householder resiant, or as an inhabitant of such city or borough, unless he shall have been actually and bona fide an inhabitant, &c. within such city, &c. 6 calendar months previous to the day of the election; and if any person shall vote contrary to this act, his vote shall be void, and he shall forfeit £.20 to any person who shall sue for the same by action of debt at Westminster; and in every such action the proof of inhabitancy shall lie upon the person sued, provided such action be commenced within 6 calendar months after the cause of action accrued; but this act is not to extend to any person acquiring the possession of any house in any city, &c. by descent, devise, marriage, or marriage-settlement, or promotion to any office or benefice;-nor by s. 2. to any other description of persons who may claim to vote at such elections by any other title than as above, or by any other superadded qualification. In order the better to prevent perjury and occasional votes, the 35 Geo. 3. c. 29. s. 63. Ir. also provides, that no person 35 Geo. 3.c.29. shall be suffered to vote at any election of members, in Inhabitants of right of being an inhabitant, without having been regis- boroughs to be registered. tered 12 calendar months before the teste of the writ, as therein mentioned, thereby referring to section 55, which enacts that every resident inhabitant claiming a right to vote as being an inhabitant of a borough, where the right of voting is in the inhabitants, or in the inhabitants and others, shall at some quarter-sessions, or adjournment thereof, in open court, before the justices of the county wherein such borough lies, take the following oath or affirmation. "I A. B. do swear (or if a quaker "do affirm) that I am a resident inhabitant of " and householder in the borough of—in the county ofand that my house is situated in "(here naming the street, lane, alley, row, or, "place) and that my neighbours are-and"and that I have resided in said house for 6 calendar "months last past, and that I am not an inmate or lodger with any other person in the said borough, but 66 am really and truly a resident inhabitant of, and housekeeper in the said borough, and am answerable for "payment .s. 63. Ir. & 55.1 Oath. s. 56. served there upon. payment of the usual customary taxes and cesses in "said borough, as a resident householder therein, which "shall or may be legally demanded of me, and that my "said house, exclusive of my land annexed to or let "with it, except the ground whereon my house (with its "offices and back or other yard) stand, is, to the best "of my knowledge and belief, worth the sum of £.5 yearly, and that I believe the same may be let for "said sum of £.5 yearly to a responsible tenant, and "that I am, to the best of my knowledge and belief, of the age of 21 years and upwards." So help me Godwhich oath, &c. shall be taken by every such inhabitant, in all cases in which he shall be required to register his residence; and by s. 56. when any inhabitant of such Forms to be ob- borough shall desire to have his residence registered, he shall swear or affirm the aforesaid affidavit or affirmation, which shall be then read aloud in open court, and the person so registering shall sign the same, or affix his mark thereto, before 2 witnesses, who shall also sign the same, and the court shall deliver it to the acting clerk of the peace, who shall immediately affix the paper containing the affidavit or affirmation, in a book to be by him kept for that purpose, and then the court shall sign it, and date it according to the date of the month and year; and by s. 57. the names of the persons making such affidavits shall be alphabetically arranged in an index at Names alphabetical in clerks the end of the same book, and the page where the affidavit of the said inhabitant may be found, and such inhabitants names shall be so entered immediately after the corresponding affidavit, &c. shall have been entered in the registry book, without the intervention of any other business; for the inserting which affidavit, &c. entry or registry, and indorsing the same, 6d. fee shall be paid to the acting clerk of the peace. By s. 58. the -said book shall be kept by the clerk of the peace amongst the records of the county, and be preserved without addition or alteration, from one quarter session to another, neither writing in the same, nor permitting any other to write therein, but the same shall be open to the inspection of any registered inhabitant of such borough, book. 8. 57. s. 58. Fooks kept by clerk of the peace open to inspec : at s. 59. Book kept by at any time between the hours of 12 and 2 o'clock in the day time, when such inhabitant shall require it, upon his giving 24 hours notice, except only on sundays and the greater feasts, he paying for the same 1s. for each inspection, but being debarred the use of pen and ink during the time; if however any person having or claiming a vote in such borough, shall require of the clerk of the peace to furnish him with a copy of the registry book, or any part thereof, he shall furnish such voter, within a reasonable time, with a true written copy thereof, charging for the same at the rate of 2d. for every 4 inhabitants so registered, contained in said copy including the index; and the clerk of the peace is thereby also required to furnish any person having or claiming to have a vote, with a copy of the index or any part thereof, within 8 days after demand, charging for the same at the rate of 1d. for every 10 names. By s. 59. the acting clerk of the peace on the last day of every quarter sessions, shall insert a true copy of such entries or registries, as he shall have made during the course of the said quarter sessions, with an index thereto, in a book exactly similar to his own, to be kept by the church wardens of the parish or parishes wherein the borough