britain's institutions of local governance evolve with a strong tradition of ind

ependence. They escaped the imposition of such central institutions as ministrie

s of the interior and prefects which assured more interdependence among tiers. N
or did british local government develop the concept of local chief executive unt
il the reforms of the 1970s. As a consequence while countries with a british her
itage, by virtue of early immigration or later colonialization,widely copied man
y of the more srinking features of the british system , they modified these feat
ure in significant ways. Almost all countries with a british heritage most notab
ly the United states ,have developed systems which at least in the urban areas,
focus more power on local chief executive.
In those countries which have gained their independence since world war II the e
xigencies of colonial role introduced an institutional hierarchy of prefect-like
district commissioners and provincial residents. the introduction of british-st
yle institutions of local government accompanied the end of colonial rule and th
e securing power by the new elite, but did not entirely eliminate institutions o
f hierarchial control. Thus manya commonwealth countries such as india ( whose d
istrict officers continue to exert significant powers), developed systems which
blended indigenous and british traditions in developing institutions of local go
vernance
THE UNITED KINGDOM
British local governance differs significantly from continental european systems
, there is no national ministry of interior (or other central agency) with compr
ehensive responsibility for co-ordinating field services and local government. t
here are no regional government executives with comprehensive co-ordinating role
. nor do british local governments have political and administrative chief execu
tives with roles comparable with their continental european counterparts. the mo
st conspicious feature of the British system of local governance has been functi
onal fragmentation. Although an objective of the 1970's reforms was to reduce 't
he separateness of the committees.. which contributes to the separateness of dep
artments, the traditions of functional fragmentation remain deeply rooted.
in the 1980s central government actions to eliminate the greater london council
and six metropolitan counity governments , to prioritize housing, to allow certa
in local schools to be run independently of the local education authorities and
to substitute a community charge ( read poll tax) for the propery tax have narro
wed and will probably continue to narrow, the scope of service local government
provide.
Institutional evolution
The pre-norman ecclesiastical parishes, shires and boroughs had their own functi
ons which were exercised with a large degree of independence ... the sense of se
parateness was so strong that the idea of local government system with major and
minor local authorities with interlocling responsibilities did not emerge until
the latter part of nineteenth century.
The changes were acomplished through a series of transitions based on the pragma
tic utilitarian concepts which have marked the british aproach to government. Wh
ile differing in some respects from the english one, the scotish and Northern ir
ish systems have developed along parallel lines.
Even prior to the norman conquest of britain in 1066 the anglosaxon country or s
hire , had its sheriff who, as a royal officer , presided over the country court
s which had general governmental as well as judicial functions . From rhe fourte
enth century onwards justices of the peace supplemented the sherriff (with admin
istrative and judicial powers). They were Henry VIII main agents for the preserv
ation of order By the early 1500's the number of countries in england and wales
had become fixed at fifty-two (and did not change unitl 1888).
London apart , english towns were slower than their european counterparts in dev
eloping seperate municipal institutions . as urban concentration grew many obtai
ned royal charters setting their areas apart from surrounding coutry and grantin

g them local governing prerogatives. Government of the munucipal corporation dep

ended upon builds, which designated representatives to the borough council. Not
a few centuries after the 1066 conquest did towns gain representatives in the ce
ntral government through the establishment of a house of unions to sit alongside
the great council which was renamed the house of lords . By the 1800s municipal
corporations had developed in variety of ways - some as 'closed boroughs' and t
he others as 'freeman boroughs', where the franchise was extended. The parish ,
an ecclesiatical unit which can be traced back to the seventh century , graduall
y acquired civil function, beginning roads in the 1500s and relief for the poor
in 1601 . A number of officers- constables, surveyors, overseers of the poor and
- carried out the actual work. By thr 1835 the parishes spending more than all
other local bodies put together. Ready by the thirteenth century ad hoc or speci
al purpose authorities developed for handling drainage and sewers. In the sevent
eenth century a new series of authorities were developed to administer the Law ;
in 1834 , the poor law act establishe such authorities throughout the country .
In the 18 century turnpike trust came existence by 1829 , there were more than
three thousand. From a more diversified assortment of authorities (often called
'improve commisions') began to develop to handle such urban concerns as , street
and lighting. Webb notes that 'it is these improvement missioners , not the may
ors. aldermen and councillors of the olr organizations, who were the progenitors
of nearly all the activities of municipalities.
In the early nineteenth century a mishmash of local institutions had dropped wit
h 'nothing that could be regarded, either in theory , as a system of Local Gover
nment. This archaic jumble had done increasingly unacceptable to the rapidly gro
wing middle class found themselves excluded from government of the countries. Th
e displacement of hundred of thousand of people from farms villages to new settl
ements that sprang up around the furnaces and