Constitutions of the World from the late 18th Century to the Middle of the 19th Century: Vol. 1 Constitutional Documents of the United Kingdom 1782 – 1835 9783598440526, 9783598356810

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Crewe’s Act (1782)
Clerke’s Act (1782)
Fox’s Libel Act (1792)
The Conspiracy Act (1794)
The Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act (1795)
The Seditious Meetings Act (1795)
The Suppression of Radical Societies Act (1799)
The Act of Union between Britain and Ireland (1800)
The Regency Act (1811)
The Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act (1828)
Roman Catholic Emancipation Act (1829)
The Great Reform Act (England and Wales, 1832)
The Great Reform Act (Scotland, 1832)
The Great Reform Act (Ireland, 1832)
The Municipal Reform Act (1835)
Backmatter

Citation preview

Constitutions of the World from the late 18th Century to the Middle of the 19th Century Verfassungen der Welt vom späten 18. Jahrhundert bis Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts

Verfassungen der Welt vom späten 18. Jahrhundert bis Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts Quellen zur Herausbildung des modernen Konstitutionalismus Herausgegeben von Horst Dippel

Europa: Band 1 Verfassungsdokumente des Vereinigten Königreichs 1782–1835 Herausgegeben von H. T. Dickinson

K·G·Saur 2005

Constitutions of the World from the late 18th Century to the Middle of the 19th Century Sources on the Rise of Modern Constitutionalism Editor in Chief Horst Dippel

Europe: Volume 1 Constitutional Documents of the United Kingdom 1782–1835 Edited by H. T. Dickinson

K·G·Saur 2005

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.ddb.de.

Bibliografische Information Der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar.

U Printed on acid-free paper / Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier © 2005 by K . G. Saur Verlag GmbH, München Printed in Germany All Rights Strictly Reserved / Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Technical Partner: Dr. Rainer Ostermann, München Printed and Bound / Druck/Bindung: Strauss GmbH, Mörlenbach ISBN 3 - 598 - 35681-1

Table of Contents Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11

Crewe’s Act (1782) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

Clerke’s Act (1782) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19

Fox’s Libel Act (1792) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

The Conspiracy Act (1794) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

The Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act (1795) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

The Seditious Meetings Act (1795) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31

The Suppression of Radical Societies Act (1799) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41

The Act of Union between Britain and Ireland (1800) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57

The Regency Act (1811). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

87

The Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act (1828) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Roman Catholic Emancipation Act (1829) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The Great Reform Act (England and Wales, 1832) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 The Great Reform Act (Scotland, 1832) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 The Great Reform Act (Ireland, 1832) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 The Municipal Reform Act (1835). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

5

Government without a constitution, is power without a right. Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, II, 1792

Foreword Today, constitutions are taken for granted as fundamental documents, the sine qua non of any legitimate political order. Whether this attitude is based on faith in self-evident truths or mere complacency, it tends to make questions about traditions, shared values, and historic evolution seem mute. Actually, they are most pertinent, and a closer inspection reveals that our heritage, for the establishment of which many have risked their lives, is far from being commonly accepted and securely enshrined, whether in (new) states that have only recently adopted constitutionalism, or in what may be styled the founding states of modern constitutionalism. In fact, this has never been the case, whatever governments may have said about how secure liberty would be under their authority.

ries as modern constitutionalism. But in spite of this resounding achievement, the history of modern constitutionalism is still unwritten – to be more precise, it is, purely and simply, unknown.

The long history of modern constitutionalism, from its beginnings in the American and French revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century until today, differs from one country to the next, always depending on how formidable the opposition to its maxims and the rejection of its basic principles have been and may continue to be. Over all, however, it has been a singular success story. No other political principle has become so universally accepted within the last two centu-

This series has set itself the task of redressing this problem by publishing all constitutions and declarations of rights, including official but failed projects of this nature, that were drafted between 1776, the birth year of modern constitutionalism, and the end of 1849, a date marking – at least for many European countries – the end of the revolutionary biennium that represents a watershed in the evolution of modern constitutionalism. With only two exceptions, Hawaii and Liberia, these constitu-

A major reason for this deplorable state of affairs is the widespread ignorance of the sources. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, constitutions appear to be less readily consulted than in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for a number of reasons. One of them is that, except for a small number of documents, which tend to be constantly reprinted, the texts are not easily available. Even the persistent scholar faces difficulties when trying to gain access to most of them, be it in their original form or in a reliable modern edition.

7

FOREWORD

tions were written in Europe and the Americas. They will be published country by country, in authentic editions in their original official language, or languages, as the case may be. Securing a broad international reception of these hundreds of

8

documents written in some twenty different languages will necessitate complementing this edition with corresponding volumes of English translations. Horst Dippel

Acknowledgments I am most grateful to Professor H. T. Dickinson for having agreed, years ago, to be involved in this project and to contribute his singular expertise in British constitutional history of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The result is a unique and quite particular volume of texts from a country that always rejected the idea of modern constitutionalism while at the same time contributing more to its genesis and shape than, presumably, any other. Like constitutional government, an editorial project only comes into being by the people who enact and embody it in its diverse branches. I would like to express my thanks to the “citizens” of this project, who have devoted much of their time to getting the details of modern constitutionalism right: Dr. Thomas Clark, Margarita Cortés, Miriam Leitner, Matthias Schneider and Ralf Stockmann dwelt on matters of editing, indexing, project management, document processing and communications with contributors. The nitty-gritty particulars of processing a bewildering array of constitutional documents were tackled by Florian Albert, Valérie Cour-

tas, Juliane Güttich, May Güttler, Christian Mahnke, Nicole Maisch, Andrea Pristel and Ulrike Reinecke, while Angelika Ferrante provided secretarial skills. I am grateful for once again being able to cooperate with the K.G. Saur Verlag, whose considerable experience with largescale publishing ventures has greatly benefited this project. I would especially like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Christiane Raabe, microforms editor of the Saur Verlag, whose efforts were instrumental in getting the series set on its way, and Dr. Rainer Ostermann, who prepared the edition for printing in close cooperation with the project group. Generous funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) made this edition possible in the first place. My sincere thanks go to the DFG, and in particular to Michael Schuster, for enthusiastically supporting a project of this scope in times when the humanities are generally experiencing severe financial constraints. Horst Dippel

9

Introduction

The Constitutional Texts There are many good reasons for studying the British constitution in the period 1776 to 1849, but such a study presents considerable difficulties that are unique to Britain. In the later eighteenth century the British people prided themselves on living under the most stable constitution that they had ever enjoyed and under the freest constitution in Europe. Many enlightened men across Europe agreed with them. Admirers of the British constitution could list many admirable features that the constitution possessed: the monarch was subject to constitutional restraints; the executive could govern effectively only with the support of the two houses of parliament; sovereign power was shared by the combined legislature of King, House of Lords and House of Commons; parliament represented men of wealth, status and power; while even ordinary British subjects enjoyed many civil liberties under the rule of law (including the right to a trial when accused, the right to trial by jury, liberty of conscience and a free press). While it is quite easy to point to the virtues of the British constitution, it is also possible to list some of its weaknesses: the monarch could exploit crown patronage to influence the composition of both houses of parliament; some political rights at national and local level were officially open only to members of the established Church of England; and the parliamentary franchise was exercised by only about twenty per cent or less of adult males.

What cannot be done in Britain in this period – unlike a growing number of advanced countries elsewhere in the world at this time – is to produce the full and agreed text of the British constitution. The Americans in the newly independent United States of America began drafting written constitutions from 1776. The French Revolution led to similar developments in France in the 1790s and many other European states began to follow suit. Britain, however, never abandoned its unwritten, prescriptive constitution – at this time or at any period since. The British constitution of the later eighteenth century was already an ‘ancient constitution’ that was the product of traditions and customs developed over centuries. It was also the result of many hundreds of political actions and legislative acts that had become accepted by the ruling elite and by the people at large. Some limits to royal power had been achieved long ago by the Magna Carta of 1215, and these restrictions had been made more effective by civil war and the Glorious Revolution in the seventeenth century. A parliament had existed since the thirteenth century and it had steadily increased its powers and privileges since the sixteenth century. Parliament was summoned to meet every single year (right to the present day) after 1689 in order to provide the executive with much needed revenue. The executive had become steadily more accountable to the legislature and parliament passed an increasing number of statutes to benefit powerful interests in the nation as the eighteenth century progressed. The right

11

INTRODUCTION

to vote for the members of the House of Commons had been established over centuries by act of parliament and by the terms of hundreds of borough charters granted by the crown. Trial by jury was an ancient custom, while the right to a trial after arrest was enshrined by the act of habeas corpus of 1679. Some major aspects of the constitution, however, could not be traced to any particular political event, act of parliament or constitutional doctrine. The monarch’s right to veto bills passed by both houses of parliament was never used again after 1708, but there was no law to enforce what had simply become a constitutional practice. In the same way, there was no law to state that parliament must meet every year; it was simply summoned because the king’s government needed the substantial revenue granted by parliament. There was no constitutional law creating a cabinet of ministers or the position of Prime Minister, though both institutions were clearly in being by 1776. By the later eighteenth century the British also regularly boasted of possessing a free press, but no constitutional law enshrined such a privilege; rather the law establishing a system of censorship had lapsed in 1695 and was never renewed. Indeed, it might be argued that most British civil liberties existed not because a constitutional law had created them, but because no laws existed to say such liberties could not be exercised. The British constitution is unwritten and is prescriptive, and it has evolved organically over many centuries. It is therefore not possible to produce a text of it below in the way that it is possible to produce the texts of many American and European constitutions that were produced in the period from 1776 to 1849. What has been substituted here is a selec-

12

tion of the most important constitutional measures that can be safely regarded as legitimate constitutional documents because they were formally passed by act of the sovereign legislature of King, Lords and Commons and were enshrined in law. The first two texts below (Crewe’s Act and Clerke’s Act of 1782) reflect the constitutional beliefs of those politicians who had opposed the government’s disastrous policies towards the rebellious American colonies. These critics believed that the authoritarian stance of the government was only possible because crown influence had brought too many conservative men into parliament. Both acts sought to reduce crown influence over the composition of the House of Commons by preventing government contractors being elected as MPs and taking the right to vote away from revenue officers who were very likely to support government candidates in elections. Both acts are indicative of the strength of support for economical reform, as a means of making parliament more independent of the crown, but neither had much practical effect. It was the efforts of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and of later Prime Ministers – over many decades – to make financial savings by cutting down on government waste and on money spent on government pensions and sinecures that steadily weakened the number of reliable ‘king’s men’ in parliament. Texts 4 to 7 are examples of government repression during the 1790s, when William Pitt and a clear majority of the propertied classes sought to curb the political activities of radical reformers who were sympathetic to French revolutionary principles. These acts certainly restricted the civil liberties of radical political activists, but it is also true that they were

INTRODUCTION

passed in a constitutional manner by substantial majorities in both houses of parliament. It is also possible to claim that they had significant support in the country at large. These acts established due legal processes in order to curb radical activities, and historians have shown that few men were prosecuted under the terms of these acts and these acts soon lapsed as the fear of revolution at home receded. Text 3 (Fox’s Libel Act of 1792) shows that, on occasion, more liberal voices could still be heard in parliament. This act made it harder to convict those prosecuted for libel, because it allowed the jury, not the judge as formerly, to decide what was libellous. Several leading radicals accused of treason in 1794 undoubtedly benefited from the fact that juries in England were still not readily controlled by judges or the agents of government. The eighth text (the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland) is of crucial importance because it created the constitutional entity of the United Kingdom by establishing for the first time a single imperial legislature for the whole of the British Isles. The principality of Wales had never had a separate legislature and it was fully incorporated under the English parliament at Westminster by acts passed in 1534 and 1536. Scotland’s separate parliament in Edinburgh ceased to exist in 1707 when the act of union united it with the Westminster parliament as the sole legislature for Great Britain. Ireland retained its separate parliament in Dublin throughout the eighteenth-century, but it failed to produce stable government because it excluded all representatives of the large Catholic majority in the country (even after propertied Catholics had received the vote in 1793). The terrible Irish rebellion in 1798 convinced William Pitt

that a union of the legislatures of Ireland and Great Britain might end sectarian bitterness in Ireland. To make it effective, he planned to allow Catholics to sit in the enlarged Westminster parliament and to hold high office in the state. He believed it was possible to make this concession to the Catholic majority in Ireland because they would form only a minority of the voters in the whole British Isles. Unfortunately, the king, George III, believed it was against his coronation oath under a Protestant constitution to make this concession to Catholics. Many in the cabinet and a majority in parliament and the nation undoubtedly agreed with him. The failure to grant Catholic emancipation severely undermined the benefits of the Act of Union from the outset – and it also provoked Pitt’s resignation. The Regency Act of 1811 (Text 9) was passed because George III, after earlier short-term bouts of mental illness, was finally entirely unable to exercise his royal duties. An act of parliament was required to invest his eldest son, George Prince of Wales, with regal powers. The act enshrined the notion that the British monarch was a parliamentary monarchy and it reinforced the fact that parliament was jealous of its power in relation to the crown. The Prince of Wales served as regent until 1820, when the death of his father allowed him to ascend the throne as George IV. The succeeding texts printed below show how the British constitution that had largely been created or refashioned by the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 was finally subjected to significant reform. These reforms came largely as a result of those political, social and economic changes that made Britain a very different society by the 1830s. Protestant nonconformists in

13

INTRODUCTION

England had long resented the special privileges conferred on the majority who conformed to the established Church of England. They had campaigned for many decades for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, passed in the 1660s and 1670s, that sought to restrict office at national and local level to those who conformed to the Church of England. These acts were finally repealed in 1828 (Text 10). The next year, after a prolonged campaign by Catholics in Ireland led by Daniel O’Connell, Catholics throughout the British Isles were finally admitted to parliament and to high office in the state by the Catholic Emancipation Act (Text 11). Political radicals had been campaigning for parliamentary reform ever since the later 1760s. Some wanted a fully democratic House of Commons, with equal sized constituencies, the franchise for all adult males, the secret ballot and annual general elections. Others, a majority of reformers at least until after 1815, would have been satisfied with more moderate reform that would have given the urban middle classes in particular a greater representation in the House of Commons. They wanted the abolition of small constituencies, the transfer of these seats in parliament to the populous counties and large unrepresented towns such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. Severe divisions within the conservative Tory party and the coming to power of a reform-minded Whig government in 1830, finally led to the achievement of the great reform bills of 1832. It is often forgotten that these extended to the whole British Isles (Texts 12 to 14). These acts did not create a fully democratic electoral system, and they certainly disappointed the more advanced reformers who had

14

wanted much more. None the less, they undoubtedly opened a door to reform that could never again be closed and they proved that parliament could reform itself when a liberal-minded government in power had the backing of substantial support in the country at large. The parliamentary reform acts of 1832 were to show the way to a whole series of later reforms of the system of representation in Britain from the later nineteenth century to recent times. Long before that they served as a prelude to the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 (Text 15) which sought to reform local legislatures along similar lines to that achieved for the imperial parliament at Westminster. Town corporations were spread to urban areas that had not previously possessed them and these ceased to be narrow oligarchies but were opened to greater representation of the propertied middle classes.

The Source of the Texts The parliamentary statutes printed below have been taken from the relevant official volumes which over the period 1782 to 1835 published these selected statutes. As will be seen, the titles of these works changed over time. The texts below are reproduced as printed, retaining the original spelling and capitalization. The texts are headed with the brief title by which each act is usually known, the correct title given to the act by its framers, the exact date when it was passed (if this is known), and its official reference (This reference gives the number of the annual parliamentary session of the reign, the name of the monarch, and then the number of the act of that year (given as a capitulum or chapter number).

INTRODUCTION

The sovereign authority of parliament (that is, of the whole legislature of crown, Lords and Commons) was such that any constitutional act could be amended, extended, superseded or repealed by a subsequent act of parliament. These acts had no special status and there was therefore no need for a special process of the kind needed to amend the United States constitution. The subsequent repeal or development of the acts printed below can be found in any modern issue of the Chronological Table of Statutes, published regularly by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office in London. Brief details of these changes are noted below for each act that is printed here.

Select Bibliography Blackstone, William, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765-69. Clark, J. C. D., English Society 16601832: Religion, Ideology and Politics during the Ancien Regime, 2nd edn., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Costin, W. C. and Watson, J. Steven (eds.), The Law and Working of the Constitution 1660-1914, 2 vols., London: Adam and Charles Black, 1952. De Lolme, Jean Louis, The Constitution of England, London: T. Spilsbury, 1775. Dickinson, H. T., Liberty and Property: Political Ideology in EighteenthCentury Britain, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1977. Dickinson, H. T., “The EighteenthCentury Debate on the Sovereignty of Parliament”, Transactions of the Royal

Historical Society, 5th series, 26 (1976), 189-210. Dickinson, H. T., “The British Constitution”, in: A Companion to EighteenthCentury Britain, ed. H.T. Dickinson, Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. Dickinson, H. T., “The Ideological Debate on the British constitution in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries”, in: Il Modello Costituzionale Inglese e la sua recezione nell’area Mediterranea tra la fine del 700 e la prime metà dell ‘800, ed. Andrea Romano, Milan: Giuffrè, 1998, 145-192. Dippel, Horst, “The Theory and Practice of the British Constitution in the Late Eighteenth Century”, in: ibid., 193-208. Emden, C. S., The People and the Constitution, 2nd edn., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. Goldsworthy, Jeffrey, The Sovereignty of Parliament: History and Philosophy, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999. Gunn, J. A. W., Beyond Liberty and Property: The Process of Self-Recognition in Eighteenth-Century Political Thought, Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1983. Hanham, H. J. (ed.), The NineteenthCentury Constitution 1815-1914: Documents and Commentary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969. Harling, Philip, The Waning of ‘Old Corruption’: The Politics of Economical Reform in Britain, 1779-1846, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

15

INTRODUCTION

Jennings, W. I., The British Constitution, 5th edn., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966. Keir, David Lindsay, The Constitutional History of Modern Britain 1485-1951, 5th edn., London: Adam and Charles Black, 1953. May, Thomas Erskine, The Constitutional History of England 17601860, 2 vols., London: Longman, Green, 1861. O’Gorman, Frank, Voters, Patrons and Politics: The Unreformed Electorate of Hanoverian England, 1734-1832, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Phillips, John A., The Great Reform Bill in the Boroughs: English Electoral

16

Behaviour 1818-1841, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992. Porritt, Edward, The Unreformed House of Commons: Parliamentary Representation before 1832, 2 vols., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1903. Sack, James J., From Jacobite to Conservative: Reaction and Orthodoxy in Britain 1760-1832, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Thomas, P. D. G., The House of Commons in the Eighteenth Century, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971. Williams, E. Neville (ed.), The Eighteenth-Century Constitution 1688-1815: Documents and Commentary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960.

Crewe’s Act (1782) 22 Geo. III, c. 41 An Act for better securing the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament, by disabling certain Officers, employed in the Collection or Management of his Majesty’s Revenues, from giving their Votes at such Elections1 FOR the better securing the Freedom of Elections of Members to serve in Parliament, be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, from and after the First Day of August, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, no Commissioner, Collector, Supervisor, Gauger, or other Officer or Person whatsoever, concerned or employed in the charging, collecting, levying, or managing the Duties of Excise, or any Branch or Part thereof; nor any Commissioner, Collector, Comptroller, Searcher, or other Officer or Person whatsoever, concerned or employed in the charging, collecting, levying, or managing the Customs, or any Branch or Part thereof; nor any Commissioner, Officer, or other Person concerned or employed in collecting, receiving, or managing, any of the Duties on stamped Vellum, Parchment, and Paper, nor any Person appointed by the Commissioners for distributing of Stamps; nor any Commissioner, Officer, or other Person employed in collecting, levying, or managing, any of the Duties on Salt; nor any Surveyor, Collector,

Comptroller, Inspector, Officer, or other Person employed in collecting, managing, or receiving, the Duties on Windows or Houses; nor any Postmaster, Postmasters General, or his or their Deputy or Deputies, or any Person employed by or under him or them in receiving, collecting, or managing, the Revenue of the Post-office, or any Part thereof, nor any Captain, Master, or Mate, of any Ship, Packet, or other Vessel, employed by or under the Postmaster or Postmasters General in conveying the Mail to and from foreign Ports, shall be capable of giving his Vote for the Election of any Knight of the Shire, Commissioner, Citizen, Burgess, or Baron, to serve in Parliament for any County, Stewartry, City, Borough, or Cinque Port, or for chusing any Delegate in whom the Right of electing Members to serve in Parliament, for that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, is vested: And if any Person, hereby made incapable of voting as aforesaid, shall nevertheless presume to give his Vote, during the Time he shall hold, or within twelve Calendar Months after he shall cease to hold or execute any of the Offices aforesaid, contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act, such Votes so given shall be held

17

CREWE’S ACT (1782)

null and void to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever, and every Person so offending shall forfeit the Sum of one hundred Pounds, one Moiety thereof to the Informer, and the other Moiety thereof to be immediately paid into the Hands of the Treasurer of the County, Riding, or Division, within which such Offence shall have been committed, in that part of Great Britain called England; and into the Hands of the Clerk of the Justices of the Peace of the Counties or Stewartries, in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, to be applied and disposed of to such Purposes as the Justices at the next General Quarter Session of the Peace to be held for such County, Stewartry, Riding, or Division, shall think fit; to be recovered, by any Person that shall sue for the same, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in any of his Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster, in which no Essoin, Protection, Privilege, or Wager of Law, or more than one Imparlance, shall be allowed; or by summary Complaint before the Court of Session in Scotland; and the Person convicted on any such Suit shall thereby become disabled and incapable of ever bearing or executing any Office or Place of Trust whatsoever under his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors. II. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Person or Persons for or by reason of his or their being a Commissioner or Commissioners of the Land Tax, or for or by reason of his or their acting by or under the Appointment of such Commissioners of the Land Tax, for the Purpose of as-

18

sessing, levying, collecting, receiving, or managing the Land Tax, or any other Rates or Duties already granted or imposed, or which shall hereafter be granted or imposed, by Authority of Parliament. III. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Office now held, or usually granted to be held, by Letters Patent for any Estate of Inheritance or Freehold. IV. Provided always, and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That nothing herein contained shall extend to any Person who shall resign his Office or Employment on or before the said first Day of August, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two. V. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no Person shall be liable to any Forfeiture or Penalty by this Act laid or imposed, unless Prosecution be commenced within twelve Months after such Penalty or Forfeiture shall be incurred.

1

Verified by The Statutes at Large from the Twentieth Year of the Reign of King George the Third to the Twenty-fifth Year of of the Reign of King George the Third [1781-85], XIV, London: Charles Eyre et al., 1786, 204-205. This act was repealed by 3132 Victoria, c. 73 (31 July 1768). John Crewe (1742-1829) was an MP from 1765 to 1802. He opposed Lord North’s American policies from 1775 until 1783. He sought to limit the influence of the crown over parliament by preventing revenue officers from voting in parliamentary elections. He brought forward a bill to achieve this objective in 1780 and 1781, before seeing it successfully passed in 1782.

Clerke’s Act (1782) 22 Geo. III, c. 45 An Act for restraining any Person concerned in any Contract, Commission, or Agreement, made for the Public Service, from being elected, or sitting and voting as a Member of the House of Commons1

FOR further securing the Freedom and Independence of Parliament, be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, from and after the End of this present Session of Parliament, any Person who shall, directly or indirectly, himself, or by any Person whatsoever in Trust for him, or for his Use or Benefit, or on his Account, undertake, execute, hold, or enjoy, in the Whole or in Part, any Contract, Agreement, or Commission, made or entered into with, under, or from the Commissioners of his Majesty’s Treasury, or of the Navy or Victualling Office, or with the Master General or Board of Ordnance, or with any one or more of such Commissioners, or with any other Person or Persons whatsoever, for or on account of the Publick Service; or shall knowingly and willingly furnish or provide, in pursuance of any such Agreement, Contract, or Commission, which he or they shall have made or entered into as aforesaid, any Money to be remitted abroad, or any Wares or Merchandize to be used or employed in the Service of the Publick, shall be incapable of being elected, or of sitting or voting as a

Member of the House of Commons, during the Time that he shall execute, hold, or enjoy, any such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, or any Part or Share thereof, or any Benefit or Emolument arising from the same. II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person, being a Member of the House of Commons, shall directly or indirectly, himself, or by any other Person whatsoever in Trust for him, or for his Use or Benefit, or on his Account, enter into, accept of, agree for, undertake, or execute, in the Whole or in Part, any such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, as aforesaid; or if any Person, being a Member of the House of Commons, and having already entered into any such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, or Part or Share of any such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, by himself, or by any other Person whatsoever in Trust for him, or for his Use or Benefit, or upon his Account, shall, after the Commencement of the next Session of Parliament, continue to hold, execute, or enjoy the same, or any Part thereof, the Seat of every such Person in the House of Commons shall be, and is hereby declared to be void.

19

CLERKE’S ACT (1782)

III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Contract, Agreement, or Commission, made, entered into, or accepted, by any incorporated trading Company in its corporate Capacity, nor to any Company now existing or established and consisting of more than ten Persons, where such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, shall be made, entered into, or accepted, for the general Benefit of such Incorporation or Company. IV. Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Contract, Agreement, or Commission, made, entered into, or accepted, before the passing of this Act, the Term whereof will expire in the Space of one Year from the Time of making thereof. V. Provided also, and be it enacted, That where any Contract, Agreement, or Commission, has been made, entered into, or accepted, with a Provision that the same shall continue until a Year’s Notice be given of the intended Dissolution thereof, the same shall not disable any Person from sitting and voting in Parliament until one Year after the said Notice shall be actually given for the Determination of the said Contract, Agreement, or Commission, or till after twelve Calendar Months, to be computed from the Time of passing this Act. VI. Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Person on whom, after the passing of this Act, the Completion of any Contract Agreement or Commission, shall devolve

20

by Descent or Limitation, or by Marriage, or as Devisee, Legatee, Executor, or Administrator, until twelve Calendar Months after he shall have been in Possession of the same. VII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That any Person who is now a Member of the House of Commons, and holds and enjoys any such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, as aforesaid, may be discharged from the Execution thereof on giving twelve Months Notice to the Person or Persons with or from whom such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, is made, entered into, or accepted, of his Desire that the same shall cease and determine; and such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, after the Expiration of the Term, aforesaid, shall be null and void. VIII. Provided also, That if any Person actually possessed of a Patent for a new Invention, or a Prolongation thereof by Act of Parliament, and having contracted with Government concerning the Object of the said Patent before the passing of this Act, shall give Notice of his Intention to dissolve the said Contract, the same shall be null and void from the Time of giving such Notice. IX. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person hereby disabled, or declared to be incapable to sit or vote in Parliament, shall nevertheless be returned as a Member to serve for any County, Stewartry, City, Borough, Town, Cinque Port, or Place, in Parliament, such Election and Return are hereby enacted and declared to be void: And if any Person, disabled and declared incapable by this Act to be elected, shall, after the End of this present Session of

CLERKE’S ACT (1782)

Parliament, presume to sit or vote as a Member of the House of Commons, such Person so sitting or voting shall forfeit the Sum of five hundred Pounds for every Day in which he shall sit or vote in the said House, to any Person or Persons who shall sue for the same in any of his Majesty’s Courts at Westminster; and the Money so forfeited shall be recovered by the Person or Persons so suing, with full Costs of Suit, in any of the said Courts, by any Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in which no Essoin, Privilege, Protection, or Wager of Law, or more than one Imparlance, shall be allowed; or by summary Complaint before the Court of Session in Scotland; and every Person, against whom any such Penalty or Forfeiture shall be recovered by virtue of this Act, shall be from thenceforth incapable of taking or holding any Contract, Agreement, or Commission, for the Publick Service, or any Share thereof, or any Benefit or Emolument from the same, in any Manner whatsoever. X. And be it enacted, That in every such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, to be made, entered into, or accepted, as aforesaid, there shall be inserted an express Condition, that no Member of the House of Commons be admitted to any Share or Part of such Contract, Agreement, or Commission, or to any Benefit to arise therefrom: And that in case any Person or Persons who hath or have entered into or accepted, or who shall enter into or accept, any such Contract, Agreement or Commission, shall admit any Member or

Members of the House of Commons to any Part or Share thereof, or to receive any Benefit thereby, all and every such Person and Persons shall, for every such Offence, forfeit and pay the Sum of five hundred Pounds; to be recovered, with full Costs of Suit, in any of his Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster, by any Person or Persons who shall sue for the same, by any Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in which no Essoin, Privilege, Protection, or Wager of Law, or more than one Imparlanee, shall be allowed; or by summary Complaint before the Court of Session in Scotland. XI. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no Person shall be liable to any Forfeiture or Penalty inflicted by this Act, unless a Prosecution shall be commenced within twelve Calendar Months after such Penalty or Forfeiture shall be incurred. 1

Verified by The Statutes at Large from the Twentieth Year of the Reign of King George the Third to the Twenty-fifth Year of of the Reign of King George the Third [1781-85], XIV, London: Charles Eyre et al., 1786, 205-207. This act was finally repealed by the House of Commons Disqualification Act of 1957, 5 & 6 Elizabeth II, c. 20. Philip Jennings (1722-1788) took the surname of his uncle, Sir Talbot Clerke, when he succeeded to his estates in 1774. He was an MP from 1768 until his death in January 1788. A critic of Lord North’s American policies, he opposed the war against rebellious American colonies. He was critical of the crown’s undue influence over parliament and this led him to propose legislation to exclude government contractors from sitting in the House of Commons. He introduced a bill to achieve this objective as early as April 1778. It was brought forward every year until it was passed at the fifth attempt in June 1782.

21

Fox’s Libel Act (1792) 32 Geo. III, c. 60 An Act to remove Doubts respecting the Functions of Juries In Cases of Libel1

WHEREAS Doubts have arisen whether on the Trial of an Indictment or Information for the making or publishing any Libel, where an Issue or Issues are joined between the King and the Defendant or Defendants, on the Plea of Not Guilty pleaded, it be competent to the Jury impanelled to try the same to give their Verdict upon the whole Matter in Issue: Be it therefore declared and enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, on every such Trial, the Jury sworn to try the Issue may give a general Verdict of Guilty or Not Guilty upon the whole Matter put in Issue upon such Indictment or Information; and shall not be required or directed, by the Court or Judge before whom such Indictment or Information shall be tried, to find the Defendant or Defendants Guilty, merely on the Proof of the Publication by such Defendant or Defendants of the Paper charged to be a Libel, and of the Sense ascribed to the same in such Indictment or Information. II. Provided always, That, on every such Trial, the Court or Judge before whom such Indictment or Information shall be tried, shall, according to their or

his Discretion, give their or his Opinion and Directions to the Jury on the Matter in Issue between the King and the Defendant or Defendants, in like Manner as in other Criminal Cases. III. Provided also, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prevent the Jury from finding a Special Verdict, in their Discretion, as in other Criminal Cases. IV. Provided also, That in cafe the Jury shall find the Defendant or Defendants Guilty, it shall and may be lawful for the said Defendant or Defendants to move in Arrest of Judgement, on such Ground and in such Manner as by Law he or they might have done before the passing of this Act; any Thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

1

Verified by The Statutes at Large from the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of King George the Third to the Thirty-fourth Year of the Reign of King George the Third [1790-94], XVI, London: Charles Eyre et al., 1794, 264. Charles James Fox (1749–1806) was the leading opponent of William Pitt the Younger during the latter’s two terms as Prime Minister (1783-1801 and 1804-6). While never a genuine radical, Fox did have liberal tendencies and he did oppose the repressive policies of Pitt’s government during the 1790s. His only success was this act, which strengthened the role of juries in cases of libel.

23

The Conspiracy Act (1794) 34 Geo. III, c. 54 An Act to empower his Majesty to secure and detain such Persons as his Majesty shall suspect are conspiring against his Person and Government (23 May 1794)1

WHEREAS a traitorous and detestable Conspiracy has been formed for subverting the existing Laws and Constitution, and for introducing the System of Anarchy and Confusion which has so fatally prevailed in France: Therefore, for the better Preservation of his Majesty’s sacred Person, and for securing the Peace and the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom; be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That every Person or Persons that are or shall be in Prison within the Kingdom of Great Britain at or upon the Day on which this Act shall receive his Majesty’s Royal Assent, or after, by Warrant of his said Majesty’s most Honourable Privy Council, signed by six of the said Privy Council, for High Treason, Suspicion of High Treason, or treasonable Practices, or by Warrant, signed by any of his Majesty’s Secretaries of State, for such Causes as aforesaid, may be detained in safe Custody, without Bail or Mainprize, until the first Day of February one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five; and that no Judge or Justice of the Peace shall bail or try any such Person or Persons so committed, without Order from his said Maj-

esty’s Privy Council, signed by six of the said Privy Council, till the said first Day of February one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five; any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding. II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Act made in Scotland in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and one, (intituled An Act for preventing wrongous Imprisonment, and against undue Delays in Trials,)2 in so far as the same may be construed to relate to Cases of Treason and Suspicion of Treason, be suspended until the said first Day of February one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five; and that until the said Day no Judge, Justice of Peace, or other Officer of the Law in Scotland, shall liberate, try, or admit to bail any Person or Persons that is, are, or shall be in Prison within Scotland, for such Causes as aforesaid, without Order from his said Majesty’s Privy Council, signed by six of the said Privy Council: Provided always, That, from and after the said first Day of February one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, the said Persons so committed shall have the Benefit and Advantage of all Laws and Statutes any Way relating to or providing for the Liberty of the Subjects of this Realm, and that this

25

THE CONSPIRACY ACT (1794)

present Act shall continue until the said first Day of February one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and no longer.

he is a Member, and the Consent of the said House obtained for his Commitment or Detaining.

III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to extend to invalidate the ancient Rights and Privileges of Parliament, or to the Imprisonment or Detaining of any Member of either House of Parliament during the Sitting of such Parliament, until the Matter of which he stands suspected be first communicated to the House of which

Verified by The Statutes at Large from the Thirtieth Year of the Reign of King George the Third to the Thirty-fourth Year of the Reign of King George the Third [1790-94], XVI, London: Charles Eyre et al., 1794, 544. This act was one of the many acts repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act of 21 August 1871 (34 & 35 Victoria, c. 166). 2 The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ed. T. Thomson and C. Innes, X (1696-1701), London 1823, 272-275.

26

1

The Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act (1795) 36 Geo. III, c. 7 An Act for the Safety and Preservation of His Majesty’s Person and Government against treasonable and seditious Practices and Attempts (18 December 1795)1 WE, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, of Great Britain, in this present Parliament assembled, duly considering the daring Outrages offered to your Majesty’s most Sacred Person, in your Passage to and from your Parliament at the Opening of this present Session, and also the continued Attempts of wicked and evil-disposed Persons to disturb the Tranquillity of this your Majesty’s Kingdom, particularly by the Multitude of seditious Pamphlets and Speeches daily printed, published, and dispersed, with unremitted Industry, and with a transcendent Boldness, in Contempt of your Majesty’s Royal Person and Dignity, and tending to the Overthrow of the Laws, Government, and happy Constitution of these Realms, have judged that it is become necessary to provide a further Remedy against all such treasonable and seditious Practices and Attempts: We, therefore, calling to Mind the good and wholesome Provisions which have at different Times been made by the Wisdom of Parliament for the averting such Dangers, and more especially for the Security and Preservation of the Persons of the Sovereigns of these Realms, do most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted; and

be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That if any Person or Persons whatsoever, after the Day of the passing of this Act, during the natural Life of our most Gracious Sovereign Lord the King, (whom Almighty God preserve and bless with a long and prosperous Reign,) and until the End of the next Session of Parliament after a Demise of the Crown, shall, within the Realm or without, compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend Death or Destruction, or any bodily Harm tending to Death or Destruction, Maim or Wounding, Imprisonment or Restraint, of the Person of the same our Sovereign Lord the King, his Heirs and Successors, or to deprive or depose him or them from the Style, Honour, or Kingly Name of the Imperial Crown of this Realm, or of any other of his Majesty’s Dominions or Countries; or to levy War against his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, within this Realm, in order, by Force or Constraint, to compel him or them to change his or their Measures or Counsels, or in order to put any Force or Constraint upon, or to intimidate, or overawe, both Houses, or either House of Par-

27

THE TREASONABLE AND SEDITIOUS PRACTICES ACT (1795)

liament; or to move or stir any Foreigner or Stranger with Force to invade this Realm, or any other his Majesty’s Dominions or Countries, under the Obeisance of his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors; and such Compassings, Imaginations, Inventions, Devices, or Intentions, or any of them, shall express, utter, or declare, by publishing any Printing or Writing, or by any overt Act or Deed; being legally convicted thereof, upon the Oaths of two lawful and credible Witnesses, upon Trial, or otherwise convicted or attainted by due Course of Law, then every such Person and Persons, so as aforesaid offending, shall be deemed, declared, and adjudged to be a Traitor and Traitors, and shall suffer Pains of Death, and also lose and forfeit as in Cases of High Treason. II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person or Persons within that Part of Great Britain called England, at any Time from and after the Day of the passing of this Act, during three Years from the Day of passing this Act, and until the End of the then next Session of Parliament, shall maliciously and advisedly, by Writing, Printing, Preaching, or other Speaking, express, publish, utter, or declare any Words or Sentences to incite or stir up the People to Hatred or Contempt of the Person of his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, or the Government and Constitution of this Realm, as by Law established, then every such Person and Persons, being thereof legally convicted, shall be liable to such Punishment as may by Law be inflicted in Cases of High Misdemeanors; and if any Person or Persons shall, after being so convicted, offend a second Time, and be thereupon convicted, before any Commission of Oyer and Terminer, or Gaol Deliv-

28

ery, or in his Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench, such Person or Persons may, on such second Conviction, be adjudged, at the Discretion of the Court, either to suffer such Punishment as may now by Law be inflicted in Cases of High Misdemeanors, or to be banished this Realm, or to be transported to such Place as shall be appointed by his Majesty for the Transportation of Offenders; which Banishment or Transportation shall be for such Term as the Court may appoint, not exceeding seven Years. III. And be it further enacted, That if any Offender or Offenders, who shall be so ordered by any such Court as aforesaid to be banished the Realm, or transported beyond the Seas, in Manner aforesaid, shall be afterwards at large within any Part of the Kingdom of Great Britain, without some lawful Cause, before the Expiration of the Term for which such Offender or Offenders shall have been ordered to be banished or transported beyond the Seas as aforesaid, every such Offender being so at large as aforesaid, being thereof lawfully convicted, shall suffer Death, as in Cases of Felony without Benefit of Clergy; and such Offender or Offenders may be tried, either before Justices of Assize, Oyer and Terminer, Great Sessions, or Gaol Delivery, for the County, City, Liberty, Borough, or Place, where such Offender or Offenders shall be apprehended and taken, or from whence he, she, or they was or were ordered to be banished or transported; and the Clerk of Assize, Clerk of the Peace, or other Clerk or Officer of the Court, having the Custody of the Records where such Orders of Banishment or Transportation shall be made, shall, at the Request of the Prosecutor, or any other Person on his Maj-

THE TREASONABLE AND SEDITIOUS PRACTICES ACT (1795)

esty’s Behalf, make out and give a Certificate, in Writing, signed by him, containing the Effect and Substance only (omitting the formal Part) of every Indictment and Conviction of such Offender or Offenders, and of the Order for his, her, or their Banishment or Transportation, to the Justices of Assize, Oyer and Terminer, Great Sessions, or Gaol Delivery, where such Offender or Offenders shall be indicted (not taking for the same more than two Shillings and six Pence); which Certificate shall be sufficient Proof of the Conviction and Order for Banishment or Transportation of such Offender or Offenders. IV. Provided always, That no Person or Persons, by virtue of this present Act, shall for any Misdemeanor incur any the Penalties hereinbefore mentioned, unless he, she, or they be prosecuted within fix Calendar Months next after the Offence committed, and the Prosecution brought to Trial or Judgment within the first Term, Sittings, Assizes, or Sessions in which, by the Course of the Court wherein such Prosecution shall be depending, the Prosecutor could bring on such Trial, or cause such Judgment to be entered, or in the Term, Sittings, Assizes, or Session which shall next ensue, unless the Court in which such Prosecution shall be depending, or before which such Trial ought to be had, shall, on special Ground stated by Motion in open Court, think fit to enlarge the Time for the Trial thereof, or unless the Defendant shall be prosecuted to or towards an Outlawry; and that no Person shall, upon Trial, be convicted by virtue of this Act,

for any Misdemeanor, but by the Oaths of two credible Witnesses. V. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That all and every Person or Persons that shall at any Time be accused, or indicted, or prosecuted, for any Offence made or declared to be Treason by this Act, shall be entitled to the Benefit of the Act of Parliament, made in the seventh Year of his late Majesty King William the Third, intituled, An Act for regulating of Trials in Cases of Treason and Misprision of Treason;2 and also to the Provisions made by another Act of Parliament, passed in the seventh Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for improving the Union of the two Kingdoms.3 VI. Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prevent or affect any Prosecution by Information or Indictment at the Common Law, for any Offence within the Provisions of this Act, unless the Party shall have been first prosecuted under this Act.

1

Verified by The Statutes at Large from the Thirty-fifth Year of the Reign of King George the Third to the Thirty-eighth Year of the Reign of King George the Third [1795-98], XVII, London: Charles Eyre et al., 1798, 255-256. This act was made perpetual in 1817 by 57 George III, c. 6. It was however repealed in stages by the Statute Law Revision Acts of 1871 (34 & 35 Victoria, c. 116), 1888 (51 & 52 Victoria, c. 57), and 1948 (11 & 12 George VI, c. 62). 2 7 William III, c. 3 (1695). 3 7 Anne, c. 21 (1708).

29

The Seditious Meetings Act (1795)

36 Geo. III, c. 8 An Act for the more effectually preventing Seditious Meetings and Assemblies (18 December 1795)1

WHEREAS Assemblies of divers Persons, collected for the Purpose or under the Pretext of deliberating on Public Grievances, and of agreeing on Petitions, Complaints, Remonstrances, Declarations, or other Addresses, to the King, or to both Houses, or either House of Parliament, have of late been made use of to serve the Ends of factious and seditious Persons, to the great Danger of the Public Peace, and may become the Means of producing Confusion and Calamities in the Nation: Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That no Meeting, of any Description of Persons, exceeding the Number of fifty Persons, (other than and except any Meeting of any County, Riding, or Division called by the Lord Lieutenant, Custos Rotulorum, or Sheriff of such County; or a Meeting called by the Convener of any County or Stewartry in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland; or any Meeting called by two or more Justices of the Peace of the County or Place where such Meeting shall be holden; or any Meeting of any County, having different Ridings or Divisions, called by any two Justices of any one or more of such Ridings or Divisions; or any Meeting called by the major

Part of the Grand Jury of the County, or of the Division of the County, where such Meeting shall be holden, at their General Assizes or General Quarter Sessions of the Peace; or any Meeting of any City, or Borough, or Town Corporate, called by the Mayor or other Head Officer of such City, or Borough, or Town Corporate; or any Meeting of any Ward or Division of any City or Town Corporate, called by the Alderman or other Head Officer of such Ward or Division; or any Meeting of any Corporate Body,) shall be holden, for the Purpose or on the Pretext of considering of or preparing any Petition, Complaint, Remonstrance, or Declaration, or other Address to the King, or to both Houses, or either House of Parliament, for Alteration of Matters established in Church or State, or for the Purpose or on the Pretext of deliberating upon any Grievance in Church or State, unless Notice of the Intention to hold such Meeting, and of the Time and Place when and where the same shall be proposed to be holden, and of the Purpose for which the same shall be proposed to be holden, shall be given, in the Names of seven Persons at the least, being Householders resident within the County, City, or Place where such Meeting shall be proposed to be holden, whose Places of Abode and Descriptions shall be inserted in such Notice, and which Notice shall be

31

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

given by public Advertisement in some public Newspaper usually circulated in the County and Division where such Meeting shall be holden five Days at the least before such Meeting shall be holden, or shall be delivered in Manner hereinafter mentioned; and that such Notice shall not be inserted in any such Newspaper unless the Authority to insert such Notice shall be signed by seven Persons at the least, being Householders resident within the County, City, or Place where such Meeting shall be proposed to be holden, and named in such Notice, and unless such Authority, so signed, shall be written at the Foot of a true Copy of such Notice, and shall be delivered to the Person required to insert the same in any such Newspaper as aforesaid; which Person shall cause such Notice and Authority to be carefully preserved, and shall also, at any Time after such Notice shall have been inserted in such Paper, and within fourteen Days after the Day on which such Meeting shall be had, produce such Notice and Authority, and cause a true Copy thereof (if required) to be delivered to any Justice of the Peace for the County, City, Town, or Place where such Person shall reside, or where such Newspaper shall be printed, and who shall require the same; and in cafe any Person shall insert any such Notice in any Newspaper, without such Authority as aforesaid, or in case any Person to whom any such Notice and Authority shall have been delivered for the Purpose of inserting such Notice in any such Newspaper as aforesaid, shall refuse to produce such Notice and Authority, or to deliver a true Copy thereof, being thereunto required as aforesaid, within three Days after such Production and Copy, or either of them, shall have been so required, every such Person, for every such

32

Offence, shall forfeit the Sum of fifty Pounds to any Person who shall sue for the same. II. Provided always, nevertheless, and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall be lawful to deliver any such Notice as aforesaid, signed by the seven Persons in whose Names such Notice shall be given, with their Places of Abode, and Descriptions, five Days at the least before the Day on which such Meeting shall be holden, to the Clerk of the Peace of the County, Riding, or Division, within which such Meeting shall be proposed to be holden; and such Clerk of the Peace shall forthwith, and without Delay, send a true Copy of such Notice, with such Signatures and Additions as aforesaid, to three Justices of the Peace at the least, of such County, Riding, or Division, then resident within such County, Riding, or Division; or in case the Justices of the Peace of the City, Borough, or Town, where such Meeting shall be proposed to be holden, shall have exclusive Jurisdiction, then to three of such Justices, if so many shall then be resident within such Jurisdiction, and if not, then to so many of such Justices as shall be resident within such exclusive Jurisdiction; and in such Case, such Notice so given by such Means as aforesaid, shall be as effectual, to all Intents and Purposes, as if the same had been given by public Advertisement, inserted in any such Newspaper as aforesaid. III. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all Meetings, of any Description of Persons, exceeding the Number of fifty Persons, (other than and except as aforesaid,) which shall be holden without such previous Notice as afore-

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

said, for the Purpose or on the Pretext of considering of or preparing any Petition, Complaint, Remonstrance, Declaration, or other Address to the King, or both Houses, or either House of Parliament, for Alteration of Matters established in Church or State, or for the Purpose or on the Pretext of deliberating on any Grievance in Church or State, shall be deemed and taken to be unlawful Assemblies. IV. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Persons, exceeding the Number of fifty, being assembled contrary to the Provisions hereinbefore contained, and being required or commanded by any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace, or by the Sheriff of the County or his Under Sheriff, or by the Mayor or other Head Officer or Justice of the Peace of any City or Town Corporate, where such Assembly shall be, by Proclamation to be made in the King’s Name, in the Form hereinafter directed, to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their Habitations, or to their lawful Business, shall, to the Number of twelve, or more, notwithstanding such Proclamation made, remain or continue together by the Space of one Hour after such Command or Request made by Proclamation, that then such continuing together to the Number of twelve or more, after such Command or Request made by Proclamation, shall be adjudged Felony without Benefit of Clergy, and the Offenders therein shall be adjudged Felons, and shall suffer Death, as in case of Felony without Benefit of Clergy. V. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Order and Form of the Proclamation to be made as aforesaid shall be as hereafter followeth;

(that is to say,) the Justice of the Peace, or other Person authorized by this Act to make the said Proclamation, shall, among the said Persons assembled, or as near to them as he can safely come, with a loud Voice command, or cause to be commanded, Silence to be while Proclamation is making, and after that shall openly and with loud Voice make, or cause to be made, Proclamation in these Words, or like in Effect: ‘OUR Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all Persons being assembled immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their Habitations or to their lawful Business, upon the Pains contained in the Act, made in the thirty-sixth Year of King George the Third, for the more effectually preventing Seditious Meetings and Assemblies. GOD SAVE THE KING.’ VI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That in case any Meeting shall he holden, in pursuance of any such Notice as aforesaid, and the Purpose for which the same shall in such Notice have been declared to be holden, or any Matter which shall be in such Notice proposed to be propounded or deliberated upon at such Meeting, shall purport that any Matter or Thing by Law established may be altered otherwise than by the Authority of the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, or shall tend to incite or stir up the People to Hatred or Contempt of the Person of his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, or of the Government and Constitution of this Realm, as by Law established, it shall be lawful for one or more Justice or Justices, or the Sheriff of the County where such Meeting shall be, or for the Mayor or other Head Officer, or any Justice of the Peace of any

33

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

City or Town Corporate, where any such Meeting shall be, by Proclamation, to require or command the Persons there assembled to disperse themselves; and if any Persons, to the Number of twelve or more, being so required or commanded, by Proclamation to be made in the King’s Name, in the Form hereinbefore directed, to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their Habitations, or to their lawful Business, shall, to the Number of twelve or more, notwithstanding such Proclamation made, remain or continue together by the Space of one Hour after such Command or Request made by Proclamation, that then such continuing together to the Number of twelve or more, after such Command or Request made by Proclamation, shall be adjudged Felony without Benefit of Clergy, and the Offenders therein shall be adjudged Felons, and shall suffer Death, as in case of Felony without Benefit of Clergy. VII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace, present at any Meeting requiring such Notice as aforesaid, shall think fit to order any Person or Persons who shall at such Meeting proceed to propound or maintain any Proposition for altering any Thing by Law established, otherwise than by the Authority of the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, or shall wilfully and advisedly make any Proposition, or hold any Discourse, for the Purpose of inciting and stirring up the People to Hatred or Contempt of the Person of his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, or the Government and Constitution of this Realm, as by Law established, to be taken into Custody, to be dealt with according to Law; and in case the said Justice or

34

Justices, or any of them, or any Peace Officer acting under their or any of their Orders, shall be obstructed in taking into Custody any Person or Persons so ordered to be taken into Custody, then and in such Case it shall be lawful for any such Justice or Justices thereupon to make, or cause to be made, such Proclamation as aforesaid, in Manner aforesaid; and if any Persons to the Number of twelve or more, being required or commanded by such Proclamation to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart as aforesaid, shall, to the Number of twelve or more, notwithstanding such Proclamation made, remain or continue together by the Space of one Hour after such Command or Request made by Proclamation, that then such continuing together to the Number of twelve or more, after such Command or Request made by Proclamation, shall be adjudged Felony without Benefit of Clergy, and the Offenders therein shall be adjudged Felons, and shall suffer Death, as in case of Felony without Benefit of Clergy. VIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every Justice and Justices of the Peace, Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Mayor, and other Head Officer aforesaid, is and are hereby authorized and empowered, on Notice or Knowledge of any such Meeting or Assembly as is hereinbefore mentioned, to resort to the Place where such Meeting or Assembly shall be, or shall be intended to be holden, or to any Part thereof, and there to do, or order or cause to be done, all such Acts, Matters, and Things, as the Case may require, which they are hereby enabled to do, or order to be done, or which they are otherwise by Law enabled to do, or order to be done; and it shall be lawful for all and every Justices of the Peace, Sheriff,

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

Under Sheriff, Mayor, and other Head Officer as aforesaid, to take and require the Assistance of any Number of Constables or other Officers of the Peace, within their respective Districts, or within the District or Place wherein every such Meeting as hereinbefore mentioned shall be holden; which Constables and other Officers of the Peace are hereby required to attend accordingly such Justices, Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Mayor, or other Head Officer respectively, and to give such Assistance as shall be necessary for the due Execution of this Act. IX. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if such Persons so assembled as aforesaid, or twelve or more of them, after any Proclamation made in Manner aforesaid, shall continue together, and not disperse themselves within one Hour, that then it shall and may be lawful to and for every Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, or Under Sheriff of the County where such Assembly shall be, and also to and for every High or Petty Constable, and other Peace Officer within such County, and also to and for every Mayor, Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, and other Head Officer, High or Petty Constable and other Peace Officer, of any City or Town Corporate where such Assembly shall be, and to and for such other Person and Persons as shall be commanded to be assisting unto any such Justice of the Peace, Sheriff or Under Sheriff, Mayor, or other Head Officer aforesaid, who are hereby authorized and empowered to command all his Majesty’s Subjects, of Age and Ability, to be assisting to them therein, to seize and apprehend, and they are hereby required to seize and apprehend, such Persons so assembled, and continuing together after Proclamation made as aforesaid, and

forthwith to carry the Persons so apprehended before one or more of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace of the County or Place where such Persons shall be so apprehended, in order to their being proceeded against for such Offences according to Law; and that if the Persons so assembled, or any of them, shall happen to be killed, maimed, or hurt in the dispersing, seizing, or apprehending, or endeavouring to disperse, seize, or apprehend them, by reason of their resisting the Persons so dispersing, seizing, or apprehending, or endeavouring to disperse, seize, or apprehend them, that then every such Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Mayor, Head Officer, High or Petty Constable, or other Peace Officer, and all and singular Persons, being aiding and assisting to them or any of them, shall be free, discharged, and indemnified, as well against the King’s Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, as against all and every other Person and Persons, of, for, or concerning the killing, maiming, or hurting of any such Person or Persons so assembled, that shall happen to be so killed, maimed, or hurt as aforesaid. X. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Person or Persons do or shall, with Force and Arms, wilfully and knowingly oppose, obstruct, or in any Manner wilfully and knowingly let, hinder, or hurt, any Justice of the Peace, or other Person authorized as aforesaid, who shall attend any such Meeting as aforesaid, or who shall be going to attend any such Meeting, or any Person or Persons who shall begin to proclaim, or go to proclaim, according to any Proclamation hereby directed to be made, whereby such Proclamation shall not be made, that then every such opposing, obstructing, letting, hindering, or

35

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

hurting any such Justice or other Persons so authorized as aforesaid, and so attending or going to attend any such Meeting, or any such Person or Persons so beginning or going to make any such Proclamation as aforesaid, shall be adjudged Felony without Benefit of Clergy, and the Offenders therein shall be adjudged Felons, and shall suffer Death as in case of Felony without Benefit of Clergy; and that also every such Person or Persons so being assembled as aforesaid, to the Number of fifty or more as aforesaid, to whom any such Proclamation as aforesaid should or ought to have been made, if the same had not been hindered as aforesaid, shall likewise, in case they or any of them, to the Number of twelve or more, shall continue together, and not disperse themselves within one Hour after such Let or Hindrance so made, having Knowledge of such Let or Hindrance so made, shall be adjudged Felons, and shall suffer Death as in case of Felony without Benefit of Clergy; and that also, if any Person or Persons, so being at any such Assembly as aforesaid, shall with Force and Arms wilfully and knowingly oppose, obstruct, or in any Manner wilfully and knowingly let, hinder, or hurt any Justice of the Peace, or other Magistrate, or any Peace Officer, in apprehending or taking into Custody, in Execution of any of the Provisions of this Act hereinbefore contained, any Person or Persons, or endeavouring so to do, that then every such opposing, obstructing, letting, hindering, or hurting, shall be adjudged Felony without Benefit of Clergy, and the Offenders therein shall be adjudged Felons, and shall suffer Death as in case of Felony without Benefit of Clergy. XI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Sheriffs De-

36

pute and their Substitutes, Stewards Depute and their Substitutes, Justices of the Peace, Magistrates of Royal Boroughs, and all other inferior Judges and Magistrates, and also all High and Petty Constables or other Peace Officers, of any County, Stewartry, City, or Town, within that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall have such and the same Powers and Authorities, for putting this present Act in Execution within Scotland, as the Justices of the Peace and other Magistrates aforesaid respectively have, by virtue of this Act, within and for the other Parts of this Kingdom; and that all and every Person and Persons who shall at any Time be convicted of any of the Felonies aforementioned, within that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall for every such Offence incur and suffer the Pain of Death, and Confiscation of Moveables. XII. And whereas certain Houses, Rooms, or Places within the Cities of London and Westminster, and in the Neighbourhood thereof, and in other Places, have of late been frequently used for the Purpose of delivering Lectures and Discourses on and concerning supposed public Grievances, and Matters relating to the Laws, Constitution, and Government and Policy of these Kingdoms, and treating and debating on and concerning the same; and under Pretence thereof Lectures or Discourses have been delivered, and Debates held, tending to stir up Hatred and Contempt of his Majesty’s Royal Person, and of the Government and Constitution of this Realm as by Law established: Be it therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That every House, Room, Field, or other Place where Lectures or Discourses shall be delivered, or public Debates shall be had on or concerning any supposed

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

public Grievance, or any Matters relating to the Laws, Constitution, Government, or Policy of these Kingdoms, for the Purpose of raising or collecting Money, or any other valuable Thing, from the Persons admitted, whether such House, Room, Field, or Place shall be opened or used for any such Purpose alone, or for any such Purpose together with any other Purpose, or under whatever Pretence the same shall be opened or used, to which any Person shall be admitted by the Payment of Money, or by Tickets sold for Money, or in consequence of his paying or giving, or having paid or given, or agreeing thereafter to pay or give, in any Manner, any Money or other Thing for or in respect of his Admission into such House, Room, Field, or Place, unless the opening or using of such House, Room, Field, or Place shall have been previously licensed Manner hereinafter mentioned, shall be deemed a disorderly House or Place, and the Person by whom such House, Room, Field, or Place shall be opened or used for the Purpose aforesaid, shall forfeit the Sum of one hundred Pounds for every Day or Time that such House, Room, Field, or Place shall be opened or used as aforesaid, to such Person as will sue for the same, and be otherwise punished as the Law directs in Cases of disorderly Houses; and every Person managing or conducting the Proceedings, or acting as Moderator, President, or Chairman, at such House, Room, Field, or Place, or therein debating, or delivering any Discourse or Lecture for the Purpose aforesaid, and also every Person who shall pay, give, collect, or receive, or agree to pay, give, collect, or receive, any Money or other Thing, for or in respect of the Admission of any Person into any such House, Room, Field, or Place, or shall deliver out, distribute, or receive any such

Ticket or Tickets as aforesaid, knowing such House, Room, Field, or Place to be opened or used for such Purpose, shall for every such Offence forfeit the Sum of one hundred Pounds to such Person as will sue for the time. XIII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That any Person who shall at any Time hereafter appear, act, or behave him or herself as Master or Mistress, or as the Person having the Command, Government, or Management of any such House, Room, Field, or Place as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a Person by whom the same is opened or used as aforesaid, and shall be liable to be sued or prosecuted, and punished as such, notwithstanding he or she be not, in Fact, the real Owner or Occupier thereof. XIV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall be lawful for any Justice or Justices of the Peace, or Chief Magistrate respectively, of any County, City, Borough, or Place, who shall, by Information upon Oath, have Reason to suspect that any House, Room, Field, or Place, or any Parts or Part thereof, are or is opened or used for the Purpose of delivering Lectures or Discourses, or for public Debate, contrary to the Provisions of this Act, to go to such House, Room, or Place, and demand to be admitted therein; and in case such Justice or Justices, or other Magistrate, shall be refused Admittance to such House, Room, Field, or Place, or any Part thereof, the same shall be deemed a disorderly House or Place, within the Intent and Meaning of this Act; and all and every the Provisions hereinbefore contained respecting any House, Room, Field, or Place, hereinbefore declared to be a disorderly House or Place, shall be applied to such

37

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

House, Room, Field, or Place, where such Admittance shall have been refused as aforesaid, and every Person refusing such Admittance shall forfeit the Sum of one hundred Pounds to any Person who shall sue for the same. XV. Provided always, and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall be lawful for any Justice or Justices of the Peace, or Chief Magistrate respectively, of any County, City, Borough, or Place, where any such House, Room, or other Building shall be licensed as aforesaid, to go to such House, Room, or Building so licensed, at the Time of delivering any such Lecture or Discourse therein as aforesaid, or at the Time appointed for delivering any such Lecture or Discourse, and demand to be admitted therein; and in case such Justice or Justices, or other Magistrate, shall be refused Admittance to such House, Room, or Building, the same shall be deemed, notwithstanding any such Licence as aforesaid, a disorderly House or Place, within the Meaning of this Act; and all and every the Provisions hereinbefore contained, respecting any House, Room, Field, or Place, hereinbefore declared to be a disorderly House or Place, shall be applied to such House, Room, or Building so licensed as aforesaid, where such Admittance shall have been refused as aforesaid; and every Person refusing such Admittance shall forfeit the Sum of one hundred Pounds to any Person who will sue for the same. XVI. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall be lawful for two or more Justices of the Peace of the County, City, Town, or Place where any House, Room, or other Building shall be, which any Person shall

38

be desirous to open for any of the Purposes aforesaid, by Writing under their Hands and Seals, at their General Quarter Session of the Peace, or at any Special Session to be held for the particular Purpose, to grant a Licence to any Person or Persons desiring the same, to open such House, Room, or other Building, for the Purpose of delivering for Money any such Lectures or Discourses as aforesaid, on any of the Subjects aforesaid, the same being clearly expressed in such Licence, for which Licence a Fee of one Shilling, and no more, shall be paid, and the same shall be in Force for the Space of one Year, and no longer, or for any less Space of Time, therein to be specified; and which Licence it shall be lawful for the Justices of the same County, City, Town, or Place, at any General Quarter Session of the Peace, to revoke and declare void and no longer in Force, by any Order of such Justices, a Copy whereof shall be delivered to or served upon the Person to whom the said Licence so revoked shall have been granted, or shall be left at the House, Room, or Building for which such Licence shall have been granted, and thereupon such Licence shall cease and determine, and be thenceforth utterly void and of no Effect. XVII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That any Person entitled to any of the Forfeitures aforesaid may sue by Action of Debt in any of his Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster, or in the Courts of Judiciary or Exchequer in Scotland, when the Cause of Action shall arise in Scotland, in which Action it shall be sufficient to declare that the Defendant is indebted to the Plaintiff in the Sum of ____ (being the Sum demanded by the said Action) being forfeited by an Act, made in the thirty-sixth Year of the

THE SEDITIOUS MEETINGS ACT (1795)

Reign of his Majesty King George the Third, intituled, An Act for the more effectually preventing Seditious Meetings and Assemblies;2 and the Plaintiff, if he shall recover in any such Action, shall have his full Costs: Provided also, that if any Action or Suit shall be brought against any Person for any Thing done in pursuance and in Execution of this Act, the Defendant may plead the General Issue; and if a Verdict pass for the Defendant, or the Plaintiff discontinue his or her Action, or be nonsuited, or Judgment be given against the Plaintiff, then such Defendant shall have treble Costs. XVIII. Provided also, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to extend to any Lectures or Discourses to be delivered in any of the Universities of these Kingdoms, by any Member thereof, or any Person authorized by the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, or other proper Officers of such Universities respectively. XIX. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no Payment made, to any Schoolmaster or other Person by Law allowed to teach and instruct Youth, in respect of any Lectures or Discourses delivered by such Schoolmaster, or other Person, for the Instruction only of such Youth as shall be committed to his Instruction, shall be deemed a Payment of Money for Admission to such Lectures or Discourses within the Intent and Meaning of this Act. XX. Provided also, That nothing in this Act contained shall be deemed to take away or abridge any Provision already made by the Law of this Realm, or of any

Part thereof, for the Suppression or Punishment of any Offence whatsoever described in this Act. XXI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That this Act shall be openly read at every Epiphany Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and at every Leet or Law Day. XXII. Provided always, That no Person shall be prosecuted by virtue of this Act, unless such Prosecution shall be commenced within six Calendar Months after the Offence committed; and no Action shall be brought, for any of the Penalties by this Act imposed, unless the same shall be brought within three Calendar Months next after the Offence committed. XXIII. Provided also, That this Act shall commence and have Effect within the City of London, and within twenty Miles thereof, from the Day next after the Day of passing this Act, and shall commence and have Effect within all other Parts of the Kingdom, from the Expiration of seven Days next after the Day of passing this Act, and shall be and continue in force for three Years from the Day of passing this Act, and until the End of the then next Session of Parliament. 1

Verified by The Statutes at Large from the Thirty-fifth Year of the Reign of King George the Third to the Thirty-eighth Year of the Reign of King George the Third [1795-98], XVII, London: Charles Eyre et al., 1798, 256-261. This act was repealed by the Newspapers, Printers and Reading Rooms Repeal Act of 1869 (32 & 33 Victoria, c. 24). 2 That is this act, 36 George III, c. 8 (18 December 1795).

