Borough (A.S. byrig, burg, burgh; It. borgo; Fr. bourg; Scot. burgh). The original meaning of this word, by which we now designate a corporate township, seems to have been a hill, rising ground, or heap of earth; and it was probably from the elevated positions on which places of defence were erected, that it afterwards came to signify a fortification or castle, and latterly the aggregate of houses, churches, and other structures, which, in unsettled times, usually gathered under the walls of a castle; together with their inhabitants, and the arrangements which were made for their government. The questions whether we owe our municipal corporations to Roman, or to Saxon and other Teutonic influences, or to both; and if to both, then to what extent they have severally contributed to their formation, have been keenly discussed by constitutional historians. In so far as etymology goes, its authority is pretty equally divided, the term municipal, from the Latin municipalis, and city, from civitas, favouring the Roman view; whilst borough, from the root above indicated, and town, from the Anglo-Saxon tún, 'an inclosure' (cf. Ger. zaun, 'hedge'), support the Teutonic. But the discussion forms a branch of a very wide subject, which has divided recent writers into two opposite schools. The Teutonic side is espoused by most of the Anglo-Saxon scholars of England, and in general by German writers. But from whatever source derived, that the boroughs of England existed, not as aggregates of houses merely, but as corporate bodies, in the Saxon time, is now generally admitted. The borough system of Scotland is also of great antiquity. A Hanse, or confederation of free burghs for mutual defence and the protection of trade, existed in Scotland, and was known by this name in the reign of David I. (1124-53), more than a century before the formation of the Hanseatic League of the continental cities; and the famous Burgh Laws date from about the same period. 'This code of Scotch burghal regulation,' in Mr Cosmo Innes's opinion, 'though collected in the reign of David, and sanctioned by him, was the result of the experience of the towns of England and Scotland;' and Mr Innes points out the close resemblance between these laws and the burghal usages of Newcastle, and even of Winchester, which seems to suggest their common Saxon origin. Mr Innes also speaks favourably of the burgh life of our ancestors, and considers the burgh domestic architecture, of which monuments remain, sufficient to show that 'the burgess of the Reformation period lived in greater decency and comfort than the laird, though without the numerous following, which no doubt gave dignity if it diminished food.'
Of the boroughs and cities of the middle ages, some were entirely free; they had, like the provincial towns of Italy before the extension of the Roman conquests, a constitution independent of any other powers. Venice, Genoa, Florence, Hamburg, and Lübeck all stood in this position. Next in dignity were the free imperial cities in Germany, which, not being comprehended in the dominions of any of the princes, were in immediate dependence on the empire. Most of these cities rose into importance in the 13th century; and their liberties and privileges were fostered by the Franconian emperors, to afford some counterpoise to the growing power of the immediate nobility. Nürnberg was especially celebrated for its stout resistance to the House of Brandenburg, and the successful war which it waged with the Franconian nobility. In England, the more important cities were immediate vassals of the crown; the smaller municipalities sometimes owned a subject superior, sometimes a greater municipality for their overlord.
Under the Anglo-Saxons, the English boroughs were subject to the rule of an elective officer, called the 'Portreve,' who exercised in the borough functions similar to those of the shire-reve in the shire. The Norman conquerors recognised the already existing privileges of the towns by granting them charters. Instead of a shire-reve, a viscount was placed by the king over each shire, and a bailiff instead of the former elective officer over each borough. In the larger towns, the bailiff was allowed to assume the Norman appellation of Mayor. The municipal franchise seems to have been vested in all the resident and trading inhabitants, who shared in the payment of the local taxes, and performance of local duties. Titles to freedom were also recognised on the grounds of birth, apprenticeship, marriage, and sometimes free gift.
In all the larger towns, the trading population came to be divided into guilds or trading companies, through membership of which companies admission was obtained to the franchise. Eventually the whole community was enrolled in one or other of the guilds, each of which had its property, its by-laws, and its common hall, and the community elected the chief officers. It was on the wealthier and more influential inhabitants that municipal offices were generally conferred; and the practice gradually gained ground of these functionaries perpetuating their authority without appealing to the popular suffrage. Contentions and disputes arose regarding the right of election, and eventually the crown threw the weight of its influence into the scale of self-elective ruling bodies. As the greater municipalities grew in strength, we find their right recognised to appear in parliament by means of representatives. The sheriffs were considered to have a discretionary power to determine which towns should, and which should not have this privilege of representation. The sovereigns of the House of Tudor and Stuart acquired the habit of extending the right of parliamentary representation to boroughs not in the enjoyment of it, while at the same time, by granting or renewing to them municipal charters, they modelled the constitution of these boroughs to a self-elective type, and restricted the right of voting in the choice of a representative to the governing body. During the reigns of William III., Anne, and the earlier Georges, the influence of the crown was largely employed in calling new municipal corporations into existence, with a view of creating additional parliamentary support for the ministry in power. The boroughs of Scotland had a history much like that of the boroughs of England; their earlier charters were mere recognitions of already existing rights, and were granted to the inhabitants at large.
