The Corporation of London, Its Rights and Privileges

by William Ferneley Allen

In the preceding hasty sketch it has been attempted to trace the rise of London from being the bazaar to a Roman camp to its present position as the capital of the commercial world. It is now worth while to glance at the nature of the municipal institutions through which it has attained such a proud ascendancy.*

* The authority chiefly consulted for the following statements is
Pulling's "Practical Treatise on the Laws, Customs, Usages, and
Regulations of the City and Port of London."

Strictly speaking, London cannot be said to possess any original charter, or specific definition of its rights and franchises. Those conferred since the Conquest, without exception, allude directly or indirectly to preceding documents of a similar nature. In fact the customs and usages of the City grew out of the ancient Saxon institutions, grafted, as they were, on the Roman municipal stock. The City of London represents a county, and as such is divided into hundreds, called wards; each having its own wardmote, presided over by its own alderman. The Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, and the Court of Common Council, together with the incorporated guilds which elect the civic magistrates, form the municipal constitution.

In ancient times the chief civic magistrate was styled the Reve, or Portreve, but in 1207 John changed this title to that of Mayor. The appellation of Lord was first prefixed in the fourth charter of Edward III., when the honour of having gold or silver maces borne before him was conferred on the "Lord Mayor," who ranked moreover as an earl. His duties are multiplex and ubiquitous. In his own person he represents all the rights and privileges of the Corporation. He is said to hold the same relation to the City as the Crown does to the rest of the kingdom. He is chief butler at the coronation of the sovereign, lord-lieutenant of the county of London, clerk of the markets, gauger of wine and oil, meter of coals and grain, salt and fruit, conservator of the Thames, admiral of the port, justice of gaol delivery for Newgate, chairman of every committee he attends, and subject to many other burdens. The election of Lord Mayor takes place on the 29th September, when the livery usually nominate the two senior aldermen who have not passed the chair; of these the senior is generally chosen by the Court of Aldermen. The chain of office is then placed round his neck, and he himself presented to the Lord Chancellor. He does not, however, immediately enter upon his important duties, but remains in a chrysalis form, under the title of Lord Mayor elect, until the 8th of November, when he takes the oath of office, at the Guildhall, and on the following day is presented to the Barons of the Exchequer, at Westminster, for the confirmation of the Crown. The annual salary is 8,000 pounds, which rarely suffices to meet the incessant demands on the Lord Mayor's charity and hospitality. He is expected to contribute to every charitable institution within his jurisdiction, and to a great many beyond it, and to head every subscription for praiseworthy purposes. His private alms also amount to a very large sum, and his hospitality is proverbial. He represents, in short, the best phase of the old feudal baron, or rather of the Saxon eorl, exercising a paternal and beneficient supervision over all who reside within the limits of his authority.

The Aldermen.

Among the Anglo-Saxons the title of alderman was regarded as one of the most honourable distinctions to which a freeman could aspire. After a time, however, it was conferred with somewhat too liberal courtesy on nearly every individual vested with authority. The presidents of district guilds were especially known by this designation, which they afterwards monopolized when the guilds became raised into wards or hundreds of the city. The aldermen then partially recovered their former dignity, and in the charter of Henry I. are mentioned as barons. The position and authority of an alderman, though they have much declined since the olden times, are still a reasonable object of ambition. He is a justice of the peace, as well as the presiding officer of his ward, and, by virtue of his office, a member of the Court of Common Council; but it is rather in their collective than their individual capacity that their power and usefulness are most conspicuous. Independently of their judicial duties, the Court of Aldermen constitute the executive department of the Corporation; with them rests the cognizance of the return of every civic officer elected at a wardmote court, and also of the election of common-councillors. They swear in brokers and other officers, and investigate the validity of claims to civic freedom. For the proper discharge of these and similar duties, they are singularly adapted through their local knowledge, which is likewise of material service to her Majesty's judges at the Central Criminal Court. This circumstance further renders them most efficient as city magistrates,—far more so, indeed, than any police or stipendiary magistrate could ever hope to be. Personally acquainted with the inhabitants of their respective wards, they are in a position to obtain peculiar and authentic information as to the characters, habits, and motives of witnesses, accusers, and accused. Their devotion to public business is wholly disinterested, for there are no pecuniary emoluments attached to the office, which has truly little to recommend it, save as being a sphere of active utility, and as a gratifying token of the good-will of one's fellow-citizens. The proper style of the Court is the "Court of the Mayor and Aldermen in the Inner Chamber." It consists of the Lord Mayor or his deputy—an alderman who has passed the chair—and not less than twelve other aldermen. The proceedings of the Court are entered in journals called "Repertories," which are kept in the muniment-room. The Recorder, the Steward of Southwark, the Clerk to the Lord Mayor, the keepers, governors, chaplains, and surgeons of the different prisons, and other officers of the Corporation, are elected by this Court, which, for assiduity, intelligence, and incorruptibility, yields to no body of men in the kingdom.

