358 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



new privileges. The Corporate body at that time assumed, and 

 still retains, the style of the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses, of the 

 Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. By this Charter a Common 

 Council was established, for the government of the Borough, and 

 the management of its Revenues and Possessions, consisting of a 

 Mayor, (who is also a Justice of the Peace) two Bailiffs, and 24 

 capital Burgesses ; the three former of which Officers are annually 

 chosen by the Common Council on Tuesday after Michaelmas-day. 

 The office of Clerk of the Market was granted to the Mayor for the 

 time being : The offices of Recorder, Town Clerk, and Serjeants 

 at Mace, were established by the same Charter : under the autho- 

 rity of which several Courts are also held, viz. a Court Leet and 

 View of Frank Pledge twice a-year, a Court of Record held every 

 three weeks for the trial of personal actions arising within the 

 Borough, riot exceeding ,=40. in amount, and a Court of Pie-powder 

 for the trial of Disputes and Offences occurring during the Fairs 

 and Markets: The holding of several other Fairs, and of a weekly 

 Market on Mondays, with many other privileges, were also confer- 

 red on the town by this Charter. 



Charles the 2d, in 1664, granted a Charter* confirmatory of Queen 

 Elizabeth's. The principal additions made by his Grant are the 

 appointment of two other Justices of the Peace (who are annually 

 chosen out of the Common Council, and, together with the Mayor, 

 hold a General Sessions of the Peace within the Borough four times 

 in every year,) and the extension of the sum for which Pleas may 

 be held in personal Actions from c40. to <5Q. 



This Borough underwent a like fate with many other Corpora- 

 tions, towards the close of the reign of Charles the 2d, at which time 

 a surrender was forced from it of all its Franchises.f His successor 

 James the 2d, in the first year of his reign, granted a new Charter,! 

 comprehending nearly the same privileges as the Borough had before 

 enjoyed, but containing an arbitrary and unconstitutional clause 

 which empowered the Crown to remove the principal Officers of the 

 Borough from their situations at pleasure. During the short reign 

 of James the 2d, the new Charter was acted upon, and the obnox- 

 ious clause of removal was twice put in force; but after the accession 

 of William and Mary, the former Charters were restored to the 

 Borough, and the Charter of James has never since been considered 

 as of any validity. The office of Recorder is now filled by James 



* Original Charter amongst the Borough Records, 

 t Corporation Records. J Original Charter amongst the Borough Records. 



