Need of.—­Owing to conditions, natural and artificial, favorable to business enterprises, people group together in certain places.  Living in a limited area, the amount of land occupied by each family is small, and the territory is surveyed into lots and blocks.  To make each homestead accessible, streets are laid out.  The distances traveled being short, people go about principally on foot; hence the need of sidewalks.  To reduce the danger of going about after dark, street-lamps are needed.  The nearness of the houses to each other renders it necessary to take special precautions for the prevention of fires, and for their extinguishment in case they break out.

But to provide and maintain all these things takes money, and the people living in the other parts of the town not sharing the benefits would hardly like to help pay for them.  Hence it is but just that the people living in the thickly settled portion of the town should be permitted to separate from the rest and form an organization by themselves.

Again, the circumstances being different, the regulations must be different in this part of the town.  For instance, in the country a man may drive as fast as he pleases, while here fast driving endangers life and must be prohibited.  In the country sleigh-bells are not needed, while here they must be used to warn people of the approach of teams.  In the country, if a man’s house takes fire no other person’s property is endangered; but here the danger is such that all the people are interested in each man’s house, and the community may require that chimneys be properly constructed and ashes safely disposed of.

How Incorporated.—­Villages are, with rare exceptions, incorporated under a general law specifying the number of inhabitants, the mode of voting on incorporation, etc.

The method in Minnesota, which may be taken as typical, is as follows:  Upon petition of thirty or more voters resident upon the lands to be incorporated, which lands have been divided into lots and blocks, the county commissioners appoint a time, and give due notice thereof, when the voters “actually residing within the territory described,” may vote upon the question.  If a majority of those voting favor incorporation, the commissioners file with the register of deeds the original petition, a true copy of the notice of election, and the certificate showing the result of the vote.  The village thus becomes incorporated, and has the usual corporate powers.  It organizes by electing officers.

Elective Officers.—­The usual elective officers of a village are a president, three trustees, a treasurer, and a recorder, who are chosen for one year, and two justices of the peace and a constable, elected for two years. [Footnote:  The difference in term is accounted for by the fact that the justices and constables are in a measure county officers.]

The Council and Its Powers.—­The president, the three trustees, and the recorder constitute the village council.  They may make, for the following purposes among others, such ordinances or by-laws as they deem necessary: