Dublin Municipal Government

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

The charters granted at various times to the city are carefully preserved from the earliest period in the archives of the corporation. The first was granted in the reign of Henry II., from which period to the reign of George III. a numerous series of them has been successively issued, either confirming previous grants, or conferring additional privileges. The present constitution of the corporate government is founded partly on the provisions of several of the earlier charters, partly on usage and ancient customs, partly on the new rules laid down in the 25th of Charles II. and partly on the statutes of the 33rd of George II., and the 11th and 12th of George III. The corporation consists of a lord mayor, 24 aldermen, and a common council. The lord mayor is annually elected from among the aldermen, by a majority of that body, with the approbation of the common council; the alderman next in rotation is generally chosen. Within ten days after his election, he must be presented to the lord-lieutenant and privy council for their approbation, and is sworn into office before the lord-lieutenant on Sept. 30th; he is a justice of the peace for the county of the city, admiral of the port of Dublin, and chief Judge of the Lord Mayor's and Sheriffs' courts; he has the regulation of the assize of bread, and is clerk of the market, and, ex officio, a member of certain local boards and trusts.

The aldermen, who are also justices of the peace for the city, are elected for life, as vacancies occur, from among such common-councilmen as have served the office of sheriff, and are therefore called sheriffs' peers; each on his election pays £400 late currency, of which £105 is for the Blue-coat hospital, and the remainder for the repair and embellishment of the Mansion-house. The sheriffs are annually elected at Easter by the lord mayor and aldermen out of eight freemen nominated by the common council, and each of them must be in possession of real or personal property to the clear amount of £2000; they must be approved by the lord-lieutenant and privy council; but on payment of a fine of £500, of which £105 is given to the Blue-coat hospital, a freeman so nominated may become a sheriffs' peer without serving the office of sheriff.

The common council consists of the sheriffs' peers, and of the representatives of the guilds triennially elected, who are 96 in number, and who, in default of election by the guilds, may be chosen by the lord mayor and aldermen from each of the guilds so neglecting. The officers of the corporation are a recorder, who must be a barrister of six years' standing, but is not required to be a freeman; he is elected by the lord mayor and aldermen, with the approbation of the common council, subject to the approval of the lord-lieutenant and privy council, holds his office during good behaviour, and is permitted by the act of the 21st and 22nd of George III., in case of sickness or absence, to appoint a deputy, who also, by the 39th of George III., must be a barrister of six years' standing: two coroners, elected from the aldermen by the lord mayor and a majority of that body alone: a president of the court of conscience, who is the ex-lord mayor during the year after his office expires, and may appoint any alderman to officiate for him: two town-clerks, who are also clerks of the peace, either freemen or not, and elected for life in the same manner as the recorder, and subject to the approval of the privy council: a marshal, who must be a freeman, and is similarly elected, nominally for one year, but generally re-elected on its expiration: water bailiffs, elected in the same manner as the marshal, and who give security by two sureties for £1000: serjeants-at-mace, similarly elected, and who give two sureties for £250 each; and several inferior officers.

The freedom of the city is obtained either by gift of the aldermen and common-councilmen in general assembly, or by admission to the freedom of one of the guilds, and afterwards to that of the city, by favour of the corporation. Freemen of the guilds, either by birth, servitude, or marriage, can only be admitted as freemen at large by the common council, who have power to reject them after passing through the guilds; hence the freedom of the guilds entitles them only to the privilege of carrying on their respective trades, but not to that of voting at elections for the city representatives in parliament.

There are 25 guilds, the first of which is the Trinity guild or guild of Merchants, which returns 31 representatives out of the 96; the others, called minor guilds, are those of the Tailors, Smiths, Barber-Surgeons, Bakers, Butchers, Carpenters, Shoemakers, Saddlers, Cooks, Tanners, Tallow-chandlers, Glovers and Skinners, Weavers, Shearmen and Dyers, Goldsmiths, Coopers, Feltmakers, Cutlers, Bricklayers, Hosiers, Curriers, Brewers, Joiners, and Apothecaries. Only six of the guilds have halls; the others meet either in one of these or in a private building. The Merchants' Hall, on Aston's Quay, opposite Wellington bridge, is a new building of granite, two stories high, with little architectural ornament. The Tailors' Hall, in Back-lane, built in 1710, is ornamented with portraits of Charles II., Dean Swift, and St. Homobon, a tailor of Cremona, canonized in 1316 for his piety and charity. The Weavers' Hall, on the Coombe, is a venerable brick building, two stories high, with a pedestrian statue of George II. over the entrance, and in the Hall a portrait of the same king woven in tapestry, and one of a member of the. family of La Touche, who had greatly encouraged the manufacture. The Carpenters' Hall is in Audoen's Arch, the Goldsmiths' in Golden-lane, and the Cutlers' in Capel-street.

The city returns two members to the Imperial parliament; the right of election, formerly vested in the corporation, freemen, and 40s. freeholders, has been extended to the £10 householders, and £20 and £10 leaseholders for the respective terms of 14 and 20 years, by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 88. The number of voters registered at the first general election under that act was 7041, of which number, 5126 voted. The limits of the city, for electoral purposes, include an area of 3538 statute acres, the boundaries of which are minutely detailed in the Appendix; the number of freemen is about 3500, of whom 2500 are resident and 1000 non-resident, and the number of £10 houses is 16,000: the sheriffs are the returning officers.

The corporation holds general courts of quarter assembly at Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, and Michaelmas, which are occasionally adjourned, and post assemblies sometimes for particular purposes. As a justice of the peace, the lord mayor presides at the city quarter sessions, and always attends on the first day to open the court, accompanied by some of the aldermen, it being necessary that two at least of that body should be present with the lord mayor or recorder to form a quorum. The lord mayor's and sheriffs' courts are held on the Thursday after the first day of the sessions; each has cognizance of personal actions to any amount above £2; the process is by attachment of the defendant's goods. The lord mayor's court, in which he is the sole judge, is held every Thursday either at the city sessions-house, where it is an open court, or in the Mansion-house, where it may be private; it has summary jurisdiction, and takes cognizance of complaints, nuisances, informations, &c. The court of conscience, for determining causes and recovering debts not exceeding £2 late currency, is held daily before the president in the city assembly-house in William-street.

The police establishment, as regulated by the Duke of Wellington, when chief secretary for Ireland, was under the control of a chief magistrate, aided by eleven others, three of whom sat daily at. one of the offices of the four divisions, according to which the city was arranged: to each office a chief constable and petty constables were attached. The police force, consisting of a horse-patrol of 29 men, a foot patrol of 169, 26 watch constables, and 539 watchmen, was maintained at an expense of about £40,000 per ann. By an act passed in 1836 the police of the metropolis is placed under two magistrates appointed by the lord-lieutenant, and the boundaries of their jurisdiction have been determined to be the rivers Dodder and Tolka to the south and north, and Knockmaroon hill to the west, which boundary may be extended according to the discretion of the lord-lieutenant and privy council to any place within five miles of Dublin castle; by whom the number of divisional offices may be reduced and also that of the magistrates, provided there be two to each office. The city is to be assessed for the payment of the establishment by a rate not exceeding 8d. in the pound, according to the valuation made under the act of the 5th of George IV.

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