CLASS H.

Relating to Municipal and Local Authorities, and matters now under their control.

4.

1. MUNICIPAL DISTRICTS.

4 Vict. Cap. An Ordinance to provide for the better internal government of this Province, by the establishment of Local or Municipal Authorities therein.

Preamble.

tricts for the

purposes of

WHEREAS, for the better protection and management of the local interests of Her Majesty's subjects in this Province, and for the advancement of the internal prosperity thereof, it is expedient and necessary that municipal authorities be established in the several districts of the said The Governor Province:-Be it therefore ordained and enacted, &c., that it shall be may erect dis lawful for the Governor of this Province, by his proclamation under the great seal thereof, to be issued by and with the advice of Her Majesty's this ordinance. executive council in this behalf, to erect and constitute such and so many districts in this Province, for the purposes of this ordinance, as to him shall See Tables for appear expedient,* and to fix, appoint and declare the limits of such districts, proclamations respectively, and also by proclamation and by and with such advice as issued, &c. aforesaid, from time to time, as circumstances may render necessary, within two years from the passing of this ordinance, to alter the limits of any such district.

*Note.-By the proclamation of the 18th December, 1841, issued by Sir R. D. Jackson, under the 57th section of the registration ordinance, (4 Vict. cap. 30,) the municipal districts constituted under this ordinance were made the registration districts under that, and the places appointed for the council meetings, were made those at which the registry offices were to be held: But by the 7 Vict. cap. 22. section 2, the counties are substituted for the registration districts, and the office is to be kept at such place as the Governor shall have appointed; And under section 4, the register for each county, and an authentic copy of all entries in the register of the district affecting lands in the county, will be found at the county registry office, under whatever act or ordinance such register may have been kept or such entries made;

so that it will be sufficient, in any inquiry as to the claims or titles registered against any property, to know the county in which it is situate, without ascertaining the registration district in which it may formerly have been.

corporate, with

II. And be it further ordained, &c., that each of the districts so erected Each district and constituted shall be, and is hereby constituted a body corporate, and as to be a body such, shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to certain powers. break, renew and alter the same at pleasure, and shall be capable, in law, of suing and being sued, and of purchasing and holding lands and tenements, situated within the limits of such district, for the use of the inhabitants thereof, and of making and entering into such contracts and agreements as may be necessary for the exercise of its corporate functions; and that the powers aforesaid shall be exercised by and through and in the name of the council of every such district, respectively.

III. Provided always, and be it further ordained, &c., that it shall not The powers to be lawful for any district incorporated as aforesaid, to exercise any other be exercised by each district powers of a corporation except such as are herein mentioned, or such as limited. shall be expressly conferred by the legislature of this Province, or such as shall be necessary for the due execution of the powers herein granted.

IV. And be it further ordained, &c., that there shall be a district council Each district in each of the districts to be erected and constituted as aforesaid, which to have a district councils shall consist of a warden and councillors, to be appointed and elected as hereinafter provided.

council.

warden for

V. And be it further ordained, &c., that it shall be lawful for the The Governor Governor of this Province, by letters patent to be issued under the great to appoint a seal of this Province, to appoint from time to time, as occasion may require, each district. one fit and proper person to be warden of and in each of the said districts, for the purposes of this ordinance, which warden shall hold his office during pleasure.

to be elected.

VI. And be it further ordained, &c., that at the first meeting of the When and by inhabitant householders of the several parishes and townships, or reputed whom the parishes and townships, or unions of parishes and townships and of reputed councillors are parishes and townships, in the respective districts in this Province, to be held in pursuance of a certain ordinance made and passed in the present. year of Her Majesty's reign, intituled, An ordinance to prescribe and 4 Vict. cap. 3. regulate the election and appointment of certain officers in the several cited. parishes and townships in this Province, and to make other provisions

for the local interests of these divisions of the Province, there shall be See Tables. elected by the said inhabitant householders, assembled and qualified in the manner prescribed by the said ordinance, one or two councillors to be members of the said district councils, respectively, according as such local divisions as aforesaid, may by reason of the amount of their population, and according to the provisions hereinafter contained, be empowered and required to elect one or two councillors; and at each succeeding annual meeting to be held as aforesaid, there shall be elected, by the inhabitant householders assembled and qualified as aforesaid, a councillor or councillors to supply the place of the councillor or councillors (if any there be) who, having been elected for the local division for which the meeting shall be held, shall have vacated his or their seat or seats, in the manner hereinafter provided, and a councillor to represent such local division in the district council, if such local division shall, since the then last election, have become entitled to elect two such councillors instead of one.

