a metropolitan borough council. The law is for the most part contained in sect. 46 of the L. G. A., 1894, which is as follows:

Local Government Act, 1894, s. 46.-(1.) A person shall be disqualified for being elected or being a member or chairman of a council of a parish or of a district other than a borough or of a board of guardians if he—

(a) is an infant or an alien (h); or

(b) has within twelve months before his election, or since his election, received union or parochial relief (i); or

(c) has, within five years before his election or since his election, been convicted either on indictment or summarily of any crime (k), and sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour without the option of a fine, or to any greater punishment, and has not received a free pardon, or has, within or during the time aforesaid, been adjudged bankrupt (1), or made a composition or arrangement with his creditors; or

(d) holds any paid office (m) under the parish council or district council or board of guardians, as the case may be; or

(e) is concerned in any bargain or contract entered into with the

council or board, or participates in the profit of any such bargain or contract or of any work done under the authority of the council or board (n).

(2.) Provided that a person shall not be disqualified for being elected or being a member or chairman of any such council or board by reason of being interested(a) in the sale or lease of any

lands or in any loan of money to the

(h) See Naturalization Act, 1870, s. 7; and Isaacson v. Durrant (1886), 17 Q. B. D. 54.

(i) Generally as to what is parochial relief, see R. v. Ireland, L. R. 3 Q. B. 130; Trotter v. Trevor, 32 L. J. C. P. 59; Mashiter v. Dunn, 6 C. B. 30; Honeybourne v. Hambridge, 18 Q. B. D. 418; Magarvill v. Whitehaven Overseers, 16 Q. B. D. 242. (k) See Conybeare v. London School Board (1891), 60 L. J. Q. B. 44.

(7) By sub-sect. 4, p. 43, post, disqualification ceases when the adjudication is annulled, or when discharged with certificate that bankruptcy was caused by "misfortune without misconduct." For the meaning of this term, see In re Lord Colin Campbell (1888), 20 Q. B. D. 816; and In re Burgess (1887), 4 Morrell, 186. These provisions are in the nature of penal enactments, and are to be strictly construed. So a private composition not by deed, a mere assignment for benefit of creditors, and a deed of arrangement under Act of 1887, not under seal, do not come within the section. (Aslatt v. Corporation of Southampton, 16 Ch. D. 143; R. v. Cooban, 18 Q. B. D. 269; Hardwick v. Brown, L. R. 8 C. P. 406.)

(m) This does not prevent an officer under one authority being a member of another. (n) Provisions of this kind are intended to prevent members of boards which may have occasion to enter into contracts from being exposed to temptation, or even to the semblance of temptation: per Lord Esher, in Nutton v. Wilson, 22 Q. B. D. 744. A contract is not the less a contract because it is small in amount: Lewis v. Carr, 1 Ex. D. 484; Nicholson v. Fields, 7 H. & N. 810.

(Local Government Act, 1894.)

council or board, or in any contract with the council for the supply from land, of which he is owner or occupier, of stone, gravel, or other materials for making or repairing highways or bridges, or in the transport of materials for the repair of roads or bridges in his own immediate neighbourhood; or

(b) in any newspaper in which any advertisement relating to the affairs of the council or board is inserted; or

(c) in any contract with the council or board as a shareholder in any joint stock company; but he shall not vote at any meeting of the council or board on any question in which such company aro interested, except that in the case of a water company or other company established for the carrying on of works of a like public nature, this prohibition may be dispensed with by the county council.

(3.) Where a person who is a parish councillor, or is a candidate for election as a parish councillor, is concerned in any such bargain or contract, or participates in any such profit, as would disqualify him for being a parish councillor, the disqualification may be removed by the county council if they are of opinion that such removal will be beneficial to the parish.

(4.) Where a person is disqualified by being adjudged bankrupt or making a composition or arrangement with his creditors, the disqualification shall cease, in case of bankruptcy, when the adjudication is annulled, or when he obtains his discharge with a certificate that his bankruptcy was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part, and, in case of composition or arrangement, on payment of his debts in full.

(5.) A person disqualified for being a guardian shall also be disqualified for being a rural district councillor.

(6.) If a member of a council of a parish, or of a district other than a borough, or of a board of guardians, is absent from meetings of the council or board for more than six months consecutively, except in case of illness or for some reason approved by the council or board, his office shall on the expiration of those months become vacant.

(7.) Where a member of a council or board of guardians becomes disqualified for holding office, or vacates his seat for absence, the council or board shall forthwith declare the office to be vacant, and signify the same by notice signed by three members and countersigned by the clerk of the council or board, and notified in such manner as the council or board direct, and the office shall thereupon become vacant.

(Local Government Act, 1894.)

(8.) If any person acts when disqualified, or votes when prohibited under this section, he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(9.) This section shall apply in the case of any authority whose members are elected in accordance with this Act in like manner as if that authority were a district council, and in the case of London auditors as if they were members of a district council (o).

2-(6.) The quorum of the borough council shall be one-third of the whole number of the council.

