2 Will. 4, c. 45, 8. 33. Reserved Rights. Provision as to persons now entitled to vote for New Shore ham, Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford in respect of freeholds. Every person now having a right.] The "now" is the 7th of June, 1832, the date of the passing of the Act, so that as the persons whose rights are saved must have been at least twenty-one years of age then, very few would be living now (1885). The said Schedule A.]; Schedule A. (p. 249), contained the boroughs which, by virtue of this Act, ceased to return members. Any law now in force.] See as to potwallers, &c., 26 Geo. 3, c. 100, p. 9, ante, The last proviso of this section is repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1874, as having been rendered unnecessary by s. 78 of the Act of 1843, post. The qualification under this section must be retained continuously, or it is lost: Jeffrey v. Kitchener, 7 M. & G. 99; but it is not lost by mere nonpayment of rates: Hicks v. Field, 4 C. B. 63. Shall have resided.] See ss. 31 and 32, and notes, supra. No qualification by occupation as owner or tenant being expressly required by this section, it has been held that any actual residence is sufficient, and that a man who had for two months lived with his wife and child in a room in a cottage allotted to the wife's mother by the trustees of a charity, the rules of which prohibited the inmates from taking in strangers, did not break his residence: Beal v. Ford, 3 C. P. D. 73; 47 L. J. C. P. 56; 37 L. T. 408; 2 H. & C. 374. 34. And be it enacted, That every person now having a right to vote for the borough of New Shoreham, or of Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford respectively, in respect of any freehold, wheresoever the same may be situate, shall retain such right of voting, subject always to the same provisions as are hereinbefore mentioned with regard to persons whose right of voting for any borough is saved and reserved by this Act, save and except that such persons now having a right to vote for the borough of New Shoreham, or of Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford respectively, shall not be registered in any year unless they shall have resided for six calendar months next previous to the last day of July in such year within the borough of New Shoreham, or of Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford respectively, as defined by this Act, or within seven statute miles of such respective borough or of any part thereof; and that for the purpose of the registration hereinafter required all persons now having a right to vote for the borough of New Shoreham in respect of any freeholds which may be situate in the borough of Horsham, or for the borough of Cricklade in respect of any freeholds which may be situate in the borough of Malmsbury, as such boroughs of Horsham or Malmsbury may respectively be defined by the Act to be passed for that purpose as herein before mentioned, shall be inserted in the list of voters hereinafter directed to be made by the overseers of that parish or township within the borough of New Shoreham or the borough of Cricklade respectively, as defined by this Act, which shall be next adjoining to the parish or township in which such freeholds shall respectively be situate; and if the parish or township in which any such freeholds shall be situate shall adjoin two or more parishes or townships within either of the said boroughs of New Shoreham or Cricklade, the persons so having a right to vote in respect of such freeholds shall be ss. 35, 36. inserted in the list of voters to be made by the overseers of the 2 Will. 4, c. 45, least populous of such adjoining parishes or townships, according to the last census for the time being. 35. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein before contained no person shall be entitled to vote in the election of a member or members to serve in any future Parliament for any city or borough (other than a city or town being a county of itself, in the election for which freeholders or burgage tenants have a right to vote as herein before mentioned), in respect of any estate or interest in any burgage tenement or freehold which shall have been acquired by such person since the first day of March one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, unless the same shall have come to or been acquired by such person, since that day, and previously to the passing of this Act, by descent, succession, marriage, marriage settlement, devise, or promotion to any benefice in a church, or by promotion to any office. * 36. No shall be entitled to be registered in any year person as a voter in the election of a member or members to serve in any future Parliament for any city or borough who shall within twelve calendar months next previous to the last day of July in such year have received parochial relief or other alms which by the law of Parliament now disqualify from voting in the election of members to serve in Parliament. This section is extended to counties by s. 40 of the Act of 1867, p. 43, post. For statutory obligation on overseers to omit from lists persons disqualified by relief, see s. 40 of the Act of 1867, and for directions in precept accordingly, see Registration Act, 1885, Sched. 3, pars. 16 and 29, p. 213 (repeating similar pars. 16 and 31 as to counties in Sched. 