provided by this Act, with the same qualification of members from property or rating as the lapsed local board, and the result of such election shall be signified to one of Her Majesty's principal secretaries of state by the person conducting it (h), in the same manner as is herein-after directed with regard to the adoption of this Act;

And all the rights and liabilities of the former local board shall attach to the new local board as if there had been no lapse before the election thereof, and from the date of such election all powers of any receiver to make (i) rates under the preceding section shall determine.

AS TO ADOPTION OF ACT AND CONSTITUTION OF LOCAL
BOARDS.

XII. This Act may be adopted,

(1.) In corporate boroughs (k) to which the Public Health Act to be

Under 11 & 12

(h) It is by no means clear who this person is to be. Vict. c. 63, s. 21, the chairman of a board in existence is to be the returning officer at the annual election of the members. But in the case provided for in the text there will be no chairman, and there is no specific provision for the appointment of a returning officer.

(i) The right of the receiver to collect them is not taken away, but that will be of course unnecessary if the new board proceed to pay the debt and interest.

(k) See the definition in sect. 2 of this Act.

adopted by

Reservation The 25 & 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 41, enacted that "any parish or part of a of the rights parish included in a highway district may adopt the Local Government to adopt this Act in the same manner and under the same circumstances in and under Act. which it might have adopted the same if it had not been included in such district; and upon such adoption being made, such parish or part of the parish shall cease to form part of such district, subject nevertheless to the payment of any contribution that may at the time of such adoption be outstanding from such parish or part of a parish to the highway board." The adoption is not now only a question for the ratepayers of the district. The 26 & 27 Vict. c. 17, after reciting that" by the Local Government Act, 1858, numerous provisions are made for the establishment of local government in towns and populous districts that may adopt the Act, for the regulation of the sewerage, drainage, and buildings therein, for the maintenance of the streets and roads, and for police and other town purposes: and that it was expedient to place some restriction upon the adoption of the Act by places containing a small population only, and otherwise to amend the said Act;" enacted in sect. 2, that "the adoption of the Local Government Act, 1858, by any place where that Restriction Act was not in force on the 1st day of March, 1863, and where the popula- adoption of on according to the then last census is less than three thousand, shall not the Act by

as to the

resolution of council improvement commissioners, or owners, and ratepayers.

certain places.

Act, 1848, has not been applied, by a resolution of the council assembled at a meeting held for the purpose (1): Provided always that this Act shall not be adopted in corporate boroughs until after the election of councillors on the 1st day of November, 1858:

(2.) In other places under the jurisdiction of a board of improvement commissioners (m), where all or part of the commissioners are elected by ratepayers, or by owners and ratepayers, by a resolution of such improvement commissioners assembled at a meeting held for the purpose (n):

be of any validity unless it is approved by one of Her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, on proof being given to his satisfaction that by reason of special circumstances it is expedient that such place should be allowed to adopt the Act.

"Before signifying his approval or disapproval the said secretary may cause an inquiry to be made in the place as to the circumstances alleged in support of the expediency of the adoption of the Act, of the time and place of which inquiry fourteen days' public notice shall be given, and on the determination of such inquiry shall give or withhold, as he thinks just, his approval of the adoption of the Act.

"The approval or disapproval of the said secretary of state shall be published by the said secretary in the Gazette, and such publication shall be evidence of the fact of that approval or disapproval having been given." See sect. 22, post.

(2) It is a question whether the council can act spontaneously or whether an application from the ratepayers referred to in the next section is not a necessary requisite to precede the action of the council. The minute of information circulated by the Secretary of State, does not point out that it is requisite. Yet it is difficult to read sect, 13, and not come to the conclusion that such requisition is a precedent condition. Otherwise it is not easy to explain the purport of that section. The effect of the two clauses appears to be that the ratepayers are to require the mayor or chairman, as the case may be, to summon the council or board, and such council or board may then adopt the Act.

(m) There is no legal definition of the term improvement commissioners. In some cases local Acts have been obtained in general terms for the improvement of towns, but oftentimes commissioners are appointed under local Acts for paving, lighting, watching, and in other respects providing for the management of the locality without any such title as above. In the Common Lodging House Act, 14 & 15 Vict. c. 28, s. 2, and in the Nuisances Removal Act, 1855, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 126, s. 2, there is a definition of an "Improvement Act," but it is too extensive for this

statute.

(n) See note on 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 34, ante.

(3.) In all other places having a known (0) or defined boundary, by a resolution of the owners (p) and ratepayers (p):

But no such resolution passed by any council or board of improvement commissioners shall be valid unless a month's (q) previous notice of the meeting, and of the purpose thereof, has been given in manner in which notices of meetings of such council (r) or board of commissioners are usually given, nor unless two-thirds of the members present at the meeting concur in the resolution of such adoption (s); and it shall be lawful for the chairman of any such meeting, with the consent of a majority of the members present, to adjourn the same from day to day.

(0) This is a very vague term. It is not clear by whom the boundary is to be known. Doubtless general reputation must be referred to, and this is oftentimes a matter of considerable uncertainty. The boundaries of parishes indeed are for the most part well known, and so are those of townships and chapelries, especially where they make their own poor rate separately. There are many places where the boundaries have been defined by statute. Occasionally, also, districts have been settled hy orders in council and similar authority under the general statutes applicable to new ecclesiastical parishes. In these cases the text can be safety applied. Accordingly in Q. v. The Ratepayers of Northowram and Clayton, Law Rep. 1 Q. B. 110; 7 B. & S. 110, the court of Queen's Bench held, that an ecclesiastical district formed under 6 & 7 Vict. c. 37, of parts of two separate parishes was " a place with a defined boundary." A parish is a place within this clause, but not a parliamentary borough. Reg. v. Secretary of State for Home Department, 19 L. T. (N. 8.) 353; Law Rep. 4 Q. B. 117.

