Q. B.]

REG. v. THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF Works.

powers. The whole of these works (including the sewers) having been assessed to the rate for the relief of the poor in the parish of Greenwich, in which they were situate:

Held, first, that as regards the sewers, as they are not the subject of a beneficial occupation, they are not rateable; secondly, that as regards the other property, it was properly assessed.

This was an appeal by the Metropolitan Board of Works against a poor-rate, which came on for trial at the Kent Midsummer Sessions, 1866, when the rate was confirmed subject to the opinion of this court.

The churchwardens and overseers of the parish of Greenwich, in accordance with a valuation list made by the vestry of the said parish, assessed the board as follows [The rate was in the usual form, and it is necessary to refer only to the several descriptions of the property assessed as follows]:

Description of property.-Wharf and engine-house in Norman-road, pumping station, land wharf, lay-by for barges, tramways, two engine-houses, four steam engines, boiler house, chimney stack, two filth hoists, coal sheds, and dwelling-house in Northpole-lane. Land occupied by southern high level sewer. Land occupied by southern low level sewer. Land occupied by the southern outfall sewer.

The case stated as follows:

The appellants are the Metropolitan Board of Works, constituted and incorporated by the Act of Parliament, 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120 (amended by 19 & 20 Vict. c. 112, 21 & 22 Vict. c. 104, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, 26 & 27 Vict. c. 68, and 28 Vict. c. 19), for the local management of the metropolis in respect of the sewerage and drainage, and the paving, cleansing, lighting, and improvements thereof. The respondents are the churchwardens and overseers of the parish of Greenwich, who, under an Act of 9 Geo. 4, c. 43, have power to levy certain rates for the relief of the poor, and for general purposes within the said parish.

By the 135th section of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120, it was enacted that the main sewers then vested in the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London, and in the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers respectively, with the walls, defences, banks, outlits, sluices, flaps, penstocks, gulleys, grates, works, and things thereunto belonging, and the materials thereof, with all rights of way and passage used and enjoyed by such commissioners respectively over and to such sewers, works, and things, and all other rights concerning or incident to such sewers, works, and things, should be vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works, and such board should make such sewers and works as they might think necessary, preventing all or any part of the sewage within the metropolis from flowing or passing into the river Thames in or near the metropolis, and should cause such sewers and works to be completed on or before the 31st Dec. 1860, and should also make such other sewers and works, and such diversions or alterations, of any existing sewers or works vested in them under that Act, as they might from time to time think necessary for the effectual sewerage and drainage of the metropolis; and should discontinue, close up, or destroy such sewers for the time being vested in them under this Act as they might deem unnecessary; and such board should from time to time repair and maintain the sewers so vested in them, or such of them as might not be discontinued, closed up, or destroyed as aforesaid.

[Q. B.

By the Act of 21 & 22 Vict. c. 104, s. 1, it was enacted that the Metropolitan Board of Works should cause to be commenced as soon as might be after the passing of that Act, and to be carried on and completed with all convenient speed, according to such plan as to them might seem proper, the necessary sewers and works for the improvement of the main drainage of the metropolis, and for preventing as far as might be practicable the sewage of the metropolis from passing into the river Thames within the metropolis; and by the same Act power was given to the Metropolitan Board to raise a sum of money not exceeding 3,000,0007. (sect. 4), to be guarranteed by the Treasury (sect. 6), and applied only in payment of the expenses of the works executed under this Act (sect. 8); and the Metropolitan Board of Works was directed, for the purposes of that Act during forty years from thepassing of that Act, to levy a rate of 3d. in the pound on the annual value of the whole of the property in the metropolis (sect. 10) to be called the " Metropolis Main Drainage Rate" (sect. 11); and by sect. 12, it was declared that for the purpose of the assessments under that Act, all the parts of the metropolis should be deemed to be equally benefited by the expenditure under that Act.

By the 18th section of the said Act it was enacted that an account should be opened in the books of the governor and company of the Bank of England for the purposes of that Act, in the names of such officers or persons as the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury might direct, and such account should be deemed a public account; and all moneys payable under the precepts of the Metropolitan Board of Works in respect of the metropolis main drainage rate should be paid into the Bank of England to such account; and the dividends and income arising from the investments of any such moneys under that Act, and the produce of the sale from time to time of such investments, and all moneys borrowed for repayment until applied for for that purpose, should be paid into the Bank of England to the said account.