2, p. 183), and for power of any person registered as a voter to require information as to such persons, see s. 16 of that Act, p. 175. For supply of list of such persons by relieving officer to overseers in parliamentary boroughs, see s. 12 of Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, and for penalty on overseers inserting names of persons not qualified, see s. 51 of Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843, p. 101. The revising barrister has no power to expunge the names under s. 28, subs. 7 of that Act: Hayward v. Scott, 5 C. P. D. 231; and cannot expunge them unless they have been objected to. Relief by vaccination (30 & 31 Vict. c. 84, s. 26, p. 34), or from School Board fees (39 & 40 Vict. c. 79, s. 10, p. 54), or in the metropolis by admission into a hospital on the ground of infectious disease (46 & 47 Vict. c. 35, s. 7, p. 57) is no disqualification. If persons disqualified by relief are once put on the register, their votes cannot be struck off on a scrutiny: Stowe v. Jolliffe, L. R. 9 C. P. 734, and p. 436, post. Last day of July.] This is altered to 15th day of July by s. 7 of the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act as to boroughs, and as to counties by s. 12 of the Registration Act, 1885. Relief to Family.] It is enacted, though without any express reference to disqualification for franchises, and perhaps with reference to the law of settlement and removal only, by s. 56 of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834, 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, that "All relief given to or on account of the wife, or to or on account of any child or children under the age of sixteen, not being blind or deaf or dumb, Exclusion of certain rights of voting in boroughs acquired since the 1st of March 1831. Disqualification by parochial relief. * Now 15th. 2 Will. 4, c. 45, s. 36. Disqualifica tion by parochial relief. shall be considered as given to the husband of such wife, or to the father of such child or children, as the case may be." Both before and after this enactment both election committees and election judges appear to have acted upon the principle of it, and treated relief to a man's family as disqualifying relief to himself: Heywood, 272, citing The Gloucestershire Case; The Bewdley Case, 1 O'M. & H. 176, per Blackburn, J., The Petersfield Case, 2 O'M. & H. 96, per Mellor, J.; in which cases the wife appears to have acted as agent of the husband to procure the relief. Excuse for Poverty.] Being excused on the ground of poverty under 54 Geo. 3, c. 170, s. 11, from paying a poor rate is no disqualification: Mashiter v. Dunn, 6 C. B. 30; nor is the contribution, by agreement with guardians, towards a father's maintenance: Trotter v. Trevor, 32 L. J. C. P. 59; 13 C. B. (N.S.) 48; K. & G. 531; 7 L. T. 768. Relief to Children born before Marriage.] By s. 57 of 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, it is enacted that "Every man who shall marry a woman having a child or children at the time of such marriage, whether such children be legitimate or illegitimate, shall be liable to maintain such child or children as a part of his own family, and shall be chargeable with all relief, or the cost price thereof, granted to or on account of such child or children until such child or children shall respectively attain the age of sixteen, or until the death of the mother of such child or children; and such child or children shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed a part of such husband's family accordingly." Relief by way of Loan.] By s. 58 of the same Act it is enacted that— "Any relief, or the cost price thereof, which shall be given to or on account of any poor person above the age of twenty-one, or to his wife, or any part of his family under the age of sixteen, and which the said commissioners [the Poor Law Commissioners now replaced by the Local Government Board] shall by any rule, order, or regulation, declare or direct to be given or considered as given by way of loan, and whether any receipt for such relief or engagement to repay the same, or the cost price thereof, or any part thereof, shall have been given or not by the person to or on account of whom the same shall have been so given, shall be considered, and the same is hereby declared to be a loan to such poor person." Relief given by way of loan would seem not to disqualify: see The Oldham Case, 1 O'Malley and Hardcastle, 161. Medical Relief.] Parochial relief by way of medicine has always been considered by the common law of Parliament to disqualify. See The Bewdley Case and The Petersfield Case, supra; and see also The Colchester Case, 1 Peckwell, 508, in which attendance, at the request of the voter, upon a wife lying-in was held to disqualify. But in The Colchester Case, The Cricklade Čase, 2 Luders, 364, and The Cirencester Case, 2 Fraser, 453, it was held that medical relief given in extraordinary cases, as on occasion of accident, in The Colchester Case, and on occasion of small-pox, in The Cricklade Case and The Cirencester Case, did not disqualify. By the Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act, 1885, however (p. 73, post), it is enacted that medical relief shall no longer disqualify. Other Alms.] The alms, to disqualify, need not be parochial or distributed by the overseers or other parochial authorities: Harrison v. Carter, 2 C. P. D. 26; 46 L. J. C. P. 57; 33 L. T. 511; 26 W. R. 182; 2 H. & C. 324. If the fund be one in which the party is legally entitled to participate, he is not disqualified: Smith v. Hale, 15 C. B. (N.S.) 485; 33 L. J. C. P. 59; but if it be a fund distributable by trustees at discretion, and his indigence is his only claim thereto, he is: Harrison v. Carter, supra. It is only disqualification by parochial relief, and not disqualification by the "other alms," that comes within the cognizance of the overseers under the terms of s. 40 of the Act of 1867, and similar enactments referred to above. s. 36. Law of Parliament.] This means the law as laid down by election com- 2 Will. 4, c. 45, mittees prior to 1832. What that law is, it is difficult to discover. The decisions have been so conflicting that it is not easy to extract a principle from them further than this, that voters were not disqualified by the receipt of alms unless they were in a state of complete indigence and dependence, and that they were disqualified if they were in that condition: Harrison v. Carter, per Lord Coleridge, C.J., 5 C. P. D., at p. 36. [37-57. Preparation by overseers of lists of persons entitled to vote. Revision of lists by revising barrister.