Transfer of powers of Commis 20 & 21 Vict. c. 50, s. 2. § 6. TRANSFER OF POWERS OF TRUSTEES UNDER LOCAL ACTS. The trustees appointed or acting by or under any Act of Parliament for paving, lighting, supplying with water or gas, or sioners under cleansing, watching, regulating, or improving, or for providing Local Acts to or maintaining a cemetery or market in or for any borough Town Council named in one of the Schedules to the 5 & 6 Wm. IV c. 76, or of Borough. to which a charter of incorporation has been since the passing of such Act, or shall be hereafter, granted under the provisions of such Act or otherwise, or any part of such borough, and whether the powers of such trustees under any such Act do or do not extend beyond the limits of such borough, may, if it seem to them expedient, at a meeting to be called for that purpose, transfer to the body corporate of such borough all the rights, powers, estates, property, and liabilities of such trustees under any such Act as aforesaid, and such transfer shall be made in writing under the common seal of the said trustees if they be a corporation, or if not a corporation then by deed executed by the trustees, or any two of them acting by the authority of and on behalf of all such trustees and upon any such transfer being so made, the body corporate to whom such transfer is made, shall become and be trustees for executing by the council of the borough the several powers and provisions of any such Act, and all the rights, powers, estates, and property vested in the trustees making such transfer shall vest in such body corporate, and all the liabilities and obligations of the said trustees shall stand transferred to and be borne by such body corporate, and the said trustees shall be freed and discharged from all such liabilities and obligations. No such transfer can, however, be made in the case of the town of Cambridge without the consent required by the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76. 20 & 21 Vict. c. 50, s. 3. Ib. s. 4. Transfer of powers of Local Board invalid. No such transfer shall, however, be made, or take effect, unless and until the council of the borough have resolved, at a meeting of the council holden and convened in manner required by the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, s. 69, to accept the same. Where, under the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, s. 75, the trustees under any such Act of Parliament as therein mentioned have transferred to the body corporate of any borough the powers vested in such trustees under such Act, and the transfer so made purports to extend to the estates and property vested in such trustees, and their liabilities and obligations on any of such matters, the transfer so made shall be deemed to have been authorised by the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, s. 75. By a provisional order, confirmed by 14 & 15 Vict. c. 98, post, a Local Board of Health was constituted for the parish of St. John, Margate, comprising the town of Margate and a rural district, but their rating powers were confined to the town, with power from time to time to extend the rating area, and the Local Board were to be selected by the ratepayers within the rating area for the time being. The town of Margate was The afterwards incorporated, the then rating area being co-extensive $7. GENERAL PROVISIONS AS TO ADOPTION OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT. Whenever a resolution adopting the Act has been passed in Notice as to any place, notice of it is to be given to the Local Government adoption of Board by the following persons: In corporate boroughs,-by the mayor; Act. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 19. In other places under the jurisdiction of Improvement Com- 34 & 35 Vict. missioners, by the chairman of the Board of Commis- c. 70. sioners; In other places, by the summoning officer: The notice must be in writing, under the hand of the officer required to give it, who is to publish a copy of it by advertise- Notice of ment for three successive weeks in one or more of the news- adoption of Act. papers circulated in the place; and by causing a copy of it to 21 & 22 Vict. be affixed to the principal doors of every church and chapel in c. 98, s. 19. the place, to which notices are usually affixed. When the notice has been given, and the time for appeal has Publication of expired, or when the appeal has been dismissed, a notice is to notice in be published in the London Gazette, by the Local Government Ib. Board, that the Act has been adopted within the place. Gazette. Ib. s. 20. At the expiration of two months from the date of the passing Time when of the resolution, or in the event of an appeal, or of a division the Act is to of the district into wards, at such time as may be mentioned in take effect. the order made on appeal, or in the order setting out wards, the Act is to have the force of law within the place adopting it, and the expiration of the period or time is to be called the date of the constitution of the district; but the provisions of the Act relating to purposes already included in any local Act in force within the district with relation to any of the purposes of the Public Health Act, 1848, or the Local Government Act, 1858, and not conferring powers or privileges upon corporations, companies, undertakers, or individuals, for their own pecuniary benefit, notwithstanding the adoption of the Act, are not to come into operation until an order has been made and confirmed, for the future execution, repeal, or alteration of the Local Act. (1) Swinford v. Keble, L. R. 1 Q. B. 549; 14 L. T. (N.S.) 770; 35 L. J. Q. B. 185; 12 Jur. (N.S.) 783; 7 B. & S. 573. Objections to adoption of Act. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 21. Proof of adoption. Ib. s. 22. Payment of costs, &c. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 23. Union of adjoining districts. Ib. s. 27. No objection can be made at any trial or in any legal proceeding to the validity of the adoption of the Act, or to any order made in pursuance of it, or to any proceedings upon which the order was founded, unless the objector has given fourteen days' previous notice of his intention to make the objection, specifying fully the nature of the objection; and no objection in respect of such matters will be admissible at any trial or in any legal proceedings after the expiration of six calendar months from the date of the constitution of the district. Publication of a notice by the Local Government Board once in the London Gazette, and by the mayor, chairman of the Board of Improvement Commissioners, or summoning officer, respectively, for three successive weeks in any newspaper published and circulated in the town or district that the Act has been adopted in any place, is conclusive evidence of such adoption. This provision, coupled with that in the preceding section of the Act, is, however, difficult to understand, as the two enactments are somewhat inconsistent. All costs, charges, and expenses incurred by the Local Government Board, in relation to the adoption of the Act in