Registration. Where the owner being liable for the rates, omits to pay them, such omission will disqualify the occupier. Non-payment of an illegal rate will not disqualify, even if it is not appealed against.' VI. He must, on before the 20th July, when the qualification is a £10 occupation qualification, have paid the assessed taxes that accrued on or before the preceding 5th of January. VII. He must not be an alien. VIII. He must not, during the twelve months constituting the qualifying period, have received union or parochial relief. Relief to a person's children or to any one he is bound to support, is considered relief to him." Relief to a man's parents does not disqualify.3 Medical or surgical assistance or medicine received at the expense of a poor rate, will not disqualify. Nor will any person be disqualified merely because he has been removed by Order of Justices to a hospital at the cost of any local authority. Nor will a person be disqualified because his child has been admitted to and taught in any public or endowed school.1 IX. He must not be disqualified by any Act of Parliament, e.g., owing to his having been guilty of offences against election law, &c. The registration of county electors and burgesses is accomplished simultaneously with the registration of parliamentary voters, and with certain modifications in the same manner. The principal statutes dealing with the matter are— The Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843 (6 Vict. c. 18). The Representation of the People Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 102). The Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 26). The Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50). The County Electors Act, 1888, as amended by sec. 76 of the Local Government Act, 1888. The above Acts, together with any other Acts dealing with the matter, are called the Registration of Electors Acts, 1843 to 1888. Many of the provisions of the earlier enactments, which applied originally only to parliamentary registration, have been extended to the registration of county electors and burgesses. 1 R. v. Mayor of New Windsor, 7 Q. B., 908. Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834 (4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76), sec. 56. R. v. Ireland, L. R., 3 Q. B., 130. ✦ Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 46), It may be found convenient here, in order to render the question of registration thoroughly intelligible, to summarise the qualifications that entitle a man to be registered as a parliamentary voter. Parliamentary The following are the qualifications of a parliamentary Qualification of voter for a parliamentary borough :— The £10 occupation qualification This we have already explained; but the property must be in the parlia- Household qualification— i.e., occupation of a dwelling house as inhabitant occupier within the Lodger qualification i.e., occupation of lodgings in the parliamentary borough, subject to Reserved rights - i.e., certain rights existing in certain cases before the Reform Act, 1832 The qualifications of a parliamentary voter for a county. are: I. Ownership qualification. This may be shortly described as a qualification in respect of ownership of land, &c., as distinguished from occupation. Subject to the various conditions, it is conferred by ownership of i. Any freehold of inheritance of land or tenements of the annual value of at least forty shillings. ii. Freehold for life or lives of lands or tenements of an annual value above forty shillings, but below £5, provided that the property is in the bonâ fide occupation of the owner; or was acquired before the passing of the Reform Act, 1832; or was acquired by marriage, marriage settlement, descent, devise, or accession to a benefice or office. iii. Freehold, copyhold, or any other tenure, for life, or lives, or any larger estate, of lands or tenements of a clear yearly value above £5. iv. Leasehold originally created for a term not less than 60 years, and of a yearly value exceeding £5. v. Leasehold of lands or tenements originally created for a term not less than 20 years, and of a yearly value of at least £50. It must be pointed out that where a person occupies property within a parlia. mentary borough, of sufficient value to entitle him to be registered as an occupation voter for that borough, he will not be entitled to be registered as an ownership voter for the county in respect of that property, even although it would otherwise confer the ownership qualification. These qualifications are conferred by numerous Acts of Parliament: for further information, reference must be had to text-books on the subject. N Registration. II. Occupation qualification, namely: Fifty pounds rental qualification— This is merely a temporary provision for certain persons entitled in 1884, and is generally absorbed in the £10 occupation qualification. £10 occupation qualification— This qualification is the same as the £10 occupation qualification for a county elector, except that residence is not required, and the assessed taxes need not have been paid, and that the qualification does not extend to peers and women. Household qualification This is the same as in parliamentary boroughs. Lodgers qualification This is the same as in parliamentary boroughs. No person is qualified as an occupation voter for a county, in respect of property within a parliamentary borough. The registration of electors is carried out in the following way-First, provisional lists of electors are prepared for each parish; the lists are then revised by the Revising Barristers, subject to an appeal in certain cases to the High Court; and, finally, the various necessary rolls of electors are made up and printed. The arrangements for the year 1888 are somewhat special, and will be explained or. p. 204. The account of the process that we shall give will be applicable to future years after the establishment of County Councils. The administrative duties connected with the preparation of the parish lists fall chiefly on the Town Clerks of parliamentary