County corporate

A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland.

Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county-empowered entities such as towns or cities which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their counties. A county corporate could also be known as a county of itself, similar to an independent city or consolidated city-county in other countries.

While they were administratively distinct counties, with their own sheriffs and lord lieutenancies, most of the counties corporate remained part of the "county at large" for purposes such as the county assize courts. From the 17th century, the separate jurisdictions of the counties corporate were increasingly merged with that of the surrounding county, so that by the late 19th century the title was mostly a ceremonial one.

History

By the 14th century, the growth of some towns had led to strong opposition to their government by local counties. While charters giving various rights were awarded to each borough, some were awarded complete effective independence including their own sheriffs, quarter sessions and other officials, and were sometimes given governing rights over a swathe of surrounding countryside. They were referred to in the form "Town and County of ..." or "City and County of ...", and so became known as the counties corporate. Other counties corporate were created to deal with specific local problems, such as border conflict (in the case of Berwick-upon-Tweed) and piracy (in the cases of Poole and Haverfordwest).

In the late 19th century the status of counties corporate changed. By the Militia Act 1882 the lieutenancies of the cities and towns were combined with those of adjacent counties, with two exceptions: the City of London, which retained its separate status, and Haverfordwest, which had a separate lieutenancy until 1974.[1] Then the Local Government Act 1888 created the new status of county borough in England and Wales, with administrative functions similar to counties corporate. Some smaller counties corporate (Berwick upon Tweed, Lichfield, Poole, Carmarthen and Haverfordwest) became part of the administrative county in which they were situated. The City of London retained its previous status. Other counties corporate became county boroughs.

In England and Wales counties corporate were not formally abolished until 1974, although the only vestiges of their existence were the right of the city or borough corporation to appoint a ceremonial sheriff; and the fact that the letters patent appointing lord lieutenants still included the names of the town or city. For example, the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire's full title was "Lieutenant of and in the County of Gloucester, and the City and County of Gloucester, and the City and County of Bristol".

Ireland

In Ireland, eight counties corporate were extant by 1610. Each had its own grand jury, assizes and county gaol, separate from those of the adjoining "county-at-large", even though the relevant city or town might be the county town of the county-at-large, in which case the latter's courthouse and gaol would be considered exclaves of the county-at-large.[2] An act of 1788 allowed the same courthouse or gaol to be shared by county corporate and county-at-large.[3] (Dublin city and County Dublin, like the City of London and Middlesex, were outside the assize system but similarly separate jurisdictions.) Where an act of Parliament referred to "any county" it was doubtful that this included counties corporate, the latter intent being expressed as "any county, county of a city, or county of a town". Acts of 1542 and 1765 were extended to counties corporate in 1807.[4] Each county corporate contained rural "liberties" outside the city or town's municipal boundary; in six cases these were transferred to the adjacent county-at-large in 1840–2; the exceptions were Galway and Carrickfergus, where the municipal corporation was abolished instead.[5] The extant baronies of Cork and Dublin are coterminous with the territories transferred from the respective cities in 1840, while the North Liberties barony is part of the former county of the city of Limerick, whose south liberties were absorbed by pre-existing baronies. The 1842 report of the Select Committee on Grand Jury Presentments of Ireland found none of the counties corporate except Drogheda derived any advantage from their status, and recommended they be absorbed as baronies of the adjoining county-at-large.[6] The counties corporate were explicitly abolished in 1899 under the terms of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Waterford became county boroughs. Carrickfergus, Drogheda, Galway and Kilkenny became parts of administrative counties.[7] The baronies of Carrickfergus and Galway are coterminous with the former corporate counties.

List of counties corporate

The counties corporate (listed with date of creation where known) were:[8]

England
  1. The City of Bristol regained its separate shrievalty and lieutenancy in 1996.
  2. The City of London retains its separate shrievalty and lieutenancy.

Wales

Ireland

See also

References
  1. Militia Act 1882. Law Journal Reports. 6 October 1882. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  2. 3 Geo.3 c.34 (Ir) s.88
  3. Courthouses and Gaols Act 1788 (28 Geo.3 c.38 (Ir.))
  4. 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1 c. 43 and County Infirmaries (Ireland) Act 1807 (47 Geo. 3 Sess. 2 c. 50)
  5. Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c.108); Counties and Boroughs (Ireland) Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c.109); Dublin Baronies Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c.82)
  6. House of Commons Select Committee on Grand Jury Presentments of Ireland (1842). Report, minutes of evidence and appendix. Command papers. Vol. 42 Sub-vol.1 No.386. HMSO. p. xliv.
  7. A Handbook of Local Government in Ireland (1899) p.51
  8. F. A. Youngs, Guide to Local Administrative Units of England, 2 volumes, London, 1979 and 1991
  9. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Newcastle-upon-Tyne" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 472–474.
  10. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Norwich" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 819–820.
  11. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Worcester" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 821–822.
  12. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "York" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 927–929.
  13. Commissioners On Municipal Corporations In Ireland, Great Britain (1835). "Town of Carrickfergus". Appendix I (South-Eastern and part of the North-Eastern Circuit). Reports from Commissioners. Vol. 8: Municipal Corporations (Ireland). p. 743.; Robinson, Philip. "Carrickfergus" (PDF). Irish Historic Towns Atlas Online. Royal Irish Academy. pp. 2, 3, 9. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  14. "Charters". Cork City Council. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  15. Johnston, L. C. (1826). History of Drogheda: from the earliest period to the present time. Drogheda. p. 37.
  16. Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Commissioners (1835). "II: Charters; 21: Edward VI". Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners: Report on the City of Dublin; Part I. House of Lords Sessional Papers. Vol. 9, Pt 1. London: HMSO. p. 5.
  17. Hardiman, James (1820). The history of the town and county of the town of Galway. Dublin. p. 99.
  18. House Of Commons, Great Britain. Parliament (1835). "Kilkenny, County of the City of". Appendix I (South-Eastern and part of the North-Eastern Circuit). Reports from Commissioners. Vol. 8: Municipal Corporations (Ireland). p. 535.
  19. Fitzgerald, Patrick; John James McGregor (1827). "Political and Military History". The history, topography and antiquities, of the county and city of Limerick: with a preliminary view of the history and antiquities of Ireland. Vol. II. Limerick: George McKern. p. 221.
  20. Smith, Charles (1774). "Natural and Civil History". The ancient and present state of the county and city of Waterford (2nd ed.). Dublin. p. 134.
  21. Commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland (1836). "Londonderry". Appendix: Part III: Conclusion of the North-Western Circuit. Command papers. Vol. XXIV. HMSO. p. 1117, §§9,10. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  22. Harris, F. W. (1980). "The Commission of 1609: Legal Aspects". Studia Hibernica. St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra (20): 31–55: 35, 47, 55. doi:10.3828/sh.1980.20.2. JSTOR 20496159. S2CID 241980327.
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