If the line is not completed or proof of capital and expenditure given, or a bond delivered, within the time named in the certificate, or if none so named, then within five years from the commencement of the operation of the certificate, the deposit shall be forfeited to His Majesty (s. 41).

Interest is payable to the depositors on the fund so long as it remains in Court (s. 43).

The provisions of the Parliamentary Deposits and Bonds Act, 1892, would apply to any deposit under the Railways Construction Facilities Act, 1864.

The Tramways Act, 1870.-Under the Tramways Act, 1870, 33 & 34 Vict. c. 71, before a provisional order of the Board of Trade authorising the construction of a tramway is delivered by the Board, the promoters, unless they are a local authority, must within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, and subject to the prescribed conditions as to interest, repayment, or forfeiture, pay as a deposit into the prescribed bank the sum of money prescribed, which must not be less than 4 per cent. on the amount of the estimate of the expense of construction, or deposit in such bank any security of the prescribed nature the then value of which is not less than such sum of money (s. 12).

The Board of Trade may from time to time make, and when made, may rescind, annul, or add to, rules with respect to the payment of money or lodgment of securities by way of deposits, the repayment and forfeiture of the same, the investment of the same, the amount and payment of interest or dividends from time to time accruing due on such deposits (s. 64 (2)).

Notwithstanding sec. 18, which provides that a notice by the Board of Trade, published in the Gazette, shall be conclusive evidence of noncommencement, non-completion or suspension of the works, other evidence is not excluded (4.-G. v. Mayor of Bournemouth, [1902] 2 Ch. 714, disapproving of In re Dudley and Kingswinford Tramways, 1893, 63 L. J. Ch. 108).

Board of Trade Rules, 1892.-By the Board of Trade Rules, 1892, it is accordingly provided that the promoters (unless they are a local authority) shall, if they are not possessed of a tramway already open for public traffic which has during the year last past paid dividends on their ordinary share capital, pay into Court as a deposit a sum of money not less than 5 per cent. on the amount of the estimate of the expense of construction of the tramway. The amount will be paid on the warrant of the Board of Trade.

In lieu of payment, an equivalent amount of bank annuities, or of any stocks, funds, or securities on which cash under the control of the Court may be invested, or of Exchequer bills, may be brought into Court.

The Court may order investment of a cash deposit (r. 20).

The rules contain provisions similar to those in the Standing Orders of the two Houses of Parliament stated supra-(1) For payment into Court of a penalty of £50 a day in case of non-completion within the time in the provisional order prescribed, or within two years from the passing of the Act confirming the order, by promoters possessed of a tramway opened for public traffic; (2) for application of the deposit in compensating road authorities, and in case of appointment of a receiver or insolvency, in payment of creditors; and, subject to such application, for repayment to the depositors (rr. 21, 22).

The rules as now framed are in accordance with the provisions of the Parliamentary Deposits and Bonds Act, 1892, and the observations on that Act and the cases cited supra apply as well to deposits under these rules as to deposits under the Standing Orders. Under the former rules it was held that the intention was-(1) That the promoters of the company should not by any subterfuge or device get back the deposit, either directly or indirectly, if the tramway were not completed; (2) that on an application for payment of creditors, the creditors only were to be considered, and not the shareholders; and (3) that the only creditors to be considered were meritorious creditors coming with a bond-fide case. As has already been stated, the Act of 1892 has given effect to the new policy of the legislature, has abolished the forfeiture of the deposit to the Crown, and has put an end to the distinction between meritorious and non-meritorious creditors.

The deposit will be paid out to the depositors, if within the prescribed time or within two years from the passing of the Act confirming the provisional order the tramway is open for public traffic. If a portion of the line is open, a proportionate part of the deposit may be released (r. 23).

Interest will be paid to the depositors on the fund while in Court (r. 24).

If either House of Parliament refuse to confirm a provisional order or any part thereof, or if the same is withdrawn before confirmation, the Court, on production of a certificate of the Board of Trade, may order the deposit to be paid out to the depositors (r. 24).

Any application under the rules is to be made in a summary way by summons at chambers (r. 24).

Light Railways Act, 1896.-An order made under this Act (59 & 60 Vict. c. 48) may contain a provision, in the case of a new company, requiring the company to make a deposit, and providing for the time of making and application of the deposit (s. 11 (k)). Money lodged in Court under this provision will not be placed on deposit (Supreme Court Funds Rules, 1905, r. 77 (e)).