In its modern sense, a borough (or burgh) is commonly understood to mean a city or other town that sends burgesses to parliament—a privilege the nature and extent of which will be explained under PARLIAMENT (q.v.). But apart from their importance as areas for the parliamentary franchise, boroughs are important units of local government in the United Kingdom. Following, as a necessary consequence, the great change in the political franchise introduced by the Reform Act of 1832, came the reconstitution of the municipal corporations—separate acts of parliament for this purpose having been passed for England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, within the succeeding ten years.
I. In England, by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 (5 and 6 Will. IV. chap. 76), one definite form of government was imposed upon boroughs, and all charters inconsistent with the purpose of the act were abrogated. In 1886 there were 282 municipal boroughs in England, of which 178 were included in the Act of 1835, differing greatly both in population and rateable area. By the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, the last-mentioned act, and various amending statutes, were consolidated and amended. They are governed by corporations, called Town-councils, consisting of a mayor, aldermen, and common council of burgesses; the number of councillors varying from forty-eight to twelve. The mayor and aldermen are chosen by the council, and the councillors are elected by ballot by the burgesses. They serve gratuitously. The qualification required for a councillor or alderman is in addition to ordinary burgess-ship, £1000 property, or £30 rating, in the larger boroughs (when divided into four or more wards), and £500 property, or £15 rating, in other cases. On the other hand, the qualification required for the municipal franchise consists, in the ordinary case, of those who are on the burgess roll, or who occupy a house or other building, and reside within seven miles of the borough boundaries, and who pay poor and borough rates. Females, though excluded from the parliamentary, are entitled to exercise the municipal franchise. The tenure of office is, in the case of the mayor, one year; in the case of the aldermen, six years; in the case of the councillors, three years. The town-clerk, the treasurer, and other officials, are appointed by the council.
Many of the larger boroughs possess a separate commission of the peace. Under the Municipal Corporations Act, the mayor and ex-mayor are ex officio justices of the peace, and the other borough magistrates are appointed by commission from the crown. The town-council has no magisterial functions as such. In most boroughs the magistrates are unpaid, but in some of the larger boroughs a stipendiary has been appointed by the crown on the application of the town-council, his salary being paid out of the borough funds. A borough may also obtain the right by petition to the crown to hold a separate quarter-sessions, which involves the appointment of a salaried recorder, coroner, and clerk of the peace. This gives freedom from control of county justices, and from payment of county rate.
As regards the administrative functions of the corporation, the principal are to provide for the watching (by means of a force of borough constables) and the lighting of the borough, as prescribed by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882; and to enforce the sanitary laws under the Public Health Acts, 1873 and 1875. In its capacity as sanitary authority, the town-council has power to regulate sewerage, burial-grounds, water and gas supply, common lodging-houses, baths, and other sanitary matters. The execution of the Elementary Education Acts has also been intrusted to the borough councils in certain cases where there is no school board; and by recent legislation, certain other functions have been assigned to them, such as the regulation of weights and measures, and the establishment of free libraries.
