I worked in the City (Citie) of London and have off and on taken an interest in the history.
Much of the special status of London was granted before 1189, and it retains its special because of time immemorial concept and English common law.
I won’t bore you with all the details but there’s loads of weird stuff like a mayor that only lasts a year, companies get the vote based on number of employees, separate police for from the rest of London etc etc. That’s barely scratching the surface.
Can’t easily be changed because some of the “rights and liberties” predates written common law and are “senior”. Of course, when push comes to shove they find a way but that rarely happens.
I also worked (and indeed lived) in the City a few years and fell down this rabbit hole for a spell. The more you dig into this the weirder it gets, but it's quite a fun rabbit hole indeed. :o)
> Can’t easily be changed because some of the “rights and liberties” predates written common law and are “senior”. Of course, when push comes to shove they find a way but that rarely happens.
It could pretty easily be changed by an Act of Parliament, but there's no real political will to do so. It doesn't do any harm and makes for some interesting tidbits to impress tourists with.
Interestingly, about 10% of land in England and Wales still isn't actually registered with the land registry. Mainly because registration only became compulsory fully in 1990 and still only when the land was sold or mortgaged.
In Scotland only ~58% of land is in the registry - most of the rest is covered by a register of transactions but that can make it difficult to work out who owns what.
I worked in the City (Citie) of London and have off and on taken an interest in the history.
Much of the special status of London was granted before 1189, and it retains its special because of time immemorial concept and English common law.
I won’t bore you with all the details but there’s loads of weird stuff like a mayor that only lasts a year, companies get the vote based on number of employees, separate police for from the rest of London etc etc. That’s barely scratching the surface.
Can’t easily be changed because some of the “rights and liberties” predates written common law and are “senior”. Of course, when push comes to shove they find a way but that rarely happens.
This video by CGP Grey is an entertaining overview of some of the oddities of the City of London: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LrObZ_HZZUc&pp=ygUPY2dwIGdyZXk...
I also worked (and indeed lived) in the City a few years and fell down this rabbit hole for a spell. The more you dig into this the weirder it gets, but it's quite a fun rabbit hole indeed. :o)
> Can’t easily be changed because some of the “rights and liberties” predates written common law and are “senior”. Of course, when push comes to shove they find a way but that rarely happens.
It could pretty easily be changed by an Act of Parliament, but there's no real political will to do so. It doesn't do any harm and makes for some interesting tidbits to impress tourists with.
Interestingly, about 10% of land in England and Wales still isn't actually registered with the land registry. Mainly because registration only became compulsory fully in 1990 and still only when the land was sold or mortgaged.
In Scotland only ~58% of land is in the registry - most of the rest is covered by a register of transactions but that can make it difficult to work out who owns what.
https://www.ros.gov.uk/performance/land-register-completion/...
Land ownership is quite a contentious issue in Scotland.