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The Court of Aldermen forms part of the senior governance of the City of London Corporation. 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 f ...
, 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 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 some ...
. The few remaining duties of the Court include approving people for
Freedom of the City The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
and approving the formation of new livery companies, appointing the Recorder of London 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. Verde ...
s of Epping Forest.


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


See also

*
Alderman 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 ...
*
Wards of the City of London The City of London (also known simply as "the City") is divided into 25 wards. The city is the historic core of the much wider metropolis of Greater London, with an ancient and '' sui generis'' form of local government, which avoided the many ...


References

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