Court of Aldermen

“ The court of aldermen consists of twenty-six, twenty-five of whom are elected for life by the freemen of the respective wards, who return two persons, one of whom the court of aldermen elect to supply the vacancy. ”

“ And, in the case of death, or removal, the vacuum to be supplied by the court itself, from amongst the Company’s servants, or free merchants only: and if any alderman shall, subsequent to entering on his office, accept of any post or place under government, let that be an express disqualification and vacation of his office; which is to be immediately made good, by the choice of another person, properly qualified. The newly elected aldermen to be presented, for acceptance, to the supreme 143court of judicature only. And the officers of this court to be chosen by itself. ”

“ In civil cases, it follows from the very organization and jurisdiction of aldermanic courts, and the fact that the litigant may choose his tribunal, that the aldermen are often called upon for legal advice and opinions even in advance of the actual litigation. Each alderman knows that if he advises the complainant that he has no case another alderman will be consulted. If the latter advises suit the costs will go to him. As an alderman depends for his living on fees from litigation instituted in his court, it is not hard to find one who will tell you that you have a good case. ”

“ That body had to be largely remodelled before it would consent to present any such address. On Thursday, the 16th June, the infamous Jeffreys, who had been rewarded with the seals for his work at the Bloody Assizes, appeared before the Court of Aldermen and declared his majesty's pleasure that in future that court should nominate and recommend to the Crown such persons as they thought fit to be aldermen as vacancies occurred, and that no one so nominated [pg 520] should be exempt from service except for insufficiency of estate, to be declared on oath. ”

“ The aldermen have under their jurisdiction false measures, false scales, false weights, offences in the sale of all sorts of provisions, and all kinds of deception in buying and selling. If they find anyone guilty of such things, he shall pay a fine of three Wendish marks, that is, thirty-six shillings. (3) The aldermen shall take counsel with the wisest people and then appoint their courts at whatever time they wish. Their decisions rendered in court are binding and must be obeyed. If anyone resists their decisions, they shall punish him. ”

“ The argument for reversing the judgment against Wood is confined to the incongruity of the mayor being plaintiff in the same case in which he was judge. But no objection is made to the aldermen who were a constituent part of his court, although they must have been included in the general designation of the commonalty. Suits in the name of the people of the state are tried before a judge who is one of the same people, and no one imagines that he is both party and judge. And so suits in which the city is a party are without any incongruity tried before a citizen. ”

“ The affiant states further, upon information and belief, that for some years prior to 1879, and since, it has been the constant practice for the common council to hold one meeting after the election of aldermen, in April each year, and then all but the senior aldermen constituting the board of street commissioners would resign, and the mayor would also resign at the same time. ”

“ The corporate authority of said city shall be vested in one principal officer, styled the 'mayor;' in one board of aldermen, consisting of two members from each ward, who, with the mayor, shall be denominated the common council. ”

“ The aldermen are members of the court of common council, the legislative body of the corporation, which consists in all of 232 members, the remainder being elected annually by the freemen. In the United States aldermen form as a rule a legislative rather than a judicial body, although in some cities they hold courts and possess very considerable magisterial powers. ”

“ And any person so chosen, shall be sworn to the due execution of his office, before the mayor and aldermen, or such of them as shall be present at a court of majoralty, which shall be held in the council chamber of the city, in some convenient time after such choice ”

“ They alleged that the requirements at the 1969 elections differed from those in effect on November 1, 1964, and at the last mayoral and aldermanic elections in 1965 because of (1) changes in locations of the polling places, (2) changes in the municipal boundaries through annexations of adjacent areas which enlarged the number of eligible voters, [4] and (3) a change from ward to at-large election of aldermen. The city of Canton, they alleged, sought to enforce these changes without first submitting them to the Attorney General or obtaining a declaratory judgment under § 5. ”

“ The mayor shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases arising under the ordinances of the corporation, and shall issue such process as may be necessary to carry said ordinances into execution and effect, appeals may be had from any decision or judgment of said mayor, or aldermen, arising under the city ordinances, to the municipal court, under such regulations as may be presented by ordinance. ”

