Cambridge Library Collection - British and Irish History, 19th Century: The Handy Book of Parish Law

William Andrews Holdsworth was the author of several popular legal handbooks, which ran into many editions. They were aimed at non-specialists, explaining topics such as landlord and tenant rights, will-making and acting as an executor, bankruptcy and married women's property legislation. The Handy Book of Parish Law was first published in 1859, and ran to twelve editions, of which this is the third (1872). The parish is still the lowest level of local government, particularly in the countryside, and parish councils formerly made many of the decisions which affected day-to-day life in their locality. Regular changes in the law required frequent updating, and the significance of certain bodies altered over time. This is a useful source for local and family historians, which helps unravel the complexities of parish law, which applied not only to church management but to poor law unions and aspects of local government.

1. Of the parish and parishioners; 2. Of the parish church and churchyard; 3. Of the parson and clergymen of the parish, and church services; 4. Of the churchwardens; 5. Of the church trustees; 6. Of the parish clerk, sexton, and beadle; 7. Of the parish vestry; 8. Of select vestries; 9. Of metropolitan vestries; 10. Of constables; 11. Of the preparation of jury lists; 12. Of highways; 13. Of highway districts under the Highway Acts of 1862 and 1864; 14. Of tramways; 15. Of the watching and lighting of parishes; 16. Of the removal of nuisances; 17. Of church rates; 18. Of county and borough rates; 19. Of poor rates; 20. Of the rating of tenements let for short terms, and of small tenements; 21. Of parochial assessment; 22. Of the powers of the local government board in the administration of the Poor Laws; 23. Of the board of guardians; 24. Of metropolitan district asylum boards, and metropolis common poor fund; 25. Of the powers of justices of the peace in the administration of the Poor Laws; 26. Of the overseers; 27. Of assistant overseers and collectors; 28. Of the audit of union and parish accounts; 29. Of the union officers; 30. Of the relief of the poor; 31. Of the workhouse; 32. Of settlement and removal; 33. Of parish apprentices.