ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the constitution of local authorities, derivation of duties and powers, scope of administration, systems of local taxation, and methods of supervision and control. If English local authorities have lagged behind those of Germany in such matters as town planning, Poor Law reform, the medical inspection of schools, and the feeding of necessitous children, it is not their fault, but the fault of the system under which they work. The English system is self-government by statutory delegation, the German system might be called self-government by prescriptive right, modified by administrative sanction. The differences in the external control exercised over local authorities in the English and German will be shown by comparison to relate rather to its form than its extent. Most of the powers and functions exercised by the local authorities are naturally the same in both countries.
