“In the event of a riot or a grave disturbance， the Council havingnotified the Senior Consul at once， was at liberty to adopt suchmeasures as it might deem necessary for public safety. A volunteercorps was to be organized under the command of the Council"sChairman; and in case of serious danger to the Settlement， the Councilwas empowered to place all residents under such laws as circumstancesmight require， subject to the consent of the Consuls or a majorityamong them.“Such a constitution would have gone a long way towards makingthe Municipality a free city， a proposal which had been rejected by theDiplomatic Body in 1862.
The new Land Regulations were approved by the Ratepayers inMarch， 188 1， and forwarded in 1883 for ratification to the ForeignMinisters in Peking. For a long time they were pigeon-holed， andsanction was not given until 15 years later， in 1898， and then in a muchmodified form. Some of the objects desired were secured， especiallythe extension of the franchise， and the increase in the number of thoseeligible as Councillors， but the Council"s status was limited to being anexecutive body， all measures adopted at the Ratepayers‘ meeting beingsubject to the approval of the Consular Body in Shanghai and theDiplomatic Corps at Peking.
This was the last revision of the constitution of the InternationalSettlement， a constitution which， with all its limitations， has provedfairly workable.
Clause XXVIII restricted the Council to the policy advocatedby Sir Frederick Bruce and Mr. Anson Burlingame in 1864 ， andprovided that “Hereafter should any corrections be requisite in theseRegulations， or should it be necessary to determine on further rules， orshould doubts arise as to the construction thereof， or powers conferredthereby， the same must be consulted upon and settled by the ForeignConsuls and local Chinese authorities， subject to confirmation byForeign representatives and the Supreme Chinese Government atPeking.“The Government of the International SettlementHaving followed the development of the Land Regulations， wemay now give a brief summary of the way the Shanghai MunicipalityThis summary is largely derived from an address given by Sir Edward Pearce tothe Shanghai Civic League， October 26th， 1920.
has been governed.
A Council of not more than nine or less than five is electedannually by foreign and ratepayers.
The electorate is limited to foreigners who own land of not lessthan five hundred taels in value and who are householders payingan assessed rental of not less than five hundred taels per annum andupwards.
The ratepayers have their annual parliament or meeting once ayear， when a report of the work of the Council for the past year and theestimates for the next year are presented for consideration.
Special meetings may be called when it is desired to deal withany matter which cannot or should not be left over for decision by theannual parliament.
The powers of the Council are restricted， and the approval ofall the Consuls and of the Chinese authorities and of the DiplomaticBody is required for the amendment of the Land Regulations.
The channel of communication between the Council and theChinese authorities is the Consular Body.
Judicial powers over foreigners are， under the grant ofextraterritoriality， vested in the Consular Courts of the foreignersconcerned， or， in the case of unrepresented foreigners or Chinese， inthe Mixed Court.
The Council has a right to sue in these courts， and may in turn besued in a court elected from the Consuls of the Treaty Powers， knownas the Court of Consuls. The Municipal police force provides theexecutive for all these courts. No arrests， as a general rule， can be madeexcept on a warrant of the proper court， and in the case of the MixedThe Government of the Shanghai Municipality underwent an important changein 1928， when Chinese representatives were admitted on the Council， see ChapterXXVIII.
Court， it must be countersigned by the Senior Consul.
From 1911 until the rendition of the Mixed Court in 1927 theexecution of Mixed Court summons and warrants was entrusted to theMunicipal police.
The election of the Council takes place during the month ofFebruary， and the ratepayers‘ annual meeting is held in April.
At its first meeting the new Council elects its Chairman and Vice-