ABSTRACT
Dating back to medieval times, Dublin Corporation, in common with other chartered towns and cities, enjoyed privileges that empowered it to levy a variety of tolls and customs, mostly on those who were not free of the city, but in certain cases even on freemen. It is in the nature of the surviving Dublin Corporation records that, despite the financial importance of the tolls and customs to the city, a picture of how the system operated has to be reconstructed from tantalisingly brief and occasional references. Between the 1770s and the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 Dublin Corporation faced an unprecedented series of challenges to its authority. The Corporations claims to authority over the markets were not fully upheld until 1833. They survived, notably, in Cork and Galway: Fairs and Markets Commission Report in Royal Commission on Market Rights and Tolls, Final Report.
