employed for payment, and to the number of committee-rooms which may be paid for, the boroughs of East Retford, Shoreham, Cricklade, Much Wenlock and Aylesbury are to be considered as counties. (Schedule I. Part V., 1.) restrictions on It will frequently happen that candidates will stand jointly. Further In that case (Schedule I., Part V., 3) the maximum ex- expenditure penditure allowed to each is to be reduced, if there are two joint candidates, by one-fourth, and if there are more than two joint candidates by one-third. Having regard to that enactment, it is important to notice what constitutes a joint candidature for this purpose. What is a joint candidature, so that one candidate shall be bound by the corrupt or illegal practices of the agents of another candidate is a very different inquiry. in case of joint candi dature. But for the purpose of ascertaining whether the scale of What is a joint candiexpenditure to be allowed to each candidate is to be reduced, dature. a case of joint candidature arises (Schedule I., Part V., 4), when any one of the following events happen :— (a.) Two or more candidates appoint the same election agent. (b.) Two or more candidates by themselves or any agent hire or use the same committee-room or rooms for the election. (c.) Two or more candidates by themselves or any agent employ or use the services of the same sub-agents clerks, messengers, or polling agents at the election. It would seem that for both candidates by any agent to use, e.g., one committee-room or one messenger in common, although in all other respects the rooms used and persons employed by each candidate were different and separate, would constitute a joint candidature for the purposes of this section. (d.) Two or more candidates by themselves or any agent publish a joint address, or joint circular, or joint notice at the election. The severity of this enactment is modified by a provision which however affects (b) and (c) only. If the employment Severance joint and partly several. or use of the same committee-room, sub-agent, clerk, messenger, or polling agent is (1) accidental or casual, or (2) of a trivial and unimportant character, a case of joint candidature will not be thereby created. (Schedule I., Part V., 4-a.) Candidates may at any time cease to be joint candidates, in which case they had better give public notice of the fact. In the event of a candidate ceasing to be a joint candidate or becoming a joint candidate after having begun to conduct his election as a separate candidate, he will occupy an anomalous position in regard to the maximum amount of expenditure allowed to him, It would seem that his election expenditure is to be regulated as if he had been a joint candidate Case of candi- throughout the election. But he may get relief under the dature partly provisions of the Act of 1883 (Schedule I., Part V., 4—c), for any excess of expenditure above the amount allowed to a joint candidate if his total expenses do not amount to what the Act would have allowed him as a separate candidate. That clause 4 (c) provides: "Where any excess of expenses above the maximum allowed for one of two or more joint candidates has arisen owing to his having ceased to be a joint candidate, or to his having become a joint candidate after having begun to conduct his election as a separate candidate, and such ceasing or beginning was in good faith and such excess is not more than under the circumstances is reasonable, and the total expenses of such candidate do not exceed the maximum amount allowed for a separate candidate, such excess shall be deemed to have arisen from a reasonable cause within the meaning of the enactments respecting the allowance by the High Court or election court of an exception from the provisions of this Act which would otherwise make an act an illegal practice, and the candidate and his election agent may be relieved accordingly from the consequences of having incurred such excess of expenses." Evidence on application for relief. The candidate who applies for relief under this clause must therefore prove to the Court the following things: (1.) That the excess of expenditure has arisen from the candidate having ceased to be a joint candidate or from his becoming a joint candidate after having (2.) That he began or ceased to be a joint candidate in provisions of the Act, and (3.) That his expenses do not exceed the maximum amount allowed to a separate candidate. If the application is made to the High Court, it must be by motion or by a judge's summons at chambers before a judge or judges on the rota for the trial of election petitions. Such previous notice of the application as the Court may direct must be given in the constituency. date's Under Section 28, requiring all moneys provided for the Subscriptions election expenses to be paid to the election agent, it would to pay candiseem to be necessary that a fund raised by subscriptions to expenses. defray A's election expenses must be paid to A himself or to his election agent. diture by not to be repaid. The proviso in Section 28 only amounts to this, that if any Petty expenperson, not intending to corrupt an elector, disburses any partisans trifling sum for any small expense incurred by himself without thinking of repayment, and without the fact of repayment, no harm is done. If B, a partisan of A's, hires and pays for a carriage to enable him to canvass for votes for A, that is unobjectionable. But still the amount disbursed must be small, otherwise the first sub-section of Section 28 would be nullified. By sub-section 2 of Section 28, contravention of the section by any agent, constructive or otherwise, would avoid the seat. SECTION III.