a time, on their way to market, would not affect the qualification.1

The subjects on which tenants may qualify are "lands, houses, or other heritable subjects." It will be observed that feu-duties are not included, as in the case of proprietors.

SECT. 2.-Voters in Burghs.

Those entitled to be enrolled in burghs are,

1st, Occupants within the bounds of the respective burghs, as laid down in schedule M of the act 2d and 3d Wm. IV. c. 65, in the quality of proprietor, tenant, or liferenter, of any house, warehouse, counting-house, shop, or other building, which, taken by itself, or along with any other such building, or along with any land within the bounds owned and occupied by the occupier of the building, or held by him under the same landlord, is of the yearly value of £10. The occupancy must have lasted for twelve months previous to the last day of July of the year of enrolment; and all assessed taxes in respect of the premises payable before the 6th of April preceding, must have been paid before the 20th of July. Persons may be registered on successive premises, if they have fulfilled the regulation as to assessed taxes, &c., and where premises are of the yearly value of £20 or upwards, one or more joint occupants, each having an interest of the yearly value of £10, may be registered.3

2d, Proprietors of similar premises of the yearly value of £10, though they do not occupy premises within the bounds, or occupy premises of a less annual value than £10. The husbands of such owners are entitled to vote in right of their wives, and after the death of the latter, in their right of courtesy.5

Residence.-No one can be registered who has not resided in the burgh or within seven statute miles of it for six months previous to the last day of July, or who has been in receipt of parochial relief at any time during twelve months previous to the same period."

Decisions as to Burghs.-There is a generic distinction between county and burgh qualifications in this, that the former are derived from land or tenements; the latter are derived from tenements-lands merely forming an accessory. Claims on land within burgh on which no houses are built,

1 Swinton p. 58.-2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 65, § 11.3 Ibid. § 12. Ibid. § 11. Ibid. Ibid.

3

have therefore been rejected.1 Feu-duties ground a claim in counties (§ 7), not in burghs. On the other hand, it has been held that feu-duties are not to be deducted in estimating burgh qualifications.2 Though the clause giving the liferenter a preference to the fiar does not apply to burghs, fiars within burgh have generally been found excluded by liferenters. It has been held in one case that a tenement belonging to a claimant, but not occupied by him, cannot be added to one which he occupies as tenant, to make up a qualification; and the same decision was given in an attempt to constitute a claim by joining two tenements occupied under different landlords, one of them having land attached to it. There has been much difference of opinion as to the admission of lodgers as joint tenants. In Edinburgh they have been admitted. It seems not to be doubted that a lodger who pays a rent of £10 or upwards for mere houseroom, without furniture or attendance, has the franchise, and that the sum he pays must be deducted from any rent on which the keeper of the lodgings may desire to qualify. Where a son was his father's partner to the extent of buying and selling, but was not entitled to dispose of his interest, he was found not to have a qualification as a joint tenant. Joint proprietors have been found not to be qualified in burghs unless they be also occupants.3

SECT. 3.-Claims.

Counties. In counties, schoolmasters furnish, for 6d. each, blank printed forms, on which the claims must be filled up and signed by claimants or their agents; and forms on which objections may be written for voters or claimants, and subscribed by them or their agents, are provided at the same cost.9 The claims are made according to the form in schedule F of the Act. One of the departments in the schedule is the claimant's "designation," and it has been accordingly found that where he has a calling it should be specified, and that if he has none, some general term indicative that he has none, such as Residenter," must be used.10 The claimant must set forth the particular character in which he claims the franchise, and if he either claim in a wrong character, or is materially inaccurate or incomplete in the

66

1 Ayr, 1832.-2 Wood, Ayr, App. 1835.-3 Cay, 50 a.- Cairnie, Ayr, App. 1836.5 Wigton, 1832.- Swinton's Digest, p. 37.-7 Leith, 1832. 8 Swinton's Digest, p. 66.-9 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 65, § 13.-10 See Decisions in Swinton's Digest, 14, 15.

statement, the claim will be bad. Thus claimants in burghs, who use the word "tenant," without adding " and occupant," are always rejected. The subject on which the vote is claimed must be described in such a manner as to give any objector an opportunity of discovering it. It is obvious that the same species of description which may suffice for a county qualification will not generally be sufficient in burghs, and that a claim not on occupancy must be more specific than one which indicates that the claimant resides on the premises. It is generally expedient, for claimants on property in burghs, not only to mention the street or quarter of the town, but to give the name of an occupant of the premises. Both in county and burgh claims, the parish must be set forth.3

Between the 10th and 20th June annually, the sheriffclerk advertises (by intimation on the various churches, or, if he see cause, through a newspaper), that claims and titles, and any objections to voters previously put on the register, must be given in to the parish schoolmasters before the 20th July. Claimants are at liberty to lodge their written titles with the sheriff-clerk on any day previous to the 10th August.4

