Local Government

Local Government is a term used, in the United Kingdom, to express the control and administration of the local affairs of separate divisions and districts of the country by subordinate authorities. It is thus contrasted with imperial government, or the control and administration of affairs for the whole country by the supreme legislative and executive authority. Prior to the Reform Act of 1832 local government in the United Kingdom was of a very rudimentary character. The management of local affairs was almost entirely in the hands of the propertied and privileged classes; the great mass of the people had little or no participation in it. As regards the counties and rural districts, the justices of the peace in England, the commissioners of supply and justices in Scotland, and the grand-jury and justices in Ireland were the exclusive governing authorities; while burghal affairs were practically in the hands of close corporations, either self-elected or chosen by privileged classes of burgesses. The first step towards realising local self-government was the reform of the municipal corporations in 1832-35, whereby the town-councils were made elective. Since then the course of legislation in this direction has been one of steady progress. Thus, in settling the government of urban communities—such as the local board districts of England and the police-burghs of Scotland—the legislature has given them as full control of their affairs as the reformed municipal boroughs. So the establishment of the poor-law systems for each of the three kingdoms between 1835 and 1845, and the creation of poor-law unions in England and Ireland, first introduced life and activity into the rural districts. The great area of local administration is, especially since the Local Government Act of 1888, the county, and is fully treated under that head. Other important areas, separately treated, are the parish and borough, for both England and Scotland. In Ireland, besides the county and town, the union had exceptional importance; and till the Irish Local Government Act of 1898 superseded it by County Councils, the grand-jury (see JURY) had wide administrative powers. The (optional) transfer of most of the proceedings in Scottish private bill legislation to Scotland (by act of 1899) increases the autonomy of the northern kingdom.

The Local Government Board, to which in 1871 the powers of the English Poor-law Board (1834) were transferred, is, in form, a committee of the Privy-council, but the work is done by the political heads of the department (the president and parliamentary secretary, both usually members of the House of Commons) and a staff of clerks. Among the matters placed under the supervision of the Board may be mentioned the areas of parishes, &c., local taxation returns, the administration of the poor-law, sanitary improvements, baths and wash-houses, vaccination, and the prevention of disease. The Local Government Board of Scotland is presided over by the Secretary for Scotland. From the nature of the case, the multiplicity of subjects included in Local Government are best treated in a large number of separate articles, some of which are noted below.

See Probyn, Local Government and Taxation (1882); Goudy and Smith, Local Government in Scotland (1880); Mackenzie Chalmers, Local Government ('Citizen Series, 1871-83); Local Government and Taxation, by various authors, in 'Imperial Parliament Series' (1885); B. Odgers, Local Government (1899); also the several articles: