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tuchers and papers relating thereto, shall, in the months of March and ptember in every year, be submitted by the treasurer of the borough the auditors herein-before provided to be elected, and to such member f the council as the mayor shall name on the first day of March in ery year, or in case of extraordinary vacancy within ten days next er such vacancy, for the purpose of being examined and audited, m the first day of September in the year preceding to first day of arch, and from the first day of March to the first day of September in 01 year in which the said auditors were elected and named, and if the d accounts shall be found to be correct, the auditors shall sign the me; and after such accounts shall have been so examined and audited the month of September in every year, the treasurer shall make out a writing, and shall cause to be printed, a full abstract of his accounts for the year, and a copy thereof shall be open to the inspection of all the rate-payers of such borough, and copies thereof shall be delivered J te all rate-payers of such borough applying for the same, on payment fa reasonable price for each copy.

No. V.

5 & 6 W. 4,

c. 76.

XCIV. That it shall not be lawful for the council of any body corpo- Power of sale nate to be elected under this act to sell, mortgage, or alienate the lands, and leasing retenements, or hereditaments of the said body corporate, or any part strained. hereof, except in pursuance of some covenant, contract, or agreement nafide made or entered into on or before the fifth day of June in this present year, by or on behalf of the body corporate of any borough, or of some resolution duly entered in the corporation books of such body corporate on or before the said fifth day of June, or to demise or lease, except in pursuance of some covenant, contract, or agreement bona fide made or entered into on or before the said fifth day of June by or on the behalf of such body corporate, or in pursuance of some resolutions duly entered in the corporation books of such body corporate on or before the said fifth day of June, or except in the cases herein-after mentioned, any lands, tenements, or hereditaments of such body corporate, or any part thereof, or to enter into any new covenant, contract, agreement (except in the cases herein-after mentioned) for demising or leasing any such lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any part thereof, for any term exceeding thirty-one years from the time when such lease shall be made, or if made in pursuance of a previous agreement, then from the time when such agreement shall have been entered into; and in every lease which the said council is not hereby restrained from making there shall (except in the cases herein-after mentioned) be reserved and made payable during the whole of the term thereby granted such clear yearly rent as to the council shall appear reasonable, without taking any fine for the same: Provided nevertheless, that in every case in which such council shall deem it expedient to sell and alienate or to demise and lease for a longer term than thirty-one years, or upon different terms and conditions than those herein-before mentioned, any of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, it shall be lawful for such council to represent the circumstances of the case to the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury; and it shall be lawful for such council, with the approbation of the said lords commissioners or any three of them, to sell, alienate, and demise any of the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of the said body corporate in such manner and on such terms and conditions as shall have been approved by the said lords commissioners: Provided always, that notice of the intention of the council to make such application as aforesaid shall be fixed on the outer door of the town hall, or in some public and conspicuous place within the borough, one calendar month at least before such application; and a copy of the memorial intended to be sent to the said lords commissioners shall be kept in the town clerk's office during such calendar month, and shall be freely open to the inspection of every burgess at all reasonable hours during the same.

XCV. Provided always, That in all cases in which any body corpo- The council of rate shall on the fifth day of June in this present year have been bound any borough

No. V.

5 & 6 W. 4, c. 76.

under this act

authorized to

renew leases,

&c.

Leases of certain buildings, and of ground for building on, or for making gardens, &c., may be made for seventyfive years.

or engaged by any covenant or agreement, express or implied, or have been enjoined by any deed, will, or other document, or have been sanctioned or warranted by ancient usage or by custom or practice, to make any renewal of any lease for years, or for life or lives, or for years determinable with any life or lives at any fixed or determinate or known or accustomed period, or after the lapse of any number of years, or on the dropping of any life or lives, and years determinable after the lapse of any number of years, at a fine certain, or under any special or specific terms or conditions, and also in all cases in which any body corporate shall theretofore have ordinarily made renewal of any lease for years, or for life or lives, or for years determinable with any life or lives at any fixed or determinate or known or accustomed period, or after the lapse of any number of years, or upon the dropping of any life or lives, upon the payment of an arbitrary fine, it shall be lawful for the council of such borough to renew such lease for such term or number of years, either absolutely or determinable with any life or lives, or for such life or lives, and at such rent, and upon the payment of such fine or premium, either certain or arbitrary, and with or without any covenant for the future renewal thereof, as such body corporate could or might have done in case this act had not been passed.

