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WAT
town adjoining Waterford on the south side (contain-
ing 100 acres), with the abbey of Kilkellen and its
demesnes on the north side. In the 5th of Jas. I., the
citizens, who had refused to proclaim that monarch’s
accession to the throne, were served with a writ of Quo
Warranto, to which they pleaded the several charters
previously enumerated; and their plea with some small
alterations and omissions, as “by the king’s privy
council were thought fit,” was allowed; and the char-
ter having remained in the hands of the monarch, as
forfeited, was, after a disclaimer by the citizens in a
Quo Warranto, restored by patent under the great seal
of England, on the 26th of May, 1626, in the 2nd year
of the reign of Chas. I. This charter was explained
and amended by a supplementary charter granted by
the same monarch, in 1631, and is now the governing
charter. It confers upon the mayor and council the
returns of assize, precepts, bills and warrants, the sum-
mons and escheats of the exchequer, and the precepts
of itinerant judges; a grant of the city and various
lands; with all other possessions of which it had for-
merly been seized, to be held for ever in free burgage at
the usual rents; a grant of the site and precincts of
the abbey of Kilculliheen, with all its possessions and
numerous parsonages, to be held in fee-farm at the rent
of £59. 1. S. per annum. The same charter granted
also to the corporation, for ever, the harbour of Water-
ford, from the entrance between Rodgbank and Rindoan
to Carrigmagriffin, and as far as the sea ebbed and
flowed, with all its waters, soil, and fisheries; the office
of admiralty and an admiralty court, reserving to the
Lord High Admiral of England and Ireland all pirates’
goods and wrecks of the sea; the power of taxing the
inhabitants for all public charges and works; of form-
ing themselves into guilds and fraternities, similar to
those of Bristol; of taking murage custom, and of
having a corporation of the staple, to be governed by a
mayor of the staple and two constables; of holding
courts or councils, once every week, for the conduct
and government of the orphan children left to their
charge by deed or will; of receiving the cocket customs
and half the prisage of wine, together with all waifs,
strays, felons’ goods, and deodands, and of having a
gaol under the custody of the sheriffs, and many other
privileges.
Under this charter the
government of the city is
vested in a mayor, eighteen,
aldermen, eighteen assist-
ants, a recorder, and two
sheriffs (who altogether con-
stitute the common coun-
cil); a coroner, clerk of the
crown and peace, a town-
clerk, notary public, mares-
chal, water-bailiff, searcher,
guager, sword-bearer, four
serjeants-at-mace, constables, and other officers. The
mayor is chosen from among the aldermen annually on
the Monday after the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin,
by a majority of the common council, and sworn into
office before his predecessor, or, in his absence, before
the council, on the Michaelmas-day following. The
sheriffs are chosen at the same time from among the
assistants, by which body the recorder is appointed;
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all the other officers of the corporation are chosen by
the mayor and council, except the serjeants-at-mace,
who are appointed by the mayor and sheriffs. The
mayor, the recorder, and the four senior aldermen are
justices of the peace within the city and the county, of
the city, and also within the county of Waterford. The
freedom of the city is inherited by birth, and obtained
by marriage with a freeman’s daughter, or by appren-
ticeship to a freeman; the citizens are exempted from
all toll, lastage, portage, pontage, murage, and other
duties throughout the realm. The city first sent mem-
bers to parliament in the year 1374, apparently by pres-
criptive right, as no grant of the elective franchise is
found in any of its charters; from that period it con-
tinued to send two members to the Irish parliament till
the Union, from which time it returned only one to the
Imperial parliament, till the passing of the act of the
2nd of Win, IV., cap. 88, which restored its original
number. The right of election is vested in the resident
freemen, the £.10 householders, freeholders, and in £20
and £10 leaseholders for the respective terms of 14 and
20 years; the 40s. freeholders retain the privilege only
for life. The number of registered electors, according
to the town-clerk’s return to parliament on the 24th
of Feb., 1836, was 1630, of which 646 were freemen,
S85 £10 householders, 76 freeholders, and 23 lease-
holders; but in consequence of many being registered
in more than one capacity, the number polling at an
election seldom exceeds 1150: the sheriffs are the re-
turning officers. The corporation hold a court of re-
cord before the mayor and recorder, or their deputy, on
Monday and Friday in every week, or as often as may
be thought necessary, for the determination of all pleas
arising within the city and county of the city to any
amount; a civil bill court, for the summary recovery of
debts exceeding 40s. and not exceeding £10, in the first
weeks respectively after the 6th of January, Easter, the
7th of July, and 29th of September; a court of con-
science before the ex-mayor, who presides in it for one
year after the expiration of his mayoralty, for the re-
covery of debts under 40s.; and a court in which the
mayor is sole judge, held for the decision of all claims
for wages to the amount of £3 by in-door servants,
and of £6 by out-door servants; but these cases are
frequently referred to the petty sessions. The assizes
for the county are held here twice in the year, the mayor
being always joined in the commission. The quarter
sessions for the county of the city are held usually
about 15 times in the year, before four of the senior
aldermen, among whom the mayor and recorder are
always included. The charter also granted the corpo-
ration a court leet, with view of frankpledge, to be held
twice in the year, and a court of admiralty; but neither
is now held. The town-hall is a handsome building,
recently erected in the Mall, contiguous to the bishop’s
palace: the front, which is of stone, is of elegant sim-
plicity of design and of just proportion; the principal
entrance leads into the public hall, which was formerly
resorted to by the merchants as an exchange. The
court-house and the city and county gaols occupy a con-
siderable space of ground near the spot where St. Pa-
trick’s gate formerly stood, and are handsomely fronted
with granite. The court-house, which is in the centre,
was designed and executed by the late James Gandon,
Esq., on; the recommendation of Howard, the philan-
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