BOROUGH

In English law. A town, a walled town. Co. Litt. 1086. A town of note or importance; a fortified town. Cow ell. An ancient town. Litt. 164. A corporate town that is not a city. Cowell. An ancient town, corporate or not, that sends burgesses to parliament. Co. Litt. 109a; 1 Bl. Comm. 114, 115. A city or other town sending burgesses to parliament. 1 Steph. Comm. 116. A town or place organized for local government A parliamentary borough is a town which returns one or more members to parliament. In Scotch law. A corporate body erected by the charter of the sovereign, consisting of the inhabitants of the territory erected into the borough. Bell. In American law. In Pennsylvania, the term denotes a part of a township having a charter for municipal purposes; and the same is true of Connecticut. Southport v. Ogden, 23 Conn. 128. See, also, 1 Dill. Mun. Corp. $ 41, n. “Borough” and “‘village” are duplicate or cumulative names of the same thing; proof of either will sustain a charge in an indictment employing the other term. Brown v. State, 18 Ohio St. 496. Borough, courts. In, English law. Private and limited tribunals, held by prescription, charter, or act of parliament, in particular districts for the convenience of the inhabitants, that they may prosecute small suits and receive justice at home. Borough English. A custom prevalent in some parts of England, by which the youngest son inherits the estate in preference to bis older brothers. 1 Bl. Comm. 75. Borough fund. In English law. The revenues of a municipal borough derived from the rents and produce of the land, houses, and stocks belonging to the borough in its corporate capacity, and supplemented where necessary by a borough rate. Borough heads. Borough holders, bors holders, or burs holders:Borough reeve. The chief municipal officer in towns unincorporated before the municipal corporations act, (5 & 6 Wn IV. c. 76.)Borough sessions. Courts of limited criminal jurisdiction, established in English boroughs under the municipal corporations act. Pocket borough. A term formerly used in English politics to describe a borough entitled to send a representative to parliament, in which a single individual, either as the principal landlord or by reason of other predominating influence, could entirely control the election and insure the return of the candidate whom he should nominate.