County corporate

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A county corporate or corporate county was a form of local government in England, Ireland and Wales.

Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing counties. They usually covered important towns or cities, which were deemed to be important enough to be independent from their host counties. A county corporate could also be known as a county of itself.

There is some uncertainty as to whether counties corporate were considered "real" counties, being separate entities from their host ancient counties, or whether they remained geographically part of their traditional county, but with separate administration.

1 History
2 List of counties corporate
- 2.1 England and Wales
- 2.2 Ireland
3 References

[edit] History

By the 14th century, the growth of some towns had led to strong opposition to their government by local counties. While charters giving various rights were awarded to each borough, some were awarded complete effective independence including their own sherriffs, Quarter Sessions and other officials, and were sometimes given governing rights over a swathe of surrounding countryside. They were referred to in the form "Town and County of ..." or "City and County of ...", and so became known as the counties corporate.

Other counties corporate were created to deal with specific local problems, such as border conflict (in the case of Caernarfon and Berwick-upon-Tweed) and piracy (in the case of Poole and Haverfordwest).

According to the pressure group the Association of British Counties, a series of legal decisions later established that the counties corporate remained part of the original counties. This was particularly significant in the cases of London and Bristol, which spanned county boundaries and so were often shown separately on maps.

Most counties corporate were abolished in the 19th century. Those still remaining in 1888 were abolished by the Local Government Act 1888, with the exception of the City of London, which retained its status until the creation of Greater London in 1965.

A similar institution called a county borough was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which had administrative independence from county councils. Counties corporate and county boroughs were roughly equivlent to a modern unitary authority.