39

The Suppression of Radical Societies Act (1799) 39 Geo. III, c. 79 An Act for the more effectual Suppression of Societies established for Seditious and Treasonable Purposes; and for better preventing Treasonable and Seditious Practices (12 July 1799)

WHEREAS a traitorous Conspiracy has long been carried on, in conjunction with the Persons from Time to Time exercising the Powers of Government in France, to overturn the Laws, Constitution, and Government, and every existing Establishment, Civil and Ecclesiastical, both in Great Britain and Ireland, and to dissolve the Connection between the two Kingdoms, so necessary to the Security and Prosperity of both: And whereas, in pursuance of such Design, and in order to carry the same into Effect, divers Societies have been of late Years instituted in this Kingdom, and in the Kingdom of Ireland, of a new and dangerous Nature, inconsistent with Publick Tranquillity, and with the Existence of regular Government, particularly certain Societies calling themselves Societies of United Englishmen, United Scotsmen, United Britons, United Irishmen, and The London Corresponding Society: And whereas the Members of many such Societies have taken unlawful Oaths and Engagements of Fidelity and Secrecy, and used secret Signs, and appointed Committees, Secretaries, and other Officers, in a secret Manner; and many of such Societies are composed of different Divisions, Branches, or Parts, which communicate with each other by

Secretaries, Delegates, or otherwise, and by means thereof maintain an Influence over large Bodies of Men, and delude many ignorant and unwary Persons into the Commission of Acts highly criminal: And whereas it is expedient and necessary that all such Societies as aforesaid, and all Societies of the like Nature, should be utterly suppressed and prohibited, as unlawful Combinations and Confederacies, highly dangerous to the Peace and Tranquillity of these Kingdoms and to the Constitution of the Government thereof, as by Law established: Be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, from and after the passing of this Act, all the said Societies of United Englishmen, United Scotsmen, United Irishmen, and United Britons, and the said Society commonly called The London Corresponding Society, and all other Societies called Corresponding Societies, of any other City, Town, or Place, shall be, and the same are hereby utterly suppressed and prohibited, as being unlawful Combinations and Confederacies against the Government of our Sovereign Lord the King, and against the

41

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

Peace and Security of his Majesty’s liege Subjects. II. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That, from and after the passing of this Act, all and every the said Societies, and also every other Society now established, or hereafter to be established, the Members whereof shall, according to the Rules thereof, or to any Provision or Agreement for that Purpose, be required or admitted to take any Oath or Engagement, which shall be an unlawful Oath or Engagement within the Intent and Meaning of an Act, passed in the thirty-seventh Year of his Majesty’s Reign, intituled, An Act for more effectually preventing the administering or taking of unlawful Oaths,2 or to take any Oath not required or authorized by Law; and every Society, the Members whereof, or any of them, shall take, or in any Manner bind themselves by any such Oath or Engagement, on becoming or in consequence of being Members of such Society; and every Society, the Members whereof shall take, subscribe, or assent, to any Test or Declaration not required by Law, or not authorized in Manner hereinafter mentioned; and every Society, of which the Names of the Members, or of any of them, shall be kept secret from the Society at large, or which shall have any Committee or select Body so chosen or appointed, that the Members constituting the same shall not be known by the Society at large to be Members of such Committee or select Body, or which shall have any President, Treasurer, Secretary, Delegate, or other Officer so chosen or appointed, that the Election or Appointment of such Persons to such Offices shall not be known to the Society at large, or of which the Names of all the Members, and of all Committees or

42

select Bodies of Members, and of all Presidents, Treasurers, Secretaries, Delegates, and other Officers, shall not be entered in a Book or Books to be kept for that Purpose, and to be open to the Inspection of all the Members of such Society; and every Society which shall be composed of different Divisions or Branches, or of different Parts, acting in any Manner separately or distinct from each other, or of which any Part shall have any separate or distinct President, Secretary, Treasurer, Delegate, or other Officer, elected or appointed by or for such Part, or to act as an Officer for such Part; shall be deemed and taken to be unlawful Combinations and Confederacies; and every Person who, from and after the passing of this Act, shall become a Member of any such Society, or who, being a Member of any such Society at the passing of this Act, shall afterwards act as a Member thereof; and every Person who, after the passing of this Act, shall directly or indirectly maintain Correspondence or Intercourse with any such Society, or with any Division, Branch, Committee, or other select Body, President, Treasurer, Secretary, Delegate, or other Officer, or Member thereof as such, or who shall, by Contribution of Money or otherwise, aid, abet, or support such Society, or any Members or Officers thereof as such; shall be deemed guilty of an unlawful Combination and Confederacy. III. Provided always nevertheless, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend to any Declaration to be taken, subscribed, or assented to by the Members of any Society, in case the Form of such Declaration shall have been first approved and subscribed by two or more of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division,

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

or Place, where such Society shall ordinarily assemble, and shall have been registered with the Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, for such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, or Place, for which there shall be paid a Fee of one Shilling and no more; but that such Approbation of the Justices as aforesaid shall remain valid and effectual no longer than until the next General Session for such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, or Place, unless the same shall, on Application made by the Parties concerned, be confirmed by the major Part of the Justices present at such General Session; and if the same shall not be then and there so confirmed, the Provisions of this Act, shall from thenceforth extend to such Declaration, and to all Societies or Persons subscribing the same, in so far as may relate to all Acts which may be done by them, or any of them, subsequent to the holding of such General Session. IV. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no Person who, at or before the passing of this Act, shall be, or shall have been a Member of any such Society, shall be liable to any Pain or Penalty for having been a Member of such Society at or before the passing of this Act, in case such Person shall not in any Manner act as a Member of such Society at any Time after the passing of this Act. V. And whereas certain Societies have been long accustomed to be holden in this Kingdom under the Denomination of Lodges of Free Masons, the Meetings whereof have been in great Measure directed to charitable Purposes; be it therefore enacted, That nothing in this Act shall extend to the Meetings of any such Society or Lodge which shall, before the

passing of this Act, have been usually holden under the said Denomination and in conformity to the Rules prevailing among the said Societies of Free Masons. VI. Provided always, That this Exemption shall not extend to any such Society, unless two of the Members composing the same shall certify upon Oath, (which Oath any Justice of the Peace or other Magistrate is hereby empowered to administer,) that such Society or Lodge has, before the passing of this Act, been usually held under the Denomination of a Lodge of Free Masons, and in conformity to the Rules prevailing among the Societies or Lodges of Free Masons in this Kingdom; which Certificate, duly attested by the Magistrate before whom the same shall be sworn, and subscribed by the Person so certifying, shall, within the Space of two Calendar Months after the passing of this Act, be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, Shire, or Place, where such Society or Lodge hath been usually held: Provided also, That this Exemption shall not extend to any such Society or Lodge, unless the Name or Denomination thereof, and the usual Place or Places, and the Time or Times of its Meetings, and the Names and Descriptions of all and every the Members thereof, be registered with such Clerk of the Peace as aforesaid, within two Months after the passing of this Act, and also on or before the twenty-fifth Day of March in every succeeding Year. VII. And be it enacted, That the Clerk of the Peace, or the Person acting in his Behalf, in any such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, Shire, or Place, is hereby authorized and required to receive such Certificate, and make such Registry as

43

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

aforesaid, and to enrol the same among the Records of such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, Shire, or Place, and to lay the same, once in every Year, before the General Session of the Justices for such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, Shire, or Place; and that it shall and may be lawful for the said Justices, or for the major Part of them, at any of their General Sessions, if they shall so think fit, upon Complaint made to them, upon Oath, by any one or more credible Persons, that the Continuance of the Meetings of any such Lodge or Society is likely to be injurious to the publick Peace and good Order, to direct that the Meetings of any such Society or Lodge within such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, Shire, or Place, shall from thenceforth be discontinued; and any such Meeting held, notwithstanding such Order of Discontinuance, and before the same shall, by the like Authority, be revoked, shall be deemed an unlawful Combination and Confederacy under the Provisions of this Act. VIII. And be it further enacted, That every Person who, at any Time after the passing of this Act, shall, in Breach of the Provisions thereof, be guilty of any such unlawful Combination and Confederacy, as in this Act is described, shall and may be proceeded against for such Offence in a summary Way, either before one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Town, or Place, where such Person shall happen to be, or by Indictment to be preferred in the County, Riding, Division, City, Town, or Place in England, wherein such Offence shall be committed, or by Indictment in the Court of Justiciary, or in any of the Circuit Courts in Scotland, if the Offence shall be committed in Scot-

44

land; and every Person being convicted of any such Offence, on the Oath of one or more credible Witness or Witnesses, by such Justice or Justices as aforesaid, shall be by him or them committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction for such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Town or Place, there to remain, without Bail or Mainprize, for the Term of three Calendar Months, or shall be by such Justice or Justices adjudged to forfeit and pay the Sum of twenty Pounds, as to such Justice or Justices shall seem meet; and in case such Sum of Money shall not be forthwith paid into the Hands of such Justice or Justices, he or they shall, by Warrant under his or their Hand and Seal, or Hands and Seals, cause the same to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Offender’s Goods and Chattels, together with all Costs and Charges attending such Distress and Sale, and for Want of sufficient Distress, shall commit such Offender to the Common Gaol or House of Correction of such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Town, or Place as aforesaid, for any Time not exceeding three Calendar Months; and every Person convicted of any such Offence upon Indictment by due Course of Law, shall and may be transported for the Term of Seven Years, in the Manner provided by Law for Transportation of Offenders, or imprisoned for any Time not exceeding two Years, as the Court before whom such Offender shall be tried shall think fit; and every such Offender, who shall be ordered to be transported, shall be subject and liable to all Laws concerning Offenders ordered to be transported. IX. Provided always, That it shall be lawful for the Justice or Justices of the Peace, by or before whom any Persons

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

shall, in pursuance of this Act, be convicted of any unlawful Combination or Confederacy, and such Justice and Justices is and are hereby authorized and empowered (if he or they shall see Cause) to mitigate and lessen the Punishment herein-before directed to be inflicted upon any Offender against this Act, so convicted as aforesaid, so as such Punishment be not thereby reduced to less than one Third of the Punishment hereby directed to be inflicted as aforesaid, whether such Punishment shall be by Imprisonment or Fine.

Act, a Member of any Society hereby declared to be an unlawful Combination and Confederacy, if such Person shall not in any Manner have acted as a Member of such Society after the passing of this Act.

X. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That any Person who shall be prosecuted before any Justice or Justices of the Peace, in a summary Way, for any Offence against this Act, and shall be convicted or acquitted by such Justice or Justices, shall not afterwards be prosecuted, or be liable to be prosecuted, by Indictment or otherwise, for the same Offence; and so in like Manner any Person who shall be convicted or acquitted upon any Indictment for any Offence against this Act, shall not afterwards be prosecuted, or be liable to be prosecuted before any Justice or Justices of the Peace, in a summary Way, for the same Offence.

XIII. And be it further enacted, That if any Person shall knowingly permit any Meeting of any Society hereby declared to be an unlawful Combination or Confederacy, or of any Division, Branch, or Committee of such Society, to be held in his or her House or Apartment, such Person shall, for the first Offence, forfeit the Sum of five Pounds, and shall, for any such Offence committed after the Date of his or her Conviction for such first Offence, be deemed guilty of an unlawful Combination and Confederacy in Breach of this Act.

XI. Provided also, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to prevent any Prosecution by Indictment, or otherwise, for any Thing which shall be an Offence within the Intent and Meaning of this Act, and which might have been so prosecuted if this Act had not been made, unless the Offender shall have been prosecuted for such Offence under this Act, and convicted or acquitted of such Offence; save only that no Person shall be prosecuted for having been, before the passing of this

XII. Provided always, That nothing hereto contained shall extend to discharge any Person in Custody at the passing of this Act, or who, having been in Custody, shall have been discharged, on Bail or Recognizance, from any Prosecution which might have been had against such Person if this Act had not been made.

XIV. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any two or more Justices of the Peace acting for any County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Town, or Place, upon Evidence on Oath that any Meeting of any Society, hereby declared to be an unlawful Combination and Confederacy, or any Meeting for any seditious Purpose, hath been held, after the passing of this Act, at any House, Room, or Place, licensed for the Sale of Ale, Beer, Wine, or Spirituous Liquors, to adjudge and declare the Licence or Licences for selling Ale, Beer, Wine, or Spirituous Liquors, granted

45

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

to the Person or Persons keeping such House, Room, or Place, to have been forfeited; and the Person or Persons so keeping such House, Room, or Place, shall, from and after the Day of the Date of such Adjudication and Declaration, be subject and liable to all and every the Penalties and Forfeitures for any Act done after that Day, which such Person or Persons would be subject and liable to, if such Licence or Licences had expired, or otherwise determined on that Day. XV. And whereas divers Places have of late been used for delivering Lectures or Discourses, and holding Debates, which are not within the Provisions of the Act, passed in the thirty-sixth Year of his Majesty’s Reign, for the more effectually preventing seditious Meetings and Assemblies,3 but which Lectures, Discourses, or Debates, have in many Instances been of a seditious and immoral Nature; and other Places have of late been used for seditious and immoral Purposes, under the Pretence of being Places of Meeting for the Purpose of reading Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, or other Publications; be it further enacted, That every House, Room, Field, or other Place, at or in which any Lecture or Discourse shall be publickly delivered, or any publick Debate shall be had on any Subject whatever, for the Purpose of raising or collecting Money, or any other valuable Thing from the Persons admitted, or to which any Person shall be admitted by Payment of Money, or by any Ticket or Token of any Kind delivered in consideration of Money or any other valuable Thing, or in consequence of paying or giving, or having paid or given, or having agreed to pay or give, in any Manner, any Money or other valuable Thing, or where any Money or other valuable Thing shall

46

be received from any Person admitted either under Pretence of paying for any Refreshment or other Thing, or under any other Pretence, or for any other Cause, or by Means of any Device or Contrivance whatever; and every House, Room, or Place, which shall be opened or used as a Place of Meeting, for the Purpose of reading Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, or other Publications, and to which any Person shall be admitted by Payment of Money or by any Ticket or Token of any Kind delivered in consideration of Money or other valuable Thing, or in consequence of paying or giving, or having paid or given, or having agreed to pay or give, any Money, or other valuable Thing, or where any Money or other valuable Thing shall be received from any Person admitted either under Pretence of paying for any Refreshment or other Thing, or under any other Pretence, or for any other Cause, or by means of any Device or Contrivance whatever; shall be deemed a disorderly House or Place within the Intent and Meaning of the said Act, passed in the thirty-sixth Year of his Majesty’s Reign, for the more effectuality preventing seditious Meetings and Assemblies, unless the same shall have been previously licensed in Manner herein-after mentioned; and the Person by whom such House, Room, Field, or Place, shall be opened or used, for any of the Purposes aforesaid, shall forfeit the Sum of one hundred Pounds, for every Day or Time that such House, Room, Field, or Place, shall be opened or used as aforesaid to such Person as will sue for the same, and be otherwise punished as the Law directs in Cases of disorderly Houses; and every Person managing or conducting the Proceedings, or acting as Moderator, President, or Chairman, at such House, Room,

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

Field, or Place, to opened or used as aforesaid, or therein debating, or delivering any Discourse or Lecture, or furnishing or delivering any Book, Pamphlet, Newspaper, or other Publication as aforesaid; and also every Person who shall pay, give, collect, or receive, or agree to pay, give, collect, or receive any Money, or any Thing, for or in respect of the Admission of any Person into any such House, Room Field, or Place, or shall deliver out, distribute, or receive any such Ticket or Tickets, or Token or Tokens as aforesaid, knowing such House, Room, Field, or Place to be opened or used for any such Purpose as aforesaid, shall, for every such Offence, forfeit the Sum of twenty Pounds. XVI. And be it further enacted, That any Person who shall at any Time hereafter appear, act, or behave him or herself as Master or Mistress, or as the Person having the Command, Government, or Management of any such House, Room, Field, or Place as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a Person by whom the same is opened or used as aforesaid, and shall be liable to be sued or prosecuted, and punished as such, notwithstanding he or she be not in Fact the real Owner or Occupier thereof. XVII. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Justice or Justices of the Peace of any County, Stewartry, City, Borough, Town, or Place, who shall, by Information upon Oath have Reason to suspect that any House, Room, Field, or Place, or any Parts or Part thereof, are or is opened or used for the Purpose of delivering Lectures or Discourses, or for publick Debate, or for the Purpose of reading Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, or other Publications, contrary to the Pro-

visions of this Act, to go to such House, Room, Field, or Place, and demand to be admitted therein; and in case such Justice or Justices shall be refused Admittance to such House, Room, Field, or Place, or any Part thereof, the same shall be deemed a disorderly House or Place, within the Intent and Meaning of this Act, and of the said recited Act of the thirty-sixth Year aforesaid; and all and every the Provisions herein before and in the said recited Act contained, respecting any House, Room, Field, or Place, therein or herein before declared to be a disorderly House or Place, shall be applied to such House, Room, Field, or Place, where such Admittance shall have been refused as aforesaid; and every Person refusing such Admittance shall forfeit the Sum of twenty Pounds. XVIII. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for two or more Justices of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, City, Borough, Town, or Place, where any House, Room, or other Building, shall be intended to be opened for any of the Purposes aforesaid, by Writing under their Hands and Seals, at their General Sessions of the Peace, or at any Special Session to be held for the particular Purpose, to grant a Licence to any Person or Persons desiring the same, to open such House, Room, or other Building, for the Purpose of delivering for Money any such Lectures or Discourses as aforesaid, on any Subjects, the same being dearly expressed in such Licence, or for the Purpose of reading Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, or other Publications; for which Licence a Fee of one Shilling and no more, shall be paid, and the same shall be in force for the Space of one Year, and no longer, or for any less Space of Time, therein to be specified; and which Licence

47

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

it shall be lawful for the Justices of the Peace of the same County, Stewartry, City, Borough, Town, or Place, at any General Sessions of the Peace, to revoke and declare void, and no longer in force, by any Order of such Justices; a Copy whereof shall be delivered to, or served upon the Person to whom the said Licence so revoked shall have been granted, or shall be left at the House, Room, or Building, for which such Licence shall have been granted, and thereupon such Licence shall cease and determine, and be thenceforth utterly void and of no Effect. XIX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Justice or Justices of the Peace of any County, Stewartry, City, Borough, Town, or Place, where any such House, Room, or other Building shall be licensed, as herein provided, to go to such House, Room, or Building, so licensed, at the Time of delivering any such Lecture or Discourse therein as aforesaid, or at the Time appointed for delivering any such Lecture or Discourse, or whilst such House, Room, or Building shall be opened or used, or during the Time appointed for using the same as a Place for reading Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, or other Publications as aforesaid, and demand to be admitted therein; and in case such Justice or Justices shall be refused Admittance to such House, Room, or Building, the same shall be deemed, notwithstanding any such Licence as aforesaid, a disorderly House or Place, within the Meaning of this Act; and all and every the Provisions herein-before contained, respecting any House, Room, Field, or Place, herein-before declared to be a disorderly House or Place, shall be applied to such House, Room, or Building so licensed as

48

aforesaid, where such Admittance shall have been refused as aforesaid; and every Person refusing such Admittance shall forfeit the Sum of twenty Pounds. XX. Provided also, and be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any two Justices of the Peace acting for any County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Town, or Place, upon Evidence, on Oath, that any House, Room, or Place, so licensed and opened as aforesaid, is commonly used for the Purpose of delivering there Lectures or Discourses of a seditious or immoral Tendency, or that Books, Pamphlets, Newspapers, or other Publications of a seditious or immoral Nature, are there commonly kept and delivered to be read, to adjudge and declare the Licence for opening the same to have been forfeited; and such Licence shall thereupon cease and determine, and shall thenceforth be utterly void and of no Effect. XXI. Provided also, That every House, Room, or Place, licensed for the Sale of Ale, Beer, Wine, or Spirituous Liquors, shall also be deemed a House or Place licensed for the Purpose of reading Books, Pamphlets, and other Publications, within the Intent and Meaning of this Act; but nevertheless it shall be lawful to and for any two or more Justices of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place, where such House, Room, or Place shall be, upon Evidence on Oath that Books, Pamphlets, or other Publications of a seditious or immoral Nature, are usually distributed for the Purpose of being read at such House, Room, or Place, to adjudge and declare the Licence or Licences for selling Ale, Beer, Wine, or Spirituous Liquors, under the Authority whereof such House, Room,

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

or Place, shall be used for the Purpose of selling Ale, Beer, Wine, or Spirituous Liquors, to have been forfeited, and the Person or Persons so keeping such House, Room, or Place, shall, from and after the Day of the Date of such Adjudication and Declaration, be subject and liable to all and every the Penalties and Forfeitures which such Person or Persons would be subject and liable to, if such Licence or Licences had expired, or otherwise determined, on that Day for any Act done after that Day. XXII. Provided always, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Lecture or Discourses to be delivered in any of the Universities of these Kingdoms by any Member thereof, or any Person authorized by the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, or other proper Officers of such Universities respectively, or to any Lecture or Discourse to be delivered in the Publick Hall of any of the Inns of Court or Chancery, by any Person authorized by the Benchers of the Inns of Court, or by the Professors in Gresham College; and that no Payment made to any Schoolmaster, or other Person by Law allowed to teach and instruct Youth, in respect of any Lectures or Discourses delivered by such Schoolmaster or other Person, for the Instruction only of such Youth as shall be committed to his Instruction, shall be deemed a Payment of Money for Admission to such Lectures or Discourses, within the Intent and Meaning of this Act. XXIII. And whereas many Societies, established of late Years for treasonable and seditious Purposes, and especially the said Societies of United Englishmen, United Scotsmen, United Irishmen, and United

Britons, and the said Society called The London Corresponding Society, and other Corresponding Societies, have at various Times caused to be published, in great Quantities, divers printed Papers of an irreligious, treasonable, and seditious Nature, tending to revile our holy Religion, and to bring the Profession and Worship thereof into Contempt among the Ignorant, and also to excite Hatred and Contempt of his Majesty’s Royal Person, Government, and Laws, and of the happy Constitution of these Realms, as by Law established, and utterly to eradicate all Principles of Religion and Morality; and such Societies have dispersed such printed Papers among the lower Classes of the Community, either gratis, or at very low Prices, and with an Activity and Profusion beyond all former Example: And whereas all Persons printing or publishing any Papers or Writings are by Law answerable for the Contents thereof, but such Responsibility hath of late been in a great Degree eluded by the secret Printing and Publication of such seditious, immoral, and irreligious Papers or Writings as aforesaid, and it is therefore highly important to the Publick Peace that it should in future be known by whom any such Papers shall be printed; be it enacted, That, from and after the Expiration of forty Days from the Day of passing this Act, every Person having any Printing Press, or Types for Printing, shall cause a Notice thereof, signed in the Pretence of, and attested by one Witness, to be delivered to the Clerk of the Peace acting for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place, where the same shall be intended to be used, or his Deputy, according to the Form prescribed in the Schedule hereunto annexed; and such Clerk of the Peace, or Deputy respec-

49

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

tively, shall, and he is hereby authorized and required to grant a Certificate in the Form prescribed in the Schedule hereunto annexed, for which such Clerk of the Peace, or Deputy, shall receive the Fee of one Shilling, and no more, and such Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, shall file such Notice, and transmit an attested Copy thereof to one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State; and every Person who, not having delivered such Notice, and obtained such Certificate as aforesaid, shall, from and after the Expiration of forty Days next after the passing of this Act, keep or use any Printing Press or Types for Printing, or having delivered such Notice, and obtained such Certificate as aforesaid, shall use any Printing Press or Types for Printing in any other Place than the Place expressed in such Notice, shall forfeit and lose the Sum of twenty Pounds. XXIV. Provided also, That nothing herein contained shall extend to his Majesty’s Printers for England and Scotland, or to the Publick Presses belonging to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively. XXV. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the Expiration of forty Days after the passing of this Act, every Person carrying on the Business of a Letter Founder, or Maker or Seller of Types for Printing, or of Printing Presses, shall cause Notice of his or her Intention to carry on such Business to be delivered to the Clerk of the Peace of the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place, where such Person shall propose to carry on such Business, or his Deputy, in the Form prescribed in the Schedule to this Act annexed; and

50

such Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, shall, and he is hereby authorized and required thereupon to grant a Certificate in the Form also prescribed in the said Schedule, for which such Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, shall receive a Fee of one Shilling, and no more, and shall file such Notice, and transmit an attested Copy thereof to one of his Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State; and every Person who shall, after the Expiration of the said forty Days, carry on such Business, or make or sell any Type for Printing, or Printing Press, without having given such Notice, and obtained such Certificate, shall forfeit and lose the Sum of twenty Pounds. XXVI. And be it further enacted, That every Person who shall sell Types for Printing, or Printing Presses, as aforesaid, shall keep a fair Account in Writing, of all Persons to whom any such Types or Presses shall be sold, and shall produce such Accounts to any Justice of the Peace who shall require the same; and if such Person shall neglect to keep such Account, or shall refuse to produce the same to any such Justice, on Demand in Writing to inspect the same, such Person shall forfeit and lose, for such Offence, the Sum of twenty Pounds. XXVII. And be it further enacted, That, from and after the Expiration of forty Days after the passing of this Act, every Person who shall print any Paper or Book whatsoever, which shall be meant or intended to be published or dispersed, whether the same shall be sold or given away, shall print upon the Front of every such Paper, if the same shall be printed on one Side only, and upon the first and last Leaves of every Paper or Book which shall consist

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

of more than one Leaf, in legible Characters, his, or her Name, and the Name of the City, Town, Parish, or Place, and also the Name (if any) of the Square, Street Lane, Court, or Place, in which his or her Dwelling House or usual Place of Abode shall be; and every Person who shall omit so to print his Name and Place of Abode on every such Paper or Book printed by him, and also every Person who shall publish or disperse, or assist in publishing or dispersing, either gratis or for Money, any printed Paper or Book, which shall have been printed after the Expiration of forty Days from the passing of this Act and on which the Name and Place of Abode of the Person printing the same shall not be printed as aforesaid, shall, for every Copy of such Paper so published or dispersed by him, forfeit and pay the Sum of twenty Pounds. XXVIII. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any Papers printed by the Authority and for the Use of either House of Parliament. XXIX. And be it further enacted, That every Person who, from and after the Expiration of forty Days after the passing of this Act, shall print any Paper for Hire, Reward, Gain, or Profit, shall carefully preserve and keep one Copy (at least) of every Paper so printed by him or her, on which he or she shall write, or cause to be written or printed, in fair and legible Characters, the Name and Place of Abode of the Person or Persons by whom he or she shall be employed to print the same; and every Person printing any Paper for Hire, Reward, Gain, or Profit, who shall omit or neglect to write, or cause to be written or printed as aforesaid, the Name

and Place of his or her Employer on one of such printed Papers, or to keep or preserve the same for the Space of six Calendar Months next after the Printing thereof, or to produce and shew the same to any Justice of the Peace, who, within the said Space of six Calendar Months, shall require to see the same, shall, for every such Omission, Neglect, or Refusal, forfeit and lose the Sum of twenty Pounds. XXX. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Person, to whom or in whose Presence any printed Paper, not having the Name and Place of Abode of any Person printed thereon, in Manner herein-before directed, or having a fictitious or false Name or Place of Abode printed thereon, shall be sold, or offered for Sale, or shall be delivered gratis, or offered so to be, or shall be passed, fixed, or left in any publick Place, or in any other Manner exposed to publick View, to seize and detain the Persons so selling or offering to sell, or delivering or offering to deliver, or pasting, fixing, or leaving in any publick Place, or in any other Manner exposing to publick View, any such printed Paper as aforesaid, and forthwith to take and convey him or her before some Justice of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place, where such Person shall be seized, or to deliver him or her to some Constable or other Peace Officer, to be taken and conveyed before such Justice as aforesaid, to the Intent that such Justice may hear and determine whether such Person hath been guilty of any Offence against this Act. XXXI. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend to the Impression of any Engraving, or to the print-

51

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

ing by Letter Press, of the Name, or the Name and Address, or Business or Profession, of any Person, and the Articles in which he deals, or to any Papers for the Sale of Estates or Goods by Auction, or otherwise. XXXII. Provided also, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to alter or vary any Rule, Regulation, or Provision contained in any Act of Parliament now in force respecting the printing, publishing, or distributing any printed Newspaper, or other printed Paper. XXXIII. And be it further enacted, That if any Justice of the Peace, acting for any County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place, shall, from Information upon Oath, have Reason to suspect that any Printing Press or Types for Printing is or are used or kept for Use without Notice given and Certificate obtained as requited by this Act, or in any Place not included in such Notice and Certificate, it shall be lawful for such Justice, by Warrant under his Hand and Seal, to direct, authorize, and empower any Constable, Petty Constable, Borsholder, Headborough, or other Peace Officer, in the Day Time, with such Person or Persons as shall be called to his Assistance, to enter into any such House, Room, and Place, and search for any Printing Press or Types for Printing; and it shall be lawful for every such Peace Officer, with such Assistance as aforesaid, to enter into such House, Room, or Place, in the Day Time accordingly, and to seize, take, and carry away, every Printing Press found therein, together with all the Types and other Articles thereto belonging, and used in Printing, and all printed Papers found in such House, Room, or Place.

52

XXXIV. Provided always, That no Person shall be prosecuted or sued for any Penalty imposed by this Act, unless such Prosecution shall be commenced, or such Action shall be brought, within three Calendar Months next after such Penalty shall have been incurred. XXXV. And be it further enacted, That any pecuniary Penalty imposed by this Act, exceeding the Sum of twenty Pounds, may be sued for and recovered, by any Person who will sue for the same, by Action of Debt, in any of his Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster, if such Penalty shall have been incurred in England or Wales, or the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and in his Majesty’s Court of Exchequer in Scotland, if such Penalty shall have been incurred in Scotland, in which Action it shall be sufficient to declare or alledge that the Defendant is indebted to the Plaintiff in the Sum of twenty Pounds, (being the Sum demanded by such Action,) being forfeited by an Act, made and passed in the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of his Majesty King George the Third, intituled, An Act (Here set forth the Title of the Act),4 and the Plaintiff, if he shall recover in any such Action, shall have his full Costs; and any pecuniary Penalty imposed by this Act, and not exceeding the Sum of twenty Pounds, and for the Recovery whereof no Provision is herein before contained, shall and may be recovered before any Justice or Justices of the Peace for the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Town, or Place, in which the same shall be incurred, or the Person having incurred the same shall happen to be, in a summary Way; and in case such last mentioned Penalty shall not be forthwith paid, such Justice or Justices shall, by Warrant under his or their Hand and Seal,

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

or Hands and Seals, and directed to any Constable or other Peace Officer, cause the same to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Offender’s Goods and Chattels, together with all Costs and Charges attending such Distress and Sale; and in case no sufficient Distress can be had or made, such Justice or Justices shall commit the Offender to the Common Gaol or House of Correction for such County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place, there to remain, without Bail or Mainprize, for any Time not exceeding six Calendar Months, nor less than three Calendar Months. XXXVI. And be it further enacted, That all pecuniary Penalties and Forfeitures imposed by this Act shall, when recovered, either by Action in any Court, or in a summary Way before any Justice, be applied and disposed of in Manner hereinafter mentioned; that is to say, one Moiety thereof to the Plaintiff in any such Action, or the Informer before any Justice, and the other Moiety thereof to his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors. XXXVII. And be it further enacted, That every Action and Suit which shall be brought or commenced against any Justice or Justices of the Peace, Constable, Peace Officer, or other Person or Persons, for any Thing done or acted in pursuance of this Act, shall be commenced within three Calendar Months next after the Fact committed, and not afterwards; and the Venue in every such Action or Suit shall be laid in the proper County where the Fact was committed, and not elsewhere; and the Defendant or Defendants in every such Action or Suit shall and may plead the General Issue, and give this Act and the Special Matter in Evidence at any Trial to

be had thereupon; and if such Action or Suit shall be brought or commenced after the Time limited for bringing the same, or the Venue shall be laid in any other Place than as aforesaid, then the Jury shall find a Verdict for the Defendant or Defendants; and in such Case, or if the Jury shall find a Verdict for the Defendant or Defendants upon the Merits, or if the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs shall become nonsuit, or discontinue his, her, or their Action after Appearance, or if upon Demurrer Judgement shall be given against the Plaintiff or Plaintiffs, the Defendant or Defendants shall have Double Costs; which he or they shall and may recover in such and the same Manner as any Defendant can by Law in other Cases. XXXVIII. And be it further enacted, That Convictions by any Justice or Justices of the Peace, for Offences against this Act, and Adjudications of Forfeitures of Licences to be made in pursuance of this Act, and Notices and Certificates delivered and granted in pursuance of this Act, shall or may be in the several Forms set forth for such Purposes respectively in the Schedule to this Act annexed. XXXIX. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall and may be repealed in the Whole, or in any Part thereof, or in any Manner altered or amended, during the present Session of Parliament.

The SCHEDULE to which the annexed Act refers I. Form of Conviction of an unlawful Combination and Confederacy M to wit. BE it remembered, That on this ____ Day of ____ in the ____ Year of the

53

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

Reign of ____ A. B. of ____ is duly convicted before me, (or us), ____ of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for ____ in pursuance of an Act of the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of King George Third, (set forth the Title of the Act), for that the said A. B. after the passing of the said Act, to wit, on the ____ Day of ____ at ____ did, contrary to the said Act, become a Member of (or, as the Case may be, act as a Member of, or maintain Correspondence or Intercourse with, or by Contribution of Money or otherwise, abet or support) a Society (describing the Society), which Society is an unlawful Combination and Confederacy within the Intent and Meaning of the said Act: Wherefore I (or we) the said ____ do adjudge, that he the said A. B. do pay (or, be imprisoned) as a Penalty for his Offence, in pursuance of the said Act. Given under my Hand and Seal (or our Hands and Seals), this ____ Day of ____ in the Year of our Lord ____ and in the ____ Year of the Reign of his Majesty King

II. Form of Adjudicature of Forfeiture of Licence to see Ale, &c. M to wit. BE it remembered, That on this ____ Day of ____ in the ____ Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, A. B. of ____ being a Person licensed to sell (as the Case may be), is duly convicted before us, two of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of ____ in pursuance of an Act of the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of ____ (set forth the Title of the Act), for that he the said A. B. on ____ at ____ did permit a Meeting of a Society (describing the Society), which is an un-

54

lawful Combination and Confederacy within the Intent and Meaning of the said Act, to be held at ____being the House (as the Case may be) of the said A. B. wherein he the said A. B. is licensed to sell (as the Case may be): Wherefore, we the said ____ do adjudge and declare that the Licence (or, Licences, as the Case may be) is (or, are) for such Offence forfeited. Given under our Hands and Seals, this ____ Day of ____ in the Year of our Lord ____ and in the ____ Year of the Reign of his Majesty King

III. Form of Conviction of having or using a Printing Press, or Types for Printing, without Notice, or using the same in a Place not specified in such Notice, or not keeping Accounts as required by the Act, or any other Offence against the Act M to wit. BE it remembered, That on this ____ Day of ____ in the ____ Year of the Reign of ____ A. B. of ____ is duly convicted before me (or, us) ____ of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for ____ in pursuance of an Act of the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of King George the Third, (set forth the Title of the Act), for that the said A. B. on the ____ Day of ____ at ____ did, contrary to the said Act, keep (or, use, as the Case may be), a Printing Press (or, Types for Printing; or, carrying on the Business of a Letter Founder, or, Maker or Seller of Types, or Printing Presses), not having given such Notice, and obtained such Certificate, as by the said Act is required, (or, in ____ being a Place not specified in any Notice given by the said A. B. in pursuance of the said Act, whereupon he had obtained such

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

Certificate, as by the said Act is required; or, not keeping an Account of a Person to whom the said A. B. sold Printing Types or, a Printing Press, as the Case may be; or not printing his Name, &c. as the Case may require; or, not keeping a Copy of a Paper printed by him for Hire, Reward, Gain, or Profit, to wit, a Paper (describing it) which the said A. B. printed, &c. or, not producing a Copy of a Paper printed, &c. or, specifying any other Offence against the Act, and the Time and Place when and where the form was committed): Wherefore I (or, we) the said ____ do adjudge that he the say A. B. do pay the Sum of ____ as a Penalty for his Offence, in pursuance of the said Act. Given under our Hands and Seals, this ____ Day of ____ in the Year of our Lord ____ and in the ____ Year of the Reign of His Majesty King

IV. Form of Notice to the Clerk of the Peace, that any Person keeps any Printing Press or Types for Printing To the Clerk of the Peace for ____ (here insert the County, Stewartry, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Town, or Place), or his Deputy. I A. B. of ____ do hereby declare, That I have a Printing Press and Types for Printing, which I propose to use for Printing, within ____ (as the Case may require), and which I require to be entered for that Purpose, in pursuance of an Act, passed in the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of his Majesty King George the Third, (set forth the Title of the Act.) Witness my Hand, this ____ Day of ____ Signed in the Presence of ____

V. Form of Certificate that Notice has been given of a Printing Press or Types for Printing I ____ Clerk (or Deputy Clerk) of the Peace for ____ do hereby certify, That A. B. of ____ hath delivered to me a Notice in Writing, appearing to be signed by him, and attested by C. D. as a Witness to his signing the same, that he the said A. B. hath a Printing Press and Types for Printing, which he proposes to use for Printing, within ____ and which he has required to be entered, pursuant to an Act, passed in the thirty-ninth Year of his Majesty's Reign, (set forth the Title of the Act). Witness my Hand, this ____ Day of ____

VI. Form of Notice to the Clerk of the Peace, that any Person carries on the Business of a Letter Founder, or Maker or Seller of Types for Printing, or of Printing Presses To the Clerk of the Peace for (as the Case may be), or his Deputy. A. B. of ____ do hereby declare, That I intend to carry on the Business of a Letter Founder or Maker or Seller of Types for Printing, or of Printing Presses, (as the Case may be), at ____ and I hereby require this Notice to be entered in pursuance of an Act, passed in the thirty-ninth Year of the Reign of his Majesty King George the Third, (set forth the Title of the Act). Signed in the Presence of ____

VII. Form of Certificate that the above Notice has been given I G. H. Clerk (or Deputy Clerk) of the Peace for (as the Case may be), do hereby certify, That A. B. of ____ hath delivered

55

THE SUPPRESSION OF RADICAL SOCIETIES ACT (1799)

to me a Notice in Writing, appearing to be signed by him, and attested by E. F. as a Witness to his signing the same, that he intends to carry on the Business of a Letter Founder, or Maker or Seller of Types for Printing, or of Printing Presses, at ____ and which Notice he has required to be entered in pursuance of an Act of the thirtyninth Year of his Majesty King George the Third, (set forth the Title of the Act). Witness my Hand, this ____ Day of ____

56

1

Verified by The Statutes at Large fom the Thirtyninth Year of the Reign of King George the Third, to the End of the Fifth and Concluding Session of the Eighteenth and last Parliament of Great Britain, held in the Forty-first Year of the Reign of King George the Third [1798-1800], XVIII, London: George Eyre et al., 1800, 146-154. This act was extended by the Seditious Meetings Act of 1816, 56 George III, c. 19, but repealed in stages by the Statute Law Revision Acts of 1871, 1888, and 1948 and the Newspapers, Printers and Reading Rooms Repeal Act of 1869 (32 & 33 Victoria, c. 24). 2 37 George III, c. 123 (19 July 1797). 3 36 George III, c. 8 (18 December 1795), printed above. 4 That is, the title of this act.

The Act of Union between Britain and Ireland (1800) 40 Geo. III, c. 67 An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland (2 July 1800)1

WHEREAS in pursuance of his Majesty’s most gracious Recommendation to the two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such Measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the Connection between the two Kingdoms, the two Houses of the Parliament of Great Britain and the two Houses of the Parliament of Ireland have severally agreed and resolved, that, in order to promote and secure the essential Interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the Strength, Power, and Resources of the British Empire, it will be advisable to concur in such Measures as may best tend to unite the two Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one Kingdom, in such Manner, and on such Terms and Conditions, as may be established by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland: And whereas, in furtherance of the said Resolution, both Houses of the said two Parliaments respectively have likewise agreed upon certain Articles for effectuating and establishing the said Purposes, in the Tenor following: ART. I. That it be the first Article of the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, that the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the

first Day of January which shall be in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and for ever after, be united into one Kingdom, by the Name of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and that the Royal Stile and Titles appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom and its Dependencies, and also the Ensigns, Armorial Flags and Banners thereof, shall be such as his Majesty, by his Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, shall be pleased to appoint. ART. II. That it be the second Article of Union, that the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom, and of the Dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same Manner as the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing Laws, and to the Terms of Union between England and Scotland. ART. III. That it be the third Article of Union, that the said United Kingdom be represented in one and the same Parliament, to be stiled The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

57

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ART. IV. That it be the fourth Article of Union, that four Lords Spiritual of Ireland by Rotation of Sessions, and twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland, elected for Life by the Peers of Ireland, shall be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and one hundred Commoners (two for each County of Ireland, two for the City of Dublin, two for the City of Cork, one for the University of Trinity College, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable Cities, Towns, and Boroughs), be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom: That such Act as shall be passed in the Parliament of Ireland previous to the Union, to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament, shall be considered as forming Part of the Treaty of Union, and shall be incorporated in the Acts of the respective Parliaments by which the said Union shall be ratified and established: That all Questions touching the Rotation or Election of Lords Spiritual or Temporal of Ireland to sit in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, shall be decided by the House of Lords thereof; and whenever, by reason of an Equality of Votes in the Election of any such Lords Temporal, a complete Election shall not be made according to the true Intent of this Article, the Names of those Peers for whom such Equality of Votes shall be so given, shall be written on Pieces of Paper of a similar Form, and shall be put into a Glass, by the Clerk of the Parliaments at the Table of the House of Lords, whilst the House is

58

sitting; and the Peer or Peers, whose Name or Names shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliaments, shall be deemed the Peer or Peers elected, as the Case may be: That any Person holding any Peerage of Ireland now subsisting, or hereafter to be created, shall not thereby be disqualified from being elected to serve if he shall so think fit, or from serving or continuing to serve, if he shall so think fit, for any County, City, or Borough of Great Britain, in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, unless he shall have been previously elected as above, to sit in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; but that so long as such Peer of Ireland shall so continue to be a Member of the House of Commons, he shall not be entitled to the Privilege of Peerage, nor be capable of being elected to serve as a Peer on the Part of Ireland, or of voting at any such Election; and that he shall be liable to be sued, indicted, proceeded against, and tried as a Commoner, for any Offence with which he may be charged: That it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create Peers of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, and to make Promotions in the Peerage thereof after the Union; provided that no new Creation of any such Peers shall take place after the Union until three of the Peerages of Ireland, which shall have been existing at the Time of the Union, shall have become extinct; and upon such Extinction of three Peerages, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create one Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; and in like Manner so often as three Peerages of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall become extinct, it shall be lawful for his Majesty, his

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

Heirs and Successors, to create one other Peer of the said Part of the United Kingdom; and if it shall happen that the Peers of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, shall, by Extinction of Peerages or otherwise, be reduced to the Number of One Hundred, exclusive of all such Peers of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, as shall hold any Peerage of Great Britain subsisting at the Time of the Union, or of the United Kingdom created since the Union, by which such Peers shall be entitled to an Hereditary Seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, then and in that Case it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to create one Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland as often as any one of such One Hundred Peerages shall fail by Extinction, or as often as any one Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland shall become entitled, by Descent or Creation, to an Hereditary Seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; it being the true Intent and Meaning of this Article, that at all Times after the Union it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to keep up the Peerage of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland to the Number of one hundred, over and above the Number of such of the said Peers as shall be entitled, by Descent or Creation, to an Hereditary Seat in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom: That if any Peerage shall at any Time be in Abeyance, such Peerage shall be deemed and taken as an existing Peerage; and no Peerage shall be deemed extinct, unless on Default of Claimants to the Inheritance of such Peerage for the Space of one Year from the Death of the Person who shall have been last possessed thereof; and if no Claim shall be made to the Inheritance

of such Peerage, in such Form and Manner as may from Time to Time be prescribed by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, before the Expiration of the said Period of a Year, then and in that Case such Peerage shall be deemed extinct; provided that nothing herein shall exclude any Person from afterwards putting in a Claim to the Peerage so deemed extinct; and if such Claim shall be allowed as valid, by Judgment of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, reported to his Majesty, such Peerage shall be considered as revived; and in case any new Creation of a Peerage of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, shall have taken place in the Interval, in consequence of the supposed Extinction of such Peerage, then no new Right of Creation shall accrue to his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, in consequence of the next Extinction which shall take place of any Peerage of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland: That all Questions touching the Election of Members to sit on the Part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom shall be heard and decided in the same Manner as Questions touching such Elections in Great Britain now are, or at any Time hereafter shall by Law be heard and decided; subject nevertheless to such particular Regulations in respect of Ireland, as, from local Circumstances, the Parliament of the United Kingdom may from Time to Time deem expedient: That the Qualifications in respect of Property of the Members elected on the Part of Ireland to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, shall be respectively the same as are now provided by Law in the Cases of Elections for Counties and Cities and Boroughs re-

59

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

spectively in that Part of Great Britain called England, unless any other Provision shall hereafter be made in that respect by Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom: That when his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, shall declare his, her, or their Pleasure for holding the first or any subsequent Parliament of the United Kingdom, a Proclamation shall issue, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to cause the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, who are to serve in the Parliament thereof on the Part of Ireland, to be returned in such Manner as by any Act of this present Session of the Parliament of Ireland shall be provided; and that the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Great Britain shall, together with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons so returned as aforesaid on the Part of Ireland, constitute the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom: That if his Majesty, on or before the first Day of January one thousand eight hundred and one, on which Day the Union is to take place, shall declare, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain should be the Members of the respective Houses of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Great Britain; then the said Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the Members of the respective Houses of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Great Britain; and they, together with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, so summoned and returned as above on the Part of Ireland, shall be the Lords Spiritual and Temporal

60

and Commons of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom; and such first Parliament may (in that Case) if not sooner dissolved, continue to sit so long as the present Parliament of Great Britain may now by Law continue to sit, if not sooner dissolved: Provided always, That until an Act shall have passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, providing in what Cases Persons holding Offices or Places of Profit under the Crown of Ireland, shall be incapable of being Members of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, no greater Number of Members than twenty, holding such Offices or Places as aforesaid, shall be capable of sitting in the said House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and if such a Number of Members shall be returned to serve in the said House as to make the whole Number of Members of the said House holding such Offices or Places as aforesaid more than twenty, then and in such Case the Seats or Places of such Members as shall have last accepted such Offices or Places shall be vacated, at the Option of such Members, so as to reduce the Number of Members holding such Offices or Places to the Number of twenty; and no Person holding any such Office or Place shall be capable of being elected or of sitting in the said House, while there are twenty Persons holding such Offices or Places sitting in the said House; and that every one of the Lords of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and every Member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, in the first and all succeeding Parliaments, shall, until the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall otherwise provide, take the Oaths, and make and subscribe the Declaration, and take and subscribe the Oath now by Law enjoined to be taken,

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

made, and subscribed by the Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain: That the Lords of Parliament on the Part of Ireland, in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, shall at all Times have the same Privileges of Parliament which shall belong to the Lords of Parliament on the Part of Great Britain; and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal respectively on the Part of Ireland shall at all Times have the same Rights in respect of their sitting and voting upon the Trial of Peers, as the Lords Spiritual and Temporal respectively on the Part of Great Britain; and that all Lords Spiritual of Ireland shall have Rank and Precedency next and immediately after the Lords Spiritual of the same Rank and Degree of Great Britain, and shall enjoy all Privileges as fully as the Lords Spiritual of Great Britain do now or may hereafter enjoy the same (the Right and Privilege of sitting in the House of Lords, and the Privileges depending thereon, and particularly the Right of sitting on the Trial of Peers, excepted); and that the Persons holding any temporal Peerages of Ireland, existing at the Time of the Union, shall, from and after the Union, have Rank and Precedency next and immediately after all the Persons holding Peerages of the like Orders and Degrees in Great Britain, subsisting at the Time of the Union; and that all Peerages of Ireland created after the Union shall have Rank and Precedency with the Peerages of the United Kingdom, so created, according to the Dates of their Creations: and that all Peerages both of Great Britain and Ireland, now subsisting or hereafter to be created, shall in all other Respects, from the Date of the Union, be considered as Peerages of the United Kingdom; and that the Peers of Ireland shall, as Peers of the United

Kingdom, be sued and tried as Peers, except as aforesaid, and shall enjoy all Privileges of Peers as fully as the Peers of Great Britain; the Right and Privilege of sitting in the House of Lords, and the Privileges depending thereon, and the Right of sitting on the Trial of Peers, only excepted: ART. V. That it be the Fifth Article of Union, That the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by Law established, be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland; and that the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the said United Church shall be, and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by Law established for the Church of England; and that the Continuance and Preservation of the said United Church, as the established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental Part of the Union; and that in like Manner the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the Church of Scotland, shall remain and be preserved as the same are now established by Law, and by the Acts for the Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland. ART. VI. That it be the Sixth Article of Union, That his Majesty’s Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall, from and after the first Day of January one thousand eight hundred and one, be entitled to the same Privileges, and be on the same Footing, as to Encouragements and Bounties on the like Articles being the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country respectively, and generally in respect of Trade and Navigation in all Ports and Places in the United Kingdom and its De-

61

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

pendencies; and that in all Treaties made by his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, with any Foreign Power, his Majesty’s Subjects of Ireland shall have the same Privileges, and be on the same Footing as his Majesty’s Subjects of Great Britain: That, from the first Day of January one thousand eight hundred and one, all Prohibitions and Bounties on the Export of Articles, the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country, to the other, shall cease and determine; and that the said Articles shall thenceforth be exported from one Country to the other, without Duty or Bounty on such Export: That all Articles, the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country, (not herein-after enumerated as subject to specific Duties,) shall from thenceforth be imported into each Country from the other, free from Duty, other than such Countervailing Duties on the several Articles enumerated in the Schedule Number One A. and B. hereunto annexed, as are therein specified, or to such other Countervailing Duties as shall hereafter be imposed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the Manner herein-after provided; and that, for the Period of twenty Years from the Union, the Articles enumerated in the Schedule Number Two hereunto annexed, shall be subject, on Importation into each Country from the other, to the Duties specified in the said Schedule Number Two; and the Woollen Manufactures, known by the Names of Old and New Drapery, shall pay, on Importation into each Country from the other, the Duties now payable on Importation into Ireland: Salt and Hops, on Importation into Ireland from Great Britain, Duties not exceeding those which are now paid on Importation into Ireland; and Coals, on Importation into Ireland from Great Britain, shall be

62

subject to Burthens not exceeding those to which they are now subject: That Callicoes and Muslins shall, on their Importation into either Country from the other, be subject and liable to the Duties now payable on the same on the Importation thereof from Great Britain into Ireland, until the fifth Day of January one thousand eight hundred and eight; and from and after the said Day, the said Duties shall be annually reduced, by equal Proportions as near as may be in each Year, so as that the said Duties shall stand at ten per Centum from and after the fifth Day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, until the fifth Day of January one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one: And that Cotton Yarn and Cotton Twist shall, on their Importation into either Country from the other, be subject and liable to the Duties now payable upon the same on the Importation thereof from Great Britain into Ireland, until the fifth Day of January one thousand eight hundred and eight; and from and after the said Day the said Duties shall be annually reduced, by equal Proportions as near as may be in each Year, so as that all Duties shall cease on the said Articles from and after the fifth Day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixteen: That any Articles of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country, which are or may be subject to Internal Duty, or to Duty on the Materials of which they are composed, may be made subject, on their Importation into each Country respectively from the other, to such Countervailing Duty as shall appear to be just and reasonable in respect of such Internal Duty or Duties on the Materials; and that for the said Purposes the Articles specified in the said Schedule Number One, A. and B. shall be subject to the Duties set

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

forth therein, liable to be taken off, diminished, or increased, in the Manner herein specified; and that upon the Export of the said Articles from each Country to the other respectively, a Drawback shall be given equal in Amount to the Countervailing Duty payable on such Articles on the Import thereof into the same Country from the other; and that in like Manner in future it shall be competent to the United Parliament to impose any new or additional Countervailing Duties, or to take off or diminish such existing Countervailing Duties as may appear, on like Principles, to be just and reasonable in respect of any future or additional Internal Duty on any Article of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country, or of any new or additional Duty on any Materials of which such Article may be composed, or of any Abatement of Duty on the same; and that when any such new or additional Countervailing Duty shall be so imposed on the Import of any Article into either Country from the other, a Drawback, equal in Amount to such Countervailing Duty, shall be given in like Manner on the Ex-

port of every such Article respectively from the same Country to the other: That all Articles, the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of either Country, when exported through the other, shall in all Cases be exported subject to the same Charges as if they had been exported directly from the Country of which they were the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture: That all Duty charged on the Import of Foreign or Colonial Goods into either Country shall, on their Export to the other, be either drawn back, or the Amount, (if any be retained,) shall be placed to the Credit of the Country to which they shall be so exported, so long as the Expenditure of the United Kingdom shall be defrayed by proportional Contributions: Provided always, That nothing herein shall extend to take away any Duty, Bounty, or Prohibition, which exists with respect to Corn, Meal, Malt, Flour, or Biscuit; but that all Duties, Bounties, or Prohibitions, on the said Articles, may be regulated, varied, or repealed, from Time to Time, as the United Parliament shall deem expedient.

SCHEDULE Number One Of the Articles to be charged with Countervailing Duties upon Importation from Ireland into Great Britain, and from Great Britain into Ireland, respectively, according to the Sixth Article of Union

A: On Importation into Great Britain from Ireland ARTICLES

Customs £.

BEER – For every Barrel consisting of thirty-six Gallons, English Beer Measure, of Irish Beer, Ale, or Mum, which shall be imported into Great Britain directly from Ireland, and so in proportion for any

s.

─

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

─

8

─

63

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

greater or less Quantity, to be paid by the Importer thereof BRICKS and TILES – For every thousand of Irish Bricks

─

─

5

─

For every thousand of Irish plain Tiles

─

─

4

10

For every thousand of Irish Pan or Ridge Tiles

─

─

12

10

For every hundred of Irish Paving Tiles, not exceeding ten Inches square

─

─

2

5

For every hundred of Irish Paving Tiles exceeding ten Inches square

─

─

4

10

For every thousand of Irish Tiles, other than such as are herein-before enumerated and described, by whatsoever Name or Names such Tiles are or may be called or known

─

─

4

10

CANDLES – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Candles of Tallow, and other Candles whatsoever (except Wax and Spermaceti)

─

─

─

1

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Candles, which may be made of Wax or Spermaceti, or which are usually called or sold either for Wax or Spermaceti, notwithstanding the Mixture of any other Ingredient therewith

─

─

─

3½

CHOCOLATE, &c – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Cocoa, Cocoa Paste, or Chocolate

─

─

2

─

─

19

2

─

2

2¼

CORDAGE, videlicet – To be used as Standing Rigging, or other Cordage made from Topt Hemp, the Ton, containing twenty hundred Weight

4

10

3

Of any other Sort, Cable Yarn, Packthread, and Twine, the Ton, containing twenty hundred Weight

4

4

4

CYDER and PERRY – For every Hogshead, consisting of sixty-three Gallons English Wine Measure, of Irish Cyder and Perry, which shall be imported as Merchandize or for Sale, and which shall be sent or consigned to any Factor or Agent to sell or dispose of GLASS – For every Square Foot Superficial Measure of Irish Plate Glass

64

─

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

For every hundred Weight of Irish Flint, Enamel, Stained, Paste, or Phial Glass

─

2

3

6

For every hundred Weight of Irish Spread Window Glass, commonly called Broad Glass

─

─

8

1

For every hundred Weight of Irish Window Glass (not being Spread Glass) whether flashed or otherwise manufactured, and commonly called or known by the Name of Crown Glass or German Sheet Glass

─

1

9

9

For every hundred Weight of Vessels made use of in Chemical Laboratories and of Garden Glasses, and of all other Vessels or Utensils of Common Bottle Metal, manufactured in Ireland, common Bottles excepted

─

─

4

½

For every hundred Weight of any Sort or Species of Irish Glass, not hereinbefore enumerated or described

─

2

2

─

Bottles of common Green Glass, the Dozen Quarts

─

─

9

HOPS – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Hops

─

─

─

112/20

LEATHER, Unmanufactured – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Hides, of what Kind soever, and of Calf Skins, Kips, Hogs’ Skins, Dog Skins, and Seal Skins, tanned in Ireland, and of Sheep Skins and Lamb Skins so tanned for Gloves and Bazils, which shall be imported in the whole Hide or Skin, and neither cut nor diminished in any Respect whatever

─

─

─

1½

For every Dozen of Goat Skins tanned in Ireland to resemble Spanish Leather

─

─

4

─

For every Dozen of Sheep Skins tanned in Ireland for Roans, being after the Nature of Spanish Leather

─

─

2

3

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all other Hides or Skins not hereinbefore enumerated and described, and of all Pieces and Parts of Hides or Skins which shall be tanned in Ireland

─

─

─

6

For all Hides of Horses, Mares, and Geldings, which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland, for each and every such Hide

─

─

1

6

For all Hides of Steers, Cows, or any other Hides of what Kind soever (those of Horses, Mares, and Geldings excepted) which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland, for each and every such Hide

─

─

3

─

65

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Calf Skins, Kips, and Seal Skins, which shall be so dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland, and imported into Great Britain, in the whole Skin, neither cut nor diminished in any respect whatever

─

─

─

1½

For every Dozen of Slink Calf Skins which shall be so dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed with the Hair on, in Ireland

─

─

3

─

For every Dozen of Slink Calf Skins which shall be so dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed without Hair, in Ireland, and for every Dozen of Dog Skins and Kid Skins, which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwised tawed in Ireland

─

─

1

─

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Buck and Doe Skins, which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland, and which shall be imported in the whole Skin, and neither cut nor diminished in any respect whatever

─

─

─

6

For every Dozen of Goat Skins and Beaver Skins, which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland

─

─

2

─

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Sheep Skins and Lamb Skins which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland, and which shall be imported in the whole Skin and neither cut nor diminished in any respect whatever

─

─

─

1¼

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all other Hides and Skins, not hereinbefore enumerated and described, and of all Pieces or Parts of Hides or Skins, which shall be dressed in Allum and Salt, or Meal, or otherwise tawed in Ireland

─

─

─

6

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Buck, Deer and Elk Skins, which shall be dressed in Oil in Ireland, and imported in the whole Skin, and neither cut nor diminished in any respect whatever

─

─

1

─

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Sheep and Lamb Skins, which shall be dressed in Oil in Ireland

─

─

─

3

─

─

6

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all other Hides and Skins, and Parts and Pieces of Hides and Skins, which shall be dressed in Oil in Ireland

66

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

For every Dozen of Irish Vellum

─

─

3

5½

For every Dozen of Irish Parchment

─

─

1

8¾

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of tanned Leather, manufactured and actually made into Goods or Wares in Ireland

─

─

─

1½

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish-made Boots and Shoes, and Gloves, and other Manufactures made of tawed or dressed Leather

─

─

─

1

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Buck and Deer Skins, and Elk Skins, dressed in Oil and manufactured into Goods and Wares in Ireland

─

─

1

─

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Sheep and Lamb Skins, dressed in Oil and manufactured into Goods or Wares in Ireland

─

─

─

3

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all other Hides and Skins, not herein-before enumerated or described, dressed in Oil and manufactured into Goods or Wares in Ireland

─

─

─

6

MEAD or METHEGLIN – For every Gallon, English Wine Measure, of Irish Mead or Metheglin

─

─

1

½

PAPER – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Paper, fit or proper, or that may be used for or applied to the Uses or Purposes of Writing, Drawing, and Printing, or either of them, and of all Irish Elephant Papers and Cartridge Papers

─

─

─

2½

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish coloured Papers and whited Brown Papers (other than and except Elephant and Cartridge Papers) fit and proper for the Use and Purpose of wrapping up Goods, and not fit or proper or capable of being used for or applied to the Purposes of Writing, Drawing, and Printing, or either of them

─

─

─

1

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Brown Paper, fit and proper for the Use and Purpose of wrapping up Goods, and not fit or proper or capable of being used for or applied to the Uses and Purposes of Writing, Drawing, and Printing, or either of them

─

─

─

½

LEATHER, Manufactured into Goods and Wares:

67

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of every Sort or Kind of Irish Paper, not herein-before enumerated or described, Sheathing, and Button Paper and Button Board excepted

─

─

─

2½

For every one hundred Weight of Irish Pasteboard, Millboard, and Scaleboard

─

─

10

6

For every one hundred Weight of Irish glazed Papers for Clothiers and Hotpressers

─

─

6

─

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Books, bound or unbound, and of Maps or Prints, which shall be imported into Great Britain directly from Ireland

─

─

─

2

PRINTED GOODS – For every Yard square of Irish printed, painted, or stained Papers, to serve for Hangings, or other Uses

─

─

─

1¾

For every Yard in Length, reckoning Yard-wide, of foreign Callicoes and foreign Muslins, which shall be printed, painted, stained, or dyed in Ireland, (except such as shall be dyed throughout of one Colour,) over and above any Duty of Customs payable on the Importation of foreign Callicoes and Muslins

─

─

─

7

For every Yard in Length, reckoning Yard-wide, of all Irish printed, painted, stained, or dyed Irish made Callicoes, Muslins, Linens, and Stuffs made either of Cotton or Linen, mixed with other Materials, Fustians, Velvets, Velverets, Dimities, and other figured Stuffs, made of Cotton and other Materials mixed, or wholly made of Cotton Wool (except such as shall be dyed throughout of one Colour only)

─

─

─

3½

For every Yard in Length, reckoning Yard-wide, of all Irish printed, stained, painted, or dyed Irish-made Stuffs not before enumerated or described (except such as shall be dyed throughout of one Colour only and except Stuffs made of Woollen, or whereof the greatest Part in value shall be Woollen)

─

─

─

3½

For every Yard in Length, reckoning Half Yard wide, of all Irish printed, stained, painted, or dyed Silk, (Silk Handkerchiefs excepted,) over and above any Duty of Customs payable on the Importation of Silk

─

─

1

1¾

For every Yard square of Irish printed, stained, painted, or dyed Silk Handkerchiefs, and so in proportion for wide or narrow Silk Handkerchiefs, over and above every Duty of Customs payable on Silk

─

─

─

4½

68

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

Excise d.

£.

s.

d.

SALT – For every Bushel, consisting of fifty-six Pounds Weight Avoirdupois, of Irish Salt, or Irish Glauber or Irish Epsom Salt

─

─

10

─

For every Bushel, consisting of fifty-five Pounds Weight Avoirdupois, of Irish Rock Salt

─

─

10

─

SILK – Manufactures of Ribbons and Stuffs of Silk only, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

5

─

Silk and Ribbons of Silk, mixed with Gold or Silver, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

6

8

Silk Stockings, Silk Gloves, Silk Fringe, Silk Laces, stitching or sewing Silk, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

3

─

Silk, Manufactures of, not otherwise enumerated or described, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

4

─

Stuffs of Silk and Grogram Yarn, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

1

2

Stuffs of Silk mixed with Incle or Cotton, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

1

8

Stuffs of Silk and Worsted, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

─

10

Stuffs of Silk mixed with any other Material, the Pound, containing sixteen Ounces

─

1

3

Note – Two-thirds of the Weight of Gauze and One-third of the Weight of Crape, is to be deducted for Gum and Dress.

SOAP – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Hard, Cake, or Ball Soap

─

─

─

2¼

For every Pound Weight of Irish Soft Soap

─

─

─

1¾

SPIRITS, BRITISH – For every Gallon, English Wine Measure, of Spirits, Aqua Vitae, or Strong Waters, which shall be distilled or made in Ireland, and imported at a Strength not exceeding one to ten over Hydrometer Proof

─

─

5

1¼

─

─

─

3¼

Note – Spirits above the Strength of one to ten will be charged in proportion; and on sweetened or compounded Spirits, the Duty will be computed upon the highest Degree of Strength at which such Spirits can be made.

STARCH – For every Pound Weight of Irish Starch or Hair Powder, of what Kind soever

69

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs

Excise

£.

s.

d.

SUGARS – Refined; videlicet, called Bastards, whole or ground, the Hundred Weight

─

18

2

Lumps, the Hundred Weight

1

14

¾

Single Loaf, the Hundred Weight

1

16

4

Powder Loaf and Double Loaf, the Hundred Weight

1

19

1

Sugar Candy, brown, the Hundred Weight

1

14

¾

Sugar Candy, white, the Hundred Weight

1

19

1

Sugar, refined, of any other Sort, the Hundred Weight

1

19

1

£.

s.

d.

SWEETS – For every Barrel, consisting of thirty-one Gallons and a Half, English Wine Measure, of Irish Sweets, or other Irish Liquor, made by Infusion, Fermentation, or otherwise, from Fruit or Sugar, or from Fruit or Sugar mixed with any other Materials or Ingredients whatsoever, commonly called Sweets, or called or distinguished by the Name of Made Wines.

─

2

2

─

TOBACCO and SNUFF – For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of unmanufactured Tobacco of the Growth or Produce of Ireland, over and above any Duty of Customs

─

─

1

1

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Short Cut Tobacco, or Tobacco manufactured into what is commonly called or known by the Name of Spanish

─

─

1

7

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Shag Tobacco

─

─

1

5¾

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Roll Tobacco

─

─

1

7

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Carrot Tobacco

─

─

1

5½

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of every other Sort of Irish manufactured Tobacco, not herein-before enumerated or described

─

─

1

7

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Rappee Snuff

─

─

1

4¼

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Scotch Snuff

─

─

1

10½

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Brown Scotch Snuff

─

─

1

3¾

70

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES

Customs £.

s.

For every Pound Weight-Avoirdupois of Irish manufactured Tobacco Stalk Flour

─

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of every other Sort or Kind of Irish manufactured Snuff, or Snuff Work, not herein-before enumerated or described

─ ─

Tobacco unmanufactured, the Pound

Excise

─

d.

£.

s.

d.

─

1

9

─

1

10½

6

6 /20

VERJUICE – For every Hogshead consisting of sixtythree Gallons English Wine Measure, of Irish Verjuice

─

─

7

8

VINEGAR – For every Barrel consisting of thirty-four Gallons, English Beer Measure, of Irish Vinegar

─

─

12

8¼

WIRE – For every Ounce Troy Weight of Irish Gilt Wire

─

─

─

9¼

For every Ounce Troy of Irish Silver Wire

─

─

─

7

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Gold Thread, Gold Lace, or Gold Fringe, made of Plate Wire spun upon Silk

─

─

7

8

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Irish Silver Thread, Silver Lace, or Silver Fringe, made of Plate Wire spun upon Silk

─

─

5

9

B: On Importation into Ireland from Great Britain ARTICLES £.

s.

d.

