period not exceeding four months at any one time, he has, in the performance of any duty arising from or incidental to any office, service, or employment held or undertaken by him, been absent from his dwelling-house or lodgings, or not resided in or within the required distance from such county or borough: 54 & 55 Vict. c. 11, s. 2.

A.-The Ten Pounds Occupation Qualification.

(2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 45, s. 27; 48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, s. 5; 48 & 49 Vict. c. 15; cited in C. E. A., 1888, Schedule.)

(i.) A person entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector in respect of a ten pounds occupation qualification—

(a) Must during the whole twelve months immediately preceding the 15th day of July (p) have been an occupier as owner or tenant of some land or tenement in the parish of the clear yearly value of not less than ten pounds; and

(b) Must have resided in or within seven (2) miles of the said parliamentary borough during six months immediately preceding the 15th day of July; and

(c) Such person or someone else must, during the said twelve months, have been rated to all poor rates made in respect of such land or tenement; and

(d) All sums due in respect of the said land or tenement on account of any poor rate made and allowed during the twelve months immediately preceding the 5th day of January next before the registration (r), or on account of any assessed taxes due before the said 5th day of January, must have been paid on or before the 20th day of July.

(ii.) If two or more persons jointly are such occupiers as above mentioned, and the value of the land or tenement is such as to give ten pounds or more for each occupier, each of such occupiers is entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector (s).

(iii.) If a person has occupied in the said parliamentary borough different lands or tenements of the requisite value in immediate succession during the said twelve months, he is entitled in respect of the occupation thereof to be registered as an elector in the parish in which the last occupied land or tenement is situate (t).

The only assessed tax now remaining is the inhabited house duty,

(p) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 7.

(9) For a parish in the City of London it is twenty-five miles: 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102, s. 46. (s) 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 45, s. 29; 48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, s. 5. (t) 48 & 49 Vict. c. 23, s. 10.

(r) 11 & 12 Vict. c. 90.

which replaced the window tax, and is chargeable under 14 & 15 Vict. c. 36. It is now payable on 1st January annually: 43 & 44 Vict. There is nothing in any Act enabling overseers to be non-payment of this tax, and this provision is in practice The Income Tax Act, 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c. 35), which income-tax, Schedule A. (property tax), provides by sect. 184 that non-payment of that tax shall not be a disqualification to a voter.

c. 19, s. 82 (1). informed of the a dead letter. re-imposed the

Note that only six months' residence is required: cf. the twelve months' inhabitant occupancy under the household qualification, infra.

B.-The Household Qualification.

(30 & 31 Vict. c. 102, s. 3.)

(i.) A person entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector in respect of a household qualification

(a) Must on the 15th day of July (u) in any year be and for the whole of the twelve months immediately preceding that day (except the time (if any) not exceeding four months in the whole during which he has permitted the house to be occupied as a furnished house by some other person (x)), have been an inhabitant occupier of some dwelling-house in the parish or of some part of a house separately occupied as a dwelling (y); and (b) Such person or someone else (z) must during those twelve months have been rated to all poor rates made in respect of the said dwelling-house; and

(c) All sums due in respect of the said dwelling-house on account of any poor rate made and allowed during the twelve months immediately preceding the 5th day of January must have been paid on or before the 20th day of July.

(ii.) If two or more persons are joint occupiers of a dwelling-house, no one of them is entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector in respect of a household qualification in respect thereof, though, if the value is sufficient, one or more of them may be so entitled under the 107. occupation qualification (a).

(iii.) If a person has occupied different dwelling-houses in the said parliamentary borough in immediate succession during the said twelve months, he is entitled in respect of the occupation thereof to be

(u) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 7.

(y) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 5.

(x) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 3, s. 2.

(*) 32 & 33 Vict. c. 41, s. 19; 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 14. (a) Reg. Order, 1895, Sched. 3, Part I., para. 6 (ii).

registered as a parliamentary elector in the parish in which the last occupied dwelling-house is situate.

In the case of a borough divided into electoral divisions, occupation in any division has the same effect as if all the premises occupied were in the same division as the premises occupied at the end of the qualifying year: 48 & 49 Vict. c. 23, s. 10.

It will be noticed that with regard to this franchise there is no qualification as to annual value; but the occupation required is practically equivalent to residence, and must be exclusive. Continuous residence is not necessary, but-except as to the four months provided for in the case of sub-letting-there must be (a) the legal right to reside at any time during the qualifying period; (b) the possession of a sleeping apartment; (c) if absent, the right to return; or, at any rate, no manifestation of a contrary intention. A dwellinghouse may be part of a house, such as a flat, or a set of rooms. The effect of the various Rating Acts is that a "householder" who occupies a portion of a dwelling-house, which portion is rateable, whether he is rated or not, and whether he pays rates or not (assuming that they are paid by somebody), is entitled to be registered: Bradley v. Baylis, 8 Q. B. D. at p. 217.