The schoolmaster, on receiving each filled up claim (which must be accompanied with a fee of 2s. to the sheriff-clerk, § 39), marks on it the day of its being presented. He makes up an alphabetical list of claimants within his parish, with their designations and places of abode, and affixes it to the church-door (except in certain island parishes in the counties of Inverness, Ross, Argyll, and Orkney and Shetland, § 43), on or before the 24th of July. The schoolmaster annexes to the list a note of the times when, and the places where, the Sheriff is to examine those claims to which no objections are lodged, and directs all objections to claims to be lodged before the 5th August. Every objector must give notice to the party objected to within two days, by intimation delivered or sent through the post to him, or his known agent; and proof of notice must be made before an objection is considered by the Sheriff. Whether a party already on the roll can be objected to, where there is no change of circumstances in his qualification, has been disputed; there have been decisions on both sides, and in some courts the question

1 See Decisions in Swinton's Digest, p. 22. Fleming, Glasgow, 1838.Ibid. 39. Ibid. 88.- 2 & 3 Wm. ÍV. c. 65, § 13.5 Ibid. §§ 13, 22.Ibid. § 13.

whether the enrolment was opposed or not, has been allowed to weigh. The claims and objections are to be delivered by the schoolmaster to the sheriff-clerk on or before the 8th August, and the whole must be lodged with the Sheriff on or before the 12th of that month, who is to decide on their merits by the 15th of September."

Burghs. In burghs, the town-clerks perform, to a certain extent, the duties both of sheriff-clerks and schoolmasters in counties. They give out and receive the claims and objections, as above described. The lists of new claimants must be intimated on the church-doors on or before the 26th of July; the objections must be given in on or before the 10th August, and the claims and objections are laid before the sheriff on or before the 12th of August, he deciding on them on or before the 15th of September. There is no provision for receiving the titles of burgh claimants at a later period than their claims.

2

SECT. 4.-Registration Court.

The sheriff separates the claims objected to from those which are not so. He proceeds, in the first place, to the consideration of the latter, and having first admitted those which are accompanied by a satisfactory title, he examines those supported by no written title, or an imperfect one, hears parties and takes proof, and admits or rejects according to circumstances, returning the rejected claims to the clerk to be delivered to the parties.3 The sheriff, in the next place, examines the claims objected to, hears parties, and decides on them.4

No written pleadings are allowed; but in cases where claims are rejected without being objected to, or when parties have been heard on claims objected to, the sheriff takes a note of the statements, pleas, and witnesses' names, and attests the documents; and no other statements, pleas, witnesses, or documents, but those so minuted or attested, can be founded on in appeals.5

Appeals.-Appeals from the district comprised within each circuit, lie to the sheriffs liable in attendance at the circuit courts, who must begin to hold their court between the 15th and 25th of September (one week's notice of the day being given by advertisement), and conclude their sittings on or before the 20th October. The sheriffdom of Orkney and

12 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 65, §§ 13, 22.-2 Ibid. § 22.-3 Ibid. § 17.— Ibid. § 18.- Ibid. § 19.

Where

Shetland is for this end considered in Inverness. there are not three sheriffs present at the circuit, the number is to be filled up, by special appointment, by the judges at the circuit. Appeals from the counties of Edinburgh, Haddington, and Linlithgow, lie with the sheriffs of these three counties jointly, sitting at Edinburgh.1

SECT. 5.-Proclamation of Writ.

Each sheriff, on receiving a writ for the election of a member, indorses on it the day on which he received it. He then appoints a day for the election, which (except in the insular parishes, &c., above referred to) must be intimated on the church-door.2 In counties, and in the Wick and Ayr districts of burghs, the announcement must be made within three days, and the day fixed on must be not less than ten, or more than sixteen, from the day of receiving the writ.3 In the other districts of burghs, the time is to be announced within two days, and must be not less than four, or more than ten, from that of receiving the writ. In Orkney and Shetland, the sheriff of Orkney, who receives the writ at Kirkwall, within twenty-four hours issues a precept to the sheriff-substitute in Shetland, fixing a day not less than twelve or more than sixteen after receipt of the writ.5

On the day fixed, the sheriff proclaims the writ at the market cross; and if there is no opposition, declares, on a show of hands, the candidate proposed duly elected." there is opposition, and a poll is demanded, the election must be adjourned for a period not exceeding two free days in counties, and three free days in towns, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays.7 In Orkney and Shetland, the adjournment is for not less than ten or more than fourteen days; and in the Wick district of burghs it may be extended to seven days. When a voter, in a district of burghs, proposes a candidate, the hustings not being in that burgh for which he is enrolled, he must satisfy the sheriff of his qualification, by producing an extract from the register, and he may be required to make oath that he is qualified.9

SECT. 6.-Polling.

By the reform act, sheriffs were appointed to divide the

2

12 & 3 Wm. IV. c, 65, § 2%, and 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 78, § 12.. 2&3 Wm. IV. §§ 28, 43.3 Ibid. § 28. 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 78, § 2.- 5 & 6 Wm. IV. § 1.- 2 & 3 Wm. IV. § 31.- Ibid. §§ 29, 30.- Ibid. §§ 29, 30.- Ibid. §§ 30, 31.-9 Ibid. c. 65, § 30.