(3.) Provided that the county council shall not under this Sect. 28 (3) section delegate any power of raising money by rate or loan. As to the rates to be made by the county council, see s. 3 (i.), ante. for determina to transfer of 29. If any question arises, or is about to arise, as to whether Summary any business, power, duty, or liability is or is not transferred to proceeding any county council or joint committee under this Act, that question, tion of without prejudice to any other mode of trying it, may, on the questions as application of a chairman of quarter sessions, or of the county powers. council, committee, or other local authority concerned, be submitted for decision to the High Court of Justice in such summary manner as, subject to any rules of court, may be directed by the court; and the court, after hearing such parties and taking such evidence (if any) as it thinks just, shall decide the question. As to joint committees, see ss. 46, 81, 82, post. The local authority here referred to is probably the local authority whose powers and duties are alleged to be or not to be transferred to the county council. This is a useful provision, and has been put in operation in a considerable number of cases where questions have arisen as to the respective liabilities of county councils and other authorities. By a rule of the High Court dated August 10th, 1892, which came into operation on October 1st of that year, the procedure is by special case to be agreed on by the parties, or in default of such agreement to be settled by an arbitrator agreed on by the parties or (if necessary) appointed by a judge at chambers, or to be settled by a judge at chambers. The special case when settled is to be filed at the Crown Office Department at the Central Office of the Supreme Court, by the chairman of quarter sessions, the county council, or the local authority concerned, within eight days from the settlement thereof, and is to be put into the Crown Paper for argument as if it were a case stated by justices under 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43. Without attempting to give an exhaustive list of the reported cases decided under this section, the following may be mentioned :-Ex parte Somerset County Council, 58 L. J. Q. B. 513; 61 L. T. (N.s.) 512; 54 J. P. 182; 5 T. L. R. 712; Ex parte Staffordshire Quarter Sessions, 54 J. P. 72; 6 T. L. R. 45; Ex parte West Riding County Council, 54 J. P. 533; 6 T. L. R. 265; Warminster Local Board v. Wilts County Council, 25 Q. B. D. 450; 59 L. J. Q. B. 434; 62 L. T. (N.s.) 902; 38 W. R. 671; 54 J. P. 375; Re Cardigan County Council, 54 J. P. 468; Re Staffordshire and Derbyshire County Councils, 54 J. P. 566; Ex parte Kent County Council and Dover, [1891] 1 Q. B. 389; 60 L. J. Q. B. 314 ; 60 L. T. (N.s.) 421; 55 J. P. 248; 7 T. L. R. 250: 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; Re Salop County Council, 65 L. T. (N.S.) 416; 56 J. P. 213; Montgomeryshire County Council v. Pryce-Jones, 57 J. P. 308; Marlborough Town Council v. Wilts County Council, 58 J. P. 213; Cornwall County Council v. Truro Town Council, 63 L. J. M. C. 60; 70 L. T. (N.s.) 354; 58 J. P. 299; 10 R. 595; In re Bedford Urban Sanitary Authority [1894] 2 Q. B. 786; 64 L. J. Q. B. 26; 71 L. T. (N.S.) 433; 58 J. P. 786; Norfolk County Council v. Bittering Highway Surveyor, 58 J. P. 497; Notts County Council v. Manchester, Sheffield, etc. Rail. Co., 71 L. T. (N.S.) 430 Sect. 29. Herefordshire County Council v. Leominster Town Council, [1895] 1 Q. B. 43 ; 64 L. J. M. C. 26; 71 L. T. (N.s.) 576; 59 J. P. 38. But the court will not under the above section answer abstract questions on the construction of the Act. Re Cardigan County Council, supra. NOTE. Standing joint com mittee of quarter sessions and county council for 30.-(1.) For the purposes of the police, and the clerk of the peace, and of the clerks of the justices, and joint officers, and of matters required to be determined jointly by the quarter sessions and the council of a county, there shall be a standing joint committee of the quarter sessions and the county council, consisting of the purpose such equal number of justices appointed by the quarter sessions and of members of the county council appointed by that council as officers, etc. may from time to time be arranged between the quarter sessions and the council, and in default of arrangement such number taken equally from the quarter sessions and the council as may be directed by a Secretary of State. of police, clerk of the peace, As to the appointment of the standing joint committee and their tenure of office, see s. 81, post. A committee may be appointed under that section for two or more counties or county boroughs. The proceedings of the committee will be regulated by s. 82, post. The control of the county police is transferred to the standing joint committee by s. 9, ante. Clerks of the peace will in future be appointed by this