XCVI. Provided nevertheless, That in any of the instances hereinafter mentioned it shall be lawful for the council from time to time to demise and lease, or to enter into any contract or agreement for demising and leasing, any of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to any person, body politic, corporate, or collegiate, for any term not exceeding seventy-five years from the time of making such lease or agreement; (that is to say,) of tenements or hereditaments the greate part of the yearly value of which shall at the time of making the leas or agreement consist of any building or buildings, of land or groun proper for the erection of any houses or other buildings thereupon, with or without gardens, yards, curtilages, or other appurtenances to be used therewith, and, where the lessee or intended lessee shall covenant or agree to erect a building or buildings thereon of greater yearly value than such land or ground, of land or ground proper for gardens, yards, curtilages, or other appurtenances to be used with any other house or other building erected or to be erected on any such ground, belonging either to such body corporate or to any other proprietor, or proper for any other purpose calculated to afford convenience or accommodation to the occupiers of any such house or building.

Collusive purXCVII. That it shall be lawful for the council first to be elected in chases, sales, any borough under the provisions of this act to call in question all and demises of purchases, sales, leases, and demises not made in pursuance of some corporate pro- such bona fide covenant, contract, agreement, or resolution made or perty since the entered into as aforesaid before the said fifth day of June, and all con5th June 1835, tracts for the purchase, sale, lease, or demise of any lands, tenements, for undue con- and hereditaments, and all divisions and appropriations of the monies, sideration, may goods, and valuable securities, or any part of the real or personal be set aside. estate, of which on or before the fifth day of June in this present year the body corporate of which they are the council, whether in their own right or as trustees for charitable or other purposes, was seised or possessed, which shall have been made or contracted between the said fifth day of June and the day of the declaration of their election; and for that purpose, if it shall appear to the said council that there is ground for believing that any such purchase, sale, lease, or demise, or such contract, or such division or appropriation of the premises, was collusively made for no consideration, or for an inadequate consideration, it shall be lawful for the council of such borough, at any time within six calendar months next after the first election of councillors under this act shall have been declared in such borough, upon notice of their intention being first given in the London Gazette, and also affixed on the outer door of the town hall or in some public place within the borough, to cause the value of the lands, tenements, hereditaments,

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No. V.

c. 76.

and premises in question to be inquired of and found by a jury of welve indifferent men of the county in which, or adjoining to which in 5 & 6 W 4, the case of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and of all counties of cities and towns corporate, such lands, tenements, hereditaments, or premises do lie; and in order thereto the said council is empowered to summon and call before such jury all persons having the custody and possession of any deed or agreement concerning the said lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises made or entered into since the said fifth day of June, and to cause all such deeds and agreements to be produced before the said ury, and examined by them, and to examine upon oath every person who shall be thought necessary to be examined (which oath the mayor is hereby empowered to administer); and the council shall, by ordering a riew or otherwise, use all lawful means for the information as well of themselves as of the said jury in the premises; and the jury shall find the value of the said lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises, and the consideration which shall have been given, and also that which ought of right to have been given, for the purchase, sale, lease, demise, or appropriation thereof, according to the terms of such purchase, sale, lease, demise, contract, or appropriation, and taking into account all the circumstances under which the same shall have taken place; and if the jury by their oaths shall find that no consideration, or a consideration less than that which they shall have so found to be the value which ought therefore to have been given, shall have been collusively given or contracted to be given by the terms of any such purchase, sale, lease, demise, contract, or appropriation, the party to such purchase, sale, J lease, demise, contract, or appropriation shall have his option either to re-convey and restore the lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises in question, and to abandon the contract to which he shall have been party, upon receipt in each case of the consideration, if any, which he shall have given for the same, or to give therefore in each case such additional consideration so that the whole consideration given shall be that which ought of right to have been given, so found by the jury as aforesaid; and in every such case as last aforesaid the additional consideration given or to be given shall be endorsed on the original deed or conveyance; and unless he shall so do within one calendar month next after the finding of the jury every such purchase, sale, lease, demise, contract, and conveyance shall be absolutely void and of none effect, as against the said body corporate and their successors; and in every case in which any such contract shall have been abandoned as aforesaid, or in which any such purchase, sale, lease, demise, contract, or conveyance, shall become void and of none effect; under the provisions of this act, the party who would otherwise have གྲྭ་ had the benefit of the same shall be remitted to his former estate, title, and interest (if any) in the premises as if no such contract, purchase, sale, lease, or demise had been made or entered into; and for summoning and returning such juries, and for imposing fines on the sheriff, his deputy, bailiff, or agent, and on the persons summoned and returned on the said jury, and on any person required to give evidence, who shall in this behalf contravene the provisions of this act, the council of every such borough shall have all the powers given in that behalf to the trustees or commissioners of any turnpike road by an act made in the third year of his late Majesty George the Third, intituled An Act to amend the General Laws now in being for regulating Turnpike 3 G. 4, c. 126. Roads in that part of Great Britain called England; and all the costs of the said jury, and of all witnesses tendered by the said council to be examined before the said jury, shall in every case be borne by the council, and paid out of the borough fund: Provided nevertheless, That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, if he shall think fit, by the advice of his privy council, upon petition to him setting forth the special circumstances under which any purchase, sale, lease, demise, contract, or appropriation of any of the said lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises shall have been made since the said fifth day of June, to order

