COUNTY COUNCILS. Until 1888 the county government of England was conducted in the quarter sessions, held by justices of the peace. As these magistrates were appointed by the Crown to attend to all administration and the minor judicial business of the county, there was practically no local self-government. To remedy this. the first Local Government Act was passed in MS by a Conservative Ministry. It. estab lished representative county councils elected every three years by all ratepayers, male and female, of the shire. besides other non-resident property-holders, under certain conditions. Prac tically the same qualifications are necessary for membership in the council, except that women are not eligible. The elected councilors choose additional members called aldermen, one-third of the council in number, and also a mayor, who may or may not be of their number. The council controls all the administrative functions of the county, such as the management of the roads, insane asylums, county jails, and the issue of liquor licenses; it shares the police control with the justices of the peace.
Mr. Henry Fowler's second Local Government Act, passed by the Liberals in 1894, perfected the first by transforming the ancient vestries of a population of 300 and over into parish coun cils, for the management of local business. Smaller parishes, if they so desire, may, with the consent of the county council, have the same privilege. The system closely resembles the
American township organization. Scotch and Irish counties have since been organized along similar lines, except that there are no coiipted aldermen in the former country.
Previous to 1885 all London lying without the ancient city had no local government except the church vestries. it was brought under the operation of the Act. of 1888 and given a county government. In 1899 the administrative func tions of the vestries not ecclesiastical were turned over by the comity council to subordinate bor oughs, having mayors, aldermen, and councilors of their own. The old city, though represented in the county council, retains most of its anti quated constitution. The personnel of the Lon don County Council is very high, and the amount of work it has accomplished is remarkable. It has successfully provided public baths and li braries, parks and playgrounds, better dwellings for the poor, besides giving £500,000 for tech nical education. Consult: The Local Gorcru meet let, Statutes 56 and 57 Viet., e. 73; also Macmo•ran and Dill, The Loral Government Art of 1894, with a good introduction (London, ; Con•tenay, The Working Constitution of the United Kingdom. (New York, 1901), 23S-40, 246-30.