COMMON a house or part of a house in which persons of the poorer classes are harboured or lodged for hire for a single night or for less than a week at a time (Daley v. Lees, 1926, i K.B. 4o), and in which there is com munity of accommodation for either eating or sleeping (London C.C. v. Hankins, 1914, 1 K.B. 49o). This definition is very gen erally accepted as embracing those houses which, under the Public Health and other Acts, must be registered and inspected. The provisions of the Public Health Act, 1875, which extends to the country generally, excluding the metropolis, are that every urban and rural district council must keep registers showing the names and residences of the keepers of all common lodging-houses in their districts, the situation of every such house, and the number of lodgers authorized by them to be received therein. The whole of the house must be open at all times to the inspection of any officer of a council. The county of London (except the City) is under the Common Lodging Houses Acts 1851 and 1853. The administration of these Acts was in the hands of the chief commis sioner of police from 1851 to 1894, when it was transferred to the London County Council. The county council has authority to make regulations as to common lodging-houses, subject to con firmation by the minister of health to whom the powers of the Local Government Board were transferred on July 1, 1919 (Min istry of Health Act, 1919, ss. 3 and 5). As to Scotland, see the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, ss. 89-100. The term com mon lodging-house is not in use in the United States, although cheap rooming houses frequently are called "lodging-houses." Such lodging-houses are not licensed as are hotels.