The Berwick-on-Tweed Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4 c. 103;

long title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. The ...

''An Act to make temporary Provision for the Boundaries of certain Boroughs'') was an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

passed to remedy some defects of the

Municipal Corporations Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The legisl ...

. It was also referred to as the Municipal Boundaries Bill and the Municipal Corporation (Boundaries) Act 1836.

Background

A more comprehensive amendment of the 1835 act had been introduced by the

second Melbourne ministry The second Lord Melbourne ministry was formed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by the Viscount Melbourne in 1835. History Lord Melbourne's second government came to power after Sir Robert Peel's minority government resigned in ...

in the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

in the 1836

parliamentary session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections. ...

(6 & 7 Will. 4), but the Lords objected to it, and so three short bills were introduced and passed the week before

prorogation Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the peri ...

to deal with urgent uncontroversial changes. Besides the boundaries act (c. 103) were acts "for the better Administration of the Borough Fund in certain Boroughs" (c. 104) and "for the better Administration of Justice in certain Boroughs" (c. 105). The boundaries act was expressed as making "temporary Provision" because the government intended to bring in a broader measure later; however, the ensuing bill was rejected in 1838.

Provisions

The act as passed had six sections: * Section 1 replaced a provision of the 1835 act which annexed to a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

any adjacent

liberties Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society f ...

. The new provision annexed only liberties which were within the municipal boundary. A consequence was that non-municipal land within a

county corporate A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland. Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county, county-e ...

would be transferred to the adjoining county-at-large, as when the

Ainsty of York The Ainsty or the Ainsty of York was a historic district of Yorkshire, England, west of the city of York. Originally a wapentake or subdivision of the West Riding of Yorkshire it later had a unique status as a rural area controlled by the corpo ...

was transferred from the

city of York The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of E ...

to the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. * Section 2 reduced the municipal boundaries of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

to the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of Sunderland, the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

s of

Monkwearmouth Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bisho ...

and Monkwearmouth Shore, and the part of the townships of

Bishopwearmouth Bishopwearmouth is a former village and parish which now constitutes the west side of Sunderland City Centre, merging with the settlement as it expanded outwards in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is home to the Sunderland Minster church, which ...

and Bishopwearmouth Panns within a mile of Wearmouth Bridge. The 1835 act had used the Sunderland parliamentary boundary defined in 1832, which encompassed all of Bishopwearmouth, Bishopwearmouth Panns, and Southwick. * Section 3 was a saver where a

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who had assigned

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s under the 1835 act specified places straddling the municipal boundary. * Section 4 specified that

local act Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

s for

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would not be affected by the 1835 act. * Section 5 specified that

county rate Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role ...

s would not be affected by the 1835 act * Section 6 declared

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

to be a county corporate. This applied for all purposes except

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

s, in which the Berwick-upon-Tweed constituency remained a

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

rather than a

county borough constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

Amendment and repeal

The Municipal Corporations (New Charters) Act 1877 assigned the

short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. Th ...

"The Municipal Corporation (Boundaries) Act, 1836". The

Municipal Corporations Act 1882 The Municipal Corporations Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c.50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced existing legislation governing municipal boroughs in England and Wales, and gave the corporations powers to make byelaws and ...

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

ed all sections of c. 103 except that relating to Berwick, which was amended by the

Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888 The Statute Law Revision (No. 2) Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 57) is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This Act was repealed by section 1(1) of, and Part XI of Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law ...

. The

"Berwick-on-Tweed Act 1836" was given by the

Short Titles Act 1896 The Short Titles Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict c 14) is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Short Titles Act 1892. This Act was retained for the Republic of Ireland by section 2(2)(a ...

. The act was finally repealed by The Local Authorities etc. (Miscellaneous Provision) (No. 2) Order 1974, a

statutory instrument In many countries, a statutory instrument is a form of delegated legislation. United Kingdom Statutory instruments are the principal form of delegated or secondary legislation in the United Kingdom. National government Statutory instrument ...

made under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, which had made sweeping changes to local government in England and Wales.

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , last1=Chitty , first1=Joseph , edition=2nd , volume=I , date=1851 , title=Chitty's Collection of Statutes: With Notes Thereon Intended as a Circuit and Court Companion , publisher=S. Sweet , location=Chancery Lane, London , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0JdPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA884 , pages=805–934 , chapter=Corporations (Municipal) , language=en 1974 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 19th century in York * History of Berwick-upon-Tweed History of Tyne and Wear Local government legislation in England and Wales Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament Sunderland United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1836