Municipal incorporation occurs when such
municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located. Often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a
municipal charter. A
city charter or
town charter or
municipal charter is a
legal document establishing a municipality, such as a
city or
town.
Bangladesh There are 12 city corporations in
Bangladesh. Two of them are located in the capital
Dhaka and the remaining 10 are located in the most populous
cities of the eight divisions. They carry out major works in the cities and perform socio-economic and civic functions. In addition, there are 330 municipalities in the eight
divisions of
Bangladesh. A city corporation is a much stronger and larger
Local governing body than a municipal corporation. This is because a city corporation consists of a
metropolitan city of a
district and a municipal corporation consists of a
municipal area in a
sub-district.
Canada In Canada, charters are granted by
provincial authorities.
India headquarters Municipal corporations are the local bodies responsible for governing large urban areas in India. Their establishment is mandated by the
74th amendment, and each municipal corporation is established through and governed by municipal acts passed by
state legislatures. The
Greater Chennai Corporation is the oldest municipal corporation in India, and the oldest in
the Commonwealth outside Britain.
Ireland The title "corporation" was used in
boroughs from soon after the
Norman conquest until the
Local Government Act 2001. Under the 2001 act,
county boroughs were renamed "cities" and their corporations became "city councils"; other borough corporations were renamed "borough councils". After the
Partition of Ireland, the corporations in the
Irish Free State were Dublin,
Cork,
Limerick and
Waterford (county boroughs) and
Drogheda,
Kilkenny,
Sligo,
Clonmel, and Wexford (non-county boroughs).
Dún Laoghaire gained borough status in 1930 as "The Corporation of Dun Laoghaire".
Galway's borough status, lost in 1840, was restored in 1937; it was formally styled "the Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Galway", but referred to as "the Corporation".
New Zealand The
New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 allowed municipal corporations to be established within the new
provinces of New Zealand. The term fell out of favour following the abolition of the provinces in 1876.
Pakistan Municipal corporations are local government bodies responsible for running the city system of
Pakistan. They have been established under their respective
Local Government Acts of the provinces. Article 140-A of the
Constitution of Pakistan, introduced by the 18th Amendment in 2010, mandates that each province must establish a local government system by law and devolve political, administrative, and financial power to elected local representatives.
United Kingdom The
ancient boroughs of
England and Wales were typically incorporated by a
royal charter, though some were boroughs by
prescription. The
Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and
Municipal Corporations Act 1882 abolished the corporations of
rotten boroughs and other small rural areas. The
Local Government Act 1888 aligned the powers of the remaining borough corporations with those of the new
urban district councils. All borough corporations were replaced under the
Local Government Act 1972 with councils not designated as "corporations", with the exception of the
City of London Corporation. The corporations of the
burghs of Scotland were similar in origin and were reformed or replaced in the nineteenth century before being abolished by the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Irish borough corporations within what is now
Northern Ireland were reformed by the
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 and
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 and replaced by the
Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972.
United States Most
U.S. states and territories have at least two tiers of local government:
counties and
municipalities.
Louisiana uses the term
parish,
Alaska uses the term
borough, and
Connecticut uses the term
planning region for what the
U.S. Census Bureau terms
county equivalents in those states.
Civil townships or towns are used as subdivisions of a county in 20 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest. Population centers may be organized into incorporated municipalities of several types, including the
city,
town,
borough, and
village. The types and nature of these municipal entities vary from state to state. In addition to these general-purpose local governments, states may also create
special-purpose local governments. Depending on the state, local governments may operate under their own charters or under general law, or a state may have a mix of chartered and general-law local governments. Generally, in a state having both chartered and general-law local governments, the chartered local governments have more local autonomy and home rule. Municipalities are typically subordinate to a county government, with some exceptions. Certain cities, for example, have consolidated with their county government as
consolidated city-counties. In
Virginia, cities are completely
independent from the county in which they would otherwise be a part. In some states, particularly in New England,
towns form the primary unit of local government below the state level, in some cases eliminating the need for county government entirely. Many rural areas and even some suburban areas of many states have no municipal government below the county level. In addition to counties and municipalities, states often create special purpose authorities, such as
school districts and districts for fire protection,
sanitary sewer service,
public transportation,
public libraries, public parks or forests, water resource management, and
conservation districts. Such special purpose districts may encompass areas in multiple municipalities or counties. According to the US Census Bureau's data collected in 2012, there were 89,004 local government units in the United States. This data shows a decline from 89,476 units since the last census of local governments performed in 2007. Each of the five permanently inhabited
U.S. territories is also subdivided into smaller entities. Puerto Rico has
78 municipalities, and the
Northern Mariana Islands has four municipalities.
Guam has
villages, the
U.S. Virgin Islands has
districts, and
American Samoa has
districts and unorganized atolls. Each
Indian Reservation is subdivided in various ways. For example, the
Navajo Nation is subdivided into agencies and
chapter houses, while the
Blackfeet Nation is subdivided into
communities. ==Municipal corporations as enterprises==