-THE PAYMENT OF ELECTION EXPENSES. Subject to the trifling exceptions mentioned in Section 28, By the elecit is the business of the election agent to make all payments. tion agent. He will do well to postpone the making of these payments, except in the rare cases in which credit is refused, until 14 days after the declaration of the result of the election, when he will know what are the total claims upon his candidate. Advertising for claims. When claims to be sent in. Account of candidate's personal expenses to be sent in. There is nothing in the Act to make it obligatory on the election agent to advertise for creditors to send in their claims. Creditors have public notice of the election agent's appointment, and they must be presumed to know the law, that their bills must be sent in to the election agent within 14 days next after the declaration of the result of the election. But it may sometimes be convenient to advertise for claims, and there is nothing in the Act to forbid an advertisement. Every claim against a candidate at an election, or his election agent (which in counties includes sub-agents acting in their own districts), in respect of any expenses incurred on account of or in respect of the conduct or management of the election, must be sent in to the election agent by a bill, stating the particulars of the claim, within fourteen days next after the day on which the candidates returned are declared elected (Sec. 29 of the Act of 1883). The time will run from the nomination day if there is no poll, and if there is a poll, from the day on which the returning officer declares the result of the poll. In the case of petitions against the return for corrupt practices, the time runs from the day on which the return comes to the hands of the clerk of the Crown so that he can act upon it. As the Act speaks of the claims being " sent in," and not of the time of their receipt, it would seem that if the returning officer declares the result on the 1st of a month, the claims may be posted or otherwise "sent 99 at any time, so that in the ordinary course of the post or other usual means of transmission adopted they will be delivered at the office of the election agent on or before the 15th of the month, i.e., within the fourteen days. It is to be remembered, that although a candidate is allowed (Sec. 31) himself to pay his personal expenses not exceeding £100 in connection with the election (which by Sec. 64 includes "the reasonable travelling expenses of such candidate and the reasonable expenses of his living at hotels or elsewhere for the purposes of and in relation to such election"), yet the candidate must, within fourteen days after the returning officer has declared the result of the election, send to the election agent a written statement of the amount of expenses the election bursements. the personal expenses paid by him. Seemingly, the particulars of the amount need not be stated. Any excess on account of personal expenses over £100 must be paid by the Personal election agent (Sec. 31), and any person authorised under over £100 Section 31, Sub-section 2, to make petty disbursements for to be paid by stationery, postage, telegrams and other expenses, must agent. within the same time, send to the election agent a statement of the particulars of the payments made by him, and he must Particulars of also send in a receipted bill vouching the payment (Sub- petty dissec. 3). The Act applies, so far as circumstances will admit, to the claims by the election agent for his remuneration and payment. He can hardly be bound to send his claim in to Remuneration himself, but he would do well to give notice of his claim of election within the fourteen days next after the declaration of the result to his candidate. His claim must then be satisfied by the candidate within the next fourteen days (Sec. 32), otherwise it will become a "disputed claim," and be dealt with accordingly. Compare Section 29, Sub-sections 7 and 8 and Section 30. agent. officer's The returning officer must transmit to the election agent, Returning within twenty-one days after the return, an account of the charges. charges claimed by him. (Sec. 32, Sub.-sec. 2). The account need not be sent to the candidate or anybody else, Cf. the statute, 38 & 39 Vict., c. 84. As to the power of the returning officer to require security for the payment of his charges and the amount of the security which can be required, and the amount of the charges, see the statute 38 & 39 Vict., c. 84. barred. If a claim be not "sent in " within the proper time, the Late claims creditor will be barred of all right of action against the candidate or the election agent. They are prohibited from paying any late claim, and if the election agent should pay any such claim he would be guilty of an illegal practice. But certain relief against this somewhat severe enactment may be obtained upon conditions, under Sub-sections 6 and 9 of Section 29 of the Act of 1883, which will be dealt with presently. The election agent having received the claims against his |