Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898

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Constitution of chairman of district council and of town commissioners as justice of the peace.

17 & 18 Vict. c. 103.

26.—(1) Where an urban or rural county district in any county contains a population, according to the last published census for the time being, exceeding five thousand, the chairman of the council for the district shall, unless a woman or personally disqualified by any Act, but subject as hereafter provided by this Act, be during the term of and by virtue of his office a justice of the peace for the county, but, except when sitting in quarter or general sessions, shall act only within the petty sessional district or districts comprising the county district, or any part of the county district.

(2) The chairman of the council of any urban county district who is not a justice of the peace under the foregoing provisions of this section, and also the chairman of the commissioners of any town, shall, if not a woman or personally disqualified by any Act, but subject as hereafter provided by this Act, be a justice of the peace in like manner as if he had been appointed by the Lord Chancellor under section twenty-nine of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854.

(3) A chairman before acting as justice under this section shall, if he has not already done so, take the oaths required by law to be taken by a justice of the peace.

(4) The power of the Lord Chancellor under section twenty-nine of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, to select a commissioner to act as justice of the peace shall cease.

(5) This section shall apply to a borough not having a separate commission of the peace with the substitution of mayor for chairman, but shall not apply to any other borough.

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