By the 19th section of the said Act it was enacted that all moneys paid to the credit of the said account should be from time to time applied in payment of the interest of the moneys borrowed under that Act. and, subject thereto, in or towards payment of any moneys so borrowed which for the time being might be payable, or the purchase of bonds, debentures, or securities, whereby any such moneys were secured for the purpose of the extinction thereof; and any surplus, after answering the purposes aforesaid. should be invested in government securities in such manner as the Commissioners of the Treasury might think fit and direct, and such investment should be sold when and as the said Commissioners of the Treasury might direct. And by sect. 22 of the said Act it was enacted that if the amount raisable under that should have been raised and paid off by means of the rates levied under the Act before the expiration of the said period of forty years, the Metropolitan Board of Works, with the consent of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, should And the section further enacts that the said board discontinue the assessment for the metropolis main should cause the sewers vested in them to be con- drainage rate, and any surplus of the moneys structed, covered, and kept, so as not to be a arising from the rates levied under that Act which nuisance or injurious to health, and to be properly might remain after such payment should be applicleared, cleansed, and emptied; and for the purpose cable towards defraying the expenses of such board. of cleansing cleaning, and emptying the same, they By the Act of the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 68, the Metro might construct and place either above or under-politan Board of Works was empowered to borrow, ground, such reservoirs, sluices, engines, and other with the consent and in manner provided and sub

Q. B.]

REG. v. THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

ject to the conditions contained in the last-mentioned Act, any sum of money not exceeding in the whole 1,200,000, in addition to the sums by that Act authorised to be borrowed; and by the Act of the 28 Vict. c. 19 the time for borrowing was extended to the 31st Dec. 1867.

The Metropolitan Board of Works, in pursuance of the directions, and under the powers given to and conferred on them as aforesaid, commenced the construction of a system of sewers to intercept the drainage of the metropolis, connected with pumping stations by means of which the sewage is lifted from a lower to a higher level, and ultimately discharged at a point many miles down the Thames. The sewers, except at the pumping stations, pass under the public highways of the metropolis, or under land in which the Metropolitan Board of Works have, except as herein appears, no property whatever. The pumping stations are erected upon land the property of the Metropolitan Board of Works, but are used solely as part of the metropolitan main drainage and intercepting scheme. The course of the sewers and the situation of the different pumping stations is shown upon the plan marked A, annexed hereto, which is to be taken as forming part of this case.

[Q. B.

wharf, and lay-by for barges. The pumping station, with the machinery, engines, works, &c., cost about 94007. The land included in this assessment was rated before the board took possession of it.

The property comprised in assessment No. 879 is part of the southern high level sewer, 990 feet in length in the parish of Greenwich, and which for 725 feet runs under land which is not the property of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and for the remaining 265 feet under land which is comprised in assessment No. 878. The total length of this sewer is 5 miles. It commences at Clapham, and runs through Clapham, Southwark, Brixton, Camberwell, Peckham, Hatcham, and Deptford, and terminates at the pumping station at Greenwich, and it drains an area of 20 square miles, including Tooting, Streatham, Brixton, Dulwich, Camberwell, Peckham, Norwood, and Sydenham. This sewer is constructed of sufficient capacity to carry off all the flood waters, so as entirely to intercept them from the low and thickly populated district before mentioned, which was tide-locked and subject to floods.

The property comprised in assessment No. 880 is part of the southern low level sewer, 230 feet in The whole of the said works, both on the northern length in the parish of Greenwich, which for 45 and southern sides of the river, are designed and feet runs under land which is not the property of intended to carry out the purposes specified and set the Metropolitan Board of Works, and for the reforth in the Metropolis Management Act 1855, and maining 185 feet under land which is comprised in the Metropolis Management Amendment Act 1862, assessment No. 878. The total length of this sewer the main objects being the improvement of the is about 10 miles. It commences at High-street, main drainage of the metropolis and the purifica- Putney, and runs through Wandsworth, Battersea, tion of the Thames, by the interception of the Kennington, Camberwell and Deptford, and termisewage, so as to prevent it as far as may be practi- nates at the pumping station at Greenwich, and it cable from flowing into and polluting the river within drains an area of about 20 square miles, inthe metropolis, and the discharge of the same as including Putney, Battersea, Lambeth, Newington, the last paragraph mentioned. All the sewers shown on the plan A, north and south, discharge themselves by the works constructed under the above Acts, on the north side of the river at a point without the limits of the metropolis, and on the south side of the river at a point about one mile beyond the limits of the metropolis, as defined by the first-mentioned Act.

