DUBLIN.
18 REPORTS FROM COMMISSIONERS ON CORPORATE BODY.
shortly previous to the Emancipation Act being passed, propositions were made in the
commons to admit at one assembly one thousand freemen, the parties proposing them read-ing the list of the names from the*newspapers of the day ; but such a proceeding being oh.
jected to as irregular, a committee was appointed to select such as it would be eligible to admit, and they selected above two hundred, who were admitted accordingly.
The lord mayor sometimes exercises the privilege of creating a freeman of the city at large, during his year of office, or rather of requesting the assembly to admit an individual named bv him.
There is in form a petition or beseech for the admission, stating it to beat the request of the lord mayor, which is in general acquiesced in.
Fees.
• Persons admitted to the freedom of the city at large, pay the following Fees in addition
to the stamp duty:—
Town-clerk .
.
.
£16 5") Officer of Commons .
.
5 7 I £1 16 7 Clerk of do.
.
4 7 J Admission of Free-62.
Persons who have obtained the Freedom of any of the Guilds are entitled to apply for men from the Guilds, admission to the freedom of the city at large.
For this purpose the applicant lodges in the
town-clerk's office a certificate signed by the master, wardens, and clerk of the guild, stating the admission to the guild, and the grounds of it, and his place of abode, occupation, and trade.
The certificate from the guild of merchants describes the party as a merchant The town-clerk then prepares a petition or beseech as from the person seeking to be admitted, which states those facts, and the beseech is laid before the next assembly.
The town-clerk in cases of admission by birth, first ascertains from the freeman's books that the name of the father of the applicant is entered in them, and that such a person has been twenty-one years a freeman.
The commons, and board of aldermen, claim respectively to exercise, and have in fact long exercised, the important power of admitting or rejecting at their pleasure those applying from the guilds, whatever be the grounds of their claim, and without assigning any reason for the rejection.
In the year 1826, on a return to a mandamus directed to the corporation to admit a per¬ son who had obtained by birth the freedom of a guild, but had been rejected by the board of aldermen, they returned that from time immemorial they had exercised this right, and the Court of King's Bench, on argument, decided that the return was good in law.
The charters of some guilds, hereinafter noticed in the Report on those bodies, contain porvisions respecting freedom by apprenticeship, which appear to be compulsory on the corporation, but were not alluded to on the above occasion.
The beseech being read in the commons by the clerk of the commons, it is asked if any member for the particular guild vouches the applicant as a proper person to be admitted; it is frequently asked if he is in trade.
If a member of the guild says " allowed," the ques¬ tion is then put on the beseech whether the applicant shall.be
admitted; but if no member vouches him, the question is not put, and the beseech stands over, but may be again brought on at a subsequent assembly.
The admission must pass both the common council and board of aldermen.
The entry of admission of a freeman as by service is expressed to be conditional, "if it shall appear by indenture;" and in consequence an inquiry takes place into the facts by a jury of twelve freemen, generally chosen from the members of the commons.
The jury are sworn, and the indentures of apprenticeship are produced to them, and the service proved.
The facts must be thus ascertained before the person admitted can be sworn in.
Indentures of apprenticeship were formerly enrolled in the town-clerk's office, but this is not now required.
Fees.
On admissions of freemen previously admitted in any of the guilds, the Fees are the same
as those above stated as payable on an original admission to the freedom of the city at large; and a sum of 1/.
is paid to the corporation by each freeman so admitted from the guild of merchants, and of 10*.
by each admitted from any of the minor guilds.
Those admitted by service pay an additional fine of 2*.
The further fee of 2s.
bd.
is paid to the town-clerk for a certificate of the admission being granted.
^
The stamp duty is paid on the admission to the guild, and it is not considered requi¬ site to pay a second stamp duty on admission to the freedom of the city at large.
This practice is defended under the following clause in the Schedule to the Irish Stamp Act, 56 Geo.
III.
c.
56 :
" Only one of the foregoing duties to be payable in respect of the admission of any one person into the same corporation."
#
Persons admitted free of a guild, and rejected by the board of aldermen or common coun¬ cil on applying for admission to the city at large, cannot in the greater number of the guilds complete their admission thereto, by taking the oaths required in the guild.
This practice was stated to us to have originated in a mandate signed by*the lord mayor, and made an order of the assembly in the )-ear 1675, and sent to the several guilds, requiring them not to swear a free brother until he was first sworn free of the city.
The mandate has not been obeyed in the guild of merchants, but, with few exceptions, which will be noticed in the Report on the Guilds, it is still obeyed by the minor guilds.
The rule of those guilds, who observe it, is not to swear in a freeman until he produces a certificate from the town-clerk, of his having been admitted and sworn a freeman of the city at large.
In the guild of merchants, and other guilds which do not obey the mandate, freemen may be sworn immediately on admis¬ sion.
We have not found that the amount of the fees has tended to lessen the number of ap¬ plicants for the freedom of the city, but it has occurred, that many of those admitted have
