(2) Amendments of particulars may always be made upon good cause being shown, provided that they come under some allegation in the petition (Day's Election Cases, p. 15). Amendments will be allowed even during the trial (Harwich case, 3 O'M. & H. 60).

The trial. The trial itself takes places before two Judges of the High Court, and is conducted in accordance with the ordinary principles as to practice and evidence prevailing in ordinary trials at nisi prius. Four matters only are somewhat special. (1) Agency; (2) Excuses; (3) The presence of the Public Prosecutor; and (4) The granting of certificates of indemnity.

(1) Agency for the purpose of election petitions is established by principles of law which are peculiar to the subject, and which are of such importance as to require a separate chapter (a). (As to the law and practice as to proof of corrupt practices before agency is established, see p. 82.)

(2) Excuses under these Acts are matters of the greatest importance. Whether there is an election petition or not, persons who have been guilty of certain irregularities are bound to obtain an excuse from the Court. And both corrupt and illegal practices can under ordinary circumstances be excused. The matter is fully dealt with in this book under sects. 22, 23 and 34 of the Act of 1883 (see pp. 110, 111, 130), and it is not necessary further to allude to that law here than to point out that the evidence of both sides should be largely directed to the view which the Court ought to take of these sections, every one of whose provisions must be made the subject of the most careful consideration.

(3) The presence of the Public Prosecutor introduces a peculiar element into these trials. It would be very hard upon the respondents if the Public Prosecutor might take

(a) See Chapter iv., pp. 69–82.

up and drive home any charge which the petitioners did not dare to put forward, and thus double the chances of defeat. And it has now been clearly established that so long as the parties are at arm's length, he must not interfere until the issue between the parties has first been tried. (See the Montgomery Boroughs case, 4 O'M. & H. 168, 169.) The whole matter is discussed in the notes to sect. 43 of the Act of 1883.

(4) The granting of certificates of indemnity is consequential on the obligation of witnesses to answer all questions relating to any offence at or connected with the election, without being able to excuse himself on the ground that the answer thereto may criminate or tend to criminate himself, or on the ground of privilege. But the witnesses must answer truly in order to be entitled to such certificates. This again must be borne in mind as an element in determining the policy of making this or that charge in an election petition.

The result.-At the conclusion of the trial the two Judges decide whether the respondent or any other candidate has been duly elected, and if they differ the respondent retains his seat, as happened in the Montgomery Boroughs case. The various matters as to which they may also report appear from the Act of 1883 itself (a).

Costs. The costs of an election petition under the Act of 1883 have been discussed in several cases, which are duly noted below (b).

(a) See pp. 97, et seq.

(b) See pp. 157, 158.

CHAPTER II.

OF A CONTESTED ELECTION UNDER THE CORRUPT AND ILLEGAL

PRACTICES PREVENTION ACTS, 1883 AND 1895.

It would be well for his party if every person who concerns himself at all in the work of an election could be made to understand the statutes which form the subject of this book, to consider what would be the effect if such a petition as that which we have set out and discussed in the last chapter were to be launched, and in particular to study the peculiar law of agency obtaining in these matters.

But that is of course impossible: and the next best thing is that all such persons should place themselves whenever in doubt in the hands of the election agent. It will be seen in a later chapter that high authorities have often compared the position of "agents" for this purpose to the persons who are de facto on board a yacht at the time when she is sailing in a race. We may perhaps extend the analogy and say that while the candidate is like the owner of such a yacht, the election agent is like the captain to whom he has intrusted her. The election agent is therefore above all the person responsible for the observance of the Acts of Parliament now before us; but he must be loyally supported by all concerned, including the candidate himself.

Now it must be remembered that in practice an election agent is not employed solely or even principally to carry out the provisions of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Acts. He is employed to win-to win, of course, by fair means only, but to win. Lawyers without experience of actual election work are apt to forget how heavy is the work of an election agent entirely outside the provisions of the Acts in question. He has to purchase the registers and to organise the canvass of every elector whose name appears

upon them, in itself a work of colossal magnitude. He has to arrange for the meetings, often to the number of three a night-with, perhaps, auxiliary meetings in the candidate's absence at some other places. He has continually to alter the arrangements so made according to the halls available, etc. He has to employ a large number of persons to do a large number of things, and the characteristics of his employees are liable to present the various difficulties which potentially attend all labour markets-incompetence and idleness and drunkenness and avarice. Nor can he follow

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his own pleasure, as the manager of another business might do, with regard to getting rid of undesirables-for he must, whenever he fairly and properly may do so, consider the popularity of his candidate and of his party. He must be ready, along with the candidate, to suffer what we might call the "poor man's contumely " with a smiling face. must attend to a correspondence which goes into many hundreds of letters and telegrams, and which, in the country, arrives even on a Sunday. He must be prepared to parry the attacks of innumerable touts from newspapers and advertisement offices and smart business men of every kind, who know each and all that he has a large sum of money at his disposal, and hope each and all for their share. He must send out the candidate's address and other election literature, and must keep pace with his adversary in this matter, as well as in the placarding of the constituency with posters of all descriptions. He must do all lawful things possible to reach outvoters and secure their votes. He must read and be prepared to answer, at a moment's notice, the pamphlets of the enemy. He must consult with all the volunteer members of his party, and make the most profitable use of the assistance which any lady or gentleman may offer him; and he must see to the provision of as many freely provided conveyances as can be secured to take the voters to and from the poll. Such are a few of his more obvious duties.

And even when we come to the legal department, so to speak, of his work, it is by no means the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Acts alone which must engage his energies. Various other statutes are in force which necessitate action that depends upon the election agent (a). From the time of the nomination to the time of the counting he is constantly at work considering legal problems raised by such other statutes or by the general principles of the common law.

These things, it is submitted, ought to be borne in mind in considering what an election agent, as a reasonable man, ought to have done or left undone in particular circumstances with relation to the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Acts.

Nevertheless it is most important that what man can do he should do faithfully to carry out these Acts. He ought to read the Acts and the cases here noted under the various sections. He ought to consider the effect of a possible petition such as that set forth in the preceding chapter. He ought to contemplate that possibility throughout-not with nervous apprehension, for then he would scarcely dare to act at all on a hundred occasions when action is necessary, but with level-headed carefulness. We will now carefully consider what he ought to do to minimise the chances of any corrupt or illegal practices being committed on his side.

Corrupt Practices. He should call successive meetings of his own supporters-a meeting of the ladies and gentlemen who form the party leaders in the constituency or who are volunteering to assist him; and a meeting of the paid employees who are about to work with and under him. The candidate should be present on both occasions. The election

(a) E.g., 6 Vict. c. 18; 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102; 35 & 36 Vict. c. 33; 38 & 39 Vict. c. 84; 48 Vict. c. 10; 48 & 49 Vict. c. 23; 50 Vict. c. 9.