shall actually be made, the same shall for every qualification or franchise depending upon rating or upon payment of rates, be deemed to have been duly made in pursuance of every or any agreement, order, notice or proceeding necessary for the validity thereof under that Act, and to be an allowance or deduction which the overseers were empowered to make; and that no qualification or franchise depending upon rating or upon payment of rates, shall be defeated by reason of such allowance or deduction not having been made in pursuance of an agreement in writing, order in writing, or notice in writing, or by reason of the want or insufficiency of any agreement, order, notice, or proceeding necessary for the validity thereof under the Act, or by reason of any informality or defect in the making thereof."

The rates referred to are rates which have "become payable" up to the last preceding 5th of January. A poor rate which has been duly made by the overseers and allowed by the justices becomes due as soon as it has been published in the manner required by law (17 Geo. 2, c. 3, s. I; I Vict., c. 45, s. 2), and a demand upon the ratepayer, though necessary before proceedings can be taken against him to recover the amount, is not necessary to render the amount due.

The overseers who make the poor rate for a period exceeding three months, may under sec. 15 of the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869 (32 & 33 Vict., c. 41), declare that the rate shall be paid by instalments at such times as they shall specify, and, thereupon, each instalment only is enforceable as and when it falls due; and the payment of any such instalment is as respects any qualification or franchise depending upon the payment of the poor rate to be deemed a payment of such rate in respect of the period to which the instalment applies. When a poor rate is payable by instalments, the overseers are to set forth in the title of the rate the amount of each instalment, and the date at which each instalment is payable.

With regard to a borough rate payable by instalments, see sec. 33 (3). In certain cases a rate may become payable by a person although he may not have been assessed to the rate at the time that the rate was made. With regard to persons who become occupiers of tenements which were unoccupied at the time of the making of the rate, or who succeed other occupiers before the rate is wholly discharged, sec. 16 of the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869 (32 & 33 Vict., c. 41), enacts as follows:-"If the occupier assessed in the rate when made shall cease to occupy before the rate shall have been wholly discharged, or if the hereditaments being unoccupied at the time of the making of the rate become occupied during the period for which the rate is made, the overseers shall enter in the rate book the name of the person who succeeds or comes into the occupation, as the case may be, and the date when such occupation commences, as far as the same shall be known to them; and such occupier shall thenceforth be deemed to have been actually rated from the date so entered by the overseers, and shall be liable to pay so much of the rate as shall be proportionate to the time between the commencement of his occupation and the expiration of the period for which the rate was made, in like manner and with the like remedy of appeal, as if he had been rated when the rate was made." The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1868 (31 & 32 Vict., c. 122), has the following provision to meet the cases of occupiers of new houses or buildings :-"When any person shall occupy any new house or other building in any parish where the poor rate is not made under the provisions of a local Act, which house or building was incomplete, or not fit for occupation (or was not entered as such in the valuation list in force in the parish at the time when the current rate for the time being was made), the overseers may enter such house or building, with the name of the occupier thereof, and the date of the entry in the rate book, and require the occupier to pay such amount as according to their judgment shall be the proper sum, having due regard to the rateable value of such house or building, and the time which shall have elapsed from the making of the current rate to the date of such entry, and the person so charged shall be considered as actually rated from such date,

and shall be liable to pay the sum assessed in like manner and subject to the like penalty of distress, and with the like power of appeal, as if he had been assessed for the same when the rate was made.

The non-payment of an illegal rate, although the rate may not have been appealed against, will not disqualify. R. v. Mayor of New Windsor, 7 Q. B. 908. A rate which does not by its heading or otherwise on the face of it show by what authority and for what purpose it is made, is void. Eastern Counties Railway v. Churchwardens and Overseers of Moulton, 5 E. & B. 974; 25 L. J., M. C. 49. A poor rate which has not been duly allowed by justices, R. v. Dyott, or has not been duly published is a nullity, and non-payment does not disqualify. Fox v. Davies, 18 L. J., C. P. 48; 6 C. B. 11. L. R., 9 Q. B 47.

When a poor rate allowed by two justices was made by the majority of the parish officers, that majority being obtained by the assistant overseer joining in making the rate, such assistant overseer having been appointed by the vestry to perform all the duties incident to the office of overseer, except the collection of rates, it was held that the rate was so far presumably valid that its nonBaker v. Locke, 34 L. J., C. P. 49; H & P. 137; payment disqualified. II L. T., N.S. 567; 11 Jur., N.S. 65.

In a case in which it appeared that the rates had been paid for the occupiers by persons who belonged to a political party in the borough, and, as was believed, for political purposes, the overseers giving receipts for the gross sums to the parties paying and none to the persons in whose names the payments were made, it was held that this payment of the rates by third parties was not sufficient, and that the occupiers were not entitled to be placed on the burgess list. R. v. Mayor of Bridgnorth, 10 A. & E. 66; 2 P. & D. 317; 3 Jur., 384.