The assessments bereinbefore set forth are made in respect of a pumping station and certain lengths of sewers, forming part of the said metropolitan main drainage and intercepting scheme, and situate on the south side of the river Thames, and within the parish of Greenwich.

The property comprised in assessment No. 876 is held by the Metropolitan Board of Works under a lease of which seven years remain unexpired. The wharf and engine-house were erected for a temporary purpose, as part of the metropolitan main drainage and intercepting scheme, and were in the occupation of the board before and at the time of the making the rate, but are no longer used by the said Board of Works for any purpose whatThe land included in this assessment was rated before the board took possession of it.

ever.

The property comprised in assessment No. 878 is freehold property of the Metropolitan Board of Works, and consists of 3a. 3r. 20p. of land, which was purchased by them for 97301, and on which have been erected engine-houses and other buildings and works, part of the said pumping station described in the rate, and used solely for the purposes of the said main drainage intercepting scheme. There is also a dwelling house, which consists of six rooms, in which the manager of the said pumping station is compelled to live under his agreement with the board, and for which he pays no rent, and which, if rateable at all, is only at the rateable value of 20%. A portion of the land is laid out as a garden; there are also coal-sheds, storerooms, workshops, tramways, turnable cranes,

Southwark, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, and Deptford, the surface of which is mostly below the level of high water, in many places five or six feet, it having at one time been completely covered by the river Thames. In this district the old sewers had but little fall, and, except at the period of low water, were tide-locked and stagnant. After long continued rain they became overcharged and were unable to empty themselves during the short period of low water; the waters, therefore were constantly accumulating, and many days frequently elapsed after the cessation of rain before the old sewers could be entirely relieved, the sewage in the interim being forced into the basements and cellars of the houses. These defects contributed to render the district most unhealthy; but the construction of the low level sewer has rendered the district as dry and free from disease as any portion of the Metropolis.

The property comprised in assessment No. 881 is part of the southern outfall sewer, 11,072 feet in langth in the parish of Greenwich, and runs under land which is not the property of the Metropolitan Board of Works. This sewer is about 7 miles in length. It commences at the pumping station at Greenwich, where it receives the sewage brought there by the high and low level sewers, and terminates at the river Thames at Erith. The sewage from the low level has to be pumped up from such sewer from a depth of 18 feet, such sewer being about that depth below the level of the bottom of the outfall sewer. The whole of the sewage on the south side of the Thames passes through the pumping station into this outfall sewer.

The whole of the property comprised in the said assessements is delineated and described in the map or plan marked B, annexed hereto, which is to be taken as part of this case, and is held, occupied, and used by the said board in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth, and not otherwise.

The late Commissioners of Sewers never were rated to the relief of the poor in respect of the

Q. B.]

REG. V. THe MetropolITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

sewers or works connected therewith; and the Metropolitan Board of Works have never hitherto been rated in respect of the sewers, but they have been rated in the parish of Greenwich for a wharf, engine-house, and pumping station connected with the said sewers.

The appellants have not derived, nor do they derive, any profit or advantage from the said drainage and intercepting works except as herein stated, but the whole are maintained out of the funds raised in pursuance of the Acts herein before mentioned, and carried on for the purposes in the said Acts specified and set forth. By an Act of the 28 Vict. c. 121, which was passed on the 19th day of June 1865, and which is to be taken as forming part of this case, power was given to a company, under and subject to the provisions of the said Act to utilise the sewage collected in the main outfall sewers on the northern side of the Thames and the benefit of a certain agreement, a copy of which is set out in the schedule of the said Act, and all the obligations and engagements undertaken thereby were transferred to the said company (sect. 115); and it was provided that, after certain payments therein specified had been made, the Metropolitan Board of Works should receive a certain share of the net profits of the said company, but no money was to be received from the said company until the expiration of four years from passing of the said Act, and any money thereafter to be received by the board was to be applied generally in aid of the rates of the metropolis. The works authorised by the said Act are unfinished. There are only about two miles out of about thirty-six completed, and no profit has hitherto been made by the utilisation of the said sewage by anyone, and no money has been received from the said company by the Metropolitan Board of Works.

