enables the county council to delegate their powers and duties to committees or Section 3. district councils, and in some cases to justices in petty sessions, but this is not to include the power to make a rate or loan. Section 78, post, provides for the construction of Acts relating to business transferred to the county council, and enacts that the transfer of powers and duties under this Act shall not authorize the county council to exercise the powers of a court of record, administer an oath, or perform any judicial business. (i.) The making, assessing, and levying of county, police, hundred, and all rates, and the application and expendi- The Acts relating to the county rate are the County Rate Act, 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 81), and the County Rate Act, 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 78); and see the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. 16), post. County rate. By the County Rate Act, 1852, s. 2, it is provided that the justices in quarter sessions in every county shall from time to time appoint any number of justices not exceeding eleven, nor less than five, to be a committee for preparing a basis or standard for fair and equal county rates to be founded and prepared rateably and equally according to the full and fair annual value of the property rateable to the relief of the poor in every parish, township, borough, or place, whether parochial or extra-parochial, within the respective limits of the said justices' commissions, or which in any place within such limits not maintaining its own poor, would be liable to be rated if such last-mentioned place were a parish, or of altering or amending such basis or standard from time to time as circumstances may require: provided that in counties containing more than eleven petty sessional divisions the committee may be extended to the actual number of divisions, so that one justice from each division may be selected to act on the committee. A county rate committee is now appointed by the county council under the above section. The committee must not be less than five in number, and it may number eleven, or, if there are more than eleven petty sessional divisions, as many as there are divisions. In the latter case it is apparently still necessary to see that each division is represented on the committee. On the section just quoted it has been decided that tenants in ancient demesne are liable to pay county rates, as they are liable for poor rates, though they are exempt from taxes and tollages granted by Parliament to the Crown. Reg. v. Aylesford (Inhabitants of), 2 E. & E. 538; 29 L. J. M. C. 83; 25 J. P. 534. It has also been held that in a valuation under the section all property, whether occupied or not, must be included. Reg. v. Hammersmith, 7 W. R. 524; 33 L. T. 183; 24 J. P. 387 (followed in Reg. v. Malden, L. R. 4 Q. B. 326; 38 L. J. M. C. 125; 33 J. P. 645). The county council must also make the county rate upon all parishes and places liable to contribute to it, the proportion payable by each place being regulated by the basis or standard prepared and revised from time to time by the committee and confirmed by the council. The rate is levied by precepts addressed to the guardians requiring them to pay to the county treasurer the sums due from each parish in their union, and the guardians obtain these sums from the overseers in the same manner as money for the relief of the poor. See 7 & 8 Vict. c. 33. Police rate. This rate is made pursuant to 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, s. 3, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the county police. It is made on the same NOTE. NOTE. Sect. 3 (i) basis as the county rate, and is levied with it. The same Act provides for the raising of the proportion of the county rate payable by detached parts of other counties and by liberties. Such detached portions are by 7 & 8 Vict. c. 61, s. 1, to be deemed to form part of the county of which they form parts for the purposes of parliamentary elections; and justices had power under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, s. 2, and 21 & 22 Vict. c. 68, s. 1, to transfer detached portions from one county to another for the purposes of police. Section 50, sub-s. (1), post, contains a saving for transfers made before this Act; such transfers can now be effected by county councils. Liberties are now merged in the administrative county. See s. 48, post, which contains provisions as to the police in such liberties. It should be observed that though the control and management of the police (including the control over the division of the county into police districts: Ex parte Leicestershire County Council, [1891] 1 Q. B. 53; 60 L. J. M. C. 45; 64 L. T. (N.s.) 25 ; 39 W. R. 160; 55 J. P. 87; 7 T. L. R. 61) is entrusted to the standing joint committee under s. 9, post, the police rates are made by the council. Hundred rate.