berton and
Dolben--were removed from the court because their opinion was found to be
in favour of the city. The committee refer to the City's Records in
support of the claim of the lord mayor to elect one of the sheriffs, and
say "that from the twenty-first of Edward the IIId unto the year 1641 the
way of making sheriffs was that the lord mayor named one to be sheriff and
presented him to the Common Hall, who did confirm him, and chose another
to act with him; except in three or four years within that time, when the
Common Hall chose both the sheriffs, the persons drank to in those years
by the lord mayor having refused to hold and paid their fines." They
capitulated to the House the various occasions on which the mayor
exercised his prerogative unchallenged, and those when the Common Hall
refused to confirm the mayor's nomination, down to 1682, when matters were
brought to a crisis by Sir John Moore claiming to have _elected_ Dudley
North by drinking to him according to custom; and in conclusion they
reported their opinion to be that Sir John Moore and Dudley North were
among the "authors of the invasion made upon the rights of the city of
London in the election of sheriffs for the said city in the year 1682."

(M846)

In the meantime the civic authorities themselves had not been idle. The
Common Council had already (1 March) appointed a committee to take steps
for obtaining a reversal of the judgment on the _Quo Warranto_ with the
assistance of the recorder and the city's representatives in parliament.
Before the end of May a draft Bill had been prepared for the purpose and
been submitted to the court for approval.(1658)

(M847)

There was another matter pressing very heavily upon the City just now, and
one which later on would also claim the attention of parliament, and that
was the relationship of the civic authorities to the city orphans. By the
custom of London the mayor and aldermen were the recognised guardians of
all citizens' orphans, and as such took charge of their property until
they came of age or married. A Court of Orphans was established, with the
common sergeant as its chief officer, which exercised the same
jurisdiction over the bodies and goods of orphans in the city that the
Court of Chancery exercised outside. In course of time the fund paid into
this court became very considerable, and in order to prevent it lying idle
and thus deprive the orphans of interest that might accrue on their
estate,