With regard to the term "borough rate," it was held in R. v. Mayor of Lichfield, 2 Q. B. 693, that the non-payment of a rate levied under a local Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching and regulating the streets, &c., did not disqualify.

6 As to "aliens," see the Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict., c. 14). 7 The words "union or parochial relief" are substituted for "parochial relief" in the former Act, as in unions the cost of relief is now a union and not a parochial charge.

All relief given to or on account of the wife, or to or on account of any child or children under the age of 16, not being blind or deaf and dumb, is to be considered as given to the husband of such wife, or to the father of such child or children, and any relief given to or on account of any child or children under the age of 16, of any widow, is to be considered as given to such widow (4 & 5 Wm. 4, c. 76, s. 56).

Every man who marries a woman having a child or children at the time of such marriage, whether the child or children be legitimate or illegitimate, is liable to maintain such child or children as part of his family, and is chargeable with all relief, or the cost price thereof, granted to or on account of such child or children, until such child or children shall respectively attain the age of 16, or until the death of the mother of such child or children (4 & 5 Wm. 4, c. 76, s. 57).

With regard to illegitimate children sec. 71 of the 4 & 5 Wm. IV., c. 76, provides that the mother of a child born a bastard, so long as she shall be unmarried, or a widow, shall be bound to maintain such child as a part of her family until the child attains the age of 16, and that all relief granted to the child while under the age of 16 shall be considered as granted to the mother.

Union or parochial relief granted to the father is not relief to the son. Children are not bound by law to support their parents, except under an order of justices, under the statute of Elizabeth, the justices having to inquire into the respective positions of the parties. R. v. Ireland, L. R. 3 Q. B. 130; Trotter v. Trevor, 32 L. J., C. P. 59.

The excusal of a poor rate by justices upon proof of inability through poverty to pay the rate is not parochial relief within the meaning of the Act. v. Dunn, 6 C. B. R. 30; 18 L. J., C. P. 13.

Mashiter

In R. v. Mayor of Lichfield, 2 Q. B. 693; 2 G. & D. 10; 6 Jur., 624, it was held that in construing the words "parochial relief or other alms,” the word "alms was to be considered as applying only to such alms as are parochial. The receipt of moneys distributed annually from the income of a public charitable institution established by an individual for the use and benefit of the poor householders of the borough not receiving relief from any parish was held, therefore, not to disqualify. The word "alms" was not, however, so construed in a more recent case (Harrison v. Carter, L. R., 2 C. P. D. 26; 46 L. J., C. P. 57; 35 L. T., N.S. 511) with reference to the disqualification under sec. 36 of the Reform Act, 2 Wm. IV., c. 45, of a person who has received" parochial relief or other alms which by the law of Parliament now disqualify from voting in the election of members to serve in Parliament." In that case it appeared that lands were devised to trustees upon trust to apply the rents, &c., for the putting forth and placing abroad of poor children of the tything of W., the surplus to be distributed unto the poorest inhabitants of the said tything." The surplus was distributed once a year amongst some 80 of the labouring population according to the discretion of the trustees, and without solicitation, in sums varying from 2s. 6d. to 12s. 6d., according to the necessities of the recipient and the number of his family. C. and P., two agricultural labourers with large families, received a sum of 12s. 6d. each from the charity, and it was held that this was a receipt of "alms," which disqualified them from being registered as voters.

By the Vaccination Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict., c. 84), it is provided that the vaccination or the surgical or medical assistance incident to the vaccination of any person performed or rendered by a public vaccinator, shall not be considered to be parochial relief, alms, or charitable allowance to such person or his parents, and no such person or his parent shall by reason thereof be deprived of any right or privilege, or be subject to any disability or disqualification.

When the school board remit the whole or any part of the school fee in the case of a child on the ground that the parent of the child is unable from poverty to pay the same, "such remission shall not be deemed to be parochial relief given to such parent," (Elementary Education Act, 1870, 33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, s. 17); and when the guardians under sec. 10 of the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict., c. 79), pay the school fee at a public elementary school of a non-pauper child, whose parent is unable by reason of poverty to pay the fee, the parent shall not by reason of such payment "be deprived of any franchise, right, or privilege, or be subject to any disability or disqualification."

A person is not to be disentitled to be enrolled as a burgess by reason only that he has received medical or surgical assistance from the trustees of the municipal charities, or has been removed by order of a justice to a hospital or place for reception of the sick at the cost of any local authority, or that his child has been admitted to and taught in any public or endowed school. (See sec. 33 (4) and note thereon).

8 See sec. 80 of this Act as to disqualifications for corrupt practices in municipal elections.

Any person who at the election of any member of a school board, or any officer appointed for the purpose of such election, is guilty of corrupt practices, (corrupt practices including all bribery, treating and undue influence which under any Act relating to a parliamentary election renders such election void), is, on conviction of the offence, disqualified for the term of six years after such election from exercising any franchise at a municipal election (33 & 34 Vict., c. 75, s. 91).