-The hundred rate used to be levied for the purpose of making good compensation for damage by riot pursuant to 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 31, and 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 72. These Acts are now repealed, and such compensation is payable out of the police rate of the district in which the damage was done. See the Riot (Damages) Act, 1886, infra, clause (xiv.). A hundred rate may be levied for the purposes of certain main roads and bridges under s. 20 of the Highway Act, 1878, the text of which is set out in the notes to s. 11, sub-s. (13), post. The application and expenditure of these rates will devolve upon the county council. As to the making of orders for the payment of sums out of the county fund (to which all receipts of the county council are to be carried), see s. 68, which also contains provisions for the raising of county contributions. The powers to make a rate cannot be delegated. See s. 28, sub-s. (3), post. (ii.) The borrowing of money; The borrowing of money by the county council is regulated by s. 69, post. In the notes to that section will be found a list of the principal purposes for which money may be borrowed. The power of borrowing must be exercised by the council and cannot be delegated. See s. 28, sub-s. (3), post. (iii.) The passing of the accounts of and the discharge of the county treasurer; The duty of the county treasurer to account for sums received and paid by him is regulated by 12 Geo. 2, c. 29, and 15 & 16 Vict. c. 81, s. 50. By the first of these Acts the treasurer must deliver accounts upon oath with vouchers, and when these have been passed by the county council they must be deposited with the clerk of the council and by him kept among the records of the county. The Act also provides for the discharge of the treasurer. (iv.) Shire halls, county halls, assize courts, judges lodgings, lock-up houses, court houses, justices rooms, police stations, and county buildings, works, and property, subject as to the use of buildings by the quarter sessions and the justices to the provisions of this Act respecting the joint committee of quarter sessions and the county council; A shire hall, county hall, or other building, lodgings for Her Majesty's Sect. 3 (iv). judges, may be purchased, built, or repaired under 7 Geo. 4, c. 63. The NOTE. provisions of that Act are extended by 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 24, to the building, altering, and repairing of any shire hall or county hall, or any building used partially as a town hall, in cases where assizes and sessions have been held in a town hall not belonging exclusively to the county. The same Act enables shire halls, etc., to be purchased when the assize town is changed, or to be hired. These Acts are amended by 10 & 11 Vict. c. 28, and by 40 & 41 Vict. c. 21, s. 49. The provisions of 7 Geo. 4, c. 63, are also extended by 2 & 3 Vict. c. 69, in respect of the purchase, etc., of judges' lodgings. Lock-up houses are provided for counties under 5 & 6 Vict. c. 109, s. 22, and for two or more counties or boroughs jointly under 11 & 12 Vict. c. 101, and 31 & 32 Vict. c. 22, s. 10. The Act last referred to enables counties and boroughs to contract for the reception in lock-up houses of persons belonging to another jurisdiction. Under 28 & 29 Vict. c. 126, s. 71, certain discontinued prisons may be used as lock-up houses. Petty sessional court-houses are provided in counties and boroughs under 12 & 13 Vict. c. 18; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 22; 42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, s. 30; 47 & 48 Vict. c. 43, s. 8. Police stations are provided under 3 & 4 Vict. c. 88, and if unnecessary, may be disposed of under 19 & 20 Vict. c. 69, s. 24, which extends to them the provisions of 7 Geo. 4, c. 18, under which unnecessary prisons might be disposed of. As to the use of county buildings by sessions and justices, see s. 30, post, which relates to the powers of the standing joint committee: s. 64, which vests existing county buildings in the county council: and s. 55, which enables the council to acquire, etc., such halls, buildings, or offices as they may from time to time require, whether within or without their county. As to the rating of county buildings, see Middlesex County