c. 52, ss. 32, 33. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 52, ss. 32, 33. Bankruptcy Act, 1883. 46 & 47 Vict. 32. (1.) Where a debtor is adjudged bankrupt he shall be disqualified for being elected to or sitting or voting in the House of Commons, or on any committee thereof. (2.) The disqualifi- Bankrupts. cations to which a bankrupt is subject under this Act shall be removed and cease if and when (a) the adjudication of bankruptcy against him is annulled; (b) he obtains from the Court his discharge with a certificate to the effect that his bankruptcy was caused by misfortune without any misconduct on his part. The Court may grant or withhold such certificate as it thinks fit, but any refusal of such certificate shall be subject to appeal. (3.) The disqualifications imposed by this section shall extend to all parts of the United Kingdom. 33. If a member of the House of Commons is adjudged bank- Vacation of rupt, and the disqualifications arising therefrom under this Act seat. are not removed within six months from the date of the order, the Court shall, immediately after the expiration of that time, certify the same to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and thereupon the seat of the member shall be vacant. (2.) Where the seat of a member so becomes vacant, the Recess. Speaker, during a recess of the House, whether by prorogation or by adjournment, shall forthwith, after receiving the certificate, cause notice thereof to be published in the London Gazette; and after the expiration of six days after the publication, shall (unless the House has met before that day or will meet on the day of the issue) issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Crown to make out a new writ for electing another member in the room of the member whose seat has so become vacant. p. 392. (3.) The powers of the Act of the twenty-fourth year of the Vacancy of reign of King George the Third, chapter twenty-six, "to repeal Speakership. so much of those Acts made in the tenth and fifteenth years of the reign of his present Majesty as authorizes the Speaker of the House of Commons to issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Crown for making out writs for the election of members to serve in Parliament in the manner therein mentioned and for substituting other provisions for the like purposes,"* so far as those ✶ powers enable the Speaker to nominate and appoint other persons, being members of the House of Commons, to issue warrants for the making out of new writs during the vacancy of the office of Speaker, or during his absence out of the realm, shall extend to enable him to make the like nomination and appointment for issuing warrants under the like circumstances and conditions for the election of a member in the room of any member whose seat becomes vacant under this Act. The provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 71, ss. 121124), as to the loss of seats by members of the House of Commons are spent. The effect of these sections is, first, that a bankrupt cannot be elected unless his bankruptcy is annulled, or he obtain his discharge with a certi 46 & 47 Vict. c. 52, ss. 32, 33. ficate that his bankruptcy was caused by misfortune; secondly, that if a member, he must cease to sit; thirdly, if a member and his bankruptcy is not annulled or his discharge with certificate obtained within six months from the adjudication, his seat becomes vacant. The disqualifications of this section only apply to a bankruptcy under this Act. The statute 52 Geo. 3, c. 144, in regard to commissions of bankruptcy, although unrepealed, is spent. The Bankruptcy Act, 1869, ss. 120-124, affected the seat only, and is now repealed. For Irish bankruptcies, see the Irish Bankruptcy Amendment Act, 35 & 36 Vict. c. 58 (p. 381). For Scotch sequestrations, see p. 386. Subs. (3) of s. 32 is inserted in view of s. 2, which provides that "this Act shall not, except so far as is expressly provided, extend to Scotland and Ireland." Consequently, bankruptcy in England is a disqualification for Irish and Scotch seats. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 52, s. 116 (1). Bankruptcy registrars. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 52, s. 116 (1). No registrar or other officer attached to any Court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, shall, during his continuance in office, be capable of being elected or sitting as a member of the House of Commons. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 16, ss. 5, 6. English bankruptcy disqualifications applied to Scotland. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 16, ss. 5, 6. 5. In the application of s. 32 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, to Scotland, the following provisions shall have effect: (1.) The expression "adjudged bankrupt" shall include the case of a person whose estate has been sequestrated or with respect to whom a decree of cessio bonorum has been pronounced by a competent Court in Scotland. (2.) [As to Scotch offices.] (3.) The disqualifications to which a person adjudged bankrupt is subject under the said section as amended by this Act shall be removed and cease if and when (a.) The sequestration of his estate is recalled or reduced or the decree of cessio bonorum with respect to him is recalled or reduced. (b.) He obtains his discharge from a competent Court. 6. Sects. 