BEER – For and upon every Barrel containing thirty-two Gallons, imported from Great Britain

─

4

6

GLASS BOTTLES – For and upon each reputed Quart

─

─

¼

LEATHER, Unmanufactured – For and upon each Pound in every Hide or Skin, or Piece of any such Hide or Skin of what Kind or Denomination soever, other than such as are herein-after mentioned and described

─

─

1

For and upon each Hide of Horses, Mares, or Geldings

─

1

─

For and upon all Skins called Veal Skins, and all Skins of Hogs, for every Dozen Skins thereof, and after the same Rate for any greater or less Quantity

─

5

─

71

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES £.

s.

d.

For and upon all Skins for Shoes and other like Purposes, and all Seal Skins, for every Dozen thereof, and after the same Rate for any greater or less Quantity

─

2

6

For and upon all Skins for Bookbinders’ Use, for every Dozen thereof, and after the same Rate for any greater or less Quantity

─

1

─

For and upon all Goat Skins tanned with Shumack, or otherwise to resemble Spanish Leather, and all Sheep Skins tanned for Roans, being after the Nature of Spanish Leather, for every Pound Weight Avoirdupois

─

─

1

For and upon all Sheep and Lamb Skins tanned for Gloves and Basils, for every Pound Weight Avoirdupois, and so in proportion for any greater or less Quantity

─

─

½

LEATHER, Dressed in Oil – For and upon every Hide and Skin, and Piece of such Hide and Skin, other than such as are herein-after mentioned or described, for every Pound Weight Avoirdupois

─

─

2

For and upon all Deer Skins, Goat Skins, and Beaver Skins, for every Pound Weight thereof Avoirdupois

─

─

3

For and Upon all Calf Skins, for every Pound Weight thereof Avoirdupois

─

─

2

For and Upon all Sheep and Lamb Skins, for every Pound Weight Avoirdupois

─

─

½

VELLUM and PARCHMENT – For and upon every Dozen Skins or Vellum

─

─

6

For and upon every Dozen Skins of Parchment

─

─

3

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of tanned Leather, manufactured and actually made into Goods and Wares in Great Britain, of Leather only, or of which Leather makes the most valuable Part

─

─

1

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of tawed or dressed Leather, manufactured and actually made in Great Britain, of Leather only, or of which Leather makes the most valuable Part

─

─

1

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Buck and Deer Skins, and Elk Skins, dressed in Oil, and manufactured into Goods and Wares in Great Britain of Leather only, or of which Leather makes the most valuable Part

─

─

3

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all Sheep and Lamb Skins dressed in Oil, and manufactured into Goods and Wares in Great Britain, of Leather only, or of which Leather makes the most valuable Part

─

─

½

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois, of all other Hides and Skins, not herein-before enumerated or described, dressed in Oil, and

─

─

2

LEATHER, Manufactured into Goods and Wares – For and upon all tanned Leather manufactured into Goods and Wares, whereof Leather is the most valuable Part, the following Duties; videlicet,

72

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES £.

s.

d.

PAPER – For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Paper, fit or proper for, or that may be used for or applied to the Uses or Purposes of Writing, Drawing, or Printing, or either of them, and all Elephant Paper, and all Cartridge Paper

─

─

2½

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of all coloured Paper, and whited-brown Papers, other than and except Elephant and Cartridge Paper, fit or proper for the Uses or Purposes of wrapping up Goods, and not fit or proper, or capable of being used for or applied to the Uses or Purposes of Writing, Drawing, and Printing, or either of them and also except Paper Hangings

─

─

1

For every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of brown Paper, fit and proper for the Use or Purpose of wrapping up Goods, and not fit or proper or capable of being used for or applied to the Uses or Purposes of Writing, Drawing, or Printing, or either of them

─

─

½

For and upon every one hundred Weight of Glazed Paper for Clothiers and Hotpressers, and so in proportion for any greater or less Quantity

─

5

─

For and upon every one hundred Weight of Pasteboard, Millboard, and Scaleboard, and so in proportion for any greater or less Quantity

─

10

─

For and upon every Pound Weight of every Sort or Kind of Paper, not herein-before particularly enumerated or described, other than and except Papers commonly called or known by the Names of Sheathing Paper, and Button Paper, or Button Board, and Paper Hangings

─

─

2½

STAINED PAPER – For and upon every square Yard of printed, painted, or stained Paper for Hangings or other Uses, and so in proportion for any greater or less Quantity

─

─

1

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of Books bound or unbound, and of Maps or Prints which shall be imported into Ireland from Great Britain

─

─

2

CARDS – For and upon every Pack of printed, painted, or playing Cards, made or manufactured in Great Britain

─

1

5

manufactured into Goods and Wares in Great Britain, of Leather only, or of which Leather makes the most valuable Part

And a further Duty of 2½d. per Pound Weight ─

─

─

DICE – For and upon every Pair of Dice made or manufactured in Great Britain

─

10

─

WROUGHT PLATE – For and upon every Ounce Troy Weight of Gold or Silver Plate, which shall be wrought, made, or manufactured in Great Britain, and imported into Ireland

─

─

6

73

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES £.

s.

d.

For and upon all Ribbons and Stuffs of Silk only, for every Pound Weight thereof containing sixteen Ounces

─

2

1

For and upon all Silk and Ribbons of Silk, mixed with Gold or Silver, for every Pound Weight thereof containing sixteen Ounces

─

2

9

For and upon all Silk Stockings, Silk Gloves, Silk Fringe, Silk Laces, stitching and sewing Silk, for every Pound Weight thereof containing sixteen Ounces

─

1

3

For and upon all Manufactures of Silk not otherwise enumerated or described, for every Pound Weight thereof containing sixteen Ounces

─

1

8

For and upon all Stuffs of Silk and Grogram Yarn, the Pound Weight containing sixteen Ounces

─

─

6

For and upon all Stuffs of Silk mixed with Incle or Cotton, the Pound Weight containing sixteen Ounces

─

─

9

For and upon all Stuffs of Silk and Worsted mixed, the Pound Weight containing sixteen Ounces

─

─

4

For and upon all Stuffs of Silk mixed with any other Material, the Pound Weight containing sixteen Ounces

─

─

6½

SPIRITS – For and upon every Gallon of Spirits, being of the Manufacture of Great Britain, and imported from thence, a Duty of

─

3

7

For and upon all Sugar called Bastards, white or ground, the hundred Weight, containing 112 Pounds

─

19

8

For and upon all Sugar called Lumps, the hundred Weight containing 112 Pounds

1

16

10¾

For and upon all Sugar called Single Loaf Sugar, the hundred Weight containing 112 Pounds

1

19

4

For and upon all Sugar called Powder Loaf and Double Loaf, the hundred Weight containing 112 Pounds

2

2

4

For and upon all Sugar called Sugar Candy, brown, the hundred Weight, containing 112 Pounds

1

16

10

For and upon all Sugar called Sugar Candy, white, the hundred Weight, containing 112 Pounds

2

2

4

For and upon all, Sugar refined of any other Sort, the hundred Weight, containing 112 Pounds

2

2

4

SILK MANUFACTURE – For and upon all Silks being of the Manufacture of Great Britain, and imported directly from thence, the following Duties, videlicet,

SUGAR, Refined – of the Manufacture of Great Britain, and imported directly from thence, the following Duties; videlicet,

74

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

ARTICLES £.

s.

d.

SWEETS – For and upon every Barrel, containing thirty-two Gallons Wine Measure, of British Sweets, or other British Liquor, made by Infusion, Fermentation, or otherwise, from Fruit or Sugar, or from Fruit and Sugar mixed with any other Material or Ingredients whatsoever, commonly called Sweets, or called or distinguished by the Name of Made Wines

─

10

─

For and upon every Gallon of Mead or Metheglin

─

─

4

For and upon every Barrel, containing thirty-two Gallons, of Vinegar

─

3

─

TOBACCO and SNUFF – For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of unmanufactured Tobacco, of the Growth or Produce of Great Britain, over and above any Duty of Customs now payable

─

─

5

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Short Cut Tobacco, or Tobacco manufactured into what is commonly called or known by the Name of Spanish

─

1

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Shag Tobacco cut

─

─

11

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Roll Tobacco

─

1

7

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Carrot Tobacco

─

─

11

For and upon every Pound Weight of every other Sort of British manufactured Tobacco, not herein-before enumerated or described

─

1

7

For and upon every Pound Weight Avoirdupois of British manufactured Rappee Snuff

─

─

10¼

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Snuff called Scotch Snuff

─

1

4

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Snuff called Brown Scotch Snuff

─

─

93/4

For and upon every Pound Weight of British manufactured Stalk Flour

─

1

3

For and upon every Pound Weight of every other Sort or Kind of British manufactured Snuff, or Snuff Work, not herein-before enumerated or described

─

1

4

7

/10

/10

/10

75

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

SCHEDULE Number Two Of the Articles charged with the Duties specified upon Importation into Great Britain and Ireland respectively, according to the Sixth Article of Union

ART. VII. That it be the seventh Article of Union, that the Charge arising from the Payment of the Interest, and the Sinking Fund for the Reduction of the Principal, of the Debt incurred in either Kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Britain and Ireland respectively, except as hereinafter provided: That for the Space of twenty Years after the Union shall take place, the Contribution of Great Britain and Ireland respectively, towards the Expenditure of the United Kingdom in each Year, shall be defrayed in the Proportion of fifteen Parts for Great Britain and two Parts for Ireland; and that at the Expiration of the said twenty Years, the future Expenditure of the United Kingdom (other than the Interest and Charges of the Debt to which either Country shall be separately liable) shall be defrayed in such Proportion as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall deem just and reasonable upon a Comparison of

76

Ten Pounds per Cent on the true Value.

Apparel Brass, wrought Cabinet ware Coaches and other Carriages Copper, wrought Cottons, other than Callicoes and Muslins Glass Haberdashery Hats Tin Plates, wrought Iron and Hard Ware Gold and Silver Lace, Gold and Silver Thread, Bullion for Lace, Pearl, and, Spangles Millinery Paper stained Pottery Sadlery and other manufactured Leather Silk Manufacture Stockings

the real Value of the Exports and Imports of the respective Countries, upon an Average of the three Years next preceding the Period of Revision: or on a Comparison of the Value of the Quantities of the following Articles consumed within the respective Countries, on a similar Average, videlicet, Beer, Spirits, Sugar, Wine, Tea, Tobacco, and Malt; or according to the aggregate Proportion resulting from both these Considerations combined; or on a Comparison of the Amount of Income in each Country, estimated from the Produce for the same Period of a general Tax, if such shall have been imposed on the same Descriptions of Income in both Countries; and that the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall afterwards proceed in like Manner to revise and fix the said Proportions according to the same Rules, or any of them, at Periods not more distant than twenty years, nor less than seven Years from each other; unless, previous to any such Period, the Parliament of the United

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

Kingdom shall have declared, as hereinafter provided, that the Expenditure of the United Kingdom shall be defrayed indiscriminately, by equal Taxes imposed on the like Articles in both Countries: That, for the defraying the said Expenditure according to the Rules above laid down, the Revenues of Ireland shall hereafter constitute a Consolidated Fund, which shall be charged, in the first Instance, with the Interest of the Debt of Ireland, and with the Sinking Fund, applicable to the Reduction of the said Debt, and the Remainder shall be applied towards defraying the Proportion of the Expenditure of the United Kingdom, to which Ireland may be liable in each Year: That the Proportion of Contribution to which Great Britain and Ireland will be liable, shall be raised by such Taxes in each Country respectively, as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall from Time to Time deem fit: Provided always, That in regulating the Taxes in each Country, by which their respective Proportions shall be levied, no Article in Ireland shall be made liable to any new or additional Duty, by which the whole Amount of Duty payable thereon would exceed the Amount which shall be thereafter payable in England on the like Article: That, if at the End of any Year any Surplus shall accrue from the Revenues of Ireland, after defraying the Interest, Sinking Fund, and proportional Contribution and separate Charges to which the said Country shall then be liable, Taxes shall be taken off to the Amount of such Surplus, or the Surplus shall be applied by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to local Purposes in Ireland, or to make good any Deficiency which may arise in the Revenues of Ireland in Time of Peace, or be invested, by the Commissioners of the National Debt of Ireland in the Funds, to

accumulate for the Benefit of Ireland at Compound Interest, in ease of the Contribution of Ireland in Time of War; provided that the Surplus so to accumulate shall at no future Period be suffered to exceed the Sum of five Millions: That all Monies to be raised after the Union, by Loan, in Peace or War, for the Service of the United Kingdom by the Parliament thereof, shall be considered to be a joint Debt, and the Charges thereof shall be borne by the respective Countries in the Proportion of their respective Contributions; provided that, if at any Time, in raising their respective Contributions hereby fixed for each Country, the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall judge it fit to raise a greater Proportion of such respective Contributions in one Country within the Year than in the other, or to set apart a greater Proportion of Sinking Fund for the Liquidation of the Whole or any Part of the Loan raised on account of the one Country than of that raised on account of the other Country, then such Part of the said Loan, for the Liquidation of which different Provisions shall have been made for the respective Countries, shall be kept distinct, and shall be borne by each separately, and only that Part of the said Loan be deemed Joint and Common, for the Reduction of which the respective Countries shall have made Provision in the Proportion of their respective Contributions: That, if at any future Day the separate Debt of each Country respectively shall have been liquidated, or, if the Values of their respective Debts (estimated according to the Amount of the Interest and Annuities attending the same, and of the Sinking Fund applicable to the Reduction thereof, and to the Period within which the whole Capital of such Debt shall appear to be redeemable by such Sinking

77

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

Fund) shall be to each other in the same Proportion with the respective Contributions of each Country respectively; or if the Amount by which the Value of the larger of such Debts shall vary from such Proportion, shall not exceed one hundredth Part of the said Value; and if it shall appear to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that the respective Circumstances of the two Countries will thenceforth admit of their contributing indiscriminately, by equal Taxes imposed on the same Articles in each, to the future Expenditure of the United Kingdom, it shall be competent to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to declare, that all future Expence thenceforth to be incurred, together with the Interest and Charges of all Joint Debts contracted previous to such Declaration, shall be so defrayed indiscriminately by equal Taxes imposed on the same Articles in each Country, and thenceforth from Time to Time, as Circumstances may require, to impose and apply such Taxes accordingly, subject only to such particular Exemptions or Abatements in Ireland, and in that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, as Circumstances may appear from Time to Time to demand: That, from the Period of such Declaration, it shall no longer be necessary to regulate the Contribution of the two Countries towards the future Expenditure of the United Kingdom, according to any specifick Proportion, or according to any of the Rules herein before prescribed: Provided nevertheless, that the Interest or Charges which may remain on account of any Part of the separate Debt with which either Country shall be chargeable, and which shall not be liquidated or consolidated proportionably as above, shall, until extinguished, continue to be defrayed by separate Taxes in each Country: That a Sum, not less than

78

the Sum which has been granted by the Parliament of Ireland on the Average of six Years immediately preceding the first Day of January in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, in Premiums for the internal Encouragement of Agriculture or Manufactures, or for the maintaining Institutions for pious and charitable Purposes, shall be applied, for the Period of twenty Years after the Union, to such local Purposes in Ireland, in such Manner as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall direct: That, from and after the first Day of January one thousand eight hundred and one, all Publick Revenue arising to the United Kingdom from the territorial Dependencies thereof, and applied to the General Expenditure of the United Kingdom, shall be so applied in the Proportions of the respective Contributions of the two Countries: ART. VIII. That it be the eighth Article of Union, That all Laws in force at the Time of the Union, and all the Courts of Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within the respective Kingdoms, shall remain as now by Law established within the same; subject only to such Alterations and Regulations from Time to Time as Circumstances may appear to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to require; provided that all Writs of Error and Appeals depending at the Time of the Union or hereafter to be brought, and which might now be finally decided by the House of Lords of either Kingdom, shall, from and after the Union, be finally decided by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and provided, that, from and after the Union, there shall remain in Ireland an Instance Court of Admiralty, for the Determination of Causes, Civil and Maritime only, and that the Appeal from Sentences of the said

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

Court shall be to his Majesty’s Delegates in his Court of Chancery in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; and that all Laws at present in force in either Kingdom, which shall be contrary to any of the Provisions which may be enacted by any Act for carrying these Articles into Effect, be from and after the Union repealed. And whereas the said Articles having, by Address of the respective Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland, been humbly laid before his Majesty, his Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve the same; and to recommend it to his two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland to consider of such Measures as may be necessary for giving Effect to the said Articles: In order, therefore, to give full Effect and Validity to the same,’ be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, the said foregoing recited Articles, each and every one of them, according to the true Import and Tenor thereof, be ratified, confirmed, and approved, and be and they are hereby declared to be, the Articles of the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and the same shall be in force and have effect for ever, from the first Day of January which shall be in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one; provided that before that Period an Act shall have been passed by the Parliament of Ireland, for carrying into effect, in the like Manner, the said foregoing recited Articles. II. And whereas an Act, intituled, An Act to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the

Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament, has been passed by the Parliament of Ireland;2 the Tenor whereof is as follows: An Act to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament. Whereas it is agreed by the fourth Article of Union, That four Lords Spiritual of Ireland, by Rotation of Sessions, and twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland, elected for Life by the Peers of Ireland, shall be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and one hundred Commoners (two for each County of Ireland, two for the City of Dublin, two for the City of Cork, one for the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable Cities, Towns, and Boroughs) be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by Authority of the same, That the said four Lords Spiritual shall be taken from among the Lords Spiritual of Ireland in the Manner following; that is to say, That one of the four Archbishops of Ireland, and three of the eighteen Bishops of Ireland, shall sit in the House of Lords of the United Parliament in each Session thereof, the said Right of sitting being regulated as between the said Archbishops respectively by a Rotation among the Archiepiscopal Sees from Session to Ses-

79

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

sion, and in like Manner that of the Bishops by a like Rotation among the Episcopal Sees: That the Primate of all Ireland for the Time being3 shall sit in the first Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Archbishop of Dublin for the Time being in the Second, the Archbishop of Cashel for the Time being in the third, the Archbishop of Tuam for the Time being in the fourth; and so by Rotation of Sessions for ever, such Rotation to proceed regularly and without Interruption from Session to Session, notwithstanding any Dissolution or Expiration of Parliament: That three suffragan Bishops shall in like Manner sit according to their Rotation of Sees, from Session to Session, in the following Order; the Lord Bishop of Meath, the Lord Bishop of Kildare, the Lord Bishop of Derry, in the first Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Raphoe, the Lord Bishop of Limerick, Ardsert, and Aghadoe, the Lord Bishop of Dromore, in the second Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Elphin, the Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, the Lord Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in the third Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns, the Lord Bishop of Cloyne, the Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross, in the fourth Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, the Lord Bishop of Kilmore, the Lord Bishop of Clogher, in the fifth Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Lord Bishop of Ossory, the Lord Bishop of Killala and Achonry, the Lord Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, in the sixth Session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the said Rotation to be nevertheless subject to such Variation

80

therefrom from Time to Time as is hereinafter provided: That the said twenty-eight Lords Temporal shall be chosen by all the Temporal Peers of Ireland in the Manner herein-after provided; that each of the said Lords Temporal so chosen shall be entitled to sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom during his Life; and in case of his Death, or Forfeiture of any of the said Lords Temporal, the Temporal Peers of Ireland shall, in the Manner herein-after provided, choose another Peer out of their own Number to supply the Place so vacant. And be it enacted, That of the one hundred Commoners to sit on the Part of Ireland in the United Parliament, sixty-four shall chosen for the Counties, and thirty-six for the following Cities and Boroughs, videlicet: For each County of Ireland two; for the City of Dublin two; for the City of Cork two; for the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin one; for the City of Waterford one; for the City of Limerick one; for the Borough of Belfast one; for the County and Town of Drogheda one; for the County and Town of Carrickfergus one; for the Borough of Newry one; for the City of Kilkenny one; for the City of Londonderry one; for the Town of Galway one; for the Borough of Clonmell one; for the Town of Wexford one; for the Town of Youghall one; for the Town of Bandon-Bridge one; for the Borough of Armagh one; for the Borough of Dundalk one; for the Town of Kinsale one; for the Borough of Lisburne one; for the Borough of Sligo one; for the Borough of Catherlough one; for the Borough of Ennis one; for the Borough of Dungarvan one; for the Borough of Downpatrick one; for the Borough of Colraine one; for the Town of Mallow one; for the Borough of Athlone one; for the Town of New Ross one; for the Borough of Tralee

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

one; for the City of Cashel one; for the Borough of Dungannon one; for the Borough of Portarlington one; for the Borough of Enniskillen one. And be it enacted, That in case of the summoning of a new Parliament, or if the Seat of any of the said Commoners shall become vacant by Death or otherwise, then the said Counties, Cities, or Boroughs, or any of them, as the Case may be, shall proceed to a new Election; and that all the other Towns, Cities, Corporations, or Boroughs, other than the aforesaid, shall cease to elect Representatives to serve in Parliament; and no Meeting shall at any Time hereafter be summoned, called, convened, or held, for the Purpose of electing any Person or Persons to serve or act, or be considered, as Representative or Representatives of any other Place, Town, City, Corporation, or Borough, other than the aforesaid, or as Representative or Representatives of the Freemen, Freeholders, Householders, or Inhabitants thereof, either in the Parliament of the United Kingdom or elsewhere, (unless it shall hereafter be otherwise provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom); and every Person summoning, calling, or holding any such Meeting or Assembly, or taking any Part in any such Election or pretended Election, shall, being thereof duly convicted, incur and suffer the Pains and Penalties ordained and provided by the Statute of Provision and Praemunire, made in the sixteenth Year of the Reign of Richard the Second. For the due Election of the Persons to be chosen to sit in the respective Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, be it enacted, That on the Day following that on which the Act for establishing the Union shall have received the Royal Assent, the Primate of all Ireland, the

Lord Bishop of Meath, the Lord Bishop of Kildare, and the Lord Bishop of Derry shall be, and they are hereby declared to be the Representatives of the Lords Spiritual of Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, for the first Session thereof; and that the Temporal Peers of Ireland shall assemble at Twelve of the Clock on the same Day as aforesaid, in the now accustomed Place of Meeting of the House of Lords of Ireland, and shall then and there proceed to elect twenty-eight Lords Temporal to represent the Peerage of Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the following Manner; that is to say, the Names of the Peers shall be called over according to their Rank, by the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, who shall then and there attend for that Purpose; and each of the said Peers, who, previous to the said Day, and in the present Parliament, shall have actually taken his Seat in the House of Lords of Ireland, and who shall there have taken the Oaths, and signed the Declaration, which are or shall be by Law required to be taken and signed by the Lords of the Parliament of Ireland before they can sit and vote in the Parliament hereof, shall, when his Name is called, deliver, either by himself or by his Proxy, (the Name of such Proxy having been previously entered in the Books of the House of Lords of Ireland, according to the present Forms and Usages thereof,) to the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, (who shall then and there attend for that Purpose,) a List of twenty-eight of the Temporal Peers of Ireland; and the Clerk of the Crown or his Deputy shall then and there publickly read the said Lists, and shall then and there cast up the said Lists, and publickly declare the Names of the twenty-eight Lords who shall be chosen by the Majority of Votes in the said Lists,

81

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

and shall make a Return of the said Names to the House of Lords of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom; and the twenty-eight Lords so chosen by the Majority of Votes in the said Lists shall, during their respective Lives, sit as Representatives of the Peers of Ireland in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, and be entitled to receive Writs of Summons to that and every succeeding Parliament; and in case a complete Election shall not be made of the whole Number of twenty-eight Peers, by reason of an Equality of Votes, the Clerk of the Crown shall return such Number in favour of whom a complete Election shall have been made in one List, and in a second List shall return the Names of those Peers who shall have an Equality of Votes, but in favour of whom, by reason of such Equality, a complete Election shall not have been made, and the Names of the Peers in the second List, for whom an equal Number of Votes shall have been so given, shall be written on Pieces of Paper of a similar Form, and shall be put into a Glass by the Clerk of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, at the Table of the House of Lords thereof, whilst the House is sitting, and the Peer whose Name shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliament, shall be deemed the Peer elected; and so successively as often as the Case may require; and whenever the Seat of any of the twenty-eight Lords Temporal so elected shall be vacated by Decease or Forfeiture, the Chancellor, the Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal of the United Kingdom for the Time being, upon receiving a Certificate under the Hand and Seal of any two Lords Temporal of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, certifying the Decease of such Peer, or on View of the Record of Attainder of such Peer,

82

shall direct a Writ to be issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to the Chancellor, the Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland for the Time being, directing him or them to cause Writs to be issued, by the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland, to every Temporal Peer of Ireland, who shall have sat and voted in the House of Lords of Ireland before the Union, or whose Right to sit and vote therein, or to vote at such Elections, shall, on Claim made on his Behalf, have been admitted by the House of Lords of Ireland before the Union, or after the Union by the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and Notice shall forthwith be published by the said Clerk of the Crown, in the London and Dublin Gazettes, of the issuing of such Writs, and of the Names and Titles of all the Peers to whom the same are directed; and to the said Writs there shall be annexed a Form of Return thereof, in which a Blank shall be left for the Name of the Peer to be elected, and the said Writs shall enjoin each Peer, within fifty-two Days from the Teste of the Writ, to return the same into the Crown Office of Ireland with the Blank filled up, by inserting the Name of the Peer for whom he shall vote, as the Peer to succeed to the Vacancy made by Demise or Forfeiture as aforesaid; and the said Writs and Returns shall be bipartite, so as that the Name of the Peer to be chosen shall be written twice, that is, once on each Part of such Writ and Return, and so as that each Part may also be subscribed by the Peer to whom the same shall be directed, and likewise be sealed with his Seal of Arms; and one Part of the said Writs and Returns so filled up, subscribed and sealed as above, shall remain of Record in the Crown Office of Ireland, and the other Part shall be certified by the Clerk of the

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

Crown to the Clerk of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and no Peer of Ireland, except such as shall have been elected as Representative Peers on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, and shall there have taken the Oaths, and signed the Declaration prescribed by Law, shall, under pain of suffering such Punishment as the House of Lords of the United Kingdom may award and adjudge, make a Return to such Writ, unless he shall, after the issuing thereof, and before the Day, on which the Writ is returnable, have taken the Oaths and signed the Declaration which are or shall be by Law required to be taken and signed by the Lords of the United Kingdom, before they can sit and vote in the Parliament thereof; which Oaths and Declaration shall be either taken and subscribed in the Court of Chancery of Ireland, or before one of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; a Certificate whereof, signed by such Justices of the Peace, or by the Registrar of the said Court of Chancery, shall be transmitted by such Peer with the Return, and shall be annexed to that Part thereof remaining of Record in the Crown Office of Ireland; and the Clerk of the Crown shall forthwith after the Return Day of the Writs, cause to be published in the London and Dublin Gazettes, a Notice of the Name of the Person chosen by the Majority of Votes; and the Peer so chosen shall, during his Life, be one of the Peers to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom; and in case the Votes shall be equal, the Names of such Persons who have an equal Number of Votes in their Favour, shall be written on Pieces of Paper of a similar Form, and shall be put into a Glass

by the Clerk of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, at the Table of the House of Lords, whilst the House is sitting, and the Peer whose Name shall be first drawn out by the Clerk of the Parliament shall be deemed the Peer elected. And be it enacted, That in case any Lord Spiritual, being a Temporal Peer of the United Kingdom, or being a Temporal Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, shall be chosen by the Lords Temporal to be one of the Representatives of the Lords Temporal, in every such Case, during the Life of such Spiritual Peer being a Temporal Peer of the United Kingdom, or being a Temporal Peer of that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, so chosen to represent the Lords Temporal, the Rotation of Representation of the Spiritual Lords shall proceed to the next Spiritual Lord, without Regard to such Spiritual Lord so chosen a Temporal Peer, that is to say, if such Spiritual Lord shall be an Archbishop, then the Rotation shall proceed to the Archbishop whose See is next in Rotation, and if such Spiritual Lord shall be a suffragan Bishop, then the Rotation shall proceed to the suffragan Bishop whose See is next in Rotation. And whereas by the said fourth Article of Union it is agreed, that, if his Majesty shall, on or before the first Day of January next, declare, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain should be the Members of the respective Houses of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Great Britain, then the Lords and Commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the Members of the respective Houses of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Great Britain; be

83

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

it enacted, for and in that Case only, That the present Members of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, and the two Members for the City of Dublin, and the two Members for the City of Cork, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, by virtue of this Act, Members for the said Counties and Cities in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, and that, on a Day and Hour to be appointed by his Majesty under the Great Seal of Ireland, previous to the said first Day of January one thousand eight hundred and one, the Members then serving for the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and for each of the following Cities or Boroughs, that is to say, the City of Waterford, City of Limerick, Borough of Belfast, County and Town of Drogheda, County and Town of Carrickfergus, Borough of Newry, City of Kilkenny, City of Londonderry, Town of Galway, Borough of Clonmell, Town of Wexford, Town of Youghall, Town of Bandon-Bridge, Borough of Armagh, Borough of Dundalk, Town of Kinsale, Borough of Lisburne, Borough of Sligo, Borough of Catherlough, Borough of Ennis, Borough of Dungarvan, Borough of Downpatrick, Borough of Coleraine, Town of Mallow, Borough of Athlone, Town of New Ross, Borough of Tralee, City of Cashel, Borough of Dungannon, Borough of Portarlington, and Borough of Enniskillen, or any five or more of them, shall meet in the now usual Place of Meeting of the House of Commons of Ireland, and the Names of the Members then serving for the said Places and Boroughs, shall be written on separate Pieces of Paper, and the said Papers being folded up, shall be placed in a Glass or Glasses, and shall successively be drawn thereout by the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, who shall then and there, attend for that

84

Purpose; and the first drawn Name of a Member of each of the aforesaid Places or Boroughs shall be taken as the Name of the Member to serve for the said Place or Borough in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom; and a Return of the said Names shall be made by the Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, to the House of Commons of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom; and a Certificate thereof shall be given respectively by the said Clerk of the Crown, or his Deputy, to each of the Members whose Names shall have been so drawn: Provided always, That it may be allowed to any Member of any of the said Places or Boroughs, by personal Application, to be then and there made by him to the Clerk of the Crown or his Deputy, or by Declaration in Writing under his Hand, to be transmitted by him to the Clerk of the Crown previous to the said Day so appointed as above, to withdraw his Name previous to the drawing of the Names by Lot; in which Case, or in that of a Vacancy by Death or otherwise of one of the Members of any of the said Places or Boroughs, at the Time of so drawing the Names, the Name of the other Member shall be returned as aforesaid as the Name of the Member to serve for such Place in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom; of if both Members for any such Place or Borough shall so withdraw their Names, or if there shall be a Vacancy of both Members at the Time aforesaid, the Clerk of the Crown shall certify the same to the House of Commons of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, and shall also express, in such Return, whether any Writ shall then have issued for the Election of a Member or Members to supply such Vacancy; and if a Writ shall so have issued for the Election of one Member only, such Writ shall be su-

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

perseded, and any Election to be thereafter made thereupon shall be null and of no Effect; and if such Writ shall have issued for the Election of two Members, the said two Members shall be chosen accordingly, and their Names being returned by the Clerk of the Crown to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, one of the said Names shall then be drawn, by Lot, in such Manner and Time as the said House of Commons shall direct; and the Person whose Name shall be so drawn, shall be deemed to be the Member to sit for such Place in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom; but if, at the Time aforesaid, no Writ shall have issued to supply such Vacancy, none shall thereafter issue until the same be ordered by Resolution of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, as in the Case of any other Vacancy of a Seat in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. And be it enacted, That whenever his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, shall, by Proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, summon a new Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland, shall cause Writs to be issued to the several Counties, Cities, the College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, and Boroughs in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, specified in this Act, for the Election of Members to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, according to the Number herein-before set forth; and whenever any Vacancy of a Seat in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, for any of the said Counties, Cities, or Boroughs, or for the said College of the Holy Trinity of Dublin,

shall arise, by Death or otherwise, the Chancellor, Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal, upon such Vacancy being certified to them respectively, by the proper Warrant, shall forthwith cause a Writ to issue for the Election of a Person to fill up such Vacancy; and such Writs, and the Returns thereon, respectively being returned into the Crown Office in that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, shall from thence be transmitted to the Crown Office in that Part of the United Kingdom called England, and be certified to the House of Commons in the same Manner as the like Returns have been usually or shall hereafter be certified; and Copies of the said Writs and Returns, attested by the Chancellor, Keeper or Commissioners of the Great Seal of Ireland for the Time being, shall be preserved in the Crown Office of Ireland, and shall be Evidence of such Writs and Returns, in case the original Writs and Returns shall be lost;’ be it enacted, That the said Act, so herein recited, be taken as a Part of this Act, and be deemed to all Intents and Purposes incorporated within the same. III. And be it enacted, That the Great Seal of Ireland may, if his Majesty shall so think fit, after the Union, be used in like Manner as before the Union, except where it is otherwise provided by the foregoing Articles, within that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland; and that his Majesty may, so long as he shall think fit, continue the Privy Council of Ireland to be his Privy Council for that Part of the United Kingdom called Ireland.

1

Verified by The Statutes at Large fom the Thirtyninth Year of the Reign of King George the Third, to the End of the Fifth and Concluding Session of the

85

THE ACT OF UNION BETWEEN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1800)

Eighteenth and last Parliament of Great Britain, held in the Forty-first Year of the Reign of King George the Third [1798-1800], XVIII, London: George Eyre et al., 1800, 359-375. This act was superseded in large part by the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 (10 & 11 George V, c. 67) and the Irish Free State Agreement Act of 1922 (12 George V,

86

c. 4). Various parts were repealed by the Statute Law Revision Acts of 1871, 1948, and 1953 (2 Elizabeth II, c. 5), and the Representation of the People Act of 1949 (12 & 13 George VI, c. 68). 2 40 George III, c. 29 (1800). 3 The Primate (that is, the senior archbishop in the Church of Ireland) is the Archbishop of Armagh.

The Regency Act (1811) 51 Geo. III, c. 1 An Act to provide for the Administration of the Royal Authority, and for the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, during the Continuance of His Majesty’s Illness; and for the Resumption of the Exercise of the Royal Authority by His Majesty (5 February 1811)1 WHEREAS by reason of the severe Indisposition with which it hath pleased God to afflict the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Personal Exercise of the Royal Authority by His Majesty is, for the present, so far interrupted, that it becomes necessary to make Provision for assisting His Majesty in the Administration and Exercise of the Royal Authority, and also for the Care of his Royal Person during the continuance of His Majesty’s Indisposition, and for the Resumption of the Exercise of the Royal Authority by His Majesty; Be it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That His Royal Highness George Augustus Frederick Prince of Wales shall have full Power and Authority, in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty, and under the Stile and Title of “Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,” to exercise and administer the Royal Power and Authority to the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland belonging, and to use, execute and perform all Authorities, Prerogatives, Acts of Government and

Administration of the same, which lawfully belong to the King of the said United Kingdom to use, execute and perform; subject to such Limitations, Exceptions, Regulations and Restrictions, as are hereinafter specified and contained; and all and every Act and Acts which shall be done by the said Regent, in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty, by virtue and in pursuance of this Act, and according to the Powers and Authorities hereby vested in him, shall have the same force and Effect to all Intents and Purposes as the like Acts would have if done by His Majesty himself, and shall to all Intents and Purposes be full and sufficient Warrant to all Persons acting under the Authority thereof; and all Persons shall yield Obedience thereto, and carry the same into Effect, in the same manner and for the same Purposes as the same Persons ought to yield Obedience to and carry into Effect the like Acts done by His Majesty himself; any Law, Course of Office, or other Matter or Thing to the contrary notwithstanding. II. And be it further enacted, That as to all Authorities given and Appointments made in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty, and all other Acts, Matters

87

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

and Things usually done under the Authority of the Royal Sign Manual, the Signature of the Regent in the Form following; that is to say, George P. R. or in cases where the Royal Signature has usually been affixed in Initials only, then in the Form G. P. R., shall be as valid and effectual, and have the same Force and Effect as His Majesty’s Royal Sign Manual, and shall be deemed and taken to be to all Intents and Purposes His Majesty’s Royal Sign Manual, and be obeyed as such. III. And be it further enacted, That when His Majesty shall by the Blessing of God be restored to such a State of Health as to be capable of resuming the Personal Exercise of his Royal Authority, and shall have declared his Royal Will and Pleasure thereupon, as hereinafter provided, all and every the Powers and Authorities given by this Act, for the Exercise and Administration of His Royal Power and Authority, or for the using, executing and performing the Authorities, Prerogatives, Acts of Government and Administration of the same, which belong to the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to use, execute and perform, or for the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, shall cease and determine; and no Act, Matter or Thing, which, under this Act, and previous to such Declaration might be done in the Administration of His Majesty’s Royal Power and Authority, or in the using, exercising or performing any such Authorities, Prerogatives, Acts of Government or Administration as aforesaid, or in the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, by virtue and in pursuance of this Act , shall, if done after such Declaration of His Majesty’s Royal Will and Pleasure, be thenceforth valid or effectual.

88

IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That all Persons holding any Offices or Places, or Pensions during His Majesty’s Pleasure, at the time of such Declaration, under any Appointment or Authority of the Regent, or Her Majesty, under the Provisions of this Act, shall continue to hold the same, and to use, exercise and enjoy all the Powers, Authorities, Privileges and Emoluments thereof, notwithstanding such Declaration of the Resumption of the Royal Authority by His Majesty, unless and until His Majesty shall declare his Royal Will and Pleasure to the contrary; and all Orders, Acts of Government or Administration of His Majesty’s Royal Authority, made, issued or done by the said Regent, before such Declaration, shall be and remain in full Force and Effect, until the same shall be countermanded by His Majesty. V. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That no Acts of Regal Power, Prerogative, Government or Administration of Government, of what Kind or Nature soever, which might lawfully be done or executed by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, personally exercising his Royal Authority, shall, during the Continuance of the Regency by this Act established, be valid and effectual, unless done and executed in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty, by the Authority of the said Regent, according to the Provisions of this Act, and subject to the Limitations, Exceptions, Regulations and Restrictions hereinafter contained. VI. And be it further enacted, That the said Regent, before he shall act or enter upon his said Office of Regent, shall take the following Oaths:

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

‘I DO sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to His Majesty King George. So help me GOD.’ ‘I DO solemnly promise and swear, That I will truly and faithfully execute the Office of Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, according to an Act of Parliament passed in the Fifty first Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Third, intituled, An Act (here insert the Title of this Act); and that I will administer, according to Law, the Power and Authority vested in me by virtue of the said Act; and that I will in all Things, to the utmost of my Power and Ability, consult and maintain the Safety Honour and Dignity of His Majesty and the Welfare of his People. So help me GOD.’ I DO faithfully promise and swear, That I shall inviolably maintain and preserve the Settlement of the true Protestant Religion, with the Government, Worship, Discipline, Rights and Privileges of the Church of Scotland, as established by the Laws made there in Prosecution of the Claim of Right, and particularly by an Act, intituled, An Act for securing the Protestant Religion, and Presbyterian Church Government and by the Acts passed in the Parliament of both Kingdoms, for Union of the Two Kingdoms. ‘So help me GOD.’ Which Oaths shall be taken before His Majesty’s most Honourable Privy Council; who are hereby required and empowered to administer the same, and to enter the same in the Books of the said Privy Council. VII. And be it further enacted, That the said Regent shall, at the time of his taking such Oaths as aforesaid, and before the Members of the Privy Council administering the same, make, subscribe, and audi-

bly repeat the Declaration mentioned in an Act made in the Thirtieth Year of King Charles the Second, intituled, An Act for the more effectual preserving the King’s Person and Government, by disabling Papists from sitting in either House of Parliament;2 and shall produce a Certificate of his having received the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in any of the Royal Chapels, signed by the Person administering the same; which Certificate shall be sufficient Evidence of the said Regent’s having received the Sacrament; and such Declaration and Certificate shall respectively be registered in the Books of the Privy Council. VIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That until after the First Day of February One thousand eight hundred and twelve, if Parliament shall be then assembled, and shall have been sitting for Six Weeks immediately previous to the said First Day of February One thousand eight hundred and twelve, or if Parliament shall be then assembled, but shall not have been so sitting for Six Weeks, then until the Expiration of Six Weeks after Parliament shall have been so assembled and been sitting; or if Parliament shall not then be assembled, then until the Expiration of Six Weeks after Parliament shall have been assembled and sitting, next after the said First Day of February One thousand eight hundred and twelve, the Regent shall not have or exercise any Power or Authority to grant, in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty, any Rank, Title or Dignity of the Peerage, by Letters Patent, Writ of Summons, or any other manner whatever, or to summon any Person to the House of Lords by any Title to which such Person shall be the Heir Apparent, or to determine the Abeyance of any Rank,

89

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

Title or Dignity of Peerage, which now is or hereafter shall be in Abeyance, in favour of any of the Coheirs thereof by Writ of Summons, or otherwise. IX. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That the said Regent shall not, until after the said First Day of February One thousand eight hundred and twelve, or the Expiration of such Six Weeks as aforesaid, have Power or Authority to grant, in the Name or on the Behalf of His Majesty, any Office or Employment whatever, in Reversion, or to grant for any longer Term than during His Majesty’s Pleasure, any Office, Employment, Salary or Pension whatever, except such Offices and Employments in Possession for the Term of the natural Life, or during the good Behaviour of the Grantee or Grantees thereof respectively, as by Law must be so granted: Provided always, that nothing herein contained, shall in any manner affect or extend to prevent or restrain the granting of any Pensions under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Thirty ninth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the Augmentation of the Salaries of the Judges of the Courts in Westminster Hall, and also of the Lords of Session, Lords Commissioners of Justiciary, and Barons of Exchequer in Scotland;3 and for enabling His Majesty to grant Annuities to Persons in certain Offices in the said Courts of Westminster Hall, on their Resignation of their respective Offices; and of another Act passed in the Forty eighth Year of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act for enabling His Majesty to grant Annuities to the Judges of the Courts of Session, Justiciary and Exchequer in Scotland, upon the Resignation of their Offices;4 and of another Act passed in Ireland, in the Fortieth Year of the

90

Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act to enable His Majesty to grant Annuities to the Lord High Chancellor, and to the Judges of the Court of King`s Bench, Master of the Rolls, Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas and Exchequer, Judge or Commissary of the Court of Prerogative, the Judge of the Court of Admiralty, the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions of the County of Dublin, and Assistant Barristers of the several other Counties, on the Resignation of their respective Offices;5 and to amend an Act passed in the Thirty sixth Year of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act for encreasing the Salaries of the Chief and other Judges of the Courts of King` s Bench and Common Pleas, and of the Chief Baron and other Barons of the Court of Exchequer in this Kingdom; or to prevent or restrain the granting of any Pensions out of the Revenues of the British Territories in the East Indies, under the Provisions of any Act or Acts of Parliament now in force, to such Persons as may have held the Office of Chief Justice or other Judge in the Supreme Courts of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal and at Madras, and the Office of Recorder of Bombay.6 X. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained, shall in any manner affect or extend to prevent or restrain the granting of any Pensions under the Provisions of an Act passed in the forty first Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the better Regulation of His Majesty`s Prize Courts in the West Indies and America, and for giving a more speedy and effectual Execution to the Decrees of the Lords Commissioners of Appeals,7 and of another Act passed in the Forty third Year of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

for the Encouragement of Seamen, and for the better and more effectual manning His Majesty`s Navy; for regulating the Payment of Prize Money, and for making Provision for the Salaries of the Judges of the Vice Admiralty Courts in the Island of Malta, and in the Bermudas and Bahama Islands;8 and also of another Act passed in the Forty fifth Year of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the Encouragement of Seamen, and for the better and more effectually manning of His Majesty’s Navy.9 XI. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to empower the said Regent, in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty, to give the Royal Assent to any Bill or Bills in Parliament, for repealing, changing, or in any respect varying the Order and Course of Succession to the Crown of this Realm, as the same stands now established by an Act passed in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of King William the Third, intituled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject;10 or to any Act for repealing or altering the Act made in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, intituled, An Act for the Uniformity of Public Prayers and Administration of Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies, and for establishing the Form of making, ordaining and consecrating Bishops, Priests and Deacons in the Church of England;11 or the Act of the Fifth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, made in Scotland, intituled, An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government.12 XII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That if His said Royal Highness George

Augustus Frederick Prince of Wales shall not continue to be resident in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or shall at any time marry a Papist,13 then and in either of such cases, all the Powers and Authorities vested in His said Royal Highness by this Act, shall cease and determine. XIII. And whereas it is expedient that the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person should be committed to the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty,14 together with the sole Direction of such Portion of His Majesty’s Household as shall be deemed requisite and suitable for the due Attendance on His Majesty’s Sacred Person, and the Maintenance of his Royal Dignity; Be it therefore enacted, That the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, and the disposing, ordering and managing of all Matters and Things relating thereto, shall be, and the same are hereby vested in the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, during the Continuance of His Majesty’s Indisposition; and that the sole Direction of His Majesty’s Household, except the Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty’s Household, the Captain of the Yeomen of His Majesty’s Guard, and the Captain of the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, shall be and is hereby vested in Her Majesty; and Her said Majesty shall have the full and sole Power and Authority, by any Instrument or Instruments in Writing signed and sealed by Her Majesty, to nominate and appoint, in case of any Vacancies arising by Resignation or Death, all the Officers and Persons belonging to His Majesty’s Household, in the respective Departments thereof, whose Appointment, Nomination or Removal have heretofore been made by His Majesty; except the Lord Chamberlain of His Maj-

91

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

esty’s Household, and the Gentlemen and Grooms of His Majesty’s Bedchamber, His Majesty’s Equerries, the Captain of the Yeomen of His Majesty’s Guard, and the Captain of the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners; and the Nomination and Appointment by Her Majesty, in Manner and Form aforesaid, shall be valid and effectual to all Intents and Purposes as if the same had been made or done by His Majesty in the accustomed manner; and the several Persons so appointed shall be entitled to the like Precedence, Privileges, Salaries, Wages, Profits and all other Emoluments, as the several Persons now holding and enjoying the same Offices are respectively entitled to: Provided always, that the Power and Authority given by this Act to Her Majesty, to nominate and appoint such Persons of His Majesty’s Household as are not hereinbefore excepted, shall continue in force until the said first Day of February, or the Expiration of such Six Weeks as aforesaid, and no longer: Provided also, that Her said Majesty shall not have any Power or Authority to remove any Officer in any Department of His Majesty’s Household, by this Act made subject to the Nomination or Appointment of Her Majesty, who shall have been nominated and appointed by His Majesty: Provided also, That until the Expiration of such Period as aforesaid, no Appointment shall be made to the Office of Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty’s Household, now vacant, but that all the Duties of the said Office shall be performed by the Vice Chamberlain; and that during such Period as aforesaid, no Person holding the Office of Gentleman or Groom of His Majesty’s Bedchamber, or being One of His Majesty’s Equerries, shall be subject to be removed; and no Vacancy which shall arise by Death or

92

Resignation of any of the Grooms or Gentlemen of His Majesty’s Bedchamber, or of His Majesty’s Equerries, shall be supplied or filled up, or any Appointment or Nomination made to supply any such Vacancy. XIV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any Officer in His Majesty’s Household who is by this Act put under the Direction of Her Majesty, to make any Appointment to any Office to which such Officer may have the Power of Appointment for any longer Period than during His Majesty’s Pleasure. XV. And whereas the Execution of the weighty and arduous Trusts by this Act committed to the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, may require the Assistance of a Council, with whom Her Majesty may consult and advise; Be it therefore enacted, That in order to assist and advise Her said Most Excellent Majesty in the several Matters aforesaid, there shall be, during the Continuance of His Majesty’s Illness, a Council, consisting of Charles Lord Archbishop of Canterbury,15 Edward Lord Archbishop of York,16 James Duke of Montrose, George Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, Heneage Earl of Aylesford, John Lord Eldon, Edward Lord Ellenborough, and the Right Honourable Sir William Grant; which Council shall from time to time meet as Her Majesty shall be pleased to direct, and shall also have Power to meet in manner by this Act directed; and if it should happen that any of them the said Charles Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Lord Archbishop of York, James Duke of Montrose, George Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, Heneage Earl of Aylesford, John Lord Eldon,

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

Edward Lord Ellenborough, or the Right Honourable Sir William Grant, should depart this Life, or by Instrument in Writing communicated to Her Majesty, signify their Intention to decline to act, then and in such Case it shall be lawful for the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, from time to time, by an Instrument in Writing signed and sealed by Her Majesty, revocable at her Will and Pleasure, to nominate and appoint some one Person, being or having been a Member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, to be a Member of the said Council, to advise and assist Her Majesty as aforesaid, in the Room and Place of each and every of the said Councillors so departing this Life, or declining to act as aforesaid; which Nomination and Appointment shall be forthwith certified by an Instrument in Writing, signed and sealed by Her Majesty, to the Lords of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, and shall be entered in the Books of the said Privy Council. XVI. And be it further enacted, That each and every Member of Her Majesty`s Council shall, within the Space of Five Days after his Appointment by virtue of this Act, or by virtue of Her Majesty’s Nomination and Appointment in manner aforesaid, take an Oath before the Lord High Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal, or Commissioners for keeping the Great Seal of Great Britain, or the Lord President of His Majesty’s Privy Council, or the Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench, for the time being respectively, or either of them, who are hereby severally and respectively required and empowered to administer the same, when required so to do by any Person so appointed a Member of Her Majesty’s Council as aforesaid; and the Person administering such Oath,

shall give to the Member of Her Majesty’s Council taking the same, a Certificate of the same having been so taken, signed with his Hand; which Certificate shall be forthwith transmitted to His Majesty’s Privy Council, and entered in the Books of the said Privy Council; and such Oath shall be in the Form following ; that is to say, ‘I A. B. do solemnly promise and swear, That I will truly and faithfully counsel and advise the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, according to the best of my Judgment, in all Matters and Things relating to the Trusts committed to Her Majesty, touching the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, and the Resumption of the Personal Exercise of the Royal Authority by His Majesty.’ XVII. And be it further enacted, That Her Majesty’s Council, or any Three or more of them, shall have Power and Authority at all times, when they shall judge it necessary, to meet, and call before them and examine upon Oath, the Physicians and all other Persons attendant on His Majesty, during the Continuance of his Illness, touching the State of His Majesty’s Health; and all Matters relating thereto (which Oath any Member of the said Council is hereby authorized and empowered to administer); and to ascertain the State of His Majesty’s Health by all such other ways and means as shall appear to them to be necessary for that Purpose. XVIII. And be it further enacted, That Three or more of the Members of the Council appointed to assist Her Majesty in the Execution of the Trusts committed to Her Majesty by this Act, shall, in case such Trusts shall then be in force, meet on some Day in the first Week in April One

93

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

thousand eight hundred and eleven, and some Day in the first Week of every Third Month thereafter ; and shall, whilst the said Trusts shall continue in force at every such Meeting, declare the State of His Majesty’s Health at the time of each of such Meetings respectively, and shall forthwith transmit a Copy of such Declaration to the President of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, or in his Absence to one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, who shall thereupon cause the same to be inserted in the Books of the Privy Council. XIX. And whereas it is necessary that effectual Provision should be made that His Majesty may resume the Personal Exercise of his Royal Authority, as soon as His Majesty is restored to such a State of Health as to be capable of resuming the same; Be it therefore enacted, That when it shall appear to Her Majesty the Queen and to any Four or more of the Council, appointed by this Act to assist Her Majesty in the Execution of the Trust committed to Her Majesty by this Act, assembled at any Meeting held in pursuance of Her Majesty’s Royal Will and Pleasure signified for that Purpose, or assembled under the Direction of this Act, or in pursuance of His Majesty’s Royal Will and Pleasure signified to Her Majesty and her Council for that Purpose; which Council of Her Majesty is hereby required to assemble in the Presence of Her Majesty, upon His Majesty’s Royal Will and Pleasure being signified for that Purpose, that His Majesty is restored to such a State of Health as to be capable of resuming the Personal Exercise of the Royal Authority, it shall and may be lawful for Her said Majesty, by the Advice of any Four or more of her said Council, to notify the

94

same, by an Instrument under Her Majesty’s Hand, and signed also by the said Four or more of Her Majesty’s said Council, and addressed to the Lord President of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council for the time being, or in his Absence to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State; and the said Lord President or Secretary of State shall and is hereby required, on the Receipt thereof, to communicate the same to the said Regent, and to summon forthwith a Privy Council, and the Members of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council are hereby required to assemble in consequence of such Summons; and the said Lord President, or in his Absence the said Secretary of State is required, in the Presence of any Six or more Privy Councillors so assembled, to cause the said Instrument to be entered on the Books of the said Privy Council. XX. And be it further enacted, That if at any time after the said Instrument under the Hand of Her Majesty, and of four or more of her said Council, shall have been received and entered as aforesaid, His Majesty shall think proper, by an Instrument under his Sign Manual, to require the Lord President of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council for the time being, or, in his Absence, one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, to summon a Council in His Majesty’s Presence, consisting of any Number of Persons not less than nine, whom His Majesty shall name, and who shall be or shall have been Members of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Council, not being Members of Her Majesty’s Council, the said Lord President or Secretary of State shall and he is hereby required to summon such Persons accordingly; and as well the said Lord President or Secretary of State, as

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

the other Persons so summoned, shall and they are hereby required to attend at the Time and Place appointed by His Majesty; and such Persons so assembled shall be and be deemed to be a Privy Council for the Purpose hereinafter mentioned. XXI. And be it further enacted, That if His Majesty, by the Advice of Six or more of such Privy Council so assembled, shall signify his Royal Pleasure to resume the Personal Exercise of his Royal Authority, and to issue a Proclamation declaring the same, such Proclamation shall be issued accordingly, countersigned by the said Six or more of the said Privy Council, and all the Powers and Authorities given by this Act shall from thenceforth cease and determine, and the Personal Exercise of the Royal Authority by His Majesty shall be and be deemed to be resumed by His Majesty, and shall be exercised by His Majesty, to all intents and purposes, as if this Act had never been made. XXII. And be it further enacted, That if His Royal Highness George Augustus Frederick Prince of Wales shall depart this Life during the Continuance of the Regency by this Act established, or cease to be Regent under any of the Provisions thereof, the Lords of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council shall forthwith cause a Proclamation to be issued, in His Majesty’s Name, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, declaring the same: And if Her Majesty the Queen shall depart this Life during the time that the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person shall be committed to Her Majesty according to the Provisions of this Act, the Regent shall forthwith order and direct a Proclamation, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Ireland, to be issued and published, declaring the same: And in case the Parliament in being at the time of the issuing of any Proclamation declaring the Death of the Regent or of Her Majesty, or at the time of the issuing of any Proclamation for the Resumption of the Personal Exercise of the Royal Authority by His Majesty, shall then be separated, by any Adjournment or Prorogation, such Parliament shall forthwith meet and sit. XXIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That in case any such Proclamation as aforesaid shall issue in any or either of such cases as aforesaid, at any time subsequent to the Dissolution or Expiration of a Parliament, and before the Day appointed by any Writs of Summons then issued for assembling a new Parliament, then and in such case the last preceding Parliament shall immediately convene and sit at Westminster, and be a Parliament to continue during the Space of Six Months and no longer, to all intents and purposes, as if the same Parliament had not been dissolved or expired, but subject to be sooner prorogued or dissolved: Provided also, that if any such Proclamation as aforesaid shall issue in any or either of such cases as aforesaid, upon or at any time after the Day appointed by any Writ of Summons then issued for calling and assembling a new Parliament, and before such new Parliament shall have met and sat as a Parliament, such new Parliament shall immediately after such Proclamation convene and sit at Westminster, and be and be deemed to be a Parliament in being, to all intents and purposes, under the Provisions of this Act. XXIV. And be it also enacted, That in case of the Death of Her Majesty the

95

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

Queen, the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, and all and every the Powers and Authorities in and by this Act vested in Her Majesty, touching the Care of His Majesty’s Royal Person, and the disposing, ordering and managing all matters and things relating thereto, shall be and the same are hereby vested in Her Majesty’s Council, until due Provision shall have been made in relation thereto by Parliament: Provided nevertheless, That in such case nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend, to empower the Regent, or the said Council, to nominate, appoint or remove any of the Officers or Persons of His Majesty’s Household, by this Act made subject to the Nomination, Appointment or Removal of Her Majesty, until due Provision shall have been made by Parliament in that behalf. XXV. And be it further enacted, That if any Person, being a Member of the House of Commons, shall accept of any Office of Profit from the Crown, by the Nomination and Appointment of the Regent in the Name and on behalf of His Majesty, or of Her Majesty the Queen, during the Continuance of the Regency hereby established, the Election of such Member shall be and is hereby declared to be void, and a new Writ shall issue for a new Election, in such and the like manner as if such Person had been appointed to such Office by His Majesty. XXVI. And be it further enacted, That the several Letters Patent, Letters of Privy Seal, and all other lawful Authorities, of what Nature or Kind soever, which have been granted or issued by His Majesty, by virtue whereof any Payments of any Sum or Sums of Money are directed to be paid out of the Monies applicable to the Use of

96

His Majesty’s Civil Government, for the Use of the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, or for the Use of any of the Branches of His Majesty’s Royal Family, shall continue to be, and the same are hereby enacted to continue and be of full force and effect respectively, during the Continuance of the Regency by this Act established; and that Warrants shall be issued by the Lord High Treasurer, or Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, for the Payment of the several Sums therein respectively contained; which Warrants the said Lord High Treasurer, or Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, are hereby respectively required to issue at the usual and accustomed Times, and in the usual and accustomed Manner. XXVII. And be it further enacted, That the Lord High Treasurer or Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury for the time being, shall direct, and they are hereby required annually to direct the Sum of Sixty thousand Pounds to be issued out of the Monies of the Civil List Revenues to the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse for the time being, in like manner, and at such Times and in such Proportions as has heretofore been usual and accustomed in respect to the Issue of the Sum of Sixty thousand Pounds as aforesaid; and that the said Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse shall, and he is hereby authorized and directed, during the Continuance of His Majesty’s Indisposition, out of the Monies so issued to him, to make such Payments, and issue and apply such Sums, not exceeding the Sum of fifteen thousand four hundred and sixty one Pounds in the Whole in the Year, to such Persons, in such Proportions, and at such Times, for such Purposes, and on such Accounts and in such manner as he hath heretofore usu-

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

ally paid, issued and applied the same by the Authority and Direction of His Majesty; and the said Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse shall, and he is hereby authorized and directed to issue and pay to such Person as Her Majesty may think proper to appoint for this Purpose, out of such Sixty thousand Pounds as aforesaid, such Sums of Money, not exceeding Four thousand two hundred and fifteen Pounds in each Quarter of the Year in the Whole, the First Payment whereof shall be made for the current Quarter as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, as Her Majesty shall, by any Order or Orders in Writing made for that purpose, direct, to be by such Person so to be appointed as aforesaid, paid and applied in such Sums and Proportions, and to such Persons and for such Purposes, and upon such Accounts, and in such Manner, as the same have been heretofore accustomed to be paid and applied, under the immediate Direction and Authority of His Majesty; and such Person, so appointed as aforesaid, shall, before any such Money shall be issued to him after the passing of this Act, take an Oath before some one of Her Majesty’s Council (which Oath each of Her Majesty’s said Council is hereby authorized to administer), that he will faithfully apply and will justly account to Her Majesty for the faithful Application of such Sums of Money so issued to him as aforesaid; and such Person, so appointed as aforesaid, shall, from time to time, within One Month after the Receipt of every such Sum as aforesaid, render to Her Majesty a just and true Account of the Application thereof: Provided also, that the Remainder of the aforesaid Sum of Sixty thousand Pounds shall be invested by the said Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse in some of the Public Funds or Govern-

ment Securities, in the Name of the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse for the time being, in Trust for His Majesty; and that the net Surplus of the Revenues of the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster shall be from time to time paid under the Order of the Chancellor and Council of the said Duchy, into the Hands of the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse, whose Receipt shall be a sufficient Discharge for the same, and shall by him be invested in some of the Public Funds or Government Securities, in Manner aforesaid; and that the Governor and Company of the Bank of England shall place the said several Sums on an Account to be raised in the Books of the said Governor and Company, intituled, “The Account of the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse;” and that upon the Death or Resignation of the present and every other Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse hereafter to be appointed, all and every the said Stock or Stocks and Sum or Sums of Money arising from the Dividends which shall accrue thereon, shall immediately vest in the Successor of the present or any future Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse respectively, and the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse for the time being is hereby required to lay out and invest the Dividends so accruing as aforesaid, from time to time, in the Purchase of other Stocks and Securities on the like Account, and that the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse for the time being, shall from time to time execute Declarations of Trust of all such Funds and Securities, declaring that the same are held in Trust for His Majesty, by Instruments to be executed under his Hand and Seal, to be deposited with Her Majesty. XXVIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the said Keeper of His Maj-

97

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

esty’s Privy Purse, and such Person so to be appointed as last aforesaid by Her Majesty, shall, on or before the First Day of January One thousand eight hundred and twelve, and on or before the First Day of January in every succeeding Year during the Continuance of this Act, respectively take an Oath before the Barons of the Court of Exchequer, or one of them in the Form following: I A. B. do swear, That according to the best of my Knowledge, Belief or Information, no Part of the Money which has been issued to me for the Service of His Majesty’s Privy Purse, by virtue of an Act, intituled, An Act (here insert the Title of this Act), between the First Day of January ____ and the First Day of January ____ has been applied directly or indirectly for the Benefit, Use or Behoof of any Member of the House of Commons, or, so far as I am concerned, applicable, directly or indirectly, to the Purpose of supporting or procuring an Interest in any Place returning Members to Parliament. So help me GOD.’ XXIX. And whereas an Act passed in the Thirty ninth and Fortieth Years of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled, An Act concerning the Disposition of certain Real and Personal Property of His Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and also the Real and Personal Property of Her Majesty, and of the Queen Consort for the Time being:17 And whereas it is necessary that Provision should be made for the Care of the Real and Personal Estate and Property of His Majesty, during his Indisposition, and for the Preservation thereof for the Use and future Disposal of His Majesty; Be it therefore enacted, That all Persons having the Care or Management of His Majesty’s Real or Personal Estate

98

or Property, or any Part thereof, now vested in any Trustees for the Use of His Majesty, shall be and are hereby made and declared to be subject to the Controul, Order, Direction, Appointment and Removal of the several and respective Trustees of the Real and Personal Estate and Property of which they are respectively in the Care and Management; and shall from time to time, and whenever required so to do, account to the respective Trustees of the several and respective Parts of the Real and Personal Estate and Property of which they so have the Care and Management, for all the Rents, Issues, Profits, Dividends, Interest and Sums of Money arising or accruing therefrom respectively; and shall apply, pay over, lay out, invest or otherwise dispose of the same, for the Use of His Majesty, in such manner as shall be from time to time ordered and directed by such Trustees respectively, and as to such Trustees shall appear most adviseable and beneficial for the Care and Improvement of such Real and Personal Estate and Property, and the Preservation thereof, for His Majesty’s Use and future Disposal; and all the Real and Personal Estate and Property of His Majesty, in relation to which no Disposition shall have been made by His Majesty before his Illness, and which shall not now be vested in any Trustee or Trustees for His Majesty’s Use, shall immediately from and after the passing of this Act vest in the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, His Royal Highness the Regent, and the Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse for the time being, as Trustees thereof for the Use of His Majesty, and for the Protection and Care thereof during His Majesty’s Illness, and the Preservation thereof for His Majesty’s Use and future Disposal; and Her said Majesty, and His said Royal Highness the Regent, and the

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

Keeper of His Majesty’s Privy Purse, may appoint a Secretary and such other Persons as may appear to them to be necessary for the Management of and keeping the Accounts of the said Trust, with such Salaries, to be paid out of the Proceeds of the Trust Property, as may appear to the said Trustees to be proper; and all Persons in the Care and Management of any Real or Personal Estate or Property, so vested in such Trustees as last aforesaid, under this Act, shall in like manner as aforesaid be subject to the Order, Controul, Direction, Appointment or Removal of such Trustees as last aforesaid, and shall account to such Trustees in like manner as is hereinbefore directed, in relation to such Real and Personal Estate and Property as was vested in Trustees before the passing of this Act; and shall in like manner as aforesaid apply, pay over, lay out, invest or otherwise dispose of the Rents, Issues, Profits, Dividends, Interests and Sums of Money arising or accruing therefrom respectively, according to the Order and Direction of such Trustees as aforesaid: Provided always, that all Dividends arising from any Public Funds or Securities shall be from time to time invested and laid out in the Purchase of other like Funds or Public Securities, unless any other Order or Direction shall be given by the Trustees thereof respectively; and all Trustees in whom any Real or Personal Estate or Property was vested, before the passing of this Act, or in whom the same is vested by the Provisions of this Act, shall hold all such Estates and Property for the Use and Benefit of His Majesty, and preserve the Produce thereof, and of all Rents, Issues, Profits, Dividends, Interest and Sums of Money arising and accruing therefrom, for His Majesty’s Use and Benefit, and for the future Disposal of His Maj-

esty, in case no Disposition shall have been made thereof by His Majesty before his Illness; and all such Real and Personal Estate and Property, and Rents, Issues, Profits, Produce, Dividends, Interest and Sums of Money aforesaid, arising and accruing therefrom, whereof no Disposition shall have been made by His Majesty before his Illness, shall, if no Disposition thereof shall hereafter be made by His Majesty, go and be disposed of according to Law: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to invalidate or in any manner to affect any Disposition which shall have been made, or which shall hereafter be made, by His Majesty, by Deed, Will or otherwise, of any such Property or Proceeds thereof as aforesaid, either before or after His Majesty’s Illness, which would have been or would be a good and valid Disposition of such Property, if this Act had not passed. XXX. And whereas His Majesty hath been accustomed from time to time, by the Advice and on the Recommendation of the Commissioners of the Treasury, to make Grants out of the Droits of the Crown and of the Admiralty to Persons concerned or interested in the Capture of any Vessels and Cargoes, or other Property, condemned to or becoming vested in His Majesty, as Droits of the Crown or of the Admiralty, or to Persons praying for Relief as of His Majesty’s Bounty in any cases of Damage or Injury sustained by them on account of or in any manner connected with any Capture or Prize, or occasioned by any Engagement with Ships of the Enemy; Be it therefore enacted, That the said Regent shall have full Power and Authority, by the Advice and on the Recommendation of the Commissioners of the Treasury for the time being, or any Three

99

THE REGENCY ACT (1811)

or more of them, out of the Droits of the Crown or the Droits of the Admiralty, or any Part or Parts thereof, from time to time to make any such Grants to Persons concerned or interested in the Capture of any Vessels or Cargoes, or other Property, which have been or may hereafter be condemned to or become vested in His Majesty as Droits of his Crown, or of the Admiralty, or to any Person or Persons praying for Relief in any Cases of Damage or Injury sustained by or on account of any Matter or Thing arising out of or in any manner connected with Capture or Prize, or occasioned by any Engagement with Ships or Vessels of the Enemy, in such manner as His Majesty hath heretofore by the Advice of the said Commissioners been accustomed to make any Grants of the same.

