THE Canadian Municipal Journal: DEVOTED MORE PARTICULARLY TO THE EXPOSITION OF MUNICIPAL, SCHOOL AND OTHER LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS RELATING TO LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES, Will be published by ARTHUR L. WILLSON, M.A., Monthly, at the City of Toronto, Ontario. VOL. I. JANUARY, 1891. No. 1. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. WHILE Canada justly boasts of her crowded Churches and Cathedrals; her complete System of Education, adapted and graded for Public Schools, High Schools and Colleges, together with her celebrated Universities, displaying an unrivalled climax-it is no less a matter of pride that her Municipal Institutions have proved worthy the admiration of all who have examined the admirable machinery devised and constructed for the management of the local affairs of the country. Clericals of all denominations have every facility afforded them for such superior education as may enable them to grasp the sentiments contained in Holy Writ and expound and maintain the doctrine of their several denominational tenets. Teachers and professors in Arts, Law, Medicine, Engineering, etc., have, by a course in our Educational Institutions, supervised by men of high scholastic attainments, been enabled to occupy and hold the highest positions in their respective professions to which they may aspire; while legal, medical, and scientific journals are continually supplying to the respective professions such information as the latest researches can afford. On the other hand, the responsibility of conducting the local Municipal affairs of the country is too often entrusted to men who have comparatively no knowledge of Municipal law, or of the practical method of administering the various enactments relating thereto. While, then, our Municipal Institutions are complete, we have no Municipal School of instruction, nor lectures on the subject, by which men, who are otherwise competent to occupy the position of a Municipal Councillor, might become sufficiently versed in the law and practice without adopting the rather humiliating method of obtaining information by being elected as a silent representative in Council for a year or more, by which time he is liable to be supplanted by some aspiring and successful candidate, who will then begin his course of instruction in manner similar to that pursued by his predecessor. To remedy this defect, it is proposed to issue a journal devoted more especially to Municipal and School matters, and containing such other literature, correspondence, etc., as may be considered advantageous for Municipal Councils and all those who may desire to become acquainted with the management of the local affairs of a Municipality. The Municipal Act, Assessment Act, Line Fences Act, Ditches and Water Courses Act, Public Schools Act, and other legislative enactments of general interest will be discussed from time to time, and cases cited which may appear to be of the most practical use. Forms of important By-Laws will also be given occasionally. Correspondence is solicited from all portions of the Dominion, to the end that, ultimately, a uniform system of practice may be established and the future requirements of Municipal Councils be more readily obtained. Private individuals and Companies have their several combinations and mutual and reciprocal agreements, while each Municipal Council stands comparatively alone, and can only obtain the co-operation of sister Corporations by circulating memorials at considerable expense; whereas through the medium of a journal or organ, all matters of interest to Municipal or School Corporations can, without delay, be brought before each subscriber. ARTHUR L. WILLSON, Ex-Reeve Town of North Toronto; THE CANADIAN MUNICIPAL JOURNAL. 12 Numbers per year, aggregating 400 pages. Subscription: $5.00 per year in advance. Advertisements, for Sale or Purchase of Debentures, Corporation Contracts, etc., will be inserted at Journal rates. All correspondence to be addressed ARTHUR L. WILLSON, 33 Richmond Street West, TORONTO, ONTARIO. THE MUNICIPAL ACT. (R. S. O. 1887, Cap. 184.) 1. This Act may be cited as "The Municipal Act." NOTE." Municipal," from Lat. Municipalis, a free town or corporation, having its own laws and magistrates, and also the right of Roman citizenship, as of soliciting for all public offices, and, generally, of voting at its comitia-a place of assembling of the government. Municipal law is properly expressed to be a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a State."-Blackstone. The title of the Act is technical, and any reference to a word or clause contained in any section or subsection of the Act should define the line, sub-section or section and title of the Act. 2. Where the words following occur in this Act, or in the schedule thereto, they shall be construed in the manner hereinafter mentioned, unless a contrary intention appears: (1) "Municipality," shall mean any locality the inhabitants of which are incorporated or are continued, or become so under this Act; (2) "Local Municipality," shall mean a city, town, township, or incorporated village; (3) "Council," shall mean the municipal council or provisional municipal council, as the case may be; (4) "County" shall mean county, union of counties, or united counties, or provisional county, as the case may be; (5) "Township," shall mean township, union of townships or united townships, as the case may be; (6) " County Town," shall mean the city, town, or village in which the assizes for the county are held; (7) "Land," "Lands," "Real Estate," "Real Property," shall, respectively, include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein; |