Council v. St. George's Union Assessment Committee, [1896] 2 Q. B. 143; 65 L. J. M. C. 141 ; 75 L. T. (N.S.) 153; 44 W. R. 666; 60 J. P. 518; Worcestershire County Council v. Worcester Uuion, [1897] 1 Q. B. 480; 66 L. J. Q. B. 323; 76 L. T. (N.S.) 138; 45 W. R. 309; 61 J. P. 244. (v.) The licensing under any general Act of houses and other places for music or for dancing, and the granting of licences under the Racecourses Licensing Act, 1879; There is only one general Act under which quarter sessions had powers relating to music and dancing licences, and that is local in its operation. The Act in question is the Disorderly Houses Act, 1751 (25 Geo. 2, c. 36), s. 2, which provides that any house, room, garden, or other place kept for public dancing, music, or other public entertainment of the like kind, in the cities of London and Westminster, or within twenty miles thereof, without a licence had for that purpose from the quarter sessions, (who are thereby authorized and empowered to grant such licence as they in their discretion shall think proper), shall be deemed a disorderly house or place. This Act no longer applies to Middlesex, the granting of music and dancing licences by the county council of that county being regulated by 57 & 58 Vict. c. 15, post. Although the county council have no power to administer an oath (see s. 78 (2), post), yet in determining applications for music and dancing licences they act judicially, and are bound by the same principles as are binding on justices in determining questions which come before them for judicial decision : 42 & 43 Vict. c. 18. NOTE. Sect. 3 (v) hence it was held that the presence at the hearing of such an application of certain members of a county council, who had themselves instructed counsel to oppose the application, vitiated the proceedings. Reg. v. London County Council, ex parte Akkersdyk, [1892] 1 Q. B. 190; 61 L. J. M. C. 75; 66 L. T. (N.s.) 168; 40 W. R. 285; 56 J. P. 8; 8 T. L. R. 175. At the same time, the county council is not a court so as to give to the councillors the immunity of judges in respect of statements made at the licensing meeting. Royal Aquarium, etc., Society v. Parkinson, [1892] 1 Q. B. 431; 61 L. J. Q. B. 409; 66 L. T. (N.S.) 513; 40 W. R. 450; 56 J. P. 404; 8 T. L. R. 352. And it has been doubted whether the rule as to disqualification from interest, applicable to purely judicial bodies, applies to the proceedings at such a meeting merely by reason of the fact that the council, which is an administrative body, exercises functions involving something of a judicial character. Reg. v. London County Council, ex parte Edwardes, 71 L. T. (N.s.) 638. The Racecourses Licensing Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 18), provides that it shall not be lawful that any horse race be held or take place within a radius of ten miles from Charing Cross, unless within a place for which a licence for horse racing has been obtained. The power and duty of granting licences under this Act devolve on the county councils in the metropolitan area. Applications under the above Acts had to be made at the Michaelmas quarter sessions; as to the time at which they should be made to a county council, see s. 78 (2), post. (vi.) The provision, enlargement, maintenance, management, and visitation of and other dealing with asylums for pauper lunatics; Lunatic asylums are provided for counties and boroughs under the Lunacy Act, 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 5), which repeals the earlier statutes, and is itself amended by the Lunacy Act, 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. 65). The parts of these Acts particularly affecting county councils are set out post; for the Acts in full, with notes, the reader is referred to Archbold's Law of Lunacy (4th ed.). Visiting committees are appointed under the Act of 1890. It should be observed that the text deals only with pauper lunatics. As to the appointment by the justices of visitors of licensed houses, see the Lunacy Act, 1890, ss. 177-182. (vii.) The establishment and maintenance of and the contribution to reformatory and industrial schools; The Acts relating to reformatories and industrial schools, so far as here material, are the 29 & 30 Vict. cc. 117, 118. Under these Acts a prison authority (viz., as respects county prisons the justices in quarter sessions) may contract with the managers of a certified reformatory school, or of an industrial school, for the reception and maintenance therein of offenders whose detention is ordered by quarter sessions or justices. Such an authority may contribute towards the