1

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, IV: From A. D. 1810; 50 George III to A. D. 1812; 52 George III, London: George Eyre et al., 1812, 301-308; and also by A

100

Collection of the Public General Statutes Passed in the Fifty-First Year of the Reign of King George III, London: 1811, 3-16. This act was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act of 1873 (36 & 37 Victoria, c. 41). 2 30 Charles II, c. 2 (1679). 3 39 George III, c. 110 (1799). 4 48 George III, c. 145. 5 40 George III, c. 69 (1800), passed by the Parliament of Ireland. 6 36 George III, c. 26, passed by the Parliament of Ireland. 7 41 George III, c. 96 (2 July 1801). 8 43 George III, c. 160 (12 August 1803). 9 45 George III, c. 72 (27 June 1805). 10 The famous Act of Settlement of 1701, 12 William III, c. 2. 11 13 & 14 Charles II, c. 4. 12 The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ed. T. Thomson and C. Innes, XI (1702-1707), London 1824, 402-403. 13 The Prince of Wales had gone through an illegal marriage ceremony with a Catholic widow, Mrs Fitzherbert, in 1785, before his legal marriage to Princess Caroline. 14 George III had married Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz in 1761. She bore him many children. 15 Charles Manners-Sutton (1755-1828) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1805 until 1828. 16 Edward Harcourt (1757-1847) was Archbishop of York from 1807 to 1847. 17 39 & 40 George III, c. 88 (28 July 1800).

The Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act (1828) 9 Geo. IV, c. 17 An Act for repealing so much of several Acts as imposes the Necessity of receiving the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a Qualification for certain Offices and Employments (9 May 1828)1

WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for the well governing and regulating of Corporations: And Whereas another Act was passed in the Twenty-fifth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants: And Whereas another Act was passed in the Sixteenth Year of the Reign of King George the Second, intituled An Act to indemnify Persons who have omitted to qualify themselves for Offices and Employments within the Time limited by Law, and for allowing further Time for that Purpose; and also for amending so much of an Act made in the Twenty-fifth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, intituled An Act for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants,’ as relates to the Time for receiving the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper now limited by the said Act: And Whereas it is expedient that so much of the said several Acts of Parliament as imposes the Necessity of taking the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper according to the Rites or Usage of the Church of England, for the Purposes therein respectively mentioned, should be repealed;’ Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent

Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That so much and such Parts of the said several Acts passed in the Thirteenth and Twenty-fifth Years of the Reign of King Charles the Second, and of the said Act passed in the Sixteenth Year of the Reign of King George the Second, as require the Person or Persons in the said Acts respectively described to take or receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper according to the Rites or Usage of the Church of England, for the several Purposes therein expressed, or to deliver a Certificate or make Proof of the Truth of such his or their receiving the said Sacrament in manner aforesaid, or as impose upon any such Person or Persons any Penalty, Forfeiture, Incapacity, or Disability whatsoever for or by reason of any Neglect or Omission to take or receive the said Sacrament, within the respective Periods and in the Manner in the said Acts respectively provided in that Behalf, shall, from and immediately after the passing of this Act, be and the same are hereby repealed. II. And Whereas the Protestant Epispocal Church of England and Ireland, and

101

THE REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACT (1828)

the Doctrine, Discipline, and Government thereof, and the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the Doctrine, Discipline, and Government thereof, are by the Laws of this Realm severally established, permanently and inviolably: And Whereas it is just and fitting, that on the Repeal of such Parts of the said Acts as impose the Necessity of taking the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper according to the Rites or Usage of the Church of England, as a Qualification for Office, a Declaration to the following Effect should be substituted in lieu thereof; Be it therefore enacted, That every Person who shall hereafter be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the Office of Mayor, Alderman, Recorder, Bailiff, Town Clerk or Common Councilman, or in or to any Office of Magistracy, or Place, Trust, or Employment relating to the Government of any City, Corporation, Borough, or Cinque Port within England and Wales or the Town of Berwick-uponTweed, shall, within One Calendar Month next before or upon his Admission into any of the aforesaid Offices or Trusts, make and subscribe the Declaration following: ‘I A. B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the Presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, upon the true Faith of a Christian, That I will never exercise any Power, Authority, or Influence which I may possess by virtue of the Office of ____ to injure or weaken the Protestant Church as it is by Law established in England, or to disturb the said Church, or the Bishops and Clergy of the said Church, in the Possession of any Rights or Privileges to which such Church, or the said Bishops and Clergy, are or may be by Law entitled.’ III. And be it enacted, That the said Declaration shall be made and subscribed as aforesaid, in the Presence of such Per-

102

son or Persons respectively, who, by the Charters or Usages of the said respective Cities, Corporations, Boroughs, and Cinque Ports, ought to administer the Oath for due Execution of the said Offices or Places respectively, and in default of such, in the Presence of Two Justices of the Peace of the said Cities, Corporations, Boroughs, and Cinque Ports, if such there be, or otherwise in the Presence of Two Justices of the Peace of the respective Counties, Ridings, Divisions, or Franchises wherein the said Cities, Corporations, Boroughs, and Cinque Ports are; which said Declaration shall either be entered in a Book, Roll, or other Record, to be kept for that Purpose, or shall be filed amongst the Records of the City, Corporation, Borough, or Cinque Port. IV. And be it enacted, That if any Person placed, elected, or chosen into any of the aforesaid Offices or Places, shall omit or neglect to make and subscribe the said Declaration in manner above mentioned, such Placing, Election, or Choice shall be void; and that it shall not be lawful for such Person to do any Act in the Execution of the Office or Place into which he shall be so chosen, elected, or placed. V. And be it further enacted, That every Person who shall hereafter be admitted into any Office or Employment, or who shall accept from His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, any Patent, Grant, or Commission, and who by his Admittance into such Office or Employment or Place of Trust, or by his Acceptance of such Patent, Grant, or Commission, or by the Receipt of any Pay, Salary, Fee, or Wages by reason thereof, would, by the Laws in force immediately before the passing of this Act have been required to take the

THE REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACT (1828)

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper according to the Rites or Usage of the Church of England, shall, within Six Calendar Months after his Admission to such Office, Employment, or Place of Trust, or his Acceptance of such Patent, Grant, or Commission, make and subscribe the aforesaid Declaration, or in Default thereof his Appointment to such Office, Employment, or Place of Trust and such Patent, Grant, or Commission, shall be wholly void. VI. And be it further enacted, That the aforesaid Declaration shall be made and subscribed in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery, or in the Court of King’s Bench, or at the Quarter Sessions of the County or Place where the Person so required to make the same shall reside; and the Court in which such Declaration shall be so made and subscribed shall cause the same to be preserved among the Records of the said Court. VII. Provided always, That no Naval Officer below the Rank of Rear Admiral, and no Military Officer below the Rank of Major General in the Army or Colonel in the Militia, shall be required to make or subscribe the said Declaration, in respect of his Naval or Military Commission; and that no Commissioner of Customs, Excise, Stamps, or Taxes, or any Person holding any of the Offices concerned in the Collection, Management, or Receipt of the Revenues which are subject to the said Commissioners, or any of the Officers concerned in the Collection, Management, or Receipt of the Revenues subject to the Authority of the Postmaster General, shall be required to make or subscribe the said Declaration, in respect of their said Offices or Appointments: Pro-

vided also, that nothing herein contained shall extend to require any Naval or Military Officer, or other Person as aforesaid, upon whom any Office, Place, Commission, Appointment, or Promotion shall be conferred during his Absence from England, or within Three Months previous to his Departure from thence, to make and subscribe the said Declaration until after his Return to England, or within Six Months thereafter. VIII. And be it further enacted, That all Persons now in the actual Possession of any Office, Command, Place, Trust, Service, or Employment, or in the Receipt of any Pay, Salary, Fee, or Wages, in respect of or as a Qualification for which, by virtue of or under any of the beforementioned Acts or any other Act or Acts, they respectively ought to have heretofore taken or ought hereafter to receive the said Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, shall be and are hereby confirmed in the Possession and Enjoyment of their said several Offices, Commands, Places, Trusts, Services, Employments, Pay, Salaries, Fees, and Wages respectively, notwithstanding their Omission or Neglect to take or receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in manner aforesaid, and shall be and are hereby indemnified, freed, and discharged from all Incapacities, Disabilities, Forfeitures, and Penalties whatsoever, already incurred or which might hereafter be incurred in consequence of any such Omission or Neglect; and that no Election of or Act done or to be done by any such Person or under his Authority, and not yet avoided, shall be hereafter questioned or avoided by reason of any such Omission or Neglect, but that every such Election and Act shall be as good, valid, and effectual as if such Person had duly received

103

THE REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACT (1828)

the said Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in manner aforesaid.

render such last-mentioned Person liable to any Action or Indictment.

IX. Provided nevertheless, That no Act done in the Execution of any of the Corporate or other Offices, Places, Trusts, or Commissions aforesaid, by any such Person omitting or neglecting as aforesaid, shall by reason thereof be void or voidable as to the Rights of any other Person not privy to such Omission or Neglect, or

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, XI: From A. D. 1827; 7 & 8 George IV to A. D. 1829; 10 George IV, London: George Eyre et al., 1829, 332-333; and also by A Collection of the Public General Statutes Passed in the Ninth Year of the Reign of George IV, London 1828, 177-180. This act was repealed by the Promissory Oaths Act of 1871 (34 & 35 Victoria, c. 48).

104

1

Roman Catholic Emancipation Act (1829)

10 Geo. IV, c. 7 An Act for the Relief of His Majesty’s Roman Catholic Subjects (13 April 1829)1

WHEREAS by various Acts of Parliament certain Restraints and Disabilities are imposed on the Roman Catholic Subjects of His Majesty, to which other Subjects of His Majesty are not liable: And Whereas it is expedient that such Restraints and Disabilities shall be from henceforth discontinued: And Whereas by various Acts certain Oaths and certain Declarations, commonly called the Declaration against Transubstantiation, and the Declaration against Transubstantiation and the Invocation of Saints and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as practised in the Church of Rome, are or may be required to be taken, made, and subscribed by the Subjects of His Majesty, as Qualifications for sitting and voting in Parliament, and for the Enjoyment of certain Offices, Franchises, and Civil Rights: Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the Commencement of this Act all such Parts of the said Acts as require the said Declarations, or either of them, to be made or subscribed by any of His Majesty’s Subjects, as a Qualification for sitting and voting in Parliament, or for the Exercise or Enjoyment of any Office, Franchise, or

Civil Right, be and the same are (save as hereinafter provided and excepted) hereby repealed. II. And be it enacted, That from and after the Commencement of this Act it shall be lawful for any Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, being a Peer, or who shall after the Commencement of this Act be returned as a Member of the House of Commons, to sit and vote in either House of Parliament respectively, being in all other respects duly qualified to sit and vote therein, upon taking and subscribing the following Oath, instead of the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration:2 ‘I A. B. do sincerely promise and swear, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to His Majesty King George the Fourth, and will defend him to the utmost of my Power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatever, which shall be made against his Person, Crown, or Dignity; and I will do my utmost Endeavour to disclose and make known to His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, all Treasons and traitorous Conspiracies which may be formed against Him or Them: And I do faithfully promise to maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of my Power, the Succession of the Crown, which Succession, by an Act, intituled An Act for the further

105

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

Limitation of the Crown, and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject,3 is and stands limited to the Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover,4 and the Heirs of her Body, being Protestants; hereby utterly renouncing and abjuring any Obedience or Allegiance unto any other Person claiming or pretending a Right to the Crown of this Realm: And I do further declare, That it is not an Article of my Faith, and that I do renounce, reject, and abjure the Opinion, that Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any other Authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their Subjects, or by any Person whatsoever: And I do declare, That I do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other Foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State, or Potentate, hath or ought to have any Temporal or Civil Jurisdiction, Power, Superiority, or Preeminence, directly or indirectly, within this Realm. I do swear, That I will defend to the utmost of my Power the Settlement of Property within this Realm, as established by the Laws: And I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any Intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, as settled by Law within this Realm : And I do solemnly swear, That I never will exercise any Privilege to which I am or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the Protestant Religion or Protestant Government in the United Kingdom: And I do solemnly, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, That I do make this Declaration, and every Part thereof, in the plain and ordinary Sense of the Words of this Oath, without any Evasion, Equivocation, or mental Reservation whatsoever. ‘So help me GOD.’

and set forth, the Name of His present Majesty is expressed or referred to, the Name of the Sovereign of this Kingdom for the Time being, by virtue of the Act for the further Limitation of the Crown and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, shall be substituted from Time to Time, with proper Words of Reference thereto.

III. And be it further enacted, That wherever, in the Oath hereby appointed

V. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for Persons professing the

106

IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That no Peer professing the Roman Catholic Religion, and no Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, who shall be returned a Member of the House of Commons after the Commencement of this Act, shall be capable of sitting or voting in either House of Parliament respectively, unless he shall first take and subscribe the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth, before the same Persons, at the same Times and Places, and in the same Manner as the Oaths and the Declaration now required by Law are respectively directed to be taken, made, and subscribed; and that any such Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, who shall sit or vote in either House of Parliament, without having first taken and subscribed, in the Manner aforesaid, the Oath in this Act appointed and set forth, shall be subject to the same Penalties, Forfeitures, and Disabilities, and the Offence of so sitting or voting shall be followed and attended by and with the same Consequences, as are by Law enacted and provided in the Case of Persons sitting or voting in either House of Parliament respectively, without the taking, making, and subscribing the Oaths and the Declaration now required by Law.

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

Roman Catholic Religion to vote at Elections of Members to serve in Parliament for England and for Ireland, and also to vote at the Elections of Representative Peers of Scotland and of Ireland, and to be elected such Representative Peers, being in all other respects duly qualified, upon taking and subscribing the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth, instead of the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration, and instead of the Declaration now by Law required, and instead also of such other Oath or Oaths as are now by Law required to be taken by any of His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion, and upon taking also such other Oath or Oaths as may now be lawfully tendered to any Persons offering to vote at such Elections. VI. And be it further enacted, That the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth shall be administered to His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion, for the Purpose of enabling them to vote in any of the Cases aforesaid, in the same Manner, at the same Time, and by the same Officers or other Persons as the Oaths for which it is hereby substituted are or may be now by Law administered; and that in all Cases in which a Certificate of the taking, making, or subscribing of any of the Oaths or of the Declaration now required by Law is directed to be given, a like Certificate of the taking or subscribing of the Oath hereby appointed and set forth shall be given by the same Officer or other Person, and in the same Manner as the Certificate now required by Law is directed to be given, and shall be of the like Force and Effect. VII. And be it further enacted, That in all Cases where the Persons now author-

ized by Law to administer the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration to Persons voting at Elections, are themselves required to take an Oath previous to their administering such Oaths, they shall, in addition to the Oath now by them taken, take an Oath for the duly administering the Oath hereby appointed and set forth, and for the duly granting Certificates of the same. VIII. And Whereas in an Act of the Parliament of Scotland made in the Eighth and Ninth Session of the First Parliament of King William the Third, intituled An Act for the preventing the Growth of Popery,5 a certain Declaration or Formula is therein contained, which it is expedient should no longer be required to be taken and subscribed: Be it therefore enacted, That such Parts of any Acts as authorize the said Declaration or Formula to be tendered, or require the same to be taken, sworn, and subscribed, shall be and the same are hereby repealed, except as to such Offices, Places, and Rights as are hereinafter excepted; and that from and after the Commencement of this Act it shall be lawful for Persons professing the Roman Catholic Religion to elect and be elected Members to serve in Parliament for Scotland, and to be enrolled as Freeholders in any Shire or Stewartry of Scotland, and to be chosen Commissioners or Delegates for choosing Burgesses to serve in Parliament for any Districts or Burghs in Scotland,6 being in all other respects duly qualified, such Persons always taking and subscribing the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth, instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Abjuration as now required by Law, at such Time as the said last-mentioned Oaths, or either of them, are now required by Law to be taken.

107

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

IX. And be it further enacted, That no Person in Holy Orders in the Church of Rome shall be capable of being elected to serve in Parliament as a Member of the House of Commons; and if any such Person shall be elected to serve in Parliament as aforesaid, such Election shall be void; and if any Person, being elected to serve in Parliament as a Member of the House of Commons, shall, after his Election, take or receive Holy Orders in the Church of Rome, the Seat of such Person shall immediately become void; and if any such Person shall, in any of the Cases aforesaid, presume to sit or vote as a Member of the House of Commons, he shall be subject to the same Penalties, Forfeitures, and Disabilities as are enacted by an Act passed in the Forty-first Year of the Reign of King George the Third, intituled An Act to remove Doubts respecting the Eligibility of Persons in Holy Orders to sit in the House of Commons;7 and Proof of the Celebration of any Religious Service by such Person, according to the Rites of the Church of Rome, shall be deemed and taken to be primâ facie Evidence of the Fact of such Person being in Holy Orders, within the Intent and Meaning of this Act. X. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any of His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion to hold, exercise, and enjoy all Civil and Military Offices and Places of Trust or Profit under His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, and to exercise any other Franchise or Civil Right, except as hereinafter excepted, upon taking and subscribing, at the Times and in the Manner hereinafter mentioned, the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth, instead of the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration, and instead of such other Oath or

108

Oaths as are or may be now by Law required to be taken for the Purpose aforesaid by any of His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion. XI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt any Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion from the Necessity of taking any Oath or Oaths, or making any Declaration, not herein-before mentioned, which are or may be by Law required to be taken or subscribed by any Person on his Admission into any such Office or Place of Trust or Profit as aforesaid. XII. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to enable any Person or Persons professing the Roman Catholic Religion to hold or exercise the Office of Guardians and Justices of the United Kingdom, or of Regent of the United Kingdom, under whatever Name, Style, or Title such Office may be constituted; nor to enable any Person, otherwise than as he is now by Law enabled, to hold or enjoy the Office of Lord High Chancellor, Lord Keeper or Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal of Great Britain or Ireland; or the Office of Lord Lieutenant, or Lord Deputy, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland; or His Majesty’s High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. XIII. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect or alter any of the Provisions of an Act passed in the Seventh Year of His present Majesty’s Reign, intituled An Act to consolidate and

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

amend the Laws which regulate the Levy and Application of Church Rates and Parish Cesses, and the Election of Churchwardens, and the Maintenance of Parish Clerks, in Ireland.8

XV. Provided nevertheless, and be it further enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend to authorize or empower any of His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion, and being a Member of any Lay Body Corporate, to give any Vote at, or in any Manner to join in the Election, Presentation, or Appointment of any Person to any Ecclesiastical Benefice whatsoever, or any Office or Place belonging to or connected with the United Church of England and Ireland,9 or the Church of Scotland, being in the Gift, Patronage, or Disposal of such Lay Corporate Body.

to hold, enjoy, or exercise any Office, Place, or Dignity of, in, or belonging to the United Church of England and Ireland, or the Church of Scotland, or any Place or Office whatever of, in, or belonging to any of the Ecclesiastical Courts of Judicature of England and Ireland respectively, or any Court of Appeal from or Review of the Sentences of such Courts, or of, in, or belonging to the Commissary Court of Edinburgh, or of, in, or belonging to any Cathedral or Collegiate or Ecclesiastical Establishment or Foundation; or any Office or Place whatever of, in, or belonging to any of the Universities of this Realm; or any Office or Place whatever, and by whatever Name the same may be called, of, in or belonging to any of the Colleges or Halls of the said Universities, or the Colleges of Eton, Westminster, or Winchester,10 or any College or School within this Realm; or to repeal, abrogate, or in any Manner to interfere with any local Statute, Ordinance, or Rule, which is or shall be established by competent Authority within any University, College, Hall, or School, by which Roman Catholics shall be prevented from being admitted thereto, or from residing or taking Degrees therein: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to enable any Person, otherwise than as he is now by Law enabled, to exercise any Right of Presentation to any Ecclesiastical Benefice whatsoever; or to repeal, vary, or alter in any Manner the Laws now in force in respect to the Right of Presentation to any Ecclesiastical Benefice.

XVI. Provided also, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to enable any Persons, otherwise than as they are now by Law enabled,

XVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That where any Right of Presentation to any Ecclesiastical Benefice shall belong to any Office in the Gift or Appointment

XIV. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any of His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion to be a Member of any Lay Body Corporate, and to hold any Civil Office or Place of Trust or Profit therein, and to do any Corporate Act, or vote in any Corporate Election or other Proceeding, upon taking and subscribing the Oath hereby appointed and set forth, instead of the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration; and upon taking also such other Oath or Oaths as may now by Law be required to be taken by any Persons becoming Members of such Lay Body Corporate, or being admitted to hold any Office or Place of Trust or Profit within the same.

109

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

of His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, and such Office shall be held by a Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, the Right of Presentation shall devolve upon and be exercised by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Time being. XVIII. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, directly or indirectly, to advise His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, or any Person or Persons holding or exercising the Office of Guardians of the United Kingdom, or of Regent of the United Kingdom, under whatever Name, Style, or Title such Office may be constituted, or the Lord Lieutenant, or Lord Deputy, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, touching or concerning the Appointment to or Disposal of any Office or Preferment in the United Church of England and Ireland, or in the Church of Scotland; and if any such Person shall offend in the Premises, he shall, being thereof convicted by due Course of Law, be deemed guilty of a high Misdemeanor, and disabled for ever from holding any Office, Civil or Military, under the Crown. XIX. And be it enacted, That every Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, who shall after the Commencement of this Act be placed, elected, or chosen in or to the Office of Mayor, Provost, Alderman, Recorder, Bailiff, Town Clerk, Magistrate, Councillor, or Common Councilman, or in or to any Office of Magistracy or Place of Trust or Employment relating to the Government of any City, Corporation, Borough, Burgh, or District within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall, within One Calendar Month next before or upon his

110

Admission into any of the same respectively, take and subscribe the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth, in the Presence of such Person or Persons respectively as by the Charters or Usages of the said respective Cities, Corporations, Burghs, Boroughs, or Districts ought to administer the Oath for due Execution of the said Offices or Places respectively; and in Default of such, in the Presence of Two Justices of the Peace, Councillors or Magistrates of the said Cities, Corporations, Burghs, Boroughs, or Districts, if such there be; or otherwise, in the Presence of Two Justices of the Peace of the respective Counties, Ridings, Divisions, or Franchises wherein the said Cities, Corporations, Burghs, Boroughs, or Districts are; which said Oath shall either be entered in a Book, Roll, or other Record to be kept for that Purpose, or shall be filed amongst the Records of the City, Corporation, Burgh, Borough, or District. XX. And be it enacted, That every Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion, who shall after the Commencement of this Act be appointed to any Office or Place of Trust or Profit under His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, shall within Three Calendar Months next before such Appointment, or otherwise shall, before he presumes to exercise or enjoy or in any Manner to act in such Office or Place, take and subscribe the Oath herein-before appointed and set forth, either in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery, or in any of His Majesty’s Courts of King’s Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer, at Westminster or Dublin; or before any Judge of Assize, or in any Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace in Great Britain or Ireland, for the County or Place where the Person so taking and subscrib-

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

ing the Oath shall reside; or in any of His Majesty’s Courts of Session, Justiciary, Exchequer, or Jury Court, or in any Sheriff or Stewart Court, or in any Burgh Court, or before the Magistrates and Councillors of any Royal Burgh in Scotland, between the Hours of Nine in the Morning and Four in the Afternoon; and the proper Officer of the Court in which such Oath shall be so taken and subscribed shall cause the same to be preserved amongst the Records of the Court; and such Officer shall make, sign, and deliver a Certificate of such Oath having been duly taken and subscribed, as often as the same shall be demanded of him, upon Payment of Two Shillings and Sixpence for the same; and such Certificate shall be sufficient Evidence of the Person therein named having duly taken and subscribed such Oath. XXI. And be it enacted, That if any Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion shall enter upon the Exercise or Enjoyment of any Office or Place of Trust or Profit under His Majesty, or of any other Office or Franchise, not having in the Manner and at the Times aforesaid taken and subscribed the Oath hereinbefore appointed and set forth, then and in every such Case such Person shall forfeit to His Majesty the Sum of Two hundred Pounds; and the Appointment of such Person to the Office, Place, or Franchise so by him held shall become altogether void, and the Office, Place, or Franchise shall be deemed and taken to be vacant to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever. XXII. Provided always, That for and notwithstanding any thing in this Act contained, the Oath herein-before appointed and set forth shall be taken by the Officers in His Majesty’s Land and Sea Service,

professing the Roman Catholic Religion, at the same Times and in the same Manner as the Oaths and Declarations now required by Law are directed to be taken, and not otherwise. XXIII. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act, no Oath or Oaths shall be tendered to or required to be taken by His Majesty’s Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion, for enabling them to hold or enjoy any Real or Personal Property, other than such as may by Law be tendered to and required to be taken by His Majesty’s other Subjects; and that the Oath herein appointed and set forth, being taken and subscribed in any of the Courts, or before any of the Persons above mentioned, shall be of the same Force and Effect, to all Intents and Purposes, as, and shall stand in the Place of, all Oaths and Declarations required or prescribed by any Law now in force for the Relief of His Majesty’s Roman Catholic Subjects from any Disabilities, Incapacities, or Penalties; and the proper Officer of any of the Courts above mentioned, in which any Person professing the Roman Catholic Religion shall demand to take and subscribe the Oath herein appointed and set forth, is hereby authorized and required to administer the said Oath to such Person; and such Officer shall make, sign, and deliver a Certificate of such Oath having been duly taken and subscribed, as often as the same shall be demanded of him, upon Payment of One Shilling; and such Certificate shall be sufficient Evidence of the Person therein named having duly taken and subscribed such Oath. XXIV. And Whereas the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland,

111

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

and the Doctrine, Discipline, and Government thereof, and likewise the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the Doctrine, Discipline, and Government thereof, are by the respective Acts of Union of England and Scotland, and of Great Britain and Ireland, established permanently and inviolably: And Whereas the Right and Title of Archbishops to their respective Provinces, of Bishops to their Sees, and of Deans to their Deaneries, as well in England as in Ireland, have been settled and established by Law; Be it therefore enacted, That if any Person, after the Commencement of this Act, other than the Person thereunto authorized by Law, shall assume or use the Name, Style, or Title of Archbishop of any Province, Bishop of any Bishoprick, or Dean of any Deanery, in England or Ireland, he shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay the Sum of One hundred Pounds. XXV. And be it further enacted, That if any Person holding any Judicial or Civil Office, or any Mayor, Provost, Jurat, Bailiff, or other Corporate Officer, shall, after the Commencement of this Act, resort to or be present at any Place or Public Meeting for Religious Worship in England or in Ireland, other than that of the United Church of England and Ireland, or in Scotland, other than that of the Church of Scotland, as by Law established, in the Robe, Gown, or other peculiar Habit of his Office, or attend with the Ensign or Insignia, or any Part thereof, of or belonging to such his Office, such Person shall, being thereof convicted by due Course of Law, forfeit such Office, and pay for every such Offence the Sum of One hundred Pounds. XXVI. And be it further enacted, That if any Roman Catholic Ecclesiastic, or

112

any Member of any of the Orders, Communities, or Societies hereinafter mentioned, shall, after the Commencement of this Act, exercise any of the Rites or Ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Religion, or wear the Habits of his Order, save within the usual Places of Worship of the Roman Catholic Religion, or in private Houses, such Ecclesiastic or other Person shall, being thereof convicted by due Course of Law, forfeit for every such Offence the Sum of Fifty Pounds. XXVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall in any Manner repeal, alter, or affect any Provision of an Act made in the Fifth Year of His present Majesty’s Reign, intituled An Act to repeal so much of an Act passed in the Ninth Year of the Reign of King William the Third, as relates to Burials in suppressed Monasteries, Abbeys, or Convents in Ireland, and to make further Provision with respect to the Burial in Ireland of Persons dissenting from the Established Church.11 XXVIII. And Whereas Jesuits, and Members of other Religious Orders, Communities, or Societies of the Church of Rome, bound by Monastic or Religious Vows, are resident within the United Kingdom; and it is expedient to make Provision for the gradual Suppression and final Prohibition of the same therein; Be it therefore enacted, That every Jesuit, and every Member of any other Religious Order, Community, or Society of the Church of Rome, bound by Monastic or Religious Vows, who at the Time of the Commencement of this Act shall be within the United Kingdom, shall, within Six Calendar Months after the Commencement of this Act, deliver to the Clerk

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

of the Peace of the County or Place where such Person shall reside, or to his Deputy, a Notice or Statement, in the Form and containing the Particulars required to be set forth in the Schedule to this Act annexed; which Notice or Statement such Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, shall preserve and register amongst the Records of such County or Place, without any Fee, and shall forthwith transmit a Copy of such Notice or Statement to the Chief Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, if such Person shall reside in Ireland, or if in Great Britain, to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State; and in case any Person shall offend in the Premises, he shall forfeit and pay to His Majesty, for every Calendar Month during which he shall remain in the United Kingdom without having delivered such Notice or Statement as is herein-before required, the Sum of Fifty Pounds. XXIX. And be it further enacted, That if any Jesuit, or Member of any such Religious Order, Community, or Society as aforesaid, shall, after the Commencement of this Act, come into this Realm, he shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a Misdemeanor, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be sentenced and ordered to be banished from the United Kingdom for the Term of his natural Life. XXX. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That in case any naturalborn Subject of this Realm, being at the Time of the Commencement of this Act a Jesuit, or other Member of any such Religious Order, Community, or Society as aforesaid, shall, at the Time of the Commencement of this Act, be out of the Realm, it shall be lawful for such Person

to return or to come into this Realm; and upon such his Return or coming into the Realm he is hereby required, within the Space of Six Calendar Months after his first returning or coming into the United Kingdom, to deliver such Notice or Statement to the Clerk of the Peace of the County or Place where he shall reside, or his Deputy, for the Purpose of being so registered and transmitted, as herein-before directed; and in case any such Person shall neglect or refuse so to do, he shall for such Offence forfeit and pay to His Majesty, for every Calendar Month during which he shall remain in the United Kingdom without having delivered such Notice or Statement, the Sum of Fifty Pounds. XXXI. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That, notwithstanding any Thing herein-before contained, it shall be lawful for any One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, being a Protestant, by a Licence in Writing, signed by him, to grant Permission to any Jesuit, or Member of any such Religious Order, Community, or Society as aforesaid, to come into the United Kingdom, and to remain therein for such Period as the said Secretary of State shall think proper, not exceeding in any Case the Space of Six Calendar Months; and it shall also be lawful for any of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State to revoke any Licence so granted before the Expiration of the Time mentioned therein, if he shall so think fit; and if any such Person to whom such Licence shall have been granted shall not depart from the United Kingdom within Twenty Days after the Expiration of the Time mentioned in such Licence, or if such Licence shall have been revoked, then within Twenty Days after Notice of such Revocation shall have been given to him,

113

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

every Person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a Misdemeanor, and being thereof lawfully convicted shall be sentenced and ordered to be banished from the United Kingdom for the Term of his natural Life. XXXII. And be it further enacted, That there shall annually be laid before both Houses of Parliament an Account of all such Licences as shall have been granted for the Purpose herein-before mentioned within the Twelve Months then next preceding. XXXIII. And be it further enacted, That in case any Jesuit, or Member of any such Religious Order, Community, or Society as aforesaid, shall, after the Commencement of this Act, within any Part of the United Kingdom, admit any Person to become a Regular Ecclesiastic, or Brother or Member of any such Religious Order, Community, or Society, or be aiding or consenting thereto, or shall administer or cause to be administered, or be aiding or assisting in the administering or taking, any Oath, Vow, or Engagement purporting or intended to bind the Person taking the same to the Rules, Ordinances, or Ceremonies of such Religious Order, Community, or Society, every Person offending in the Premises in England or Ireland shall be deemed guilty of a Misdemeanor, and in Scotland shall be punished by Fine and Imprisonment. XXXIV. And be it further enacted, That in case any Person shall, after the Commencement of this Act, within any Part of this United Kingdom, be admitted or become a Jesuit, or Brother or Member of any other such Religious Order, Community, or Society as aforesaid, such Person shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of a Misdemeanor, and being thereof lawfully

114

convicted shall be sentenced and ordered to be banished from the United Kingdom for the Term of his natural Life. XXXV. And be it further enacted, That in case any Person sentenced and ordered to be banished under the Provisions of this Act shall not depart from the United Kingdom within Thirty Days after the pronouncing of such Sentence and Order, it shall be lawful for His Majesty to cause such Person to be conveyed to such Place out of the United Kingdom as His Majesty, by the Advice of His Privy Council, shall direct. XXXVI. And be it further enacted, That if any Offender, who shall be so sentenced and ordered to be banished in manner aforesaid, shall, after the End of Three Calendar Months from the Time such Sentence and Order hath been pronounced, be at large within any Part of the United Kingdom, without some lawful Cause, every such Offender being so at large as aforesaid, on being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be transported to such Place as shall be appointed by His Majesty, for the Term of his natural Life. XXXVII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend in any Manner to affect any Religious Order, Community, or Establishment consisting of Females bound by Religious or Monastic Vows. XXXVIII. And be it further enacted, That all Penalties imposed by this Act shall and may be recovered as a Debt due to His Majesty, by Information to be filed in the Name of His Majesty’s Attorney General for England or for Ireland, as the

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

Case may be, in the Courts of Exchequer in England or Ireland respectively, or in the Name of His Majesty’s Advocate General in the Court of Exchequer in Scotland. XXXIX. And be it further enacted, That this Act, or any Part thereof, may be

repealed, altered, or varied at any Time within this present Session of Parliament. XL. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall commence and take Effect at the Expiration of Ten Days from and after the passing thereof.

SCHEDULE to which this Act refers Date of the Registry.

1

Name of the Party.

Age.

Place of Birth.

Name of the Order, Community, or Society whereof he is a Member.

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, XI: From A. D. 1827; 7 & 8 George IV to A. D. 1829; 10 George IV, London: George Eyre et al., 1829, 693-698; and also by A Collection of the Public General Statutes Passed in the Tenth Year of the Reign of King George IV, London 1829, 105-116. This act was repealed in stages by the Promissory Oaths Act of 1871, the Statute Law Revision Acts of 1873, 1888, 1890 (53 & 54 Victoria, c. 51), 1891 (54 & 55 Victoria, c. 67), and 1950 (14 George VI, c. 6) and the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1926 (16 & 17 George V, c. 55). 2 The first oath of supremacy was imposed by 1 Elizabeth I, c. 1 (1559), which accepted her as supreme governor of the Church of England. The first oath of allegiance was imposed by 3 James I, c. 4. These two oaths were replaced after the Glorious Revolution by the oaths of allegiance and supremacy imposed by 1 William and Mary, c. 8. The oath of abjuration (abjuring James Edward, the son of James II and the Jacobite Pretender to the throne) was imposed by 13 and 14 William III, c. 6. 3 The famous Act of Settlement of 1701, making the Hanoverians the heirs of the future Queen Anne, since her last child had just died (12 William III, c. 2). 4 Sophia (1630–1714) was the youngest daughter of Frederick V, the Elector Palatine and of Elizabeth

Name and usual Residence of the next immediate Superior of the Order, Community, or Society.

Usual Place of Residence of the Party.

Stuart (daughter of James I of Britain). She was the wife of Ernst August of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Elector of Hanover, and she was the nearest Protestant heir to the British throne (though many Catholics had a greater claim). She died very shortly before Queen Anne, and hence it was her son who became King George I. 5 The Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, X (16961701), London 1823, 215-219. 6 Most of the burghs (boroughs) of Scotland were very small and so in many cases parliamentary constituencies were created by grouping several burghs together to form a single constituency. The elected member rotated from burgh to burgh in successive elections. The small number of voters in each burgh voted for a delegate or commissioner and it was this group of delegates who then elected the MP for this group of burghs. 7 41 George III, c. 63 (23 June 1801). It was traditionally the case that ministers of religion did not sit in the House of Commons, but, early in 1801, John Horne Tooke, a radical reformer who had taken holy orders in the Church of England in 1760, but who had later abandoned his clerical career, was elected to parliament for the rotten borough of Old Sarum. His right to sit in the House of Commons was challenged because he was still officially in holy orders.

115

ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT (1829)

To clarify the situation a declaratory bill, to make it illegal for anyone in holy orders to sit in the House of Commons, was passed. When parliament was dissolved in June 1802, Horne Tooke was unable to stand for re-election. 8 7 George IV, c. 72. 9 This united Protestant episcopalian church was

116

created by the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland, printed above. 10 These ‘colleges’ were the leading public (that is, private) boarding schools in England, where the sons of the propertied elite received their secondary education. 11 5 George IV, c. 25.

The Great Reform Act (England and Wales, 1832)

2 Will. IV, c. 45 An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales (7 June 1832)1 WHEREAS it is expedient to take effectual Measures for correcting divers Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament, to deprive many inconsiderable Places of the Right of returning Members, to grant such Privilege to large, populous, and wealthy Towns, to increase the Number of Knights of the Shire, to extend the Elective Franchise to many of His Majesty’s Subjects who have not heretofore enjoyed the same, and to diminish the Expence of Elections; be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That each of the Boroughs enumerated in the Schedule marked (A.) to this Act annexed, (that is to say,) Old Sarum, Newtown, St. Michael’s or Midshall, Gatton, Bramber, Bossiney, Dunwich, Ludgershall, St. Mawe’s, Beeralston, West Looe, St. Germain’s, Newport, Blechingley, Aldborough, Camelford, Hindon, East Looe, Corfe Castle, Great Bedwin, Yarmouth, Queenborough, Castle Rising, East Grinstead, Higham Ferrers, Wendover, Weobly, Winchelsea, Tregony, Haslemere, Saltash, Orford, Callington, Newton, Ilchester, Boroughbridge, Stockbridge, New Romney, Hedon, Plympton,

Seaford, Heytesbury, Steyning, Whitchurch, Wootton Bassett, Downton, Fowey, Milborne Port, Aldeburgh, Minehead, Bishop’s Castle, Okehampton, Appleby, Lostwithiel, Brackley, and Amersham, shall from and after the End of this present Parliament cease to return any Member or Members to serve in Parliament. II. And be it enacted, That each of the Boroughs enumerated in the Schedule marked (B.) to this Act annexed, (that is to say,) Petersfield, Ashburton, Eye, Westbury, Wareham, Midhurst, Woodstock, Wilton, Malmesbury, Liskeard, Reigate, Hythe, Droitwich, Lyme Regis, Launceston, Shaftesbury, Thirsk, Christchurch, Horsham, Great Grimsby, Calne, Arundel, St. Ives, Rye, Clitheroe, Morpeth, Helston, North Allerton,2 Wallingford, and Dartmouth, shall from and after the End of this present Parliament return One Member and no more to serve in Parliament. III. And be it enacted, That each of the Places named in the Schedule marked (C.) to this Act annexed, (that is to say,) Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Greenwich, Sheffield, Sunderland, Devonport, Wolverhampton, Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, Maryle-bone, Lambeth, Bolton, Bradford, Blackburn, Brighton, Halifax, Macclesfield, Old-

117

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

ham, Stockport, Stoke-upon-Trent, and Stroud, shall for the Purposes of this Act be a Borough, and shall as such Borough include the Place or Places respectively which shall be comprehended within the Boundaries of such Borough, as such Boundaries shall be settled and described by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith; and that each of the said Boroughs named in the said Schedule (C.) shall from and after the End of this present Parliament return Two Members to serve in Parliament. IV. And be it enacted, That each of the Places named in the Schedule marked (D.) to this Act annexed, (that is to say,) Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury, Chatham, Cheltenham, Dudley, Frome, Gateshead, Huddersfield, Kidderminster, Kendal, Rochdale, Salford, South Shields, Tynemouth, Wakefield, Walsall, Warrington, Whitby, Whitehaven, and Merthyr Tydvil,3 shall for the Purposes of this Act be a Borough, and shall as such Borough include the Place or Places respectively which shall be comprehended within the Boundaries of such Borough, as such Boundaries shall be settled and described by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith;4 and that each of the said Boroughs named in the said Schedule (D.) shall from and after the End of this present Parliament return One Member to serve in Parliament. V. And be it enacted, That the Borough of New Shoreham shall for the Purposes

118

of this Act include the whole of the Rape of Bramber in the County of Sussex, save and except such Parts of the said Rape as shall be included in the Borough of Horsham by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament; and that the Borough of Cricklade shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Hundreds and Divisions of Highworth, Cricklade, Staple, Kingsbridge, and Malmsbury in the County of Wilts, save and except such Parts of the said Hundred of Malmsbury as shall be included in the Borough of Malmsbury by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament; and that the Borough of Aylesbury shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Three Hundreds of Aylesbury in the County of Buckingham; and that the Borough of East Retford shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Hundred of Bassetlaw in the County of Nottingham, and all Places locally situate within the outside Boundary or Limit of the Hundred of Bassetlaw, or surrounded by such Boundary and by any Part of the County of Lincoln or County of York. VI. And be it enacted, That the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis shall from and after the End of this present Parliament return Two Members, and no more, to serve in Parliament; and that the Borough of Penryn shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Town of Falmouth; and that the Borough of Sandwich shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Parishes of Deal and Walmer. VII. And be it enacted, That every City and Borough in England which now returns a Member or Members to serve in Parliament, and every Place sharing in the Election therewith, (except the several

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Boroughs enumerated in the said Schedule (A.), and except the several Boroughs of New Shoreham, Cricklade, Aylesbury, and East Retford,) shall, and each of the said Boroughs of Penryn and Sandwich also shall, for the Purposes of this Act, include the Place or Places respectively which shall be comprehended within the Boundaries of every such City, Borough, or Place, as such Boundaries shall be settled and described by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith. VIII. And be it enacted, That each of the Places named in the First Column of the Schedule (E.) to this Act annexed shall have a Share in the Election of a Member to serve in all future Parliaments for the Shire-Town or Borough which is mentioned in conjunction therewith and named in the Second Column of the said Schedule (E.) IX. And be it enacted, That each of the Places named in the First Column of the said Schedule (E.), and each of the ShireTowns or Boroughs named in the Second Column of the said Schedule (E.), and the Borough of Brecon, shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Place or Places respectively which shall be comprehended within the Boundaries of each of the said Places, Shire-Towns, and Boroughs respectively, as such Boundaries shall be settled and described by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith.

X. And be it enacted, That each of the Towns of Swansea, Loughor, Neath, Aberavon, and Ken-fig shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Place or Places respectively which shall be comprehended within the Boundaries of each of the said Towns, as such Boundaries shall be settled and described by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith; and that the said Five Towns, so including as aforesaid, shall for the Purposes of this Act be One Borough, and shall as such Borough, from and after the End of this present Parliament, return One Member to serve in Parliament; and that the Portreeve of Swansea shall be the Returning Officer for the said Borough; and that no Person, by reason of any Right accruing in any of the said Five Towns, shall have any Vote in the Election of a Member to serve in any future Parliament for the Borough of Cardiff. XI. And be it enacted, That the Persons respectively described in the said Schedule (C.) and (D.) shall be the Returning Officers at all Elections of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for the Boroughs in conjunction with which such Persons are respectively mentioned in the said Schedules (C.) and (D.); and that for those Boroughs in the said Schedules for which no Persons are mentioned in such Schedules as Returning Officers the Sheriff for the Time being of the County in which such Boroughs are respectively situate shall, within Two Months after the passing of this Act, and in every succeeding respective Year in the Month of March, by Writing under his Hand, to be delivered to the Clerk of the Peace of the County

119

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

within One Week, and to be by such Clerk of the Peace filed and preserved with the Records of his Office, nominate and appoint for each of such Boroughs a fit Person, being resident therein, to be, and such Person so nominated and appointed shall accordingly be, the Returning Officer for each of such Boroughs respectively until the Nomination to be made in the succeeding March; and in the Event of the Death of any such Person, or of his becoming incapable to act by reason of Sickness or other sufficient Impediment, the Sheriff for the Time being shall on Notice thereof forthwith nominate and appoint in his Stead a fit Person, being so resident as aforesaid, to be, and such Person so nominated and appointed shall accordingly be, the Returning Officer for such Borough for the Remainder of the then current Year; and no Person, having been so nominated and appointed as Returning Officer for any Borough, shall after the Expiration of his Office be compellable at any Time thereafter to serve again in the said Office for the same Borough: Provided always, that no Person being in Holy Orders, nor any Churchwarden or Overseer of the Poor within any such Borough, shall be nominated or appointed as such Returning Officer for the same; and that no Person nominated and appointed as Returning Officer for any Borough now sending or hereafter to send Members to Parliament shall be appointed a Churchwarden or Overseer of the Poor therein during the Time for which he shall be such Returning Officer: Provided also, that no Person qualified to be elected to serve as a Member in Parliament shall be compellable to serve as Returning Officer for any Borough for which he shall have been nominated and appointed by the Sheriff as aforesaid if within One Week

120

after he shall have received Notice of his Nomination and Appointment as Returning Officer he shall make Oath of such Qualification before any Justice of the Peace, and shall forthwith notify the same to the Sheriff: Provided also, that in case His Majesty shall be pleased to grant His Royal Charter of Incorporation to any of the Boroughs named in the said Schedules (C.) and (D.) which are not now incorporated, and shall by such Charter give Power to elect a Mayor or other Chief Municipal Officer for any such Borough, then and in every such Case such Mayor or other Chief Municipal Officer for the Time being shall be the only Returning Officer for such Borough; and the Provisions herein-before contained with regard to the Nomination and Appointment of a Returning Officer for such Borough shall thenceforth cease and determine. XII. And be it enacted, That in all future Parliaments there shall be Six Knights of the Shire, instead of Four, to serve for the County of York, (that is to say,) Two Knights for each of the Three Ridings of the said County, to be elected in the same Manner, and by the same Classes and Descriptions of Voters, and in respect of the same several Rights of voting, as if each of the Three Ridings were a separate County; and that the Court for the Election of Knights of the Shire for the North Riding of the said County shall be holden at the City of York, and the Court for the Election of Knights of the Shire for the West Riding of the said County shall be holden at Wakefield, and the Court for the Election of Knights of the Shire for the East Riding of the said County shall be holden at Beverly. XIII. And be it enacted, That in all future Parliaments there shall be Four Knights

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

of the Shire, instead of Two, to serve for the County of Lincoln, (that is to say,) Two for the Parts of Lindsey in the said County, and Two for the Parts of Kesteven and Holland in the same County; and that such Four Knights shall be chosen in the same Manner, and by the same Classes and Descriptions of Voters, and in respect of the same several Rights of voting, as if the said Parts of Lindsey were a separate County, and the said Parts of Kesteven and Holland together were also a separate County; and that the Court for the Election of Knights of the Shire for the Parts of Lindsey in the said County shall be holden at the City of Lincoln, and the Court for the Election of Knights of the Shire for the Parts of Kesteven and Holland in the said County shall be holden at Sleaford. XIV. And be it enacted, That each of the Counties enumerated in the Schedule marked (F.) to this Act annexed shall be divided into Two Divisions, which Divisions shall be settled and described by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith; and that in all future Parliaments there shall be Four Knights of the Shire, instead of Two, to serve for each of the said Counties, (that is to say,) Two Knights of the Shire for each Division of the said Counties; and that such Knights shall be chosen in the same Manner, and by the same Classes and Descriptions of Voters, and in respect of the same several Rights of voting, as if each of the said Divisions were a separate County; and that the Court for the Election of Knights of the Shire for each Division of the said Coun-

ties shall be holden at the Place to be named for that Purpose in the Act so to be passed as aforesaid, for settling and describing the Divisions of the said Counties. XV. And be it enacted, That in all future Parliaments there shall be Three Knights of the Shire, instead of Two, to serve for each of the Counties enumerated in the Schedule marked (F. 2.) to this Act annexed, and Two Knights of the Shire, instead of One, to serve for each of the Counties of Carmarthen, Denbigh, and Glamorgan. XVI. And be it enacted, That the Isle of Wight in the County of Southampton shall for the Purposes of this Act be a County of itself, separate and apart from the County of Southampton, and shall return One Knight of the Shire to serve in every future Parliament; and that such Knight shall be chosen by the same Classes and Descriptions of Voters, and in respect of the same several Rights of voting, as any Knight of the Shire shall be chosen in any County in England; and that all Elections for the said County of the Isle of Wight shall be holden at the Town of Newport in the Isle of Wight, and the Sheriff of the Isle of Wight, or his Deputy, shall be the Returning Officer at such Elections. XVII. And be it enacted, That for the Purpose of electing a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament, the East Riding of the County of York, the North Riding of the County of York, the Parts of Lindsey in the County of Lincoln, and the several Counties at large enumerated in the Second Column of the Schedule marked (G.) to this Act annexed, shall respectively include the several Cities and Towns, and Counties of

121

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

the same, which are respectively mentioned in conjunction with such Ridings, Parts, and Counties at large, and named in the First Column of the said Schedule (G.) XVIII. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament, or in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Town being a County of itself, in respect of any Freehold Lands or Tenements whereof such Person may be seised for his own Life, or for the Life of another, or for any Lives whatsoever, except such Person shall be in the actual and bonâ fide Occupation of such Lands or Tenements, or except the same shall have come to such Person by Marriage, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice or to any Office, or except the same shall be of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds above all Rents and Charges payable out of or in respect of the same; any Statute or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall prevent any Person now seised for his own Life, or for the Life of another, or for any Lives whatsoever, of any Freehold Lands or Tenements in respect of which he now has, or but for the passing of this Act might acquire, the Right of voting in such respective Elections, from retaining or acquiring, so long as he shall be so seised of the same Lands or Tenements, such Right of voting in respect thereof, if duly registered according to the respective Provisions herein-after contained. XIX. And be it enacted, That every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, who shall be seised

122

at Law or in Equity of any Lands or Tenements of Copyhold or any other Tenure whatever except Freehold, for his own Life, or for the Life of another, or for any Lives whatsoever, or for any larger Estate, of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds over and above all Rents and Charges payable out of or in respect of the same, shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament for the County, or for the Riding, Parts, or Division of the County, in which such Lands or Tenements shall be respectively situate. XX. And be it enacted, That every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, who shall be entitled, either as Lessee or Assignee, to any Lands or Tenements, whether of Freehold or of any other Tenure whatever, for the unexpired Residue, whatever it may be, of any Term originally created for a Period of not less than Sixty Years, (whether determinable on a Life or Lives, or not,) of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds over and above all Rents and Charges payable out of or in respect of the same, or for the unexpired Residue, whatever it may be, of any Term originally created for a Period of not less than Twenty Years, (whether determinable on a Life or Lives, or not,) of the clear yearly Value of not less than Fifty Pounds over and above all Rents and Charges payable out of or in respect of the same, or who shall occupy as Tenant any Lands or Tenements for which he shall be bonâ fide liable to a yearly Rent of not less than Fifty Pounds, shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament for the County, or for the Riding, Parts, or

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Division of the County, in which such Lands or Tenements shall be respectively situate: Provided always, that no Person, being only a Sub-Lessee, or the Assignee of any Underlease, shall have a Right to vote in such Election in respect of any such Term of Sixty Years or Twenty Years as aforesaid, unless he shall be in the actual Occupation of the Premises. XXI. And be it declared and enacted, That no Public or Parliamentary Tax, nor any Church Rate, County Rate, or Parochial Rate, shall be deemed to be any Charge payable out of or in respect of any Lands or Tenements within the Meaning of this Act. XXII. And be it enacted, That in order to entitle any Person to vote in any Election of a Knight of the Shire or other Member to serve in any future Parliament, in respect of any Messuages, Lands, or Tenements, whether Freehold or otherwise, it shall not be necessary that the same shall be assessed to the Land Tax; any Statute to the contrary notwithstanding. XXIII. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be allowed to have any Vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire for or by reason of any Trust Estate or Mortgage, unless such Trustee or Mortgage be in actual Possession or Receipt of the Rents and Profits of the same Estate, but that the Mortgagor or Cestuique Trust in Possession shall and may vote for the same Estate notwithstanding such Mortgage or Trust. XXIV. And be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein-before contained no Person shall be entitled to vote

in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament in respect of his Estate or Interest as a Freeholder in any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building occupied by himself, or in any Land occupied by himself together with any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building, such House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building being, either separately, or jointly with the Land so occupied therewith, of such Value as would, according to the Provisions herein-after contained, confer on him the Right of voting for any City or Borough, whether he shall or shall not have actually acquired the Right to vote for such City or Borough in respect thereof. XXV. And be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein-before contained no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament in respect of his Estate or Interest as a Copyholder or Customary Tenant, or Tenant in Ancient Demesne, holding by Copy of Court Roll, or as such Lessee or Assignee, or as such Tenant and Occupier as aforesaid, in any House, Warehouse, Countinghouse, Shop, or other Building, or in any Land occupied together with a House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building, such House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building being, either separately, or jointly with the Land so occupied therewith, of such Value as would according to the Provisions hereinafter contained confer on him or on any other Person the Right of voting for any City or Borough, whether he or any other Person shall or shall not have actually acquired the Right to vote for such City or Borough in respect thereof.

123

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

XXVI. And be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein-before contained no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament unless he shall have been duly registered according to the Provisions herein-after contained; and that no Person shall be so registered in any Year in respect of his Estate or Interest in any Lands or Tenements, as a Freeholder, Copyholder, Customary Tenant, or Tenant in Ancient Demesne, unless he shall have been in the actual Possession thereof, or in the Receipt of the Rents and Profits thereof for his own Use, for Six Calendar Months at least next previous to the last Day of July in such Year, which said Period of Six Calendar Months shall be sufficient, any Statute to the contrary notwithstanding; and that no Person shall be so registered in any Year, in respect of any Lands or Tenements held by him as such Lessee or Assignee, or as such Occupier and Tenant as aforesaid, unless he shall have been in the actual Possession thereof, or in the Receipt of the Rents and Profits thereof for his own Use, as the Case may require, for Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year: Provided always, that where any Lands or Tenements, which would otherwise entitle the Owner, Holder, or Occupier thereof to vote in any such Election, shall come to any Person, at any Time within such respective Periods of Six or Twelve Calendar Months, by Descent, Succession, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice in a Church, or by Promotion to any Office, such Person shall be entitled in respect thereof to have his Name inserted as a Voter in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire in the Lists then next to be made by

124

virtue of this Act as herein-after mentioned, and, upon his being duly registered according to the Provisions hereinafter contained, to vote in such Election. XXVII. And be it enacted, That in every City or Borough which shall return a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, who shall occupy, within such City or Borough, or within any Place sharing in the Election for such City or Borough, as Owner or Tenant, any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building, being, either separately, or jointly with any Land within such City, Borough, or Place occupied therewith by him as Owner, or occupied therewith by him as Tenant under the same Landlord, of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds, shall, if duly registered according to the Provisions herein-after contained, be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City or Borough: Provided always, that no such Person shall be so registered in any Year unless he shall have occupied such Premises as aforesaid for Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year, nor unless such Person, where such Premises are situate in any Parish or Township in which there shall be a Rate for the Relief of the Poor, shall have been rated in respect of such Premises to all Rates for the Relief of the Poor in such Parish or Township made during the Time of such his Occupation so required as aforesaid, nor unless such Person shall have paid, on or before the Twentieth Day of July in such Year, all the Poor’s Rates and assessed Taxes which shall have become payable from him in respect of such

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Premises previously to the Sixth Day of April then next preceding: Provided also, that no such Person shall be so registered in any Year unless he shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year within the City or Borough, or within the Place sharing in the Election for the City or Borough, in respect of which City, Borough, or Place respectively he shall be entitled to vote, or within Seven Statute Miles thereof or of any Part thereof. XXVIII. And be it enacted, That the Premises in respect of the Occupation of which any Person shall be entitled to be registered in any Year, and to vote in the Election for any City or Borough as aforesaid, shall not be required to be the same Premises, but may be different Premises occupied in immediate Succession by such Person during the Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year, such Person having paid, on or before the Twentieth Day of July in such Year, all the Poor’s Rates and Assessed Taxes which shall previously to the Sixth Day of April then next preceding have become payable from him in respect of all such Premises so occupied by him in succession. XXIX. And be it enacted, That where any Premises as aforesaid, in any such City or Borough, or in any Place sharing in the Election therewith, shall be jointly occupied by more Persons than One as Owners or Tenants, each of such joint Occupiers shall, subject to the Conditions herein-before contained as to Persons occupying Premises in any such City, Borough, or Place, be entitled to vote in the Election for such City or Borough, in respect of the Premises so jointly occu-

pied, in case the clear yearly Value of such Premises shall be of an Amount which, when divided by the Number of such Occupiers, shall give a Sum of not less than Ten Pounds for each and every such Occupier, but not otherwise. XXX. And be it enacted, That in every City or Borough which shall return a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, and in every Place sharing in the Election for such City or Borough, it shall be lawful for any Person occupying any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building, either separately, or jointly with any Land occupied therewith by him as Owner, or occupied therewith by him as Tenant under the same Landlord, in any Parish or Township in which there shall be a Rate for the Relief of the Poor, to claim to be rated to the Relief of the Poor in respect of such Premises, whether the Landlord shall or shall not be liable to be rated to the Relief of the Poor in respect thereof; and upon such Occupier so claiming, and actually paying or tendering the full Amount of the Rate or Rates, if any, then due in respect of such Premises, the Overseers of the Parish or Township in which such Premises are situate are hereby required to put the Name of such Occupier upon the Rate for the Time being; and in case such Overseers shall neglect or refuse so to do, such Occupier shall nevertheless for the Purposes of this Act be deemed to have been rated to the Relief of the Poor in respect of such Premises from the Period at which the Rate shall have been made in respect of which he shall have so claimed to be rated as aforesaid: Provided always, that where by virtue of any Act of Parliament the Landlord shall be liable to the Payment of the Rate for the Relief of the

125

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Poor in respect of any Premises occupied by his Tenant, nothing herein contained shall be deemed to vary or discharge the Liability of such Landlord; but that in case the Tenant who shall have been rated for such Premises in consequence of any such Claim as aforesaid shall make Default in the Payment of the Poor’s Rate due in respect thereof, such Landlord shall be and remain liable for the Payment thereof in the same Manner as if he alone had been rated in respect of the Premises so occupied by his Tenant. XXXI. And be it enacted, That in every City or Town being a County of itself, in the Election for which Freeholders or Burgage Tenants, either with or without any superadded Qualification, now have a Right to vote, every such Freeholder or Burgage Tenant shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in all future Parliaments for such City or Town, provided he shall be duly registered according to the Provisions herein-after contained; but that no such Person shall be so registered in any Year in respect of any Freehold or Burgage Tenement, unless he shall have been in the actual Possession thereof, or in the Receipt of the Rents and Profits thereof for his own Use, for Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year, (except where the same shall have come to him, at any Time within such Twelve Months, by Descent, Succession, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice in a Church, or to any Office,) nor unless he shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year within such City or Town, or within Seven Statute Miles thereof or of any Part thereof: Provided

126

always, that nothing in this Enactment contained shall be deemed to vary or abridge the Provisions herein-before made relative to the Right of voting for any City or Town being a County of itself, in respect of any Freehold for Life or Lives: Provided also, that every Freehold or Burgage Tenement which may be situate without the present Limits of any such City or Town being a County of itself, but within the Limits of such City or Town, as the same shall be settled and described by the Act to be passed for that Purpose as herein-before mentioned, shall confer the Right of voting in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City or Town in the same Manner as if such Freehold or Burgage Tenement were situate within the present Limits thereof. XXXII. And be it enacted, That every Person who would have been entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Borough not included in the Schedule marked (A.) to this Act annexed, either as a Burgess or Freeman, or in the City of London as a Freeman and Liveryman, if this Act had not been passed, shall be entitled to vote in such Election, provided such Person shall be duly registered according to the Provisions herein-after contained; but that no such Person shall be so registered in any Year, unless he shall, on the last Day of July in such Year, be qualified in such Manner as would entitle him then to vote if such Day were the Day of Election, and this Act had not been passed, nor unless, where he shall be a Burgess or Freeman or Freeman and Liveryman of any City or Borough, he shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

such Year within such City or Borough, or within Seven Statute Miles from the Place where the Poll for such City or Borough shall heretofore have been taken, nor unless, where he shall be a Burgess or Freeman of any Place sharing in the Election for any City or Borough, he shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year within such respective Place so sharing as aforesaid, or within Seven Statute Miles of the Place mentioned in conjunction with such respective Place so sharing as aforesaid and named in the Second Column of the Schedule marked (E. 2.) to this Act annexed: Provided always, that no Person who shall have been elected, made, or admitted a Burgess or Freeman since the First Day of March One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, otherwise than in respect of Birth or Servitude, or who shall hereafter be elected, made, or admitted a Burgess or Freeman, otherwise than in respect of Birth or Servitude, shall be entitled to vote as such in any such Election for any City or Borough as aforesaid, or to be so registered as aforesaid: Provided also, that no Person shall be so entitled as a Burgess or Freeman in respect of Birth unless his Right be originally derived from or through some Person who was a Burgess or Freeman, or entitled to be admitted a Burgess or Freeman, previously to the First Day of March in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, or from or through some Person who since that Time shall have become or shall hereafter become a Burgess or Freeman in respect of Servitude: Provided also, that every Person who would have been entitled, if this Act had not been passed, to vote as a Burgess or Freeman of Swansea, Loughor, Neath, Aberavon, or Ken-fig, in the Election of a Member to

serve in any future Parliament for the Borough of Cardiff, shall cease to vote in such Election, and shall instead thereof be entitled to vote as such Burgess or Freeman in the Election of a Member to serve in all future Parliaments for the Borough composed of the Towns of Swansea, Loughor, Neath, Aberavon, and Ken-fig, subject always to the Provisions herein-before contained with regard to a Burgess or Freeman of any Place sharing in the Election for any City or Borough. XXXIII. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Borough, save and except in respect of some Right conferred by this Act, or as a Burgess or Freeman, or as a Freeman and Liveryman, or, in the Case of a City or Town being a County of itself, as a Freeholder or Burgage Tenant, as herein-before mentioned: Provided always, that every Person now having a Right to vote in the Election for any City or Borough (except those enumerated in the said Schedule (A.) in virtue of any other Qualification than as a Burgess or Freeman, or as a Freeman and Liveryman, or, in the Case of a City or Town being a County of itself, as a Freeholder or Burgage Tenant, as hereinbefore mentioned, shall retain such Right of voting so long as he shall be qualified as an Elector according to the Usages and Customs of such City or Borough or any Law now in force, and such Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City or Borough, if duly registered according to the Provisions herein-after contained; but that no such Person shall be so registered in any Year unless he shall, on the last Day of

127

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

July in such Year, be qualified as such Elector in such Manner as would entitle him then to vote if such Day were the Day of Election and this Act had not been passed, nor unless such Person, where his Qualification shall be in any City or Borough, shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year within such City or Borough, or within Seven Statute Miles from the Place where the Poll for such City or Borough shall heretofore have been taken, nor unless such Person, where his Qualification shall be within any Place sharing in the Election for any City or Borough, shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year within such respective Place so sharing as aforesaid, or within Seven Statute Miles of the Place mentioned in conjunction with such respective Place so sharing as aforesaid, and named in the Second Column of the Schedule marked (E. 2.) to this Act annexed: Provided nevertheless, that every such Person shall for ever cease to enjoy such Right of voting for any such City or Borough as aforesaid if his Name shall have been omitted for Two successive Years from the Register of such Voters for such City or Borough herein-after directed to be made, unless he shall have been so omitted in consequence of his having received Parochial Relief within Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in any Year, or in consequence of his Absence on the Naval or Military Service of His Majesty. XXXIV. And be it enacted, That every Person now having a Right to vote for the Borough of New Shoreham, or of Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford respectively, in respect of any Freehold, where-

128

soever the same may be situate, shall retain such Right of voting, subject always to the same Provisions as are herein-before mentioned with regard to Persons whose Right of voting for any Borough is saved and reserved by this Act, save and except that such Persons now having a Right to vote for the Borough of New Shoreham, or of Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford respectively, shall not be registered in any Year unless they shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year within the Borough of New Shoreham, or of Cricklade, Aylesbury, or East Retford respectively, as defined by this Act, or within Seven Statute Miles of such respective Borough or of any Part thereof; and that for the Purpose of the Registration hereinafter required all Persons now having a Right to vote for the Borough of New Shoreham in respect of any Freeholds which may be situate in the Borough of Horsham, or for the Borough of Cricklade in respect of any Freeholds which may be situate in the Borough of Malmsbury, as such Boroughs of Horsham or Malmsbury may respectively be defined by the Act to be passed for that Purpose as hereinbefore mentioned, shall be inserted in the List of Voters herein-after directed to be made by the Overseers of that Parish or Township within the Borough of New Shoreham or the Borough of Cricklade respectively, as defined by this Act, which shall be next adjoining to the Parish or Township in which such Freeholds shall respectively be situate; and if the Parish or Township in which any such Freeholds shall be situate shall adjoin Two or more Parishes or Townships within either of the said Boroughs of New Shoreham or Cricklade, the Persons so having a Right to vote in respect of such Freeholds shall be

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

inserted in the List of Voters to be made by the Overseers of the least populous of such adjoining Parishes or Townships, according to the last Census for the Time being. XXXV. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein-before contained no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Borough (other than a City or Town being a County of itself, in the Election for which Freeholders or Burgage Tenants have a Right to vote as herein-before mentioned,) in respect of any Estate or Interest in any Burgage Tenement or Freehold which shall have been acquired by such Person since the First Day of March One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, unless the same shall have come to or been acquired by such Person, since that Day, and previously to the passing of this Act, by Descent, Succession, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice in a Church, or by Promotion to any Office. XXXVI. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be entitled to be registered in any Year as a Voter in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Borough who shall within Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of July in such Year have 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. XXXVII. And whereas it is expedient to form a Register of all Persons entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights

of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament, and that for the Purpose of forming such Register the Overseers of every Parish and Township should annually make out Lists in the Manner herein-after mentioned; be it therefore enacted, That the Overseers of the Poor of every Parish and Township shall on the Twentieth Day of June in the present and in every succeeding Year cause to be fixed on or near the Doors of all the Churches and Chapels within such Parish or Township, or if there be no Church or Chapel therein, then to be fixed in some public and conspicuous Situation within the same respectively, a Notice according to the Form numbered 1. in the Schedule (H.) to this Act annexed, requiring all Persons who may be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament, in respect of any Property situate wholly or in part in such Parish or Township, to deliver or transmit to the said Overseers on or before the Twentieth Day of July in the present and in every succeeding Year a Notice of their Claim as such Voters according to the Form numbered 2. in the said Schedule (H.), or to the like Effect: Provided always, that after the Formation of the Register to be made in each Year, as herein-after mentioned, no Person whose Name shall be upon such Register for the Time being shall be required thereafter to make any such Claim as aforesaid, so long as he shall retain the same Qualification, and continue in the same Place of Abode described in such Register. XXXVIII. And be it enacted, That the Overseer of the Poor of every Parish and Township shall on or before the last Day of July in the present Year make out or cause to be made out, according to the Form

129

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

numbered 3. in the said Schedule (H.), an alphabetical List of all Persons who shall claim as aforesaid to be inserted in such List as Voters in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve for the County, or for the Riding, Parts, or Division of the County wherein such Parish or Township lies, in respect of any Lands or Tenements situate wholly or in part within such Parish or Township; and that the said Overseers shall on or before the last Day of July in every succeeding Year make out or cause to be made out a like List, containing the Names of all Persons who shall be upon the Register for the Time being as such Voters, and also the Names of all Persons who shall claim as aforesaid to be inserted in such last-mentioned List as such Voters; and in every List so to be made by the Overseers as aforesaid the Christian Name and Surname of every Person shall be written at full Length, together with the Place of his Abode, the Nature of his Qualification, and the local or other Description of such Lands or Tenements, as the same are respectively set forth in his Claim to vote, and the Name of the occupying Tenant, if stated in such Claim; and the said Overseers, if they shall have reasonable Cause to believe that any Person so claiming as aforesaid, or whose Name shall appear in the Register for the Time being, is not entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire for the County, or for the Riding, Parts, or Division of the County in which their Parish or Township is situate, shall have Power to add the Words “objected to” opposite the Name of every such Person on the Margin of such List; and the said Overseers shall sign such List, and shall cause a sufficient Number of Copies of such List to be written or printed, and to be fixed on or near the Doors of all

130

the Churches and Chapels within their Parish or Township, or if there be no Church or Chapel therein, then to be fixed up in some public and conspicuous Situation within the same respectively, on the Two Sundays next after such List shall have been made; and the said Overseers shall likewise keep a true Copy of such List, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Two first Weeks after such List shall have been made: Provided always, that every Precinct or Place, whether extraparochial or otherwise, which shall have no Overseers of the Poor, shall for the Purpose of making out such List as aforesaid be deemed to be within the Parish or Township adjoining thereto, such Parish or Township being situate within the same County, or the same Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, as such Precinct or Place; and if such Precinct or Place shall adjoin Two or more Parishes or Townships so situate as aforesaid, it shall be deemed to be within the least populous of such Parishes or Townships according to the last Census for the Time being; and the Overseers of the Poor of every such Parish or Township shall insert in the List for their respective Parish or Township the Names of all Persons who shall claim as aforesaid to be inserted therein as Voters in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve for the County, or for the Riding, Parts, or Division of the County, in which such Precinct or Place as aforesaid lies, in respect of any Lands or Tenements situate wholly or in part within such Precinct or Place. XXXIX. And be it enacted, That every Person who shall be upon the Register for the Time being of Voters for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

County, or who shall have claimed to be inserted in any List for the then current Year of Voters for any County, or any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, may object to any Person as not having been entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding to have his Name inserted in any List of Voters for such County, Riding, Parts, or Division so to be made out as aforesaid; and every Person so objecting (save and except Overseers objecting in the Manner herein-before mentioned) shall, on or before the Twenty-fifth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year, give or cause to be given a Notice in Writing according to the Form numbered 4. in the said Schedule (H.), or to the like Effect, to the Overseers who shall have made out the List in which the Name of the Person so objected to shall have been inserted; and the Person so objecting shall also, on or before the Twentyfifth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year, give to the Person objected to, or leave at his Place of Abode as described in such List, or personally deliver to his Tenant in Occupation of the Premises described in such List, a Notice in Writing according to the Form numbered 5. in the said Schedule (H.), or to the like Effect; and the Overseers shall include the Names of all Persons so objected to in a List according to the Form numbered 6. in the said Schedule (H.), and shall cause Copies of such List to be fixed on or near the Doors of all the Churches and Chapels within their Parish or Township, or if there be no Church or Chapel therein, then to be fixed in some public and conspicuous Situation within the same respectively, on the Two Sundays next preceding the Fifteenth Day of September in the present and in every succeeding Year; and the Overseers shall likewise keep a

Copy of the Names of all the Persons so objected to, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Ten Days next preceding the said Fifteenth Day of September in the present and in every succeeding Year. XL. And be it enacted, That on the Twenty-ninth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year the Overseers of every Parish and Township shall deliver the List of Voters so made out as aforesaid, together with a written Statement of the Number of Persons objected to by the Overseers and by other Persons, to the High Constable or High Constables of the Hundred or other like District in which such Parish or Township is situate; and such High Constable or High Constables shall forthwith deliver all such Lists, together with such Statements as aforesaid, to the Clerk of the Peace of the County, Riding, or Parts, who shall forthwith make out an Abstract of the Number of Persons objected to by the Overseers and by other Persons in each Parish and Township, and transmit the same to the Barrister or Barristers appointed as herein-after mentioned to revise such Lists, in order that the said Barrister or Barristers may fix proper Times and Places for holding his or their Courts for the Revision of the said Lists. XLI. And be it enacted, That the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench for the Time being shall, in the Month of July or August in the present and in every succeeding Year, nominate and appoint for Middlesex, and the Senior Judge for the Time being in the Commission of Assize for every other County shall, when travelling the Summer Circuit, in the present and in every succeeding Year, nomi-

131

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

nate and appoint for every such County, or for each of the Ridings, Parts, or Divisions of such County, a Barrister or Barristers to revise the Lists of Voters in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire; and such Barrister or Barristers so appointed as aforesaid shall give public Notice, as well by Advertisement in some of the Newspapers circulating within the County, Riding, Parts, or Division, as also by a Notice to be fixed in some public and conspicuous Situation at the principal Place of Election for the County, Riding, Parts, or Division, (such last-mentioned Notice to be given Three Days at the least before the Commencement of his or their Circuit,) that he or they will make a Circuit of the County, Riding, Parts, or Division for which he or they shall be so appointed, and of the several Times and Places at which he or they will hold Courts for that Purpose, such Times being between the Fifteenth Day of September inclusive and the Twenty-fifth Day of October inclusive in the present and in every succeeding Year, and he or they shall hold open Courts for that Purpose at the Times and Places so to be announced; and where Two or more Barristers shall be appointed for the same County, Riding, Parts, or Division, they shall attend at the same Places together, but shall sit apart from each other, and hold separate Courts at the same Time for the Dispatch of Business: Provided always, that no Member of Parliament, nor any Person holding any Office or Place of Profit under the Crown, shall be appointed such Barrister, and that no Barrister so appointed as aforesaid shall be eligible to serve in Parliament for Eighteen Months from the Time of such his Appointment for the County, Riding, Parts, or Division for which he shall be so appointed.