(p) See in 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 2, the definition of owner, and in sect. 20 that of ratepayer, and it is to be presumed that these definitions will apply to the text. But the restrictions upon the voting of owners imposed by the latter section, requiring the statement of the property to be sent a certain time beforehand, cannot apply.

(q) By the temporary Act, 26 & 27 Vict. c. 70, s. 7, which applied to certain northern districts only, a week was substituted for a month. (r) See 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 69, which requires one-third part of the council to be present.

(8) Note, that there must be two-thirds of the members present to concur. It will not suffice that there should be two-thirds of those voting on the question. See In re Eynsham, 12 Q. B. 398; Q. v. Overseers of Christ Church, 7 E. & B. 409; 26 L. J. R. M. C. 68.

As to sum

moning meetings for purpose

XIII. (1.) Meetings for the purpose of the preceding sections shall be summoned on the requisition in writing (t)

of preceding of any twenty ratepayers (u) or owners (u);

section.

Provision

as to costs of

proceedings

with a view

the Local

In corporate boroughs, by the mayor;

In other places, under the jurisdiction of such improvement commissioners as aforesaid, by the chairman of the said commissioners;

In places having known and (v) defined boundaries, not being corporate boroughs, or towns under the jurisdiction of such improvement commissioners as are hereinbefore mentioned (w), by the churchwardens or one of them (x), or if there are no churchwardens, the overseers

(t) To provide against the failure of the proposal for the adoption so far as the expense is concerned, the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 61, s. 1, enacts that 66 ratepayers or owners making a requisition for the summoning of meetings for the purpose of deciding as to the adoption of The Local Government Act, 1858,' shall, if required, give security in a bond, with two to adopting sufficient sureties, for repayment to the summoning officer, in the event of the Act not being adopted, of the costs incurred in relation to such meetings or polls taken in pursuance of any demand made at such meetings, the amount of the security to be given by such sureties, and their sufficiency, and the amount of such costs, to be settled by agreement between the summoning officer and such ratepayers or owners, or in the event of disagreement between them by any justice of the peace acting in and for the place in which it is proposed that the said Act shall be adopted."

Government Act, when that Act is not adopted.

Hence à

The precise effect of this provision has not been established. question has arisen whether in a case where the Act, though adopted by the meeting in the district, is set aside by the Secretary of State on appeal, the bond is forfeited. The better opinion seems to be that it is. The intention clearly is, that there shall be an indemnity against failure from the promoter of the movement however it may be caused.

(u) See note as to this word in sect. 12. As it will be a serious question whether the local board will be legally constituted if this requisition be invalid, and as the qualification of persons acting as owners may prove not to be good, it will be found most prudent to obtain the signatures of the prescribed number of ratepayers whose qualification can be easily established. Again, it is not clear whether the requisitionists must be all ratepayers or all owners, or whether they may be partly of one class and partly of another, but it is certain that they may be all of one class.

(v) Here it will be observed that the conjunction and is used, whereas in the last section the disjunctive or is used. However the variance will make no difference in the interpretation.

(w) In sect. 12.

(x) The charchwardens of an ecclesiastical district formed under the

or one of them, or if there is none of the officers respectively above enumerated, or if such officer in any case neglects, is unable, or refuses to perform the duties hereby imposed on him, by any person appointed by one of Her Majesty's principal secretaries of state (y); (2.) In such places as last aforesaid the summoning officer Notice of shall, upon such requisition (z) fix a time and place for holding such meeting, and thall forthwith give notice thereof

By advertisement in some one or more of the news-
papers circulated in the place;

By causing such notice to be affixed to the principal

doors of every church and chapel in the place to
which notices are usually fixed (a);

meeting.

choose chairman.

(3.) The meeting, on its assembling together, shall choose Meeting to one of its number as chairman (b), who may, with the consent of a majority of the persons present (c), adjourn the same from day to day:

6 & 7 Vict. c. 37 are included under these words. Q. v. The Ratepayers of Northowram and Clayton, Law Rep. 1 Q. B. 110; 7 B. & S. 110.

(y) To obtain this appointment there must be a communication to the Secretary of State, who must be satisfied of the inability or refusal of the proper officer to perform the duties.

(2) This officer must satisfy himself of the sufficiency and legality of the requisition.

(a) The church and chapel referred to in the text must mean, according to the interpretation of similar words in 1 Vict. c. 45, church and chapel of the established church. See note (p) on 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 9, ante.

(b) Hence the summoning officer will not necessarily be the chairman, neither will the common law rule, which regulates the precedence in all meetings of vestries, govern in this case. But if a poll be demanded, the summoning officer is the proper person to conduct the poll and carry out the subsequent proceedings. Ex parte the Littleborough Local Board, 22 L. T. (N. s.) 437.

(c) Upon these words refer to the note on sect. 12, No. 3, ante. As regards the adjournment from day to day it is presumed that the adjournment is not necessarily to be from one day to the next day. It may be from one day to another convenient day, though generally it will be from one day to the next day. But though the meeting must determine whether the adjournment shall take place, the decision as to where the adjourned meeting is to be held appears to rest with the chairman. See Q. v. D'Oyley, 12 A. & E. 139; 9 L. J. M. C. 113, 117.