alteration, enlargement, or rebuilding of such a school, or towards the support of the inmates, or towards its management, or towards its building, etc., with the approval of a Secretary of State. By 35 & 36 Vict. c. 21, a prison authority are empowered themselves to undertake anything towards which they may contribute under the Act first mentioned. Under 37 & 38 Vict. c. 47, a prison authority are enabled to borrow money for the purposes of industrial and reformatory schools. The county council now have the powers of a prison authority. There are other Acts relating to reformatory and industrial schools, but Sect. 3 (vii). these do not affect the powers hereby transferred to county councils. See 54 & 55 Vict. c. 23; 56 & 57 Vict. c. 48; 57 & 58 Vict. c. 33. NOTE. (viii.) Bridges and roads repairable with bridges, and any powers vested by the Highways and Locomotives (Amend- 41 & 42 Vict. ment) Act, 1878, in the county authority ; By the Statute of Bridges, 22 Hen. 8, c. 5, it was provided that all public bridges, with the highway for a distance of 300 feet from each end of the bridge, should be repaired by the quarter sessions. This applied to every public bridge in the county, the power and duties of the justices being regulated by the Act already mentioned, and by 1 Anne, stat. 1, c. 18, and 12 Geo. 2, c. 29. Power to widen, improve, and alter the situation of county bridges is given by 14 Geo. 2, c. 33; 43 Geo. 3, c. 59; 52 Geo. 3, c. 110; 54 Geo. 3, c. 90; 55 Geo. 3, c. 143; 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 50, ss. 21, 22; 4 & 5 Vict. c. 49, etc. By the 43 Geo. 3, c. 59, it is provided that no bridge thereafter to be erected by any private person or body corporate should be deemed to be a county bridge. repairable by the county unless it were erected under the direction or to the satisfaction of the county surveyor. By 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 50, s. 21, if any bridge be built after 1836, which is or shall be repairable by the county, all highways leading to, passing over, and next adjoining to such bridge, are to be repaired by the parish, etc., previously bound to repair them. By 33 & 34 Vict. c. 73, s. 12, where a turnpike road shall have become an ordinary highway, all bridges previously repaired by the turnpike trustees are to become county bridges, and be kept in repair accordingly; but such bridges are to be deemed to have been erected subsequently to the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 50. By the 41 & 42 Vict. c. 77, s. 21, any bridge erected before 1878, in any county, without such superintendence as is required by 43 Geo. 3, c. 59, and which is certified by the county surveyor or other person appointed in that behalf by the county authority to be in good repair and condition, shall, if the county authority think fit so to order, become and be deemed to be a bridge which the inhabitants of the county shall be liable to maintain and repair. By s. 22 of the same Act the county authority may make such contributions towards the cost of any bridge to be thereafter erected, after the same has been certified in accordance with the provisions of 43 Geo. 3, c. 59, as a proper bridge to be maintained by the inhabitants of the county; so always that such contribution shall not exceed one-half of the cost of erecting such bridge. By 43 & 44 Vict. c. 5, the county authority may borrow on mortgage of the county rate for the purpose of contributing towards the cost of a bridge under s. 22 of the 41 & 42 Vict. c. 77. By 44 & 45 Vict. c. 14, county authorities in South Wales were enabled to take over and contribute towards certain bridges. The 54 & 55 Vict. c. 63 (post), enables county councils to make agreements with one another or with highway authorities for the construction, reconstruction, alteration, or improvement or the freeing from tolls of any bridge, including the approaches thereto, wholly or partly within the jurisdiction of any one or more of the agreeing authorities. By s. 6 of this Act, post, p. 17, the county council have power to purchase or take over existing bridges, not being at present county bridges, and to erect new bridges. The 41 & 42 Vict. c. 77, conferred the following powers upon a county authority, and these powers, so far as they are now exercisable, are transferred to the county council:-Enforcing performance of duty by defaulting highway authority, s. 10; declaring highway to be a main road, s. 15; reducing main road to status of ordinary highway, s. 16; directing form of accounts for maintenance of main roads, s. 18; power to declare main roads repairable by c. 77. |