132

XLII. And be it enacted, That the Clerk of the Peace shall at the opening of the first Court to be held by every such Barrister for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, produce or cause to be produced before him the several Lists of Voters for such County, Riding, Parts, or Division which shall have been delivered to such Clerk of the Peace by the High Constables as aforesaid; and the Overseers of every Parish and Township who shall have made out the Lists of Voters shall attend the Court to be held by every such Barrister at the Place appointed for revising the Lists relating to such Parish or Township respectively, and shall also deliver to such Barrister a Copy of the List of the Persons objected to, so made out by them as aforesaid; and the said Overseers shall answer upon Oath all such Questions as such Barrister may put to them or any of them touching any Matter necessary for revising the Lists of Voters; and every such Barrister shall retain on the Lists of Voters the Names of all Persons to whom no Objection shall have been made by the Overseers, or by any other Person, in the Manner hereinbefore mentioned; and he shall also retain on the List of Voters the Name of every Person who shall have been objected to by any Person other than the Overseers, unless the Party so objecting shall appear by himself or by some one on his Behalf in support of such Objection; and where the Name of any Person inserted in the List of Voters shall have been objected to by the Overseers, or by any other Person, in the Manner herein-before mentioned, and such Person so objecting shall appear by himself or by some one on his Behalf in support of such Objection, every such Barrister shall require it to be proved that the Person so objected to was entitled on

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

the last Day of July then next preceding to have his Name inserted in the List of Voters in respect of the Qualification described in such List; and in case the same shall not be proved to the Satisfaction of such Barrister, or in case it shall be proved that such Person was then incapacitated by any Law or Statute from voting in the Election of Members to serve in Parliament, such Barrister shall expunge the Name of every such Person from the said Lists; and he shall also expunge from the said Lists the Name of every Person who shall be proved to him to be dead; and shall correct any Mistake which shall be proved to him to have been made in any of the said Lists as to any of the Particulars by this Act required to be inserted in such Lists; and where the Christian Name of any Person, or his Place of Abode, or the Nature of his Qualification, or the local or other Description of his Property, or the Name of the Tenant in the Occupation thereof, as the same respectively are required to be inserted in any such List, shall be wholly omitted therefrom, such Barrister shall expunge the Name of every such Person from such List, unless the Matter or Matters so omitted be supplied to the Satisfaction of such Barrister before he shall have completed the Revision of such List, in which Case he shall then and there insert the same in such List: Provided always, that no Person’s Name shall be expunged from any such List, except in case of his Death or of his being objected to on the Margin of the List by the Overseers as aforesaid, or except in case of any such Omission or Omissions as hereinbefore last mentioned, unless such Notice as is herein-before required in that Behalf shall have been given to the Overseers, nor unless such Notice as is herein-before required in that Behalf shall have been

given to such Person, or left at his Place of Abode, or delivered to his Tenant as herein-before mentioned. XLIII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That if it shall happen that any Person who shall have given to the Overseers of any Parish or Township due Notice of his Claim to have his Name inserted in the List of Voters in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire shall have been omitted by such Overseers from such List, it shall be lawful for the Barrister, upon the Revision of such List, to insert therein the Name of the Person so omitted, in case it shall be proved to the Satisfaction of such Barrister that such Person gave due Notice of such his Claim to the said Overseers, and that he was entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding to be inserted in the List of Voters in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire for the County, or for the Riding, Parts, or Division of the County, wherein the Parish or Township of such Overseers may be situate, in respect of any Lands or Tenements within such Parish or Township. XLIV. And be it enacted, That the Overseers of the Poor of every Parish and Township either wholly or in part situate within any City or Borough, or Place sharing in the Election for any City or Borough, which shall return a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, shall, on or before the last Day of July in the present and in each succeeding Year, make out or cause to be made out, according to the Form numbered 1. in the Schedule marked (I.) to this Act annexed, an alphabetical List of all Persons who may be entitled by virtue of this Act to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for

133

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

such City or Borough in respect of the Occupation of Premises of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds as herein-before mentioned, situate wholly or in part within such Parish or Township, and another alphabetical List, according to the Form numbered 2. in the said Schedule (I.), of all other Persons (except Freemen) who may be entitled to vote in the Election for such City or Borough by virtue of any other Right whatsoever; and in each of the said Lists the Christian Name and Surname of every Person shall be written at full Length, together with the Nature of his Qualification; and where any Person shall be entitled to vote in respect of any Property, then the Name of the Street, Lane, or other Description of the Place where such Property may be situate shall be specified in the List; and where any Person shall be entitled to vote otherwise than in respect of any Property, then the Name of the Street, Lane, or other Description of the Place of such Person’s Abode shall be specified in the List; and the Overseers shall sign each of such Lists, and shall cause a sufficient Number of Copies of such Lists to be printed, and to be fixed on or near the Doors of all the Churches and Chapels in their several Parishes and Townships, or if there be no Church or Chapel therein, then to be fixed up in some public and conspicuous Situation within the same respectively, on the Two Sundays next after such Lists shall have been made; and the said Overseers shall likewise keep true Copies of such Lists, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Two first Weeks after such Lists shall have been made. XLV. And be it enacted, That every Precinct or Place, whether extra-parochial

134

or otherwise, having no Overseers of the Poor, which now is or hereafter may be within any City or Borough, or within any Place sharing in the Election for any City or Borough, shall, for the Purpose of making out the List of Voters for such City or Borough, be deemed to be within the Parish or Township adjoining thereto, and situate wholly or in part within such City or Borough, or within such Place sharing in the Election therewith; and if such Precinct or Place shall adjoin Two or more Parishes or Townships so situate as aforesaid, it shall be deemed to be within the least populous of such Parishes or Townships according to the last Census for the Time being; and the Overseers of every such Parish or Township shall insert in the List for their respective Parish or Township the Names of all Persons who may be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any such City or Borough in respect of any Property occupied by such Persons within such City or Borough, or within any Place sharing in the Election therewith, such Property being situate wholly or in part within such Precinct or Place, as aforesaid. XLVI. And be it enacted, That the Town Clerk of every City or Borough shall, on or before the last Day of July in the present and in each succeeding Year, make out or cause to be made out, according to the Form numbered 3. in the said Schedule (I.), an alphabetical List of all the Freemen of such City or Borough who may be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City or Borough, together with the respective Places of their Abode; and the Town Clerk of every Place sharing in the Election for

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

any City or Borough shall, at the respective Times aforesaid, make out or cause to be made out a like List of all the Freemen of such Place who may be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City or Borough; and every such Town Clerk shall cause a Copy of every such List to be fixed on or near the Door of the Town Hall, or in some public and conspicuous Situation within such respective City, Borough, or Place as aforesaid, on the Two Sundays next after such List shall have been made, and shall likewise keep a true Copy of such List, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Two first Weeks after such List shall have been made: Provided always, that where there shall be no Town Clerk for such City, Borough, or Place as aforesaid, or where the Town Clerk shall be dead or incapable of acting, all Matters by this Act required to be done by and with regard to the Town Clerk shall be done by and with regard to the Person executing Duties similar to those of the Town Clerk, and if there be no such Person, then by and with regard to the chief Civil Officer of such City, Borough, or Place. XLVII. And be it enacted, That every Person whose Name shall have been omitted in any such List of Voters for any City or Borough so to be made out as hereinbefore mentioned, and who shall claim to have his Name inserted therein as having been entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding, shall, on or before the Twenty-fifth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year, give or cause to be given a Notice in Writing, according to the Form numbered 4. in the said Schedule (I.), or to the like Effect, to the

Overseers of that Parish or Township in the List whereof he shall claim to have his Name inserted, or if he shall claim as a Freeman of any City or Borough, or Place sharing in the Election therewith, then to the Town Clerk of such City, Borough, or Place; and every Person whose Name shall have been inserted in any List of Voters for any City or Borough may object to any other Person as not having been entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding to have his Name inserted in any List of Voters for the same City or Borough, and every Person so objecting shall, on or before the Twenty-fifth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year, give or cause to be given a Notice in Writing, according to the Form numbered 5. in the said Schedule (I.), or to the like Effect, to the Overseers who shall have made out the List in which the Name of the Person so objected to shall have been inserted, or if the Person objected to shall have been inserted in the List of Freemen of any City, Borough, or Place as aforesaid, then to the Town Clerk of such City, Borough, or Place; and the Overseers shall include the Names of all Persons so claiming as aforesaid in a List according to the Form numbered 6. in the said Schedule (I.), and the Names of all Persons so objected to as aforesaid in a List according to the Form numbered 7. in the said Schedule (I.), and shall cause Copies of such Two Lists to be fixed on or near the Doors of all the Churches and Chapels within their Parish or Township, or if there be no Church or Chapel therein, then to be fixed in some public and conspicuous Situation within the same respectively, on the Two Sundays next preceding the Fifteenth Day of September in the present and in every succeeding Year; and every Town Clerk shall include the Names of all Persons so

135

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

claiming as Freemen in a List according to the Form numbered 8. in the said Schedule (I.), and the Names of all Persons so objected to as Freemen in a List according to the Form numbered 9. in the said Schedule (I.), and shall cause Copies of such Two Lists to be fixed on or near the Door of the Town Hall, or in some public and conspicuous Situation, within his respective City, Borough, or Place as aforesaid, on the Two Sundays herein-before last mentioned in the present and in every succeeding Year; and the Overseers and Town Clerks shall likewise keep a Copy of the Names of all the Persons so claiming as aforesaid, and also a Copy of the Names of all Persons so objected to as aforesaid, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Ten Days next preceding the said Fifteenth Day of September in the present and in every succeeding Year, and shall deliver a Copy of each of such Lists to any Person requiring the same, on Payment of One Shilling for each Copy. XLVIII. And be it enacted, That for providing a List of such of the Freemen of the City of London as are Liverymen of the several Companies entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for the City of London, the Returning Officer or Officers of the said City shall, on or before the last Day of July in the present and in each succeeding Year, issue Precepts to the Clerks of the said Livery Companies, requiring them forthwith to make out or cause to be made out, at the Expence of the respective Companies, an alphabetical List, according to the Form in the Schedule (K.) to this Act annexed, of the Freemen of London being Liverymen of the

136

said respective Companies and entitled to vote in such Election; and every such Clerk shall sign such List, and transmit the same, with Two printed Copies thereof, to such Returning Officer or Officers, who shall forthwith fix One such Copy in the Guildhall and One in the Royal Exchange of the said City, there to remain Fourteen Days in the present and in every subsequent Year; and the Clerks of the said Livery Companies shall cause a sufficient Number of such Lists of Freemen and Liverymen of their respective Companies to be printed at the Expence of the respective Companies, and shall keep the same, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Two first Weeks after such Lists shall have been printed; and every Person whose Name shall have been omitted in any such List of Freemen and Liverymen, and who shall claim to have his Name inserted therein as having been entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding, shall, on or before the Twenty-fifth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year, give or cause to be given a Notice in Writing according to the Form numbered 1. in the said Schedule (K.), or to the like Effect, to the Returning Officer or Officers, and to the Clerk of that Company in the List whereof he shall claim to have his Name inserted; and the Returning Officer or Officers shall include the Names of all Persons so claiming as aforesaid in a List according to the Form numbered 2. in the said Schedule (K.), and shall cause such last-mentioned List to be fixed in the Guildhall and Royal Exchange of the said City on the Two Mondays next preceding the Fifteenth Day of September in the present and in every succeeding Year; and the said Returning Officer or Officers, and Clerks of the said Compa-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

nies, shall likewise keep a Copy of the Names of all the Persons so claiming as aforesaid, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Ten Days next preceding the said Fifteenth Day of September in the present and in every succeeding Year; and every Person who shall object to any other Person as not having been entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding to have his Name inserted in any such Livery List shall, on or before the Twenty-fifth Day of August in the present and in every succeeding Year, give to such other Person, or leave at his usual Place of Abode, a Notice in Writing according to the Form numbered 3. in the said Schedule (K.), or to the like Effect; and in the City of London the Returning Officer or Officers shall take the Poll or Votes of such Freemen of the said City being Liverymen of the several Companies as are entitled to vote at such Election in the Guildhall of the said City; and the said Returning Officer or Officers shall not be required to provide any Booth or Compartments, but shall appoint or take One Poll for the whole Number of such Liverymen at the same Place. XLIX. And be it enacted, That the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench for the Time being shall, in the Month of July or August in the present and in every succeeding Year, nominate and appoint so many Barristers as the said Lord Chief Justice shall deem necessary, to revise the respective Lists of Voters for the City of London, and for the City of Westminster, and for the several Boroughs in the County of Middlesex; and that the Senior Judge for the Time being in the Commission of Assize for every other County shall, when travelling the Summer

Circuit, in the present and in every succeeding Year, nominate and appoint so many Barristers as the said Judge shall deem necessary, to revise the respective Lists of Voters, as well for the several Cities and Boroughs in every such County, as for every City and Town, and County of a City and Town, next adjoining to any such County; and the Town and County of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull shall for this Purpose be considered as next adjoining to the County of York, and the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle upon Tyne as next adjoining to the County of Northumberland, and the City and County of the City of Bristol as next adjoining to the County of Somerset; and the said Lord Chief Justice and Judge respectively shall have Power to nominate and appoint One or more Barristers to revise the Lists for the same City or Borough or other Place as aforesaid, or One Barrister only, to revise the Lists for several Cities, Boroughs, and other Places as aforesaid: Provided always, that no Member of Parliament, nor any Person holding any Office or Place of Profit under the Crown, shall be appointed as such Barrister as aforesaid, and that no Barrister so appointed as aforesaid shall be eligible to serve in Parliament for Eighteen Months from the Time of his Appointment for any City, Borough, or other Place as aforesaid for which he shall be so appointed: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the same Barrister from being appointed to revise the Lists for Two or more Counties, Ridings, Parts, or Divisions, or for any County, Riding, Parts, or Division, and any One or more of the Cities or Boroughs therein. L. And be it enacted, That the Barrister or Barristers so appointed to revise the

137

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Lists of Voters for any City or Borough shall hold an open Court or Courts for that Purpose within such City or Borough, and also within every Place sharing in the Election for such City or Borough, at some Time between the Fifteenth Day of September inclusive and the Twenty-fifth Day of October inclusive in the present and in every succeeding Year, having first given Three clear Days Notice of the holding of such Court or Courts, to be fixed on the Doors of all the Churches and Chapels within such City, Borough, or Place respectively, or if there be no Church or Chapel therein, then to be fixed in some public and conspicuous Situation within the same respectively; and the Overseers and Town Clerks who shall have made out the Lists of Voters as aforesaid, and in the Case of the City of London the Returning Officer or Officers of the said City, shall, at the opening of the first Court to be held by every such Barrister for revising such Lists, produce their respective Lists before him; and the said Overseers and Town Clerks shall also deliver to such Barrister a Copy of the List of the Persons objected to, so made out by them as aforesaid; and the Clerks of the several Livery Companies of the City of London, and the Town Clerk of every other City or Borough, or Place sharing in the Election therewith, and the several Overseers within every City, Borough, or Place as aforesaid, shall attend the Court to be held by every such Barrister for any such City, Borough, or Place as aforesaid, and shall answer upon Oath all such Questions as such Barrister may put to them or any of them touching any Matter necessary for revising the Lists of Voters; and every such Barrister shall insert in such Lists the Name of every Person who shall be proved to his Satisfaction to have

138

been entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding to have his Name inserted in any such List of Voters for such City or Borough; and such Barrister shall retain on the Lists of Voters for such City or Borough the Names of all Persons to whom no Objection shall have been made in the Manner herein-before mentioned, and he shall also retain on the said Lists the Name of every Person who shall have been objected to by any Person, unless the Party so objecting shall appear by himself, or by some one on his Behalf, in support of such Objection; and where the Name of any Person inserted in the List of Voters for such City or Borough shall have been objected to in the Manner hereinbefore mentioned, and the Person so objecting shall appear by himself, or by some one on his Behalf, in support of such Objection, every such Barrister shall require it to be proved that the Person so objected to was entitled on the last Day of July then next preceding to have his Name inserted in the List of Voters for such City or Borough in respect of the Qualification described in such List, and in case the same shall not be proved to the Satisfaction of such Barrister, or in case it shall be proved that such Person was then incapacitated by any Law or Statute from voting in the Election of Members to serve in Parliament, such Barrister shall expunge the Name of every such Person from the said Lists, and he shall also expunge from the said Lists the Name of every Person who shall be proved to him to be dead, and shall correct any Mistake which shall be proved to him to have been made in any of the said Lists as to any of the Particulars by this Act required to be inserted in such Lists; and where the Christian Name, or the Place of Abode, or the Nature of the Qualification, or the local Descrip-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

tion of the Property of any Person who shall be included in any such List shall be wholly omitted in such List in any Case where the same is by this Act directed to be specified therein, such Barrister shall expunge the Name of every such Person from such List, unless the Matter or Matters so omitted be supplied to the Satisfaction of such Barrister before he shall have completed the Revision of such List, in which Case he shall then and there insert the same in such List: Provided always, that no Person’s Name shall be inserted by such Barrister in any such List for any City or Borough, or shall be expunged therefrom, except in the Case of Death, or of such Omission or Omissions as herein-before last mentioned, unless such Notice shall have been given as is herein-before required in each of the said Cases. LI. And be it enacted, That the Overseers of every Parish or Township shall, for their Assistance in making out the Lists in pursuance of this Act, (upon Request made by them or any of them, at any reasonable Time between the first Day of June and the last Day of July in the present and in any succeeding Year, to any Assessor or Collector of Taxes, or to any other Officer having the Custody of any Duplicate or Tax Assessment for such Parish or Township,) have free Liberty to inspect any such Duplicate or Tax Assessment, and to extract from thence such Particulars as may appear to such Overseer or Overseers to be necessary; and every Barrister appointed under this Act shall have Power to require any Assessor, Collector of Taxes, or other Officer having the Custody of any Duplicate or Tax Assessment, or any Overseer or Overseers having the Custody of any Poor Rate, to

produce the same respectively before him at any Court to be held by him, for the Purpose of assisting him in revising the Lists to be by him revised in pursuance of this Act. LII. And be it enacted, That every Barrister holding any Court under this Act as aforesaid shall have Power to adjourn the same from Time to Time, and from any one Place to any other Place or Places within the same County, Riding, Parts, or Division, or within the same City or Borough, or within any Place sharing in the Election for such City or Borough, but so as that no such adjourned Court shall be held after the Twenty-fifth Day of October in any Year; and every such Barrister shall have Power to administer an Oath (or, in the Case of a Quaker or Moravian, an Affirmation,) to all Persons making Objection to the Insertion or Omission of any Name in any of such Lists as aforesaid, and to all Persons objected to or claiming to be inserted in any of such Lists, or claiming to have any Mistake corrected or any Omission supplied in any of such Lists, and to all Witnesses who may be tendered on either Side; and that if any Person taking any Oath or making any Affirmation under this Act shall wilfully swear or affirm falsely, such Person shall be deemed guilty of Perjury, and shall be punished accordingly; and that at the holding of such respective Courts the Parties shall not be attended by Counsel; and that every such Barrister shall, upon the hearing in open Court, finally determine upon the Validity of such Claims and Objections, and shall for that Purpose have the same Powers and proceed in the same Manner (except where otherwise directed by this Act) as the Returning Officer of any County, City, or Borough

139

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

according to the Laws and Usages now observed at Elections; and such Barrister shall in open Court write his Initials against the Names respectively struck out or inserted, and against any Part of the said Lists in which any Mistake shall have been corrected or any Omission supplied, and shall sign his Name to every Page of the several Lists so settled. LIII. And be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein-before contained, if it shall be made to appear to the Lord Chief Justice or Judge who shall have appointed any Barrister or Barristers under this Act, to revise the List of Voters, that by reason of the Death, Illness, or Absence of any such Barrister or Barristers, or by reason of the Insufficiency of the Number of such Barristers, or from any other Cause, such Lists cannot be revised within the Period directed by this Act, it shall be lawful for such Lord Chief Justice or Judge, and he is hereby required, to appoint One or more Barrister or Barristers to act in the Place of or in addition to the Barrister or Barristers originally appointed; and such Barrister or Barristers so subsequently appointed shall have the same Powers and Authorities in every respect as if they had been originally appointed by such Lord Chief Justice or Judge. LIV. And be it enacted, That the Lists of Voters for each County, or for the Riding, Parts, or Division of each County, so signed as aforesaid by any such Barrister, shall be forthwith transmitted by him to the Clerk of the Peace of the County, Riding, or Parts for which such Barrister shall have been appointed; and the Clerk of the Peace shall keep the said Lists among the Records of the Sessions, ar-

140

ranged with every Hundred in alphabetical Order, and with every Parish and Township within such Hundred likewise in alphabetical Order, and with every Parish and Township within such Hundred likewise in alphabetical Order, and shall forthwith cause the said Lists to be fairly and truly copied in the same Order in a Book to be by him provided for that Purpose, and shall prefix to every Name so copied out its proper Number, beginning the Numbers from the first Name, and continuing them in a regular Series down to the last Name, and shall complete and deliver such Book on or before the last Day of October in the present and in every succeeding Year to the Sheriff of the County, or his Under Sheriff, who shall safely keep the same, and shall at the Expiration of his Office deliver over the same to the succeeding Sheriff or his Under Sheriff; and the Lists of Voters for each City or Borough, so signed as aforesaid by any such Barrister, shall be forthwith delivered by him to the Returning Officer for such City or Borough, who shall safely keep the same, and shall cause the said Lists to be fairly and truly copied in a Book to be by him provided for that Purpose, with every Name therein numbered according to the Directions aforesaid, and shall cause such Book to be completed on or before the last Day of October in the present and in every succeeding Year, and shall deliver over such Book, together with the Lists, at the Expiration of his Office, to the Person succeeding him in such Office; and every such Book, to be so completed on or before the last Day of October in the present Year, shall be deemed the Register of the Electors to vote, after the End of this present Parliament, in the Choice of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for the County,

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, City, or Borough to which such Register shall relate, at any Election which may take place after the said last Day of October in the present Year and before the First Day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three; and every such Book to be so completed on or before the last Day of October in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, and in every succeeding Year, shall be the Register of Electors to vote at any Election which shall take place between the First Day of November inclusive in the Year wherein such respective Register shall have been made and the First Day of November in the succeeding Year. LV. And be it enacted, That the Overseers of every Parish and Township shall cause to be written or printed Copies of the Lists so by them to be made in the present and in every succeeding Year, and shall deliver such Copies to all Persons applying for the same, on Payment of a reasonable Price for each Copy; and the Monies arising from the Sale thereof shall be accounted for by the said Overseers, and applied to the same Purposes as Monies collected for the Relief of the Poor; and the Clerks of the Peace shall cause to be written or printed Copies of the Registers of the Electors for their respective Counties, Ridings, or Parts, or for the Divisions of their respective Counties; and the Returning Officer of every City or Borough shall cause to be written or printed Copies of the Register of the Electors for such City or Borough; and every such Clerk of the Peace, and every such Returning Officer, shall deliver such respective Copies to all Persons applying for the same, on Payment of a reasonable Price for each

Copy; and the Monies arising from the Sale of all such Copies shall be accounted for to the Treasurer of the County, Riding, or Parts. LVI. And be it enacted, That for the Purpose of defraying the Expences to be incurred by the Overseers of the Poor and by the Clerk of the Peace in carrying into effect the several Provisions of this Act, so far as relates to the Electors for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, every Person, upon giving Notice of his Claim as such Elector to the Overseers, as herein-before mentioned, shall pay or cause to be paid to the said Overseers the Sum of One Shilling; and such Notice of Claim shall not be deemed valid until such Sum shall have been paid; and the Overseers of each Parish or Township shall add all Monies so received by them to the Money collected or to be collected for the Relief of the Poor in such Parish or Township, and such Monies so added shall be applicable to the same Purposes as Monies collected for the Relief of the Poor; and that for the Purpose of defraying the Expences to be incurred by the Returning Officer of every City and Borough, and by the Overseers of the several Parishes and Townships in every City and Borough, and Place sharing in the Election therewith, in carrying into effect the Provisions of this Act, so far as relates to the Electors for such City or Borough, every such Elector whose Name shall be upon the Register of Voters for such City or Borough for the Time being shall be liable to the Payment of One Shilling annually, which Sum shall be levied and collected from each Elector in addition to and as a Part of the Money payable by him as his Contribution to the Rate for the Relief of the Poor, and such Sum shall be applicable

141

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

to the same Purposes as Money collected for the Relief of the Poor; and that the Expences incurred by the Overseers of any Parish or Township in making out, printing, and publishing the several Lists and Notices directed by this Act, and all other Expences incurred by them in carrying into effect the Provisions of this Act, shall be defrayed out of the Money collected or to be collected for the Relief of the Poor in such Parish or Township; and that all Expences incurred by the Returning Officer of any City or Borough in causing the Lists of the Electors for such City or Borough to be copied out and made into a Register, and in causing Copies of such Register to be written or printed, shall be defrayed by the Overseers of the Poor of the several Parishes and Townships within such City or Borough, or Place sharing in the Election therewith, out of the Money collected or to be collected for the Relief of the Poor in such Parishes and Townships, in proportion to the Number of Persons placed on the Register of Voters for each Parish or Township; and that all Expences incurred by the Clerk of the Peace of any County, Riding, or Parts in causing the Lists of the Electors for such County, Riding, or Parts, or for any Division of such County, to be copied out and made into a Register, and in causing Copies of such Register to be written or printed, and in otherwise carrying into effect the Provisions of this Act, shall be defrayed by the Treasurer of such County, Riding, or Parts out of any public Money in his Hands, and he shall be allowed all such Payments in his Accounts: Provided always, that no Expences incurred by any Clerk of the Peace under this Act shall be so defrayed unless the Account shall be laid before the Justices of the Peace at the next Quarter Sessions after such Expences

142

shall have been incurred, and allowed by the Court. LVII. And be it enacted, That every Barrister appointed to revise any Lists of Voters under this Act shall be paid at the Rate of Five Guineas for every Day that he shall be so employed, over and above his travelling and other Expences; and every such Barrister, after the Termination of his last Sitting, shall lay or cause to be laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury for the Time being a Statement of the Number of Days during which he shall have been so employed, and an Account of the travelling and other Expences incurred by him in respect of such Employment; and the said Lords Commissioners shall make an Order for the Amount to be paid to such Barrister. LVIII. And be it enacted, That in all Elections whatever of Members to serve in any future Parliament no Inquiry shall be permitted at the Time of polling, as to the Right of any Person to vote, except only as follows; that is to say, that the Returning Officer or his respective Deputy shall, if required on behalf of any Candidate, put to any Voter at the Time of his tendering his Vote, and not afterwards, the following Questions, or any of them, and no other: 1. Are you the same Person whose Name appears as A. B. on the Register of Voters now in force for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division, & c. or for the City, & c. as the Case may be)? 2. Have you already voted, either here or elsewhere, at this Election for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ , or for

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

the City or Borough of ____ as the Case may be)? 3. Have you the same Qualification for which your Name was originally inserted in the Register of Voters now in force for the County of, &c. (or for the ____ Riding, &c., or for the City, &c., as the Case may be, specifying in each Case the Particulars of the Qualification as described in the Register)? And if any Person shall wilfully make a false Answer to any of the Questions aforesaid, he shall be deemed guilty of an indictable Misdemeanor, and shall be punished accordingly; and the Returning Officer or his Deputy, or a Commissioner or Commissioners to be for that Purpose by him or them appointed, shall (if required on behalf of any Candidate at the Time aforesaid) administer an Oath (or, in case of a Quaker or Moravian, an Affirmation) to any Voter in the following Form; (that is to say,) ‘YOU do swear, (or, being a Quaker or Moravian, do affirm,) That you are the same Person whose Name appears as A. B. on the Register of Voters now in force for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ or for the City or Borough of ____ as the Case may be), and that you have not before voted, either here or elsewhere, at the present Election for the said County (or for the said Riding, Parts, or Division of the said County, or for the said City or Borough, as the Case may be). So help you GOD.’ And no Elector shall hereafter at any such Election be required to take any Oath or Affirmation, except as aforesaid, either in Proof of his Freehold or of his Residence, Age, or other Qualification or Right to vote, any Law or Statute, Local or General, to the contrary notwithstanding; and

no Person claiming to vote at any such Election shall be excluded from voting thereat, except by reason of its appearing to the Returning Officer or his respective Deputy, upon putting such Questions as aforesaid, or any of them, that the Person so claiming to vote is not the same Person whose Name appears on such Register as aforesaid, or that he has previously voted at the same Election, or that he has not the same Qualification for which his Name was originally inserted in such Register, or except by reason of such Person refusing to take the said Oath or make the said Affirmation or to take or make the Oath or Affirmation against Bribery, or any other Oath or Affirmation now required by Law, and not hereby dispensed with; and no Scrutiny shall hereafter be allowed by or before any Returning Officer with regard to any Votes given or tendered at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament; any Law, Statute, or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding. LIX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That any Person whose Name shall have been omitted from any Register of Voters in consequence of the Decision of the Barrister who shall have revised the Lists from which such Register shall have been formed may tender his Vote at any Election at which such Register shall be in force, stating at the Time the Name or Names of the Candidate or Candidates for whom he tenders such Vote, and the Returning Officer or his Deputy shall enter upon the Poll Book every Vote so tendered, distinguishing the same from the Votes admitted and allowed at such Election. LX. Provided also, and be it enacted, That, upon Petition to the House of Com-

143

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

mons, complaining of an undue Election or Return of any Member or Members to serve in Parliament, any Petitioner, or any Person defending such Election or Return, shall be at liberty to impeach the Correctness of the Register of Voters in force at the Time of such Election, by proving that in consequence of the Decision of the Barrister who shall have revised the Lists of Voters from which such Register shall have been formed the Name of any Person who voted at such Election was improperly inserted or retained in such Register, or the Name of any Person who tendered his Vote at such Election improperly omitted from such Register; and the Select Committee appointed for the Trial of such Petition shall alter the Poll taken at such Election according to the Truth of the Case, and shall report their Determination thereupon to the House, and the House shall thereupon carry such Determination into effect, and the Return shall be amended, or the Election declared void, as the Case may be, and the Register corrected accordingly, or such other Order shall be made as to the House shall seem proper.

mence at Nine o’Clock in the Forenoon of the next Day but Two after the Day fixed for the Election, unless such next Day but Two shall be Saturday or Sunday, and then on the Monday following, at the principal Place of Election, and also at the several Places to be appointed as herein-after directed for taking Polls; and such polling shall continue for Two Days only, such Two Days being successive Days; (that is to say,) for Seven Hours on the First Day of polling, and for Eight Hours on the Second Day of polling; and no Poll shall be kept open later than Four o’clock in the Afternoon of the Second Day; any Statute to the contrary notwithstanding.

LXI. And be it enacted, That the Sheriffs of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and the Sheriffs of the Counties divided by this Act, shall duly cause Proclamation to be made of the several Days fixed for the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire for the several Ridings, Parts, and Divisions of their respective Counties, and shall preside at the Election by themselves or their lawful Deputies.

LXIII. And be it enacted, That the respective Counties in England and Wales, and the respective Ridings, Parts, and Divisions of Counties, shall be divided into convenient Districts for polling, and in each District shall be appointed a convenient Place for taking the Poll at all Elections of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament, and such Districts and Places for taking the Poll shall be settled and appointed by the Act to be passed in this present Parliament for the Purpose of settling and describing the Divisions of the Counties enumerated in the Schedule marked (F.) to this Act annexed; provided that no County, nor any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, shall have more than Fifteen Districts and respective Places appointed for taking the Poll for such County, Riding, Parts, or Division.

LXII. And be it enacted, That at every contested Election of a Knight or Knights to serve in any future Parliament for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, the polling shall com-

LXIV. And be it enacted, That at every contested Election for any County, or Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, the Sheriff, Under Sheriff, or Sheriff’s Deputy shall, if required thereto by or on behalf

144

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

of any Candidate, on the Day fixed for the Election, and if not so required may, if it shall appear to him expedient, cause to be erected a reasonable Number of Booths for taking the Poll at the principal Place of Election, and also at each of the Polling Places so to be appointed as aforesaid, and shall cause to be affixed on the most conspicuous Part of each of the said Booths the Names of the several Parishes, Townships, and Places for which such Booth is respectively allotted; and no Person shall be admitted to vote at any such Election in respect of any Property situate in any Parish, Township, or Place, except at the Booth so allotted for such Parish, Township, or Place, and if no Booth shall be so allotted for the same, then at any of the Booths for the same District; and in case any Parish, Township, or Place shall happen not to be included in any of the Districts to be appointed, the Votes in respect of Property situate in any Parish, Township, or Place so omitted shall be taken at the principal Place of Election for the County, or Riding, Parts, or Division of the County, as the Case may be. LXV. And be it enacted, That the Sheriff shall have Power to appoint Deputies to preside and Clerks to take the Poll at the principal Place of Election, and also at the several Places appointed for taking the Poll for any County, or any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County; and that the Poll Clerks employed at those several Places shall at the Close of each Day’s Poll enclose and seal their several Books, and shall publicly deliver them, so enclosed and sealed, to the Sheriff, Under Sheriff, or Sheriff’s Deputy presiding at such Poll, who shall give a Receipt for the same, and shall, on the Commencement of the Poll on the Second Day, deliver them back, so

enclosed and sealed, to the Persons from whom he shall have received them; and on the final Close of the Poll every such Deputy who shall have received any such Poll Books shall forthwith deliver or transmit the same, so enclosed and sealed, to the Sheriff or his Under Sheriff, who shall receive and keep all the Poll Books unopened until the re-assembling of the Court on the Day next but One after the Close of the Poll, unless such next Day but One shall be Sunday, and then on the Monday following, when he shall openly break the Seals thereon, and cast up the Number of Votes as they appear on the said several Books, and shall openly declare the State of the Poll, and shall make Proclamation of the Member or Members chosen, not later than Two o’Clock in the Afternoon of the said Day. LXVI. And be it enacted, That in all Matters relative to the Election of Knights or a Knight of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, the Sheriff of the County, his Under Sheriff, or any lawful Deputy of such Sheriff, shall have Power to act in all Places having any exclusive Jurisdiction or Privilege whatsoever, in the same Manner as such Sheriff, Under Sheriff, or Deputy may act within any Part of such Sheriff’s ordinary Jurisdiction. LXVII. And be it enacted, That at every contested Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Borough in England, except the Borough of Monmouth, the Poll shall commence on the Day fixed for the Election, or on the Day next following, or at the latest on the Third Day, unless any of the said Days shall be Saturday or Sun-

145

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

day, and then on the Monday following, the particular Day for the Commencement of the Poll to be fixed by the Returning Officer; and such polling shall continue for Two Days only, such Two Days being successive Days, (that is to say,) for Seven Hours on the First Day of polling, and for Eight Hours on the Second Day of polling; and that the Poll shall on no Account be kept open later than Four o’clock in the Afternoon of such Second Day; any Statute to the contrary notwithstanding. LXVIII. And be it enacted, That at every contested Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City or Borough in England, except the Borough of Monmouth, the Returning Officer shall, if required thereto by or on behalf of any Candidate, on the Day fixed for the Election, and if not so required may if it shall appear to him expedient, cause to be erected for taking the Poll at such Election different Booths for different Parishes, Districts, or Parts of such City or Borough, which Booths may be situated either in one Place or in several Places, and shall be so divided and allotted into Compartments as to the Returning Officer shall seem most convenient, so that no greater Number than Six hundred shall be required to poll at any one Compartment; and the Returning Officer shall appoint a Clerk to take the Poll at each Compartment, and shall cause to be affixed on the most conspicuous Part of each of the said Booths the Names of the several Parishes, Districts, and Parts for which such Booth is respectively allotted; and no Person shall be admitted to vote at any such Election, except at the Booth allotted for the Parish, District, or Part wherein the Property may be situate in respect of which he claims to vote, or in case he

146

does not claim to vote in respect of Property, then wherein his Place of Abode as described in the Register may be; but in case no Booth shall happen to be provided for any particular Parish, District, or Part as aforesaid, the Votes of Persons voting in respect of Property situate in any Parish, District, or Part so omitted, or having their Place of Abode therein, may be taken at any of the said Booths, and the Votes of Freemen residing out of the Limits of the City or Borough may be taken at any of the said Booths; and public Notice of the Situation, Division, and Allotment of the different Booths shall be given Two Days before the Commencement of the Poll by the Returning Officer; and in case the Booths shall be situated in different Places, the Returning Officer may appoint a Deputy to preside at each Place; and at every such Election the Poll Clerks at the Close of each Day’s Poll shall enclose and seal their several Poll Books, and shall publicly deliver them, so enclosed and sealed, to the Returning Officer or his Deputy, who shall give a Receipt for the same, and shall, on the Commencement of the Poll on the Second Day, deliver them back, so enclosed and sealed, to the Persons from whom he shall have received the same; and every Deputy so receiving any such Poll Books, on the final Close of the Poll shall forthwith deliver or transmit the same, so enclosed and sealed, to the Returning Officer, who shall receive and keep all the Poll Books unopened until the following Day, unless such Day be Sunday, and then till the Monday following, when he shall openly break the Seals thereon, and cast up the Number of Votes as they appear on the said several Books, and shall openly declare the State of the Poll, and make Proclamation of the Member or Members chosen, not

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

later than Two o’Clock in the Afternoon of the said Day: Provided always, that the Returning Officer or his lawful Deputy may, if he think fit, declare the final State of the Poll, and proceed to make the Return immediately after the Poll shall have been lawfully closed: Provided also, that no Nomination shall be made or Election holden of any Member for any City or Borough in any Church, Chapel, or other Place of Public Worship. LXIX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That so far as relates to the several Boroughs of New Shoreham, Cricklade, Aylesbury, and East Retford, as defined by this Act, the said several Boroughs shall be divided into convenient Districts for polling, and there shall be appointed in each District a convenient Place for taking the Poll at all Elections of Members to serve in any future Parliament for each of the said Boroughs, which Districts and Places for taking the Poll shall be settled and appointed by an Act to be passed in this present Parliament. LXX. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall prevent any Sheriff or other Returning Officer, or the lawful Deputy of any Returning Officer, from closing the Poll previous to the Expiration of the Time fixed by this Act, in any Case where the same might have been lawfully closed before the passing of this Act; and that where the Proceedings at any Election shall be interrupted or obstructed by any Riot or open Violence, the Sheriff or other Returning Officer, or the lawful Deputy of any Returning Officer, shall not for such Cause finally close the Poll, but, in case the Proceedings shall be so interrupted or obstructed at any particular Polling Place or Places, shall adjourn the

Poll at such Place or Places only until the following Day, and if necessary shall further adjourn the same until such Interruption or Obstruction shall have ceased, when the Returning Officer or his Deputy shall again proceed to take the Poll at such Place or Places; and any Day whereon the Poll shall have been so adjourned shall not, as to such Place or Places, be reckoned One of the Two Days of polling at such Election within the Meaning of this Act; and wherever the Poll shall have been so adjourned by any Deputy of any Sheriff or other Returning Officer, such Deputy shall forthwith give Notice of such Adjournment to the Sheriff or Returning Officer, who shall not finally declare the State of the Poll, or make Proclamation of the Member or Members chosen, until the Poll so adjourned at such Place or Places as aforesaid shall have been finally closed, and delivered or transmitted to such Sheriff or other Returning Officer; any thing herein-before contained to the contrary notwithstanding. LXXI And be it enacted, That from and after the End of this present Parliament all Booths erected for the Convenience of taking Polls shall be erected at the joint and equal Expence of the several Candidates, and the same shall be erected by Contract with the Candidates, if they shall think fit to make such Contract, or if they shall not make such Contract, then the same shall be erected by the Sheriff or other Returning Officer at the Expence of the several Candidates as aforesaid, subject to such Limitation as is herein-after next mentioned; (that is to say,) that the Expence to be incurred for the Booth or Booths to be erected at the principal Place of Election for any County, Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, or at any of the

147

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Polling Places so to be appointed as aforesaid, shall not exceed the Sum of Forty Pounds in respect of any One such principal Place of Election or any One such Polling Place; and that the Expence to be incurred for any Booth or Booths to be erected for any Parish, District, or Part of any City or Borough shall not exceed the Sum of Twenty-Five Pounds in respect of any One such Parish, District, or Part; and that all Deputies appointed by the Sheriff or other Returning Officer shall be paid each Two Guineas by the Day, and all Clerks employed in taking the Poll shall be paid each One Guinea by the Day, at the Expence of the Candidates at such Election: Provided always, that if any Person shall be proposed without his Consent, then the Person so proposing him shall be liable to defray his Share of the said Expences in like Manner as if he had been a Candidate; provided also, that the Sheriff or Returning Officer may, if he shall think fit, instead of erecting such Booth or Booths as aforesaid, procure or hire and use any Houses or other Buildings for the Purpose of taking the Poll therein, subject always to the same Regulations, Provisions, Liabilities, and Limitations of Expence as are herein-before mentioned with regard to Booths for taking the Poll. LXXII And be it enacted, That the Sheriff or other Returning Officer shall, before the Day fixed for the Election, cause to be made, for the Use of each Booth or other Polling Place at such Election, a true Copy of the Register of Voters, and shall under his Hand certify every such Copy to be true. LXXIII. And be it enacted, That every Deputy of a Sheriff or other Returning

148

Officer shall have the same Power of administering the Oaths and Affirmations required by Law, and of appointing Commissioners for administering such Oaths and Affirmations as may by Law be administered by Commissioners, as the Sheriff or other Returning Officer has by virtue of this or any other Act, and subject to the same Regulations and Provisions in every respect as such Sheriff or other Returning Officer. LXXIV. And be it enacted, That from and after the End of this present Parliament every Person who shall have a Right to vote in the Election of a Member for the Borough of Monmouth, in respect of the Towns of Newport or Usk, shall give his Vote at Newport or Usk respectively before the Deputy for each of such Towns, whom the Returning Officer of the Borough of Monmouth is hereby authorized and required to appoint; and every Person who shall have a Right to vote in the Election of a Member for any Shire-Town or Borough, in respect of any Place named in the First Column of the Schedule marked (E.) to this Act annexed, shall give his Vote at such Place before the Deputy for such Place whom the Returning Officer of the Shire-Town or Borough is hereby authorized and required to appoint; and every Person who shall have a Right to vote in the Election of a Member for the Borough composed of the Towns of Swansea, Loughor, Neath, Aberavon, and Kenfig shall give his Vote at the Town in respect of which he shall be entitled to vote, (that is to say,) at Swansea before the Portreeve of Swansea, and at each of the other Towns before the Deputy of such Town whom the said Portreeve is hereby authorized and required to appoint; and at every contested Election for the

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Borough of Monmouth, or for any ShireTown or Borough named in the Second Column of the said Schedule (E.), or for the Borough composed of the said Five Towns, or for the Borough of Brecon, the polling shall commence on the Day next after the Day fixed for the respective Election, unless such next Day be Saturday or Sunday, and then on the Monday following, as well at Monmouth as at Newport and Usk respectively, and as well at the Shire-Town or Borough as at each of the Places sharing in the Election therewith respectively, and as well at Swansea as at each of the Four other Towns respectively; and such polling shall continue for Two Days only, such Two Days being successive Days, (that is to say,) for Seven Hours on the First Day of polling, and for Eight Hours on the Second Day of polling, and that the Poll shall on no Account be kept open later than Four o’clock in the Afternoon of such Second Day; and the Returning Officer of the Borough of Monmouth shall give to the Deputies for Newport and Usk respectively, and the Returning Officer of every Shire-Town or Borough named in the Second Column of the said Schedule (E.) shall give to the Deputy for each of the Places sharing in the Election for such Shire-Town or Borough, Notice of the Day fixed for such respective Election, and shall before the Day fixed for such respective Election cause to be made, and to be delivered to every such Deputy, a true Copy of the Register of Voters for the Borough of Monmouth, or for such Shire-Town or Borough, as the Case may be, and shall under his Hand certify every such Copy to be true; and the Portreeve of the Town of Swansea shall give Notice of the Day of Election to the Deputy for each of the Towns of Loughor, Neath,

Aberavon, and Ken-fig, and shall in like Manner cause to be made, and to be delivered to every such Deputy, a true and certified Copy of the Register of Voters for the Borough composed of the said Five Towns; and the respective Deputies for Newport and Usk, and for the respective Places named in the First Column of the said Schedule (E.), as well as for the Towns of Loughor, Neath, Aberavon, and Ken-fig, shall respectively take and conduct the Poll, and deliver or transmit the Poll Books, in the same Manner as the Deputies of the Returning Officers of the Cities and Boroughs in England are hereinbefore directed to do, and shall have the same Powers and perform the same Duties in every respect as are respectively conferred and imposed on the said Deputies by this Act: Provided always, that where there shall be a Mayor, Portreeve, or other Chief Municipal Officer in any Town or Place for which the Returning Officer or the Portreeve of Swansea is required to appoint a Deputy as aforesaid, such Returning Officer or the Portreeve of Swansea, as the Case may be, is hereby required to appoint such Chief Municipal Officer for the Time being to be such Deputy for such Town or Place. LXXV. And be it enacted, That all Laws, Statutes, and Usages now in force respecting the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for that Part of the United Kingdom called England and Wales shall be and remain, and are hereby declared to be and remain, in full Force, and shall apply to the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for all the Counties, Ridings, Parts, and Divisions of Counties, Cities and Boroughs, hereby empowered to return Members, as fully and effectually as if the same respectively had heretofore

149

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

returned Members, except so far as any of the said Laws, Statutes, or Usages are repealed or altered by this Act, or are inconsistent with the Provisions thereof. LXXVI. And be it enacted, That if any Sheriff, Returning Officer, Barrister, Overseer, or any Person whatsoever shall wilfully contravene or disobey the Provisions of this Act or any of them, with respect to any Matter or Thing which such Sheriff, Returning Officer, Barrister, Overseer, or other Person is hereby required to do, he shall for such his Offence be liable to be sued in an Action of Debt in any of His Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster for the penal Sum of Five hundred Pounds, and the Jury before whom such Action shall be tried may find their Verdict for the full Sum of Five hundred Pounds, or for any less Sum which the said Jury shall think it just that he should pay for such his Offence; and the Defendant in such Action, being convicted, shall pay such penal Sum so awarded, with full Costs of Suit, to the Party who may sue for the same: Provided always, that no such Action shall be brought except by a Person being an Elector or claiming to be an Elector, or a Candidate, or a Member actually returned, or other Party aggrieved: Provided also, that the Remedy hereby given against the Returning Officer shall not be construed to supersede any Remedy or Action against him according to the Law now in force. LXXVII. And be it enacted, That all Writs to be issued for the Election of Members to serve in all future Parliaments, and all Mandates, Precepts, Instruments, Proceedings, and Notices consequent upon such Writs, shall be and the same are hereby authorized to be framed

150

and expressed in such Manner and Form as may be necessary for the carrying the Provisions of this Act into effect. LXXVIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to or in anywise affect the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or shall entitle any Person to vote in the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for the City of Oxford or Town of Cambridge in respect of the Occupation of any Chambers or Premises in any of the Colleges or Halls of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. LXXIX. And be it enacted, That throughout this Act, wherever the Words “City or Borough,” “Cities or Boroughs,” may occur, those Words shall be construed to include, except there be something in the Subject or Context manifestly repugnant to such Construction, all Towns Corporate, Cinque Ports, Districts, or Places within England and Wales which shall be entitled after this Act shall have passed to return a Member or Members to serve in Parliament, other than Counties at large, and Ridings, Parts, and Divisions of Counties at large, and shall also include the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; and the Words “Returning Officer” shall apply to every Person or Persons to whom, by virtue of his or their Office, either under the present Act, or under any former Law, Custom, or Statute, the Execution of any Writ or Precept doth or shall belong for the Election of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament, by whatever Name or Title such Person or Persons may be called; and the Words “Parish or Township” shall extend to every Parish, Township, Vill, Hamlet, District, or Place

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

maintaining its own Poor; and the Words “Overseers of the Poor” shall extend to all Persons who by virtue of any Office or Appointment shall execute the Duties of Overseers of the Poor, by whatever Name or Title such Persons may be called, and in whatsoever Manner they may be appointed, and that all Matters by this Act directed to be done by the Overseers of a Parish or Township may be lawfully done by the major Part of such Overseers, and that wherever any Notice is by this Act required to be given to the Overseers of any Parish or Township, it shall be sufficient if such Notice shall be delivered to any One of such Overseers, or shall be left at his Place of Abode, or at his Office or other Place for transacting Parochial Business, or shall be sent by the Post, addressed by a sufficient Direction, to the Overseers of the particular Parish or Township, or to any One of them, either by their or his Christian Name and Surname, or by their or his Name of Office; and that all Provisions in this Act relative to any Matters to be done by or with regard to Justices of the Peace for Counties, or Sessions of the Peace for Counties, or Clerks of the Peace for Counties, or Treasurers of Counties, shall extend to the Justices, Sessions, Clerks of the Peace, and Treasurers of the several Ridings of Yorkshire and Parts of Lincolnshire, and that the Clerk of the Peace for the Time being for the Borough of Newport in the Isle of Wight shall for the Purposes of this Act be deemed and taken to be the Clerk of the Peace for the County of the Isle of Wight, and that all the said respective Justices, Sessions, and Clerks of the Peace shall have Power to do the several Matters required by this Act, as well within Places of exclusive Jurisdiction as without; and that no Misnomer or inaccurate Descrip-

tion of any Person or Place named or described in any Schedule to this Act annexed, or in any List or Register of Voters, or in any Notice required by this Act, shall in anywise prevent or abridge the Operation of this Act with respect to such Person or Place, provided that such Person or Place shall be so designated in such Schedule, List, Register, or Notice as to be commonly understood. LXXX. And whereas it may happen that the Act or Acts for settling the Boundaries of Cities, Boroughs, and other Places, and the Divisions of Counties, as herein-before mentioned, may not be passed within such Time as will allow the several Provisions of this Act relative to the Lists of Voters within such respective Boundaries and Divisions, and the various Notices and Proceedings preparatory to and connected with such Lists, to be carried into effect within the several Periods in the present Year herein-before specified and limited in that Behalf; and it is therefore expedient in such Event as aforesaid to appoint other Periods for the Purposes aforesaid; be it therefore enacted, That if the Act or Acts for settling the Boundaries and Divisions herein-before mentioned5 shall not be passed before the Twentieth Day of June in the present Year, then and in such Case the Notice herein-before required to be given on the said Twentieth Day of June shall not be given on that Day, and the Lists of Voters, and the Notices and other Proceedings preparatory to and connected with such Lists, shall not be made out, given, or had upon or within the several Days or Times in the present Year herein-before specified in that Behalf; but if the Act or Acts for settling the Boundaries of Cities, Boroughs, and other Places, and the Divisions of

151

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Counties, as herein-before mentioned, shall be passed in the present Year subsequently to the Twentieth Day of June, then and in such Case His Majesty shall, by an Order made with the Advice of His Most Honourable Privy Council, appoint, in lieu of the Day for the present Year hereinbefore specified in that Behalf, a certain other Day, before or upon which the respective Lists of Voters shall be made out, and shall also appoint, in lieu of the several Days and Times for the present Year herein-before specified or limited in that Behalf, certain other Days and Times upon or within which all Notices, Claims, Objections, and other Matters whatsoever by this Act required to be given, delivered, transmitted, done, or performed in relation to such Lists, either before or after the making out of such Lists, shall be respectively given, delivered, transmitted, done, and performed; and His Majesty shall also by such Order appoint, in lieu of the Period for the present Year herein-before limited in that Behalf, a certain other Period for the Revision of the respective Lists of Voters by the Barristers, and shall also appoint within what Time, in lieu of the Time for the present Year herein-before limited in that Behalf, such respective Lists shall be copied out into Books, and, where necessary, delivered to the Sheriff or Under Sheriff, and from what Day, in lieu of the Day for the present Year herein-before specified in that Behalf, such respective Books shall begin to be in force as the Registers of Voters; and His Majesty may also by such Order in Council appoint any Days and Times for doing the several other Matters required or authorized by this Act, in lieu of the several Days and Times for the present Year herein-before specified; and all Days and Times so appointed by His

152

Majesty as aforesaid shall be deemed to be of the same Force and Effect as if they had in every Instance been mentioned in this Act in lieu of the Days and Times for the present Year herein-before specified in that Behalf: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall authorize His Majesty to appoint any Days or Times in lieu of the Days and Times mentioned in this Act, except for the Purpose of carrying into effect the first Registration of Voters under this Act: Provided also, that no Person shall be entitled to be included in such first Registration of Voters unless he would have been entitled on the last Day of July in the present Year to have his Name inserted in some List of Voters if such List had been made out on the said last Day of July. LXXXI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if a Dissolution of the present Parliament shall take place after the passing of this Act, and after the passing of the Act or Acts for settling the Boundaries of Cities, Boroughs, and other Places, and the Divisions of Counties, as hereinbefore mentioned, but before the Day at and from which the Registers of Voters to be first made by virtue of this Act shall begin to be in force, in such Case such Persons only shall be entitled to vote in the Election of Members to serve in a new Parliament for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, or for any City or Borough, as would be entitled to be inserted in the respective Lists of Voters for the same directed to be made under this Act if the Day of Election had been the Day for making out such respective Lists; and such Persons shall be entitled to vote in such Election although they may not be registered according to the Provisions of this Act, any thing herein con-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

tained notwithstanding; and the polling at such Election for any County, or for any Riding, Parts, or Division of a County, may be continued for Fifteen Days, and the polling at such Election for any City or Borough may be continued for Eight Days, any thing herein contained notwithstanding. LXXXII. Provided also, and be it enacted, That if a Dissolution of the present Parliament shall take place after the passing of this Act, and before the passing of the Act or Acts for settling respectively the Boundaries of Cities, Boroughs, and other Places, and the Divisions of Counties as herein-before mentioned, then and in such Case the Election of Members to serve in a new Parliament shall, both as to the Persons entitled to vote, and otherwise, be regulated according to the Provisions of this Act, save and except as hereinafter mentioned; (that is to say,) that as to the several Counties enumerated in the Schedule (F.) to this Act annexed, all Persons entitled by virtue of this Act in respect of Property therein to vote in the Election of Knights of the Shire shall be entitled to vote for Four Knights of the Shire to serve in such new Parliament for each of the said Counties, and not for Two Knights to serve for any Division of the said Counties; and that as to the several Boroughs enumerated in the Schedules (C.) and (D.) to this Act annexed, each of the said Boroughs shall, for the Purpose of electing a Member or Members to serve in such new Parliament, be deemed to include such Places as are specified and described in conjunction with the Name of each of the said Boroughs in the Schedule marked (L.) to this Act annexed; and that as to the several Cities and Boroughs in England and Wales not included in the Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, and now return-

ing a Member or Members to serve in Parliament, and the Places sharing in the Election for such Cities and Boroughs, each of such Cities, Boroughs, and Places respectively shall, for the Purpose of electing a Member or Members to serve in such new Parliament as aforesaid, be deemed to be comprehended within the same Limits as before the passing of this Act, and not otherwise; and that no Place named in the First Column of the Schedule (E.) to this Act annexed, which before the passing of this Act did not share in the Election of a Member for any Shire-Town or Borough named in the Second Column of the said Schedule (E.), shall share in the Election of a Member for any ShireTown or Borough to serve in such new Parliament, any thing herein-before contained to the contrary notwithstanding; and that the Borough composed of the Towns of Swansea, Loughor, Neath, Aberavon, and Ken-fig shall not return a Member to serve in such new Parliament, but shall instead thereof share in the Election of a Member to serve in such new Parliament for the Borough of Cardiff, any thing herein-before contained to the contrary notwithstanding; and that in the Event of such Dissolution of Parliament so taking place as last aforesaid, such Persons only shall be entitled to vote in the Election of Members to serve in such new Parliament as aforesaid for the Counties, Ridings, Parts, Cities, and Boroughs which in such Event shall return Members to serve in such new Parliament, as would be entitled to be inserted in the respective Lists of Voters directed to be made under this Act if the Day of Election had been the Day for making out such respective Lists; and such Persons shall be entitled to vote in such Election, although they may not be registered

153

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

according to the Provisions of this Act, any thing herein-before contained to the contrary notwithstanding; and the polling at such Election for any County, or for any Riding of Yorkshire or Parts of Lin-

colnshire, may be continued for Fifteen Days, and the polling at such Election for any City or Borough may be continued for Eight Days, any thing herein-before contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

SCHEDULES to which the foregoing Act refers SCHEDULE (A) Boroughs.

County.

Boroughs.

County.

Old Sarum

Wiltshire.

Winchelsea

Sussex.

Newtown

Isle of Wight.

Tregony

Cornwall.

St. Michael’s or Midshall

Haslemere

Surrey.

Cornwall. Saltash

Cornwall.

Gatton

Surrey.

Orford

Suffolk.

Bramber

Sussex.

Callington

Cornwall.

Bossiney

Cornwall.

Newton

Lancashire.

Dunwich

Suffolk.

Ilchester

Somersetshire.

Ludgershall

Wiltshire.

Boroughbridge

Yorkshire.

St. Mawe’s

Cornwall.

Stockbridge

Hampshire.

Beeralston

Devonshire.

Romney (New)

Kent.

West Looe

Cornwall.

Hedon

Yorkshire.

St. Germain’s

Cornwall.

Plympton

Devonshire.

Newport

Cornwall.