and municipal boroughs, and on the Clerks of the County Councils, and in each parish on the Overseers of the poor. The Board of Guardians of any union which is not wholly comprised in an urban sanitary district, may, with the consent of the Overseers of any parish in their union, for which an Assistant Overseer has not been appointed, annually appoint a Registration Officer to perform the duties of Overseers in respect of the registration of voters for such parish. The same officer may be appointed for more than one parish. The Guardians will pay the officer and charge his remuneration against the poor rates of the parish or parishes for which he is appointed, and if he is appointed for more than one parish, in proportion to the number of voters registered for each parish.1 Instructions to Town Clerks, Cierks of the Peace and Overseers were given in schedules to the Registration Act, 1885, which are, however, now to a great extent superseded by the provisions of the County Electors Act, 1888. Instructions to these officers for the year 1888 have been issued by the Local Government Board, in the form of a circular. Under the Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 1 County Electors Act, 1888, sec. 4. 76, the instructions, precepts and forms may, from time to time, be altered by Order in Council. The account of the process of registration that we shall give will be confined as far as possible to the registration of county electors and burgesses; but we shall mention parliamentary registration incidentally, as far as may be necessary to render our account intelligible. The proceedings are as follows: The Town Clerk of every parliamentary or municipal Precepts sent to borough, on or within seven days before the 15th April,1 sends Overseers. a precept containing the instructions to Overseers in force for the time being modified so as to suit the particular circumstances of the case, and a sufficient number of blank forms for the necessary lists, to the Overseers of every parish within his borough. This precept instructs the Overseers to prepare the following lists of electors and parliamentary voters :— The Occupiers List, The Reserved Rights List, The Old Lodgers List, The Special Non-resident List, and various supplementary lists of claimants, persons objected to, &c. The Clerk of every County Council,2 also on or within seven days before the 15th April,3 sends a precept and blank forms to the Overseers of every parish within the county, including the parishes within the county boroughs. In those parishes which are within a parliamentary or municipal borough this precept is confined to Ownership Voters. In other parishes, the precept directs the preparation of the following lists: Lists of Ownership Voters, The Occupiers List, The Old Lodgers List, The Special Non-resident List, besides lists of claimants, &c., in each case. Where a parish is situated partly within and partly without the boundary of a parliamentary county or borough, or a municipal borough, or an administrative county, each part of such parish is treated as a separate parish. 4 On or before the 18th July, the Town Clerk, or Clerk of the County Council will also send to the Overseers the "corrupt and illegal practices list," if there is such a list.5 4 lb., sec. 9. 5 See post, p. 225. Occupiers list.1 Non-Resident The Overseers prepare, on or before the 31st July, besides the exclusively parliamentary lists, the " Occupiers List," which is a list of persons entitled, in respect of the occupation of property in the parish, to be registered as parliamentary voters, or as county electors or burgesses, or both as parliamentary voters and as county electors or burgesses, as the case may be. The occupiers list is made out in three divisions, the first division containing the names of persons entitled to be registered both as parliamentary voters (in respect of occupation), and as county electors or burgesses; the second division containing the names of persons entitled to be registered as parliamentary voters alone, and the third division. containing the names of persons entitled to be registered as county electors or burgesses but not as parliamentary voters in respect of an occupation qualification. Each division of the occupiers list is usually made out in the alphabetical order of the surnames; but in certain cases a different order may be pursued.3 In any municipal borough, or in any parliamentary borough, co-extensive with, or partly co-extensive with a municipal borough, the Town Council may direct that the different divisions of the list shall be made out in the order of premises in the rate book, or as nearly thererto as will cause the order of houses in streets to be followed. In any other parliamentary borough the Justices of the petty sessional division in which the borough is situated, or if the borough is situated in more than one petty sessional division, then the County Council, may in the same way direct the order of premises to be followed.4 If the parish is partly in one electoral division, ward of a borough, or polling district, and partly in another, the occupiers list must be made out in parts, in order that the final register can be conveniently made up in parts for separate use in the several electoral divisions, wards, or polling districts." The Overseers further, on or before the 31st July, prepare a list of persons qualified in all respects but residence, and who, though resident beyond the seven miles, yet reside within fifteen. 1 Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, sec. 15. 2 County Electors Act, 1888, sec. 4 (1). 3 See also the County Electors Act, 1888, sec. 4. 4 Representation of the People Act, 1867, sec. 34. The Parliamentary Electors Registration Act, 1868, sec. 18. The Ballot Act, 1872, sec. 5. The Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, sec. 21. The Local Government Act, 1888, sec. 3. 5 The Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, sec. 15. Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878, sec. 19. The County Electors Act, 1888, sec. 12. |