No. V.

5 & 6 W. 4, c. 76.

that the same shall not be called in question under the provisions of this act; and in such case as last aforesaid the same shall not be called in question or set aside or affected under the provisions of this act Provided always, That in every case in which such petition shall have: been presented it shall be lawful for his Majesty, if he shall think fit, to enlarge the time within which (in case his Majesty shall not think fit to make such order as aforesaid) the council may have power as aforesaid to call in question any purchase, sale, lease, demise, contract, or appropriation referred to in such petition.

His Majesty's XCVIII. That it shall be lawful for his Majesty from time to time commission to assign to so many persons as he shall think proper his Majesty's may be issued commission to act as justices of the peace in and for each borough, and for certain per- in and for each of the counties of cities and towns respectively named sons to act as in the said schedule (A.), and in and for such of the boroughs in the justices in any of said schedule (B.) to which his Majesty may be pleased upon the petisuch boroughs. tion of the council thereof to grant a commission of the peace: Provided

nevertheless, That every person so to be assigned shall reside within the borough for which he shall be so assigned, or within seven miles of such borough, or of some part thereof, during such time as he shall act as a justice of the peace in and for such borough.

Councils may XCIX. That if the council of any borough shall think it requisite make bye-laws, that a salaried police magistrate or magistrates be appointed within such on which the borough, such council is hereby empowered to make a bye-law fixing crown may ap- the amount of the salary which he or they are to receive in that behalf; point salaried and such bye-law so made by any council as aforesaid shall be transjustices. mitted to one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state, and it shall be lawful thereupon for his Majesty, if he shall think fit, to appoint one or more fit persons, according to the number fixed in the said bye-law (being barristers at law of not less than five years standing), to be during his Majesty's pleasure police magistrate or magistrates and a justice or justices of the peace for such borough, and to direct that such sum shall be paid quarterly out of the borough fund of such borough as will be sufficient to pay such yearly salary to each of the justices so assigned as last aforesaid, not exceeding in the whole the salary mentioned in the prayer of such petition, clear of all fees or deductions, as to his Majesty shall seem fit; and the treasurer of such borough shall thereupon pay to each justice so assigned as last aforesaid, out of the borough fund of such borough, the salary so directed to be paid, by four equal quarterly payments, and in the same proportion up to the time of the death of such justice or his ceasing to act under such assignment as aforesaid: Provided that in every case of vacancy of the office of police magistrate in any borough aforesaid no new ap pointment of police magistrate in such borough shall be made until the council shall again make application to one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state in that behalf, and as in the case of the first appointment of a police magistrate in such borough.

Council to provide a police office.

Justices need

not be qualified by estate.

