ELEMENTARY EDUCATION LAW.

PRELIMINARY.

THE Elementary Education Acts dealt with in this volume

are

33 & 34 Vict. c. 75 (referred to in this volume as Act of 1870);

36 & 37 Vict. c. 86 (referred to as Act of 1873); and 39 & 40 Vict. c. 79 (referred to as Act of 1876).

They are, with a trifling exception in the Act of 1876, confined in their operations to England and Wales, and are administered by the Education Department.

Their preambles are as follows:

"An Act to provide for public Elementary Education in England and Wales. [9th August, 1870.]

"BE it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows (that is to say):"

"An Act to Amend the Elementary Education Act (1870), and for other purposes connected therewith.

[5th August, 1873.] "BE it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:"

"An Act to make further provision for Elementary Education. [15th August, 1876.] "WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for the education of children, and for securing the fulfilment of

parental responsibility in relation thereto, and otherwise to amend and to extend the Elementary Education Acts:

"Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:"

Their titles are given in their first sections :

:

"1. This Act may be cited as the 'Elementary Education Act, 1870.""

"1. This Act may be cited as the 'Elementary Education Act, 1873'; and this Act and the 'Elementary Education Act, 1870' (in this Act referred to as the principal Act), may be cited together as the 'Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873.""

"1. This Act may be cited as the 'Elementary Education Act, 1876.'"

Their limitations to England and Wales are thus enacted :

Section 2, Act of 1870.-" This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland."

Section 2, Act of 1876.-"This Act shall not, save as otherwise expressly provided, apply to Scotland or Ireland."

And by Section 2 of the Act 1873 (which also shows how the Act of 1873 is to be construed) "This Act shall be construed as one with the principal Act, and the expression 'this Act' in the principal Act shall be construed to include this Act."

The time at which the Act of 1876 becomes law is stated in the third section.

Section 3, Act of 1876.-This Act shall, save as otherwise expressly provided, come into operation on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven (which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act).

Following each Act are certain schedules which, for all purposes, are to have the same force as if they were inserted in the body of the Act.

Section 94, Act of 1870.-The schedules to this Act shall be of the same force as if they were enacted in this Act, and the Acts mentioned in the fourth schedule to this Act may be cited in the manner in that schedule mentioned.

Section 26, Act of 1873.-The schedules to this Act shall be of the same force as if they were enacted in the body of this Act.

Section 46, Act of 1876.-The schedules to this Act shall have effect as if they were enacted in the body of this Act.

Section 100 of the Act of 1870 directs the Education Department to publish annually a report of their proceedings:

"The Education Department shall in every year cause to be laid before both Houses of Parliament a report of their proceedings under this Act during the preceding year."

DEFINITION OF TERMS (Alphabetically arranged).

The following definition of terms are found in the Elementary Education Acts (a) :

Borough. The term "borough" means any place for the time being subject to the Act of the session of the fifth and sixth years of the reign of King William the Fourth, chapter seventy-six, intituled "An Act to provide for the regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales," and the Acts amending the same (sect. 3, Act of 1870).

MUNICIPAL BOROUGHS (b) WITH THEIR POPULATION (1871).

BOROUGHS UNDER SCHOOL BOARDS (April, 1876).

(a) Terms in this Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, have the same meaning as in "The Elementary Education Acts, 1870 and 1873" (sect. 48, Act of 1876).

(b) Exclusive of the metropolis.