How and by whom the

elections are to be con

termined.

VII. And be it further ordained, &c., that the said inhabitant householders shall at every such meeting first proceed to the election of a councillor or councillors; and the poll for such election, if demanded by any candiducted and de- date or by any three electors then present, shall be kept open to an hour not later than three in the afternoon of the first day of such meeting, and shall then finally close; and the name of each elector voting at such election shall be written in poll lists, to be kept at such election by the justice of the peace or other person holding the same; and after the final close of such poll, such justice or other person shall forthwith proceed publicly to declare the number of votes given for each candidate, and shall declare the person or persons having the majority of votes in his or their favor, to be duly elected councillor or councillors as aforesaid; and if there should be at such final closing of the poll, an equal number of votes polled for two or more persons to be councillors as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such justice or other person holding such election, and he is hereby required, whether otherwise qualified or not, to give a vote for one or other of the persons having such The poll lists equality of votes, and so determine the election; and the poll lists kept at to be delivered such election, shall, by such justice of the peace or other person, be delivered after the conclusion of every such election, to the clerk of the district for which such election shall have been held.

to the clerk of the district.

How the num

lors for each

district is to

VIII. And be it further ordained, &c., that the number of councillors to ber of council- be elected for each of the said districts, shall be regulated as follows, that is to say, every parish and township, or reputed parish and township, in be regulated. which the population shall be above three hundred and not exceeding three thousand souls, shall elect one councillor; and every parish and township, or reputed parish or township, in which the population shall exceed three thousand souls, shall elect two councillors; and no parish or township shall be entitled to elect more than two councillors: Provided always, that the unions of parishes and townships, and of reputed parishes and townships, to be made in pursuance of the said ordinance, passed in the fourth year of Her Majesty's reign, shall be taken and considered to constitute parishes and townships for all the purposes of this ordinance.

Proviso.

The Governor to determine the number of

councillors to be elected for

each parish,

&c.

See Tables.

Qualification

IX. And be it further ordained, &c., that it shall be lawful for the Governor of this Province, before the first Monday in January, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, to fix and determine by proclamation under the great seal of the Province, in this behalf to be issued, by and with the advice and consent of Her Majesty's executive council, the number of councillors which, according to the amount of their population, shall be elected for each and every parish and township, or reputed parish and township, in the several districts in this Province, and by proclamation and proclamations to be issued thereafter as occasion may require, to determine when any parish or township, or reputed parish or township, by reason of its augmented population, shall be entitled to elect two councillors instead of one, according to the provisions of this ordinance, and also when any parish or township, or reputed parish or township, forming part of a union as aforesaid, shall be respectively and separately entitled to elect a councillor or councillors by reason of its augmented population.

X. And be it further ordained, &c., that every person to be elected a of a councillor. member of a district council, as aforesaid, shall be resident within the parish or township, or reputed parish or township, for which he shall be elected, and shall be seized and possessed to his own use, in freehold or in fief, or

in roture, of lands and tenements within the district in which such local divisions, respectively, shall be situated, or within some one or other of the districts next adjoining such district, of the value of three hundred pounds currency, over and above all charges and incumbrances, due and payable upon or out of the same.

elected coun

XI. And be it further ordained, &c., that no person being in holy orders, Persons not or being a minister or teacher of any dissenting or religious sect or congre- qualified to be gation, nor any judge or judges of any court of justice, nor any military, cillors. naval or marine officer in Her Majesty's service, on full pay, nor any person accountable for the district revenues, nor any person receiving any pecuniary allowance from the district for his services, nor any person having directly or indirectly, by himself or his partner, any contract, or any share or interest in any contract, with or on behalf of the district, shall be qualified to be elected a councillor in any district council in this Province.

XII. And be it further ordained, &c., that no person shall be capable of Persons atbeing elected a councillor, in any of the district councils in this Province, tainted of treawho shall have been attainted for treason or felony, in any court of law in disqualified. son or felony, any of Her Majesty's dominions.

accounted for.

