the provisions of this Act who may have been chosen to fill the aforesaid offices.

case of

XIX. In case an equality of votes appear to the afore- Provision for said inspectors to be given for any two or more persons equality of to fill either of the said offices, the inspectors shall decide votes. by lot upon the person to be chosen.

interval

be reduced below two

vacancies to

named.

XX. If in the interval between any election under If in the this Act of vestrymen in any parish and the time at between which the next election would in the absence of this elections the vestry of enactment have taken place the number of such vestry- any parish men be reduced below two-thirds of the full number, so many vestrymen as may be requisite for filling up such thirds, the number shall be forthwith elected in like manner as in be filled up the case of the annual election of such vestrymen, and as herein the provisions of this Act shall be applicable in the case of such election accordingly, save that the notice of election shall be varied from the form prescribed by this Act so far as may be necessary, and where such parish is divided into wards under this Act each ward shall supply the vacancies among the members elected for the same; and every vestryman elected under this enactment shall go out of office at the time when the term of office of the person in whose place he is elected would have expired by effluxion of time.

forging or

any voting

XXI. If any person knowingly personate and falsely Penalty for assume to vote in the name of any parishioner entitled to falsifying vote in any election under this Act, or forge or in any way paper or falsify any name or writing in any paper purporting to obstructing contain the vote or votes of any parishioner voting in any such election, or by any contrivance attempt to obstruct or prevent the purposes of any such election, the person so offending shall, upon conviction before any two or

and it is the duty of the inspectors of votes to inquire into the qualification of candidates, and to return the names of those who have the majority of votes, and are also duly qualified; Ex parte Ross, in the matter of the Vestry of St. Pancras, 26 L. J. (N. S.) Q. B. 312; S. C. nom. R. v. Inspectors of Votes, &c. of the Parish of St. Pancras, 7 Ell. & Bl. 954.

the election.

A list of persons elected

vestrymen

and audi

tors by parishioners to

more justices of the peace having jurisdiction in the parish, be liable to a penalty of not less than 107. and not more than 501., and in default of payment thereof shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six nor less than three months.

XXII. The inspectors shall, immediately after they have decided upon whom the aforesaid elections have fallen, deliver to the churchwardens, or to one of them, or other the person presiding at the election, a list of the be published. persons chosen by the parishioners to act as vestrymen and auditors or an auditor of accounts; and the said list, or a copy thereof, shall be published in the parish as herein provided (d).

Penalty on

inspector

incorrect return.

XXIII. If any inspector wilfully make or cause to be for making made an incorrect return of the said votes, every such offender shall, upon information laid by any person before two or more justices of the peace having jurisdiction in the parish, and upon conviction for such offence, be liable to a penalty of not less than 251. and not exceeding 501.

Vestries to provide places for holding elections,

and pay expenses of taking poll, &c.

XXIV. The vestry of every parish mentioned in either of the schedules (A.) and (B.) to this Act shall provide such places as may be requisite for holding elections of vestrymen and auditors under this Act, and taking the poll thereat; and the expenses of providing such places, of publishing notices, of taking the poll, and of making the return at elections of vestrymen and auditors, shall be paid out of the poor rates of the parish by order of the vestry (e): Provided always, that the places requiring to be provided for the first election under this Act of vestrymen and auditors in any parish shall be provided by the churchwardens, and the expenses of providing the same shall be paid out of the poor rates, upon their order.

(d) See sect. 26.

(e) See as to payment of expenses, not otherwise provided for, incurred by vestries in sched. (B.) to this Act, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, s. 16, post.

rishes having

wardens.

XXV. The provisions herein before contained shall, so as to pa far as concerns any parish in either of the said schedules no church(A.) and (B.) in which there are no churchwardens, be construed as referring to the overseers of the poor instead of the churchwardens.

and lists to

XXVI. Every notice and list hereinbefore required How notices to be published in any parish or ward of any parish shall be published. be so published by being fixed in some public and conspicuous situation, on the outside of the outer door or outer wall near the door of every church and public chapel in such parish or ward, including places of public worship which do not belong to the Established Church, and if there be no such building as aforesaid, then in some public and conspicuous situation within such parishi or ward.

dens, &c., not

XXVII. If any churchwarden, overseer, rate collector, Churchwaror other parish officer refuse or neglect to call any complying meeting, or give any notice, or do any other act required with Act of him under the provisions of this Act, he shall be demeanor. deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

guilty of mis

vestries.