The sum of 3,000,0007., the repayment of which has been duly guaranteed by the treasurer is now due and owing by the appellants for principal moneys borrowed under the said Acts and expended on the said metropolitan main drainage and intercepting scheme, and no works of the character set forth have been done except with the money borrowed under the said Acts.

The respondents contend that the said property of appellants is liable to be rated for the relief of the poor of the parish of Greenwich, and for general purposes within the said parish, under the 20th section of the said Act of the 9 Geo. 4, c. 43, which enacts that, once in every year or oftener, it shall be lawful for the churchwardens, overseers, and parishioners assembled at a vestry meeting to make rates upon all persons who shall occupy, hold, or use any houses, buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or possess any rateable property within the said parish, that is to say, one rate for defraying the expenses of maintaining and employing the poor of the said parish of Greenwich and all other expenses relating thereto, and one other rate upon the annual rent or value of such houses, buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, hereinbefore referred to, for maintaining the highways and cleansing the streets within the said parish. The appellants contend that they do not hold, occupy, or use the houses, buildings, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, so as to be liable to be rated to the relief of the poor under the statute of the 9 Geo. 4, c. 43, nor do they possess any rateable property within the parish of Greenwich. The Acts 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 112; 21 & 22 Vict. c. 104; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102; 26 & 27 Vict. c. 68; 28 Vict. c. 19, and 9 Geo. 4, c. 43, are to be taken as forming part of this case.

The Court of Queen's Bench is to have power to draw any inferences of fact, if they think fit so to do, and to amend the said rate.

[Q. B. The question for the decision of the Court of Queen's Bench is

1st. Whether the Metropolitan Board of Works are rateable to the relief of the poor and to the general rate of the parish of Greenwich in respect of the premises specified in the said assessments, and herein before particularly described, or any of them.

If the said court shall of opinion that the Metropolitan Board of Works are not liable to be rated in respect of any of the said assessments, the order of sessions is to be quashed, and the rates amended by striking out the names of the appellants.

And if the court shall be of opinion that the Metropolitan Board of Works are liable to be rated in respect of all the heads of assessment before mentioned, the order of sessions is to be confirmed.

But if the court shall be of opinion that the Metropolitan Board of Works are liable to be rated in respect of only some one or more of the said heads of assessment, but not all numbered as above, or in respect of any of the property included in the same respectively, the order of sessions is to be confirmed as to such heads of assessment, and to be quashed as to the other of such heads, and the rate amended by striking out the name of the appellants opposite to such heads in respect of which it is held that they have no property liable to be rated.

Keane, Q. C., Poland, and Barrow appeared for the overseers in support of the rate. and contended that the Metropolitan Board of Works are rateable for their sewers and other works, there being no words of exemption. That they are not servants of the Crown, nor exempt in any other way. [Lusн, J.-To whom are the sewers beneficial?] To the occupiers through whose land they pass. [COCKBURN, C.J.-They are only beneficial to the individual householders. The Board of Works do not charge for the drainage like a water or gas company.] They must be taken to represent those who enjoy the advantage. [COCKBURN, C. J.-Here there can be no profit to anyone. There is no return of any kind. The board can only rate to the extent of the cost.] That was so in the Mersey Dock case. [COCKBURN, C.J.-The money there was not applicable only to the costs. If there were any surplus here that would have been different. Here the right to levy rates is only coextensive with the expenditure. What would the hypothetical tenant give? He could make nothing. LUSH, J.-Is this capable of a beneficial occupation by anyone? The board must so apply these rates so as to preclude a profit. They can only collect enough to pay expenses.] The same argument would have applied to Reg. v. The Wallingford Union, 10 Ad. & Ell. 259, where a workhouse was held rateable. [COCKBURN, C. J.-There there was a house capable of being used as a dwelling. LUSH, J.-The rate is merely for the purpose of constructing the sewers. COCKBURN, C. J.-May you not equally say that a street is liable to be rated because the local board can levy a rate to keep it in repair?] There the rights are in different parties-the public have the use, whilst the freehold is in another party. Here the board have possession of land capable of producing a profit. They occupy valuable property. But if not rateable for the sewers, the board are cer tainly rateable for all the other property which has been assessed.

