Sect. 36 (1). Application of this Act Application of Act to other Elections. 36.-(1.) Subject as hereinafter mentioned, the provisions of this Act and of Part IV. of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, as amended by this Act, shall extend to elections for the offices Vict. c. 50, to mentioned in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act other and Part IV. of 45 & 46 elections. 14 & 15 Vict. c. 105. as if re-enacted herein, and in terms made applicable thereto, and petitions may be presented and tried, and offences prosecuted and punished, and incapacities incurred in reference to each such election accordingly. Provided that in the application of the said provisions to any such election : (a.) The area, officer, and rate mentioned opposite to the office in the second, third and fourth columns of the said schedule, shall be deemed to be substituted for the borough or ward, town clerk, and borough fund or rate respectively. (b.) The expression "corporate office" in the said provisions shall mean an office mentioned in the said schedule, and in relation to the election of a guardian of a union includes any such office in the union, and "a municipal election" shall mean an election to such office, and the expressions" municipal election court," "municipal election list," and "municipal election petition" shall be construed accordingly. (c.) No corrupt and illegal practices list shall be made for any such election. (d.) Vacancies created by the decision of an election court shall be filled by a new election. (e.) A petition relating to the election of a guardian of the union may be tried at any place within the union. (f.) Nothing in the said 'provisions shall render it unlawful to hold a meeting for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of a candidate to any office mentioned in the said schedule on any licensed or other premises not situate in an urban sanitary district or in the metropolis ; (g.) Where the poll at any election to an office in the said schedule is taken by means of voting papers, such of the said provisions as relate to personation, polling agents, disclosure of votes and conveyance of voters, shall not apply; but any offence in relation to voting papers or to personation or to voting at such election, which is punishable on summary conviction (that is to say), the offences mentioned in section three of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1851, and in rule sixty-nine of Schedule Two to the Public Health Act, 1875, shall, Sect. 36 (1). (2.) The judges for the time being on the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions, or any two of those judges, may annually appoint as many barristers, not exceeding five, as they may think necessary to be commissioners for the trial of election petitions under Part Four of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and this Act, and shall from time to time assign the petitions (whether relating to a municipal election or to any other election. to which this Act extends) to be tried by each commissioner. This section has no application to elections of county councillors, with the exception of sub-s. (2), which is substituted for a repealed provision in s. 92 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, ante. Clause (g) is not expressly repealed, but since the passing of the Local Government Act, 1894, it has no longer any application, as no election to an office now takes place by means of voting papers. Clause (h) of sub-s. (1), which related to the powers of the Local Government Board to determine questions as to the right of a person to act as guardian, was repealed by the Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) s. 89. visions as to 37. The provisions of this Act, which prohibit the payment of Exemption any sum, and the incurring of any expense by or on behalf of from proa candidate at an election, on account of, or in respect of, the maximum conduct or management of the election, and those which relate to expenses. the time for sending in and paying claims, and those which relate to the maximum amount of election expenses, or the return or declaration respecting election expenses, shall not apply to any of the elections mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act. This section does not apply to elections of county councillors. Repeal. 38. The Acts specified in the Second Schedule to this Act are Repeal of hereby repealed as from the commencement of this Act to the Acts. extent in the third column of that schedule mentioned, but such repeal shall not affect anything duly done or suffered, or any right acquired or accrued, or any incapacity incurred, before the commencement of this Act; and any person subject to any incapacity under any enactment hereby repealed, or under any enactment for which such repealed enactment was substituted, shall continue subject thereto, and this Act shall apply to him as if he had become so subject in pursuance of the provisions of this Act. Sect. 39. Commencement of Act. Act not to extend to Scotland or 39. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four, which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act. Extent of Act. 40. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. 