Life Assurance Companies (see, too, LIFE INSURANCE).-By the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1870, 33 & 34 Vict. c. 61

Every insurance company established after 9th August 1870 within the United Kingdom, or established or to be established out of the United Kingdom, which shall after that date carry on life assurance business in England, must deposit in Court in the Chancery Division the sum of £20,000, and until such deposit is made the certificate of incorporation of the company will not be issued. The deposit is to be returned to the company so soon as its life assurance fund accumulated out of premiums amounts to £40,000 (s. 3).

By the Life Assurance Companies Act, 1872, 35 & 36 Vict. c. 41

The deposit may be made by the subscribers of the memorandum of association of the proposed company, or any of them, in the name of the company, and such deposit upon the incorporation of the company is to be deemed to be part of the assets of the company; and, until returned to the company, is to be deemed to form part of the life assurance fund of the company (s. 1).

The life assurance fund required by the Act of 1870 to have been accumulated prior to the return of the deposit may, in the case of a

foreign life assurance company, consist of accumulations already existing abroad and arising from the original business of the company (In re Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, 1882, 21 Ch. D. 837).

Where a company had made the deposit, and subsequently amalgamated with another company, and application was made for payment out, on the ground that, though the depositing company had not made any accumulation, yet the company with which it was amalgamated had a life assurance fund far in excess of £40,000, the application was refused. The meaning of the Act is that the company which made the deposit shall have carried on its business so prosperously as to have accumulated out of the profits of that business £40,000 (Ex parte Scottish Economic Life Assurance Society, 1890, 45 Ch. D. 220).

The deposit was required by the Board of Trade to be made by a company whose business was to insure against liability, under the Employers' Liability Act, 1880, and other statutes. After the decision in Lancashire Insurance Co. v. Inland Revenue Commissioners, [1899] 1 Q. B. 353, that employers' liability policies were contracts of indemnity, and not policies of insurance against accident, the company applied for return of the deposit. On the consent of the Board of Trade, given conditionally on the memorandum of association of the company being altered so as to exclude life insurance business (which had been done), the Court made an order for payment out of the fund in Court representing the deposit to the company (In re Wool Industries Employers' Insurance Association, Ltd., 1899, W. N. 259).

In pursuance of the Act of 1872, rules have been made by the Board of Trade, which provide that the deposit shall be made under the warrant of the Board; and that in lieu of payment of cash an equivalent sum of bank annuities, or of stocks, funds, or securities on which cash under the control of the Court may be invested, or of Exchequer bills, may be brought into Court (Board of Trade Rules, August 28, 1872, r. 2).

The money may be invested in such securities as the depositors desire and the Court thinks fit (r. 4); and the dividends may be ordered to be paid to the depositors (r. 7).

As soon as the life assurance fund accumulated out of premiums paid to the company is proved to amount to £40,000, the deposit may be paid to the depositors, or as they direct (r. 6).

Any application under the rules is made by petition (r. 9).

Under rule 4 an investment in a security not clearly within the provisions for investment of cash under the control of the Court was sanctioned (In re Blue Ribbon Life, etc., Assurance Co., 1889, W. N. 176).

Though the Act speaks of the fund being returned to the company, the terms of rule 6 enable the Court to order it to be paid to the depositors (In re Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society, 1882, 21 Ch. D. 837).

The petition should be signed by the depositors (In re Scottish Life Assurance Co., 1887, W. N. 64).

[Authorities. Board of Trade Rules, 1892, under the Tramways Act, 1870; Board of Trade Rules under Life Assurance Acts, 1870 to 1872; Buckley on The Companies Acts, 1902, 8th ed., pp. 809-834; Browne and Theobald on The Law of Railways, 1899, 3rd ed.; Clifford's History of Private Bill Legislation, 1887; Daniell's Chancery Practice, 1901, 7th ed., pp. 1820-1827, 1929-1933, 1939-1943; Hodges on Railways, 1889, 7th ed.; Robertson on The Law of Tramways and Light Railways, 1903; Seton's

Judgments and Orders, 1901, 6th ed., pp. 2474-2487; Standing Orders, 1908; Seward Brice on The Law of Tramways and Light Railways, 1898.]