Seaford

Sussex.

Blechingley

Surrey.

Heytesbury

Wiltshire.

Aldborough

Yorkshire.

Steyning

Sussex.

Camelford

Cornwall.

Whitchurch

Hampshire.

Hindon

Wiltshire.

Wootton Bassett

Wiltshire.

East Looe

Cornwall.

Downton

Wiltshire.

Corfe Castle

Dorsetshire.

Fowey

Cornwall.

Bedwin (Great)

Wiltshire.

Milborne Port

Somersetshire.

Isle of Wight, Hampshire.

Aldeburgh

Suffolk.

Yarmouth

Minehead

Somersetshire.

Kent.

Bishop’s Castle

Shropshire.

Queensborough

154

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Boroughs.

County.

Boroughs.

County.

Castle Rising

Norfolk.

Okehampton

Devonshire.

East Grinstead

Sussex.

Appleby

Westmoreland.

Higham Ferrers

Northamptonshire.

Lostwithiel

Cornwall.

Wendover

Buckinghamshire.

Brackley

Northamptonshire.

Weobly

Herefordshire.

Amersham

Buckinghamshire.

SCHEDULE (B) Boroughs.

County.

Boroughs.

County.

Petersfield

Hampshire.

Shaftesbury

Dorsetshire.

Ashburton

Devonshire.

Thirsk

Yorkshire.

Eye

Suffolk.

Christchurch

Hampshire.

Westbury

Wiltshire.

Horsham

Sussex.

Wareham

Dorsetshire.

Great Grimsby

Lincolnshire.

Midhurst

Sussex.

Calne

Wiltshire.

Woodstock

Oxfordshire.

Arundel

Sussex.

Wilton

Wiltshire.

St. Ives

Cornwall.

Malmesbury

Wiltshire.

Rye

Sussex.

Liskeard

Cornwall.

Clitheroe

Lancashire.

Reigate

Surrey.

Morpeth

Northumberland.

Hythe

Kent.

Helston

Cornwall.

Droitwich

Worcestershire.

North Allerton

Yorkshire.

Lyme Regis

Dorsetshire.

Wallingford

Berkshire.

Launceston

Cornwall.

Dartmouth

Devonshire.

SCHEDULE (C) Principal Places to be Boroughs.

Returning Officers.

Manchester (Lancashire)

The Boroughreeve and Constables of Manchester.

Birmingham (Warwickshire)

The Two Bailiffs of Birmingham.

Leeds (Yorkshire)

The Mayor of Leeds.

Greenwich (Kent).

155

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Principal Places to be Boroughs. Sheffield (Yorkshire)

Returning Officers. The Master Cutler.

Sunderland (Durham). Devonport (Devonshire). Constable of the Manor of the Deanery of Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton (Staffordshire) Tower Hamlets (Middlesex). Finsbury (Middlesex). Mary-le-bone (Middlesex). Lambeth (Surrey). Bolton (Lancashire)

The Boroughreeves of Great and Little Bolton.

Bradford (Yorkshire). Blackburn (Lancashire). Brighton (Sussex). Halifax (Yorkshire). Macclesfield (Cheshire)

The Mayor of Macclesfield.

Oldham (Lancashire). Stockport (Cheshire)

The Mayor of Stockport.

Stoke-upon-Trent (Staffordshire). Stroud (Gloucestershire).

SCHEDULE (D) Principal Places to be Boroughs. Ashton-under-Lyne (Lancashire)

Returning Officers. The Mayor of Ashton-under-Lyne.

Bury (Lancashire). Chatham (Kent). Cheltenham (Gloucestershire). Dudley (Worcestershire). Frome (Somersetshire). Gateshead (Durham). Huddersfield (Yorkshire). Kidderminster (Worcestershire)

156

The High Bailiff of Kidderminster.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Principal Places to be Boroughs. Kendal (Westmoreland)

Returning Officers. The Mayor of Kendal.

Rochdale (Lancashire). Salford (Lancashire)

The Boroughreeve of Salford.

South Shields (Durham). Tynemouth (Northumberland). Wakefield (Yorkshire). Walsall (Staffordshire)

The Mayor of Walsall.

Warrington (Lancashire). Whitby (Yorkshire). Whitehaven (Cumberland). Merthyr Tydvil, Glamorganshire.

SCHEDULE (E) Places sharing in the Election of Members.

Shire-Towns or Principal Boroughs.

County in which such Boroughs are situated.

Amlwch, Holyhead, and Llangefni

sharing with

Beaumaris

Anglesey.

Aberystwith, Lampeter, and Adpar

sharing with

Cardigan

Cardiganshire.

Llanelly

sharing with

Caermarthen

Caermarthenshire.

Pwllheli Nevin Conway Bangor Criccieth

sharing with

Caernarvon

Caernarvonshire.

Ruthin Holt Town of Wrexham

sharing with

Denbigh

Denbighshire.

Rhyddlan Overton Caerwis Caergwrley St. Asaph Holywell Mold

sharing with

Flint

Flintshire.

157

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Places sharing in the Election of Members.

Shire-Towns or Principal Boroughs.

County in which such Boroughs are situated.

Cowbridge Llantrissent

sharing with

Cardiff

Glamorganshire.

Llanidloes Welsh Pool Machynlleth Llanfyllin Newtown

sharing with

Montgomery

Montgomeryshire.

Narberth Fishguard

sharing with

Haverfordwest

Pembrokeshire.

Tenby Wiston Town of Milford

sharing with

Pembroke

Pembrokeshire.

Knighton Rhayder Kevinleece Knucklas Town of Presteigne

sharing with

Radnor

Radnorshire.

SCHEDULE (E 2) Places sharing in the Election of Members.

Places therein from which the Seven Miles are to be calculated.

Newport

The Market Place.

Usk

The Town Hall.

Aberystwith

The Bridge over the Rheidal.

Lampeter

The Parish Church.

Adpar

The Bridge over the Teivi.

Pwllheli

The Guildhall.

Nevin

The Parish Church.

Conway

The Parish Church.

Criccieth

The Castle.

Ruthin

The Parish Church called St. Peter’s.

Holt

The Parish Church.

Rhyddlan

The Parish Church.

Overton

The Parish Church.

Caerwis

The Parish Church.

Caergwrley

The Parish Church of Hope.

158

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Places sharing in the Election of Members.

Places therein from which the Seven Miles are to be calculated.

Cowbridge

The Town Hall.

Llantrissent

The Town Hall.

Tenby

The Parish Church.

Wiston

The Parish Church.

Knighton

The Parish Church.

Rhayder

The Market Place.

Kevinleece

The Parish Church.

Knucklas

The Site of the ancient Castle of Cnweglas.

Swansea

The Town Hall.

Loughor

The Parish Church.

Neath

The Town Hall.

Aberavon

The Bridge over the Avon.

Ken-fig

The Parish Church of Lower Ken-fig.

SCHEDULE (F) Counties to be divided Cheshire.

Gloucestershire.

Northumberland.

Suffolk.

Cornwall.

Kent.

Northamptonshire.

Surrey.

Cumberland.

Hampshire.

Nottinghamshire.

Sussex.

Derbyshire.

Lancashire.

Shropshire.

Warwickshire.

Devonshire.

Leicestershire.

Somersetshire.

Wiltshire.

Durham.

Norfolk.

Staffordshire.

Worcestershire.

Essex.

SCHEDULE (F 2) Counties to return Three Members each Berkshire.

Dorsetshire.

Hertfordshire.

Buckinghamshire.

Herefordshire.

Oxfordshire.

Cambridgeshire.

159

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

SCHEDULE (G) Cities and Towns and Counties thereof.

Counties at large in which Cities and Towns and Counties thereof are to be included.

Caermarthen

Caermarthenshire.

Canterbury

Kent.

Chester

Cheshire.

Coventry

Warwickshire.

Gloucester

Gloucestershire.

Kingston-upon-Hull

East Riding of Yorkshire.

Lincoln

The Parts of Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

London

Middlesex.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Northumberland.

Poole

Dorsetshire.

Worcester

Worcestershire.

York and Ainsty

North Riding of Yorkshire.

Southampton

Hampshire.

SCHEDULE (H) Forms of Lists and Notices Applicable to Counties

No. 1 Notice of the Making out of the Lists to be given by the Overseers WE hereby give Notice, That we shall, on or before the last Day of July in this Year, make out a List of all Persons entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ as the Case may be,) in respect of Property situate wholly or in part within this Parish (or Township); and all Persons so entitled are hereby required to deliver or transmit to

160

us, on or before the Twentieth Day of July in this Year, a Claim in Writing, containing their Christian Name and Surname, their Place of Abode, the Nature of their Qualification, and the Name of the Street, Lane, or other like Place wherein the Property in respect of which they claim to vote is situated; and if the Property be not situated in any Street, Lane, or other like Place, then such Claim must describe the Property by the Name by which it is usually known, or by the Name of the Tenant occupying the same; and each of such Persons so claiming must also at the same Time pay to us the Sum of One Shilling. Persons omitting to deliver or transmit such Claim or to make such Payment will be excluded from the Register of Voters for this County (or Riding, Parts, or Division, as the Case

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

may be.) (In subsequent Years after One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, add the following Words, “But Persons whose Names are now on the Register are not required to make a fresh Claim so long as they retain the same Qualification and continue in the same Place of Abode as described in the Register.”) (Signed) A. B. Overseers of the Parish C. D. (or Township) of ____ E. F.

Nature of Qualification, Freehold House, (or Warehouse, Stable, Land, Field, Annuity, Rent-charge, &c. as the Case may be, giving such a Description of the Property as may serve to identify it.) Where situate in this Parish, (or Township), King Street. If the Property be not situate in any Street, Lane, or other like Place, then say, “Name of the Property, Highfield Farm,” or, “Name of the occupying Tenant, John Edwards.”)

No. 2 No. 3

Notice of Claim to be Given to the Overseers I hereby give you Notice, That I claim to be inserted in the List of Voters for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ as the Case may be), and that the Particulars of my Place of Abode and Qualification are stated below. Dated the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ . (Signed) John Adams. Place of Abode, Cheapside, London. Christian Name and Surname of each Voter, at full Length.

Place of Abode.

County of ____ to wit, (or ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County, of ____ as the Case may be.) THE LIST of PERSONS entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight (or Knights) of the Shire for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ as the Case may be), in respect of Property situate within the Parish of ____ (or Township, as the Case may be). Nature of Qualification.

Street, Lane, or other like Place in this Parish (or Township) where the Property is situate, or Name of the Property, or Name of the Tenant.

Adams, John

Cheapside, London Freehold House

King Street.

Alley, James

Long Lane in this Parish

Copyhold Field

John Edwards, Tenant.

Ball, William

Market Street, Lancaster

Lease of Warehouse for Years

Duke Street.

Boyce, Henry

Church Street in this Parish

50 Acres of Land as Occupier

Highfield Farm.

(Signed) A. B. Overseers of the Parish C. D. (or Township). E. F.

161

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

No. 4 Notice of Objection to be given to the Overseers To the Overseers of the Parish of ____ (or Township, as the Case may be). I hereby give you Notice, That I object to the Name of William Ball being retained in the List of Voters for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ ). Dated the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ . (Signed) A. B. of (Place of Abode).

No. 5 Notice of Objection to Parties inserted in the List To Mr. William Ball. I hereby give you Notice, That I object

Christian Name and Surname of each Person objected to.

Place of Abode.

to your Name being retained in the List of Voters for the County of ____ (or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ ), and that you will be required to prove your Qualification at the Time of the revising of the said List. Dated the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ . (Signed) A. B. of (Place of Abode).

No. 6 List of Persons objected to, to be published by the Overseers The following Persons have been objected to as not being entitled to have their Names retained in the List of Voters for the County of ____ or for the ____ Riding, Parts, or Division of the County of ____ ).

Nature of the supposed Qualification.

Street, Lane, or other like Place in this Parish (or Township) where the Property is situate, or Name of the Property, or Name of the Tenant.

Alley, James

Long Lane in this Parish

Copyhold Field

Ball, William

Market Street, Lancaster

Lease of Warehouse Duke Street. for Years

(Signed)

John Edwards, Tenant.

A. B. Overseers of the Parish of ____ or Township ( ____ as the Case C. D. may be). E. F.

SCHEDULE (I) Forms of Lists and Notices applicable to Cities and Boroughs

No. 1 THE LIST of PERSONS entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members

for the City (or Borough) of ____ in respect of Property occupied within the Parish (or Township) of ____ by virtue of an Act passed in the Second Year of the Reign of King William the Fourth, intituled “An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales.”

162

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Christian Name and Surname of each Voter at full Length.

Nature of Qualification.

Street, Lane, or other Place in this Parish where the Property is situate.

Ashton, John

House

Church Street.

Atkinson, William

Warehouse

Bolt Court, Fleet Street.

Bates, Thomas

Shop

Castle Street.

Bull, Thomas

Counting-house

Lord Street.

(Signed) A. B. C. D. E. F.

Overseers of the said Parish ____ (or Township).

No. 2 THE LIST of all PERSONS (not being Freemen) entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the City (or Borough) of ____ in respect of Christian Name and Surname of each Voter at full Length.

any Rights other than those conferred by an Act passed in the Second Year of the Reign of King William the Fourth, intituled “An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales.”

Nature of Qualification.

Street, Lane, or other Place in this Parish where the Property is situate. If the Right of voting does not depend on Property, then state the Place of Abode.

(Signed) A. B. C. D. E. F.

Overseers of the Parish of ____ (or Township) within the said City (or Borough).

No. 3 THE LIST of the FREEMEN of the City (or Borough) of ____ (or of ____ being a Christian Name and Surname of each Freeman at full Length.

(Signed) A. B.

Place sharing in the Election with the City (or Borough) of ____ ) entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the said City (or Borough). Place of his Abode.

Town Clerk of the said City (or Borough or Place).

163

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

No. 4 Notice of Claim To the Overseers of the Parish (or Township) of ____ or to the Town Clerk of the City (or Borough) of ____ or otherwise, as the Case may be). I hereby give you Notice, That I claim to have my Name inserted in the List made by you of Persons entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the City (or Borough) of ____ , and that my Qualification consists of a House in Duke Street in your Parish, or otherwise, (as the Case may be); (and in the Case of a Freeman, say, and that my Qualification is as a Freeman of ____ , and that I reside in Lord Street in this City or Borough). Dated the ____ Day of ____ One thousand eight hundred and thirty ____ . (Signed) John Allen of (Place of Abode).

of the City (or Borough) of ____ or otherwise, as the Case may be). I hereby give you Notice, That I object to the Name of Thomas Bates being retained in the List of Persons entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the City (or Borough) of ____ , and that I shall bring forward such Objection at the Time of the revising of such List. Dated the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ . (Signed) A. B. of (Place of Abode).

No. 6 List of Claimants, to be published by the Overseers The following Persons claim to have their Names inserted in the List of Persons entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the City (or Borough) of ____ .

No. 5 Notice of Objection To the Overseers of the Parish (or Township) of ____ (or to the Town Clerk Christian Name and Surname of each Claimant at full Length.

Nature of Qualification.

Street, Lane, or other Place in this Parish where the Property is situate. If the Right does not depend on Property, state the Place of Abode.

Allen, John.

(Signed) A. B. C. D. E. F.

House.

Duke Street.

Overseers of, &c.

164

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

No. 7 List of Persons objected to, to be published by the Overseers The following Persons have been objected to as not being entitled to have Christian Name and Surname of each Person objected to.

their Names retained in the List of Persons qualified to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the City (or Borough) of ____ .

Nature of the supposed Qualification.

Street, Lane, or other Place in this Parish where the Property is situate. If the Right does not depend on Property, state the Place of Abode.

Bates, Thomas.

(Signed) A. B. C. D. E. F.

Shop.

Overseers of, &c.

No. 8 List of Claimants, to be published by the Town Clerks The following Persons claim to have their Names inserted in the List of the Christian Name and Surname of each Claimant at full Length.

(Signed) A. B.

Castle Street.

Freemen of the City (or Borough) of ____ (or of ____ being a Place sharing in the Election with the City (or Borough) of ____ ), entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the said City (or Borough). Place of his Abode.

Town Clerk of the said City (or Borough or Place).

165

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

No. 9 The List of Persons objected to, to be published by the Town Clerk The following Persons have been objected to as having no Right to be retained

on the List of the Freemen of the City (or Borough) of ____ (or of ____ being a Place sharing in the Election with the City (or Borough) of ____ ), entitled to vote in the Election of a Member (or Members) for the said City (or Borough).

Christian and Surname of each Person objected to.

(Signed) A. B.

Place of his Abode.

Town Clerk of the said City (or Borough or Place).

SCHEDULE (K) A LIST of such of the FREEMEN of LONDON as are Liverymen of the Company of ____ entitled to vote in the Election of Members for the City of London. Christian Name and Surname of the Voter at full Length.

(Signed) A. B.

Clerk.

No. 1 Notice of Claim to be given to the Returning Officer or Officers of the City of London, and to the Clerks of the respective Livery Companies To the Returning Officer or Officers of the City of London (or to the Clerk of the Company ____ of ____ ). I hereby give you Notice, That I claim to have my Name inserted in the List made by the Clerk of the Company of ____ (or, in case of Notice to the Clerk, say, made by you) of the Liverymen of the said Company (or, in case of Notice to the Clerk, say, of the Liverymen of the Company of ____ ) entitled to vote in the

166

Street, Lane, or other Description of his Place of Abode.

Election of Members for the City of London. Dated the ____ Day of ____ . (Signed) A. B. (Place of Abode. Name of the Company.)

No. 2 List of Claimants, to be published by the Returning Officer or Officers of the City of London The following Persons claim to have their Names inserted in the List of Persons entitled to vote as Freemen of the City of London, and Liverymen of the several Companies herein specified, in the Election of Members for the City of London.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Christian Name and Surname of Claimants at full Length.

No. 3 Notice of Objection to Parties inserted in the List of the Livery To. Mr. William Baker. I hereby give you Notice, That I object to your Name being retained in the List of Persons entitled to vote as Freemen of the

Place of Abode.

City of London and Liverymen of the Company of ____ in the Election of Members for the said City, and that I shall bring forward such Objection at the Time of revising the said List. Dated the ____ Day of ____ . (Signed) A. B. (Place of Abode.)

SCHEDULE (L) Boroughs.

Temporary Contents and Boundary.

Ashton-underLyne.

The Division of the Parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, called the Town’s Division.

Birmingham

Parishes of Birmingham and Edgbaston, and Townships of Bordesley, Deritend, and Duddeston with Nechels.

Blackburn

Township of Blackburn.

Bolton

Townships of Great Bolton, Haulgh, and Little Bolton, except the detached Part of the Township of Little Bolton which lies to the North of the Town of Bolton.

Bradford

Township of Bradford.

Brighthelmstone

Parishes of Brighthelmstone and Hove.

Bury

Township of Bury.

Chatham

From the Easternmost Point at which the Boundary of the City of Rochester meets the Right Bank of the River Medway, Southward along the Boundary of the City of Rochester, to the Boundary Stone of the said City marked 5; thence in a straight Line to the Windmill in the Parish of Chatham on the Top of Chatham Hill; thence in a straight Line to the Oil Windmill in the Parish of Gillingham, between the Village of Gillingham and the Fortifications; thence in a straight Line through Gillingham Fort to the Right Bank of the River Medway; thence along the Right Bank of the River Medway to the Point first described.

Cheltenham

Parish of Cheltenham.

Devenport

Parish of Stoke Damerill and Township of East Stonehouse.

Dudley

Parish of Dudley.

167

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Boroughs.

Temporary Contents and Boundary.

Finsbury

Parishes of Saint Giles in the Fields; Saint George Bloomsbury; Saint George the Martyr; Saint Andrew above Bars; Saint Luke; Saint Sepulchre, except so much as is in the City of London; Saint James Clerkenwell, except so much as is locally in the Parish of Hornsey; Ecclesiastical Districts of Trinity, Saint Paul, and Saint Mary in the Parish of Saint Mary Islington; Liberties of Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden, and Ely Rents; Ely Place; the Rolls; Glasshouse Yard; Precinct of the Charter-house; Lincoln’s Inn; Gray’s Inn; so much of Furnival’s Inn and Staple’s Inn as is not within the City of London.

Frome

Town of Frome as within the Limits now assigned to the Town of Frome by the Trustees under the Provisions of an Act passed in the First and Second Year of His present Majesty, intituled “An Act for better repairing and improving several Roads leading to and from the Town of Frome in the County of Somerset.”6

Gateshead

Parish of Gateshead.

Greenwich

Parishes of Saint Paul and Saint Nicholas, Deptford, and so much of the Parishes of Greenwich, Charlton, and Woolwich as lie between the Thames and the Dovor Road.

Halifax

Township of Halifax.

Huddersfield

Township of Huddersfield.

Kendal

Townships of Kendal and Kirkland, and all such Parts of the Township of Nethergaveship as adjoin the Township of Kendal.

Kidderminster

Borough of Kidderminster.

Lambeth

Parishes of Saint Mary Newington; Saint Giles Camberwell, except the Manor and Hamlet of Dulwich; Precinct of the Palace; and so much of the Parish of Lambeth as is North of the Ecclesiastical Division of Brixton.

Leeds

Borough of Leeds.

Macclesfield

Borough of Macclesfield.

Manchester

Townships of Manchester, Chorlton Row, Ardwick, Hulme, Beswick, Cheetham, Bradford, Newton, and Harpur Hey.

Marylebone

Parishes of Saint Marylebone and Paddington, and so much of the Parish of Saint Pancras as is South of the Regent’s Canal.

Merthyr Tydvil

Parishes of Merthyr Tydvil and Aberdare.

Oldham

Township of Oldham.

Rochdale

Town of Rochdale, as within the Provisions of an Act passed in the Sixth Year of His late Majesty, intituled “An Act for lighting, cleansing, watching, and regulating the Town of Rochdale in the County Palatine of Lancaster.”

Salford

Townships of Salford, Pendleton, and Broughton.

Sheffield

Townships of Sheffield, Attercliffe-cum-Darnall, Brightside Bierlow, and Nether Hallam.

168

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (ENGLAND AND WALES, 1832)

Boroughs.

Temporary Contents and Boundary.

South Shields

Townships of South Shields and Westoe.

Stockport

Borough of Stockport; Hamlets of Brinksway and Edgeley.

Stoke-upon-Trent

Townships of Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Shelton, Penkhull with Boothen, Lane End, Longton, Fenton Vivian, Fenton Culvert; Hamlet of Sneyd; and Vill of Rushton Grange.

Stroud

Parishes of Stroud, Bisley, Painswick, Pitchcomb, Randwick, Stonehouse, Eastington, Leonard Stanley except Lorridge’s Farm; King’s Stanley, Rodborough, Minchinhampton, Woodchester, Avening, Horsley.

Sunderland

Parish of Sunderland; Townships of Bishop Wearmouth, Bishop Wearmouth Panns, Monk Wearmouth, Monk Wearmouth Shore, and Southwick.

Tower Hamlets

Liberties of the Tower, and Tower Division of Ossulston Hundred, except the Parishes of Saint John Hackney, Saint Mary Stratford-le-Bow, and Saint Leonard Bromley.

Tynemouth

Townships of Tynemouth, North Shields, Chirton, Preston, and Cullercoats.

Wakefield

Township of Wakefield.

Walsall

Borough of Walsall, except the Parts detached from the Borough of Walsall.

Warrington

Township of Warrington.

Whitehaven

Township of Whitehaven.

Whitby

Towhship of Whitby.

Wolverhampton

Townships of Wolverhampton, Bilston, Wednesfield, and Willenhall; and Parish of Sedgeley.

1

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, XII: From A. D. 1829; 11 George IV to A. D. 1832; 2 & 3 William IV, London: George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, 1832, 725-755. This act was superseded by later parliamentary reform acts in 1867, 1884-5 and 1918, and repealed by the Representation of the People Act of 1948 (11 and 12 George VI, c. 65.

2

Northallerton (North Yorkshire). Merthyr Tydfil (South Wales). 4 2 & 3 William IV, c. 64: ‘An Act to settle and describe the divisions of counties, and the limits of cities and boroughs, in England and Wales, in so far as respects the elections of members to serve in Parliaments’ (11 July 1832). 5 Ibid. 2 & 3 William IV, c. 64. 6 1 & 2 William IV, Loyal Acts, lxvi. 3

169

The Great Reform Act (Scotland, 1832) 2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 65 An Act to amend the Representation of the People in Scotland (17 July 1832)1 WHEREAS the Laws which regulate the Election of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament for Scotland are defective, whereby great Inconveniences and Abuses have been occasioned: And whereas it is expedient, and would be for the evident Utility of the Subjects within Scotland, that those Defects should be remedied, and especially that Members should be provided for Places hitherto unrepresented, and the Right of Election extended to Persons of Property and Intelligence, and that the Mode of conducting Elections should be better regulated and ordered: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the End of this present Parliament, and in all future Parliaments to be assembled, there shall be Fifty-three Representatives returned for Scotland to the Commons House of Parliament, of whom Thirty shall be for the several or conjoined Shires or Stewartries hereinafter enumerated, and Twenty-three for the several Cities, Burghs, and Towns, or Districts of Cities, Burghs, and Towns, herein-after enumerated or described. II. And be it enacted, That after the End of this present Parliament the Burghs

of Peebles and Selkirk shall no longer form Parts of the District to which they now belong, or be entitled to contribute with any other Burghs in the Election of any Member of Parliament, but shall, in the Matter of Elections, be held to be Parts of the Counties of Peebles and Selkirk respectively; and in like Manner that the Burgh of Rothsay in the County of Bute shall no longer form Part of the District to which it now belongs, but be held, in the Matter of Elections, to be Part of the County of Bute. III. And be it enacted, That of the Thirty Members hereafter to be returned to Parliament by the separate or combined Shires of Scotland, One shall always be returned by each of the separate Shires or Parts of Shires enumerated in the Schedule (A.) hereunto annexed, and One by each Two of the combined Shires or Parts of Shires enumerated and described in Schedule (B.) hereunto annexed: Provided always, that all Properties lying locally within the Limits of any County or Shire, though hitherto constituting Part of some other County, shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be held to be Part of the County within which they are locally included. IV. And be it enacted, That of the Twenty-three Members to be returned for the several or combined Cities, Burghs, and

171

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Towns of Scotland, Two shall always be returned by each of the separate Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated and described in Schedule (C.) hereunto annexed, One by each of the separate Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated and described in Schedule (D.) hereunto annexed, and One by each of the Districts or Sets of Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated and described in Schedule (E.) hereunto annexed. V. And be it enacted, That the Limits and Boundaries of all the Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated in any of the abovementioned Schedules shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be taken and held to be according to the Description and Specification of such Limits and Boundaries set forth and contained in Schedule (M.) to this Act annexed; and all the Properties within the Boundaries therein specified shall hereafter, for the Purposes of this Act, be Parts of the said Cities, Burghs, and Towns, and not of the adjoining or of any other County: Provided always, that the following Rules shall be observed in the Construction of the several Descriptions of Boundaries contained in the said Schedule (M.) hereunto annexed; (that is to say,) 1. That the Words “Northward,” “Southward,” “Eastward,” “Westward,” shall respectively be understood to denote only the general Direction in which any Boundary proceeds from the Point last described, and not that such Boundary shall continue to proceed throughout in the same Direction to the Point next described: 2. That when any Road is mentioned merely by the Name of the Place to which such Road leads, the principal Road thither from the City, Burgh, or Town of which the Boundary is in course of Description shall be understood:

172

3. That whenever a Line is said to be drawn from, to, through, or in the Direction of, or any Distance to be measured from or to, an Object, such Line shall, in the Absence of any Direction to the contrary, be understood to be drawn from, to, through, or in the Direction of, or such Distance to be measured from or to, the Centre of such Object, as nearly as the Centre thereof can be ascertained: 4. That every Building through which or through any Part whereof any Boundary hereby established shall pass shall be considered as within such Boundary: Provided always, that if the Boundaries of any Two or more of the Cities, Burghs, and Towns, whereof the Boundaries are hereby described, shall pass through the same Building or any Part thereof, such Building shall be considered as within that One of such Two or more of the said Cities, Burghs, and Towns which was before the passing of this Act entitled to return Members or a Member to serve in Parliament; or if neither or more than One of such Two or more of the said Cities, Burghs, and Towns shall have been so entitled; then within that one of them whereof the Area hereby established is the smallest: 5. That whenever any Boundary by this Act established is said to pass, or any Distance to be measured, along any Street, Road, Lane, or Loaning, or up, down, or along any River, Stream, Canal, or Burn, the Middle (as nearly as the same can be ascertained) of such Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn shall be understood: 6. That the Middle of any Street, Road, or Lane shall be understood as the Middle of the Carriage-way along the same: 7. That when any Boundary by this Act established is said to proceed, or any Distance to be measured, along a Street, Road,

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

or Lane, or up, down, or along a River, from or to an Object, such Boundary shall be understood to proceed, or such Distance to be measured (as the Case may be), from or to that Point in the Middle of such Road, Lane, or River from which the shortest Line would be drawn to the Centre of such Object, as nearly as the Centre thereof can be ascertained: 8. That the Point at which any Wall, March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, Path, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn is said to meet, join, cross, reach, or leave any March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn, shall be understood as that Point at which a Line passing along the Middle of the March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn so met, joined, crossed, reached, or left, would be intersected by a Line drawn along the Middle of the Wall, March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, Path, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn so meeting, joining, crossing, reaching, or leaving, if such Line were prolonged sufficiently far; and that the Point at which any Burn or River joins any Firth or the Sea shall be understood as that Point at which a Line passing along the Low-water Mark of such Firth or the Sea would be cut by a Line to be drawn along the Middle of such Burn or River, if such Line were prolonged sufficiently far; and that the Point at which a Burn or Feeder joins a Loch shall be understood as that Point at which a Line drawn along the Shore of such Loch would be cut by a Line drawn thereto along the Middle of such Burn or Feeder: 9. That when a Line is said to be drawn to a Road, Lane, River, Stream, or Canal,

such Line shall be considered as prolonged to the Middle of such Road, Lane, River, Stream, or Canal: 10. That by the Words “Sea” and “Shore” shall be understood the Lowwater Mark: 11. That if any Deficiency shall be found to exist in the Line of any Boundary described in the said Schedule to this Act annexed by reason of the Intervention of any Space between any Two immediately consecutive Points, such Deficiency shall be supplied by a straight Line to be drawn from the one to the other of such Two immediately consecutive Points. VI. And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act no Person shall acquire, by Succession, Purchase, Gift, or otherwise, the Right of voting for a Member of Parliament, either in Shires, or in Cities, Burghs, or Towns, except by one or other of the Qualifications hereinafter prescribed and directed: Provided always, that all Persons who at the passing of this Act shall be lawfully on the Roll of Freeholders of any Shire in Scotland, or who shall then be entitled to be put on such Roll, or who shall previous to the First Day of March One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one have become the Owners or Superiors of Lands affording the Qualification for being so enrolled, shall, so long as they retain the necessary Qualification on which they are now enrolled or are entitled to be enrolled as aforesaid, be entitled to be registered and to vote as herein-after directed in the Election of a Member for such Shire. VII. And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act every Person, not subject to any legal Incapacity, shall be entitled to be registered as herein-after

173

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

directed, and thereafter to vote at any Election for a Shire in Scotland, who, when the Sheriff proceeds to consider his Claim for Registration in the present or in any future Year, shall have been, for a Period of not less than Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of August in the present or the last Day of July in any future Year, the Owner (whether he has made up his Titles, or is infest, or not,) of any Lands, Houses, Feu Duties, or other Heritable Subjects (except Debts heritably secured) within the said Shire, provided the Subject or Subjects on which he so claims shall be of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds, and shall actually yield or be capable of yielding that Value to the Claimant, after deducting any Feu Duty, Ground Annual, or other Consideration which he may be bound to pay or to give or account for as a Condition of his Right, provided he be, by himself, his Tenants, Vassals, or others, in possession of the said Subjects, and be either himself in the actual Occupation or in receipt of the Profits and Issues thereof to the Extent above mentioned: Provided always, that where the whole Profits and Issues of any such Subject do not arise annually, but at longer Intervals, the Worth and Amount of such occasional Profits shall be taken into Computation in estimating the annual Value: Provided also, that where any Property which would entitle the Owner to be registered and to vote as above shall come to any Person, within the said Period of Six Months, by Inheritance, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, or mortis causa Disposition, or by Appointment to any Place or Office, such Person shall be entitled to be registered on the first Occasion of making up the Lists of Voters, as herein-after provided, next following such Succession or Acquisition.

174

VIII. And be it enacted, That in Elections for Shires, where Two or more Persons are interested in any Subject to which a Right of voting is for the first Time attached by this Act, as Life-renter and as Fiar, the Right of voting shall be in the Life-renter, and not in the Fiar; and all Co-proprietors or joint Owners shall be entitled each to vote in respect of their joint Property within the Shire, provided the Share or Interest of each joint Owner so claiming on such Property is of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds, as above specified, but not otherwise: Provided also, that Husbands shall be entitled to vote in respect of Property belonging to their Wives, or owned or possessed by such Husbands after the Death of their Wives by the Courtesy of Scotland. IX. And be it enacted, That Tenants in Lands, Houses, or other Heritable Subjects shall also be entitled to be registered, and to vote at Elections for the Shires in which the said Heritable Subjects are situated, provided each Tenant (whether joint or several) when the Sheriff proceeds to consider his Claim for Registration, shall, for a Period of not less than Twelve Months next previous to the last Day of August in the present or the last Day of July in any future Year, have held such Subjects or Tenements, whether in his personal Possession or not, under a Lease or Leases, Missive of Lease, or other written Title, for a Period of not less than Fifty-seven Years (exclusive of Breaks), at the Option of the Landlord, or for the Life-time of the said Tenant, where the clear yearly Value of such Tenant’s Interest, after paying the Rent and any other Consideration due by him for his said Right, is not less than Ten Pounds, or for a Period of not less than Nineteen Years where the clear yearly Value of such Ten-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

ant’s Interest is not less than Fifty Pounds, or where such Tenant shall, for the foresaid Period of Twelve Months, have been in the actual personal Occupancy of any such Subject, where the yearly Rent is not less than Fifty Pounds, or where the Tenant, whatever the Rent may be, has truly paid for his Interest in such Subject a Price, Grassum, or Consideration of not less than Three hundred Pounds: Provided always, that where, in any of these Cases, the Rent is payable in whole or in part in Grain, the Value shall be estimated according to the average Fiars of the Counties in which the Heritable Subjects are situated for the Three preceding Years, and where payable in any other Species of Produce, according to the average Market Prices of the Neighbourhood for the same Period; and the said Values being once so fixed at the Time of registering or refusing to register shall be held as settled for the whole Period of the Lease: Provided also, that where the Right to any such Lease as would entitle the Tenant to be registered and to vote as herein-before provided shall come to any Person, within the preceding Twelve Calendar Months above specified, by Inheritance, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, or mortis causa Disposition, such Person shall be entitled to be registered on the first Occasion of making up the Lists of Voters, as herein-after provided, next following such Succession or Acquisition: Provided also, that no Subtenant or Assignee to any Sub-lease for Fifty-seven or Nineteen Years shall be entitled to be registered or to vote in respect of his Interest under such Lease unless he shall be in the actual Occupation of the Premises thereby set. X. And be it enacted, That from and after the End of this present Parliament

the Members who are to be returned to serve in any future Parliament for any single City, Town, or Burgh on which the Right of returning a Member or Members is by this Act conferred, shall no longer be elected by the Town Councils of such Cities, Burghs, or Towns, but directly by the several Individuals on whom the Right of electing such Members to serve in Parliament is by this Act conferred; and where the Election is by Districts or Sets of Cities, Burghs, or Towns conjoined, the Right of electing shall no longer be in the Town Councils or Corporations of the said Cities, Burghs, or Towns, or in Delegates appointed by them, but in the Individual Voters on whom the Right of Election is by this Act conferred; and the Member to serve in Parliament for any such District shall be returned according to the Majority of individual Votes given in the whole District. XI. And be it enacted, That every Person, not subject to any legal Incapacity, shall be entitled to be registered as hereinafter directed, and to vote at Elections for any of the Cities, Burghs, or Towns, or Districts of Cities, Burghs, or Towns, herein-before mentioned, who, when the Sheriff proceeds to consider his Claim for Registration, shall have been, for a Period of not less than Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of August in the present or the last Day of July in any future Year, in the Occupancy, either as Proprietor, Tenant, or Life-renter, of any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building within the Limits of such City, Burgh, or Town, which either separately or jointly with any other House, Warehouse, Counting-house, Shop, or other Building within the same Limits, or with any Land owned and occupied by him, or occupied under the same Landlord, and

175

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

also situate within the same Limits, shall be of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds: Provided always, that the Claimant shall have paid, on or before the Twentieth Day of August in the present or the Twentieth Day of July in any future Year, all Assessed Taxes which shall have become payable by him in respect of such Premises previously to the Sixth Day of April then next preceding: Provided also, that no such Person shall be entitled to be registered or to vote in the present or any future Year unless he shall have resided for Six Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of August in the present or the last Day of July in any future Year within such City, Burgh, or Town, or within Seven Statute Miles of some Part thereof: Provided also, that Persons so resident shall be entitled to be registered and to vote if they are the true Owners of such Premises as are herein-before mentioned, within such City, Burgh, or Town, of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds or upwards, although they should not occupy any Premises within its Limits, or although the Premises actually occupied by them should be of less yearly Value than Ten Pounds; and that the Husbands of such Owners shall be entitled to vote, either in the Lifetime of their Wives, or after their Death, if then holding such Property by the Courtesy of Scotland: Provided also, that no Person shall be entitled to be registered or to vote for any City, Burgh, or Town, who shall have been in the Receipt of Parochial Relief within Twelve Calendar Months next previous to the last Day of August in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, or next previous to the last Day of July in any succeeding Year. XII. And be it enacted, That the Premises in respect of which any Person shall

176

be deemed entitled to be registered, and to vote in the Election for any City, Burgh, or Town, or District, shall not be required to have been the same Premises for the whole Twelve Months of his Occupancy, but may be different Premises (but always of the requisite Value) occupied in succession by such Person; provided always, that such Person shall have paid all the Assessed Taxes legally exigible from him in respect of all such Premises; and that where such Premises shall be of the yearly Value of Twenty Pounds or upwards, and shall be jointly occupied by more than One Person, each of such joint Occupiers shall be entitled to be registered and to vote, provided his Share and Interest in the same shall be of the yearly Value of Ten Pounds or upwards. XIII. And be it enacted, That on or before the Twentieth Day of August in the present Year every Person claiming Right to vote, under any of the Qualifications herein-before specified, at any Election of a Member to serve in Parliament for any County in Scotland, shall give in a Claim, subscribed by himself or his Agent, to the Schoolmaster of that Parish of the County within which the Property (or the greater Part of it) on which he claims is situate, or in case of the Incapacity of such Schoolmaster, or of the Office being vacant, to any Person actually officiating as such Schoolmaster, or to the Schoolmaster of the next adjoining Parish whose Residence is nearest to the vacant School, which Claim shall be in the Form of the First Part of the Schedule (F.) to this Act annexed, printed Copies of which Forms or Schedules, with the necessary Blanks therein, to be filled up by the Claimant, every Sheriff Clerk is hereby required to provide, and to furnish to the Schoolmas-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

ters of the different Parishes within his County as speedily as possible after the passing of this Act, which several Schoolmasters shall furnish Copies of the same to all Applicants, upon Payment of the Sum of Sixpence only for each Copy; upon which Copies all the Claims to be given in shall be engrossed by the said Claimants; and each such Schoolmaster, upon receiving back such Claim, filled up and subscribed as above directed, shall immediately mark upon it the Time of its being so lodged and presented, by filling up and subscribing the printed Form at the Bottom, and forming the Second Part of the said Schedule (F.); and each such Schoolmaster shall, immediately after the said Twentieth Day of August, make up an Alphabetical List of the Names, Designations, and Places of Abode of all the Persons within his Parish for whom such Claims shall have been presented, and shall cause a Copy of such List to be affixed to the Door of the Church of such Parish on or before the Twenty-fourth Day of August in the present Year, and shall annex to each List so affixed a Notice of the Times when and the Places where the Sheriff shall begin to examine the Claims to which no Objections shall have been lodged, and also a distinct Notice to all Persons who may have claimed to be registered for the County, and intend to object to the Registration of any of the Persons named in the said List, to give in a Note of their Objections to the said Schoolmaster on or before the Fifth Day of September next ensuing, which Note of Objections shall be signed by the Person for whom it is presented, or by an Agent on his Behalf, and shall be in the Form of the First Part of the Schedule (H.) to this Act annexed; and printed Copies of such Forms or Schedules shall be provided by each Sheriff

Clerk, and distributed to the several Schoolmasters, by whom they shall be furnished to any Person applying, upon Payment of the Sum of Sixpence only for each Copy; and upon these Copies all the Objections shall be engrossed by the Objectors; and each such Schoolmaster shall, on receiving back the same, filled up and subscribed as above, mark thereon the true Date of its being so lodged and received, by filling up and subscribing the Second Part of the said Schedule (H.); and every such Objector shall, within Two Days after lodging such Objection, give Notice to the Party to whose Title he objects, by delivering to him, or forwarding to his Dwelling House, or transmitting to him or his known Agent through the Post Office, a Copy of the said Objections so given in; and Proof of such Notice having been given shall be made to the Sheriff before he enters on the Consideration of any such Objection; and no Claims or Objections as above shall be received by any Schoolmaster after the Expiration of the Time herein-before allowed and appointed for the giving in of such Claims and Objections respectively; and each such Schoolmaster shall, on or before the Eighth Day of September in this present Year, deliver or transmit to the Sheriff Clerk of the County the whole Claims and Objections so received by him, together with a Copy or Duplicate of the Alphabetical List of Claimants affixed by him to the Church Door of his Parish; and it shall be competent to any such Claimant who may conceive that his Right to be registered is established by a written Title, at any Time after giving in his Claim, and previous to the Tenth Day of September in this present Year, to deliver or transmit to the Sheriff Clerk any such Title, or Extract thereof, as he may wish so to deliver, for which the said Sheriff Clerk shall be

177

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

bound to grant his Receipt: Provided always, that the Parishes of Tulliallan, Culross, and Logie in the County of Perth, and the Parish of Alva in the County of Stirling, shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be held to form Parts of the County of Clackmannan; and the Parishes of Muckhart and Fossoway in the County of Perth shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be held to form Parts of the County of Kinross; and all Claims and Objections and Titles relating to Properties situate in any of these Parishes shall be delivered or transmitted to the Sheriff Clerks of Clackmannan and Kinross respectively; and that all Claims, Objections, and Titles relating to Properties in the several Districts of Orkney and Shetland shall be delivered or transmitted to the Sheriff Clerks of Orkney and of Shetland respectively. XIV. And be it enacted, That each Sheriff shall, between the Twelfth Day of September and the Fifteenth Day of October in the present Year, examine and decide upon the Merits of all Claims for Registration within his County; and that for this Purpose the Sheriffs of the Counties of Aberdeen, Ayr, Argyle, Fife, Inverness, Lanark, Forfar, Perth, Renfrew, and Ross and Cromarty shall hold open Courts during this Period at not less than Three several Towns or Places in their said Counties, including therein such Towns or other Places where the Sheriffs or their Substitutes have been in use to hold their ordinary Courts, where there are such Places; and the Sheriffs in all the other Counties shall hold open Courts at not less than Two several Places, which Places shall be so selected as to be most convenient for the Claimants in the different Districts of the said Counties; and each Sheriff shall, on or before the Fifteenth

178

Day of August in the present Year, deliver to the Sheriff Clerk a written Notice of the Days, within the Period above mentioned, on which he is to hold his Courts for the Purpose of such Registrations at each of the said Places in the County, Copies of which Notice shall be transmitted by the Sheriff Clerks to each of the Town Clerks and Parish Schoolmasters in the County on or before the Eighteenth Day of the said Month of August. XV. And be it enacted, That on or before the said Twentieth Day of August in this present Year every Person claiming a Right to vote for a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for any City, Burgh, or Town, or District of Cities, Burghs, or Towns, in Scotland, shall give in a Claim subscribed by himself or his Agent, and accompanied by such written Title as he may choose to produce, to the Town Clerk of the City, Burgh, or Town within which the Premises in respect of which he so claims are situate, provided there be at the Time a Town Clerk appointed and officiating for such Town, which Claim shall be in all respects in the same Form as is herein-before directed as to Claims to vote for a County, and shall be issued, received back, marked, and entered in a Book or Register by the Town Clerk on the same Terms and in the same Manner in all respects as the Claims for County Votes are herein-before directed to be issued, received back, marked, and entered by the several Parish Schoolmasters and Sheriff Clerks of each County: Provided always, that where the Limits of any City, Burgh, or Town as described in the Schedule (M.) to this Act annexed, shall include the Whole or Part of any other Burgh or Town, the whole Claims arising within such Limits shall be given in to the Clerk

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

of the principal City, Burgh, or Town specified and described in such Schedule, and not to the Clerks of any of the subordinate Burghs or Towns partly or wholly included within the said Limits: Provided also, that where there is no Town Clerk in any such Burgh or Town, the Claims made in respect of Properties situate in such Burgh or Town shall be given in to a Person resident within such Burgh or Town, to be nominated by the Sheriff of the County within Fifteen Days after the passing of this Act. XVI. And be it enacted, That each Town Clerk shall prepare an Alphabetical List of the Names, Designations, and Places of Abode of all the Persons within the City, Burgh, or Town of which he is Clerk for whom such Claim shall have been presented, and shall, on or before the Twentysixth Day of August in this present Year, cause a Copy of such Part of such List as includes the Claimants within each Parish to be affixed on or near the Door of the Church of every such Parish within such Burgh or Town, annexing to each such List a Notice to Persons intending to object, to give in their Objections to the said Town Clerk on or before the Tenth Day of September next ensuing, and also a Notice of the Time when and Place where the Sheriff of the County within which such City, Burgh, or Town may be situate will begin to examine the Claims to which no Objections shall be lodged; and all such Objections shall be framed in the same Terms, and issued and received back by the said Town Clerk, in all respects, on the same Considerations and in the same Way and Manner as is herein-before provided as to the Objections against Claims of Registration for the County so to be issued and dealt with by the Schoolmasters

in such County; and the same Notices shall be given by the Parties objecting to the Party objected to as is provided in regard to such Claims for the County; and no Town Clerk shall receive any Claim or Objection after the Expiration of the Time before allowed and appointed for giving in such Claims and Objections respectively. XVII. And be it enacted, That upon the Twelfth Day of September in this present Year each Sheriff Clerk and each Town Clerk of any City, Burgh, or Town within any One County, or any Two Counties or Parts of Counties united for the Purposes of this Act, shall lay before the Sheriff the several Claims and Objections which have been received by any of the said Clerks, together with the Titles or Documents which may have been lodged along with any of those Claims; and the said Sheriff shall forthwith proceed to examine the Claims to which no Objections have been lodged, and which have been supported by Production of a written Title, in the Order, as nearly as possible, in which they were presented; and whenever he is satisfied that the Title so produced does of itself afford primâ facie Evidence of the Validity of the Claim, he shall write upon the Claim the Word “Admit,” and mark the same with his Initials, and forthwith return the said Claim to the Sheriff Clerk or the Town Clerk by whom it was presented, which several Clerks shall then enter the Claimant in the Books or Registers of qualified Voters to be kept by them for the County, and for the several Burghs within the County respectively, in the Alphabetical Order of the Voters Names, the Names of the County Voters in each Parish being entered in a separate Alphabetical Series, and in the Form of the Schedule (G.) to this Act annexed; and

179

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

the said Sheriff Clerk and Town Clerks shall there sign each Entry with their Initials, and each Page of the Register with their Names, and shall furnish a signed Copy of such Entry to each Voter, or to any Person who may require it, upon Payment of the Sum of Sixpence only for each such Copy; and immediately after all the Claims of this Description which appear sufficiently established have been admitted the Sheriff shall proceed to the Consideration of the other Claims to which no Objections have been given in, but which have either not been accompanied by any written Title, or where the Titles produced do not appear to him to afford primâ facie Evidence in their Favour, and that in the Order of the Dates on which they were severally presented, and shall summarily inquire into and examine the Evidence by which the Parties or their Agents may then be prepared to support them, by the Examination of written Documents, Witnesses, or Oath or Declaration of Parties, or otherwise, as the Case may require or admit of; and when the said Sheriff is satisfied that any Claimant has made out a primâ facie Case in support of his Claim, he shall write upon it the Word “Admit,” and mark it with his Initials, and return it to the Sheriff Clerk or the several Town Clerks as hereinbefore provided, who shall thereupon enter the Claimant in the Register in the same Manner and to the same Effect as is above provided as to admitted Claims of the first Description; but when the Sheriff is not satisfied that there is primâ facie Evidence to support any such Claim, he shall write upon it the Word “Reject,” and mark it with his Initials as above, and return the same to the said Clerks, to be kept by them till applied for by the Parties presenting the same or their Agents, to whom,

180

upon such Application, they shall be forthwith delivered. XVIII. And be it enacted, That when the Sheriff has in manner aforesaid gone through and disposed of all the Claims to which no Objections are offered, he shall proceed to consider and hear the Parties or their Agents upon the several Claims to which Objections are lodged, and that in the Order of the Dates of presenting the said Claims, and shall hear and receive all competent Evidence which either Party may produce in support of his Claim or Objection respectively; and where he is satisfied that the Claim is well founded, he shall write on it the Word “Admit,” authenticated as above, and return it to the Clerk for Registration, as in the other Cases of Admission already provided for; and where he is satisfied that it is not well founded, he shall mark it with the Word “Reject,” and deal with it in other respects as with the rejected Claims herein already provided for: Provided always, that in all Cases where no Party shall appear to support a Claim to which Objections have been lodged, it shall be rejected upon the Sheriff being satisfied that a primâ facie Case has been made out in support of the Objection; and where no Party shall appear to maintain his Objection, the Claim to which it applies shall be dealt with as if no Objection had been lodged against it, and shall be admitted if the Sheriff is satisfied that a primâ facie Case has been made out in support of it. XIX. And be it enacted, That no written Pleadings shall in any Case be allowed in support of Claims or Objections; but when the Sheriff shall reject any Claim to which no Objection has been offered, and when he shall hear Parties upon any Claim to

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

which any Objection has been offered, he shall make a Note of the Statement of Fact, and of the Pleas founded on, and of the Names of the Witnesses, and shall affix his Signature to the Deeds, Writings, and other Documents produced by the Parties in support of such Claim or Objection; and it shall not be competent to support any Appeal upon any Ground of Fact or of Law not set forth in such Note of the Sheriff, or to produce any Witnesses not named in the said Note, or any Deeds, Writings, or other Documents to which the Signature of the said Sheriff is not affixed. XX. And be it enacted, That on or before the Fifteenth Day of October in the present Year each Sheriff Clerk shall complete his Alphabetical Lists or Registers of Voters for the County: Provided always, that on or before the said Fifteenth Day of October each Sheriff Clerk, being the Keeper of the Roll of Freeholders for the County of which he is Clerk, shall transfer the Names of all the Freeholders standing on such Roll after the passing of this Act to the said Lists or Registers of Voters, without requiring any Claim to be presented on behalf of such Freeholders; and if any Election shall take place for such County before the said Register shall be corrected at the next yearly Revisal, as herein-after provided, the Votes at this First Election shall be taken according to this First Alphabetical Register, an authenticated Copy or Copies of which shall accordingly be sent for this Purpose to each of the Polling Places appointed for the County: Provided always, that at all future Elections which shall take place after the yearly Correction of such Registers, the Votes shall be taken according to the last completed Register, as hereinafter mentioned.

XXI. And be it enacted, That on or before the Twelfth Day of October in the present Year each Town Clerk shall complete his Alphabetical List or Register of Votes for the City, Burgh, or Town of which he is Clerk; and that wherever such City, Burgh, or Town is one of a District contributing with other Burghs for the Return of a Member to Parliament, and is not the Burgh at which the Writ is to be proclaimed and the Election held, the Town Clerk shall, within Three Days after the said Twelfth Day of October, make up and transmit an authenticated Copy or Duplicate of such List or Register to the Town Clerk of the City, Burgh, or Town at which it is herein-after provided that the Election shall take place; and the Town Clerk of the said principal or returning Burgh, after having received such Duplicates from the other Burghs of the District, shall forthwith combine and reduce the whole into One List or Register of Voters for the whole District, those for each Burgh being always kept together, to be kept by him in the said principal Burgh, for the Purpose of Reference and Inspection; and if any Election shall take place for such District before the said Registers shall be corrected at the next yearly Revisal, as herein-after provided, the Votes at such Election shall be taken in each Burgh according to their First Alphabetical Registers for such Burgh, the Originals or authenticated Copies of which shall accordingly be sent to each of the Polling Places that may be appointed in each such Burgh: Provided always, that in all future Elections the Votes shall be taken according to the last completed and corrected Register, as herein-after enacted. XXII. And be it enacted, That each Sheriff shall once every Year after the

181

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

present Year examine and correct his said Registers; and each Sheriff Clerk and Town Clerk within the County shall for this Purpose, in the Month of June, and between the Tenth and Twentieth Days thereof in every such future Year, give public Notice, by Advertisements affixed to the Church Doors of all the Country. Burgh, and Town Churches within the Shire respectively, and also, if they shall see Cause, by Advertisement in the Newspaper of greatest reputed Circulation in the Shire, to all Persons intending to claim to be registered, or to object to the Title of any Voter already on the Register, to give in their several Claims, Titles, and Objections to the Schoolmasters and Town Clerks, as such Claims, Titles, and Objections respectively are by this Act directed or authorized to be given in, and that in the Forms already provided by Schedules (F.) and (H.) to this Act annexed, on or before the Twentieth Day of July then next ensuing, after which no such Claims or Objections shall be received; and when the new Claims are so given in, the Schoolmasters, and the Sheriff and the Sheriff Clerk, and several Town Clerks, within each County, shall deal with and dispose of them in the same Order and Manner, both as to Publication of the Claims and Notices to Objectors, and as to the Periods or Intervals at which they shall severally be received, notified, and disposed of, as is above provided with regard to the first or original Claims for Registration under this Act; (that is to say,) that in so far as relates to Claimants for Counties, the several Schoolmasters shall affix the Lists of such new Claimants, with the Notices herein-before directed, to the Church Doors on or before the Twentyfourth Day of July in each such Year; that all Objections to such Claims shall be given in to such Schoolmasters on or be-

182

fore the Fifth Day of August thereafter; that the Claims and Objections shall be delivered or transmitted to the Sheriff Clerks on or before the Eighth Day of the said Month of August in each such Year, the Claimants being at liberty to lodge their written Titles with the Sheriff Clerk at any Time previous to the Tenth Day of the said Month; and that the whole Claims, Objections, and Titles shall be laid before the Sheriff on or before the Twelfth Day of that Month, who shall decide upon their Merits between that Day and the Fifteenth Day of September thereafter; and that, in so far as regards Claimants in Burghs, the several Town Clerks shall affix the Lists of new Claimants, with the Notices hereinbefore directed, to the Church Doors of their Burghs on or before the Twenty-sixth Day of July in each such Year; that the Objections to such Claims shall be given in on or before the Tenth Day of August thereafter; and that the whole Claims, Objections, and Titles shall be laid before the Sheriff on or before the Twelfth Day of the said Month of August, who shall examine and decide upon the same on or before the Fifteenth Day of September in each such Year; the said Sheriffs always proceeding to Three or to Two several Places, as above provided, in their several Counties, and notifying to the Sheriff Clerk, on or before the Fifteenth Day of July in each such Year, the Days at which they are to hold their Courts at each of the said Places, of which Days written Notice shall be given by the Sheriff Clerks to each Town Clerk and Parish Schoolmaster in the County on or before the Eighteenth Day of July in each such Year: Provided always, that the Sheriffs shall upon this Occasion correct any Mistakes or Omissions which may be pointed out or discovered in the Registers in the Name, Resi-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

dence, or Condition of any Person already registered or otherwise; and each Sheriff Clerk shall for this Purpose be obliged to keep a correct Copy of the Register for the County at some convenient Place in the head Burgh of the Shire (the Town of Lerwick in Shetland being held for this Purpose the head Burgh for that Part of the County), and each Town Clerk shall keep a Copy of the Register for his Burgh at some convenient Place in the said Burgh, which several Registers shall, for a Period of Ten Days next after the Twentieth Day of June in each Year, be open to the Inspection of all Persons who may desire to see the same, without Payment of any Fee for such Inspection; and each Sheriff shall, on or before the Fifteenth Day of September yearly, have his said Registers finally corrected and completed, and arranged as above directed in the Alphabetical Order of the Voters Names, with the several Columns of Particulars thereto annexed, as in the Schedule (G.) to this Act annexed; and after the said Fifteenth Day of September no Change shall be made by any Sheriff on his Registers for that Year, except only in consequence of the Judgment of one or other of the Courts of Review herein-after provided: Provided always, that in case any of the Days herein before mentioned shall happen to be a Sunday or other Holiday on which no Business is usually transacted, then and in that Case the several Acts and Proceedings appointed to take place on such Days shall take place on the Day next ensuing. XXIII. And be it enacted, That the Sheriff’s Judgments, granting or refusing Registration, shall, so long as they remain unaltered, be conclusive of the Rights of Parties claiming or objecting as above, but that it shall be competent to any Party

considering himself aggrieved by any such Judgment to appeal and apply for an Alteration thereof, he always giving Notice in Writing to the Sheriff Clerk or Town Clerk, and to the opposite Party where the Claim has been disputed, of such his Intention to appeal, within Five Days after the Judgment complained of, and producing Evidence of such Notice to the Judge of Appeal before entering on its Merits. XXIV. And in order that the greater Number of Appeals which may be expected to be given in after the First General Registration under this Act may be more easily and expeditiously disposed of, be it enacted, That the Sheriffs of Elgin and Nairn, Inverness, and Orkney and Shetland, shall form a Court of Review for deciding upon all such Appeals as may be taken from the Judgments pronounced in this present Year on any such Claim for Registration, under this Act, by the Sheriffs of any of these Three Counties, or by the Sheriffs of the Counties of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty, and Banff; and that the Sheriffs of Aberdeen, Argyle, and Perth shall form a Court of Review for deciding upon all such Appeals as may be taken from the Judgments pronounced in this present Year on any such Claim for Registration, under this Act, by the Sheriffs of any of these Three Counties, or by the Sheriffs of the Counties of Forfar, Kincardine, or Fife; and that the Sheriffs of Lanark, Ayr, and Stirling shall form a Court of Review for deciding upon all such Appeals as may be taken from the Judgments pronounced in this present Year on any such Claim for Registration, under this Act, by the Sheriffs of any of these Three Counties, or by the Sheriffs of the Counties of Dumbarton, Kinross, and Clackmannan and Bute; and that the

183

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Sheriffs of Renfrew, Kirkcudbright and Dumfries shall form a Court of Review for deciding on all such Appeals as may be taken from the Judgments pronounced in this present Year on any such Claim for Registration, under this Act, by the Sheriffs of any of these Three Counties, or by the Sheriffs of the Counties of Peebles, Selkirk, and Wigton; and that the Sheriffs of Edinburgh, Linlithgow, and Berwick shall form a Court of Review for deciding upon such Appeals as may be taken from the Judgments pronounced in this present Year on any such Claim for Registration, under this Act, by the Sheriffs of any of these Three Counties, or by the Sheriffs of the Counties of Roxburgh and Haddington; and each Three of the Sheriffs above named, as joint Judges of Appeal for the Counties herein above specified, shall, within Eight Days after the said First Registers shall be completed as hereinbefore provided, proceed upon a Circuit into the District as to which they are hereby constituted Judges of Appeal, and shall repair successively to the County Town, and to at least One other Town in each of the Counties, in each such District, (excepting always combined Counties, which shall for this Purpose be held but as One County, and excepting also the County of Orkney and Shetland, for which the Court of Review shall be held only at Kirkwall in Orkney,) and shall there hear and determine on all such Appeals, Notice having been given by Advertisements in the Newspapers of the different Places at which they are successively to hold their Courts, and of the Days respectively on which their said Courts are to be opened in each Place; and in case of the necessary Absence of any of the Three Sheriffs herein-before mentioned, the remaining Two shall be a Quorum for judging in such

184

Appeals; but in case of their differing in Opinion, they shall be obliged to refer the Case for the Judgment of the Sheriff who shall be absent; and in the Event of any of the Sheriffs herein named as Judges of Appeal being incapacitated or dying, and no Successor being appointed, after the passing of this Act, and before the Time arrives for holding the Courts of Appeal herein-before directed, the Lord President of the Court of Session shall appoint some other Sheriff to act in his Place, who shall act and proceed accordingly; and no written Pleadings shall be allowed before such Courts of Review, nor any Record be made up of their Proceedings, and no written Sentence shall be pronounced, except by One of the said Sheriffs writing the Word “Admit” or “Reject” (as the Case may be) on the Claim in dispute, and by him and the other Sheriffs subscribing their Names to the Word so written: Provided always, that it shall be competent for such Sheriffs acting as Judges of Appeal to find the Appellant liable in Costs when they affirm the Judgment appealed from, and to modify and decern for the same; on which Decerniture the Respondent shall be entitled to enforce Payment as of an ordinary Debt, within the County where the disputed Claim was presented; and the Judgments of such Sheriffs on all such Appeals shall be pronounced on or before the Twenty-fifth Day of November in this present Year, and shall be final and conclusive to all Intents and Purposes, and not liable to any Process of Review, and shall, whenever they vary or reverse the Judgment complained of, be, upon their Production subscribed as above, a Warrant for the Sheriff who made up the Register to alter and correct his Registers in conformity thereto, and he shall so alter and correct them accordingly, and shall have

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

the said Registers completed with such Corrections on or before the Thirtieth Day of November in this present Year. XXV. And be it enacted, That whenever any Party shall be dissatisfied with any Judgment of a Sheriff, admitting or refusing Registration, or expunging or refusing to expunge any Names already on his Register, at any of the annual Registrations and Corrections herein-before directed to be held in any future Year, it shall be competent for any such Party, wherever the County of such Sheriff is within any Circuit of the Court of Justiciary, to appeal from such Judgment to the Sheriffs liable in attendance at such Circuit for the District within which such County is situate, which Sheriffs, or some Three of their Number, shall remain at or return to the Circuit Town of such District after the Autumnal Circuit in each such Year, and there begin to hold their Court for disposing of such Appeals on some Day between the Fifteenth and Twentyfifth Days of September in each such Year, of which Day Notice shall, One Week before, be given by Advertisement in the Newspaper of greatest Circulation within each such County, and the said Sheriffs shall there finally determine all such Appeals on or before the Twentieth Day of October thereafter; the Sheriffdom of Orkney and Shetland being always held for this Purpose to be within the District of Inverness, and the Sheriff, when present, being entitled to act as a Judge of Appeal: Provided always, that where the Sheriffs liable in attendance at any such Circuit are fewer than Three, or where any of them is unavoidably prevented from attending by Sickness or other accidental Cause, the Judge or Judges at the said Autumnal Circuit shall nominate and appoint One or

more other Sheriffs, or Advocates of not less than Four Years standing, to act along with the attending Sheriffs, so as that there shall always be Three Judges in such Court of Review; and with regard to the Judgments pronounced in such annual Registrations by the Sheriffs of the Counties of Edinburgh, Haddington, or Linlithgow respectively, the Appeal shall be to the Sheriffs of the Three said Counties jointly, and they are hereby required to hold a Court for this Purpose at Edinburgh, at some Time previously announced, between the Fifteenth and Twenty-fifth Days of September in each Year, and finally to determine on all Appeals on or before the Twentieth Day of October thereafter: Provided always, that in the Event of the Sickness or unavoidable Absence of any of the said Three Sheriffs, it shall be competent to the Lord President of the Court of Session, on the Application of any of the said Sheriffs, to appoint some other Sheriff, or Advocate of Four Years standing, to act and officiate in place of the Sheriff so incapacitated; and the Judgments of the said Courts of Review shall in all Cases be final and conclusive, and liable to no Process of Review, and shall, whenever they reverse or vary the Judgments of the Sheriff appealed from, be Warrants to him to alter and correct his Registers in conformity thereto, and he shall, on such Judgments being made known to him by the Parties, alter and correct such Registers accordingly: Provided always, that no Alteration of the Sheriffs Judgments, either by the Courts of Review above named, or by any other Judges of Appeal, shall affect the Merits of any Election actually completed and carried through before the Date of such Alteration, except in so far as Effect may be given to such Alteration by any Committee of the Commons House of

185

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Parliament to which a Petition against such Election may be referred: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall be held to limit or restrain the Powers of such Committee to take into Consideration the Validity of any Vote or Claim for Registration admitted or rejected by the Sheriff of the Judges of Appeal, and to alter the Register, Poll, or Return accordingly, in so far as concerns the Election petitioned against: Provided also, that in all Proceedings before such Committee for determining the Validity of any Election for Scotland, all Deeds, Instruments, Extracts, or other Writings which are probative by the Law of Scotland shall be deemed and taken to be probative, and shall be received in Evidence by such Committee, without Proof of the Execution, Signing, or Examination thereof, in the same Manner as such Deeds, Instruments, Extracts, or other Writings are now admitted in Courts of Law and Equity in Scotland. XXVI. And be it enacted, That in all Elections after the End of this present Parliament, every qualified Person whose Name shall appear in the last corrected Register, and none other, shall be entitled to vote; and it shall not be competent to inquire on that Occasion into any other Facts except those of the Party tendering the Vote being truly the Individual mentioned in the said Register, of his being still possessed of the Qualification there recorded, on his own Account, and not in Trust for or at the Pleasure of any other Person, and of his not having previously voted at that Election: Provided always, that the Inquiry into these Facts shall, on this Occasion, be confined to the putting to the Person so tendering his Vote, if the Sheriff shall be required so to do on behalf

