The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the

City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United King ...

. It comprises twenty-five

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members the ...

of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, presided over by the Lord Mayor (becoming senior alderman during his year of office). The Court was originally responsible for the entire administration of the City, but most of its responsibilities were subsumed by the

Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. Elections are held at least every four years. It is largely composed o ...

in the fourteenth century. The Court of Aldermen meets nine times a year in the Aldermen's Court Room at

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

. The few remaining duties of the Court include approving people for Freedom of the City and approving the formation of new livery companies, appointing the

Recorder of London The Recorder of London is an ancient legal office in the City of London. The Recorder of London is the senior circuit judge at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey), hearing trials of criminal offences. The Recorder is appointed by the Cr ...

and acting as the

Verderer Verderers are forestry officials in England who deal with common land in certain former royal hunting areas which are the property of the Crown. The office was developed in the Middle Ages to administer forest law on behalf of the King. Verderer ...

s of

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

Term of office

Although there is no compulsion by law to do so, Aldermen usually submit themselves for re-election every six years and by custom retire at the age of 70. In 2020 David Graves declined to stand for re-election after six years as Alderman for Cripplegate, stating “given the current CV-19 concerns and limitations, I decided that to trigger a 42 ... day electoral process now would be inappropriate and unsuitable for the good conduct of a fair election.” He again deferred standing for re-election in 2021 for the same reason, triggering calls for the reform of the law relating to this election.

List of current aldermen

References

Politics of the City of London City of London Corporation {{London-stub

Term of office

List of current aldermen

See also

References