The Municipality of East London was constituted on 22 April 1873 under Proclamation No 37 of 1873 in terms of Ordinance No 9 of 1836 (Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette No 4549, 29 April 1873).
In 1994 East London became part of the Eastern Cape Province. In 2000, East London became part of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, also consisting of King William's Town, Bhisho and Mdantsane and is the seat of the Metro.
The establishment of the office of Resident Magistrate at East London commenced when Colonel GH MacKinnon, Chief Commissioner of British Kaffraria, was appointed Justice of the Peace for the Port of East London and the district thereof on 3 March 1848.
In a letter dated 9 March 1848 the Colonial Secretary, John Montagu, informed MacKinnon as to the reasons for making the appointment: “His Excellency’s chief object in appointing you to this office, is to enable you to try and adjudicate cases of infringement of (the Spirit and Wine) Ordinance …” The Colonial Secretary informed MacKinnon that he would exercise the same powers as if he had been appointed Resident Magistrate without the inconvenience of being tied down to certain fixed court days.
However, Colonel MacKinnon’s presence was continually required at Kin William’s Town and he accordingly requested that a resident Justice of the Peace be appointed for East London. MacKinnon’s request was sympathetically received and Major Smith, the officer commanding Fort Glamorgan, was appointed to the office. Major Smith’s tenure in office was of short duration, and on 20 November 1848 the Colonial Secretary informed Captain Edward Rooper that he had been appointed resident Justice of the Peace in the place of Major Smith who had left East London. On 1 January 1849 Rooper was appointed Resident Magistrate.
In 1856 the magistracy was included as part of the separate dependency of British Kaffraria. British Kaffraria had been declared a separate Dependency of the Crown on 23 December 1847. The port of East London, however, was annexed as part of the Cape Colony by proclamation dated 14 January 1848. The Port was only restored to British Kaffraria on 9 July 1859. There appears to be some doubt therefore as to validity of the inclusion of the East London Magistracy as part of British Kaffraria in 1856.
The East London Magistracy remained part of the independent Colony of British Kaffraria until March 1865 when the British Kaffraria Act was passed. In terms of this Act British Kaffraria was annexed to the Cape Colony.
In December 1865 M Jennings was appointed Civil Commissioner and Resident Magistrate for East London.