There is no reference to the payment of assessed taxes in respect of the household qualification.

No joint occupier is entitled to be registered in respect of the household qualification: 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102, s. 3; 48 Vict. c. 3, s. 2. But this does not apply to the case of a householder who lets out part of his house to a lodger, if such lodger is in no way jointly liable for rent or rates: Brewer v. McGowen, L. R. 5 C. P. 239; 39 L. J. C. P. 30.

DIVISION II.

(Contains the names of men voters who are entitled to vote at parliamentary, borough council (b), and guardians' elections, but NOT at county council elections.)

C.-The Service Franchise.

(48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, s. 3.)

By the R. P. A., 1884, s. 3, where a man himself inhabits a dwelling-house by virtue of any office, service, or employment, and

(b) Only in London, not in provincial boroughs. (McLean v. Pritchard, 20 Q. B. D. 285.)

the dwelling-house is not inhabited by any person under whom such man serves in such office, service, or employment, he is considered to be an inhabitant occupier of that dwelling-house as a tenant.

This franchise is accordingly an extension of the household qualification to such persons, and the qualifications in other respects are the same as under "B."

Service voters are entitled to claim for successive occupation either to ordinary occupation or to premises occupied by reason of their service; i.e., all or any of the occupations may be by virtue of service; "the fact of successive occupancy of two dwelling-houses being established, the different character of the occupancy is immaterial for the purpose of the parliamentary franchise": Nicholson v. Yeoman (1889), 24 Q. B. D. 145. See also Torish v. Clark (Monaghan's Case) (1885), 18 L. R. Ir. 285.

The Electoral Disabilities Removal Act, 1891, applies, p. 26, ante.

D.-The Lodger Franchise.

(30 & 31 Vict. c. 102, s. 4.)

Although the Lodger List is not printed as part of Division II., but separately, the voting power of the franchise is the same as the Service, and properly falls in here:

:

(i.) A person entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector in respect of a lodger qualification—

(a) Must claim to be registered; and

(b) Must have occupied separately as a lodger for the whole twelve months immediately preceding the 15th day of July (c) his lodgings, being part of one and the same dwelling-house in the parish, and being of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of ten pounds or upwards; and

(c) Must have resided in such lodgings during the said twelve months.

(ii.) If two or more persons are joint lodgers, and the value of the lodgings is such as to give ten pounds or more for each lodger, two of such persons, but no more, are entitled to be registered as parliamentary electors.

(iii.) If a person has occupied different lodgings of the requisite value in the same house, in immediate succession, he is entitled to be

(c) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 7.

registered as a parliamentary elector in respect of the occupation thereof.

The lodger franchise has, since 1884, been uniform in counties and boroughs. Note that a new element is introduced: the lodger must make a claim to be registered as a lodger, being part of the qualification: Hersant v. Halse (1886), 18 Q. B. D. 412. It is not possible to discuss what is a lodger here; but the leading case of Bradley v. Baylis (d) may be referred to. A son may be a lodger in his parents' house Brown v. Martins, 13 Sc. Sess. Ca. 4th Series, 159. Successive occupation can only occur in the same house (that is, a change of rooms does not disqualify if there be no break in the succession); but in any such case there must be a claim as a new lodger.

The Electoral Disabilities Removal Act, 1891, applies, p. 26, ante.

DIVISION III.

(Contains the names of men and women voters who are entitled to vote at county council, borough council, and guardians' elections, but NOT at parliamentary elections.)

The L. G. A., 1888, s. 2 (4), provides that the electors of county councillors shall be (a) in the provincial boroughs, the burgesses enrolled under the M. C. A., 1882, and the Acts amending the same (i.e., the County Electors Act, 1888), namely (i) the burgesses, and (ii) 10. occupation electors under the C. E. A., 1888; and (b) elsewhere (that is, in administrative counties) the persons registered as county electors under the C. E. A., 1888, namely (i) persons possessing a burgess qualification as defined by the M. C. A., 1882, s. 9, and (ii) 107. occupation electors as defined by the schedule to that Act. The effect of sect. 2 (4), L. G. A., 1888, and sect. 2, C. E. A., 1888, read together, is that the qualifications of the county electors in boroughs and counties are practically identical, being governed by sect. 9, M. C. A., 1882.

General Qualifications.

The general qualifications are the same as those shown at p. 26, ante, and need not be repeated here; but there must be added the following:-Unmarried women (spinsters, widows and divorcées) are entitled to be enrolled as burgesses: M. C. A., s. 63; R. v. Harrald (1872), 7 Q. B. 361; 41 L. J. Q. B. 173. They are accord

1882,

(d) (1881) 8 Q. B. D. 210, noted p. 29, ante.