But the British Parliament only says what the laws of the whole country shall be. To see that these laws are rightly administered, there are in London what are called ‘Government Departments,’ such as the Board of Trade and the Board of Agriculture. A great deal of the work of these Departments, however, cannot be conveniently carried on from London, and the country is therefore split up into Shires, or Counties, to each of which is given the work of seeing that certain of the laws made by Parliament are properly kept.
The East Riding of Yorkshire is one of these counties, and in addition to seeing that the laws of the country are properly kept, it has the duty of making less important laws which concern only its own inhabitants. The latter are known as by-laws, or, as the word is often written, bye-laws.
Modern Arms of
Bridlington.
Again, just as Britain is split up into different counties, each of which makes for itself the by-laws which it considers best, so the East Riding is split up into different portions, each of which makes its own by-laws.
This sort of arrangement is by no means a modern invention. A thousand years ago each ‘town,’ or group of farm dwellings, in the East Riding had its meeting to arrange the rules by which it should be governed. So also each ‘wapentake,’ or wider district, had its meeting, which was attended by representatives from the different ‘towns’ composing it. Lastly the whole ‘shire,’ the East Riding itself, had its meeting, attended by representatives from the different wapentakes.
Now we will see how this very ancient system is followed out to-day; but first we must put on one side the city of Hull, and the towns of Beverley, Bridlington, and Hedon.
Taking the rest of the East Riding, what was the tūn mōt of the Angles is our Parish Council. There are in the East Riding 131 Parish Councils, each of which is attended by chosen representatives of the village or township, and each of which looks after its own good management of affairs.
Similarly the waepentac or hundred mōt of the Angles is our Urban or Rural District Council. In the East Riding there are eight groups of townships to which the name ‘Urban District’ is given; these have for their respective centres Cottingham, Driffield, Filey, Hessle, Hornsea, Pocklington, Norton, and Withernsea. There are also twelve groups of townships which we know as ‘Rural Districts.’