committee under s. 83, post. This committee will fix and pay the salaries of justices' clerks under s. 84, post. As to joint officers, see s. 118, post. The committee will consist of an equal number of justices and members of the county council. If the number cannot be agreed upon it is to be determined by the Secretary of State. (2.) The joint committee shall elect a chairman, and, in the case of an equality of votes for two or more persons as chairman, one of those persons shall be elected by lot. There will be no casting vote in the election of the chairman. But it seems to follow from ss. 81, 82, post, that the chairman, when elected, will have a casting vote. (3.) Any matter arising under this Act with respect to the police, or to the clerk of the peace, or to clerks of the justices, or to officers who serve both the quarter sessions or justices and the county council, or to the provision of accommodation for the quarter sessions or justices out of session or to the use by them or the police or the said clerks of any buildings, rooms, or premises, or to 32 & 33 Vict. the application of the Local Stamp Act, 1869, to any sums received by clerks to justices, or with respect to anything incidental to the above-mentioned matters, and any other matter requiring to be c. 49. determined jointly by the quarter sessions and county council, shall Sect. 30 (3). be referred to and determined by the joint committee under this section; and all such expenditure as the said joint committee determine to be required for the purposes of the matters above in this section mentioned shall be paid out of the county fund, and the council of the county shall provide for such payment accordingly. As to the police, clerk of the peace, justices' clerk, and joint officers, see the sections of this Act referred to in note to sub-section (1), ante. The Acts under which shire and county halls, assize courts, and judges' lodgings are provided and maintained are 7 Geo. 4, c. 63; 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 24; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 69; and 10 & 11 Vict. c. 28. Buildings for petty sessions are provided under 12 & 13 Vict. c. 18, ss. 2, 3; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 22; and 42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, ss. 20, 30. The County Courts Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 43), s. 179, provides that in every town or place where there is a court-house or other public building belonging to a county, it may be used for the holding of the county court without charge save for lighting, warming, and cleaning, but so, however, as not to interfere with the ordinary use of the building. See also s. 54, post, as to the providing of accommodation for quarter sessions and justices. As between the county council on the one hand and the standing joint committee on the other, the latter has exclusive control of buildings and premises within the purview of the above sub-section for the accommodation of quarter sessions or justices out of sessions, or for the use of the police or clerks to justices. All questions as to the maintenance, repair, alteration, or improvement of such buildings and premises are to be determined by the standing joint committee. The county council has no power to place its veto upon the requirements of the committee under this sub-section it is the duty of the county council to raise and pay such sums as the committee shall in their discretion deem it necessary to expend in and about such buildings and premises. Ex parte Somerset County Council, 58 L. J. Q. B. 513; 61 L. T. (N.S.) 512; 54 J. P. 183; 5 T. L. R. 712. As to the Local Stamp Act, 1869, see the note to s. 3 (xiii.), ante, p. 13. The fees and costs payable to justices' clerks are to be paid into the county fund, and the standing joint committee take the place of the quarter sessions and local authority in the enactments relating to the salaries and fees of justices' clerks. See s. 84, post. As to the county fund, see s. 68, post. PART II. APPLICATION OF ACT TO BOROUGHS, THE METROPOLIS, AND Application of Act to Boroughs. 31. Each of the boroughs named in the Third Schedule to this Certain large Act being a borough which on the first day of June, one thousand boroughs eight hundred and eighty-eight, either had a population of not less schedule to named in the Sect. 31. be county boroughs. Adjustment of financial relations between county boroughs. than fifty thousand, or was a county of itself shall, from and after the appointed day, be for the purposes of this Act an administrative county of itself, and is in this Act referred to as a county borough. Provided that for all other purposes a county borough shall continue to be part of the county (if any) in which it is situate at the passing of this Act, and if a separate commission of assize, oyer and terminer, or gaol delivery is not directed to be executed within the borough, the borough shall, for the purposes of any such commission, and of the service of jurors, and the making of jury lists, be part of the county in which it is specified in the said schedule to be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be situate. See the third schedule, post. In addition to the boroughs mentioned in this schedule, other county boroughs have been created under the provisions of s. 54 (1) (d), post, viz.: Grimsby, Oxford, and Newport (Mon.). As to the appointed day, see s. 109, post. For the definition of the phrase "administrative county," see s. 100, post. "The purposes of this Act" as applied to county boroughs appear from 8. 