The Government of Quebec's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy recognizes seven types of municipalities – cities (cités), towns (villes), villages (villages), parishes (paroisses), townships (cantons), united townships (cantons unis), and municipalities (municipalités). All municipalities (except cities), are functionally and legally identical. In some cases, the designation serves to disambiguate between otherwise identically-named municipalities. Municipalities are governed primarily by the "Code municipal du Québec" (Municipal Code of Québec, R.S.Q. c. C-27.1), whereas cities and towns are governed by the "Loi sur les cités et villes" (Cities and Towns Act, R.S.Q. c. C-19) as well as (in the case of the older ones) various individual charters.