Aldermanry

The City of London (also known simply as "the City") is divided into 25 wards. The City is the historic core of the much wider metropolis of Greater London, with an ancient and sui generis form of local government, which avoided the many local government reforms elsewhere in the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Unlike other modern-day English local authorities, the City of London Corporation has two council bodies: the now largely ceremonial Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council.

The wards are a survival of the medieval governmental system that allowed very small areas to exist as self-governing units within the wider city. They are both electoral/political sub-divisions and permanent ceremonial, geographic and administrative entities within the City. They had their boundaries changed in 2003, and to a lesser extent in 2013, though the number of wards and their names did not change.

Each ward, or , has its own alderman, who is the most senior official or representative in the ward. The aldermen traditionally held office for life but in the modern era put themselves up for re-election at least every six years. They also now customarily retire at 70, the same retirement age as a justice of the peace. Each ward (irrespective of its size) returns one alderman to the Court of Aldermen. One of the aldermen is elected (by the senior liverymen) as Lord Mayor of London for a period of one year.

The Lord Mayor performs many functions and holds many ancient positions and privileges. The Lord Mayor continues to be the alderman of their ward during and after their term of office, though there is a period of purdah whilst in (and for a period after) office, and during this period their appointed deputy will usually take their role within the ward. The City of London is the only remaining local authority in Great Britain to have (non-honorary) aldermen, since their general abolition in England and Wales in 1974 and the London boroughs in 1978.

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