alleging payment of sums of money to voters after the election. A sessional order to meet cases of this description has been passed in each session since 1842. "Ordered, That all persons who shall question any return of members to serve in the present Parliament, upon any allegation of bribery and corruption, and who shall in their petition specifically allege any payment of money or other reward to have been made by any member, or on his account or with his privity, since the time of such return, in pursuance or in furtherance of such bribery or corruption, may question the same at any time within twenty-eight days after the date of such payment; or, if this House be not sitting at the expiration of the said twenty-eight days, then within fourteen days after the day when the House shall next meet." A petition of this kind, presented after the time when election petitions are usually presented, will affect the seat of the sitting member. Durham, Bar. & Arn. 201 (1843); 2nd Athlone, Bar. & Arn. 225 (1844.) 6. Proceedings after presentation of Petition.] When the petition has been received by the House, no further steps are taken in the House with regard to it, until the examiner of recognizances has reported to the Speaker on the sufficiency of the recognizances. The next matter, therefore, to be considered is the mode of proceeding with regard to the recognizances. During the session of 1848 considerable perplexity was created by the form in which some of the recognizances were drawn, and such doubts were entertained as to the validity of several of them, that a temporary act, 11 Vict. c. 18, was passed, enabling the parties to put in amended recognizances. The 7 & 8 Vict. c. 103, s. 14, the act in force at that time, enabled the examiner to inquire into the alleged insufficiency of the sureties only, and not into the validity of the recognizance itself; but by sect. 13 of the present act, the examiner is enabled to inquire into the validity of the recognizances as well as into the sufficiency of the sureties; and as his report on these points is, by sect. 13, made final and conclusive to all intents and purposes, the same questions which perplexed the House and committees in the session 1848, cannot arise again. 7. Who may object, and grounds of objection to Recognizance.] The sitting member petitioned against, and electors admitted as parties to defend the election or return (sect. 19), in the manner hereafter to be considered, may object: 1. That the recognizance is invalid; 2. That it was not duly entered into or received by the examiner of recognizances, with the affidavit annexed; or, 3. That the sureties, or any of them, are insufficient ; 4. That a surety is dead; or, 5. That from the want of a sufficient description he cannot be found or ascertained; or, 6. That a person named in the recognizance has not duly acknowledged the same (a). (a) The following are given by Mr. Warren in his work on Elections, p. 297, as some of the points decided by the Mode of objecting.]-The grounds of objection intended to be relied on must be stated in writing, under the hand of the objecting party or his agent, and must be delivered to the examiner of recognizances within ten days, or not later than twelve at noon of the eleventh day, after the presentation of the petition, if the surety objected to resides in England, or within examiner of recognizances in 1852: That a recognizance which follows the form in the schedule to the act, using the terms "sitting member," although there may be two or more sitting members, is good; that a recognizance which departs from the form using the words "sitting members," not adding "and each" or "either of them," is bad; that one using the words "sitting members or either of them," is good; that a misdescription in the recognizance of the surety's name, residence, or description, can be objected to only on the ground given in the 13th section, "that the surety cannot be found or ascertained from the want of a sufficient description;" that it is not necessary and is no ground of objection, that it does not expressly appear that the recognizance and affidavit were entered into before a justice at the same time, the two bearing the same date; that a recognizance following the form, conditioned to pay the costs "payable by the petitioners," without adding "or either of them," is good. See Gordon v. Gurney, 2 C. & J. 614. That the interpretation clause, sect. 108, applies to the form in the schedule; that a recognizance which misdescribes the place to which the petition relates, if it follows the description in the petition itself, is good; that there must be one, and cannot be more than one recognizance in respect of each petition; that no objection can be taken to the validity of the affidavit, or jurat, or caption thereof, under the 13th section, but only to the recognizance; that the word "person," named in the recognizance, means the surety. In the session of 1853, a select committee was appointed to inquire into the operation of the act 11 & 12 Vict. c. 98, as regards recognizances, and to report their opinion whether it was expedient to amend that act (108 Jour. 185. 284). It does not appear that any report was ever made. fourteen days, or not later than twelve at noon of the fifteenth day, if such surety reside in Scotland or Ireland; and if the eleventh or fifteenth day respectively fall on a Sunday, Good Friday, or Christmas Day, such notices of objection may be delivered by twelve at noon on the following day. (Sect. 13.) As soon as the examiner of recognizances has received any such notice of objection he is to post up an acknowledgment thereof in some conspicuous part of his office, and must appoint a day, not less than three, nor more than five, from the day on which he received the statement, for the purpose of hearing the same (a). The petitioner and his agent may examine and take copies of every such objection. (Sect. 14.) At the time appointed, the examiner is to inquire into the alleged objections on the grounds stated, but on no other; he may examine on oath, and receive any affidavit relating to the matter, sworn before a Master in Chancery, or justice of the peace, and duly certified; he may adjourn the inquiry from time to time until he decides; he may award costs, to be paid by either party, to be taxed as in other cases. And the decision of the examiner is final and conclusive against all parties. (Sect. 15.) Where one ground of objection is the death of a surety, the petitioner may cure this objection by paying into the Bank of England the sum for which the surety was bound, and giving to the examiner, within three days after the day on which the statement of objections is delivered to him, the bank receipt for the amount. (a) If the fifth day is a Sunday the hearing may be on the sixth day. Report of Examiner.] If the examiner shall decide that the recognizance is objectionable, he is forthwith to report the same to the Speaker. But if he shall find it unobjectionable, or if no objections have been received by him within the time for lodging objections, then he is to report to the Speaker that the recognizance is unobjectionable; and every such report shall be final and conclusive to all intents and purposes. (Sect. 17.) The examiner is to keep in his office, open to the inspection of all parties concerned, a list of all petitions on which he shall have reported the recognizances to be unobjectionable. Every report of the examiner of recognizances is to be communicated by the Speaker to the House, and also to the general committee of elections, to whom all election petitions are referred in the manner hereafter to be considered under the head of" Committees." (Sect. 46.) 8. Renewed Petitions no longer necessary.] Until recently, if a petition had not been taken into consi deration in the course of the session in which it was presented, it was necessary to have a renewed petition; and questions of difficulty often arose, whether the new petition was the same in substance as the original one in the former session (a). This has now been altered, no renewed petition is now necessary. It is provided by the 50th section of 11 & 12 Vict. c. 98, that if Parliament is prorogued after any election petition has been presented, but before the appointment of (a) Orme on Elections, p. 333; Rogers, p. 20. |