Expenses of Administration.—The expenses incurred by the council in the exercise of their functions are ordinarily defrayed out of the Borough Fund, supplemented where necessary by a Borough Rate. The borough fund was expressly defined by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, which declared that the rents and profits of all hereditaments, and the interest, dividends, and annual proceeds of all moneys, dues, chattels, and valuable securities belonging or payable to any body corporate named in conjunction with a borough in the schedules, or to any member or officer thereof in his corporate capacity, and every fine and penalty for every offence against this act (the application of which has not been already provided for), shall be paid to the treasurer of such borough; and all the moneys which he shall so receive shall be carried by him to the account of a fund to be called 'the Borough Fund'; and such fund, subject to certain payments and deductions, shall be applied towards the payment of the salary of the mayor, and of the recorder, police magistrate, town-clerk, treasurer, and other officers. (See 45 and 46 Vict. chap. 50, sects. 138-
144.) In a few favoured boroughs the borough fund is large enough to meet the whole costs of administration and to leave a surplus, which must be applied, not as of old in private bounties, but for the benefit of the inhabitants and improvement of the town. The borough rate, on the other hand, which has to be levied to a greater or less extent in most boroughs, is similar to the county rate. Authorised by the Municipal Corporations Act to be levied in all cases where there is a deficiency of borough fund, it is intended to meet the maintenance of the police force, borough jail, public baths and wash-houses, public libraries, parks and cemeteries, and lunatic asylums, together with 'general expenses.' These 'general expenses' include the expense of paving, lighting, sewerage, and all appropriate town improvements. The school rate is also included in the borough rate. Where parties consider themselves aggrieved by a borough rate, they may appeal to the recorder at the next quarter-sessions for the borough; or, if there be no recorder, to the next county quarter-sessions.
Besides boroughs proper under the Municipal Corporations Act, there are other organisations of a burghal character with administrative boards possessing many of the powers of town-councils. Such are the 'Local Government Districts,' of which there are a very large number, constituted under the Public Health and Local Government Acts, and the 'Improvement Act Districts,' constituted under various local acts. There are also certain semi-urban districts, constituted under the Lighting and Watching Act, 1833.
The position of the City of London among the urban communities of England is in nearly all respects unique, and will be explained under the article LONDON.
II. In Ireland, the term Borough is not much used as a designation for cities and towns, either in their parliamentary or municipal character. The history of burghal life in Ireland prior to this century, shows an absence of that free and vigorous life which was to be found in the sister-kingdoms. This is in large measure to be ascribed to the pernicious system of excluding Roman Catholics from municipal liberties and offices, and admitting non-resident freemen to take part in elections.
The Irish towns are partly corporate, partly governed by commissioners. The corporate towns, or boroughs proper, are regulated by the Irish Municipal Reform Act, 1840 (3 and 4 Vict. chap. 108). There are eleven such boroughs governed by a mayor, aldermen, and councillors. The number of members in a council varies from sixty in Dublin to twenty-one in Wexford. The aldermen and councillors are elected for three years. The qualification for a Burgess elector is a house of £10 yearly value, residence within the borough, or occupancy for a defined period, and payment of rates. Councillors, on the other hand, must be qualified as electors, and must also be owners of a certain amount of real or personal property, or occupiers of a house of a certain value, the amount depending upon the size of the borough.
The municipal council administer the ordinary affairs of the borough, such as lighting, watching, cleansing, and all sanitary business; and they have power to levy rates for these purposes. In one or two boroughs the fiscal powers of the grand jury have been transferred to the town-council.
Besides the incorporated boroughs, there are a large number of towns in Ireland with an organisation and administrative functions similar to those of the incorporated boroughs. These towns have been constituted mainly under the Lighting and Cleaning Act of 1828 (9 Geo. IV. chap. 82), and the Towns Improvement Act of 1854 (17 and 18 Vict. chap. 103). One unincorporated municipality—viz. Carrickfergus—has been constituted under the above-mentioned Act of 1840. The governing body in these cases is composed of elected commissioners, whose numbers vary from twenty-one to nine. There are certain qualifications (occupation of premises of a certain value) required for electors and commissioners respectively. The commissioners have, as a rule, powers to carry out all ordinary municipal purposes, and can levy rates.
III. In Scotland, the word burgh corresponds to the English borough. There were originally three distinctive classes of burghs—viz. burghs of barony, burghs of regality, and royal burghs. The effect of the Reform Act, 1832, was to bring into existence a new class—what are called parliamentary burghs—i.e. towns or burghs not being royal burghs, but sending or contributing to send representatives to parliament, under the Act 2 and 3 Will. IV. chap. 65. Besides these, the necessities of modern urban life have created yet another class; for, by the General Police Act for Scotland, the word burgh was declared to mean also any 'populous place,' the boundaries of which are fixed by the act.
