borough or boroughs, and a certain number of persons selected Corporate by the town council or councils respectively out of their own boroughs and non-corporate number, or from persons qualified to be members of the town districts. council making the selection, together with a certain number 11 & 12 Vict. of persons to be selected by the owners and ratepayers in the c. 63, s. 12. non-corporate parts of the district. Corporate 4. In every district comprising the whole or part of any corboroughs and porate borough or boroughs, and also any part or parts not non-corporate within the boundaries of any corporate borough or boroughs,— districts. such number of qualified persons as shall be fixed to be elected Ib. s. 13. for such part or parts, or for each of such parts respectively, are from time to time to be elected in such manner and by the owners of property and ratepayers, and are to be, together with the persons selected in respect of the corporate parts of such district, the Local Board of Health. 5. In districts not comprising the whole or part of any cor- Districts porate borough, and to which the Public Health Act, 1848, under Order may be applied by an Order in Council,—a certain number of in Council. persons to be elected by the owners of property and ratepayers within the district. 6. In districts not comprising the whole or part of any corporate borough, and to which the Public Health Act, 1848, cannot be applied without the authority of Parliament, -a certain number of persons to be elected by the owners of property and ratepayers within the district. Ib. s. 13. 7. In the City of Oxford,—the Oxford Commissioners acting Oxford. under the 52 Geo. III. c. 72; and the district shall be called Ib. s. 31. the Oxford district. But see post, p. 28. (It may here be mentioned that the Local Board of Oxford by 32 and 33 Vic. c. 70, Sch. (2) are the Local authority for this District under the Contagious Diseases Animals Act.) 8. In the borough of Cambridge, the Commissioners acting Cambridge. under the 34 Geo. III. c. 4; and the district shall be called the Ibid. Cambridge district. But see post, p. 28. Commis 9. In districts where there are Commissioners or Trustees Improvement under an Improvement Act, the Improvement Commissioners sioners. or Trustees acting under any local Act of Parliament when con- Ib. s. 32. stituted the Local Board of Health for the district. 10. In a corporate borough which, or any part whereof, is 11 & 12 Vict. included for the purposes of sewerage in a district comprising c. 63, s. 15. part not within the boundary of the borough, and the non-corporate part be constituted a district for any other the Public Health Act, 1848, the persons elected for the sewerage district within which they shall have been elected are to constitute the Local Board of Health. purposes of The expression "Local Board of Health," means the persons Local Board authorised to execute in each district all or any of the authorities, and duties vested in or imposed upon the Local Board by the Act. powers, of Health defined. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, S. 2. Corporate boroughs. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 24. Improvement Commissioners. Ib. 2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARDS. The duty of carrying into execution the Local Government Act, 1858, is vested in a Local Board, consisting of 1. In corporate boroughs, the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses, acting by the council. 2. In other places under the jurisdiction of a Board of Improvement Commissioners, the Board of Commissioners. 3. In other places, such number of elective members as Other places. may be determined by a resolution of the owners and ratepayers, passed in the manner in which resolutions for the adoption of the Act are directed to be passed (ante, page 14), at any meeting held for the purpose of adopting the Act, or at a meeting to be summoned by the summoning officer for the purpose. Ib. Oxford. Ib. s. 82. Cambridge. Their powers. Local Board in case of a 4. In the city of Oxford,-the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and the Mayor of Oxford for the time being, and of forty-five other Commissioners, fifteen to be elected by the university of Oxford, sixteen by the town council of Oxford, and fourteen by the ratepayers of the parishes situate within the jurisdiction of the Oxford Commissioners. 5. In the borough of Cambridge,—the Cambridge Commissioners, acting under the 34 Geo. III. c. 4. Local Government Boards, subject to the Act under which they are constituted (21 and 22 Vict. c. 98), have all the powers, rights, duties, and liabilities of Local Boards of Health under the Public Health Act, 1848, and the Acts incorporated therewith. When legally constituted they may therefore exercise all the powers of the Public Health Act, 1848, in the same manner and as fully and effectually as a Local Board of Health can under that Act. § 3. TRANSFER OF POWERS OF LOCAL BOARDS TO MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. If, after the application of the Public Health Act, 1848, to district after. any district, the parts constituting the district afterwards bewards becom- come or be entirely comprised within the limits of a corporate ing a corporate borough, the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough, borough. by the council of the borough, are to be the Local Board for 11 & 12 Vict. the district, and the powers, authorities, duties, property, and c. 63, s. 33 liabilities of any other persons as such Local Board shall absolutely cease and determine, and be vested in the mayor, men, and burgesses, as fully to all intents and purposes as if they had always been the Local Board of Health from the time when the district was originally constituted. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 26. alder CHAPTER III. QUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS OF LOCAL BOARDS. § 1. LOCAL BOARDS OF HEALTH. THE following persons are qualified to be enrolled as burgesses; Town councils and, if they possess the further qualification mentioned, there- and selected fore to be elected town-councillors, and selected by the town II & 12 Vict. council members of Local Boards of Health for districts within corporate boroughs. members. c. 63, s. 12. Qualification i. Every person of full age, who on the thirty-first of August of burgesses. in any year shall have occupied any house, warehouse, count- 5 & 6 Wm. IV. ing-house, or shop within the borough during that year and the c. 76, s. 9. whole of each of the two preceding years, and during the whole of such time shall have been an inhabitant householder within the borough, or within seven miles of it, to be computed by the nearest public road or way, by land or water: Provided (1) that he shall have been rated to the relief of the poor during the whole of such time, and paid on or before the thirty-first of August all such rates and borough rates, if any, as shall have become payable by him, except such as shall become payable within six calendar months previous thereto : (2) That he shall not be an alien (3) That he shall not have received parochial