The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-11 00:00:00

The election is always for a year. The sheriffs often have
the care of the gaol, and the custody of the prisoners con-
fined there. They have the ordinary emoluments attached
to the same office in counties ; besides which, in some towns
they receive salaries. They usually perform the duties of
the office by deputy.
40. The bailiffs are usually chosen annually, and similar
varieties occur in the mode of their election as in the elec-
tion of sheriffs. In those boroughs in which they are found
among the chief officers subordinate to the head of the cor-
poration, they perform the duties of sheriffs. They seem
to have been originally receivers and managers for the
Crown, or other lord of the borough, and not to have had
any duties in connexion with the corporate body until after
the property of the soil became vested in the corporation,
when the bailiffs also became corporate officers. In Bed-
ford and Southampton they are returning officers jointly
with the mayor, and were so formerly at Cambridge. They
often have the custody of the gaol. In many places the
office has become entirely nominal ; in others the original
duties of it have ceased, and have been superseded by those
of treasurer, &c. The office is sometimes filled by one
person, more often by two ; at Berwick-upon-Tweed it is
vested jointly in five persons, the mayor and four bailiffs ;
and bailable process must be signed by three of them.
Their emoluments arise from the same sources as those of
the sheriffs. In some towns they receive a salary, and in
some, as at Bath, they are remunerated by being allowed
to take the profits of part of the corporate property.
41. In many boroughs the mayor or other head of the
corporation is coroner ex officio ; in others, the bailiff or
town-clerk. When a separate officer is appointed, the
election is generally in the common council. In York, he
is elected by the freeholders : his duties and emoluments
are those of a county coroner. In most places he is not
required to be either of the legal or medical profession, and
is often an inferior tradesman.

42. The town-clerk is appointed to hold his office during
good behaviour ; most frequently by the common council,
and sometimes out of their own body'; in a few places he
is named by the recorder, and occasionally he is either no-
minated or approved by the Crown. In some towns, as at
Ipswich, be is annually elected by the freemen from them-
selves. In most towns he must be a freeman ;in others,
as at Bath, that qualification is not required.

At Bristol the town-clerk must be a barrister of three
years' standing ; but his duties there are those usually per-
formed by a recorder, and the ordinary duties of the town-
clerk's office are performed by his deputy.
The town clerk is usually an attorney, and acts as legal
adviser, and records the proceedings of the corporation.
He is generally required to reside in the borough. He is
usually clerk of the peace, clerk to the magistrates, and
attorney and solicitor to the corporation. He is often ap-
pointed to act as deputy to the recorder. The town-clerk
is also registrar, and principal officer of the court of record.
He is generally paid by a salary, which in most towns is
almost nominal ; the real inducement for holding the situa-
tion is the legal business, for which he is paid according to
the usual scale of professional charges, or the introduction
to private practice through his connexion with the members
of the corporation. In some towns the duties of the town-
cl erk are separated from those of attorney and solicitor to
the corporation and clerk to the magistrates.

43. The chamberlain or treasurer of the corporation is
usually chosen by the common council, and in a great ma-
jority of instances is a member of it. His duties are to re-
ceive the revenues, to make the necessary payments to the
order of the competent authorities, to keep the accounts,
and generally superintend the property of the corporation.
In some instances the mayor acts as treasurer, and in that
case, as hi every other in which the chamberlain is a mem-
ber of the common council, he commonly belongs to the
body by whom his accounts are audited. In some large
towns, as Bath, Bristol and London; the chamberlain is
never a member of the body by whom the accounts are
audited. In the two former places the election is by the
common council :in London by such liverymen-of the com-
panies as are freemen in. the city.
The chamberlain is sometimes paid by a poundage on
the income collected by him, mare frequently by a salary,
and by the pro& of balances left in his bands. In corpora-
tions where his receipts are considerable he is often required
to give security. The chamberlains of London and Bristol
are each a corporation sole for certain purposes. The cham-
berlain of London decides disputes between masters and ap-
prentices, and Las power to order the imprisonment of the
pprentice, or to cancel the indentures. The chamberlain
of Bristol has tie sarae powers, but they do not appear to
be exercised.

14. In inost cori7or'tiens a power exists of fining those
who refuse to serve the corporate t,) which they are
elected ; the principal offices are generally so mu,:h de-
sired, that no recourse is had to compulsory means to fill
them ; in some towns, as Maidstone, it seems that there
would be great difficuli-ci in keeping the corporation properly
supplied without some means of compulsion. Such fines
have been occasionally made a source of considerable mno-
lument. At Leeds, the whole revenue of the corporation
has aerued from this source. It is generally understood,
that the members of the select or ruling body are exempted
from serving the inferior offices of the corporation, and in
some corporations of definite number, as at _ Andover, a
power is exercised of compelling the inhabitants at large
to fill the inferior offices, though they are now considered to
form no part of the corporation. Fees are payable in al-
most every case to the corporation and its officers on ad-
mission to the freedom ; to which must be added, in places
where guilds Exist, the fees payable to them and their offi-
cers for admission into the company.

MAGISTRATES.

45. In almost all the principal boroughs there are muni-
cipal magistrates whose authority as justices of the peace-
extends over the whole borough. They are often chosen
by the common council, and almost always are members of
it ; where there are aldermen, they are usually takea from
that class. The mayor is always the chief magistrate
within the borough, when the borough justices are
named in the charter ; in a few cases, as at Lan-
caster, Preston, and Liverpool, he isalso ex-officio
a magistrate of the county. The recorder is in most
cases one of the justices. When the mayor is a
magistrate, most of magisterial business falls on him : in
many corporations his magisterial authority continues for a
year, or a longer time, beyond the time of his mayoralty,
either by the express words of the charter, or by a custo-
mary election.
In many of the large cities and boroughs all the alder-
men are magistrates ; in others only those are so who have
passed the chair, as in Liverpool, Norwich, and Lynn ; in
Norwich, the aldermen who have not passed the chair are
magistrates in their own wards. In other towns, as Ports-
mouth, a certain number of aldermen only are annually
elected to that office, which ceases with the year, unless
they are re-elected. In Doncaster three aldermen are
chosen to be magistrates as long as they continue aldermen.
In many towns, as Carlisle and Kendal, the senior alder-
men only are magistrates. In Ripon, the two aldermen
who were last mayors are magistrates ; in Richmond, the
last mayor only is so constituted.
Their jurisdiction is sometimes'concurrent with that of
the county magistrates, more commonly exclusive ; and
even when the county magistrates have a concurrent ju-
risdiction, it is rarely exercised by the latter within the
borough.