(1) BURGHs OF BARONY are corporations consisting of the inhabitants of determinate tracts of ground within the Barony, and municipally governed by magistrates and a council (or sometimes by magistrates alone), whose election is either dependent on the baron superior of the district, or vested in the inhabitants themselves. Sometimes their charter of incorporation gave them power to create subordinate corporations and crafts, as in royal burghs; but all exclusive privileges of trading in burghs are abolished by the 9 and 10 Vict. chap. 17. The magistrates (along with the council when there is one) have power to administer their corporate property (common good, as it is called), to elect their burgh-officers, and to make bye-laws. They may be (where the inhabitants so resolve) the local authority for executing the provisions of various statutes affecting urban interests—as, for instance, matters of police under the General Police Acts, 1850 and 1862; and sanitary matters under the Public Health Act, 1867. But where separate police commissioners have been elected for burghs of barony, separate from the burgh council, the administrative functions of the latter become merged in those of the former. A proportion of the land-tax is payable by burghs of barony.
(2) BURGHs OF REGALITY were burghs of barony, spiritual or temporal, enfranchised by crown charter, with regal or exclusive criminal jurisdiction within their own territories, and thence called Regalities. Some of these burghs of regality, especially those which were dependent on the greater bishops and abbots, were of high antiquity, and possessed jurisdiction and privilege of trade only distinguishable from those of royal burghs by being more circumscribed in their limits. Since the abolition of hereditary jurisdictions, by the Act 20 Geo. II. chap. 43, the distinction between burghs of regality and burghs of barony has ceased to be of any practical importance.
(3) ROYAL BURGHs.—A Royal burgh is a corporate body deriving its existence, constitution, and rights from a royal charter—such charter being either actual and express, or presumed to have existed, and by the accident of war and time to have perished. By a Scotch act passed in 1469, a constitution was given to royal burghs, by which the right of appointing their successors belonged to the old councils, the act also containing the singular provision, that when the new council was chosen, the members of it, along with those of the old council, should choose all the office-bearers of the burgh, each craft or trade corporation being represented at the election by one of themselves. But this simple plan was not universally adopted, and the election gradually lost its former free and popular form—a close and exclusive proceeding being ultimately established in its place. This 'close system,' as it has been called, notwithstanding its repugnancy to the spirit of the times and modern ideas of public administration, continued in force until the year 1833, when an act of parliament was passed, the 3 and 4 Will. IV. chap. 76 (amended by the 4 and 5 Will. IV. chap. 87, and the 16 Vict. chap. 26), by which it was abolished, and an entirely new constitution given to royal burghs, with the exception of nine of them, which, on account of the smallness of their population, were left unchanged till the passing of the Municipal Elections Amendment Act (Scotland) in 1868.
At the union of England and Scotland there were seventy royal burghs, all of them except four (viz. Auchtermuchty, Earlsferry, Falkland, and Newburgh) returning members to the Scottish parliament. Two royal burghs (Rothesay and Peebles) were deprived of the burgh parliamentary franchise in 1832, and nine (Stranraer, New Galloway, Whithorn, Wigtown, North Berwick, Haddington, Dunbar, Jedburgh, and Lauder) in 1885. One town—viz. Coatbridge—was created a municipal burgh with the municipal privileges of royal burghs by special act of parliament in 1885.
Under the Municipal Acts of 1833 and 1868 the following organisation has been provided for royal burghs. They are governed by corporations composed of magistrates and councillors elected by the citizens. The number of members of a town-council varies from fifty in Glasgow to six in Oban. The electors consist of the persons qualified to vote for a member of parliament under the Reform Acts of 1832 and 1868, and the persons possessing the qualifications which would be sufficient for the parliamentary franchise under the said Reform Acts in respect of premises situated within the municipal boundaries, when such boundaries extend beyond the parliamentary. The councillors are chosen from among the electors residing, or personally carrying on business, within the royalty; and formerly, where there was a body of burgesses in the burgh, each councillor, before his induction, required to be entered a burgess, but by an act passed in 1876, the right of burgess-ship is now practically extended to all resident ratepayers. By 44 and 45 Vict. chap. 13, sect. 2, women who are unmarried, and married women living separate from their husbands, were admitted to the municipal franchise, but they cannot be elected town-councillors. The electors of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and several other of the larger burghs, are divided into wards. At the election immediately succeeding the passing of the act, each ward elected six councillors; but as every year the third part of the council goes out of office in the order prescribed by the act, two councillors are now annually chosen by each ward, there being no bar, however, to the re-election of an outgoing councillor. It is now competent for burghs with a population above 5000 to be divided into wards for the purpose of municipal as well as parliamentary elections by resolution of a majority of two-thirds of the council to that effect. The electors in other burghs choose the whole council exactly as these wards do their proportion of it, and consequently elect each year a third part in place of that which has retired. Upon the third lawful day after the election succeeding the passing of the act, the councillors meet and choose, by a plurality of voices, a provost, bailies, treasurer, and other office-bearers, as existing in the council by the 'sett' or usage of the burgh. Vacancies taking place during the year by death or resignation are supplied, ad interim, by the remaining members of the council, and the persons so elected by the councillors retire at the succeeding election. The rights of the gildry, trades, &c., to elect their own dean of guild, &c., are still preserved; but these officers are now no longer recognised as constituent members of the council, their functions being performed by a member of the council, elected by a majority of the councillors. In Aberdeen, Dundee, and Perth, however, the dean of guild, and in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the convener of trades and the dean of guild are, ex officio, members of council; and the electors in all the above-named burghs choose such a number of councillors as, together with these officers, makes up the proper number. No magistrate or councillor can be town-clerk. The magistrates and council possess the same powers of administration and jurisdiction as were enjoyed by the magistrates and town-council before the passing of the act; and none of them is responsible for the debts of the burgh, or the acts of his predecessors, otherwise than as a citizen or burgess. The existing council in all burghs royal must every year make up, on or before the 15th of October, a state of their affairs, to be kept in the town-clerk's or treasurer's office.
