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were appointed justices of the peace for the county or the municipal
corporation. Thereby the administration of local government became
entirely dependent on the force of law as dispensed by the justices
whose rise to power brought about the obsolescence of the Manorial
Court and the Court - Leet as well as the hundreds and tythings,
acknowledged to be the oldest forms of local government.
An Act of 1514 created a new local government authority,
namely the Commissioners of Sewers who were to superintend the
paving of thoroughfares to the middle of the road by the occupiers of
houses fronting it, whilst the main thoroughfares were repairable
by the Mayor and Corporation out of corporate funds. The powers of
these Commissioners were extended to cover the repair and widening
of streets and pay for them by levying a rate on all the frontages.
Many statutes passed during the fourteenth century enabled
specified bodies to manage local affairs consisting mainly of town
improvements and the suppression of the grosser nuisances. Apart
from these few municipal rules the only means of redress for
'nuisance' lay in a 'presentment' at the 'Sheriffs Tourn' or by a
pleading in the Court - Leet both of which were cumbersome in application
and witness attendances were both difficult to secure and
expensive.
The Court - Leet was held but once a year therefore no speedy
remedy for nuisance was available, hence some of the larger towns
obtained powers by private bill procedure to indict for nuisance; but
this also was a lengthy and costly procedure, and was very infrequently
invoked for redress of wrongs.
The Commissioners of Sewers created under the Commissioners
of Sewers Acts were to prevent the flooding of land by sea or river
water or by excessive rainfall. Some three hundred or so such commissions
were issued to improve land drainage but as they had no
control over domestic drainage or refuse there was little alleviation
of sanitary nuisances. Their duties were restricted to surface water
only.
With the increasing powers of the justices, the functions of
the parish diminished rapidly whilst the close and select chartered
corporations having no direct responsibility for the public welfare
did little to better local sanitary conditions.
Local Government had remained separate from the provinces
due to a large extent, to the peculiar political system in the Capital.