A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located. Often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter.

With the notable exception of the City of London Corporation, the term has fallen out of favour in the United Kingdom, but the concept remains central to local government in the United Kingdom, as well as former British colonies such as India and Canada.

A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the middle ages. It's considered to be a municipal version of a constitution.

Traditionally the granting of a charter gave a settlement and its inhabitants the right to town privileges under the feudal system. Townspeople who lived in chartered towns were burghers, as opposed to serfs who lived in villages. Towns were often "free", in the sense that they were directly protected by the king or emperor, and were not part of a feudal fief.

Elizabeth Evans May, OC, MP (born June 9, 1954) is an American-born Canadian Member of Parliament, environmentalist, writer, activist, lawyer, and the leader of the Green Party of Canada. She was the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada from 1989 to 2006. She became a Canadian citizen in 1978.

May's permanent residence is in Sidney, British Columbia. Her family home is in Margaree Harbour, Cape Breton Island. On May 2, 2011, she became the first elected Green Party Member of Parliament in Canada, defeating the incumbent, Gary Lunn.

May was born in Hartford, Connecticut to a British father and American mother; she has a younger brother named Geoffrey. Her mother was a prominent anti-nuclear activist and one of the original founders of the peace group SANE, while her father was Assistant Vice President of Aetna Life and Casualty. May's godfather was actor Cliff Robertson.

May attended Renbrook School and the prestigious Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. Her family was rooted in the Welsh Congregationalist tradition of free thinking on religious beliefs.