The Laws and Other Legalities of Ireland, 1689-1850 by Seán Patrick Donlan Michael Brown

Author:Seán Patrick Donlan, Michael Brown [Seán Patrick Donlan, Michael Brown]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Ireland, Law, Legal History, Modern, 18th Century, Great Britain, General
ISBN: 9781409482574
Google: eAKiAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2013-07-28T01:26:38+00:00

III: Aftermath

Following Isaac Manders’ early surrender of his lease in January 1818 the Corporation was able to arrange only a series of short-term leases of the tolls and customs, for a few months duration, first to Beresford and then to Manders, all at the merely nominal rent of five shillings. The difficulties were compounded by a report that passed into public currency in 1818 that the attorney general had given his opinion that the Corporation had no right to tolls or customs.73 Some collection of tolls continued, and (in certain cases of non-compliance) goods were distrained, which led to threats of legal action. With collection subsequently suspended while legal action was pending, a high-powered Corporation committee was established to report on the matter, and in January 1819, after a search of various charters and other documents, the Corporation’s legal defence was ready.74 However, by July 1820 the committee was reporting that the law suits had been abandoned, and recommended that there should be a concerted effort to resume collection. Notices were to be published in the press to the effect that the Corporation ‘are now determined to enforce the payment of their ancient tolls and customs, and that they give this public notice of their intention in order that no person hereafter should plead ignorance or an excuse for resisting the payment of same’.75 But this strategy was no more successful than in 1817, and in the meantime, the Corporation faced legal action over tolls from a different source, the commissioners of paving. To understand this development, the relations between the Corporation and the commissioners must briefly be examined.

As noted above, the Corporation had always accepted that its right to certain tolls had been granted to cover the costs of cleaning and paving the city. In the 1690s the proceeds of ‘the toll hitherto of all sorts of corn coming into the city of Dublin’ was mentioned in this respect.76 Later, in the 1770s, when dissatisfaction with the Corporation’s record in paving and cleaning first gave rise to legislative intervention, the Corporation linked street cleaning with a rather wider range of toll income, arguing that ‘your petitioners are entitled to certain tolls upon corn, meal, flour and other goods brought into the city, in consideration of which only they hold themselves bound to cleanse the city and pave certain parts thereof’.77 In fact, the Corporation’s responsibilities in respect of this income were about to change. By an Act of 1784, which provided for the appointment of paving commissioners charged with paving, cleaning and lighting the streets of Dublin, the Corporation was relieved of its duties to clean the streets, and required to pay the commissioners the cost of this work, which amounted to just over £2,000 per year.78 Payment of this annual sum was not, apparently, a problem – after all, some £4,000 was being received annually in the form of rent for the tolls and customs. That is, until the opposition to toll collection, discussed above, began to impact on the city’s revenues.

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