Quorum. The quorum of a vestry of eighteen members was five; of twenty-four members, seven; of thirty-six members or upwards, nine. Thus a vestry of 120 members needed only a quorum of less than onethirteenth. The quorum of a district board was seven: sects. (repealed) 28 and 38, M. M. A., 1855. The quorum of the London County Council is one-fourth of the whole number of the council: sect. 75 (15), L. G. A., 1888, and rule 8 of Second Schedule to L. C. C. (General Powers) Act, 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. ccxxi). The quorum of a municipal borough under M. C. A., 1882, is one-third (rule 10 of Second Schedule to the 1882 Act); as also of a parish council (rule 7 of Part II. of First Schedule, L. G. A., 1894); and of a district council (rule 2, Sched. I., P. H. A., 1875, applied by sect. 59 (1), L. G. A., 1894); and of a board of guardians (ibid.).

As to quorum of assessment committee, see p. 118, post; and of other committees, see p. 86, post.

(0) A further disqualification is that of having been convicted, or reported by an election court within seven years last past, to have been guilty of corrupt practices: M. E. (C. P.) A., 1884, s. 2 (2). This disqualification is unlimited as to the area over which it extends. Under sect. 3 (1) of the Act of 1884 a candidate reported guilty of corrupt practice may be made for ever incapable of holding office in the parish in respect of which the election took place. As to disqualification by agents, see sects. 3 (2) and 36. See also rules 24 and 25 of V. A. E. O., 1898. Another disqualification is that of having been convicted, or reported by an election court to have been guilty of illegal practices. As to period of incapability, see sects. 7, 8 (2), 18, 34, and 36 of the Act of 1884. Sections 19 and 20 of the Act of 1884 make provision for the exoneration of candidates in certain cases of corrupt and illegal practices by agents, and gives power to the High Court and election court to except an innocent act (omission from inadvertence, accidental miscalculation, &c.) from being what would otherwise be an illegal practice under the

statute.

As to the number of councillors required to be present for the revocation or alteration of previous resolutions, see sect. 57, M. M. A., 1855, and notes, p. 25, ante.

2-(7.) The mayor and an alderman of a metropolitan borough shall be required to accept office within the same period as is allowed in the case of a councillor.

Acceptance of Office. This provision is an exception to the application of the L. G. A., 1888, to the mayor and aldermen of a metropolitan borough. Under the L. G. A., 1888, incorporating and amending the provisions of the M. C. A., 1882, and the County Councils Elections Act, 1891, the period is three months. Under the Vestrymen and Auditors (London) Election Order, 1898 (Appendix, p. 217, post), which, as is shown in the notes, p. 23, ante, will apply to borough councillors subject to any further order that may be made by the L. G. B., the period is one month.

2-(8.) The Local Government Board may, on request made by a borough council in pursuance of a resolution of the council passed by a majority of two-thirds of the members present and voting at a meeting of the council duly convened for the purpose, provided that such majority is not less than the majority of the whole council, make an order directing that the whole of the councillors shall retire together on the ordinary day of election in every third year, and may on like request rescind any such order.

Simultaneous Triennial Retirement.-Cf. sect. 20 of L. G. A., 1894, applied to London by sect. 30. A provision in similar terms is contained in sect. 23 (6), L. G. A., 1894, with respect to urban district councils not being boroughs. Simultaneous retirement was already in operation in the cases of two London boards of guardians at the passing of the Act, under orders of the L. G. B. (sub-sect. (6) (b) of sect. 20 of Act), and the remaining twenty-eight boards applied for L. C. C. Orders under the sub-section quoted, thus bringing about simultaneous retirement triennially throughout the county see L. C. C. Ann. Rep., 1896, p. 59. As to "present and voting," see note, p. 25, ante.

Section 3.

DATE.

3.-Date for elections of councillors.]—(1.) The first elections of all borough councillors under this Act shall be held on the first day of November one thousand nine hundred, or on such later day, as soon as practicable thereafter, as may be fixed by the Lord President of the Council, who shall also fix a corresponding date for the first elections of mayor and aldermen.

First Elections.-See sect. 27 (1), p. 175, post, which provides that an Order in Council shall fix such days, years and times for the retirement of first aldermen and councillors, and give such directions as to the first meetings of the councils, and make such other temporary modifications of the provisions of the Act as may appear to be necessary or proper for making those provisions applicable in the case of the first constitution of a borough council.

See also sect. 33 (1), defining the "appointed day" as the day on which the members of the borough councils first elected under this Act come into office, or such other day (within a wide limit) as the Lord President may appoint, either generally or particularly.

Note that under sect. 16 (1) (h) a scheme may make provision for carrying this Act into effect or any Order in Council made thereunder; and may moreover contain any incidental, consequential, or supplemental provisions which may appear to be necessary or proper for the purposes of the scheme.

By sect. 27 (4) members of elective vestries and district boards in office at the passing of the Act are continued in office until the 1st November or other date fixed by the Lord President: see p. 178, post.

As to the printing of the register for the first elections, see sect. 27 (3), p. 176, post.

A corresponding Date.-A corresponding date would be the eighth (or if that day should fall on a Sunday the ninth) day after the day fixed by the Lord President: cf. sub-sects. (2) and (3), infra.