From an early period in Scottish history the royal burghs have been in use to consult together and take common action in matters concerning their welfare. Evidence of this is found so far back as the middle of the 12th century, when the court of the four burghs (Edinburgh, Berwick, Stirling, and Roxburgh) met under the presidency of the High Chamberlain of Scotland. This court was superseded in the 15th century by the meeting of representatives of all the royal burghs. This was called the Convention of Royal Burghs, and according to the Scottish Act, 1487, chap. 3, which organised it, the duties of the convention were to deal with 'the welfare of merchandise, the gude rule and statutes for the common profit of burrows, and to provide for remedy upon the skaith and injuries sustained within the burrows.' The convention still meets annually in Edinburgh, and though shorn of much of its previous influence, it still shows a considerable amount of vitality, particularly in furthering legislative measures which may be useful to trade. The convention is recognised as a corporation. The proportion of the land-tax payable by royal burghs is also adjusted by the convention. By an act passed in 1879, parliamentary burghs (see below) are enabled to send representatives to the convention.
(4) PARLIAMENTARY BURGHs.—For municipal purposes these burghs stand practically in the same position as royal burghs, being regulated by the Municipal Reform Acts of 1833 and 1868. Among parliamentary burghs are Paisley, Greenock, Leith, Kilmarnock, Falkirk, Hamilton, Peterhead, &c. The boundaries of parliamentary burghs, being fixed for the first time by the Reform Act of 1832, were adopted for municipal purposes. A number of parliamentary burghs were previously burghs of barony and regality, their character as the latter being generally merged in the former.
(5) POLICE BURGHs.—Prior to 1833 it was necessary for towns desiring to make provision for police and sanitary matters to obtain special acts of parliament for the purpose. In this year the first General Police Act was passed, laying down certain general provisions for watching, lighting, and cleansing, which might be adopted by a royal, regality, or barony burgh. Another general act was passed in 1850, and the existing General Police Act in 1862 (25 and 26 Vict. chap. 101), which supersedes the earlier ones. In this last- named act 'burgh' is defined to mean all burghs and populous places whose boundaries have been fixed; and it is provided that the sheriff may fix the boundaries and so constitute a burgh in this sense, for purposes of improvement and police, at the instance of seven or more householders.
The local authority in police burghs is the police commissioners. Their number varies from twelve to six, and in the case of towns divided into wards the number must be so arranged that each ward be represented by three members. The commissioners are elected by occupiers of premises (including females who are unmarried or living separate from their husbands) of £4 value who have paid rates. The same qualification is required for a commissioner as for an elector, but a female cannot be elected. The commissioners hold office for three years, retiring annually by thirds, or as nearly as may be. They choose magistrates, one senior or chief, and two junior magistrates. The principal administrative functions of the commissioners are watching, paving, cleansing, lighting, and improving the burgh. The expenses are defrayed by a rate called 'Police Assessment,' levied upon occupiers of lands within the burgh.
By the Local Government Act of 1888 a system of administration resembling that of boroughs was introduced into counties; and certain towns were constituted 'county boroughs.' The election of eleven peers as mayors in England in 1895 was a somewhat new (and successful) experiment in municipal management.