Parochial Electors.-The parochial electors of a rural parish are "the persons registered in such portion either of the local government register of electors or of the parliamentary register of electors as relates to the parish" (L. G. Act, 1894, 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 2 (1)). Thus many persons are parochial electors who do not contribute to the rates of the parish at all, such as owners who reside out of the parish, lodgers, and persons enjoying the service franchise. The parish meeting is therefore a much larger body than the former vestry, which comprised only persons rated to the relief of the poor and those whose rates were paid for them by the owner of the property under the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, 32 & 33 Vict. c. 41. Peers of the realm, soldiers, sailors, policemen, officers, and servants of any county or district council, and women, whether married or single, may all be parochial electors. The married women must, however, possess a separate qualification; for a husband and wife cannot both be qualified in respect of the same property (L. G. Act, 1894, s. 43). But a married woman is not qualified to be a parochial elector merely because she owns property within the parish; for the provision of sec. 43 of the Local Government Act, 1894, in favour of married women does not create a new qualification (Drax v. Ffooks, [1896] 1 Q. B. 238). So as to freemen; the fact of a person being on the list of freemen for a parliamentary borough does not entitle him to have his name entered in the parochial electors' list for the parish within the borough, even though he may reside within the parish; for the list of freemen is a separate list, not arranged under the heading of any parish, and is not therefore a "portion of the parliamentary register of electors relating to the parish" within the meaning of sec. 2, subs. 1 of the Local Government Act, 1894 (Hart v. Beard, [1896] 1 Q. B. 54).

The local government register of electors and the parliamentary register of electors, so far as they relate to a parish (and, where the parish is in a parliamentary borough, such portion also of the parliamentary register of electors for the county as contains the names of persons registered in respect of the ownership of any property in the parish), together form "the register of the parochial electors of the parish." No person whose name is not in that register will be entitled to attend a parish meeting or vote as a parochial elector, and any person whose name is in that register will be entitled to attend a parish meeting and vote as a parochial elector, unless prohibited from voting by the Local Government Act, 1894, or any other Act of Parliament (e.g. for bribery). The lists and register of electors in any parish should be framed in parts for wards of urban districts and parishes so that they may be conveniently used as lists for polling at an election for any such ward. A person, if duly qualified, may be registered in more than one register of parochial electors (L. G. Act, 1894, s. 44).

Six parochial electors may at any time convene a parish meeting (s. 45 (3)). Each parochial elector may at any parish meeting, or at any poll consequent thereon, give one vote on any question, or, in the case of an election, he may vote for each of any number of persons not exceeding the number to be elected. The voting at a poll is by ballot

(s. 2). A poll may be demanded by one parochial elector in certain cases (Sched. I., Part I. r. 7; and see PARISH MEETING and PARISH COUNCIL). By the Local Government Act, 1894, the parochial electors were empowered to elect parish and district councillors, guardians, and members of the metropolitan vestries and district boards.

The London Government Act, 1899, substituted the metropolitan borough councils for the vestries and district boards, and the London County Council Electors Qualification Act, 1900, assimilated the county council and borough council franchise in London, by providing that a parochial elector should be entitled to vote at the election of a county councillor for the administrative county of London in the same manner as a county elector, and subject to the same provisions.

Parochial and district councillors, guardians, and London county and borough councillors, are therefore now elected by "parochial electors."

The Local Government Act, 1894, s. 75 (2), contains the following provision:-"In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression parochial elector,' when used with reference to a parish in an urban district, or in the county of London or any county borough, means any person who would be a parochial elector of the parish, if it were a rural parish." The electors under the Borough Funds Act, 1903, are the parochial electors enrolled in the register in force for the parishes in a borough or urban district, including a metropolitan borough.

In a rural parish where there is no suitable public room provided, the parochial electors may use, free of charge, at reasonable times after notice, any suitable room in the schoolhouse of a public elementary school receiving a grant out of moneys provided by Parliament for (inter alia) the purpose of the parish meeting, or any meeting of the parish council, or the candidature of any person for the district council or the parish council. The right is subject to certain restrictions, so that there may be no interference with the use of the schoolhouse for other purposes, and in order to prevent any expense being imposed upon the persons having control of the room, or any loss being occasioned by damage to the room or its furniture (s. 4).

Parochial Relief.-See POOR LAW.

Parol. This term signifies both "oral" and "by writing not under seal."

Parol Agreements.-See CONTRACT; SPECIFIC PERFORM

ANCE.

Parol Arrest.-See ARREST, Vol. I. p. 513.

Parol Evidence.-See EVIDENCE; TRIAL; WITNESS.

Parole.-Parole, in the usages of war, is the pledge on honour given by prisoners, that on release they will observe certain conditions, usually not to serve against the capturing Government or its allies. during the war then existing. Article X. of the Regulations annexed to The Hague Convention of 1899 provides that prisoners of war may be set at liberty on parole, if the laws of their country authorise it, and in such a case they are bound, on their personal honour, to fulfil their engagements as regards both their own and the hostile Government. It

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