THE CORPORATION AS IT IS.

The Municipal Constitution--Lord Mayor--Aldermen--Court of Common
Council--Citizens--The Livery Companies--Sheriffs--Law Courts--Public
Charities--Conservancy of the Thames--Metage Dues.

In the preceding hasty sketch it has been attempted to trace the rise
of London from being the bazaar to a Roman camp to its present
position as the capital of the commercial world. It is now worth while
to glance at the nature of the municipal institutions through which it
has attained such a proud ascendancy.*

* The authority chiefly consulted for the following statements is
Pulling's "Practical Treatise on the Laws, Customs, Usages, and
Regulations of the City and Port of London."

Strictly speaking, London cannot be said to possess any original
charter, or specific definition of its rights and franchises. Those
conferred since the Conquest, without exception, allude directly or
indirectly to preceding documents of a similar nature. In fact the
customs and usages of the City grew out of the ancient Saxon
institutions, grafted, as they were, on the Roman municipal stock.
The City of London represents a county, and as such is divided into
hundreds, called wards; each having its own wardmote, presided over by
its own alderman. The Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, and the
Court of Common Council, together with the incorporated guilds which
elect the civic magistrates, form the municipal constitution.

In ancient times the chief civic magistrate was styled the Reve,