containing an account of all the funds, properties, and revenues in their administration, and of all their transactions in relation to such funds, properties, and revenues since they came into office; which amount shall be brought down as nearly as may be to the said fifteenth day of October, and shall be kept in the town clerk's or treasurer's office, for the inspection of any of the registered electors, from the said fifteenth day of October down till the time of the election; and a full and distinct abstract of the said account, with a balance sheet, containing all necessary particulars, shall be printed and published by the said magistrates on or before the twentieth day of the said month of October.

XXXIII. No councillor or magistrate elected and accepting under the provisions of this act, shall incur by such election or acceptance any other responsibility for the debts of the burgh, or the acts of his predecessors in office, than might have attached to him as a burgess or inhabitant, independently of such election.

XXXIV. If any magistrate, councillor, town clerk, sheriff, or other person shall wilfully contravene or disobey the provisions of this act, he shall be liable to be sued for such offence in the court of session by any person aggrieved for the penal sum of three hundred pounds; which sum, or any smaller sum which may be assessed by the jury in any such action, the defender, upon conviction, shall pay to the pursuer with full costs of suit: provided always, that every such action shall be raised within four calendar months after the cause of action shall have arisen, and that notice in writing shall be given to the defender at least one calendar month before raising the same: provided also, that any such defender against whom judgment shall have been once recovered in such action shall be entitled to plead such judgment as a bar to any other action which may be brought against him for the same matter or thing; and such other action being thereupon dismissed, such defender shall recover his full costs of suit.

XXXV. No misnomer or inaccurate description of any person or place in any writing made in the form of any schedule to this act annexed, or in any list or register or notice, or other writing, made under authority of this act, shall in any way prevent or abridge the operation of this act; provided that such person or place shall be so designated in such writing, list, register, or notice as to be commonly understood.

XXXVI. All laws, statutes, and usages now in force respecting the royal burghs in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall be and the same are hereby repealed in so far as they are inconsistent or at variance with the provisions of this act, but in all other respects the same shall remain in full force and effect: provided always, that the oath termed the burgher oath shall in no case hereafter be required to be taken in any burgh.

XXXVII. No irregularity or nullity in the election of any councillor or magistrate shall in any case, after the passing of this act, annul or affect the election of other councillors or magistrates not liable to the same grounds of objection, but those particular elections only in which such irregularity or nullity shall have occurred.

XXXVIII. This act may be repealed, altered, or amended by any act or acts to be passed in the present session of parliament.

SCHEDULES TO WHICH THE FOREGOING ACT REFERS.

City [or burgh] of

SCHEDULE A. (Part 1.)

I A. B. [insert designation] hereby claim to be enrolled as a voter for the town councillors of the said city [or burgh] in respect of my interest in the house, shop, et cetera, situated in [here insert the situation of the premises, described by the street, number, parish, or other locality]; and [in cases where the claimant chooses to make such production] in support of my claim I produce herewith a [disposition, seisin, lease, et cetera, dated, et cetera, as the case may be.]

[Date.]

(Signed)

A. B.

I A. B. [or we C. D., E. F., et cetera,] object to the claim of A. B. to be admitted [or to continue on the roll] as a voter for councillors in the city [or burgh] of

on

the following ground [here may be stated shortly the grounds, as that property or occupancy not of sufficient value, that the party is not or has ceased to be proprietor, tenant, or occupant, or is personally disqualified, as being a minor, a fatuous person, et cetera]; and I crave to be heard on the said objection or objections before the chief magistrate or assessor.

I A. B. do solemnly swear [or affirm], that I am the individual described in the list or roll for the city [or burgh] of as A. B. of [here insert description in the same words as contained in the roll]; that I am still the proprietor [or occupant] of the property for which I am so enrolled, and hold the same for my own benefit, and not in trust for, or at the pleasure of, any other person; and that I have not already voted at this election.

SCHEDULE E.

I A. B. do solemnly swear [or affirm], that I have not received or had, by myself or any person for my use or benefit, any sum or sums of money, office, place, or employment, gift, or reward, or any promise or security for any money, office, or gift, in order to give my vote at this election.

DEAN OF GUILD COURT.-Gild is an old Saxon word signifying fraternity. The dean of guild was instituted after the example of certain cities in France and Flanders, where bourses were constituted. Bourse signifies an exchange, or "that place where merchants most do congregate," for negotiating and transacting business. According to an old law, power was conferred on the dean of guild to judge in mercantile and maritime cases within the burgh; but it is long since he has exercised that branch of jurisdiction. His proper duty now is to take care that buildings within the burgh are sufficient; that they are erected agreeably to law, and neither encroach on private or public property. He may

order insufficient buildings to be taken down. Though a magistrate of a royal burgh, his jurisdiction is unconnected with the bailie court. His judgments are liable to review in the court of session.