By 33 & 34 Vict., c. 23, s. 2, a person who, after the passing of that Act, is convicted of treason or felony for which he is sentenced to death or penal servitude, or any term of imprisonment with hard labour exceeding twelve

months, is incapable of exercising any municipal franchise until he has suffered the punishment to which he has been sentenced, or such other punishment as by competent authority may be substituted for the same, or shall receive a free pardon.

See also sec. 124, which provides, that if any member of a municipal corporation authorizes or directs any payment or application forbidden by that section, or assents to, or concurs or participates in, any affirmative vote, or proceeding relating thereto, or signs or seals in his individual capacity, or affixes the corporate seal to any instrument by that section declared void, he shall on conviction thereof, be for ever disabled to take, hold, or exercise any office in the same corporation.

COUNCIL; MAYOR, ALDERMEN, AND COUNCILLORS.

Constitution of Council.

10.-(1.) The municipal corporation of a borough shall be capable of acting by the council of the borough, and the council shall exercise all powers vested in the corporation by this Act or otherwise.

(2.) The council shall consist of the mayor, aldermen,

and councillors.

Qualification of Councillor.

11.-(1.) The councillors shall be fit persons elected by the burgesses.

(2.) A person shall not be qualified to be elected or to be a councillor, unless he

(a.) Is enrolled and entitled to be enrolled as a burgess; or (b.) Being entitled to be so enrolled in all respects except

that of residence, is resident beyond seven miles but within fifteen miles of the borough, and is entered in the separate non-resident list directed by this Act to be made; and

(c.) In either of those cases, is seised or possessed of real or personal property or both, to the value or amount, in the case of a borough having four or more wards, of one thousand pounds, and in the case of any other borough, of five hundred pounds, or is rated to the poor rate in the borough, in the case of a borough having four or more wards, on the annual value of thirty pounds, and in the case of any other borough of fifteen pounds.4

(3.) Provided, that every person shall be qualified to be elected and to be a councillor, who is, at the time of election, qualified to elect to the office of councillor; which last-mentioned qualification for being elected shall be alternative for and shall not repeal or take away any other qualification."

(4.) But if a person qualified under the last foregoing proviso ceases for six months to reside in the borough, he shall cease to be qualified under that proviso, and his office shall become vacant, unless he was at the time of his election and continues to be qualified in some other manner.

1 For qualification of burgesses, see sec. 9. As to persons disqualified for being elected and for being councillors, see sec. 12.

When a councillor after election is alleged to have become disqualified and the office is de facto full, the council have no authority to determine whether or not the office has been vacated. The title to the office must be determined by quo warranto before there can be an election to fill the vacancy.

In the case of a councillor who, during his term of office was omitted from the burgess list, in consequence of his not having paid a certain rate, but who continued to exercise the office, the court on affidavit of these facts refused a mandamus to proceed to a new election, on the ground that the vacancy should be first ascertained by judgment on a quo warran'o information. R. v. Phippen & Ricketts, 7 A & E. 966; R. v. Ricketts, 7 L. J., Q B. 71; see also R. v. Colchester, 2 T. R. 259; and R. v. Mayor, &c., of Chester, 25 L. J., Q. B. 61.

If a councillor is declared bankrupt or compounds by deed with his creditors, or makes an arrangement or composition with his creditors under the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, by deed or otherwise, his office is to be declared vacant, as provided by sec 39; but it would appear that except in the case of a person who becomes disqualified under that section, a burgess who is an uncertificated bankrupt is not disqualified for election as a councillor. R. v. Chitty, 5 A. & E. 609; 1 N. & P. 78.

* Under this clause, to qualify a person to be elected, or to be a councillor, he must not only be enrolled in the burgess roll, but be entitled to be so enrolled. This is in accordance with the decision in Middleton v. Simpson, L. R., 5 C. P. D. 183. The case of a person who was entitled to be enrolled but has not been enrolled, does not come within the provision.

3 As to the mode of measuring distance, see sec. 231, and as to non-resident list, sec. 49.

See notes to sec. 9 (c) as to what constitutes residence.

4 "Annual value" is the rateable value on which the poor rate is assessed. Baker v. Marsh, 24 L. J., Q. B. 1; 4 E. & B. 144; 1 Jur. N.S. 44.

As to provisions with reference to qualifications dependent on rating to the poor rate, see note to sec. 9 (2) (d).

An increase of the number of wards in a borough does not affect the quali fication of the councillors. See sec. 30 (9).

With regard to declarations as to qualification by estate, see sec. 35, and form of declaration in Eighth Schedule. The real and personal estate must be

over and above what will satisfy “just debts."

This is an alternative qualification. A person enrolled as a burgess is qualified to elect to the office of councillor. This clause will not, however, apply to a person who is resident beyond seven miles and within fifteen miles of the borough, and is entered in the separate non-resident list under sec. 49. Sub-sections (b) and (c) apply to this case.