Borough Funds Acts - Definition - Law Dictionary

Definition :

Borough Funds Acts. The (English) Borough Funds Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 91) (commonly called Leeman's Act), authorized borough councils and governing bodies of other urban districts to apply public funds under their control to promoting or opposing bills in Parliament or to prosecute or defend legal proceedings in the interest of their constituents, but will not allow of their indemnifying the chief constable for costs he has incurred in opposing a licensing appeal at Quarter Sessions, Tynemouth Corporation v. A.-G., 1899 AC 293; and the Borough Funds Act, 1903 (3 Edw. 7, c. 14), has materially amended that Act by requiring the resolutions of councils to promote bills to be submitted to public meetings, and dispensing with the consent of owners and rate-payers to incurring expense in opposing bills. See now the (English) Local Government Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 51), ss. 254 et seq., which consolidates and amends both the 1872 and 1903 Acts, but does not apply to London. See Chitty's Statutes.