[flave]

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.

[graemep]

> companies get the vote based on number of employees

That is the result of recent legislation. Until about 20 years ago companies did not get votes. Individuals got votes by being freemen of the city, usually by being members of a livery company, the descendants of medieval guilds.

> Can’t easily be changed because some of the “rights and liberties” predates written common law and are “senior”.

It can be changed by passing legislation.

I lived in the city (in the Barbican) in the early 2000s and loved it.

[tomatocracy]

All businesses used to get votes in local elections in England and Wales (by virtue of being ratepayers) and boroughs/cities had separate Aldermen and (Common) Councilmen. The City of London (ie the square mile, not the metropolis) retained the old system when it was abolished elsewhere (in favour of only residents voting and a single type of councillor) because the number of residents in the City then was absolutely tiny by comparison to the number of people who use the City daily (after much of the residential population left, partly due to war damage during WW2).

What changed more recently was the allocation of which individual people get to exercise those votes - "business votes" became "workers votes".

The election of the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs is separate though. This is still done at Common Hall (and the franchise is still Liverymen), but that election is very very rarely contested.

[mstade]

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)

[NoboruWataya]

> 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.

[euroderf]

Multiple articles in the archives of The Guardian tell about the influence and the special status of The City and how it undercuts British democracy.

And to go one step further, I've read the idea that Brexit was instigated to prevent The City from being regulated by Brussels. It's a theory that might fit the facts.