The shire courts in particular had several roles including governmental, legislative, judicial and executive. After the Norman invasion the supporters of William I inherited this local court system and transplanted onto it the structures of feudalism. Much later, from the 12th century, new fledgling towns were acquiring (usually for cash) the status of Borough through Royal Charter. This Borough status for towns carried with it varying rights of self-government, legal personality and the ability to own land, and was the earliest form of local authority as we recognise it today.
Over time the shire and hundred courts in the countryside fell into disuse and eventually, due to problems with public disorder following the Black Death, a new kind of local government institution arose in the form of Justices of the Peace. Their powers arose not through the courts but through Acts of Parliament. Over time those powers grew to such an extent that the Justices had to turn for help to another type of local authority which had developed - the parish. Although corrupt and self-perpetuating the parish council/Justice of the Peace regime remained until the early 19th century.
To overcome this problem of corruption a plethora of statutory ad-hoc bodies was formed to carry out various functions. Other duties formerly carried out by the Justices were placed under the control of elected local bodies which carried out functions locally but which were controlled centrally, an approach which is still very relevant today. One such example were the Local Boards of Health which were created by the Public Health Act 1848 and which were responsible for the administration of sanitary districts. The sanitary districts eventually became urban and rural sanitary districts and ultimately urban and rural district councils under the Local Government Act 1894. These urban and rural district councils remained in existence until re-organisation following the Local Government Act 1972. South Holland District Council was formed in 1974 when its predecessors, East Elloe Rural District Council, Spalding Urban District Council and Spalding Rural District Council were amalgamated under the 1972 Act.
Although South Holland has not been affected by further re-oganisation, its internal management structure was radically reformed under the Local Government Act 2000. The Council now has an executive comprising a Leader and Cabinet. Many functions of the Council are carried out by the executive, either as a whole or by individual members. Regulations made under the Local Government Act 2000 set out which functions may or may not be carried out by the executive, and there is a presumption that all functions should be carried out by the executive unless otherwise stated.
South Holland District Council has had a Conservative administration since May 1999, with the Independents as the second largest group.
