vote or refrain from voting, or on account of his having done so; an offence which it visits, as regards the candidate, with the forfeiture of 50l., and, as regards the voter who accepts what is thus illegally provided, with the consequence that he shall be incapable of voting at that election, and that his vote, if given, shall be utterly void (u). Thirdly, the act prohibits any undue influence; an offence which it defines in such manner as to comprise, generally, any force, violence or restraint, or the infliction of, or threat to inflict, any injury, or the practice of any intimidation, in order to induce any person to vote, or refrain from voting, or on account of his having done so; and enacts, that every person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and forfeit the sum of 50l. (x); and it also declares that if any candidate for any county or borough shall be declared by any election committee guilty of any of the offences above specified, he shall be incapable of sitting in parliament for such county or borough, during the parliament then in existence (y). Again, it prohibits the providing by any candidate, either for any voter, or for any inhabitant of the county, city or place, of any cockade or other mark of distinction, under a penalty of 21. for every such offence (z); and also the providing of refreshment to any voter on the day of nomination or of polling, on account of his having polled, or being about to poll, under the like penalty (a); and enacts, that all payments made on any such account, or on account of any chairing, bands of music, flags or banners, shall be deemed illegal payments within that act (b). With a view also to the more effectual prevention of all such payments as it makes illegal, it provides for the annual appointment of certain officers, called election auditors, to whom is committed the (u) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, s. 4. (x) Sect. 5. See R. v. Barnwell, 29 L. T. p. 107. (y) Sect. 36. This has always formed part of the lex et consuetudo parliamenti, Sheph. on Elections, p. 102. (z) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, s. 7. (a) Sect. 23. (b) Sect. 7. duty of taking and publishing the account of all expenses incurred at elections (c); and it enacts, that no payment of any charge whatever in respect of any election or the expenses thereof shall be made by, or by authority of, any candidate, except by or through the election auditor for such election; and that any payment otherwise made shall be deemed an illegal payment, and that upon proof thereof the candidate shall forfeit double its amount, with 101. besides (d). The election being closed, the sheriff or other returning officer (as the case may be) returns the writ, with the names of the persons elected by the majority (e), to the clerk of the crown in chancery, to whom also the poll books are to be delivered, for their future safe custody (f). If the sheriff or other returning officer wilfully delays, neglects or refuses duly to return any person who ought to be returned, he is liable to an action at the suit of the party aggrieved, in case it shall be determined by an election committee, in manner to be presently described, that such party was entitled to have been returned; and provided such action be commenced within one year after the commission of the injury, or within six months after the conclusion of any proceedings in the house of commons relative to such election. And the plaintiff shall in such cases recover double damages and full costs of suit (g). In addition to which, it is provided by the Reform Act, that any returning officer wilfully contravening its provisions shall forfeit 500l. to the party aggrieved (h). [But the members returned by him are the sitting members, until the house of commons, upon petition, shall adjudge the return to be false and illegal.] The form and manner of proceeding upon such petition are regulated by 11 & 12 Vict. c. 98 (i), and are in sub (c) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, ss. 2628. (d) Sect. 18. (e) 23 Hen. 6, c. 14. (ƒ) 6 & 7 Vict. c. 18, s. 93. stance as follows:-Any person who voted, or had a right to vote, at the election, or claiming to have had a right to be returned or elected, or alleging himself to have been a candidate thereat, may subscribe and present to the house of commons a petition, complaining of an undue election or return, or that no return has been made according to the requisition of the writ (i); but it is required that some one or more of the petitioners should enter into a recognizance, with sureties, for payment of all costs and expenses (k); and the sitting member, and any other persons who voted or had a right to vote at the election, (or such persons without the sitting member, if he declines. to be a party,) are entitled to oppose the petition (7). The list of voters intended to be objected to, together with the heads of the objection to each (m), are then delivered by either party to the "General