34, post. The principal Acts relating to the service of jurors and the jury lists are 6 Geo. 4, c. 50; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 107; 33 & 34 Vict. c. 77. 32.—(1.) An equitable adjustment respecting the distribution of the proceeds of the local taxation licences, and probate duty grant, and respecting all other financial relations, if any, between counties and each county, and each county borough specified in the said schedule as being deemed for the purposes of this Act to be situate in that county, shall be made by agreement, within twelve months after the appointed day, between the councils of each county and each borough, and in default of any such agreement, by the Commissioners appointed under this Act; and such adjustment shall provide, in the case of any expenses which may in future be incurred by the county wholly or partly on behalf of the borough for the liability of such borough to contribute, and save as provided by this Act, any existing liability to contribute or to incur expense shall, after the appointed day, cease, and an equitable provision for such cessation shall be made in the adjustment. By s. 33, post, county boroughs are entitled to receive a share from the local taxation account like other administrative counties. But as the amounts payable are to depend to some extent (see s. 22, ante) upon the grants made to each county before the county boroughs were separated from it, this section provides for an equitable adjustment of the share of each county between that county, exclusive of the county boroughs within it, and the county boroughs. The Commissioners appointed under s. 61, post, made this adjustment, and their report stating the principles on which the adjustment provided is set out, post. (2.) Where a county borough is specified in the said schedule as Sect. 32 (2), being deemed for the purposes of this Act to be situate in more than one county, the necessary adjustment shall be made between the counties. (3.) In such adjustment regard shall be had to the existing property, debts, and liabilities (if any) connected with the financial relations of the county and borough, and to the consideration that the county is not to be placed in any worse financial position by reason of the boroughs therein being constituted county boroughs, and that a county borough is not to be placed in a worse financial position than it would have been if it had remained part of the county and had shared in the division of the sums received by a county in respect of the licence duties and the probate duty grant, as provided by this Act, and to the amount of benefit and value of the services which the borough receives in return for existing contributions, if any, and to all the circumstances of each case which it appears equitable to consider, subject nevertheless to the following provisions : (a.) Where separate commissions of assize, oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery are not directed to be executed in a county borough, the borough council shall contribute a share of the costs of and incidental to the assizes proper (b.) If the borough is not at the passing of this Act a quarter sessions borough, the borough council shall contribute a proper share of the costs of and incidental to the quarter sessions and petty sessions of the county, and of and incidental to the coroners of the county or any franchise therein, and if a grant of a court of quarter sessions is hereafter made to the borough, the borough shall redeem the liability to such contribution, on such terms as may be agreed upon, or, in default of agreement, may be determined by arbitration under this Act: (d.) Each county borough shall be liable for the maintenance of pauper lunatics in like manner as any other county. The report of the Commissioners relating to equitable adjustments under this sub-section is set out, post. Where a local Act created a stipendiary justice's district and enabled the quarter sessions to levy rates on that district in the same manner as county rates, it was held that after the passing of this Act, which created two county boroughs within the district, that the power to levy rates was transferred to the county council as to that part of the district not within either of the |