JUSTICE OF PEACE COURT.-Justices of the peace are persons appointed by royal commission to keep good order and tranquillity within a certain district. In England they were appointed by the crown as early as the second year of Edward III., but in Scotland they were not appointed before the year 1609. An attempt was made in 1587, to introduce the office into Scotland; but the state of manners at that time was not such as to promise success to a regulation of this nature, and it required repeated legislative acts to lay the foundation of this valuable system: nor does this appear to have been fully accomplished until the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell after which Charles II. consented to an act* which prescribed these rules which in a great measure have ever since regulated this important branch of public police. It empowered them to proceed against all persons committing riots and breaches of the peace under the degree of noblemen, prelates, counsellors, and senators of the college of justice; and if any of the offenders being charged to appear before the said justices shall disobey, the summons being indorsed, the lawful citation verified, and the fact proven, the justices are to punish and fine the party not appearing, according to the quality of the crime and the estate of the offender. And for the clearer determination of the order to be observed by justices in the deduction of any such processes, it is by the last mentioned statute enacted," that it shall be lawful to the said justices, whensoever they have any occasion to move any action against parties for committing any like fact or riot, to refer the first summons to the parties' oaths of verity, failing of other lawful probation, who being personally summoned by that first citation, shall be holden as confessed, and decreet to be pronounced against him, conform to the libel and summons; and if he be not personally summoned by the first citation, the said justices shall be holden to cause summon him of new again by a second summons at his dwelling house, which two citations shall be as sufficient to infer decreet and sentence upon the libel against him, as if he were apprehended personally and which sentence given after the manner and form of probation above written, his majesty with the advice and consent of his estates of parliament, authorizes and sustains as good and lawful in themselves." They are also to give order for repairing highways, to punish those who straiten them, and to execute the laws against beggars, vagrants, swearers, and other disorderly persons. The same act also authorized them to judge in the ordinary hire and wages of labourers, workmen, and servants; and

:

* 1661, c. 38.

in case they refuse to serve upon the price set down by them, the justices are empowered to imprison and punish them at their discretion; and to compel their masters or employers to pay their wages. By the articles of Union the laws for regulating the trade, customs, and excise, are declared to be the same in Scotland as in England. And accordingly, in Scotland, justices of the peace are vested with the same powers as those in England in customs and excise affairs.* And the same powers were given to justices of the peace in Scotland, which had formerly been enjoyed by justices of the peace in England, in relation to, and for the preservation of the peace, leaving the trials and judgment by the forms and customs of the Scottish courts of law. This act removed certain restrictions in regard of the persons subject to the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, and in regard to the time within which they were at liberty to act; and placed them on the same footing in these respects with justices of the peace in England.

No particular qualification in rank or property, is required in Scotland, to act as a justice of the peace: whoever is named in the commission may accept and act. Before acting, however, it is necessary to take the oath de fideli administratione, in the above terms. The oath of allegiance, of assurance, of abjuration, and of supremacy, must also be taken by the justices before they enter upon their office.

The general jurisdiction of justices of the peace relates only to the preservation of the peace. They are expressly intrusted with the execution of several penal statutes concerning rural economy, such as those relating to planting, enclosing, and the like; and various ministerial duties connected with the regulation of the highways are likewise committed to them. They also judge in many important questions connected with the revenue of customs and excise, and other branches of the revenue; and by special enactments in several statutes, certain ministerial or judicial powers are conferred on justices: but it may be generally stated, that no justice can act with safety in virtue of statutory powers, without having the particular act conferring these powers before him.

The civil jurisdiction of justices of the peace in Scotland has been greatly enlarged by the small debt acts. Justices of the peace judge in questions of aliment to natural children, as being in some degree connected with the public peace; and also by usage, resting partly on statute, they judge in questions concerning servants' wages. With these exceptions, however, they seem to have no civil jurisdiction, except under special statutes. They have a statutory jurisdiction with regard to the expense of march fences and the straightening of marches, and also (although that is not so clear) with regard to the damage done by cattle who have tres

* 6 Anne, c. 6.

passed, and have been poinded, brevi manu, on the grounds of another person. It is still more doubtful whether justices can judge competently in an action embracing a civil claim for damages, for injury done by the offender, as well as a conclusion for fine or imprisonment in a libel at the instance of the public prosecutor, and the private party for an assault. Under the small debt acts, a person who has been injured by an assault or otherwise, may sue before the justices for reparation or damages from the person who has injured him, as a mere civil debt, provided he limits his claim to the value of £5. But there is an obvious and broad distinction between such a claim of debt under those statutes, and an action concluding for fine or imprisonment against the offender, on account of his offence against the public peace, and at the same time for civil reparation to the injured party. In such mixed actions their jurisdiction may be warranted in some instances by custom, but it seems hardly reconcilable with sound legal principles.

Although, generally speaking, justices cannot act in cases in which they are personally interested, they may act in all questions concerning the poor, vagrants, highways, or other laws respecting parochial rates, though liable themselves in the burdens imposed for these objects. A justice of the peace may also commit a person who assaults him or violently interrupts him in the execution of his office, until the offender find security to keep the peace. But justices cannot act in the determination of any appeal to the quarter sessions from any thing relating to the parish or place in which they are subject to those rates. By special enactments, commissioners of excise and customs, and others connected with those branches of the revenue, cannot act as justices of the peace; and similar exceptions apply to officers of the army, and to coal masters, in questions relating to soldiers and colliers.

Unless authorized by special statute, justices cannot exercise any judicial or coercive power as justices, beyond their own county. But they may perform ministerial acts, such as receiving the statements of a person who has been robbed or assaulted; and they may also exercise voluntary jurisdiction beyond their territory, such as taking affidavits in general, taking the judicial ratification of married women, and the like. Justices are liable to criminal prosecution before the court of justiciary; and in like manner to civil actions of damages before the civil court, on account of oppression or injustice, or other illegal proceedings in their official capacity. But in such cases they are leniently dealt with, and large allowances are made for errors and defects in judgment and capacity, where it appears that they were acting bona fide for the public good.

* 16 Geo. II., c. IS.