any place, or to any proceedings connected therewith, or which they are required to take under the Act, and not otherwise provided for, to such amount as the Treasury, by order, think proper to direct, are to become a charge upon the general district rates levied in the district, and to be repaid to the Treasury by annual instalments not exceeding five, together with interest at the rate of five per cent. to be computed from the date of the order, upon so much of the principal sum as may from time to time remain unpaid. Adjoining districts may unite together upon such terms and subject to such conditions as the respective Local Boards may, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, determine. With regard to this provision, see ante, p. 11. Avoidance of If the district contains a population of less than 3000, the constitution of constitution of it will be avoided in the case to be afterwards, district. mentioned, post, p. 41. § 8. APPEAL AGAINST ADOPTION OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT Аст. After a resolution adopting the Act has been passed in any place, if any number, being not less than one-twentieth of the Owners and ratepayers of the place, that is, of the owners and ratepayers of the place taken together, or the owners and ratepayers in respect of one-twentieth of the rateable property in the place, are desirous that the whole or any part of the place should be excluded from the operation of the Act, they may petition the Local Government Board, appealingagainst the resolution, and praying that the exclusion may be made. The petition appealing against the resolution of adoption, and praying for exclusion from the operation of the Local Government 25 Government Act, may be presented and had at any time before To be prethe expiration of six weeks from the date of any resolution sented to adopting the Act. And it would seem that an owner or rate- the Local payer who may have concurred in the resolution for the adop- Board. tion of the Act in the particular district cannot afterwards be a 21 & 22 Vict. party to an appeal against the resolution for its adoption; for c. 98, s. 17. in a local Act which gave a right to appeal to any person think- 26 Vict. ing himself aggrieved by any order of the Commissioners appointed under it, it was held that a person who had been present at a meeting and concurred in a resolution upon which the order appealed against was founded, could not appeal. (1) Where the exclusion of part of a place only is prayed for, What the the petition must state 1. The part of the place proposed to be excluded, accompanied with an explanatory plan; and, 2. The reasons for the exclusion, and the petition must be As to the genuineness of the petition, and c. 17, s. 3. petition must state. 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 17. Power to ment Board. c. 98, s. 17. Ib. And they may make order with respect to the matter appealed Their order. against, which order is to be binding on the place in respect of which it is made; and there shall be stated in it the time at which the Act is to come into force. With regard to an appeal against the Secretary of State's order, see the case In re Todmorden, ante, page 19. Any owner or ratepayer who disputes the validity of the Appeal in vote for the adoption of the Act may, by petition to the Local case of alleged invalidity of Government Board presented and had at any time before the vote for adopexpiration of six weeks from the date of any resolution adopt- tion of Act. ing the Act, appeal from the declaration of the vote. The 21 & 22 Vict. petition must set forth the grounds on which he disputes the c. 98, s. 18. validity of the vote, and the Local Government Board may direct inquiry into the circumstances of the case, and issue such order thereon as they may deem requisite to determine the questions arising on the appeal, and as to the validity or invalidity of the vote. By 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, s. 81, the decision of the Secretary of State was to be final, and therefore the Court would not interfere, but refused a mandamus to hold another meeting for the adoption of the Act when his decision was in favour of a motion already carried and appealed against for its adoption. (2) (1) Harrop v. Bayley, 6 E. & B. 218; 25 L. J. M. C. 107. 26 Vict. c. 17, s. 3. CHAPTER II. CONSTITUTION OF LOCAL BOARDS. Corporate districts. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 2. 66 § 1. LOCAL BOARDS OF HEALTH. LOCAL BOARDS OF HEALTH are appointed for "corporate" and non-corporate" districts. A district within the meaning of the Act is the entire area, places, or parts of places comprised within the limits of any district to which the Public Health Act, or any part of it, has been applied by order in Council, or provisional order of the General Board of Health sanctioned by Parliament. A corporate district is a district in which the powers, authorities, and duties of the Local Board of Health are exercised and executed exclusively by the council of a corporate 12 & 13 Vict. borough (i. e. any city, borough, port, cinque port, or town corporate named in the schedule to the 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 76, or subsequently incorporated by royal charter); a non-corporate district is one in which the powers, authorities, and duties Non-corporate of the Local Board of Health are not exercised and executed exclusively by the council of a corporate borough. Ib. and c. 94, s. 10, and 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98, S. 2. districts. II & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 2. How constituted. Corporate borough. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 12. 12 & 13 Vict. 'C. 94, S. 10. Corporate boroughs. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63, s. 12. Now, by 29 & 30 Vict. c. 90, s. 46, all Local Boards are incorporated. The Local Boards of Health, in their respective districts, consist of the following authorities or persons appointed respectively for "corporate" and "non-corporate" districts : 1. In districts exclusively consisting of the whole or part of one corporate borough, the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses; or, in the case of a city, citizens, by the council. 2. In districts exclusively consisting of two or more corporate boroughs, or of one or more of such boroughs, and also of part of any other corporate borough or boroughs, or exclusively consisting of part of two or more of such borough or boroughs, -the mayors for the time being of the boroughs whereof the whole or part is within such district, and such number of other persons as shall have been fixed by the provisional order to be selected by each of the Councils respectively out of their own number or from persons qualified to be Councillors of the Borough in respect of which the selection is to be made, and shall be named and selected by such councils accordingly. 3. In districts comprising the whole or part of any such borough or boroughs, and also parts not within the boundaries thereof,--the mayor or mayors for the time being of such |