“ Owing to the requisition for a Common Council having referred to the attack on the Regent as an act of some "rash and intemperate" individuals only, and not as a treasonable outrage, the Recorder declared the Common Council to be illegal, and the Court at once broke up, there being no aldermen present. The Common Council resented what they considered to be an unjust attempt on the part of the aldermen to dictate to them in the exercise of their duty, and an unwarrantable attack upon their privileges, and a few days later (13 Feb.) ”

“ It is privileged with the jurisdiction of a court leet and quarterly sessions of the peace, within the same, before the mayor, recorder, and eight aldermen, or magistrates, and a town-clerk. The mayor to be 254 chosen out of the eight Magistrates that are free-men; and also with sending two Members, to sit as their Representatives in Parliament, who are to be chosen by the Mayor, Magistrates, and Freemen, or the major part of them; by election of which, if common fame be true, the townsmen have in the last ages reaped great gain and advantage. ”

“ It is a wise requirement of law that a plaintiff must make out his case affirmatively, proving all the matters essential to constitute liability on the part of the defendant. It is a matter of common knowledge, however, that aldermen give judgment on evidence of the most meager kind. A copy of a bill, its correctness unsworn to, left with the alderman is a common way of obtaining judgment for goods sold and delivered. ”

“ An elected mayor or an appointed mayor derives his authority to act from the same source; to wit, that of the legislature. The whole municipal authority emanates from the legislature. Its legislative charter indicates its extent, and regulates the distribution of its powers as well as the manner of selecting and compensating its agents. The judges of the Supreme Court of a State may be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, or they may be elected by the people. ”

“ James II. converted the Alderman into a Mayor by a charter of 1685. In April 1688, however, a Quo warranto summons was served on the Mayor; and in the following November the Corporation, taking advantage of the banished King’s proclamation which restored such bodies to their ancient rights, reverted to their old state. Their later constitution included an Alderman, twelve senior and twelve junior Comburgesses. For these the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 substituted a Mayor, four Aldermen, and twelve Councillors. ”

“ They objected (1) to the commons increasing the number of members sitting on committees, and making a quorum without any alderman being present; (2) to the commons taking upon themselves to appoint the executive officers of the [pg 335] mayor and sheriffs, and abolishing perquisites whereby the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs were rendered unable to fulfil their duties; (3) to the assumption by the commons of control over the city's lands ”

“ In August, 1843, we find the Evening Post beginning the complaints against the Charter which it was to maintain without interruption until the early seventies. It believed and continued to believe that the two boards of aldermen and assistant aldermen, soon nicknamed “the forty thieves,” had too much power. “They are at once our municipal legislature and our municipal executive; in part also, they are our municipal judiciary; they are the directors of the city finances; they are the fountain of patronage; they are all this for the greatest commercial city in the western world.” ”

“ Assuming the council were elected consistent with the commands of the Equal Protection Clause, the delegation of power to the mayor would not call for this Court's exacting review. On the other hand, if the city charter made the office of mayor subject to an election in which only some resident citizens were entitled to vote, there would be presented a situation calling for our close review. ”

“ If our act was illegal, we are willing to meet it, and although I cannot see the distinction that you draw about the acts of the city council, and what difference it could have made in point of fact, law or justice, between the city council's acting together or separate, or how much more legal it would have been for the municipal court, who were a part of the city council, to act separate, instead of with the councillors. ”

“ A borough was run by a mayor elected usually for life. By being members of a guild, merchant-traders and craftsmen acquired the legal status of burgesses and had the freedom of the borough. Each guild occupied a certain ward of the town headed by an alderman. The town aldermen made up the town council, which advised the mayor. ”

“ And such a presentment goes on with its statistics and figures and ends with the recommendation that the legislature pass a certain law, that the aldermen pass a certain ordinance, that certain laws or certain ordinances be repealed, or that other legislative interference be had, or legislative action should be taken, or that some city official or city officials do this or do that, or that some department make such and such an investigation and act thereon in such and such a way, and concludes with the signature of the foreman and secretary of the grand jury. ”