186

of any Candidate, an Oath, or, if he be a Quaker or Moravian, a solemn Affirmation, in the Form of the Schedule (I.) to this Act annexed; and it shall not be competent at any such Poll or Election to put to any registered Voter any other Oath or Affirmation whatsoever, except only an Oath or Affirmation against Bribery, which, if required on the Part of any Candidate, shall then be put by the Sheriff in the Form of Schedule (K.) to this Act annexed: Provided always, that any Person who has claimed to be registered, but whose Claim has been rejected by the Sheriff or Court of Review, may, notwithstanding, tender his Vote at any Election where such Register is in force, and the Sheriff or his Substitute shall enter any Vote so tendered, with the Name of the Person for whom it is given, distinguishing the same from the Votes given by Persons on the Register, so that it may be in the Power of any Election Committee to give effect to such Vote in deciding upon the Validity of any disputed Election; but no Scrutiny shall be allowed by or before any Returning Officer with regard to any Votes given or tendered at any such Election. XXVII. And be it enacted, That within Three Months after the passing of this Act each Sheriff shall divide his County into convenient Districts for polling, following, as nearly as possible, the Boundaries of Parishes, Baronies, or other known Subdivisions, and shall appoint a particular Polling Place for each such District, which Place shall be selected so as to be most accessible to the Voters in the District; and such Polling Places shall in no Case be more in Number than Fifteen for any One County, and shall be so arranged as that no more than Six hundred Persons or thereabouts shall poll at any Election at

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

any One Place; and each Town Clerk shall, in like Manner, appoint One Polling Place in every City, Burgh, or Town of which he is Clerk, in which the Number of Voters does not exceed Six hundred or thereabouts, and shall, wherever the Number of registered Voters in any such City, Burgh, or Town shall exceed Six hundred or thereby, divide the said City, Burgh, or Town into convenient Districts, and appoint a convenient Polling Place in each such District, so as that no more than about Six hundred Persons shall poll at any Election at any such Place; and each Sheriff Clerk shall, within Fourteen Days after the Sheriff has so divided his County into Districts for polling, make up a distinct List of the said Districts and the Polling Place appointed in each, and shall cause Copies of the said Lists to be affixed to the Doors of all the Country Parish Churches in his County; and each Town Clerk shall, within the same Period, affix Lists of the Polling Place or Polling Places within his Burgh to all the Church Doors within the same; and every Voter shall poll at the Polling Place of the District within which the Premises, or any Part of them, in respect of which he claims to vote may be situate, except only where such Polling Place shall be in an Island distant more than Ten Miles from the Mainland of any County, in which Case the Voters not resident in such Island may poll at the Polling Place for the District in which the County Town is included: Provided always, that with respect to the contiguous Burghs of Anstruther East, Anstruther West, and Kilrenny, the Town Clerk of Anstruther East shall appoint One Polling Place within the said Burgh of Anstruther East for the whole of the said Three Burghs, which Place shall be notified in manner herein provided, and all the Voters in the said

Three Burghs shall poll at the Polling Place so appointed; and at any contested Election the Sheriff shall, if required by any of the Candidates, direct Two or more Booths, or Halls, Rooms, or other Places for polling, to be provided at each Polling Place; and all Polls shall be taken, both at Elections for Shires, and for Cities, Burghs, and Towns, under the Superintendence of the Sheriff, or of a Substitute or Substitutes named by him, which Substitutes the Sheriff is hereby empowered to name at his own Discretion, without observing the Forms necessary in the Appointment of ordinary Substitutes receiving Salaries; and each Substitute so superintending a Polling Place shall have the Assistance of a Clerk or of Clerks, to be appointed by the Sheriff, with the Concurrence of the Candidates, if they can agree, and by the Sheriff Clerk of the County in case of their not agreeing; and each Poll Clerk shall have with him at the Polling Place an authenticated Copy of the Register for that District of the Shire, or of the City, Burgh, or Town, or Cities, Burghs, or Towns, attached to each such Polling Place, entitled to share in the Election within the said Shire, as the Case may be, alphabetically arranged as herein directed, according to which Copy the Votes shall be taken. XXVIII. And be it enacted, That Writs for the Election of Members to serve for Shires, or for any City, Burgh, or Town entitled to send a Member or Members for itself, shall be directed as heretofore to the Sheriff of the Shire; and where the Election is for a District of Cities, Burghs, or Towns, a Writ shall be directed to the Sheriff specified in Schedule (L.) hereunto annexed, and shall be proclaimed, as herein-after directed, at the Town specified

187

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

in the said Schedule (L.) for each of the said Districts respectively; and each Sheriff shall endorse on the Back of the Writ the Day on which he received it, and shall within Three Days thereafter announce a Day or Days, which Day or Days shall (except only in the Case of Orkney as herein-after provided) not be less than Ten nor more than Sixteen Days after that on which the Writ was received, for the Election or Elections within his Shire, and shall give due Intimation thereof by printed or written Notices affixed on the Doors of all the Parish Churches (except as hereinafter excepted) within the County, when the Election is for a County, and of all the Parish Churches in the City, Burgh, or Town, or Cities, Burghs, or Towns, when the Election is for a Town or District of Towns, and also, where he thinks this expedient, by Advertisement in the Newspaper or Newspapers of greatest Circulation in the County or District. XXIX. And be it enacted, That on the Day named by the Sheriff for the Election for the Shire the Sheriff shall repair to the Market Cross or some other convenient and open Place in or immediately adjoining the County Town, and shall there publicly proclaim the Writ by reading it; provided always, that the Writ for the United Counties of Clackmannan and Kinross shall be proclaimed at the Town of Dollar; and that the Writ for the united Counties of Elgin and Nairn shall be proclaimed at the Town of Forres; and that the Writ for the united Counties of Ross and Cromarty shall be proclaimed at the Town of Dingwall; and if no more than One Candidate shall at the Time of such Proclamation be proposed for the Choice of the Electors, he shall, upon a Show of Hands, forthwith declare the Person so

188

put in Nomination to be duly elected; but if more Candidates shall be proposed, and a Poll is demanded, the Proceedings shall be adjourned for a Period to be named by the Sheriff, but not exceeding Two free Days, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays, and the Polling shall commence at the Places previously intimated, at Nine of the Clock of the Day that shall be named. XXX. And be it enacted, That where the Election shall be for any City, Burgh, or Town, or District of Cities, Burghs, or Towns, the Sheriff to whom, as hereinbefore directed, the Writ shall have been addressed, shall, on the Day and Hour previously named by him for such Election, repair to the Market Cross or some other convenient and open Place in or immediately adjoining any Town or Burgh sending a Member by itself, or that Town of any District at which, as herein-before directed, the Writ for the whole District is to be proclaimed, and shall there publicly proclaim the Writ by reading it; and if no more Candidates shall be proposed for the Choice of the Electors than there are Vacancies to be filled up, he shall declare the Person or Persons put in Nomination to be duly elected, on a Show of Hands; it being always competent for any registered Voter residing or having his Qualification in any other City, Burgh, or Town of the District to repair to the Place where the Writ is thus proclaimed, and to put any Person in Nomination, provided that Voter shall first satisfy the Sheriff that he is truly registered, by producing an Extract of his Registration, and by taking, if required, the Oath in Schedule (I.) annexed; but if more Candidates shall be proposed than there are Vacancies to be filled up, and a Poll shall be demanded, the Pro-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

ceedings shall be adjourned for not more than Three free Days, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays: Provided always, that in the District including the Town of Kirkwall in Orkney the Adjournment may be made for any Period not exceeding Seven free Days; and the Sheriff who proclaimed the Writ, having thus fixed one particular Day on which the Polls are to take place in all the Burghs of the District, shall forthwith send a written Notice to each Sheriff within whose Shire any City, Burgh, or Town of the District is situate, that a Poll has been demanded, and also of the Day on which it is to begin; and each such Sheriff shall accordingly appoint such a Number of Substitutes and Clerks as may be necessary to assist or officiate as before provided at each of the Polling Places provided in any of the Cities, Burghs, or Towns of such Districts within his County; and the polling shall begin at each such Polling Place at Nine of the Clock of the Day so appointed, and shall proceed thereafter as herein-after provided. XXXI. And in respect of the remote Situation of certain Parts of the County of Orkney and Shetland, and the occasional Difficulty of Communication therewith, be it enacted, That the Sheriff of Orkney to whom the Writ for the Election of a Member for the said County shall be addressed at Kirkwall shall, within Twentyfour Hours after receiving the same, issue a Precept to the Sheriff Substitute in Shetland, fixing a Day for the Election for the said County, which Day shall not be less than Twelve nor more than Sixteen Days after that on which the Writ was received and shall forward or transmit the said Precept, with the least possible Delay, directly to the said Sheriff Substitute in Shetland, who, immediately on Receipt thereof, shall

announce the Day of Election by Notices on the Church Doors; and if on the Day of Election more Candidates than One shall be put in Nomination, and a Poll shall be demanded, the Sheriff shall then adjourn the Proceedings for a Period of not less than Ten or more than Fourteen Days, and shall within Twenty-four Hours dispatch Notice of this Adjournment to the Sheriff Substitute of Shetland, as in the Case above provided for; and the polling shall commence accordingly at the different Polling Places in both Parts of the County on the Day to which the Proceedings are adjourned, and shall proceed as hereinafter directed, as in other Cases of polling. XXXII. And be it enacted, That no Poll at any Election, either for a County, or a City, Burgh, or Town, or District of Cities, Burghs, or Towns, shall be directed to begin on a Saturday, or shall be kept open for more than Two consecutive Days, and that only between the Hours of Nine in the Morning and Four in the Afternoon for the First Day, and between the Hours of Eight in the Morning and Four of the Afternoon for the Second Day: Provided always, that the Poll at any one Place may be closed before the Termination of the said Two Days if all the Candidates or their Agents and the Sheriff shall agree in so closing it: Provided also, that where the Proceedings at any Election shall be obstructed by any Riot or open Violence, the Sheriff, or his Substitute at the Place where the Riot has occurred, may adjourn the Poll at that Place to the following Day or some other convenient Time, and if necessary may repeat such Adjournment till such Obstruction shall have ceased, he always giving Notice to the Sheriff who is to make the Return of such Adjournment having been made; and any Day where

189

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

the Poll shall have been so adjourned at any Polling Places shall not be reckoned One of the Two Days of polling within the Meaning of this Act, nor shall the State of the Poll be finally declared, nor the Result of the Election proclaimed, until the Poll so interrupted shall be closed and transmitted, as herein-before provided, to the Sheriff who is to make the Return; and each Sheriff in charge of each Polling Place shall take care that the attending Clerk at the Place has with him a certified Copy of the aforesaid Alphabetical Register, and shall receive the Votes of all Persons then qualified to vote according to the Provisions of this Act, and shall record and progressively number each Vote for each Candidate in a Poll Book, and he and the Clerk shall subscribe their Names to each Page of the said Book before making or allowing to be made any Entry in the succeeding Page; and the Poll Book or Books shall at the Close of the First Day’s polling be publicly sealed up by the said acting Sheriff and Poll Clerk, and be taken charge of by the said Sheriff, and on the Commencement of the Poll of the Second Day he shall publicly break the Seals, and then proceed as formerly; and immediately after the Poll at his Polling Place is finally closed, the officiating Sheriff shall forthwith seal up and transmit or deliver the said Poll Books to the Sheriff acting as the Returning Officer for the Shire. XXXIII. And be it enacted, That the Sheriff to whom the said Poll Books have been transmitted or delivered shall on the Day next but one after the Close of the Poll (unless such Day shall be Sunday, and then on the Monday following,) openly break the Seals of the said Poll Books, and cast up the Number of Votes

190

as they appear on the said several Books, and shall openly declare the State and Result of the Poll, and make Proclamation of the Member or Members chosen, not later than Two of the Clock of the Afternoon of the said Day, and shall forthwith make a Return in the Form presently used (as nearly as may be), in Terms of the Writ, under his Hand and Seal, to the Clerk of the Crown in England; and if the Votes shall be equal, he shall make a Double Return. XXXIV. And be it enacted, That where the Election is for One City, Burgh, or Town sending a Member or Two Members by itself, or for a District of Towns lying wholly within One Shire, the said Poll Books shall be transmitted to and the Return made by the Sheriff of the Shire within which such City, Burgh, or Town, or District shall be situate; and where the Election shall be for a District or Set of Burghs or Towns lying in different Shires, the said Poll Books shall be severally transmitted in the first instance to the Sheriffs of the several Shires within which any of the said Burghs or Towns shall be situate, and thereafter the other Sheriffs shall transmit the said Poll Books to the Sheriff to whom, as herein provided, the Writ shall have been directed, by whom the Votes shall be summed up, and the Result declared, and the Return of the Person or Persons duly elected shall be made, as above, to the Clerk of the Crown in England. XXXV. And be it enacted, That no Person not now on the Roll of Freeholders shall be admitted to claim or to vote at the Election for any Shire in respect of any Subject situate within the Limits of any City, Burgh, or Town entitled to send or

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

to contribute towards sending a Member to Parliament; nor shall any Person be admitted to claim or to vote in the Election for any City, Town, or Burgh in respect of any Subject not situate within the Limits of the said City, Town, or Burgh. XXXVI. And be it enacted, That no Sheriff shall be entitled, from and after the passing of this Act, to vote at any Election for any Member of Parliament to be holden within the County or combined Counties of which he shall be Sheriff; and that no Sheriff Substitute, and no Sheriff Clerk or Deputy Sheriff Clerk, shall be entitled, from and after the passing of this Act, to vote or to be elected at any Election for a Member to serve in Parliament for the Shire of which he is the Sheriff Substitute or Sheriff Clerk; and no Town Clerk or Depute Town Clerk shall be entitled to vote or to be elected for the City, Burgh, Town, or District in which he is such Clerk; and no Sheriff Substitute, Sheriff Clerk, or Town Clerk shall, after the passing of this Act, directly or indirectly, act as an Agent for any Candidate in any Matter connected with or preparatory to any Election for the County or Burgh respectively in which such Persons shall be respectively Sheriff Substitute, Sheriff Clerk, or Town Clerk. XXXVII. And be it enacted, That from and after the End of this present Parliament the eldest Sons of Scotch Peers shall be entitled to be registered and to vote at all Elections for Members of Parliament for Scotland, and shall also be entitled, though not so registered, to be elected to serve as such Members for any County, City, Burgh, or Town, or District of Burghs, in Scotland; and that after the End of this present Parliament no Member for any County in

Scotland shall be required to be qualified as an Elector or to hold any Superiority within such County. XXXVIII. And be it enacted, That if any Sheriff, Sheriff Substitute, Sheriff Clerk, Town Clerk, or any Person whatsoever shall wilfully contravene or disobey the Provisions of this Act, or any of them, with respect to any Matter or Thing which such Sheriff, Sheriff Substitute, Sheriff Clerk, Town Clerk or other Person is hereby required to do, he shall for such his Offence be liable to be sued in the Court of Session by any registered Voter, Candidate, Member actually returned, or other Party aggrieved, for the penal Sum of Five hundred Pounds; and the Jury before whom such Action shall be tried may find their Verdict for the full Sum of Five hundred Pounds, or for any less Sum which the said Jury shall think it just that such Party Defender should pay to such Party Pursuer; and the Defender in such Action being convicted shall pay such penal Sum so awarded, with full Costs of Suit, to the Party who may sue for the same, without Prejudice, however, to the Right of any Party aggrieved by the Misconduct of any Sheriff as Returning Officer to recover such Damages for a false Return as he may be entitled to at Common Law or by virtue of any Statute now in force: Provided always, that every such Action shall be raised within Four Calendar Months next after the Cause of Action has arisen, and that Notice in Writing shall be given to the Defender at least One Month before the raising of any such Action, signed by the Party raising such Action or his Agent, and setting forth the Place of Abode of the Party signing the same: Provided also, that any such Defender against whom any Judgment shall have been recovered in any

191

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

such Action shall be allowed to plead such Judgment as a Bar to any other Action which may be brought against him for the same Matter or Thing, and such other Action being thereupon dismissed, such Defender shall recover his full Costs thereof. XXXIX. And be it enacted, That every Person claiming to be registered shall at the Time of making such Claim pay a Fee of Two Shillings for the Use of the Sheriff Clerk or to the Town Clerk receiving such Claim; out of which Monies the said Clerks respectively shall be obliged to provide all the Books, and to perform all the Clerk’s Business necessary for making up the Registers, and making Copies thereof for the different Polling Places in the Shire or Burgh. XL. And be it enacted, That the Monies which are now in use to be allowed to the Sheriffs in their Accounts with the Exchequer for executing Writs for Elections shall continue to be allowed to them on such Accounts; and that all Halls, Rooms, Booths, or other Places hired, constructed, or prepared for taking the Polls shall be so hired, constructed, or prepared by Contract with the Candidates, or, if they cannot agree, by the Sheriff Clerk, at their joint and equal Expence: Provided always, that the Expence of such Hiring or Construction at any One Polling Place for a County shall not exceed the Sum of Thirty Pounds, nor the Sum of Twenty Pounds at any One Polling Place in any City, Burgh, or Town; and the Candidates shall further be bound to pay and contribute among them to each Poll Clerk One Guinea per Day, and in like Manner to contribute and pay a certain Fee to each Sheriff or Sheriff Substitute, for superintending the Polls, the

192

Amount of which Fee shall in no Case exceed the Sum of Three Guineas per Day for each such Sheriff or Substitute; and the Candidates, in all Cases where a Poll has been demanded, shall in like Manner be bound to defray the necessary Expences incurred by the Sheriff or Sheriff Clerks or Town Clerks in the Transmission of Precepts, Intimations, Poll Books, or other Communications required or enjoined by this Act; and if any Person shall be proposed as a Candidate without his Consent, the Person so proposing him shall be liable to defray his Share of all these Expences in like Manner as if he had been a Candidate himself. XLI. And be it enacted, That each Sheriff shall be entitled to make a Charge for the Time and Labour employed in investigating and disposing of the Claims and Objections above specified, either originally in his own County, or there or elsewhere as a Judge of Appeal, which Charge shall not be more than Five Guineas for every Period of Eight Hours employed by him or by any assistant Sheriff or Advocate to be appointed in the Manner by this Act authorized and directed, exclusively, in any such Investigations, over and above his or their reasonable travelling Expences; and which Charge shall be audited and examined in the Exchequer, and allowed in whole or in part, as may seem just, in the same Manner as other Charges hitherto included in the annual Accounts of such Sheriffs, the said Charge to be always stated in Exchequer as soon as conveniently may be after the Duty is performed, and to be there audited and allowed at the first Settlement of each Sheriff’s Accounts which shall thereafter take place: Provided always, that no Charge shall in any Case be allowed for a greater Number of Hours

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

so employed by such Sheriff and by such Assistants in originally deciding on the Claims in any One County than Thirty Periods of Eight Hours for each such Sheriff and Assistant respectively. XLII. And be it enacted, That when any Sheriff who is herein-before required to examine and decide on the Claims for Registration within his County, or to whom any Writ for Election is directed, shall be incapacitated from acting by Sickness or unavoidable Absence, one of his ordinary Substitutes may act in his Stead, provided he hold a Substitution specially authorizing him to do so: Provided also, that if the Sheriffs of the Counties of Edinburgh, Lanark, Fife, Forfar, Aberdeen, Perth, Ayr, Inverness, Renfrew, or Orkney and Shetland, or any of them, shall, after the passing of this Act, represent to the Lord President of the Court of Session, that, by reason of the great Number of Claims of Registration presented or likely to be presented in such Counties, it will be impracticable for them, without Assistance, to dispose of such Claims within the Period limited by this Act, then and in that Case it shall be competent to the said Lord President, being satisfied of the Correctness of such Representation, and he is hereby required, to nominate and appoint One or more other Sheriffs or Advocates of at least Four Years standing to assist in disposing of the said Claims within the said Counties or any of them; and all Judgments pronounced by the said assistant Sheriffs or Advocates shall be liable to be appealed from as if they had been pronounced by the Sheriff of the County. XLIII. And be it enacted, That the Notices required by this Act to be given at Church Doors shall not be necessary at

any of the Churches in the Islands of North Uist, South Uist, Barra, Harris, or Eig, in the County of Inverness, nor at any of the Churches in the Island of Lewis in the County of Ross, nor at any of the Churches in the Islands of Tiree, Coll, or Gigha, in the County of Argyle, nor at any of the Churches in the County of Orkney and Shetland, except such as are in what is called the Mainland of Orkney and Shetland respectively. XLIV. And be it enacted, That the Assessment, Collection, and Management of the Money termed the “Rogue Money,” which is now vested in certain Meetings of the Freeholders, shall be transferred to the Commissioners of Supply at their ordinary stated Meetings, and they shall be bound to collect and apply it for the same Purposes as heretofore. XLV. And be it enacted, That all Powers, Duties, and Functions now vested in or exigible from any Meeting of Freeholders, by any Law or Statute in force at the Dissolution of this present Parliament, shall thereafter be transferred to and vested in the said Commissioners of Supply, who shall exercise and discharge the same at their regular Meetings as fully and effectually as the said Meetings of Freeholders might previously have exercised or discharged them. XLVI. And be it enacted, That the Word “Sheriff” shall be held to include the Word “Stewart;” and the Words “Sheriff Substitute” shall be held to include the Words “Stewart Substitute;” and that the Words “Shire” or “County” shall be held to include the Word “Stewartry;” and the Words “Sheriff Clerk” shall be held to include the Words “Stewart Clerk,” and

193

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

“Sheriff Clerk Depute, and Stewart Clerk Depute;” and the Words “Town Clerk” shall be held to include the Words “Town Clerk Depute:” Provided also, that no Misnomer or inaccurate Description of any Person or Place in any Writing made in the Form of any Schedule to this Act annexed, or in any List or Register or Notice made under Authority of this Act, shall in any way prevent or abridge the Operation of this Act, provided that such Person or Place shall be so designated in such Writing, List, Register, or Notice as to be commonly understood: Provided also, that no Appeal shall be competent to any Sheriff or Stewart from any thing which may be done by their Substitutes in the Execution of this Act. XLVII. And be it enacted, That all Laws, Statutes, and Usages now in force respecting the Right of electing, the Qualifications of Electors, and the actual Election of Members to serve in Parliament for that Part of Great Britain called Scotland, shall be and the same are hereby repealed in so far as they are inconsistent or at variance with the Provisions of this Act: Provided always, that the

same shall be in force in all other respects whatsoever. XLVIII. And be it enacted, That if a Dissolution of the present Parliament shall take place after the passing of this Act, but before the First Day of December in the present Year, in such Case such Persons only shall be entitled to vote in the Election of Members to serve in a new Parliament for any County, City, Burgh, or Town, or District of Cities, Burghs, and Towns, as would have been entitled to be inserted in the respective Lists of Voters for the same directed to be made under this Act if the Day of Election had been the Day for making out such respective Lists, and all Persons shall be entitled to vote in such Election although they may not be registered according to the Provisions of this Act, any thing herein contained notwithstanding; and the polling at such Election for any County may be continued for Fifteen Days, and the polling at such Election for any City, Burgh, or Town, or District of Cities, Burghs, or Towns, may be continued for Eight Days, any thing herein contained notwithstanding.

SCHEDULES to which the preceding Act refers SCHEDULE (A) Counties to return One Member Each Aberdeen

Fife

Argyle

Forfar

Perth, exclusive of the Parishes of Tulliallan, Culross, Muckhart, Logie, and Fossaway, annexed to Kinross

Ayr

Haddington

and Clackmannan by Schedule (B)

Banff

Inverness

Renfrew

Bute

Kincardine

Roxburgh

Berwick

Kirkcudbright

Selkirk

194

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Caithness

Lanark

Dumbarton

Linlithgow

Stirling, exclusive of the Parish of Alva, annexed to Kinross, &c. by Schedule (B)

Dumfries

Orkney and Shetland

Sutherland

Edinburgh

Peebles

Wigton

SCHEDULE (B) Combined Counties, Each Two To Return One Member Elgin and Nairn. Ross and Cromarty. Clackmannan and Kinross, together with that Part of Perthshire which constitutes the Parishes of Tulliallan, Culross, and Muckhart, and the Perthshire Portions of the Parishes of Logie and Fossaway, and that Part of the Shire of Stirling which constitutes the Parish of Alva.

SCHEDULE (C) Towns To Return Two Members Each Edinburgh. Glasgow.

SCHEDULE (D) Towns To Return One Member Each Aberdeen. Paisley. Dundee. Greenock. Perth.

195

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

SCHEDULE (E) Combined Burghs and Towns, each Set or District Jointly to return One Member 6.

1. Kirkwall Wick Dornock2 Dingwall Tain Cromarty 2. Fortrose Inverness Nairn Forres 3. Elgin Cullen Banff Inverury Kintore Peterhead 4. Inverbervie Montrose Aberbrothwick Brechin Forfar 5. Cupar St. Andrews Anstruther Easter Anstruther Wester Crail Kilrenny Pittenweem

196

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

Dysart Kirkaldy Kinghorn Burntisland 7. Inverkeithing Dunfermline Queensferry Culross Stirling 8. Renfrew Rutherglen Dumbarton Kilmarnock Port Glasgow 9. Haddington Dunbar North Berwick Lauder Jedburgh 10. Leith Portobello Musselburgh

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

11. Linlithgow Lanark Falkirk Airdrie Hamilton 12. Ayr Irvine Campbelltown Inverary Oban 13. Dumfries Sanquhar Annan Lochmaben Kirkcudbright 14. Wigton New Galloway Stranraer Whithorn

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

Jointly.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

SCHEDULE (F) (Part First) Shire or Town of ____ I A. B. (Designation) hereby claim to be enrolled as a Voter in the County (or Town) of ____ as Proprietor (Tenant or Occupant) of the Lands (or Houses, Feu Duties, et cetera,) of ____ in the Parish (or Town) of ____ and County of ____ ; and in Cases within Burgh in support of my Claim I produce herewith a (Disposition, Seisin, Lease, et cetera, of Date, et cetera, as the Case may be). (Date.) (Signed) A. B.

SCHEDULE (F) (Part Second) No. ____ lodged with me C. D. Schoolmaster of ____ or Town Clerk of ____ in ____ Shire, this ____ Day of ____ (together with the Disposition, Seisin, Lease, et cetera, above written, in Cases of Claims within Burghs.) (Signed) C. D.

SCHEDULE (G) (No. 1) For Counties Form of Register Book to be kept by Sheriff Clerk No.

Date of registering.

Name.

Calling. Proprietor or Tenant.

Description of Property, Land, House, Feu Duty, &c.

Name of County. Place, Village, Farm, &c.

SCHEDULE (G) (No. 2) For Towns Form of Register to be kept by Town Clerk No. Date.

Name.

Calling. Proprietor House, Ware- Street, Lane, or other Parish. or Tenant. house, Shop, &c. Place of Residence.

197

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

SCHEDULE (H) (Part First)

SCHEDULE (I)

Shire or Town of ____ I E. F. object to the Claim of A. B. to be admitted (or to continue on the Roll) as a Voter for the Shire or Town of ____ on the following Ground; (here may be stated shortly the Ground, as that Property or Occupancy not of sufficient Value; that the Party is not or has ceased to be Proprietor, Tenant, or Occupant; that he has not paid Taxes; that he is personally disqualified, as being a Minor, a fatuous Person, an Officer of the Revenue, et cetera;) and I crave to be heard on the said Objection before the Sheriff. (Date.) (Signed) E. F.

I A. B. do solemnly swear (or affirm), That I am the Individual described in the Register for ____ as A. B. of ____ (here insert Description in the same Words as contained in the Register); that I am still the Proprietor (or Occupant) of the Property for which I am so registered, and hold the same for my own Benefit, and not in Trust for or at the Pleasure of any other Person; and that I have not already voted at this Election.

SCHEDULE (H) (Part Second) Objections to No. ____ lodged with me G. H., Schoolmaster or Town Clerk, this ____ Day of ____ . (Signed) G. H.

SCHEDULE (K) I A. B. do solemnly swear (or affirm), That I have not received or had, by myself or any Person for my Use or Benefit, any Sum or Sums of Money, Office, Place, or Employment, Gift or Reward, or any Promise or Security for any Money, Office, or Gift, in order to give my Vote at this Election.

SCHEDULE (L) Towns where the Writ for Districts is to be proclaimed.

Sheriffs to whom the Writ is to be addressed.

Leith, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Edinburgh.

Wick, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Caithness.

Inverness, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Inverness.

Elgin, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Elgin and Moray.

Montrose, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Forfar.

Saint Andrew’s, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Fife.

Kirkaldy, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Fife.

Stirling, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Stirling.

Kilmarnock, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Ayr.

198

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Haddington, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Haddington.

Dumfries, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Dumfries.

Wigton, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Wigton.

Ayr, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Ayr.

Falkirk, for the District to which it belongs

Sheriff of Stirling.

SCHEDULE (M)

Glasgow

Towns to return Two Members each

From the Point, on the West of the Town, at which the River Kelvin joins the River Clyde, up the River Kelvin to a Point which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the River Kelvin) above the Point at which the same is met by the Park Wall which comes down thereto from Woodside Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Great Canal which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Great Canal) below Derry Bridge; thence along the Great Canal and the Cut of Junction to the Bridge over the Cut of Junction on the Stirling Road; thence, Eastward, along the Low Garngad Road to a Point which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Low Garngad Road) to the East of the Bridge over the Grimston Burn; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Road to Edinburgh by Airdrie which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the said Road to Edinburgh) to the East of the Point at which the same is joined by the Road to Edinburgh through the Village of Westmuir; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the River Clyde is joined by Harvie’s Dyke; thence down the River Clyde to the Point at which the same is joined by the Polmadie Burn; thence up the Polmadie Burn to the Point at which the same is joined by the Little Govan Burn; thence up the Little Govan Burn to

Edinburgh From a Point on the Road from Leith to Queensferry which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the West of the Point at which the same meets the Inverleith Road at the House called Golden Acre, in a straight Line to the North-western Corner of the Enclosure of John Watsons Institution; thence in a straight Line to the Second Stone Bridge, marked No. 2, on the Union Canal; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Western Wall of the Enclosure of the Lunatic Asylum at Morningside meets the Jordan or Pow Burn; thence down the Jordan or Pow Burn to a Point which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along such Burn) below the Arch over the same on the Carlisle Road; thence in a straight Line to the Summit of Arthur’s Seat; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Feeder enters the Western Side of Lochend Loch; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which Pilrig Street joins Leith Walk; thence along Pilrig Street and the Bonnington Road to the Point at which the latter meets the Road from Leith to Queensferry; thence along the Road from Leith to Queensferry to the Point first described.

199

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

the Point at which the same is divided into Two Branches in coming down from Govan Hill; thence in a straight Line to the Eastern Extremity of the Butterbiggins Road; thence along the Butterbiggins Road, and in a Line in continuation of the Direction thereof, to the Kinninghouse Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Sheils Bridge over the Paisley and Androssan Canal; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the River Clyde is joined by the Plantation Burn; thence down the River Clyde to the Point first described.

Towns to return One Member each Aberdeen From the Point, on the North-west of the Town, at which the Scatter Burn joins the River Don, down the River Don to the Point at which the same joins the Sea; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point at which the River Dee joins the Sea; thence up the River Dee to a Point which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the River Dee) above the Bridge of Dee; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the March between the Parishes of Old Machar and Banchory Davenick crosses the Old-Dee-side Road; thence, Northward, along the March between the Parishes of Old Machar and Banchory Davenick, and Old Machar and Newhills, to the Point first described. Paisley From the Summit of Byres Hill, on the North-east of the Town, in a straight Line to the Point near Knock Hill at which the Renfrew Road is joined by a Road from Glasgow; thence in a straight Line to the Summit of Knock Hill; thence in a straight

200

Line to the Northern Gable of the Moss Toll House on the Greenock Road; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the Chimney of Linwood Cotton Mill to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Candren Burn; thence up the Candren Burn to the Point at which the same is joined by the Braidiland Burn at the Bridge over the same on the Johnstone Road; thence up the Braidiland Burn to a Point which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Braidiland Burn) above the said Bridge; thence in a straight Line to Meikleridge Bridge over the Candren Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the old Neilston Road leaves the new Neilston Road; thence in a straight Line to the Summit of Dykebar Hill; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is One hundred Yards due North-east of the Summit of Bathgo Hill; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Dundee From the Point, on the East of the Town, at which the Shore of the Firth of Tay would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Tower (in Fife) of Mr. Dalgleish of Scotscraig to the Point at which the Stobsmuir Road is joined by the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington and the old Craigie Road, in a straight Line to the said Point at which the Stobsmuir Road is joined by the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington and the old Craigie Road; thence, Westward, along the old Road by Stobsmuir and Clepington to the Point called Kings Cross, at which the several Boundaries of the Parishes of Dundee, Strathmartin, and Liff meet; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Liff Road which is distant Twelve hundred Yards (measured along the Liff Road) to the West of the Point at which the Newtyle Road

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

leaves the same; thence in a straight Line drawn due South to the Shore of the Firth of Tay; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Tay to the Point first described. Greenock From the Point, on the West of the Town, at which the Shore of the Firth of Clyde is met by the March between the Parishes of Greenock and Innerkip, up the said March to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Southern Point of the Ridge of Bow Hill; thence in a straight Line to the said Point on Bow Hill; thence in a straight Line to the Southern End of the Upper East Reservoir for supplying Greenock with Water; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the highest projecting Point of Knocknair Hill, to the Point near Woodhead Quarry, at which such straight Line cuts the Easternmost of the Two Rivulets which form the Lady Burn; thence down such Rivulet and the Lady Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Clyde; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Clyde to the Point first described. Perth From the North-western Corner of the North Inch, on the Right Bank of the River Tay, in a straight Line to the Bridge on the Mill Lead at the Boot of Balhousie; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge on the Glasgow Road over the Scouring Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Southern Corner of the Water Reservoir of the Depôt; thence in a straight Line to the Southern Corner of the Friarton Pier on the River Tay; thence across the River Tay (passing to the South of the Friarton Island) to the Point at which the same is met by the Boundary of the respective Parishes of Kinfauns and Kinnoul; thence,

Northward, along the Boundary of the Parish of Kinfauns to the Point at which the several Boundaries of the Properties of Kinfauns, Kinnoul, and Barnhill meet; thence in a straight Line to the Northeastern Corner of Lord Kinnoul’s Lodge, at the Gate of Approach to Kinnoul Hill; thence in a straight Line to the Northeastern Corner of the Enclosure of the Lunatic Asylum; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Annatty Burn crosses the Blairgowrie Road; thence down the Annatty Burn to the Point at which the same joins the River Tay; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described.

Districts to return One Member each 1. Wick District Cromarty From Samuel’s Well, on the Southwest of the Town, in a straight Line to the Point at which the Southern Angle of the Glebe meets the Inverness Road; thence along the Inverness Road to the Point at which the same is met by the Den Road; thence in a straight Line to the Coal Heugh Well; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of Clachmalloch Rock to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Shore of the Cromarty Firth; thence along the Shore of the Cromarty Firth to that Point thereof which is nearest to Samuel’s Well; thence in a straight Line to Samuel’s Well. Dingwall From a Point on the Shore of the Cromarty Firth which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Shore) to the South of the Mouth of the Canal, in a

201

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

straight Line to a Point on the Inverness Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Inverness Road) from the Point (near the School-house) at which the same is joined by another Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Knockbain Burn which is distant Four hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Knockbain Burn) to the West of the Point at which the same meets the main Street of Dingwall; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Drynie Road which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Drynie Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the new Strathpeffer Road; thence in a straight Line, drawn due East, to the Shore of the Cromarty Firth; thence along the Shore of the Cromarty Firth to the Point first described. Dornoch From the Rock called Craig Carnaig, in a straight Line to St. Michael’s Well, close by the Road to the Little Ferry; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to the Mound of Fleet leaves the Road to Bonar Bridge; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Black Burn joins the Dornoch Firth; thence along the Shore of the Dornoch Firth to Craig Carnaig. Kirkwall From a Point on the Sea Shore which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Shore) to the North-east of the North-eastern Angle of Cromwell’s Fort, in a straight Line to a Point on the Carness Road which is distant Seven hundred Yards (measured along the Carness Road) to the East of the Point at which the same leaves the Birston Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Holm Road which

202

is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Holm Road) to the South of the Point at which the same leaves the Deerness Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Scapa Road which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Scapa Road) to the South of the Point at which the same leaves the Stromness Road; thence in a straight Line to the Western End of the Air Embankment; thence along the Air Embankment, and along the Sea Shore, to the Point first described. Tain From St. Mary’s Well, on the Northwest of the Town, in a straight Line through the Raven’s Well to a Point Five hundred Yards beyond the same; thence in a straight Line, drawn due South-east, to the Scotsburn Road; thence in a straight Line, drawn due East, to the Inverness Road; thence in a straight Line, drawn due North-east, to the River of Tain; thence down the River of Tain to the Point at which the same joins the Sea; thence along the Sea Shore to St. Mary’s Well. Wick From the Point, on the North-east of the Town, at which the Papigoe Burn joins the Sea, in a straight Line to a Point on the Huna Road which is distant Two hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Huna Road) to the North of the Point at which the same leaves the Kettleburn Road; thence in a straight Line to the North-western Corner of the Glebe; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Leutskerry Burn joins the River Wick; thence up the Leutskerry Burn to the Point at which the same meets the Thurso Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Inverness Road would be cut

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

by a straight Line to be drawn thereto due West from the Rock called “The Old Man of Wick;” thence in a straight Line to the Old Man of Wick; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described.

2. Inverness District Forres From Sueno’s Stone, on the North-east of the Town, in a straight Line to the Point at which Two Roads meet at the Northeastern Corner of that Part of the Property of the Burgh of Forres which is called “The Cluny Hills;” thence, Southward, along the Boundary of the Property of the Burgh to the Point at which the same meets the Rafford Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Altyre Road which is distant Fifty Yards (measured along the Altyre Road) to the South of the Point at which the same leaves a Road to the Mills of Burdsyards; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Nairn Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Nairn Road) to the West of the Bridge of Forres; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Burn of Forres which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Burn of Forres) below the Lee Bridge; thence in a straight Line to Sueno’s Stone. Fortrose From a Point on the Shore of the Moray Firth which is distant Two Hundred Yards (measured along the Shore) to the West of the Pier of Fortrose, in a straight Line to St. Boniface’s Well; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Rosemarkie Burn would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto due Northeast from St. Boniface’s Well; thence in a straight Line to the Rock called the Lady’s Bathing House;

thence along the Shore of the Moray Firth to the Point first described. Inverness From the Clachnaharry Pier in a straight Line to the Point at which the Caledonian Canal would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Clachnaharry Pier to the Southern Extremity of the Upper Ness Island; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is Two hundred and fifty Yards due West of the Point at which the Altna Skiah Burn joins the River Ness; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Altna Skiah Burn joins the River Ness; thence up the Altna Skiah Burn to a Point which is distant Three hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Altna Skiah Burn) above the Bridge over the same on the Road to Fort Augustus; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road from Muirfield to King’s Mills leaves the old Edinburgh Road; thence in a straight Line, drawn due North, to the Nairn Road; thence in a straight Line to that Point on the Shore of the Moray Firth which is due North of the Northern Angle of Cromwell’s Fort; thence along the Shore of the Moray Firth to the Clachnaharry Pier. Nairn From the Point, on the North-west of the Town, at which the Western March of the Town’s Links meets the Shore of the Moray Firth, in a straight Line to a Point on the Inverness Road which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Inverness Road) to the South of the Point at which the Road to the Grove leaves the same; thence in a straight Line to the Sluice of the Mill-dam of the Nairn Mills; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Forres Road which is distant Six hundred

203

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Yards (measured along the Forres Road) from the Bridge of Nairn; thence in a straight Line drawn due North to the Shore of the Moray Firth; thence along the Shore of the Moray Firth to the Point first described.

3. Elgin District Banff From the Rocks on the West of the Town, called The Little Tumblers, in a straight Line, drawn due South, to a Point on the Gallow Hill, Eight hundred and fifty Yards distant; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Colleonard Road leaves the Sandyhills Road; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the River Dovern leading from the Town of Banff to Macduff; thence up the River Dovern to a Point which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the River Dovern) above the said Bridge; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Road from Macduff to Aberdeen which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the South of the Point at which the same is crossed by the Deyhill Road; thence in a straight Line to the Mineral Well of Tarlair; thence along the Shore of the Moray Firth to the Little Tumblers first described. Cullen From the Bridge over the Burn of Cullen, on the Fochabers Road, in a straight Line to the Point at which Slack’s Road meets the Seafield Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Deskford Road leaves the Banff Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Loggie Road would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto due South

204

from the Rock called the Maiden Paps; thence in a straight Line to the Maiden Paps; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point at which the same meets the Burn of Cullen; thence up the Burn of Cullen to the Bridge over the same on the Fochabers Road. Elgin From the Bridge on the Fochabers Road over the Tayack Burn, up the Tayack Burn, to the Point at which the same would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto due East from Palmer Cross Bridge; thence in a straight Line to Palmer Cross Bridge; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the River Lossie would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from Palmer Cross Bridge to Sheriff Mill Bridge; thence down the River Lossie to the Bridge over the same on the Road from Old Mills to Quarry Wood; thence along the Road from Old Mills to Quarry Wood to the Point at which the same joins the Road by Morristown to Lossiemouth; thence down the Road by Morristown to Lossiemouth to the Point at which the same meets (at the Cross of Bishop Mill) another Road to Lossiemouth; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge first described. Inverury From the Bridge over the River Ury at the Mill of Keith-hall, in a straight Line through the Fifteenth Mile Stone on the Aberdeen Road, to a Point Four hundred Yards beyond the same; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to Howford leaves the Huntly Road; thence in a straight Line to the Upper Ford of Howford on the River Ury; thence down the River Ury to the Bridge first described.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Kintore From the Point, on the South-east of the Town, at which the Burn of Tuach joins the River Don, up the Burn of Tuach to the Point at which the same is joined by the Torry Burn; thence up the Torry Burn to the Bridge over the same on the Aberdeen Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Hallforest Road leaves the Road to the Sheepcotes; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Aberdeenshire Canal near the Farm of Tilty; thence in a straight Line to the Point of the Island in the Lands of Balbithan, near the Glebe; thence along the River Don, taking the Northernmost Branch thereof at the Points at which the same is divided into Two Branches, to the Point first described. Peterhead From the North-western Angle of the Salmon House at the Mouth of the River Ugie, and on the North-west of the Town, in a straight Line to the Point near Clarke Hill, at which the old Kinmundy Road is joined by a Road leading therefrom into the Auchtygall Road; thence along the Road so leading into the Auchtygall Road to the Point at which the same joins the Auchtygall Road; thence Eastward along the Auchtygall Road, and in a Line in continuation of the Direction thereof, to the Sea Shore; thence along the Sea Shore to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Point first described; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described.

4. Montrose District Aberbrothwick From the Point at which the Sea Shore would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Bell Rock Light House to the

Point, near Timmer Green, at which the Road to Hospital Field leaves the Arbirlot Road, along the said straight Line to the said Point at which the Road to Hospital Field leaves the Arbirlot Road; thence, Northward, along the Arbirlot Road to the Point at which the same is met by a Road leading thereto from the Forfar Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Forfar Road which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards along the Forfar Road to the North of the First Mile Stone from Aberbrothwick, at the old Toll House; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Feeder of the Tarry Burn on the Montrose Road; thence along the said Feeder to the Point at which the same reaches the Spring at Old Tarry; thence down the Tarry Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Sea; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described. Brechin From the Point, on the South of the Town, at which the Skinners Burn joins the South Esk River, down the South Esk River to the West Den of Leuchland; thence up the Hollow of the West Den of Leuchland, and up Barrie’s Burn, to the Point, near the Source of Barrie’s Burn, at which the several Boundaries of the Properties of Caldhame, Pitforthie, and Unthank meet; thence in a straight Line, in a westerly Direction, to the Point at which the several Boundaries of the Properties of Maisondieu and Cookston and Mr. Mitchell’s Land meet; thence, in a South-west Direction, along the Boundary of the Maisondieu Property to the Point at which the same meets the Menmuir Road; thence in a straight Line to the Westernmost Point at which the Skinners Burn crosses the Forfar Road; thence down the Skinners Burn to the Point first described.

205

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Forfar

Montrose

From the Inch-ma-coble Stone, on the Southern Bank of the Loch of Forfar, in a straight Line to the Point at which the Orchard Loan joins the Perth Road; thence in a straight Line through the Point at which the Westfield Loan joins the Dundee Road to the Balminshanner March; thence in a straight Line to the Blind Well at the Junction of the Road from Forfar to Lower with the old Kirk Road from Lower; thence in a straight Line to the Spring on the Arbroath Road at the Junction of the Boundaries of Pitruchie and the Poors Ground; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the old Road to Brechin leaves the East Road to Carseburn; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the West Road to Carseburn leaves the Hassockwell Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the new Kirriemuir Road leaves the new Brechin Road; thence in a straight Line to the Inch-ma-coble Stone.

From the Point, on the North-east of the Town, at which the Towns Loaning meets the Sea Shore, Westward, along the Towns Loaning, and in a Line in continuation of the Direction thereof, to the Point at which such Line cuts the Laurencekirk Road; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Burn of Tayock on the Brechin Road; thence down the Channel of the Burn of Tayock at Low Water to the Point at which the same joins the South Esk River; thence down the South Esk River, including the Rossie Island, to the Point at which the same River joins the Sea; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described.

Inverbervie From the Point, on the East of the Town, at which the Bervie Burn joins the Sea, up the Bervie Burn to the Point at which the same is met by the Boundary of the Parish of Arbuthnot; thence, Southward, along the Boundary of the Parish of Arbuthnot to the Point (near Dendodrum) at which the same meets the Boundary which separates the Town Lands from the Property of Mr. Farquhar; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the several Boundaries of the Glebe Land, the Land of the Towns Muir, and the Property of Mr. Farquhar, meet; thence in a straight Line through the South-western Corner of the old Castle of Hall Green to the Sea Shore; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described.

206

5. St. Andrew’s District Easter Anstruther From the Point at which the Dreel Burn joins the Firth of Forth, up the Dreel Burn to the Point at which the Mill-dam of the Mill of Anstruther branches off; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the Spire of Kilrenny Church to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Cunzie Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road leading to St. Andrews (being the March between the Lands of Renny Hill and the Barony of Anstruther) leaves the Turnpike Road to Upper Kilrenny; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Cellardyke Burn enters the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Wester Anstruther From the Rock called the Cuniger Stone in a straight Line to the Point at which the Dreel Burn crosses the Road from Pittenweem to Grangemuir Farm; thence down

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

the Dreel Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Cuniger Stone. Crail From a Point on the Shore of the Firth of Forth which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Shore) to the South-west of the Almond Rocks, in a straight Line, drawn due North-west, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Road to Anstruther and Kilrenny; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the St. Andrews Road would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto from North Berwick Law through the Point last described; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Craighead Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Craighead Road) to the North-east of the Bridge on the same, over the Lammas Green Burn; thence in a straight Line in the Direction of the Northeasternmost Point of the Rome Rocks until it meets the Shore of the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Cupar From a Point on the Southern Branch of the River Eden which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along such River) below the new Bridge, in a straight Line, through a Point on the Dundee Road which is distant Two hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Dundee Road) to the East of the Milestone marked 0 Miles from Cupar and Twenty-two Miles from Pettycur, to a Point Two hundred and fifty Yards distant from the said Point on the Dundee Road; thence in a straight Line to the North-western Corner of the Garden Wall

of Dalziel Lodge on the old Dundee Road; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the St. Mary’s Burn on the Newburgh Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Ferrybank Road would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Hopetoun Monument to the Winter or Byewater Sluice at the Western End of Andersons Spinning Mills; thence in a straight Line to the said Sluice; thence in a straight Line to the Milestone on the Edinburgh Road marked 1 Mile from Cupar and 21 Miles from Pettycur; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Kilrenny From the Point at which the Cellardykes Burn joins the Firth of Forth, in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road leading to St. Andrews (being the March between the Lands of Rennyhill and the Barony of Anstruther) leaves the Turnpike Road from Anstruther to Upper Kilrenny; thence in a straight Line to the Skeith Stone; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Gelly Burn meets the Well of Spa Burn; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Crail Road which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Crail Road) to the North-east of the Bridge on the same over the Gelly Burn; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Gelly Burn which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Gelly Burn) below the said Bridge on the Crail Road; thence down the Gelly Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Pittenweem From a Point on the South-west of the Town, on the Sea Shore, distant from the

207

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Sandy Craig Six hundred Yards (measured Westwards along the Sea Shore), in a straight Line drawn to a Point on the Mires or Dreel Burn Six hundred Yards (measured up the Course thereof) above the Point where it is crossed by the Road to Carnbee and St. Andrews; thence down the Mires or Dreel Burn to the Point at which the same crosses the Road to Grangemuir Farm; thence in a straight Line to the Rock called the Cuniger Stone; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. St. Andrews From the Point at which the Swilkin Burn joins the Sea, up the Swilkin Burn, to a Point which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Swilkin Burn) above the Bridge over the same on the Cupar Road; thence in a straight Line through a Point on the Kinghorn Road which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Kinghorn Road) from the Point at which the same leaves Argyle Street, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Kinness Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the St. Nicholas Burn on the Crail Road; thence in a straight Line, drawn due East, to the Sea Shore; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described.

6. Kirkaldy District3 Burntisland From the Northern Extremity of the Dam Dyke of the Sea Mills, in a straight Line, drawn due North, to the Road from Aberdour to Kirkaldy; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Road from Aberdour to Kirkaldy which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along such Road)

208

to the East of the Point at which the same is met by the Road from Burntisland to Kinross; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the Eastern Extremity of Inchkeith, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Shore of the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Dysart From the Point on the South of Pathhead, at which the East Burn joins the Firth of Forth, up the East Burn, to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Eastern Angle of the Engine House of the Dunnikier Colliery; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road from Parkhead to Mitchelstons Farm meets the Road from Gallatown to Dunniker; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Cupar Road which is distant Three hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Cupar Road) to the North-west of the Point (in the Street of Gallatown) at which the Road from Gallatown to West Wemyss leaves the same; thence in a straight Line to the Cliff above the Pissing Mare Well; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Kinghorn From the Rock called Hoch-ma-toch in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to Kirkaldy from Burntisland joins the Road to Kirkaldy from Pettycur; thence in a straight Line to the Outlet from the Loch of Kinghorn called the Gullet Sluice; thence in a straight Line to the Rock on the Shore of the Firth of Forth above the Well of Spa; thence in a straight Line to the Well of Spa; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Rock Hoch-matoch.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Kirkaldy From the Point, on the North-east of the Town, at which the East Burn joins the Firth of Forth, up the East Burn to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Eastern Angle of the Engine House of the Dunnikier Colliery; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the Spire of Abbottshall Church, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts a Road from Kirkaldy to Raith and Auchtertool; thence along the said Road to Raith and Auchtertool to the Point (opposite Raith Gate) at which the same is joined by the Road from West Bridge to Auchtertool; thence in a straight Line to the Western Corner of the old Quarry above the West Mills of Linktown and on the Left Bank of the West Burn; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Kinghorn Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Kinghorn Road) to the South of the Point (in West Bridge Town) at which the Queensferry Road leaves the same; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of North Berwick Law, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Shore of the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described.

7. Stirling District Culross From the Point, close to the Shore, at which the Dean Burn crosses the High Road to Kincardine, up the Dean Burn to that Point thereof which is nearest the Ruins of the old Church; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to Dunfermline by the Abbey Lodge leaves the Road from Culross Church to Kincardine; thence along the said Road to Dunfermline to a Point which is distant

Seven hundred Yards (measured along such Road) from the Point last described; thence in a straight Line, through the Stone which marks the Eastern Extremity of the Royalty of the Burgh, to the Shore of the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Dunfermline From the Point on the South of the Town, near the Southern End of St. Leonards, at which the Queensferry Road leaves the Burntisland Road, in a straight Line to the Head of the Mill-dam of the Brucefield Spinning Mills; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Townhill Road is joined by a Road from Headwell; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Crieff Road which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Crieff Road) to the North of the Bridge on the same over the Blair Castle or Broomhill Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Baldridge Burn at Blackburn; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Elgin Railway crosses the Carnack Road; thence in a straight Line to Urquhart Bridge on the Stirling Road; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Spittal Burn on the Limekilns Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Inverkeithing From the Point, on the West of the Town, at which the Seggs Burn joins the Sea, up the Seggs Burn to a Point which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Seggs Burn) above the Bridge over the same on the Queensferry Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Dunfermline Road which is distant Three

209

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

hundred Yards (measured along the Dunfermline Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the High Street of Inverkeithing; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Inverkeithing Burn on the Perth Road; thence in a straight Line through the Flagstaff near the East Ness to the Sea Shore; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described. Queensferry From a Point on the Shore of the Firth of Forth which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Shore) to the East of the Newhalls Pier, in a straight Line, in a southerly Direction, drawn from the easterly Extremity of Inch Garvie, through the Point last described, to a Point which is One hundred Yards beyond the Middle of the Edinburgh Road; thence in a straight Line to the South-eastern Corner of the Reservoir; thence in a straight Line to the Dovecote Park Well; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Echland Burn crosses the Road to Echland and Linlithgow; thence down the Echland Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Stirling From the Point, on the East of the Town, at which the Town Burn joins the River Forth, up the River Forth to the Point at which the same is joined by the Kildean Burn; thence up the Kildean Burn to the Point at which the same reaches the Dam of the Kildean Mill; thence in a straight Line to the Point, opposite the Lodge of Christian Bank, at which the Road to Touch and Garthur leaves the Road to Murray’s Hall; thence in a straight

210

Line to the Point at which the Road from Cambusbarron to St. Ninians is joined by a Road from Newhouse and Torbrecks; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the old Glasgow Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Glasgow Road) to the South of the Point at which the Glasgow Road leaves the Edinburgh Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Edinburgh Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Edinburgh Road) to the South-east of the Point at which the same leaves the Glasgow Road; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of Cambuskenneth Abbey, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Pelstream; thence along the Pelstream, and along the Continuation thereof, called the Town Burn, to a Point which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Town Burn) to the South of the Bridge over the same at Hadaway’s Carpet Factory; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described.

8. Kilmarnock District Dumbarton From the Point, on the South-east of the Town, at which the Gruggies Burn joins the Firth of Clyde, up the Gruggies Burn to the Bridge on the Road from Dumbarton to Glasgow; thence in a straight Line, drawn due North-east, to the Road from Bar Toll to Glasgow; thence, Northward, along the Road from Bar Toll to Glasgow to the Point at which the same meets the Bonhill Road; thence, Northward, along the Bonhill Road to a Point which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the Bonhill Road) from the Point last described; thence, Westward, in a straight Line to a Point on the Helensburgh Road which is distant Two hundred

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

and fifty Yards (measured along the Helensburgh Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Luss Road; thence in a straight Line, drawn due South-west, to the Shore of the Firth of Clyde; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Clyde to the Point first described. Kilmarnock From the Point, on the South of the Town, at which Kilmarnock Water joins the River Irvine, in a straight Line to a Point on the Irvine Road which is distant Three hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Irvine Road) to the West of the Point at which the same leaves Grange Street; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to Hill Head leaves the Kilmaurs Road; thence in a straight Line, through the Summit of the Bonfire Knowe, to the Kilmarnock Water; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Mill Burn on the Mauchline Road; thence down the Mill Burn to the Point at which the same joins the River Irvine; thence in a straight Line to the Bells Land Bridge on the Road from Riccarton to Galston; thence in a straight Line to the Point called Witch Knowe, at which Two Roads meet; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Maxholm Burn on the Ayr Road; thence down the Maxholm Burn to the Point at which the same joins the River Irvine; thence down the River Irvine to the Point first described. Renfrew From the Milburn Bridge over the Pudzeoch Burn, on the Glasgow Road, in a straight Line to a Point up the Pudzeoch Burn which is distant Three hundred Yards in a straight Line from the said Bridge; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the

Greenock Road which is distant Two hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Greenock Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Paisley Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the River Clyde which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the River Clyde) below the Point at which the same is joined by the Canal; thence along the River Clyde to the Point at which the same is joined by the Canal; thence along the Canal to the Point at which the same is joined by the Pudzeoch Burn; thence along the Pudzeoch Burn to the Bridge aforesaid. Rutherglen From the Point at which the River Clyde is joined by the Polmadie Burn, up the River Clyde, to Dalmarnock Bridge; thence in a straight Line, through the Point at which the Road from Dalmarnock Bridge to Muirkirk leaves the Road from Dalmarnock Bridge to Hamilton, to the Point at which such straight Line reaches the Southern Road from Rutherglen to Hamilton; thence in a straight Line to a Point in the Castlemilk Road which is distant Seven hundred Yards (measured along the Castlemilk Road) from the Point at which the same joins the Main Street of Rutherglen; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Newhouse Road which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Newhouse Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Hangingshaws Road; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Polmadie Burn on the Glasgow Road; thence down the Polmadie Burn to the Point first described. Port Glasgow From the Point on the Shore, West of the Town, where Devols Burn enters the

211

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Firth of Clyde, up the said Burn to the Waterfall in Devols Glen; thence in a straight Line to a Point in the Mill-dam Burn which is One thousand Yards, measured along the same, above the Point where it enters the Clyde; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Boundary between the Parishes of Port Glasgow and Kilmalcolm which is distant Eight hundred Yards, measured along the said Boundary, from the Point where it meets the Clyde; thence down the said Boundary to its Termination on the Shore; thence West along the Shore to the Point first described.

9. Haddington District North Berwick From the Yellow Craig in a straight Line to the Point at which the Dunbar Road would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto from the Isle of May Lighthouse through the Yellow Craig; thence in a straight Line to a Point Two hundred Yards to the South of the Middle of the Edinburgh Road in the Direction of a Line drawn from the Westernmost Point of Craig Leith through the Easternmost Point of the Rock called Craig-in-Touch or Powart Rock; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the said Easternmost Point of the Rock called Craig-in-Touch or Powart Rock, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Shore of the Firth of Forth; thence along the shore of the Firth of Forth to the Yellow Craig. Dunbar From the Point, on the South-east of the Town, at which the Eastern Boundary of the Town Land meets the Sea Coast, along the Eastern Boundary of the Town Land, to the Point at which the same meets

212

the Berwick Road; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the Hopetoun Monument near Haddington, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Road from Bowerhouse to Belhaven; thence along the Road from Bowerhouse to Belhaven to the Point at which the same meets the Belhaven Burn; thence down the Belhaven Burn to the Point at which the same reaches the Sea: thence along the Sea Coast to the Point first described. Haddington From a Point on the Dunbar Road which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the Dunbar Road) to the East of the Point at which the Athelstonford Road leaves the same, in a straight Line to the North-eastern Corner of the Burial Ground of St. Martins Chapel; thence along the Lane which leads to St. Martins Chapel from the Moreham Road to the Point at which such Lane joins the Moreham Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Gifford Road which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the Gifford Road) to the South of the Point at which the same leaves the Moreham Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the River Tyne would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn from the Point last described to the Northern End of Waterloo Bridge; thence up the River Tyne to the Burgh Mill-dam; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Pencaitland Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Pencaitland Road) to the West of the Point at which the same leaves the High Street of Haddington; thence in a straight Line to the North-western Corner of the Premises of Bellevue, the Westernmost of the Gallow Green Feus; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road from Whisky Row, by the Eastern

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

Side of the Glebe, is met by a Cross Road leading therefrom by Goatfield to the Athelstonford Road; thence along the said Cross Road to the Point at which the same joins the Athelstonford Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Jedburgh From the Flour Mill Bridge over the River Jed, on the North-east of the Town, in a straight Line to the Point at which the Footpath from Timpen Dean joins the Totches Baulk Road; thence, Westward, along the Totches Baulk Road to the Point at which the same meets the Tudhope Loaning; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Hawick Road which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Hawick Road) to the South-west of the North-western Angle of the Enclosure of the Castle; thence in a straight Line to the Inchbonnie or Second Bridge over the River Jed; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the new Road to Oxnam joins the old Road to Oxnam; thence in a straight Line to the said Flour Mill Bridge. Lauder From a Point on the Kelso Road which is distant Six hundred Yards (measured along the Kelso Road) from the Church of Lauder, in a straight Line to a Point on the Lauder Burn which is distant Three hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Lauder Burn) below the Bridge over the same on the Road to Woodhead and Gattonside; thence up the Lauder Burn to the said Bridge; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Washing Burn which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the Washing Burn) above the Bridge over the same on the Edinburgh Road; thence down the Washing Burn to the Point at

which the same meets the Park Wall of Thirlestane; thence, Eastward, along the Park Wall of Thirlestane to the Point at which the same reaches the Kelso Road; thence along the Kelso Road to the Point first described.

10. Leith District Leith From the Point at which the Shore of the Firth of Forth would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto from the Spire of the Tron Church in Edinburgh through the Point at which the Feeder joins the Western Side of Lochend Loch, in a straight Line to the said Point at which the Feeder joins the Western Side of Lochend Loch; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which Pilrig Street joins Leith Walk; thence along Pilrig Street and the Bonnington Road to the Point at which the latter joins the Queensferry Road; thence, Westward, along the Queensferry Road to a Point which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Queensferry Road) to the West of the Point at which the same meets the Inverleith Road at the House called Golden Acre; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Wardie Burn joins the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Musselburgh From the Point at which the Magdalene Burn joins the Firth of Forth, up the Magdalene Burn, to a Point which is distant Fifty Yards (measured along the Magdalene Burn) above Magdalene Bridge; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the Spire of Inveresk Church, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the River Esk;

213

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

thence in a straight Line to a Point in the Road from Newbigging to Inveresk which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the South of the Point (in the Street of Newbigging) at which the same leaves the Road from Newbigging to Haddington and Prestonpans; thence in a straight Line through the Seventh Mile Stone on the Road from Edinburgh to Haddington to the Ravenshaugh Burn; thence down the Ravenshaugh Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Forth; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described. Portobello From the Fountain of Saltpans on the Musselburgh Road, Southward, in a straight Line (in the Direction of a straight Line drawn from the East End of Inchkeith) to a Point One hundred and fifty Yards distant; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of Nelson’s Monument on the Calton Hill, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Duddingston Road; thence Northward, along the Duddingston Road to the Point at which the same meets the Edinburgh Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Shore of the Firth of Forth would be cut by a straight Line to be drawn thereto from the Summit of Arthurs Seat through the Point last described; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Forth to the Point first described.

11. Falkirk District Airdrie From the Bridge over the South Burn on the Glasgow Road, along the South Burn, to a Point which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the South Burn) to

214

the East of the said Bridge; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Gartlee Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Gartlee Road) to the South of the Point at which the same meets Graham Street; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the High Road from Carlisle to Stirling which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the South of the Point at which the same meets the Edinburgh Road; thence along the said Road to Stirling to the Bridge on the same over the North Burn; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Road from North Bridge Street to New Monkland Church which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the North of the Bridge on the same over the North Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Railway on the Kirkintulloch Road near Windhall; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge first described. Falkirk From a Point on the Edinburgh Road which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Edinburgh Road) to the East of the Bridge on the same over the East or Meadow or Ladys Mill Burn, in a straight Line to the Bridge on the Grangemouth Road over the same Burn; thence along the said Burn to the Point at which the same passes under the Forth and Clyde Canal; thence, Eastward, along the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Point at which the same meets the Road to Dalderse House; thence, Northward, along the Road to Dalderse House to a Point which is distant Three hundred Yards (measured along the Road to Dalderse House) from the Point last described; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Alloa and Carron Road which is distant Two hundred Yards (meas-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

ured along the Alloa and Carron Road) from the Point at which the same meets St. Davids Lane; thence along the Alloa and Carron Road to the Point at which the same meets St. Davids Lane; thence along the Road to Burnhouse to the Point at which the same meets the West Burn; thence in a straight Line to the Twentyfourth Mile Stone on the Stirling Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Road by Burnhead and Gartcows to South Bantaskine which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the South-west of the Point at which the same is met by the West Burn; thence in a straight Line to the South-eastern Corner of the Parkfoot Washing Green; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Hamilton From Covan Burn Bridge, on the Road to Lanark, in a straight Line to the Point in the lower Park Wall of Hamilton Palace where it meets the great South Avenue of the said Palace; thence, Westward, along the said Wall to a Point in the same Six hundred Yards beyond the Intersection of the Cambuslang and Glasgow Road with the said Wall; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge on the said Road over Wellhall Burn; thence up the said Burn to the Point where it is met by the March Fence between the Burgh and the Lands of Over Auchingraymont; thence, Southward, along the said Fence to the Point where it meets the Road to Earnock; thence in a straight Line, through a Point on the Road to Strathaven which is Five hundred and twenty Yards (measured along the said Road) South of the Butterburn Bridge, continued until it meets the upper Park Wall of Hamilton Palace; thence, Eastward, along the said Park Wall to the Point

where it meets the Covan Burn; thence down the same to the Point first described. Lanark From a Point on the River Clyde which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the River Clyde) below the Bridge over the same on the Southern Branch of the Glasgow Road, in a straight Line to a Point on the old Road to Carluke which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along such old Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Glasgow Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point, near Mansfield, at which the Jerviswood Road leaves the Northern Edinburgh Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Southern Edinburgh Road which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the East of the Eastern Corner of Browns Square; thence in a straight Line to the Centre of the Ruins of the Parish Church; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the River Clyde which is distant Seven hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the River Clyde) above the Bridge over the same on the Southern Branch of the Glasgow Road; thence down the River Clyde to the Point first described. Linlithgow From a Point on the Union Canal which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Union Canal) to the North-east of the Aqueduct over the Edinburgh Road, in a straight Line to the Point at which the Burn adjoins the Eastern End of Linlithgow Loch; thence along the Southern Shore of Linlithgow Loch to the Point at which the same is joined by the Burn which runs therefrom across the Borrostowness Road; thence along the

215

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

last-mentioned Burn to the Bridge over the same on the Borrostowness Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Falkirk Road which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Falkirk Road) from the Point at which the Torphichen Road leaves the same; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge marked N° 45, over the Union Canal on the Bathgate Road; thence in a straight Line to the Aqueduct over the Edinburgh Road; thence along the Union Canal to the Point first described.

