If the Legislature of Ontario could be induced for a few Sessions to refrain from mangling the Acts, so that their provisions would become more generally and better understood, it would be to the public advantage.

Last year the Editor indulged the hope that the book would have been in the hands of subscribers before the end of the year. This hope, owing to causes unnecessary to be detailed, but for which personally he is free from blame, has not been realized. In the meantime, the Legislature of Ontario at its last Session passed important Acts amending both the Assessment and Municipal Acts. The consequence has been that the Editor was obliged to reprint several sheets of the Manual. The amendments made last Session have been noticed, as far as possible, either in the text of the work or the notes. The amending Acts will be found at the end of the Municipal and Assessment Acts respectively. The publication of the amending Acts will afford a check upon the corrections of the Editor. Other Acts of a similar character are at the end of the volume.

The Editor, in the preparation of this Edition, has had the assistance of F. J. Joseph, Esq., and H. C. W. Wethey, Esq., Barristers-at-law. The former relieved the Editor from the labour of verifying the references, correcting the proofs, and passing the work through the press. The latter prepared the very full Index of Cases and Index of Subjects which accompanies the work. Had it not been for the valuable aid received from these two gentlemen, the issue of the New Edition of the Manual would have been much longer delayed than it has been.

TORONTO, ENGLefield,

5th September, 1874.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

Nine years have elapsed since the publication of the First Edition of this work. During that period the First Edition, which was a very large one, has been exhausted, and during the same period many alterations have been made in the Municipal and Assessment laws of Upper Canada, and many cases decided on the construction of the Acts. Besides, the Municipal and Assessment Acts, as from time to time altered, were, during last Session of Parliament, amended and consolidated.

Some of the alterations and amendments are undoubtedly for good. The office of Councilman for Cities has been abolished, and the number of Aldermen for each Ward increased from two to three, and these, instead of being yearly elected as heretofore, will retire from office annually by rotation. There are two Councillors allowed for each Ward of an Incorporated Village having five Wards, one of whom also retires annually in rotation, Mayors of Cities are no longer chosen by the electors, but by members of the Council from among themselves. On the other hand, Reeves and Deputy Reeves are no longer chosen by Councillors from among themselves, but elected by the people. There may be several Deputy Reeves, in proportion to the number of voters, there being an additional Deputy Reeve allowed for every five hundred additional voters beyond the number required for Reeve and Deputy Reeve. The property qualification of candidates and voters in Cities, Towns and Villages, has been greatly increased. Candidates or voters who have not paid their taxes are disqualified. Provision is made for nomination to offices in Cities, Towns, Incorporated Villages, Police Villages and Townships. Only one day is allowed for polling votes, and in Towns and Cities voters may vote in each Ward in which they are rated for the necessary property qualification. Annual value, in Cities, Towns and Incorporated Villages, has been abolished, and actual value, as in Townships, made the rule of assessment. No Council is allowed, exclusive of School rates, to assess in any one year more than an aggregate of two cents in the dollar on actual value. If, however, in any Municipality, the aggregate amount of the rates necessary for the payment of current annual expenses, and the principal and interest of the debts contracted on or before the 15th August, 1866, on that day exceed the aggregate rate of two cents in the dollar on actual value, the Council may levy such further rates as

may be necessary to discharge obligations already incurred, but shall con tract no further debts until the annual rates required to be levied within the Municipality are reduced within the aggregate rate of two cents. County Treasurers, and not Sheriffs, are now made the proper officers to sell lands for arrears of taxes. The onus of keeping County roads in repair may, under certain circumstances, be thrown upon adjacent Local Municipalities. Besides, Township Municipalities may purchase wild lands from Government, drain, and afterwards sell them. Other changes, of less consequence, unnecessary to be here mentioned, will be found noticed in the proper places throughout the volume.

The value of this Edition of the Manual, as compared with the former one, will be found greatly increased, owing to the number of decided cases to which the Editor, while annotating the Municipal and Assessment Acts, has found it necessary to refer. Whilst in the former Edition reference is made to not more than two hundred, in this Edition reference is made to more than six hundred decided cases. Many points that were left in doubt when the First Edition was published, have since been settled by judicial interpretation. The Editor has in every case, in his notes, given as nearly as possible the very language of the Judges. On some points decisions will be found in apparent conflict, and the Editor has, wherever conflict was apparent, done his best to reconcile the decided But he is happy to say that the conflicts are few; and now that the law has been consolidated, there will be less risk of conflict in the future. With Courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction, and where, as in quo warranto cases, single Judges sit without appeal, conflict of opinion and decision can scarcely be avoided. The Editor has endeavoured, under the proper section and in the proper place, to note every decided case bearing on the point under consideration. But, considering the multiplicity of decisions, it is possible that some have been unintentionally omitted. Should any such be discovered by any of his professional brethren, he will only be too happy to be informed of the omission.

cases.

Several statutes, bearing on the duties and powers of Municipal bodies, which have been selected from the Consolidated Statutes of Canada, the Consolidated Statutes of Upper Canada, and the Statutes of Canada since the consolidation, are published at the end of the work, preceding the Index. The Editor does not assert that he has published all statutes and parts of statutes directly or indirectly affecting Municipal bodies. Were he to do so, it would be impossible for him to keep his work within reasonable bounds. He has therefore contented himself with a selection of the principal statutes; and in order to accomplish this, has been obliged to exclude from this Edition several Acts of a local and private nature, which are contained in the former

Edition of the Manual. The omission of the latter will not render the work the less useful to the general body of those who will require to use it, while it has the effect of keeping the volume within a convenient and portable form.

The preparation of the Index, as well as the supervision of the work while passing through the press, was entrusted to Henry O'Brien, Esq., Barristerat-law, a gentleman who is already favourably known to the Profession as one of the Editors of "The Upper Canada Law Journal" and 'The Local Courts Gazette," and Editor of an ably annotated Edition of the Division Courts Act. The Index, which is very full, will, it is hoped, be found all that is necessary to the ready use of the work. Much labour has been bestowed upon it, and, so far as the Editor can judge, it has been carefully compiled.

Imperfections in the work, either on the part of the Editor or of his assistant, are not to be attributed to wilful neglect; but as no such work can be made perfect, the Editor must ask forbearance. Much labour has been

expended on it, and it is hoped that it will not only lighten the labour of members of the Legal Profession, but have the effect of expounding and making known the Municipal and Assessment law to the many, not members of the Profession, whose duty it is to give effect to the law, and work under it.

The First Edition of the work received a generous support, as well from the Legal Profession as the great body of the Municipal Councillors and officers of Upper Canada. It is hoped that this Edition, to which the Editor has devoted much thought, will be equally well received. The delays which have occurred in its issue were unavoidable, and to some extent rendered necessary by reason of the Editor's great anxiety to make his work simple in its language and reliable in its exposition of the law. The work is intended not merely for lawyers, but for men unacquainted with the niceties of law. Most of the notes are therefore written in a popular style, and as free as possible from legal phraseology.

ENGLEFIELD, TORONTO,

26th March, 1867.