Mellish, Q. C., Raymond, and Biron appeared for the Board of Works, and argued that they were not liable to be rated. Sewers, which are of ancient origin, never have been rated, the universal belief being that they were not the subject of rating. The

REG. v. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT.

Jones v. The Mersey Dock Company, 35 L. J. 1, A parish is a place "having a known or defined

Q. B.]

REG. v. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT.

Secretaries of State, as required by such Act. And whereas it has now been duly certified to me that a copy of such notice has been duly advertised, and that copies have also been duly affixed to the principal doors of each church and chapel in such parish to which notices are usually affixed. And whereas within the period of appeal against the resolution for the adoption of the said Act, appeals have been made against such adoption, but the same have after due consideration been dismissed.

Now therefore I, one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, do hereby give notice that the said appeals have been accordingly dismissed, and that the Local Government Act 1858 has been duly adopted within the said parish of Lymington, in the county of Hants. And I do further order that the said Act shall have the force of law within such parish of Lymington from and after the 31st day of Dec. 1866.

Given under my hand this 14th day of Dec. 1867.
(Signed)
S. H. WALPOLE.

Home Office, Whitehall.

The following is the affidavit on which the rule to show cause had been obtained, and in which the facts of the case are stated:

I, William Henry Grove, gentleman, of No. 3, Bucklandvillas, in the parish of Lymington, in the county of Southampton, make oath and say:

[Q. B.

Term 1867, to show cause why a quo warranto should not be filed against them, when such rule was discharged in Michaelmas Term 1867 on the only ground that the mode of proceeding should be on the certiorari.

6. That this application for a writ of certiorari is made by this deponent at the wish of many burgesses of the borough, and of the ratepayers of the tything of Lymington aforesaid, the majority of whom are opposed to the introduction of the Local Government Act into their parish. This deponent and the said burgesses and ratepayers do further make this application through this deponent under the conviction that the aforesaid order of the said Secretary of State is not an order made in pursuance of the Local Government Act 858, such order not giving him power to declare that the said Act shall have the force of law in a parisu that contains a corporate borough unless the said Act has been adopted by the council of such borough.

7. That the majority of the burgesses of the said borough are grieved by the establishment of a local board within their borough, the effect of which has been to put a parish board over the municipal body, to deprive the latter of all functions of local government, to reduce the town council to a mere cypher, and to divest that corporate body of those ancient rights and privileges that are secured to it by chartes from the Crown and confirmed by statute law.

8. That this deponent is grieved by the aforesaid order of the Secretary of State, as a ratepayer of the said tything, as the persons who are acting under it, as a local board, have made heavy rates on the said tything, and induced the justices of the said county to enforce the same by the sale of the goods of this deponent, and have further inflicted on him heavy fines for refusing to acknowledge the illegal authority of the said alleged local board, who are acting under the aforesaid order of the Secretary of State.

9. That under the circumstances aforesaid, great injury and injustice will be done to this deponent and to the burgesses of the said borough and to the ratepayers of the said tything unless the said order of the Secretary of State be brought up and discharged.

1. That the aforesaid parish of Lymington is in extent about 1400 acres, and comprises within its area the corporate borough of Lymington, which is in extent about 100 acres. The said borough is a corporate borough under the style of the mayor and burgesses of the borough of Lymington, and is mentioned in schedule B, sect. 2, of the Act of the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, entitled, "An Act to provide for the regulation of the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales." The town council of the said borough hath not adopted the Local Government Act 1858, as is provided by the 12th and 24th sections of that Act. That the portion of the parish which is without the borough is called the Tything of Lymington, and is a place having a known and defined boundary, being a manor of itself, and the inhabit-requisite notices, &c. ants residing therein are separately assessed from those living within the borough for all Parliamentary taxes and the police rates. That such tything is a place empowered of itself to adopt the Local Government Act 1858, subject to such consent as is therein provided by that Act. That the population of the said borough at the census of 1861 was 2416, and the population of the said tything 1655.

