View source for Liberties Act 1850

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
|short_title=Liberties Act 1850<ref>The citation of this Act by this [[short title]] was authorised by the [[Short Titles Act 1896]], section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the [[Interpretation Act 1978]].</ref>
|type=Act
|parliament=Parliament of the United Kingdom
|long_title=An Act for facilitating the Union of Liberties with the Counties in which they are situate.
|citation=[[13 & 14 Vict.]] c. 105
|introduced_by=
|territorial_extent=England and Wales
|royal_assent=14 August 1850
|commencement=
|repeal_date=
|amendments=[[Statute Law Revision Act 1875]]
|related_legislation=
|repealing_legislation=
|status=Repealed
|original_text=
|legislation_history=
}}
The '''Liberties Act 1850''' ([[13 & 14 Vict.]] c. 105) was an [[Act of Parliament|act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] that provided a mechanism to enable the various [[Liberty (division)|liberties]] or independent jurisdictions in England and Wales to be merged into the [[Historic counties of England|geographical counties]] in which they lay.
==Background==
Throughout England and Wales there were numerous liberties which were for historic reasons, to varying degrees, independent of the administration of the authorities of the county in which they lay. By the nineteenth century it had become clear that their continued existence was causing inefficiencies in local government and frustrating the effective administration of justice.
Liberties generally had a [[commission of the peace]] and gaol distinct from those of the county, and the [[Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons|Inspectors of Prisons]], in their annual report of 1850 noted:
{{quote|The inconvenience of these separate jurisdictions is most obvious, and particularly where they extend into more counties than one, which is not unfrequently the case. The prisons retained in them for the confinement of prisoners under criminal and civil process are of the most inferior description, and in civil cases the prison of a Liberty is not unfrequently selected either by the debtor or the creditor; by the former, as leaving him under less restraint than the county gaol; by the latter, as likely to punish respectability by its uncleanliness and discomfort.<ref>{{cite book |title=Fifteenth Report of the Inspectors of Prisons of Great Britain |year=1850 |publisher=[[HMSO]] |location=London |page=vii |url=https://archive.org/stream/parliamentarypa14parlgoog#page/n19/mode/1up |access-date=29 November 2011}}</ref>}}
==The act==
The act applied to any liberty that possessed a separate commission of the peace, be they divisions of a county, [[county corporate|counties of a town or city]] or [[Soke (legal)|soke]]s.<ref name=act/>
The [[justice of the peace|justices of the peace]] of any liberty, or of any county in which a liberty lay, were given the right to prepare a [[petition]] seeking the union of the liberty with the county. Notice of the resolution to prepare the petition was to be published for three successive weeks in both a London newspaper and one circulating in the county involved. The petition was to lay out the reasons for the proposed union, and to set out in detail the arrangements for taking over the property of the liberty, and the payments to be made, or continued employment by the county of those holding franchise or office in the liberty.<ref name=act/>
If the petition was approved by the [[Privy Council]], a notice to that effect was to be published in the ''[[London Gazette]]''. The notice would detail the areas involved, and the parishes formerly in the liberty would be annexed to existing [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]]s and [[petty sessional division]]s of the county.<ref name=act/>
Following the union:<ref name=act/>
*The inhabitants of the liberty were to become liable for [[jury service]] in the county
*The gaol of the liberty was to become a county institution
*Prisoners were to be sent for trial at the county [[quarter sessions]] or [[Assizes (England and Wales)|assizes]]
*The records of the liberty were to be delivered to the [[custos rotulorum]] of the county
*The treasurer of the liberty was to pay over all monies to the county treasurer
Where [[municipal borough]]s incorporated under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] had been granted a separate court of quarter sessions, they were expressly exempt from the legislation.<ref name=act>{{cite book |title=Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 13&14 Victoria 1850 |year=1850 |publisher=[[HMSO]] |location=London |pages=774–777 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qL4uAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Union+of+Liberties+with+the+Counties%22&pg=PA777 |access-date=8 June 2010}}</ref>
==Unions effected under the Act==
Notices of the following unions of liberties with counties were published in the ''London Gazette'':
*21 March 1864: The Liberty of [[Cawood]], [[Wistow, North Yorkshire|Wistow]] and [[Otley]] united with the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=22828 |date=4 March 1864 |pages=1326–1328  }}</ref>
*1 July 1892: The [[Royal Liberty of Havering|Liberty of Havering atte Bower]] united with the County of [[Essex]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26287 |date=13 May 1893 |pages=2793–2794  }}</ref>
*25 June 1894: The [[Liberties of the Tower of London]] united with the [[County of London]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26511 |date=11 May 1894 |pages=2769–2770 }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{UK legislation}}
[[Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1850]]
[[Category:1850 in British law]]