-Repealed and superseded by the Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843 (p. 74, post). See s. 1 of that Act.] [58. Inquiry at election as to identity of voter.-Repealed by s. 80 of the Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843, and superseded by s. 81, et seq., of that Act.] [59, 60. Persons excluded from the register by the barrister may tender their votes at elections. Tender to be recorded. Correctness of the register to be questionable before a Committee of the House of Commons.-Repealed by Ballot Act, 1872.] [61-74. For such of these sections as are still unrepealed, see Part V., "The Election," post.] All election laws to remain in force except seded by this where super 75. All laws, statutes, and usages now in force respecting the election of members to serve in Parliament for that part of the United Kingdom called England and Wales shall be and remain, and are hereby declared to be and remain, in full force, and shall apply to the election of members to serve in Parliament Act. for all the counties, ridings, parts, and divisions of counties, cities and boroughs, hereby empowered to return members, as fully and effectually as if the same respectively had heretofore returned members, except so far as any of the said laws, statutes, or usages are repealed or altered by this Act, or are inconsistent with the provisions thereof. [76, 77. See Part V., post.] 78. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to or in anywise affect the election of members to serve in Parliament for the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or shall entitle any person to vote in the election of members to serve in Parliament for the city of Oxford or town of Cambridge in respect of the occupation of any chambers or premises in any of the colleges or halls of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. This section is repealed by s. 15 of the Registration Act, 1885. See that section and note, p. 71, post. 79. And be it enacted, That throughout this Act, wherever the words "City or Borough," "Cities or Boroughs," may occur, those words shall be construed to include, except there be something in the subject or context manifestly repugnant to such construction, all towns corporate, cinque ports, districts, or places within England and Wales which shall be entitled after this Act shall have passed to return a member or members to serve in Parliament, other than counties at large, and ridings, Act not to extend to Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Meaning of "City or Borough." 2 Will. 4, c. 45, parts, and divisions of counties at large, and shall also include the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. s. 79. [For the remainder of this section containing definitions of "Returning Officer," "Parish or Township," "Overseers and Justices," see Part V., post. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 71. No magistrate or officer of Metropolitan Police to vote. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 71. Metropolitan Police Act. 3. And be it enacted, That none of the said magistrates, clerks, ushers, door-keepers, or messengers appointed by virtue of this Act shall, during the time that he shall continue in his office respectively, or within six months after he shall have quitted the same, be capable of giving his vote for the election of a member to serve in Parliament for the counties of Middlesex or Surrey, or for the city of London, or for the city and liberty of Westminster, the borough of the Tower Hamlets, the borough of Finsbury, the borough of Mary-le-bone, in the county of Middlesex, or for the borough of Southwark or the borough of Lambeth in the county of Surrey, or the borough of Greenwich in the county of Kent respectively; nor shall he by word, message, writing, or in any other manner endeavour to persuade any elector to give or to dissuade any elector from giving his vote for the choice of any person to be a member to serve in Parliament for any such county, city, or borough; and every such magistrate, clerk, usher, door-keeper, or messenger offending therein shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, one moiety thereof to the informer, and the other moiety thereof to the use of the poor of the parish or place where such offence shall be committed, to be recovered by any person that shall sue for the same in any of her Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster within the space of one year after such offence committed: Provided nevertheless, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to subject any such magistrate, clerk, usher, door-keeper, or messenger to any penalty for any act done by him at or concerning any of the said elections in the discharge of his duty. This section, but this section only, is repealed by 37 & 38 Vict. c. 22 (p. 54, post), but the similar and more extensive 10 Geo. 4, c. 44, s. 18 (p. 12, ante), remains unrepealed, as also does 2 & 3 Vict. c. xciv., s. 7, relating to the city of London Police. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93. County constables disqualified from voting. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 93. An Act for the establishment of County 9. And be it enacted, That no chief constable or other constable appointed by virtue of this Act shall, during the time he shall continue to be such constable, or within six calendar months after he shall have ceased to be such constable, be capable of giving his vote for the election of a member to serve in Parliament |