XIII. And be it further ordained, &c., that every person duly qualified, Persons elect who shall be elected to the office of councillor in any district council with- ed to pay a fine in default in this Province, shall accept such office, or in default thereof shall pay to pay to of accepting the treasurer of the district in which he shall have been so elected, a fine office. not exceeding the sum of ten pounds currency, or such other fine instead thereof as may hereafter be provided by a by-law of such council, to be made in this behalf; and the said fine, if not duly paid, shall, together with How to be rethe reasonable costs of recovering the same, be levied by distress and sale covered and of the goods and chattels of the person so refusing to accept office, in execution of the warrant of any justice of the peace having jurisdiction within the district, who is hereby required, on the application of the council, and after the conviction of the person so making default, by confession, or on the oath of one or more credible witnesses, to issue such warrant; and the fine so recovered shall be accounted for by the said treasurer as part of the district funds in his hands: Provided always, that no person disabled by permanent Proviso. infirmity of body or mind, nor any person above the age of sixty-five years, nor any person who within five years from the day on which he shall have been so elected, shall have already served the said office of councillor, or paid a fine for not serving the saine, shall be liable to such fine as aforesaid. XIV. And be it further ordained, &c., that no person elected a councillor Each councilas aforesaid, shall be capable of acting as such, until he shall have taken and lor, before he subscribed before the warden of the district, or the justice of the peace or can act as such, other person who shall have presided at the election, (who are hereby author- oaths. ized to administer the said oaths,) the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, and also an oath in the words or to the effect following, that is to say :— I, A. B., having been elected a councillor in the The oath of do hereby sincerely and solemnly swear that I office. will faithfully fulfil the duties of the said office, according to the best of

"district council of

my judgment and ability; and that I am seized and possessed, to my own use, of lands held in freehold (or in fief, or in roture, as the case may (C be,) within the district of

of the value of three hundred pounds, over and above all charges and incumbrances due and payable. upon or out of the same; and that I have not fraudulently or collusively

to take certain

Councillors refusing to

take the oaths,

Manner of

oaths.

"obtained the same for the purpose of qualifying me to be elected as afore"said: So help me God."

XV. And be it further ordained, &c., that every person duly qualified, who shall be elected to the office of councillor as aforesaid, shall take and subscribe the oaths hereinbefore mentioned, within ten days after notice of his election; and in default thereof, such person shall be deemed to have refused to accept the said office, and shall be liable to pay the fine aforesaid, as for non-acceptance of office, and the said office shall thenceforward be deemed to be vacant, and shall be filled up by another election.

XVI. And be it further ordained, &c., that in cases where any duly proceeding to qualified person elected to the office of councillor in any of the said districts, supply the places of coun- shall refuse to accept such office, or shall refuse or neglect to take and subcillors refusing scribe the above mentioned oaths, it shall be lawful for the justice of the to accept office, or to take the peace, or other person who shall have presided at the election at which such person was elected, as often as such case of refusal or neglect shall occur, to proceed, after four days notice in this behalf to the electors qualified as aforesaid, to be posted at two or more of the most public places in the said parishes or townships, or reputed parishes or townships, to another election of a fit and proper person to supply the place of the person who shall have so refused or neglected to accept office, or to take and subscribe the said oaths; and the councillor who may be elected at such new election, shall hold office until the time at which the person in whose place he may have been elected, would, according to the provisions hereinafter contained, have gone out of office, and no longer, but shall be capable of immediate re-election, unless otherwise disqualified as aforesaid.

Manner of proceeding to sup

XVII. And be it further ordained, &c., that if a vacancy or vacancies in ply vacancies any of the said councils, whether arising from the death of any of the occurring be- councillors or other cause, shall occur before the annual period of election tween the an- as hereinbefore prescribed, it shall be lawful for the warden of the district in nual periods of election. which such vacancy or vacancies shall have occurred, to issue in the name of Her Majesty, Her Heirs or Successors, his warrant under his hand and seal, directed to one of the justices of the peace, or to some other discreet and competent person resident in the parish or township, or reputed parish or township, in which such vacancy or vacancies shall have occurred, requiring such justice or other person to proceed, after due notice in this behalf to the electors qualified as aforesaid, in causing an election to be made of a councillor or councillors, to supply such vacancy or vacancies; which warrant shall by such justice of the peace or other person be duly executed; and every councillor elected under such warrant, shall vacate his seat in the council, at the time when the person in whose stead he shall have been chosen would, according to the provisions hereinafter contained, have vacated his seat, but shall be capable of immediate re-election, if not otherwise disqualified: Provided always, that no such warrant shall be issued as aforesaid, after the third quarterly meeting in any year.

Proviso.

One third part of the entire number of

councillors to

XVIII. And be it further ordained, &c., that on the second Monday in January, in the year next following that in which the first election shall be had, and on the same day in every succeeding year, one third part of the go out of office entire number of councillors in every district shall go out of office; and at annually. the last quarterly meeting of each and every district council, in the year in which such first election shall be had, it shall be determined by lot, which among the councillors shall go out of office for that year, and for the next