Chapter XXIX: Introduction: The Legal Constitution of the County

(_a_) THE AREA AND DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTY; (_b_) THE CUSTOS
ROTULORUM; (_c_) THE SHERIFF AND HIS COURT; (_d_) THE HIGH
CONSTABLE; (_e_) THE CORONER; (_f_) THE COMMISSION OF THE PEACE;
(_g_) COUNTY SERVICE; (_h_) AN ORGAN OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. ON SOME
ANOMALOUS COUNTY JURISDICTIONS, INCLUDING THE COUNTIES PALATINE.

THE RULERS OF THE COUNTY.

(_a_) NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF JUSTICES; (_b_) THE JUSTICE OF MEAN
DEGREE; (_c_) THE TRADING JUSTICE; (_d_) THE COURT JUSTICE; (_e_)
THE SYCOPHANT JUSTICE AND RURAL TYRANT; (_f_) THE MOUTH-PIECE OF THE
CLERK; (_g_) THE CLERICAL JUSTICE; (_h_) THE LEADER OF THE PARISH;
(_i_) LEADERS OF THE COUNTY; (_j_) THE LORD-LIEUTENANT AND THE HIGH
SHERIFF; (_k_) CLASS EXCLUSIVENESS.

COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BY JUSTICES OUT OF SESSIONS.

(_a_) THE "SINGLE JUSTICE"; (_b_) THE "DOUBLE JUSTICE"; (_c_) THE
SPECIAL SESSIONS; (_d_) PETTY SESSIONS; (_e_) THE SERVANTS OF THE
JUSTICES; (_f_) THE SPHERE OF JUSTICES "OUT OF SESSIONS."

THE COURT OF QUARTER SESSIONS.

(_a_) THE TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING; (_b_) THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
COURT; (_c_) THE PROCEDURE OF THE COURT; (_d_) ADMINISTRATION BY
JUDICIAL PROCESS; (_e_) THE GRAND JURY; (_f_) THE HUNDRED JURY;
(_g_) PRESENTMENTS BY CONSTABLES; (_h_)PRESENTMENTS BY JUSTICES.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXTRA-LEGAL CONSTITUTION.

I. THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE.

(_a_) THE HIGH SHERIFF AND HIS BAILIFFS; (_b_) THE HIGH CONSTABLE;
(_c_) THE CLERK OF THE PEACE; (_d_) THE COUNTY TREASURER; (_e_) THE
COUNTY SURVEYOR; (_f_) EXECUTIVE MAKESHIFTS; (_g_) COMMITTEES OF
JUSTICES.

II. AN INCHOATE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE.

III. AN EXTRA-LEGAL COUNTY OLIGARCHY.

THE REACTION AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE COUNTY.

(_a_) THE BREAKDOWN OF THE MIDDLESEX BENCH; (_b_) THE LACK OF
JUSTICES; (_c_) THE RESTRICTION OF PUBLIC HOUSES; (_d_) THE
JUSTICES' POOR LAW; (_e_) THE GROWTH OF COUNTY EXPENDITURE; (_f_)
THE SEVERITY OF THE GAME LAWS; (_g_) THE STOPPING UP OF FOOTPATHS;
(_h_) THE STRIPPING OF THE OLIGARCHY; (_i_) WHY THE JUSTICES
SURVIVED.

LONGMANS. GREEN & CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

WORKS BY SIDNEY AND BEATRICE WEBB

Demy 8vo, pp. viii and 858, in 2 volumes (1908). Price 25s. net.

ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
(THE MANOR AND THE BOROUGH)
FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS ACT

In this second instalment of their English Local Government the authors apply their method of combined history and analysis to the fascinating story of the towns and the manorial communities, of which several hundreds find mention, belonging to all the counties of England and Wales. An interesting new account is given, from unpublished materials, of the organisation and development in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the Manor and its several Courts, with picturesque glimpses of the hitherto undescribed part played by the Jury in the common-field agriculture. But the Manor is shown to be also the starting-point for a whole series of constitutional developments, passing through grade after grade of Manorial Borough, hitherto undescribed, into the complete Municipal Corporation. This, too, is analysed and described in a way never before attempted, so as to make the strangely interesting life of the towns live before us. A special chapter is devoted to the Boroughs of Wales, in which their national peculiarities are brought out. Their extensive study of the manuscript records enable the authors to set forth the inner working of the "Municipal Democracies" that existed alongside the chartered oligarchies, with their many analogies to modern American cities; and to bring vividly to notice the conditions and limitations of successive Democratic government. There is an interesting sketch of English hierarchies of town government, chief among them being the Cinque Ports, the constitutional position of which is presented in a new light. The anomalous history of the City of Westminster is explored by the light of the unpublished archives of its peculiar municipal organisation. An altogether novel view is presented of the constitutional development of the greatest municipality of all, the Corporation of the City of London, to which no fewer than 124 pages are devoted. The work concludes with a picturesque account of the "Municipal Revolution" of 1835, and the Homeric combat of Brougham and Lyndhurst which ended in the Municipal Reform Act of 1835.

CONTENTS