33 and 34 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1883, shall apply to Scotland, subject to the following provisions : (1.) In each of the said sections the expression "adjudged bankrupt" shall have the meaning assigned to it in the immediately preceding section of this Act. (2.) In the said s. 33 the expression "order" shall include "deliverance or decree," and the expression "Court" shall include the Court in Scotland pronouncing the deliverance or decree. Scotch sequestrations and cessiones bonorum are thus made a disqualification for English, Scotch, and Irish seats, the Act being general. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, s. 2, subs. 2. Corrupt Practices at Municipal Elections Act, 1884. 47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, s. 2, subs. 2. Corrupt practices at A person who commits any corrupt practice in reference to a municipal election shall be guilty of the like offence, and shall on conviction be liable to the like punishment and subject to the like incapacities as if the corrupt practice had been municipal committed in reference to a parliamentary election. By the Corrupt Practices Parliamentary Elections Act, 1883, s. 6 (4) (p. 385), a person convicted of a corrupt practice at a parliamentary election is disqualified from sitting for seven years. elections. 48 & 49 Vict. c. 61, s. 3. The Secretary for Scotland 48 & 49 Vict. Act, 1885. c. 61, s. 3 Secretary for 3. The Secretary, if not a member of the House of Lords, shall if otherwise qualified, be capable of being elected to and of voting in the Commons House of Parliament, and the office fied. of Secretary shall be deemed to be an office included in Schedule (H.) of the Representation of the People Act, 1867,* in Schedule (H.) of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act, 1868, and in Schedule (E.) of the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act, 1868, and in Part First of the Schedule of the Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, as regards England. By s. 2 a salary of £2000 a year is annexed to the office, which but for the section extracted would be a new office of profit under the Crown (6 Anne, c. 7, s. 24, p. 349). It is to be observed that the Secretary for Scotland is not a Secretary of State, as to which office, see p. 377. * p. 378. And because elections ought to be free the King commandeth upon great forfeiture, that no man by force of arms, nor by malice or menacing, shall disturb any to make free elections. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 7, ss. 3-6. [1. False returns declared against law and prohibited, and returns contrary to the last determination in the House of Commons of the right of election in a county, city, borough, cinque port, or place adjudged to be a false return.-Obsolete.] [2. The person duly elected may sue the officers and persons making or procuring the false return at Westminster, and recover double damages and costs.-Obsolete.] 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 7, ss. 3-6. 3. And to the end the law may not be eluded by double Double returns returns, be it further enacted, That if any officer shall wilfully, forbidden. falsely, and maliciously return more persons than are required to be chosen by the writ or precept on which any choice is made, the like remedy may be had against him or them, and the party or parties that willingly procure the same and every or any of them by the party grieved at his election. This section has been disregarded by the House of Commons, and in the Helston Case, in July, 1866, it was resolved that "according to the law and usage of Parliament it is the duty of the returning officer in England, in case of an equal number of votes being polled, to return all the candidates." This rule is, however, now altered by s. 2 of the Ballot Act, 1872 (p. 432), which gives the returning officer when an elector a casting vote. When there is an equality of votes, and the returning officer is not an elector, and in other cases of double election, the returning officer must choose between the penalties of this section forbidding a double return, and the resolution of the House of Commons requiring it. Theoretically the Act of Parliament must prevail; practically the resolution is followed, especially as by s. 40 of the Election Petitions Act, 1868 (p. 534), a double return seems contemplated. 4. And be it further enacted, That all contracts, promises, bonds, and securities whatsoever hereafter made or given to procure any return of any member to serve in Parliament, or anything relating thereunto, be adjudged void, and that whoever makes or gives such security, contract, promise, or bond, or any gift or reward to procure such false or double return, shall forfeit the sum of three hundred pounds, one-third part thereof to be to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, another third part thereof to the poor of the county, city, borough, or place concerned, and one-third part thereof to the informer, with his costs to be recovered in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, wherein no essoigne, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed nor any more than one imparlance. 5. And for the more easy and better proof of any such false or double return, be it enacted, That the Clerk of the Crown for the time being shall from time to time enter or cause to be entered in a book for that purpose, to be kept in his office, every single and double return of any member or members to serve in Parliament which shall be returned or come into his office or to his hands, and also every alteration and amendment as shall be made by him or his deputy in every such return, to Penalty for procuring false or double return. Book of returns kept by Clerk of Crown. |