es which were or
had been the seat of a bishop. Nowadays the title is borne not only by
places of this nature but also by places, as Sheffield and Leeds, upon
which it has been conferred by royal patent. Save, however, in the
case of the city of London, where alone in England ancient municipal
institutions have been generally preserved, the term possesses no
political significance.[271] The governments of the cities are
identical with those of the non-city boroughs. It is to be observed,
further, that whereas formerly the borough as organized for municipal
purposes coincided with the borough as constituted for purposes of
representation in Parliament, there is now no necessary connection
between the two. An addition to a municipal borough does not alter the
parliamentary constituency.

[Footnote 271: See p. 190.]

*198. Kinds of Boroughs.*--The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 made
provision for 178 boroughs in England and Wales and stipulated
conditions under which the number might be increased from time to time
by royal charter. In not a few instances the charters of boroughs at
the time existing were of mediaeval origin. Since 1875 new charters (p. 188)
have been conferred until the number of boroughs has been brought up
to approximately 350. For the obtaining of a borough charter no fixed
requirement of population is laid down. Each application is considered
upon its merits, and while the size and importance of an urban
community weigh heavily in the decision other factors not infrequently
are influential, with the consequence that some boroughs are very
small while some urban centers of size are not yet boroughs. Of the
present number of boroughs, seventy-four, or about one-fifth, are
county boroughs. By the act of 1888 it was provided that every borough
which had or should attain a population of 50,000 should be deemed,
for purposes of administration, a separate county, and should
therefore be exempt from the supervision exercised over the affairs of
the municipal boroughs by the authorities of the administrative
counties. Any borough with a population exceeding the figure named may
be created a county borough by simple order of the Local Government
Board. Unlike the ordinary municipal borough, the county borough is
not represented in the council of the county in which the borough
lies; on the contrary, the council of the borough exercises
substantially an equivalent of the powers exercised