is to consolidate the existing provisions of former statutes. It will be necessary, therefore, in cases of ambiguity to consult such statutes. A review of the whole Act makes it evident that the intention of the legislature was to place a large number of matters required for the good government of a borough under the control of a local representative body-the Town Council-and to give them a status, staff, and the command of necessary funds. The statute should, therefore, receive such an interpretation as will secure the contemplated ends.

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 (b):

(b) This Act has been regarded as the Magna Charta of municipal government. The manifest spirit of trust in local administration which pervades it has met with a worthy response from our corporate towns, where a strong public feeling has been awakened, and has manifested itself in the advancement of every work having for its object the improvement of the locality and the comfort of the

Note.

Short title.

Division of
Act into parts.

Extent.

Commencement.

Repeals.

inhabitants or the amelioration of their condition. It is earnestly hoped that those upon whom rest, in the last resort, the interpretation of the present Act will give encouragement, by a liberal view of the powers it confers, to those bodies who are honestly and wisely endeavouring to sustain the burden of local self-government.

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:

PART I.

PRELIMINARY.

1. This Act may be cited as the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882.

2.-This Act is divided into parts, as follows:
Part 1.—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.

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

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

5.-The enactments described in the first schedule are hereby repealed, subject to the exceptions and qualifications in this Act mentioned.