22013. Brit, Laws, statutes, etc. Election la... THE 150 CORRUPT AND ILLEGAL PRACTICES PREVENTION ACT, 1883. WITH Notes and an Index. (FORMING A SUPPLEMENT TO THE THIRTEENTH EDITION OF "ROGERS ON ELECTIONS.") EDITED BY JOHN CORRIE CARTER, Esq., OF THE INNER TEMPLE AND MIDLAND CIRCUIT, RECORDER OF STAMFORD, PREFACE. THE result of the inquiries held after the General Election of 1880 was to disclose such an amount of corruption, and so great an expenditure upon elections that public opinion called for further legislative restrictions, and the consequence was the Parliamentary Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices) Bill of 1882, which in its general scope resembled the present Act. Time failing to pass the Bill of 1882, the present Act was introduced this year by the Attorney-General, one result of the discussions on the former Bill being that the penal clauses were somewhat less severe than before. The principal object of this edition of the Act being to form a supplement, on the subject of corrupt and illegal practices, to the 13th edition of Rogers on Elections, it is not a complete treatise on the law of corrupt practices and the conduct of elections, but is confined to pointing out and commenting upon the new matter contained in the Act (some portion of it being, in effect, a reenactment of the previously existing law) and to showing the relation of the new matter to the existing law. It is hoped, at the same time, that this edition of the Act may be of use independently of Rogers on Elections. The main alterations introduced by the Act may be shortly summarized as follows: (1.) Extension of the offence of treating to persons other than candidates, and new definition of undue influence. (2.) Increase in the penalties and disabilities for corrupt practices. (3.) The penalising of certain expenditure, employment, &c. (4.) The application of summary procedure to illegal practices and payments. (5.) Disqualification of public-houses as committee rooms. (6.) Prohibition of all payments for the conveyance of voters, except in certain cases by sea. (7.) A maximum scale for election expenses. (8.) Right of a candidate to be his own election agent. (9.) Extension of the jurisdiction of Election Courts to illegal practices and vesting of summary criminal jurisdiction in them. (10.) Inquiry by Public Prosecutor into, and prosecutions by him for, corrupt and illegal practices. One of the principal innovations made by the Act is the institution of a maximum scale for election expenses. It was stated by the Attorney-General during the debate on the Bill that it was estimated that this scale would effect a reduction of about two-thirds in the average expenditure in a General Election. The last cost about two and a half millions. As the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, consolidating the various Acts relating to Municipal Corporations, was passed since the publication of the last edition of Rogers on Elections, it is not consistent with the plan of this work to refer in detail to the points in which Municipal Election law is affected by this Act, but it may be stated generally that "corrupt practices" as defined in the present Act, have the same meaning in Municipal Election law, and render a person guilty of them liable to the same actions, prosecutions, penalties, forfeitures, and punishments. The incapacities resulting from corrupt practices at Municipal Elections are somewhat different, see ss. 77-79 of 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50. Section 37 of this Act prohibits persons convicted, or reported guilty of, corrupt practices at Municipal Elections from voting at any election, and renders their votes void. Section 38 is to apply to Municipal Election Courts, and extends to persons before them, the privileges of being heard, and calling evidence before being reported, as well as the penal results of being reported, and the special provisions of this Act with regard to Justices of the Peace, professional men, and licensed persons. Finally, the names of persons convicted or reported guilty by a Municipal Election Court are to be placed in the Corrupt and Illegal Practices List which is published with the Parliamentary Register of Voters, s. 39 (1). The provisions of this Act as to illegal practices are not extended to Municipal Elections. Where a new Act covers so large a field as this does, a full and practical index is perhaps not the least useful part of an edition of it-it is hoped that the Index to this little work may fulfil these conditions. The references are to the 13th edition of Rogers on Elections. TEMPLE, October, 1883. J. C. C. |