Page 133 [133]
THE CITY GOVERNMENT (ii
of companies who are freemen of the city. When assembled in their
‘common hall” they perform certain duties which must originally have
belonged to the whole body of the citizens, and nominate two aldermen
every year for the office of Lord Mayor, one of the two being chosen by
the court of aldermen.
It would be possible to prolong this chapter considerably by
tracing the history of all the subordinate members of the Lord Mayor's
staff; but I have said enough, I think, to show that, whether the
corporation had a Roman origin or not, it is easier and safer to derive
it from the ordinary constitution of an Anglo-Saxon shire, and until
some direct proof has been adduced to the contrary, we shall hardly
go wrong in accepting a derivation which accounts for all the facts of
the case in an easy and natural manner. Of the grants to the citizens
of the county of Middlesex and the village of Southwark, I have spoken
elsewhere. London has been lately deprived of Middlesex, but still
holds Southwark, as Bridge Ward Without.
Two or three questions are often asked as to the position and title
of the Lord Mayor,
and very absurd
answers are some¬
times given to them.
Without adducing
authorities we may
briefly say that the
"Lord Mayor has
been a " Lord” ever
since such a title
has been in use: that
he is a judge, and is
included in the royal