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 A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...

powers to make byelaws and to acquire land and buildings. Municipal boroughs continued to be regulated by the Act until their abolition in 1974. Parts of the Act are still in operation. Sections 190 to 194 were amongst the enactments cited as the

Police Acts 1839 to 1893 Police Act is a stock short title used for legislation in India, Malaysia and the United Kingdom relating to police forces and officers. List India * Indian Police Act 1861 Malaysia *The Police Act 1967 United Kingdom *The Police (Property) ...

Charters and schemes

The Act allowed inhabitant householders of a town to petition the privy council seeking a charter of incorporation as a borough. Where the petition was successful, a committee of the privy council drew up a "scheme" which described in detail the area of the borough, and the property, powers and duties transferred from existing local authorities such as local boards, sanitary authorities or highway boards.Municipal Corporations Act 1882 c.50, s.213 The scheme, together with the charter, described the date of first elections, appointed a

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...

and divided the borough into wards. If one twentieth of the owners or rate payers of the proposed borough objected to the scheme, a local act of parliament had to be passed to bring the borough into existence.

Byelaws

Section 23 of the Act, boroughs were empowered to make

byelaw A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

s "as to them seem meet for the good rule and government of the Borough, and for the prevention and suppression of nuisances not already punishable in a summary manner by virtue of any act in force throughout the Borough, and may thereby appoint such fines, not exceeding in any case £5, as they may deem necessary for prevention and suppression of offences against the same". Such byelaws gave considerable power to the borough corporation to exert control over various activities and nuisances. Many byelaws made under the 1882 act are still in force, the powers conferred by them now being exercised by the modern local authorities that replaced the municipal boroughs under local government reorganisation.

Buildings and land

The Act allowed corporations to acquire land and buildings for the administration of the borough. Money could be borrowed to construct town halls, council houses, police stations, judges' lodgings and other buildings required for the conduct of the corporation's business. The maximum term allowed for repayment of such a loan was 30 years, boroughs needing to obtain private acts of parliament to extend the payment period.Municipal Corporations Act 1882 c.50, s.108 The corporation could not dispose of land or buildings without the permission of the

Local Government Board The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919. The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 (C. 70) and took over the public health a ...

Consolidation of existing legislation

The Act incorporated the various amendments to the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and several other pieces of legislation. Among these were the

Municipal Franchise Act 1869 The Municipal Corporation (Elections) Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict c 55), sometimes called the Municipal Franchise Act 1869 or the Municipal Corporation (Election) Act 1869, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill for this Act w ...

, which gave the vote to women ratepayers, and the

Corrupt Practices (Municipal Elections) Act 1872 Corrupt practices in English election law includes bribery, treating, undue influence, personation, and aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring personation. English election law Corrupt practices were created in United Kingdom common law ...

.Municipal Corporations Act 1882 c.50, sch.1

References

External links

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UK Legislation

* {{Borough status in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1882 Local government legislation in England and Wales Boroughs of the United Kingdom