lies, or by one of them, to be by them carried to every quarter sessions, and there intrusted to the acting clerk of the peace for that pur pose on the last day of each quarter sessions, and at no other time; and the church wardens shall preserve the said book without alteration, not writing in it themselves, nor permitting any other person to write therein, except the clerk of the peace as aforesaid. By s. 61. at every quarter session held next after the 1st day of August in every year, for any county wherein there is Adjournment situated any borough or part of any borough, wherein registry. the right of voting is vested in the inhabitants in general, or in the inhabitants and others, the justices are required to adjourn the same to some convenient day, within 3 weeks from the holding of such sessions, to some convenient place in such borough, for the purpose of there registering the names of such persons claiming a right to vote in such boroughs, as shall desire to be registered; and s. 61. of sessions for &. 63. and by s. 63. no person claiming to vote in right of being an inhabitant only, shall vote for any member, when a Registry a qua- right of voting is vested in the inhabitants in general, fication for bitunts. 3. 64. Oath where the counites. s. 65. soting as inha- or inhabitants and others, who shall not appear to have been first registered in said books, or one of them, in the manner above prescribed (by s. 55.) 12 calendar months before the time of holding such election; but this act provides, s. 64. that when any such borough shall be situate in two different counties, every inhabitant in borough in two whom the right of, voting is vested, may in the oath, &c. prescribed to be taken at the time of registering, or in the oath which he by s. 63. may be called upon to take at any election, substitute the words "resident inhabi "tant of that part of the borough of—which "lieth in the county of" for the words "resident in"habitant of the borough of—in the -in the county of" By s. 65. if any such inhabitant of such borough shall find that the acting clerk of the peace has wilfully or Penalty for negligence of clerk negligently acted in disobedience of this act, by not reof the peace. gistering his residence as thereby directed, having been thereunto duly required, and by not giving to the churchwardens of said borough, a copy of the registry book in manner aforesaid, or by erasing, tearing out, or designedly making the same or any part thereof illegible, or designedly or through neglect suffering any person to do so, such inhabitant shall recover from the acting clerk of the peace, by civil bill, the sum of £. 20, process being served 12 days inclusive before the 1st day of the assizes; and in order that the recovery of such penalties may be the more easy, it is provided s. 66. that the actCertificate of ing clerk of the peace, upon receipt of 6d. as aforesaid, shall deliver to the inhabitant a certificate signed by the court, and countersigned by himself, of his being duly registered, which certificate when proved, shall be sufficient evidence upon any civil bill for the aforesaid penalty; and by s. 67, if the registry book to be kept by the clerk of the peace, and the copy thereof to be kept by the church-wardens, shall both be proved upon, oath, before the returning officer of the borough, to have been lost, destroyed, or withheld, or so defaced s. 66. registry. 6. 67. that s. 68. $. 69, churchwardens, that the affidavits shall be illegible, either previous to or during the election, in such case any of the said certificates when proved shall be sufficient evidence upon the election, that the inhabitant producing the same has been duly registered. By s. 68. any person (not excepting the clerk of the peace or church-warden) who shall Stealing or alsteal, destroy, or maliciously alter the said registry tering, &c. Te books, or either of them, or negligently or wilfully suf- gistry books. fer the same to be done, shall suffer 3 years imprisonment. It is also provided by s. 69, that such churchwardens as shall receive the registry-book from the clerk Delivery of reof the peace upon the holding of any election, shall return gistry book by the same to the clerk of the peace or his order, imme- &c. diately upon being thereunto required; and such person in said office who shall have the other of said books in his possession at the expiration of his office, shall deliver the same to his successor, immediately upon being by him thereunto required, or within 10 days after the expiration of said office if not sooner required; and by s. 70, any person who shall unlawfully detain, or refuse to deliver up said books, or either of them, as aforesaid, shall delivering such forfeit £.10 for every day he shall unlawfully detain the same, to be recovered by civil bill before the judges of assize in any county where such offence shall be committed; and shall also, upon conviction of such offence before the judges of assize of such county, suffer one months imprisonment for every day he shall so detain the same; it is further enacted, s. 71., that the churchwardens in such parishes as aforesaid, in case of any neglect or refusal to comply with the several matters required of them, shall forfeit £.100, to be recovered by any person who shall sue for the same in any court of record, s. 70. Penalties for not books. 7 & 8 W. 3. 25. s. 8. Eng. 35 Geo. 3. c,28. 25. ir. s. It is a provision which is common to the law of both Minors incapacountries, and applying to elections in general, whether citated to vote. for counties, cities, or boroughs, that no person shall be admitted to vote at any election of a member or members to serve in parliament, who is under the age of 21 years; a clause to this effect being contained in the 7 & 8 W. 3. c. 25, s. 8. Eng. and 35 Geǝ. 3. c. 29, s. 25. Ir. E By VOL. I. |