2. I am a ratepayer of that portion of the said parish which is situate within the said tything, and I reside therein. On the 16th day of Aug. 1866 a vestry meeting was convened by the churchwardens of the said parish to determine whether the said parish would adopt the Local Government Act 1858; and such vestry did agree to adopt the said Act by a poll of the parish, subsequently taken on the 11th day of Sept. 1866. That after the taking of such poll doubts existed whether there had been a fair and legal majority, a scrutiny of votes having been refused; and further whether the Act would be legally adopted by the entire parish by vote of ratepayers, the corporation of the said parish having adopted the said Act, as is therein provided, by its town council. 3. That in consequence of such opinion a public meeting of the said parish was held at the town hall on the 17th day of September 1866, presided over by the mayor, when this deponent was requested to obtain the opinion of counsel as to the legality of the vote taken on the 11th day of September 1866. [The affidavit then stated that this was done, and that it was the opinion of counsel that the vote was totally invalid for the borough and tything.] Which opinion was subsequently placed before another public meeting held on the 12th day of October 1866, when this deponent was requested to appeal to the Secretary of State against the legality of the vote taken on the 11th of September 1866, on the grounds set forth in the said opinion. That such appeal was accordingly made and dismissed by the Secretary of State, who, on the 14th day of December 1866, made an order (and published the same in the London Gazette of the same date) that the Local Government Act 1858 should have the force of law in the parish of Lymington after the 31st

day of December 1866.

4. That on the said 31st day of December a meeting was held at the town hall of Lymington aforesaid, convened by one of the churchwardens of the said parish, to determine the number of elective members to constitute a local board for the said parish of Lymington. At that meeting the deponent was lawfully elected chairman, and such meeting having agreed to adjourn to the next day, on the ground that the vote taken on the 11th day of September was invalid, about eighteen or tweuty persons proceeded, after such adjournment had been carried, to hold a second meeting, and determine the number who should form the board.

That such persons afterwards nominated and elected them

selves members of a local board, though their right to do so was subsequently repudiated, and they themselves censured for so acting by the original meeting, which met after itscdjournment on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd days of January 1867. 5. That the aforesaid persons still persisting to act as a local board for the borough and tything of Lymington aforesaid, a rule nisl was obtained against them in Trinity

W. H. GROVE,

There were also affidavits as to the service of the

The rule to show cause why a quo warranto should not issue, was discharged on the 23rd Nov. 1867, having been argued before Cockburn, C. J., and Mellor and Shee, JJ. In giving judgment, Cockburn, C. J. said: "I think we ought not to depart from a sound principle which has been acted on hitherto in this court, that, in the case of corporate bodies-and I think even if this body had not been recently made is so analogous, that the same principle would a corporate body by Act of Parliament, that the case apply-where, by virtue of the sovereign power or Parliamentary power, vested in this instance in the Secretary of State, a body formed for the exercise of public functions is created, we ought not to interfere by quo warranto in the case of usurpation of power. In such a matter the Attorney-General, as the representative of the Crown and the representative of the State, should intervene. We should require his intervention before we proceeded to exercise our jurisdiction, even by proceedings in the nature of an information by quo warranto. The proper course is, generally speaking, if anyone in the exercise of power given by Act of Parliament or otherwise, in a matter within its jurisdiction does anything which, in point of law, cannot be maintained, the proceedings should be brought before this court by certiorari, in order that we may exercise our jurisdiction upon them, and in the event of anything not being done according to law, we may quash the proceedings. I think that was the remedy in this case. I see no reason why, in favour of this particular individual, who comes forward to claim the exercise of our summary jurisdiction in this instance, we should depart from the ordinary rules. Therefore I think the remedy is mistaken."

Sect. 12 of the 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98 (an Act to amend the Public Health Act 1848, and to make further Provision for the Local Government of Towns and populous Districts) provides that the Act may be adopted:

(1) In corporate boroughs to which the Public Health Act 1848 has not been applied, by a resolution of the council assembled at a meeting held for the purpose, provided always that this Act shall not be adopted in corporate boroughs until after the election of councillors on the 1st