By-laws

By-laws are the private regulations which are usually made by corporate bodies for the control and government of the corporation. In the United States they are generally called Municipal Ordinances. They are binding, unless contrary to the laws of the land, or to the charter or act of incorporation, or unless they are manifestly unreasonable. Under certain legal systems the power extends to the licensing, taxing, and regulation of amusements and occupations (including the sale of intoxicating liquors); it includes a power to enforce by-laws by fines and forfeitures; and under what is called the 'general welfare' clause in American charters, a large right of interference with trade has been claimed. Every corporation, too, can of course alter or repeal the by-laws which itself has made. By the English Municipal Corporation Act, 1835, borough councils have power to make by-laws for the government of the borough; such by-laws, however, not to be of force till the expiration of forty days after the same, or till a copy shall have been sent to one of the secretaries of state, during which period Her Majesty, with the advice of her Privy-council, may either disallow the by-laws, or a part, or enlarge the time within which they shall not come into force. In numerous cases, by-laws have to be submitted for approval to some administrative department of government who publish model by-laws. Thus, the Board of Trade in this way regulate traffic on railways and tramways; the Education Department make by-laws for the attendance of children under the Elementary Education Acts; the Local Government Board make by-laws regulating the use of public baths and wash-houses, markets, hop-picking, new streets and buildings, common lodging-houses, slaughter-houses, &c. By-laws may also be made by joint-stock companies, guilds, unincorporated trading companies, religious and literary and scientific societies, &c., and to these the common law will give effect. By-laws under the Factory, and Mines, and Fishery Acts, generally require the sanction of a secretary of state. Unlike statutes, all by-laws must be distinctly published before they acquire binding effect; the mode of publication being generally specified by statute. In the United States, the law is much as in England. By-laws must not conflict with the law of the land, or state law. The right to make by-laws is not essential to a corporation; in charitable foundations they are usually made by the founder. In stock corporations the by-laws are made by the members, not by the directors or managers. The by-laws of a corporation bind its members only, while its regulations affect third persons dealing with it. See An Essay on By-laws, by Lumley (1877).