Page 6 - index

MUNICIPAL LAW.

Ml^XIC'lPAL CORPORATIONS.
I. Incorporation- In iill municipalities tlie inhahUants constitute
tlu' hodif rorpuvafe, or, as it is usually callod, the corporation, and the
Council elected i'roin time to time, as repi'esentatives of the people, exercise
the powers vested in the corporation.
'i- Municipal Corporations in Ontario are divided into counties,
cities, towns, townships and villages, together with unincorporated villages
and pro\isional corporations.
The Municipal Act confers upon each of these corporate bodies large
legislative powers, specifically defining the scope of such powers, the nature
and extent of their liabilities in case the corporation by any illegal act or
neglect cause injury to )n-ivate interests or to adjoining miuiicijialities.
li. When Incorporation goes Into Effect. In case of the incor-
l)oration of a new township, oi- luiion of townships: or of the separation of
a Junior township from a luiion of townships : or the erection of a locality
into an incorporated village, or the erection of a village into a town, or of
a town into a city : or of an additional tract of land being added to an
incorporated village, town or city; or in case of a new division of wards of
a town or city, the change does not go into eflTect until after the first
election which takes place under the proclamation or by-law by which the
change was effected. The first election shall take place on the first Mon-
day in January next, after the end of three months from the date of the
proclamation, or from the passing of the by-law, as the case may be, by
wliich the change is made.
4. Incorporation of Villages. A village having a population of 750
inhabitants may become incorporated by petition to the Council of the
county in which it is situated, signed by one hundred resident ratepayers
of twenty-one years of age or upwards, one-lialf of wliom must be free-
holders.
» The village must not occupy more than five hundred acres, unless the
population exceeds one thousand. Two hundred acres may be added for
each additional one thousand of inhabitants.
If the village lies within one mile of a city of one hmidred thousand
inhabitants the petition must be signed by not less than two-thirds of the
freeholders and householders ; one-half of whom must be freeholders, and
also resident in the locality for four months next preceding.