relief or other alms, or any pension or charitable allowance from any fund entrusted to the charitable trustees of the borough, within twelve calendar months next before the thirtyfirst of August. councillors. Ib. 2. To be entitled to be elected a town councillor, the person Qualification must further not be in holy orders, or the regular minister of of town any dissenting congregation, and be seized or possessed of real 16. s. 28. or personal estate, or both, in boroughs divided into four or more wards, of £1000; or be rated to the relief of the poor of such borough upon an annual value of not less than £30. In boroughs divided into less than four wards, the qualification shall be £500, or the being rated to the relief of the poor above an annual value of not less than £15; and in both cases the rating refers to the sum inserted in the rate-book as "rateable value," and not as "gross estimated rental." (1) And provided, further, the person do not hold any office of profit, other than that of mayor, in the gift of the council; or be concerned (1) Baker v. Marsh, 24 L. J. Q. B. 1. of town councillors 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, s. 28. Qualification directly or indirectly, by himself or his partner, in any contract or employment with or on behalf of the Council; but from this is excepted the being a proprietor or shareholder of any company contracting with the council for lighting or supplying with water, or insuring against fire any part of the borough. Further, with respect to the disqualification for the office of town councillor, see Le Feuvre v. Lankester, post, page 36. As regards the election of councillors for wards in boroughs, see 22 Vict. c. 35, which contains provisions on the subject. Reference may also be made to the 22 and 23 Vic. c. 32, sec. 3, which disqualifies constables from voting or interfering to influence votes in any municipal election. Qualifications of elected members. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 16. Ib. The qualifications for elected members of Local Boards of Health (i.e. members elected by the owners and ratepayers), and which they must possess so long as they shall continue in office, are 1. Residence within the district or part of the district for which they are elected, or within seven miles thereof, and be seized or possessed of real or personal estate, or both, to such value or amount as shall be fixed by order in council or provisional order, as the case may require, but not exceeding £1000, either within or without the district. The distance of seven miles will be measured by a straight line from point to point on the horizontal plane, as the crow flies," Lake v. Butler; (1) Stokes v. Grissell, (2) which related to county courts; Jewell v. Stead, (3) which had reference to the erection of a toll-gate or the taking of toll under a local Act, within three miles of Bargate in the town of Southampton; and Reg. v. Saffron Walden, (4) which was a decision under the 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 76, to the effect that the words "within ten miles thereof," in sect. 68, mean within ten miles measured in a straight line from the house which the person inhabits to the boundary of the parish in which the estate conferring the settlement is situate. See also Duignan v. Walker, (5) which had reference to the place of practising as an attorney. 2. Residence as aforesaid, and the being rated to the relief of the poor of some parish, township, or place within the district, of a certain annual value, not to exceed £30. Provided that if two or more persons be jointly seized or possessed of the same property, or be jointly rated in respect of any property, which, if equally divided between them, would qualify each to be elected, each of such persons is qualified to be elected. It will, doubtless, frequently happen that the interest in the property may not be in equal shares, but nevertheless the Act renders each partner or person jointly interested in the property, or jointly rated, qualified to be elected if the property (1) 5 E. & B. 92; 24 L. J. Q. B. 273; 1 Jur. (N.S.) 499. (4) 9 Q. B. 76; 15 L. J. M. C. 115. 4 when equally divided will confer a sufficient qualification upon each. Further, the Act expressly says that the same property shall not at the same time qualify both the owner and occupier 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 16. of it. Before elected or selected members of the Board of Health Declaration of can act in the execution of their office, they must make and members. sign before two or more other members of the Board, a decla- Ib. s. 17. ration in writing, to the following effect; that is to say— “I, A. B., do solemnly declare that I am seized or possessed of real or personal (or real and personal) estate to the value or (or that I am rated to the relief of the upon the annual value of amount of "poor of )." This declaration, when made and signed, is to be filed and kept by the clerk of the Local Board of Health; and persons falsely and corruptly making and subscribing it, knowing it to be untrue in any material particular, are to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour. It is not necessary that persons who are members of the Local Board of Health by virtue of being town councillors of the borough should make and sign this declaration, as, before they can act as members of the town council, they must have made and subscribed, pursuant to the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, s. 50, a declaration of their possessing the required qualification for the office of town councillor. § 2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARDS. members. The observations as to the qualifications of members of Town Local Boards of Health for corporate districts, ante, page 29, councils. are equally applicable to such members when they constitute the local authority under the Local Government Act. As to Qualification elective members: No person is qualified to be an elective of elective member unless he is at the time of his election, and so long as 21 & 22 Vict. he shall continue in office, by virtue of his election, resident, c. 98, s. 24. within the district for which, or for part of which, he is elected, or within seven miles thereof (as to the measurement of which see ante page 30), and is seized or possessed of real or personal estate, or both, to the value of not less than £500 in districts containing less than 20,000 inhabitants, or to the value of not less than 1000 in districts containing 20,000 or more inhabitants, or rated to the relief of the poor of the district, or of some parish within it, upon an annual value of not less than £15 in districts containing less than 20,000 inhabitants, or on an annual value of not less than £30 in districts containing 20,000 or more inhabitants. (This "annual value" will be the “rateable” value, see Baker v. Marsh, ante, page 29). If two or more persons be jointly seized or possessed of real or personal estate, or both, of such value or amount as would, if equally divided between them, qualify each to be elected, or if two or more persons be jointly rated in respect of any property |
