Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T01:14:12.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CHAPTER XVI - CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL POLICY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2010

Get access

Summary

The primary aim of this book has been to examine in detail the way in which the Poor Law actually worked in the hands of a variety of local authorities within the limits of Cambridgeshire. Frequently, as has been seen, the laws produced effects undreamed of by their framers. Probably no social service played so large a part as did the Poor Law in moulding the constitution of the authorities which administered it; and it was in turn moulded by them. It is therefore fitting that the more outstanding features of the constitutional machinery itself should be traced here.

THE COUNTY

The inclusion within the bounds of Cambridgeshire of the extensive franchise of the Bishop of Ely—among special jurisdictions second only to Durham in importance—makes it possible to institute certain comparisons regarding the development and social effects of gradual changes in county government. For most administrative purposes throughout the period 1597–1834, as for centuries before, the Isle of Ely was exempt from the jurisdiction of what may be called Cambridgeshire proper, the Bishop claiming prerogatives normally vested in the Crown. The Isle had its own Chief Justice and its own justices of the peace and other county officers. In the main, however, the legal framework of administration here was based on the constitution of an ordinary county.

The only other authority claiming exclusion from the jurisdiction of the county was the borough of Cambridge.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009
First published in: 1934

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×