41. This Act shall continue in force to the end of the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six, and no longer. This Act has been continued from time to time, and is now in force until December 31st, 1898, by virtue of the Expiring Laws Continuance Act, 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c. 54). A description or citation of a portion of an Act is inclusive of the words, section, or other part first and last mentioned, or otherwise referred to as forming the beginning or as forming the end of the portion comprised in the description or citation. As in England. THIRD SCHEDULE. PART I. Enactments defining Corrupt Practices-Enactments defining the Offence · of Bribery. The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 102), ss. 2 and 3. Schedule 3. 2. The following persons shall be deemed guilty of bribery, and shall be Bribery punishable accordingly ;defined. (1.) Every person who shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any. (3.) Every person who shall directly, or indirectly, by himself, or by any (4.) Every person who shall, upon or in consequence of any such gift, loan, offer, promise, procurement, or agreement, procure, or engage, (5.) Every person who shall advance or pay, or cause to be paid, any 3. The following persons shall also be deemed guilty of bribery, and shall be punishable accordingly : (1.) Every voter who shall, before or during any election, directly or Bribery indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, receive, further Schedule 3. Corrupt payment of rates to be punish able as bribery. Personation defined. person, for voting or agreeing to vote, or from refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting at any election. (2.) Every person who shall, after any election, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, receive any money or valuable consideration on account of any person having voted or refrained from voting, or having induced any other person to vote or refrain from voting at any election. The Representation of the People Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 102), s. 49. 49. Any person, either directly or indirectly, corruptly paying any rate on behalf of any ratepayer for the purpose of enabling him to be registered as a voter, thereby to influence his vote at the future election, and any candidate or other person, either directly or indirectly, paying any rate on behalf of any voter for the purpose of inducing him to vote or refrain from voting, shall be guilty of bribery, and be punishable accordingly; and any person on whose behalf and with whose privity any such payment as in this section is mentioned is made, shall also be guilty of bribery, and punishable accordingly. It is beyond the scope of the present work to enter into a detailed discussion of the law relating to bribery and other corrupt practices. For information on this subject the reader is referred to works on the law of election. A few modern decisions may, however, be mentioned. As to corrupt employment, see Harding v. Stokes, 1 M. & W. 354; 2 M. & W. 233; giving money after election, R. v. Thwaites, 1 E. & B. 704; 22 L. J. Q. B. 238. Bribery includes not merely giving, but any promise or agreement to give, money or valuable consideration to a voter to influence his vote. The following acts have been held to come within the definition of this offence: the promise of a dinner (Bodmin case, 1 O'M. & H. 124); the gift of a pair of boots (Tewkesbury case, 3 O'M. & H. 97); distribution of coals (Boston case, 2 O'M. & H. 161); allowing a voter to shoot rabbits (Launceston case, 2 O'M. & H. 129); a promise to remunerate a voter for any loss of time (Simpson v. Yeend, L. R. 4 Q. B. 626 ; 38 L. J. Q. B. 313; 33 J.P. 677); a gift of money made under pretence of payment for work done (Penryn case, 1 O'M. & H. 130; Truscott v. Bevan, 44 L. T. (N.s) 64). A person guilty of several acts of bribery is liable to a penalty for each such act (Milnes v. Bale, L. R. 10 C. P. 591). A single case of bribery avoids an election (Norwich case, 54 L. T. (N.S.) 625). "In order to make the payment of a rate for the purpose of enabling voters to be registered affect the election, you must prove that it was done corruptly; that it was done thereby to influence their votes, which in my judgment means to induce them to vote for the person on whose behalf the payment was made." Per MARTIN, B., Cheltenham Election, 1 O'M. & H. 63. In order to make a third person responsible for the payment of a rate, it must be proved that he gave authority to the person to do the act. The common law rules of agency, therefore, and not those of election law, apply to this case. Wigan Election, 1 O'M. & H. 190. To offer a voter his travelling expenses if he will come and vote for a particular candidate is bribery. Packard v. Collings, 54 L. T. (N.S.) 619. Enactment defining the Offence of Personation. The Ballot Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 33), s. 24. 24. A person shall, for all purposes of the laws relating to parliamentary and municipal elections, be deemed to be guilty of the offence of personation who, at an election for a county or borough, or at a municipal election, applies for a ballot paper in the name of some other person, whether that name be that of a person living or dead, or of a fictitious person, or who, having voted once at any such election, applies at the same election for a ballot paper in his own name. See the notes to this section, ante, p. 214. |