C. That the council of every borough to which a separate commission of the peace shall be granted under the provisions of this act shall be authorized and required to provide and furnish one or more fit and suitable office or offices, to be called "The Police Office” or “Offices" of the borough, for the purpose of transacting the business of the justices of such borough, and to pay from time to time out of the borough fund such sums as may be necessary for providing, upholding, and furnishing, and for the necessary expences of such police office or offices; provided that no room in any house licensed as a victualling house or alehouse shall be used for the purposes of any such police office.

CI. That every person assigned to keep the peace within any borough under the provisions of this act, or any of them, shall, during the continuance of such assignment, execute the duties of a justice of the peace in and for the borough for which he shall have been so assigned, although he may not have such qualification by estate as is required by law in the case of other persons being justices of the peace for a county,

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No. V.

& 6 W. 4,

c. 76.

frovided that such person be not disqualified by law to act as a justice If the peace for any other cause or upon any other account than in 5 respect of estate, and although such person may not be a burgess of the borough in and for which he shall have been assigned to act as a justice of peace; and that every summons for the appearance of any person, or warrant to compel such appearance, or warrant for the apprehension of Ey person charged with any offence, or search warrant, issued by any stice of the peace acting in and for any borough in any matter within is jurisdiction, may be respectively served and executed within any unty in which the said borough shall be situated, or within any stance not exceeding seven miles from such borough, and within such rmits as aforesaid shall have the same force and effect as if the same had been originally issued or subsequently indorsed by a justice of the eace having jurisdiction in the place where the same shall be served or recuted, any law, statute, charter, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding; and every such summons and warrant shall and may be lawfully served or executed within such limits as aforesaid by the onstable or special constable to whom the same shall be directed: Pro- Such justices rided nevertheless, That no such person, by virtue of such assignment, not to sit in shall act as a justice of the peace at any court of gaol delivery or general courts of gaol r quarter sessions, or in making or levying any county rate, or rate in delivery, &c. the nature of a county rate.

alderman or

CII. That it shall be lawful for the justices of every borough to which Justices to apseparate commission of the peace shall be granted as aforesaid, at point a clerk, their first or any other meeting, and they are hereby respectively re- who shall not quired to appoint a fit person to be the clerk to the justices of such be clerk of the borough, to be removable at their pleasure, and so as often as there peace, or an shall be a vacancy in the said office of clerk to the justices by death, councillor, nor resignation, removal, or otherwise; provided that it shall not be lawful be concerned in for the said justices to appoint or continue as such clerk to the justices the prosecution any alderman or councillor of such borough, or clerk of the peace of of offenders such borough, or the partner of such clerk of the peace, or any clerk or committed by person in the employ of such clerk of the peace: Provided also, That it the borough shall not be lawful for the said clerk to the justices, by himself or his justices. partner, to be directly or indirectly interested or employed in the proseention of any offender committed for trial by the justices of whom he hall be such clerk as aforesaid, or any of them, at any court of gaol delivery or general or quarter sessions; and any person being an alderan or councillor, or clerk of the peace of any borough, or the partner or clerk or in the employ of such clerk of the peace, who shall act as clerk to the justices of such borough, or shall otherwise offend in the premises, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds, one moiety thereof to the treasurer of such borough, to be paid over to the credit and account of the borough fund of such borough, and the other moiety thereof, with full costs of suit, to any person who will sue for the same in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster.

CIII. That the council of every borough which shall be desirous that His Majesty a separate court of quarter sessions of the peace shall be or continue to may grant a be holden in and for such borough shall signify the same by petition to separate court his Majesty in council, setting forth the grounds of the application, the of quarter sesstate of the gaol, and the salary which they are willing to pay to the sions, and aprecorder in that behalf; and it shall be lawful for his Majesty, if he point a reshall be pleased thereupon to grant that a separate court of quarter corder in certain boroughs. sessions of the peace shall be thenceforward holden in and for such borough, to appoint for such borough, or for any two or more of such boroughs conjointly, a fit person, being a barrister at law of not less than five years standing, who shall be and be called the recorder of such borough or boroughs, and shall hold such office during his good behaviour, and upon any vacancy in any such office to appoint another fit person, being a barrister at law of not less than five years standing, to be the recorder in the place of the person so making such vacancy;

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