Court of Common Council.

But however distinguished may be the civic position, however great the moral influence, of the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen, the controlling power is, after all, centred in the Common Council. At a very remote period the freemen of the City were accustomed to meet in general assembly, and to act as one body. As their numbers increased, the many inconveniences of such a mode of proceeding soon became manifest; and so early as the reign of the first Edward representatives began to be chosen from each ward for the despatch of real business. At first the guilds, or trading companies, claimed the right of election as their exclusive privilege, and consequently excited the jealousy of the mass of the inhabitants. It was therefore arranged that the men of each guild or "mystery" should choose their own delegates from among themselves, and this was the more easily accomplished, as at that time each craft occupied a separate quarter, as is still the custom in the East. This arrangement, however, was of brief duration, and a more permanent settlement was effected in the reign of Richard II. It was then agreed that every ward should annually elect four of the most efficient persons in the ward to sit in the Common Council for the following year, and whose names should be presented to the mayor —that high functionary being charged to accept no more than eight members of any one "mystery" for the whole city. As the wards varied in extent and population, it was further agreed that the larger wards should return six councillors, and the smaller four or two, according to their sufficiency. The number of the Common Council was then fixed at 96 members, but gradually increased to the present number of 206, who are chosen as follows:-

Bassishaw and Lime Street each return 4; Dowgate, Candlewick, Cordwainers, Cornhill, Queenhithe, Vintry, and Walbrook, 6; Bread Street, Bridge, Billingsgate, Broad Street, Cheap, Coleman Street, Cripplegate Within, and Cripplegate Without, Tower, Langbourn, Castle Baynard, Aldersgate, Aldgate, and Portsoken, 8; Bishopsgate and Farringdon-within, 14; and Farringdon-without, 16. These true representatives of the citizens constitute the Court of Common Council, under the style and title of "Court of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commoners of the City of London in Common Council assembled." It requires the presence of the Lord Mayor, or his deputy—an alderman who has passed the chair—two aldermen and thirty-eight common councilmen, to make a quorum. There are usually twelve ordinary meetings in the year, and on an average thirteen extraordinary meetings, convened for special purposes by a requisition to the Lord Mayor signed by seven members. The proceedings are conducted as nearly as possible according to the routine of the House of Commons, and embrace a vast variety of subjects of local and sometimes national importance. The Court has a double function —legislative and executive. In the former capacity it enacts by-laws for the better government of the Corporation, in conformity with immemorial usage confirmed by 15 Edward III., and again more recently and fully by the Municipal Corporations Act. The charter of Edward III. authorizes the mayor and aldermen, with the assent of the commonalty, "where any customs theretofore used and obtained proved hard or defective, or any matters newly arising within the City needed amendment, and no remedy had been previously provided, to apply and ordain a convenient remedy, as often as it should seem expedient; so that the same were agreeable to good faith and reason, for the common advantage of the citizens, and other liege subjects sojourning with them, and useful to king and people." Vested with such powers as these, the Corporation of London are clearly competent to introduce whatever reforms circumstances may render desirable. As practical men of business, the Court of Common Council may fairly be supposed to be the best judges as to the nature of the amendments to be made, and the right time of making them. Persons engaged in commercial pursuits are not usually obstructive, or opposed to useful innovations. On the contrary, being wedded to no theories, they are constantly impelled to change, and to act upon each emergency as it arises. The past history of the City of London is one long illustration of this position,—it is an uninterrupted series of reforms, many of them rather beneficial to the nation at large than to the Corporation itself. On what grounds, then, is it justifiable to supersede this salutary internal action of the Corporation, and to exercise the arbitrary power of the legislature to enforce crude and inapplicable innovations? This interference with the self-government of the City is, in fact, a vote of censure on the duly elected representatives of the citizens, with whom the majority of the citizens themselves are, however, perfectly satisfied. But, in truth, that "self-government" is the head and front of their offence, for is it not a stumbling-block to ministerial and oligarchical influence? In addition to the power of enacting by-laws, the Common Council superintend the disposal of the funds of the Corporation; and without their previous consent no larger sum than 100 pounds can be paid for any purpose whatsoever. Their executive functions are also considerable. Upon this court depends the responsibility of electing the common serjeant, the town clerk, the two judges, and officers of the Sheriffs' Court, the clerk of the peace, the coroner, the remembrancer, the commissioner of the city police, and various other officers of inferior note and standing.

The Citizens.