Committee of Elections” (n) appointed by the house for such business at the commencement of each session (o); and the petition is afterwards referred (p) by the house to a select committee, consisting of a chairman and four other members of the house, the former of whom is chosen by, and from out of, a select body called the chairman's panel (q) (appointed to serve for that were 10 Geo. 3, c. 16 (the Grenville Act), before which the returns were examinable by the house at large, and not by a select committee; 11 Geo. 3, c. 42; 14 Geo. 3, c. 15; 25 Geo. 3, c. 84; 28 Geo. 3, c. 52; the Consolidating Act of 9 Geo. 4, c. 22; 2 & 3 Vict. c. 38; and lastly, 4 & 5 Vict. c. 58. During the continuance of the two latter acts (the provisions of which were experimental and temporary only) the 9 Geo. 4, c. 22, was suspended; and on the expiration of the 4 & 5 Vict. c. 58, in August, 1844, the statute 7 & 8 Vict. c. 103, was passed, by which the 9 Geo. 4, c. 22, was re VOL. II. pealed, and which was itself repealed, but in substance re-enacted, by the statute mentioned in the text. (i) 11 & 12 Vict. c. 98, s. 2. (k) Sect. 3. See a prior act of 11 & 12 Vict. c. 18, to remove (p) Sects. 46, 72. C C session by the general committee (r)), and the latter by the general committee itself (s). This select committee - who are sworn well and truly to try the matter before them (t), and are required to examine all witnesses on oath (u)—then proceed to try the merits of the return or election, (x), (admitting no evidence, however, against any voter or in support of any objection, not set forth in the list of voters and objections which had before been delivered to the general committee (y)), and by their decision,-which is by the majority of voices, where the committee consist for the time of more than one member (z),—they determine whether the sitting members, or either of them, or any and what other person were duly returned or elected; or whether the election be void; or whether a new writ ought to issue (a) and such determination is final between the parties to all intents and purposes, and is reported to the house at large, and entered in their journals (b). It is also to be observed, that if the select committee report the petition, or the opposition to it, to be frivolous or vexatious, the party in whose favour such report is made is entitled to recover from the other his full costs and expenses incurred in that behalf; that if they report any ground of objection stated against any voter to be of that character, the opposite party shall be entitled to costs in like manner against the party on whose behalf the objection was made; and that, as to all specific allegations with regard to the conduct of either party or his agents which shall appear to the select committee to have been advanced without reasonable or probable ground, the party making the allegation becomes liable to such order as to the costs thereby incurred, as the select committee may think fit (c). When a member is once duly elected, he is compellable to discharge the duties of the public trust thus conferred upon him; and is bound to be present at every call of the house, unless he can show such cause as shall be deemed a sufficient excuse for his non-attendance. Nor is he enabled by law to resign his seat (d). The only way of relinquishing it is to obtain some office, such as under the different statutes already noticed will have the effect of making the seat void. This, however, is now done as a matter of course; it having long been usual for the crown to grant to any member wishing to vacate his seat the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, which, though merely nominal, is by the practice of parliament considered as an office sufficient for that purpose (e). And this abstract of the law of election concludes our inquiries into the laws and customs more peculiarly relative to the house of commons. VI. [We proceed now to the method of making laws,— which is much the same in both houses. But first it must be premised, that, for dispatch of business, each house of parliament has its speaker. The speaker of the house of lords-whose office it is to preside there, and manage the formality of business-is the lord chancellor, or keeper of the great seal, or any other appointed by royal commission: (c) 11 & 12 Vict. c. 98 s. 89, et seq.; vide as to costs, under 9 Geo. 3, c. 22, Fector v. Bacon, 5 Bing. N. C. 30. (d) We have before seen (vide sup. p. 344) that before taking his seat he must take the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration. (e) 2 Hats. 41. Mr. Hatsell says, this practice began, he believes, only about the year 1750, and that it would be difficult, from the form of appointment to the Chiltern Hundreds, to show that it is an office. (Christian's Blackstone.) The stewardships of the manors of East Hendred, Northstead, or Hempholme, are usually granted for this purpose, when the Chiltern Hundreds are occupied. (May, Parl. Pract. 3rd ed. p. 458.) c c. 2. |
