Britain: An official handbook > 1959

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 75
in such parts of the county as fall within the jurisdiction of the county borough,
borough, or urban district councils.
Loans may be raised by all types of local authority for financing capital expendi¬
ture, subject to the consent of the Minister of Housing and Local Government or
the Secretary of State for Scotland, who are guided by the recommendations of the
Government Department responsible for the service for which the capital is
required. Borrowing powers for specific purposes are sometimes included among
the provisions of local Acts, while the London County Council seeks parliamentary
sanction every year to raise the money it needs for capital expenditure.
Loans may be raised by issuing stock upon the Stock Exchange, by internal
borrowing, by private mortgage, or from the Public Works Loan Board, which is
financed by the Exchequer.
Internal control of finance is exercised on behalf of the council concerned by a
finance committee, whose function is to keep the financial policy of the council
under constant review. External control is carried out by means of an annual
audit, which in the case of all councils in England and Wales (except for certain
general accounts in about two-thirds of the borough councils) is operated by
district auditors appointed by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
Borough councils must use the services of the district auditor for accounts which
relate to education, national assistance, children, local health services, coast pro¬
tection, motor tax, rate collection, police, fire, civil defence and town and country'
planning, but they may and sometimes do employ a professional firm of auditors
to do other work. In Scotland, all accounts are audited by a professional auditor
appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland and paid by the council.
THE LAW
The maintenance of public order in the United Kingdom is effected, generally
speaking, by two agencies—the judiciary and the police. Both are concerned in
different ways with the obedience of the citizen to the law.
Law is said to be based on the concepts of order and compulsion. In the legal
sense, it has been defined as any rule which will be enforced by the courts; as it
applies to a country, it is usually understood as the set of rules by which the
citizens of that country will expect to regulate their conduct in relation to their
fellow citizens and to the State.
There is no written code of law in the United Kingdom. The question whether
a particular rule is recognised as law is determined, where possible, by consideration
of the authorities: statutes, common law, and the opinions of legal writers of
established reputation (although these are not law until accepted as such by the
courts). If none of these authorities exists, the judge uses a process of analogy:
that is to say, he bases his decision in a case on its similarity to a previous case in
which judgment has already been given.
Common law originated in the customs of the realm, and has been built up by the
decisions of the courts. A supplementary system of law, known as ‘equity’, came
into being during the Middle Ages to temper justice with mercy where conscience
was opposed to the rigours of the law and to provide and enforce more effective
protection for existing legal rights, and later hardened into a separate body of legal
rules. In 1873, the courts of equity were fused with the courts of common law, so
that all courts now apply both systems, but where they conflict, equity prevails.
Statute law includes Acts of Parliament and delegated or subordinate legislation
made under powers conferred by Parliament.
The Treaty of Union between England and Scotland in 1707 included the
provision that Scotland should retain its own system of law, and differences in law