XXVIII. All powers or duties to be performed by the Quorum of vestry of any parish under this Act may be exercised and performed respectively by the major part of such vestry assembled at any meeting (ƒ), there being not less than five vestrymen present at a meeting of a vestry which consists of not more than eighteen elected vestrymen, and not being less than seven vestrymen present at a meeting of a vestry which consists of twenty-four elected vestrymen and no more, and not being less than nine vestrymen present at a meeting of a vestry which consists of thirty-six elected vestrymen or upwards,

(f) As to requirements in notices of vestry meetings in general, see Prideaux, Duties of Churchwardens, 9th ed. p. 87, et seq. The 19 & 20 Vict. c. 112, s. 9, post, enables special meetings of vestries to be convened by notice transmitted by the post, and by affixing a notice on or near the door of the building where the meeting is to be holden. See as to day and hour for meetings of vestries, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102, s. 37, post.

Meetings not to be holden

in the

and at every such meeting all questions shall be decided by the votes of the majority (g) of the vestrymen present, and the vestry may act notwithstanding any vacancies

therein.

XXIX. In any case in which the vestry-room of any such parish as aforesaid is not sufficiently large and church (h). commodious for any vestry meeting, such meeting shall be held elsewhere within the said parish, but not in the church or chapel thereof.

Meeting to

elect a chair

man.

Parishes in

schedule (B.)

XXX. At every meeting of any vestry under this Act, in the absence of the persons authorized by law or custom to take the chair (i), the members present shall elect a chairman for the occasion before proceeding to other business, and the chairman, in case of an equality of votes on any question, shall have a second or casting

vote.

Formation of Parishes into Districts, and Constitution of District Boards.

XXXI. For the purposes of this Act the several to be united, parishes mentioned in the second column of schedule (B.) to this Act shall be united, and form the respective

and form

"the

(g) This means an actual majority of the vestrymen assembled, and where a local Act empowered the vestry, or major part of them," to remove a poor-rate collector, it was held that it was not sufficient at a meeting of thirty-five vestrymen for sixteen to vote for the removal, and eleven against it, the remaining eight not voting; R. v. Overseers of Christ Church, 26 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 69; affirmed in error, 27 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 23. See also re Eynsham, 18 L. J. (N. S.) Q. B. 210; S. C. 12 Q. B. 398, n. See as to division after show of hands, Tear v. Freebody, 4 C. B. (N. S.), 228.

(h) See stat. 13 & 14 Vict. c. 57, for preventing the holding of vestry or other meetings in churches, &c.

(i) See as to the right of the minister to preside at vestry meetings, R. v. D'Oyly, 12 A. & Ell. 139; Wilson v. M'Math, 3 Phill. Ecc. Ca. 67; 3 B. & A. 244, notes; and see Mawley v. Barbet, 2 Esp. 687.

district

districts mentioned in conjunction therewith and named districts, and in the first column of the same schedule; and there shall boards constituted (k). be a board of works for each such district, composed of the members elected as hereinafter mentioned for the parishes forming such district.

Vestries to

trict boards.

XXXII. The vestry constituted by this Act in every elect memparish in any such district shall, on the 28th day of bers of disNovember in the year 1855, elect the number of persons mentioned in the third column of the said schedule (B.) in conjunction with such parish to be a member or members of the board of works for such district.

numbers of

XXXIII. When at any time hereafter, upon any If relative account taken of the population by the authority of par- inhabited liament, the relative numbers of the inhabited houses in houses in parishes in the several parishes forming any such district are found

(k) Considerable discussion has taken place as to the soundness of the principle on which these distrcts were constituted, having regard to population, rental, community of benefit, and other material objects, and various propositions have been made for altering them. Clauses were either introduced into the last amending Act, or moved on its passage through parliament, to the effect, that certain parts of the parish of Hornsey should, for the purposes of paving, lighting, cleansing, and sewerage, be deemed to be part of the parish of Stoke Newington, and be rateable by the metropolitan board of works and the board of works for the Hackney district; for adding the parts subject to the jurisdiction of the trustees acting in execution of the Act 37 Geo. 3, c. 87, to the ward of Tower, in the city of London, a provision which was introduced in consequence of the doubts which existed as to the limits of the district of the Tower mentioned in sched. (B.) to this Act, and therein included in the Whitechapel district; for dividing Deptford and Greenwich, and forming St. Paul, Deptford, Hatcham, and St. Nicholas, Deptford, into a separate district; for dividing St. John, Hackney, and St. Mary, Stoke Newington, and placing the vestries of those parishes on a similar footing to that of the vestries mentioned in schedule (A.); and for repealing the 46th section of this Act, and enabling each of the districts of Plumstead and Lewisham to elect a member at the metropolitan board of works. But all these propositions were rejected, and the constitution and representation of the districts, as defined by this Act, remain unaltered.

any district