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that the corporate funds would remain solvent. This latter office
ceased with the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 after which the
fund deficiency was made good out of rates and not by any individual.
An important feature of this office was the right to nominate the
member of Parliament for the Borough.
The 'Recorder' or 'Steward' was elected either by the council
or the burgesses and as a rule was a 'Judge of Parliament' who acted
generally through a deputy. The 'Bailiff' was the 'Receiver' for the
Crown of the feudal dues and though the office was unpaid it carried
with it high civic dignity.
The 'Magistrates' were selected from among the Aldermen by
the burgesses. Their jurisdiction extended to all criminal and capital
offences. This purely local office disappeared with the creation of
the Crown Courts of Assize.
In fact Blackstone in his Commentories defined English Local
Government as consisting of "subordinate magistrates" whilst Guiest
separates this function into (a) ecclesiastical proper and (b) the
local administrative duties for the parish discharged by the church
wardens including the sustaining of the poor and the work of surveyor
of the highways to provide an early example of the local government
official.
These wardens as surveyors were appointed by the Justices of
Peace hence their transfer to the county councils when the local
government powers were removed from the Justices in 1888.
The 'Police' consisted of unpaid constables appointed to keep
watch and ward; offices which they were compelled to serve.
The 'Relieving Officer' or 'Keeper of the Poor' was usually
chosen from the Select Vestry of the corporation and the function of
these 'officials' was confined to the preservation of the corporate
benefits for the members and in no wise for public welfare. Indeed
the whole of the corporate property including the fund was mismanaged,
misused and generally mis-appropriated to the advantage of
the members personally.
The first principles of public administration generated from
the primary police function which in turn produced the initial and
simple forms of local government which finally resulted in the three
great pillars of English administration namely the county, the town
or borough separated from the former and the local landed gentry who