12. Ayr District Ayr From the End of the Mill-dam Dyke on the Right Bank of the River Ayr, and on the East of the Town, in a straight Line to the Hawkhill Bridge; thence along the Road which passes the South-eastern Side of the Newton Muir, and in a Line in continuation of the Direction of such Road, to the Half-mile Burn; thence down the Halfmile Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Firth of Clyde; thence along the Shore of the Firth of Clyde to the Point at which the same is met by the Road which runs thereto from the Holmstone Toll Bar, past the Race Course, and between the Lands of Blackburn and Seafield; thence along the Road last described to a Point which is distant Two hundred and sixty Yards (measured along the same) to the East of the Point at which the same crosses the old Maybole Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Campbell Town From the Point, on the South-east of the Town, at which the Kilkerran Burn joins the Sea, up the Kilkerran Burn to the

216

Point at which the same coming down from Bengoillan nearly forms a Right Angle in turning towards the Sea; thence in a straight Line to the Summit of the Hill called Barley Bannocks; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Witch Burn on the Southend Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to Knockscalbert leaves the Inverary West Road; thence in a straight Line to the first Point of the Rock on Balligreggan Hill; thence in a straight Line, in the Direction of the Summit of the Island of Avarr, to the Point at which such straight Line cuts the Baraskomil Burn; thence down the Baraskomil Burn to the Point at which the same joins the Sea; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described. Inverary From the Western Angle of Point House, on the West of the Town, in a straight Line to a Point which is distant Three hundred Yards due North of the same; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Dalmally Road meets the upper or great Avenue to Inverary Castle; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Shore of Loch Fine which is distant One hundred and fifty Yards (measured along the Shore) to the East of the North End of the Pier; thence along the Shore of Loch Fine to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Point first described; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Irvine From the Flagstaff near the Junction of the River Irvine with the Sea (about One hundred Yards South of the Point where the Pier Head leaves the Shore) in a straight Line, through the Stone at the Western Corner of the March Fence of the Minis-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

ter’s Glebe, to the River Anwick; thence up the River Anwick to a Point which is distant Two hundred and ninety-five Yards (measured along the River Anwick) above the Bridge over the same, on the Kilmarnock Road; thence in a straight Line, in a North-westerly Direction, to the Point at which the Burn called The Minister’s Cast makes an Angle in turning to the West; thence down “The Minister’s Cast” to the Point at which the same joins the River Irvine; thence down the River Irvine to that Point thereof which is nearest to the Flagstaff aforesaid; thence in a straight Line to the Flagstaff aforesaid. Oban The Space on the Main Land included within a Circle described with a Radius of One Half Mile from the Point as a Centre where the Street leading to the old Inverary Road meets the Street along the Shore.

13. Dumfries District

the Edinburgh Road joins the English Street Branch of the same Road, in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Maryholm Burn on the Lincluden Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Terregles Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along Terregles Street and the Terregles Road) from the Point at which Terregles Street meets Galloway Street; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Castle Douglas Road leaves the Dalbeaty Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Left Bank of the River Nith is cut by a straight Line drawn thereto due West from the Maidens Bower Craig; thence along the last-mentioned straight Line to the Point at which the same cuts the Caerlavrock Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road to Gillbrae leaves the Road to Callside; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is distant One hundred Yards due East from the Point first described; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described.

Annan From the Point, on the North of the Town, at which the Galla Bank Burn joins the River Annan, in a straight Line to a Point on the Prestonfield Road which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Prestonfield Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Prestonhall Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point near New Dyke at which the Langholm Road leaves the Carlisle Road; thence in a straight Line through the Blindpeat Well to the River Annan; thence up the River Annan to the Point first described. Dumfries From the Point, on the North of the Town, at which the Townhead Branch of

Kircudbright From the Point, on the West of the Town, at which the River Dee would be cut by a Line to be drawn thereto parallel to the High Street leading from the Market Cross to Bar Hill, from the Point at which the new Road to St. Mary’s Isle leaves the Road to Dundrennan in a straight Line through the Point at which the Road to St. Mary’s Isle leaves the Road to Dundrennan to a Point which is Four hundred Yards beyond the same; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is Seven hundred Yards due East of the Northern Extremity of the Stirling Acres Embankment; thence in a straight Line to the Northern Extremity of the Stirling Acres Em-

217

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

bankment: thence down the River Dee to the Point first described. Lochmaben From the Point, on the North-east of the Town, near Bogle-hole, at which a Burn crosses the Road to the Bridge on Kennel Water, in a straight Line to a Point on the Bank of the Castle Loch which is distant Five hundred Yards in a straight Line to the Southeast of the Summit of the Knoll of the Old Castle; thence in a straight Line to the Summit of the Knoll of the Old Castle; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Dumfries Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Dumfries Road) to the West of the Town House; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is Four hundred Yards due West of the Point first described; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Sanquhar From the Point, on the South of the Town, at which the Town-fit Burn joins the River Nith, up the Town-fit Burn to a Point which is distant Two hundred and fifty Yards (measured along such Burn) to the North of the Point at which the same crosses the Dumfries Road; thence in a straight Line to the Bridge over the Crawick Burn on the Whitehill Road; thence down the Crawick Burn to the Point at which the same joins the River Nith; thence along the River Nith to the Point first described.

14. Wigton District

North of the North-western Corner of the Town House, in a straight Line drawn due East to a Point Three hundred Yards distant; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is distant Three hundred Yards due West from a Point on the Kirkcudbright Road which is distant Four hundred Yards (measured along the Kirkcudbright Road) to the South of the Town House; thence in a straight Line, through the said Point on the Kirkcudbright Road, to a Point which is distant Three hundred Yards due West therefrom; thence in a straight Line to a Point which is distant Three hundred Yards due West from the Point first described; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Stranraer From that Point on the Shore of Loch Ryan which is due North-east of the Point at which the Two Roads from Stranraer to Leswalt meet, in a straight Line, through the Point at which such Two Roads meet, to a Point Seven hundred Yards beyond the same; thence in a straight Line to the Point at which the Road from the Church to Portpatrick meets the Road from the Meeting House to Portpatrick; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Dumfries Road which is distant Seven hundred Yards (measured along the Dumfries Road) from the Point at which the same is met by the Road from the Meeting House to Portpatrick; thence in a straight Line, drawn due North-east, to the Shore of Loch Ryan; thence along the Shore of Loch Ryan to the Point first described.

New Galloway

Whithorn

From a Point on the Road to Kells Church which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along such Road) to the

From a Point on the Portwilliam Road which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the Portwilliam Road) to the

218

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (SCOTLAND, 1832)

West of the Point at which the same leaves the Wigton Road in a straight Line to a Point on the Glasserton Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Glasserton Road) from the Point at which the Isle of Whithorn Road leaves the same; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Isle of Whithorn Road which is distant Five hundred Yards (measured along the Isle of Whithorn Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Glasserton Road; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Road or Street called the Raw, leading in a South-easterly Direction from the Town House, Five hundred Yards distant therefrom (measured along the said Road); thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Garlieston Road which is distant Two hundred Yards (measured along the Garlieston Road) from the Point at which the same leaves the Wigton Road; thence in a straight Line to the Point first described. Wigton From a Point on the Sea Shore, on the North-east of the Town, which is distant

Four hundred Yards (measured along the Shore) to the North of the Point at which the Croft-en-reich Burn joins the Sea, in a straight Line to the Point, at Trammond Ford, at which the Glenluce Road meets a Road to Bladenoch; thence in a straight Line to a Point on the Bladenoch Water which is distant One hundred Yards (measured along the Bladenoch Water) above Bladenoch Bridge; thence down the Bladenoch Water to the Point at which the same joins the Sea; thence along the Sea Shore to the Point first described.

1

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, XII: From A. D. 1829; 11 George IV to A. D. 1832; 2 & 3 William IV, London: George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, 1832, 854-881. This act was repealed in stages by the Statute Law Revision Acts of 1888 and 1890, and the Representation of the People Act of 1918 (7 & 8 George V, c. 64) and the Representation of the People Act of 1948 (11 &12 George VI, c.65). 2 Dornoch. 3 Kirkcaldy.

219

The Great Reform Act (Ireland, 1832)

2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 88 An Act to amend the Representation of the People of Ireland (7 August 1832)1

WHEREAS it is expedient to extend the Elective Franchise to many of His Majesty’s Subjects in Ireland who have not heretofore enjoyed the same, and to increase the Number of Representatives for certain Cities and Boroughs in that Part of the United Kingdom, and to diminish the Expences of Elections therein; be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, in addition to the Persons now by Law qualified to vote at the Election of Knights of the Shire for the several Counties in Ireland, every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, who shall be entitled, either as Lessee or Assignee, to any Lands or Tenements, whether of Freehold or of any other Tenure whatever, for the unexpired Residue, whatever it may be, of any Term originally created for a Period of not less than Sixty Years, whether determinable on a Life or Lives or not, and having a beneficial Interest therein of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds over and above all Rent and Charges, or for the unexpired Residue, whatever it may be, of any Term originally created for a Period of not less than Fourteen Years, whether determinable on a Life or Lives or not, and

having a beneficial Interest therein of the clear yearly Value of not less than Twenty Pounds over and above all Rent and Charges, or for the unexpired Residue, whatever it may be, of any Term originally created for a Period of not less than Twenty Years, and having a beneficial Interest therein of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds over and above all Rent and Charges, shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire for the County in which such Lands or Tenements shall respectively be situate: Provided always, that no Person, being such Lessee or Assignee of such Term of Twenty Years, and no Person, being only a Sub-lessee or the Assignee of any Underlease, shall have a Right to vote in respect of any such Term of Sixty Years, or Fourteen or Twenty Years, as aforesaid, unless he shall be in the actual Occupation of the Premises; and provided also, that any Renewal or new Lease of the same Premises, for the same Rent and for a Term not less than such original Term, shall for the Purposes of this Act be deemed to be a Continuance of the same Qualification as aforesaid. II. And be it enacted, That every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, who shall be seised at Law or in Equity of any Lands or Tene-

221

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

ments of Copyhold Tenure, for his Life, or for the Life of another, or for any Lives whatsoever, or for any larger Estate, of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds over and above all Rents and Charges payable out of or in respect of the same, shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament for the County in which such Lands or Tenements shall be respectively situate. III. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall take away or in any Manner affect the Rights of voting for Knights of the Shire at present enjoyed by or which may hereafter accrue to any Person by virtue of any Law now in force, except so far as herein specially provided. IV. And be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein contained no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Knight or Knights of the Shire to serve in any future Parliament in respect of his Estate or Interest in any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop occupied by himself, or in any Land occupied by himself together with any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop, such House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop being, either separately, or jointly with the Land so occupied therewith, of such Value as would, according to the Provisions herein-after contained, confer on him the Right of voting for any City, Town, or Borough, whether he shall or shall not have actually acquired the Right to vote for such City, Town, or Borough in respect thereof. V. And be it enacted, That in every City or Town, being a County of a City or County of a Town by itself, and which shall

222

return a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, in addition to the Persons now by Law qualified to vote at the Election of such Member or Members, every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, who shall be seised at Law or in Equity of any Freehold Estate in any Lands or Tenements within such City or Town, and shall be in the actual Occupation thereof, and who shall have a beneficial Interest therein of the clear yearly Value of Ten Pounds at the least above all Rent and Charges payable out of the same, or who shall hold as Lessee or Assignee any Lands or Tenements within such City or Town, for such Term, of such Value, and subject to such Provisions as would under this Act, if such Lands or Tenements were situate in a County at large without the Limits of such City or Town, entitle such Person to register his Vote for such County, or who shall hold and occupy within such City or Town, as Tenant or Owner, any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop, which, either separately, or jointly with any Land within such City or Town occupied therewith by him as Tenant under the same Landlord, or occupied therewith by him as Owner, shall be bonâ fide of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds, shall, if duly registered according to the Provisions of this Act, be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City or Town: Provided always, that no such Occupier as last above mentioned shall be admitted to be registered under this Act unless he shall have occupied such Premises as aforesaid for Six Calendar Months next previous to the Time of his Registry, nor unless such Occupier shall have paid or discharged all such Grand Jury and Municipal Cesses,

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

Rates, and Taxes, if any, as shall have become legally due and payable by him in respect of such Premises, over and above and except One Half Year’s Amount of such Cesses, Rates, and Taxes aforesaid. VI. And be it enacted, That from and after the Commencement of this Act no Person, save as herein is provided, shall be registered or admitted to vote as a Freeholder at any Election of any Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any County of a City or County of a Town in Ireland, unless such Person shall have an Estate of Freehold in Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, in such County of a City or County of a Town, of the clear yearly Value of Ten Pounds at the least above all Charges, any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall prevent any Person now being a Forty-shilling Freeholder entitled to register as such from retaining (so long as he shall continue to be seised of the same Lands or Tenements) the Right of voting in such Election in respect thereof, if duly registered according to the Provisions of this Act. VII. And be it enacted, That at all Elections of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any City, Town, or Borough in Ireland, not being a County in itself, every Male Person of full Age, and not subject to any legal Incapacity, and duly registered according to the Provisions of this Act, who shall hold and occupy within such City, Town, or Borough, as Tenant or Owner, any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop, which, either separately, or jointly with any Land within such City, Town, or Borough occupied therewith by him as

Tenant under the same Landlord, or occupied therewith by him as Owner, shall be bonâ fide of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds, shall be entitled to vote in the Choice of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for such City, Town, or Borough; provided always, that no such Occupier as last aforesaid shall be admitted to be registered under this Act unless he shall have occupied such Premises as aforesaid for Six Calendar Months next previous to the Time of Registry, nor unless such Occupier shall have paid or discharged all such Grand Jury and Municipal Cesses, Rates, and Taxes, if any, as shall have become legally due and payable by him in respect of such Premises, over and above and except One Half Year’s Amount of such Cesses, Rates, and Taxes aforesaid. VIII. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing herein-before contained, no Person shall be entitled to vote in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, for any City or Town, or County of a City or Town, in respect of any Estate or Interest in any Freehold under the yearly Value of Ten Pounds which shall have been acquired by such Person since the First Day of March One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, unless the same shall have come to or been acquired by such Person since that Day, and previously to the passing of this Act, by Descent, Succession, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice in a Church, or by Promotion to any Office. IX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That all Freemen, Freeholders, and Persons who by reason of any Corporate or other Right are now by Law entitled to

223

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

vote at the Election of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for any City, Town, or Borough, and all Persons who, by reason of Birth, Marriage, or Service, or of any Statute now in force, shall be at any Time hereafter admitted to their Freedom in any City, Town, or Borough sending a Member or Members to Parliament, shall, after such Registration as is directed by this Act, but so long only as they shall reside within the said City, Town, or Borough, or within Seven Statute Miles of the usual Place of Election therein, have and enjoy such Right of voting as fully and in like Manner as if this Act had not been passed: Provided further, that no Persons who since the Thirteenth Day of March in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one have been or hereafter shall be admitted as Honorary Freemen shall be entitled by virtue of such Admission to vote or register as Freemen under this Act. X. And be it further enacted, That no Public or Parliamentary Tax, County, Church, or Parish Cess or Rate, or any Cess or Rate upon any Townland, or Division of any Parish, Barony, or Half Barony, shall be deemed a Charge payable out of any Estate or Tenement withing the Meaning of this Act. XI. And be it enacted, That the City of Limerick, the City of Waterford, the Borough of Belfast, the County of the Town of Galway, and the University of Dublin shall each respectively return One Member to serve in each future Parliament, in addition to the Member which each of the said Places is now by Law entitled to return. XII. And be it enacted, That each of the Cities, Towns, and Boroughs return-

224

ing a Member or Members to serve in Parliament shall for the Purposes of this Act include the Place or Places respectively which shall be comprehended within the Boundaries of each of the said Cities, Towns, and Boroughs respectively, as such Boundaries shall be settled by an Act to be passed for that Purpose in this present Parliament, which Act, when passed, shall be deemed and taken to be Part of this Act as fully and effectually as if the same were incorporated herewith: Provided always, that until the passing of said last-mentioned Act all such Cities, Towns, and Boroughs shall for the Purposes of this Act be deemed and taken to be comprehended within the same Limits and Boundaries as before the passing of this Act. XIII. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be admitted to vote at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for any County, City, Town, or Borough in Ireland, the University of Dublin excepted, unless such Person shall have been qualified as aforesaid, and duly registered under this Act; and that no Person shall be so registered in respect of any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, unless he shall have been in the actual Possession thereof, or in Receipt of the Rents, Issues, or Profits thereof, for his own Use, as the Case may require, for Six Calendar Months next previous to his Registry under this Act: Provided always, that when any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, which would otherwise entitle the Owner, Holder, or Possessor thereof to vote in any such Election, shall come to any Person, at any Time within Six Months next before such Registry, by Descent, Succession, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice or Office,

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

such Person shall be entitled in respect thereof to be registered as a Voter at the Registry for such County, City, Town, and Borough respectively then next to be had by virtue of this Act. XIV. And be it further enacted, That after the Commencement of this Act a Special Session, for the Purpose of registering Votes for each County, City, Town, and Borough in Ireland having the Right to send a Member or Members to Parliament (the Borough of the University of Dublin only excepted), shall be holden in each such County by and before the Assistant Barrister or Chairman of such County, and in each such City, Town, and Borough respectively by and before the Assistant Barristers in the Schedule (A.) hereunto annexed mentioned, on such Day or Days and at such Places respectively as the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland shall appoint; and the Clerk of the Peace in and for each such County, City, Town, and Borough, or his Deputy, shall, Thirty Days at the least before the Day respectively so appointed, cause to be posted, in conspicuous Places within each such County, City, Town, and Borough respectively, Notices that such Session for the Purposes of registering the Names of Voters under this Act for such County, City, Town, or Borough will be held on the Days and at the Places so appointed, and that Applications for that Purpose will be then and there taken into consideration. XV. And be it enacted, That every Person intending to apply at such Session to be registered as a Voter for any County, City, Town, or Borough shall, Twenty clear Days at the least before the first Day appointed for holding such Sessions re-

spectively, give or cause to be given a Notice in Writing of such his Intention to the Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, acting for such County, City, Town, or Borough, or to the High Constable of the Barony within which the Property to be registered is situate, and the High Constable shall without Delay transmit all Notices so given to him to the Clerk of the Peace; and such Person so intending to register shall in such Notice state his Name and Residence, the Right in respect of which he intends to apply, and the Nature of the Qualification relied upon by him as entitling him to be so registered; and such Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy shall thereupon enter all such Notices according to the Order in which he shall receive them, and shall, Ten Days at least before the Day appointed for holding such Session, cause alphabetical Lists of such Voters to be printed and circulated, and to be posted in conspicuous Places throughout such County, City, Town, or Borough; and no such List shall be liable to any Stamp Duty. XVI. And be it enacted, That at such Special Session the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy shall call the Names of the Persons contained in such List in alphabetical Order, and shall again Twice at the least during such Sessions call over the Names of all such Persons as did not appear upon such first Calling, and that each Claimant’s Case shall be heard in the Order of his Appearance; and each Person so called shall produce in open Court the Deed, Lease, or Instrument, if any, duly stamped, by virtue of which he shall claim a Right to be registered, or shall, by his own Oath, or otherwise as the Assistant Barrister shall require, sufficiently account for the Non-production thereof;

225

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

or if he shall not claim by virtue of a Deed, Lease, or Instrument, or is disabled from producing such Deed, Lease, or Instrument, then such Person shall otherwise establish his Right to be registered as such Voter, pursuant to his said Notice, according to the Provisions of this Act; and such Person, if claiming as a Freeholder or Leaseholder or Householder, shall also make it appear that the Property in respect of which he seeks to be so registered is of the Value and Nature by this Act prescribed, and that he is otherwise duly qualified to be registered according to the Provisions of this Act: Provided always, that no Person shall be bound to produce the Title Deeds of any Landlord under whom he may hold or derive, or make Proof of such Title, and that Possession and Perception of Rent shall be deemed primâ facie Evidence of such Landlord’s Title. XVII. And be it enacted, That the Assistant Barrister or Chairman shall inspect and examine every Deed, Lease, or Instrument so produced, and shall investigate the Claim made thereunder, or otherwise, to be registered, and shall determine upon the Validity or Invalidity of such Claim, and shall and may examine and inquire, as well by the Oaths of the Claimants as by any other Evidence offered in support of or in opposition to such Claim, whether such Claimant is or is not to be registered as a Voter for the County, City, Town, or Borough to which his Claim shall relate, and in case of any Claim in respect of the Freehold, Leasehold, or Household Property, whether the same be of the Value and Nature respectively hereby prescribed and required, and shall also inquire, by any of the Means aforesaid, as he shall think fit, into the Truth of the several Particulars required by the Provisions of this

226

Act, or required to be stated in any Oath by such Claimant herein-after prescribed to be taken for such Registry. XVIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That no Person shall be received as the Opposer of any Claimant to register at such Sessions who shall not be himself either a registered Voter for such County, City, Town, or Borough, or a Person who has served a Notice to register as a Voter at the same Sessions, or some Counsel, Attorney, or Agent duly authorized by such Voter or Claimant to appear for him or on his Behalf. XIX. And be it enacted, That if such Assistant Barrister or Chairman shall deem such Claimant to be entitled under this Act to be registered as a Voter for the County, City, Town, or Borough to which his Claim shall relate, and not be subject to any legal Disqualification, such Barrister or Chairman shall so declare and adjudge; and the Person so declared entitled shall verify his Title by Affidavit, and shall take and subscribe (as the Case may be) the Oath stated in the Schedule (C.) to this Act annexed, instead of any Oath or Oaths which by the Law now in being he would be liable to take or subscribe. XX. And be it enacted, That every such Affidavit shall be signed by the Barrister or Chairman before whom the same shall be taken, and shall be by him delivered to the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy, as the Case may be, to be filed and kept amongst the Records of the County, City, Town, or Borough; and such Barrister is hereby required to take care that such Oaths shall be agreeable to the Form hereby prescribed, or as near thereto as may be; and no Objection in point of Form shall at any Time

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

hereafter be allowed to any such Oath, when signed. XXI. And be it enacted, That in case it shall appear to such Barrister or Chairman that any Person claiming to be registered as a Voter for any County, City, Town, or Borough is not entitled so to be registered, such Barrister or Chairman shall refuse to permit such Person to be registered, and shall make an Order accordingly; and when such Refusal shall be on the Ground of Insufficiency of Value, the Order of Refusal shall state such Insufficiency as the Ground of such Order, or otherwise shall state the Objection by reason whereof the Claimant has been adjudged not to be entitled to be registered: Provided always, that such Order shall be without Prejudice to any future Application to be registered which the Person so rejected shall think fit to make at any subsequent General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. XXII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That a Certificate of Registry made pursuant to the Laws in force in Ireland previous to the passing of this Act shall be deemed and taken to be primâ facie Evidence of the Right to be registered; and that any Person, having given Notice of his Intention to register as by this Act required, shall, upon producing or causing to be produced such Certificate at the Session for that Purpose to be held, be entitled and admitted to register his Vote and obtain his Certificate under this Act, without further Proof or Oath, unless Cause to the contrary shall appear, and without any Fee or Charge; and in Cases where a Certificate of Registry shall not be produced, or in case it shall appear expedient, it shall be lawful for the Assistant Barrister or Chairman presiding at the Sessions to be holden

for the Purpose of registering Votes under this Act to refer to any original Affidavit or Affirmation, or Transcript or Record thereof, or any Entry thereof in the Book or Books which by virtue of the Laws now in force in Ireland the Clerks of the Peace or Town Clerks throughout Ireland are authorized or required to make or keep; and in case the said Assistant Barrister or Chairman shall be satisfied, on Inspection thereof, that such Affirmations or Affidavits or Entries are correct, it shall not be necessary for him further to inquire into the Right of voting claimed thereunder, but he shall and may direct and allow the same to be registered, and the Claimant to have his Certificate under this Act, without Oath or further Proof, unless Cause to the contrary shall appear, and without any Fee or Charge. XXIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That all Forty-shilling Freeholders and Five-pound Householders claiming a Right to be registered under this Act shall appear in person before the Assistant Barrister at the Sessions, to be examined on Oath by such Barrister touching such their Claim to be registered, and they shall, if required by such Barrister, make Proof of the Nature and Sufficiency of their Qualification to be so registered, and shall upon such Proof being made, and also Proof of Identity, be admitted or rejected accordingly. XXIV. And be it enacted, That if any Person against whose Claim any such Order shall be made on the Ground of Insufficiency of Value shall deem himself aggrieved thereby, it shall be lawful for such Person to appeal therefrom to the Judges of Assize at the next Assizes for the County, City, Town, or Place within

227

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

which the Property in right whereof such Person claims to register such Vote shall be situate; and such Judges of Assize, or One of them, are and is hereby empowered and required to try and inquire by the Verdict of a Jury whether such Property is of the annual Value within the Meaning of this Act at which the Claimant seeks to register such Vote; and such Jury shall be returned by the same Officer and in the same Manner in which Juries are now returned in Cases of Appeal from the Decrees of Assistant Barristers on Civil Bills; and if such Jury shall give a Verdict in favour of the Claim to register, and the Judge before whom the same shall be tried shall consider such Claim to be in other respects well founded, the Order so complained of shall be thereupon reversed, and the Claimant be declared and adjudged entitled to be registered as a Voter under this Act; and such Adjudication shall have the same Effect to all Intents and Purposes as if the same had been made by such Assistant Barrister or Chairman at the Sessions aforesaid.

to all Intents and Purposes, as if the said Adjudication had been made by such Assistant Barrister or Chairman at the Sessions aforesaid.

XXV. And be it enacted, That where any Person, against whose Claim to register as a Voter at Elections for any County, City, or Town or Place, any Order shall be made by the Assistant Barrister or Chairman on any other Ground than Insufficiency of Value, shall consider himself aggrieved by such Order, it shall be lawful for such Person to appeal from such Order to the Judges of Assize at the next Assizes to be holden for the same County, City, Town, or Place; and such Judges of Assize, or One of them, shall have Power, on Motion, to review such Order, and either to affirm or reverse the same, as shall be fit, and thereupon to adjudicate; and which Adjudication shall have the same Effect,

XXVII. And be it enacted, That after the Determination of the Session hereby directed to be first holden for the Registry of Voters for Counties, Cities, Towns, and Boroughs, it shall be lawful for any Person claiming a Right so to be registered to apply for that Purpose at any Sessions of the Peace or Adjournment thereof to be held by and before the Assistant Barrister or Chairman of the proper County, and by and before the Assistant Barrister or Chairman by the said Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed authorized to register Voters for such City, Town, or Borough, upon giving to the Clerk of the Peace a Notice of his Intention so to do, in the Form herein provided, Twenty clear Days at the least

228

XXVI. And be it enacted, That in every Case in which an Order of an Assistant Barrister or Chairman shall upon Appeal be reversed, the Judge before whom the same shall have been heard shall thereupon cause such Oath to be taken and subscribed, and such Certificate to be given, and shall sign the same respectively, in like Manner as the Assistant Barrister is herein-before required to do, and shall cause such Acts to be performed by the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy, and such Proceedings to be had, as herein-before directed and required when any Voter is registered at any Sessions before the Assistant Barrister or Chairman; and such Oath and Certificate, and such Acts and Proceedings, shall be of the like Effect as if they had been taken, subscribed, given, performed, and had before the Assistant Barrister or Chairman.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

before the Day appointed for the holding of such General or Quarter Session, and if within a County at large, in the Division within which the Freehold or Leasehold Interest intended to be registered shall be situate; and the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy shall in such Case proceed in all respects in the same Manner as hereinbefore prescribed with relation to Applications for registering Voters at the first Session for that Purpose, hereby directed; and the Assistant Barrister of such County, or Chairman, is hereby authorized and required to hear and determine such Applications at such General or Quarter Sessions, and at the Commencement of such Sessions, and before any other Business, Civil or Criminal, in the same Manner in all respects as is herein-before provided with respect to Applications to register at the Sessions for that Purpose to be first holden under this Act; and thereupon the same Proceedings shall and may be had, the like Orders made, the like Oaths taken, the like Certificates granted, the like Rights and Powers of Appeal enjoyed and exercised, and the like Rules and Regulations, Enactments and Things, observed, performed, and followed, as if such Application had been made at the first Session for registering Votes directed to be held under this Act: Provided always, that a Certificate of a former Registry under this Act shall be deemed and taken to be primâ facie Evidence of the Right of voting; and that any Person, having given Notice of his Intention to register anew under this Act, shall, upon producing or causing to be produced such former Certificate at the Sessions for that Purpose to be held, be entitled and admitted to register his Vote, and to obtain a new Certificate under this Act, without further Proof or Oath, unless Cause to the contrary shall appear, and

shall by virtue of such new Certificate be entitled to vote at any Election or Elections to be held within Eight Years next after the obtaining of such new Certificate. XXVIII. And be it enacted, That upon any Person being under this Act declared entitled to be registered as a Voter, the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy shall, upon Payment to him of the Sum of One Shilling, give to the Person so declared entitled a Certificate on Parchment, signed by such Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy, as also by the Barrister, Chairman, or Judge, declaring such Right, that such Person has been registered as a Voter for such County, City, Town, or Borough, and the Character and Right in which he has been so registered, and the Date of such Registry as aforesaid, and shall then and there make an Entry of such Certificate at the Foot of the Voter’s Affidavit of Registry, and sign his Name to such Entry; and which Certificate shall be the proper Evidence of the Right of the Person named therein to vote: Provided always, that in the Absence of such Certificate, the Voter shall be entitled to refer to his original Affidavit of Registry, with the Entry thereon, in the Hands of the Deputy Clerk of the Peace, and which original Affidavit such Deputy is required immediately to produce to the Returning Officer or his Deputy. XXIX. And be it enacted, That every Person who shall duly register as a Voter within this Act at the first Session for registering his Vote within this Act shall be thereupon forthwith entitled to vote at any Election to be held in and for the County, City, Town, or Borough for which such Voter shall be registered; and that any Person who shall at any Time after such first Session duly register his Vote accord-

229

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

ing to the Provisions of this Act shall be entitled to vote at any Election to be held by virtue of any Writ tested Six Calendar Months at least after such Registry. XXX. And be it further enacted, That the Clerk of the Peace, at every Election of a Member to serve in Parliament for any County, City, Town, or Borough, shall appoint, or in failure thereof the Returning Officer or Officers shall appoint, a Deputy Clerk of the Peace, and likewise an Assistant to such Deputy, to be present in each Booth or Place of polling, who shall take with him into such Place of polling all the original Affidavits and Affirmations which have been made by the Persons capable of voting in such Place of polling respectively, any Act to the contrary notwithstanding; which Affidavits or Affirmations the Clerk of the Peace is hereby required to have arranged alphabetically in separate Parcels, (One or more for each Letter of the Alphabet,) and indorsed with the Names of the Persons by whom the same were respectively made, and also with the Number of the Entry of Affidavit or Affirmation in the Registry Book; and that in those Cases wherein a Certificate of Registry shall not be produced by the Person tendering his Vote or offering to poll, such Deputy shall, on the Demand of the Person offering to poll, produce the original Affidavit or Affirmation of the Registry of such Person; and that such Deputy Clerk of the Peace shall be entitled to receive the Sum of Ten Shillings, and no more, for each Day of his Attendance, any Act to the contrary notwithstanding; and such Assistant to such Deputy shall be entitled to receive the Sum of Five Shillings for each Day of his Attendance; and that if such Deputy, or such Assistant to such Deputy, shall

230

alter, deface, destroy, or lose any Affidavit or Affirmation of Registry committed to his Care, he shall forfeit the Sum of Ten Pounds for every such Offence to any Person suing for the same, by Action of Debt, at any General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. XXXI. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be admitted to vote at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, by virtue of any Registry under this Act, unless he shall have registered within Eight Years next before such Election. XXXII. And be it enacted, That no Registry hereafter to be made shall be valid unless made conformably to the Provisions of this Act. XXXIII. And be it enacted, That in case any Exigency shall render it necessary for any Assistant Barrister or Chairman to adjourn any Session for the Registry of Votes so appointed to be holden, or in case he shall be so directed by the Lord Lieutenant, it shall be lawful for him to adjourn and continue the same, as Circumstances may require, either to the same Place, or to such other Place or Places as the Lord Lieutenant shall direct. XXXIV. And be it enacted, That any Person registering under this Act shall be exempted from the Payment of any Fee whatever for filing the Certificate or other Duty in respect of such Registry, save only such Fee of One Shilling to the Clerk of the Peace as by this Act is provided. XXXV. And be it further enacted, That the Clerk of the Peace for each County, City, Town, and Borough returning a Mem-

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

ber or Members to Parliament shall, under the Direction and with the Advice of the Chairman or Barrister, as the Case may be, on or before the First Day of February in each and every Year, examine, correct, and make out complete alphabetical Lists of the registered Voters in each County, City, Town, and Borough in which he has acted in making such Registry as aforesaid, with the Dates of their Registries respectively annexed, and shall, at the Expence of such County, City, Town, and Borough respectively, on or before the said First Day of February in each Year, cause such Lists to be printed, and posted in some conspicuous Places in the Counties, Cities, Towns, and Boroughs to which such Lists respectively relate, and shall also deliver to any Person applying for the same a Copy of each such printed List, upon being paid One Shilling for each such Copy. XXXVI. And be it enacted, That the Expences of printing the Notices and Postings hereby directed shall be defrayed by the Clerk of the Peace in such County, City, and Town respectively; and the Grand Jury of each such County, City, and Town, as the Case may be, are hereby required, at the next Assizes or Presenting Term after such Notices and Postings, to present to be levied off their respective Counties, in the same Manner as other Sums are authorized to be presented by such Grand Juries, all such Sums as shall have been necessarily disbursed by such Clerks of the Peace respectively, which Sums shall be paid to such Clerks of the Peace. XXXVII. And be it enacted, That no Barrister or Chairman shall be eligible to serve in Parliament for any County, City, Town, or Borough sending a Member or

Members to Parliament, in which he shall have exercised Jurisdiction under this Act as such Barrister or Chairman, for Seven Years after he shall have exercised such Jurisdiction. XXXVIII. And be it enacted, That each Riding in the County of Cork shall be deemed to be a County for the Purpose of Registry under this Act. XXXIX. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall refuse to be sworn or to give Evidence before any Judge, Barrister, Chairman, or Jury, upon the Investigation of any Claim to register under this Act as aforesaid, without sufficient lawful Excuse to be allowed by such Judge, Barrister, or Chairman, it shall be lawful for such Judge, Chairman, or Barrister to order such Person to pay a Fine not exceeding Ten Pounds, to be applied to the Use of the Infirmary of the County, City, or Town respectively, or such charitable Institution as the Judge, Chairman, or Barrister shall think fit, or in default thereof to commit such Person to the Gaol of the said County, City, or Town respectively for any Term not exceeding Two Calendar Months. XL. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall forge or counterfeit the Signature of any Judge, Chairman, Barrister, or Clerk of the Peace to any Order, Certificate, or Instrument in Writing purporting to be an Order or Certificate within this Act, or the Signature of any Person to any Oath or Affirmation within this Act, or shall knowingly utter or publish as true and genuine any such forged or counterfeited Order, Certificate, Instrument, Writing, Oath, or Affirmation, every Person so offending shall be deemed guilty of Felony, and shall be liable, at the Discretion of the

231

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

Court before which he shall be tried, to be transported beyond the Seas for the Term of Seven Years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard Labour, for any Term not exceeding Three Years. XLI. And be it enacted, That in every Case where an Oath is by this Act required to be taken, every Person, being a Moravian or Quaker, may make Affirmation in the Form prescribed hereby for each such Oath respectively, and that all Provisions herein contained relative to any Oath shall respectively extend and apply to every such Affirmation. XLII. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall, in any Oath or Affirmation to be taken under this Act, wilfully and corruptly swear or affirm falsely, such Person shall be deemed guilty of Perjury, and be liable to the same Pains, Penalties, and Punishments as any Person is now liable to for wilful and corrupt Perjury. XLIII. And be it enacted, That the Sheriff of each County, City, and Town in Ireland, or his Under Sheriff, and also the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy, and Town Clerks, for each such County, City, Town, or Borough, or his Deputy, and the High Constable of the Barony in which each and every such Court of Sessions as by this Act is directed shall be held, and such Number of other Constables as the Assistant Barrister or Chairman shall deem sufficient, shall attend the Court from Day to Day during the Continuance of such Sessions; and every Clerk of the Peace and Town Clerk, or Deputy, as the Case may be, attending any such Sessions, shall take with him and from Day to Day attend with such original Affidavits or Affirmations, and all and every such

232

Book and Registry, as under and by virtue of the Laws now in force in Ireland, or under this Act, such Clerk of the Peace or Town Clerk, or his Deputy, is required to keep or to attend with and produce at any Election or Place of polling in Ireland. XLIV. And be it enacted, That in the County of Dublin all Voters to be registered under this Act shall be registered before the Chairman of the Sessions of that County, and in the City of Dublin before the said Chairman, who shall for such Purpose hold a Session Four Times in each Year, at such Times and Places as the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland shall appoint, and that such Registry shall be conducted in the same Manner in all respects as before the Assistant Barrister in any other County, City, or Town; and such Chairman shall have, exercise, perform, and discharge every Power, Jurisdiction, Right, Authority, Duty, and Function hereby vested in or given to any such Assistant Barrister; and in any Case where an Appeal is hereby allowed from the Order of an Assistant Barrister to the Judge of Assize the like Power of Appeal from any Order of such Chairman shall and may, in the Case of any Voter in the County of Dublin and City of Dublin respectively, be enjoyed and had to a Judge of any of His Majesty’s superior Law Courts of Record in Dublin at Nisi Prius, at the Sittings for the City of Dublin next after such Order made, and the Judge to which any such Appeal shall be made shall proceed with respect thereto in the same Manner as any Judge of Assize is hereby authorized or required to proceed. XLV. And be it enacted, That every Session to be held for registering Voters

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

within this Act shall be deemed a Court of Record; and that it shall be lawful for every Barrister or Chairman before whom such Court shall be held, from Time to Time as there shall be Occasion, to fine the Clerk of the Peace or his Deputy, the Town Clerk or his Deputy, or the SubSheriff of the County, City, or Town for which the said Court shall be held, and any High or other Constable, who shall respectively be guilty of any Breach of Duty in the Execution of this Act, in any Sum not exceeding Five Pounds, and, at his Discretion, to fine in any Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings, or to commit to Prison for any Time not exceeding a Fortnight, any Person whatsoever who shall disturb the Court so to be held by him for registering Voters as aforesaid, or who shall be guilty of any other Contempt of the said Court. XLVI. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Freeholder who may be entitled by Law to register a Freehold in any County, County of a City, or County of a Town in Ireland, of the annual Value of not less than Fifty Pounds, and for every Clergyman who claims to vote as a Freeholder in right of his Benefice, to register such Freehold either at the Special or any General Quarter Sessions to be holden under this Act, or to register such Freehold by taking and subscribing the proper Oath by the Schedule to this Act annexed prescribed, in any of the superior Courts of Record in Dublin, or before a Judge at the Assizes, in the Manner now by Law authorized; and the said Oath shall be subscribed by One of the Judges of the Court before whom the same was taken, and being delivered to the Clerk of the Peace, shall be signed by him, and kept amongst the Re-

cords of the proper County; and each such Freeholder shall be thereupon entitled, upon Payment of the Fee of One Shilling, to receive, at any Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Division of the County in which his Freehold shall be situate, a Certificate of his Registry as a Voter for such County, City, or Town respectively; which Certificate shall be in the Form by this Act prescribed, and shall be signed by the Assistant Barrister and Clerk of the Peace, or his Deputy, and shall be of equal Validity with any Certificate to be granted under this Act, and subject to the same Provisions. XLVII. And be it enacted, That no Person shall be allowed to have any Vote at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for or by reason of any Trust Estate or Mortgage, unless such Trustee or Mortgagee be in actual Receipt of the Rents and Profits of the same Estate, but that the Cestuique Trust or Mortgagor in possession shall and may register and vote for the same Estate, notwithstanding such Trust or Mortgage. XLVIII. And be it enacted, That after the End of the present Parliament all Booths erected for the Convenience of taking Polls shall be erected at the joint and equal Expence of the several Candidates, and the same shall be erected by Contract with the Candidates if they shall think fit to make such Contract, or if they shall not make such Contract, then the same shall be erected by the Sheriff or other Returning Officer or Officers, at the Expence of the several Candidates as aforesaid; and the Deputies appointed by the said Sheriff or other Returning Officer or Officers shall be paid each Two Guineas by the Day, and the Clerks employed in

233

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

taking the Polls shall be paid each One Guinea by the Day, at the Expence of the Candidates at such Election: Provided always, that if any Person shall be proposed without his Consent, then that the Person so proposing him shall deposit or give Security in a sufficient Sum to defray his Share of the said Expences in like Manner as if he had been a Candidate. XLIX. And be it enacted, That the Sheriff or other Returning Officer shall, before the Day fixed for the Election, cause to be made, for the Use of each Booth at such Election, a true Copy of the Register of Voters, and shall under his Hand certify every such Copy to be true. L. And be it enacted, That every Deputy of a Sheriff or other Returning Officer shall have the same Power of administering the Oaths and Affirmations required by Law as the Sheriff or other Returning Officer has by virtue of this or any other Act, and subject to the same Regulations and Provisions in every respect as such Sheriff or other Returning Officer; and that such Oaths shall be agreeable to the Forms by Law required, or as near thereto as may be. LI. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in any One Barony or Half Barony of the County, or in any County of a City or County of a Town, or in any Borough, the Number of registered Voters appearing by the Books of the Clerk of the Peace capable of voting at any Election for the same shall exceed Six hundred Voters, it shall and may be lawful for the Returning Officer or Officers, and he and they are hereby required, to provide Two or more Polling Places for such Barony or Half Barony, or for such County of a City or County of a Town, or Borough,

234

and to make such a Division or Divisions of the Voters, according to the first Letters of their Names, that it shall not be necessary for more than Six hundred Voters to poll in any One Place of polling, but so as not to divide the Names beginning with the same Letter of the Alphabet; and that it shall and may be lawful for the Returning Officer or Officers, and he and they are hereby required, to provide as many new Places of polling as may be necessary for the Purpose, and to appoint as many additional Deputies and Poll Clerks as shall be necessary to take the Poll in such additional Places of polling, not exceeding One Deputy and One Poll Clerk for each such Place of polling; and provided always, that in case the Number of Voters in any Two or more Baronies or Half Baronies in any County shall not exceed the Number of Six hundred Voters, it shall be lawful for the Returning Officer or Officers, and he and they are hereby required, to provide that the Poll for such Baronies and Half Baronies shall be taken in One Place of polling only. LII. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act every Poll which shall be demanded at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for any County, City, Town, or Borough in Ireland shall commence on the Day upon which the same shall be demanded, or upon the next Day after (unless such Day shall happen to be a Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday, and in such Case on the Day next after), and shall be duly and regularly proceeded in from Day to Day for so many Hours of each Polling Day as the Returning Officer or Officers are now by Law directed to keep the Poll open in Counties at large (Sunday, Christmas Day,

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

and Good Friday excepted), until the same shall be finished, but so that no Poll shall continue more than Five Days at the most (Sunday, Christmas Day, and Good Friday always excepted); and if such Poll shall continue until the Fifth Day, then the same shall be finally closed at or before the Hour of Five o’Clock in the Afternoon of the same Day; and the Returning Officer shall immediately after the final Close of the Poll declare the Name or Names of the Person or Persons having the Majority of Votes in such Poll, and shall forthwith make a Return of such Person or Persons. LIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Returning Officer at any such Election, and he is hereby required, on any Day during such Election after the First Day of polling, to close finally the Poll in any Booth or Place of polling in which no more than Twenty Persons have polled during that Day: Provided always, that in case it shall appear to the Returning Officer, upon the Evidence of Two or more credible Persons, taken upon Oath, and which Oath the Returning Officer is hereby empowered to administer, that any Persons intending to offer themselves to poll in such Booth or Place of polling have been prevented by Force or Violence from coming to the same for the Purpose of polling on that Day, that then and in such Case it shall be lawful to and for the Returning Officer to keep such Booth or Place of polling open for another Day, and so on from Day to Day, if such Force or Violence be repeated, and be found to have taken place upon such Evidence as aforesaid, to the Satisfaction of the Returning Officer, and for such Purpose to delay the final Close of the Poll and the Return so long as may be necessary.

LIV. And be it enacted, That the Certificate by this Act directed, or in default of its Production the original Affidavit of Registry, shall be conclusive of the Right of voting of the Person named therein; and that the Returning Officer or his Deputy, upon the Production of such Certificate or Affidavit by such Person, and upon his taking the Oaths herein-after mentioned, if required so to do, shall admit such Person to vote without any other Oath or Examination, and shall indorse the Initials of his Name thereon, with the Day and Year when the same was produced; and that no Inquiry whatever as to the Right of voting of such Person shall be permitted to be made, nor shall any Scrutiny be allowed; save only that the Sheriff, Returning Officer, or his Deputy, shall, if required by any Candidate or his Agent, and he is hereby authorized so to do, immediately before the polling of any Voter, administer to such Voter the Oath in the Schedule (B.) to this Act annexed; and provided also, that the Oath against Bribery may be administered, at the Desire of any Candidate, to any Person tendering his Vote, in like Manner as the same might be administered before the passing of this Act; and provided always, that if such Person so tendering his Vote shall appear by such Certificate to have before voted at such Election, or shall refuse to take the said Oaths or either of them when required so to do, the Sheriff, Returning Officer, or his Deputy shall reject such Vote. LV. And be it enacted, That all Laws, Statutes, and Usages now in force respecting Elections of Members to serve in Parliament for any County, City, Town, or Borough in Ireland shall, save so far as they are respectively repealed or altered

235

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

by this Act, remain and they are hereby re-enacted and declared to be in full Force; and that all Elections for any Member or Members to serve in this present Parliament, to be hereafter had, shall be held and made as if this Act had not been passed. LVI. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That if a Dissolution of this present Parliament shall take place after the passing of this Act, and before the Termination of the Special Sessions for any County, City, or Town to be first holden under the Provisions of this Act, in such Case such Persons only shall be entitled to vote at the Election of Members to serve in a new Parliament for such County, City, or Town as would have been entitled to register their Votes under this Act if the Day of Election had been the Day for such Registry, and such Person shall be entitled to vote in such Election although they may not be registered according to the Provision of this Act, any thing herein contained notwithstanding. LVII. And be it enacted, That if any Sheriff, Clerk of the Peace, Town Clerk, Returning Officer, or other Person shall wilfully contravene or disobey any Provisions of this Act, he shall for each such Offence be liable to be sued for the Sum of One hundred Pounds, to be recovered by an Action of Debt or Information, in the Name of His Majesty’s Attorney General or any other Person, in any of His Majesty’s superior Courts of Record at Dublin; and the Jury may in any such Action find a Verdict for the Sum of One hundred Pounds, or for any Sum not less than Ten Pounds, as they shall think just; and the Defendant against whom such Verdict shall be found shall pay the

236

Amount thereof, with full Costs of Suit, to the Use of His Majesty or of the Person suing. LVIII. And be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall in anywise prejudice or affect the Right of any Party grieved by any such Misconduct of any Sheriff, Returning Officer, or other Person, to recover in an Action on the Case for a false Return, or such other Action as such Person may by Law be then entitled to maintain. LIX. And be it enacted, That if any Person, at the Time of any Election being in the Enjoyment of any Office disqualifying him from voting at such Election, or being otherwise disqualified, or having ceased to be qualified, shall notwithstanding presume to vote at such Election, such Person shall forfeit to His Majesty a Sum of One hundred Pounds, and shall be liable to all Penalties, Forfeitures, and Provisions to which he would have been subject for such Offence by any Law in force at the Time of committing the same; and in case of a Petition to the House of Commons for altering the Return, or setting aside the Election at which such Person shall have voted, his Vote shall be struck off by the Committee, with such Costs as to them shall seem meet, to be paid by him to the Petitioner. LX. And be it enacted, That in addition to the Persons now qualified to vote at the Election of a Member to serve in Parliament for the University of Dublin, every Person, being of the Age of Twenty-one Years, who has obtained or hereafter shall obtain the Degree of Master of Arts, or any higher Degree, or a Scholarship or Fellowship in the said University, and whose

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

Name shall be upon the Books of the said University, shall be entitled to vote at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for the said University so long as the Name of such Person shall be kept and continue to be kept on the Books of the said University as a Member thereof, subject, however, and according to the Rules and Statutes of the said University; provided always, that no Person shall be entitled to vote at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament for the said University by reason of any Degree of a purely honorary Nature.

send a Member or Members to Parliament; and that the Words “Returning Officer,” used in this Act, shall be construed to include every Person by his Office entitled to preside at the Election of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament, and to include several Persons so entitled.

LXI. And be it further enacted, That every Person who now is a Master or Bachelor of Arts, or of any higher Degree, or who has been a Scholar or Fellow of the said University, and who shall have voluntarily removed his Name from the Books of the said University, shall be entitled, within Six Months after the passing of this Act, and not after, to replace the same thereon, upon Payment of the Sum of Two Pounds; and that every Person whose Name shall be continued upon the said Books for the Purpose of entitling him to vote at the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for the said University shall be liable to pay to the said College an annual Sum of One Pound, and no more; and that upon the Refusal of any such Person to pay the annual Sum of One Pound, within One Month after the same shall have been demanded, his Name shall be removed from said Books, and shall not be again replaced thereon.

LXIV. And be it declared and enacted, That every Person entitled to Two or more Freehold Estates or Interests in any County, County of a City, or County of a Town in Ireland, the annual Value whereof shall in the Aggregate amount to Ten Pounds according to the Mode of valuing Freeholds by this Act prescribed for the Qualification of Electors, and who shall in all other respects be duly qualified, shall be admitted to register and vote according to the Provisions of this Act as if said separate Freehold were One Freehold, although no One of such Freehold Estates may be of such annual Value of Ten Pounds according to such Mode of Valuation.

LXII. And be it enacted, That the Words “City, Town, or Borough,” used in this Act, shall be construed to include all Places, whether corporate or otherwise, entitled to

LXIII. And be it enacted, That no Clergyman shall be permitted to vote as such at any Election of a Member or Members to serve in any future Parliament, unless his Name shall have been duly registered as a Freeholder under this Act.

LXV. And whereas by an Act passed in the First Year of His late Majesty’s Reign, intituled An Act for the better Regulation of Polls, and for making further Provision touching the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for Ireland,2 it is enacted, that if any Person shall vote at any Election by virtue of the Registry of an alleged Freehold under a Lease of Lands and Tenements for a Life or Lives made by the Lessor, who had not at the Time of

237

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

making the same a Freehold Estate therein, or under a Lease of Lands or Tenements for a Life or Lives, which Lease is to end and determine on some such Covenant or Condition that a Freehold Estate has not been demised by the same, or under a Lease of Lands or Tenements for a Life or Lives, or a certain Number of Years, which Life or Lives is or are dead, or under a Lease of Lands or Tenements for a Life or Lives, which Lease has expired or been surrendered, after due Notice not to vote by virtue of any such Registry shall have been given to such Person by any Candidate, or by any Inspector of any Candidate, and which Notice every Candidate and Inspector is thereby authorized and empowered to give such Person at any Time before or during such Election, or in the Place of polling, such Person, on being convicted thereof, shall forfeit to any Person who shall sue for the Sum of Twenty Pounds, to be recovered by him or them, with Treble Costs of Suit, by Action of Debt, at any General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, or at any Assizes that may be held for the County in which such Election shall have taken place: And whereas by an Act passed in the Fourth Year of His late Majesty’s Reign, intituled An Act to consolidate and amend the several Acts then in force, so far as the same relate to the Election and Return of Members to serve in Parliament for Counties of Cities and Counties of Towns in Ireland,3 a similar Provision is made with reference to such Counties of Cities and Counties of Towns: And whereas the giving of such cautionary Notices by Candidates and Inspectors, at and during the Time of an Election, and in the Place of polling, has been productive in many Cases of vexatious Delays and Inconvenience to Voters, and is inexpedient, and

238

unnecessary; be it therefore enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act so much of the said recited Acts of the First and of the Fourth Year of His late Majesty’s Reign as authorizes and empowers every Candidate and Inspector to give such cautionary Notices to Voters at any Time before or during the Elections in Ireland, or in the Place of polling at such Elections, and as renders it necessary that such Notices shall have been so given to any Person voting by virtue of the Registry of the said therein recited alleged Freeholds, in order to such Person being or becoming subject to and incurring the Penalties thereby imposed, shall be and are hereby repealed: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall exempt or be construed to exempt from such Penalties any Person who at the Election of any Member or Members to serve in Parliament for any County, or County of a City, or County of a Town in Ireland, shall vote by virtue of the Registry of such alleged Freehold as aforesaid; but such Person, on being convicted thereof, notwithstanding the Want of such Notice by any Candidate or Inspector, shall forfeit to any Person or Persons who shall sue for the same the said Sum of Twenty Pounds, to be recovered by him or them, with Treble Costs of Suit, by Proceeding in the Nature of Civil Bill, at any General Quarter Sessions of the Peace that may be held for the County, or County of the City, or County of the Town in which such Election shall have taken place, or by Action of Debt in any of His Majesty’s Courts of Record in Ireland. LXVI. And be it further enacted, That the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland shall be and are hereby authorized, by Warrant under his or their Hand, to appoint, for the Duty

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

of presiding at the Special Sessions to be first held for registering Voters under this Act, in any County, City, Town, or Borough, or in any Two or more of such Counties, Cities, Towns, or Boroughs, any Barrister or Barristers of not less than Six Years Standing at the Irish Bar to be Assistant to or Deputies of the Assistant Barrister or Chairman; and when Two or more Barristers shall be appointed for the same County, Riding, City, Town, or Borough, they shall attend at the same Place together, but shall sit apart from each other, and hold separate Courts at the same Time for the Dispatch of Business; and that all the Powers, Duties, Rights, and Privileges given or imposed by this Act to or upon any Assistant Barrister or Chairman are and shall be by virtue of such Warrant given to and imposed upon such Assistants or Deputies; and that all Acts to be done by such Deputies or Assistants shall be of the same Efficacy in Law as if done by the Assistant Barrister or Chairman upon whom such Duties would have otherwise devolved under this Act. LXVII. And be it further enacted, That every Barrister appointed to preside at any Special Sessions under this Act (such Barrister not being an Assistant Barrister or Chairman) shall be paid at the Rate of Five Guineas for every Day that he shall be so employed, over and above his travelling and other Expences; and every such Barrister, after the Termination of his last Sitting, shall lay or cause to be laid before the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland a Statement of the Number of Days during which he shall have been employed, and an Account of the travelling and other Expences incurred by him in respect of such Employment; and such Lord Lieutenant or other

Chief Governor or Governors shall make an Order for the Amount to be paid to such Barrister out of the Consolidated Fund; and in order to provide a Remuneration for the Assistant Barristers or Chairman for the additional Labour imposed on them by this Act, it shall and may be lawful for the said Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors to direct that the said Assistant Barristers and Chairman shall be paid, in addition to the Salaries now by them receivable, such yearly Sum, not exceeding in any Case the Sum of One hundred Pounds, at the Discretion of the said Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors, as he or they shall by Warrant under his or their Hand direct, such additional Salaries to be payable at the same Time and in the same Manner as the Salaries of the said Assistant Barristers are now payable. LXVIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That in order to enable the Chairman of the Sessions for the County of Dublin to discharge the Duties imposed on him by this Act, with regard to the Registry of Voters in and for the City of Dublin, at such Sessions as are to be holden for that Purpose after the First or Special Sessions for registering Voters, it shall and may be lawful for the Chairman of the Sessions of the County of Dublin to discharge the Duties of such subsequent Registries in and for the City of Dublin by a sufficient Deputy, to be appointed by such Chairman for that Purpose, and which Deputy shall be a Barrister of Six Years Standing at the least at the Irish Bar, and shall be approved of by the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland; and that all the Powers, Duties, Rights, and Privileges given or imposed by this Act upon such

239

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

Chairman respecting such Registries are and shall be, by virtue of such Appointment and Approbation as aforesaid, given to and imposed on such Deputy; and that all Acts done by such Deputy respecting such Registries in and for the said City of Dublin shall be of the same Efficacy in Law as if done by the said Chairman himself; and such Deputy shall, at the End of

each Sessions, be paid and remunerated in the same Manner and at the same Rate as any other Deputy appointed to register Votes under this Act. LXIX. And be it further enacted, That this Act may be amended, altered, or repealed by any Act or Acts to be passed in this present Session of Parliament.

SCHEDULES to which the foregoing Act refers SCHEDULE (A) List of Assistant Barristers and Chairman before whom Sessions for registering Votes in each City, Town, or Borough are to held Sessions for

Before

Armagh Borough

Assistant Barrister of Armagh County.

Athlone Borough

Assistant Barrister of Westmeath County.

Bandon Bridge Borough

Assistant Barrister of West Riding of Cork County.

Belfast Borough

Assistant Barrister of Antrim County.

Carlow Borough

Assistant Barrister of Carlow.

Carrickfergus Borough

Assistant Barrister of Antrim County.

Cashel Borough

Assistant Barrister of Tipperary County.

Clonmel Borough

Assistant Barrister of Tipperary County.

Coleraine Borough

Assistant Barrister of Londonderry County.

Cork City

Assistant Barrister of East Riding of Cork County.

Downpatrick Borough

Assistant Barrister of Down County.

Drogheda Borough

Assistant Barrister of Louth County.

Dublin City

Chairman of Sessions of County of Dublin.

Dundalk Borough

Assistant Barrister of Louth County.

Dungannon Borough

Assistant Barrister of Tyrone County.

Dungarvan Borough

Assistant Barrister of Waterford County.

Ennis Borough

Assistant Barrister of Clare County.

Enniskillen Borough

Assistant Barrister of Fermanagh County.

240

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

Sessions for

Before

Galway Town

Assistant Barrister of Galway County.

Kilkenny City

Assistant Barrister of Kilkenny County.

Kinsale Borough

Assistant Barrister of East Riding of Cork County.

Limerick City

Assistant Barrister of Limerick County.

Lisburn Borough

Assistant Barrister of Antrim County.

Londonderry City

Assistant Barrister of Londonderry County.

Mallow Town

Assistant Barrister of East Riding of Cork County.

Newry Borough

Assistant Barrister of Down County.

Portarlington Borough

Assistant Barrister of Queen’s County.

Ross (New) Borough

Assistant Barrister of Wexford County.

Sligo Borough

Assistant Barrister of Sligo County.

Tralee Borough

Assistant Barrister of Kerry County.

Waterford City

Assistant Barrister of Waterford County.

Wexford Borough

Assistant Barrister of Wexford.

Youghal Borough

Assistant Barrister of East Riding of Cork County.

SCHEDULE (B)

SCHEDULE (C) No. 1

Oath to be taken by Voters at Polling, before Returning Officer, Sheriff, or his Deputies, if required on behalf of any Candidate

Form of Notice for holding the first Session for registering Voters under this Act

I A. B. do swear, (or, being a Quaker, do affirm,) That I am the same (A. B.) whose Name appears registered in the Certificate or Affidavit now produced; and that my Qualification as such registered Voter still continues; and that I have not before voted at this Election; and (in the Case of Householders in Cities, Towns, and Boroughs,) that not more than One Half Year’s Grand Jury or Municipal Cesses, Rates, or Taxes are now due or payable by me in respect of the Premises in this Certificate mentioned.

County City Town of or Borough

___ (as the Case may be.)

Notice is hereby given, That a Session for the Purpose of registering the Names of Persons entitled to vote at the Election of Members (or a Member) to serve in Parliament for the County of ____ (or the City of ____ or the County of the Town of ____ or the Borough of ____ as the Case may be), pursuant to an Act passed in the Second and Third Year of the Reign of King Wil-

241

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

liam the Fourth, will be holden at ____ in the said County of ____ (or City of ____ or the County of the Town of ____ or Borough of ____ as the Case may) be, on the ____ Day of ____ next, by and before the Assistant Barrister of the County of ____ (or before the Chairman or Barrister, as the Case may be,) at which Time and Place Applications of Persons claiming to be entitled to vote at such Elections will be received and taken into consideration. Dated this ____ Day of ____ . Clerk of the Peace of the said County or ____ (or County of the City, or County of the Town.)

Name, Description, and In what Right Residence of Applicant. claiming.

X. Y. of Yeoman, &c.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 2 Form of Notice to be given of Application to be registered as a Voter for a County, City, Town, or Borough Sir, Take Notice, That it is my Intention to apply to be registered as a Person entitled to vote at Elections of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for the County of ____ (or for the City, Town, or Borough) of ____ and the Particulars of my Claim are as follows:

Description of Property, if the same be in respect of Property, with Name of Barony, Townland, Parish, Street or Denomination, or Place where situate.

Yearly Value to be registered.

Freeholder. Leaseholder. Householder. Freeman. Rent-charge.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 3 List of Applications to be entered by the Clerk of the Peace No.

242

Name, Description, and Residence of Applicant.

Description of Property, with Name of Townland, Parish, Street, &c., and Right in which Registry is claimed.

Yearly Value to be registered.

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

SCHEDULE (C) No. 4 Oath of Freeholders registering a Freehold of the Value of Twenty Pounds or upwards, not arising from a Rent-charge, in any County, City, or Town I A. B. of ____ in the County (or of ____ in the City, Town, or Borough of ____ ) Esquire, Clerk, (or as the Description is,) do swear, That I am a Freeholder in the County, City, or Town of ____ and that I have now a Freehold therein arising from a House (or Houses, Lands, or both or other Hereditaments, as the Case may be,) lying and being at ____ (naming the Street or Place where such House or Houses or other Hereditaments shall be situate or arise) in the County (City or Town) of ____ of the clear yearly Value of Fifty Pounds, or Twenty Pounds, (as the Case may be,) at the least, above all Rent and Charges payable out of the same, except only Public or Parliamentary Taxes, County, Church, or Parish Cesses or Rates; and that the said Freehold does not arise from a Rent-charge; and that I have not accepted or procured the said Freehold fraudulently, nor in exchange for any Freehold in any other County, City, Town, or Borough. So help me GOD.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 5 Oath to be taken by Rent-charger in any County, City, or Town I A. B. of ____ in the County (or City or Town) of ____ Esquire, (or as the Description is,) do swear, That I am a Freeholder in the County of the City (or Town) of ____ and that I have a Freehold therein of the clear yearly Value of Twenty Pounds at the least above all Charges payable out

of the same, consisting of a Rent-charge granted by Deed or Instrument bearing Date the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ by A. B. of ____ on the Lands of ____ (naming the Lands, House or Houses, or other Hereditaments mentioned in such Deed) in the County, City (or Town) of ____ ; and that I am in the Possession thereof to the clear Amount of Twenty Pounds yearly, and am entitled to receive the same as it becomes due, to and for my own sole Use and Benefit; and that I have not procured or accepted the same fraudulently, nor in exchange for a Freehold in any other County (City or Town). So help me GOD.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 6 Oath of Freeholder registering a Freehold of the annual Value of Ten Pounds in any County, City, or Town I E. F. of ____ in the County (City or Town) of ____ Yeoman, (or as the Case may be,) do swear, That I am a Freeholder of the County (County of the City or the Town) of ____ and that I have a Freehold therein arising from a House (or Houses, Land, or both, as the Case may be,) of the clear yearly Value of Ten Pounds above all Rent and Charges payable out of the same, except only Public or Parliamentary Taxes, County, Parish, or Church Cesses or Rates, and Cesses on any Townland or Division of any Parish or Barony, lying and being at ____ (naming the Townland or Townlands or other Denominations by which the Place is generally known, and the Barony or Baronies, or the Parish, and Street or Streets of the County, City, or Town, as the Case may be, wherein it is situate,) in the County, City (or Town) of ____ ; and that the said Freehold does not

243

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

arise from a Rent-charge, and that the same arises by virtue of the Deed, Lease, or Instrument bearing Date the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ (or otherwise stating the Nature of the Title, as the Case may be); and that I am in the actual Occupation thereof by residing thereon, (or by tilling or by grazing, or by both tilling and grazing, as the Case may be); (and where the Freehold is held by any Deed, Lease, or Instrument, adding these Words, and that the Freehold is not let or agreed to be let to the Person or Persons who executed the said Deed or Instrument, or to the Heirs or Assigns of such Person or Persons, or to any one in Trust for him, her, or them, nor do I intend to let the same or any Part thereof to such Person or Persons, or any of them, and that I have not agreed to let it for the Term for which I hold it); and that I have not procured or accepted the said Freehold fraudulently, nor in exchange for a Freehold in any other County, City, or Town. So help me GOD.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 7 Oath of Leaseholder registering a Leasehold in any County, City, or Town I E. F. of ____ in the County (or City or Town) of ____ Farmer (or as the Case may be) do swear, That I do now hold the Lands of (or as the Case may be, describing the Tenement), situate, lying, and being at ____ under a Lease (Deed or Instrument, as the Case may be,) bearing Date the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ by and between ____ ; and that such Leasehold is now of the clear yearly Value of Twenty Pounds (or Ten Pounds, as the Case may be,) over and above all Rent and Charges payable out of the same, ex-

244

cept only Public or Parliamentary Taxes, County, Church, or Parish Cesses or Rates, and Cesses upon any Townland or Division of any Parish or Barony; and that the said Leasehold does not arise from a Rentcharge; and that I have not accepted or procured the said Leasehold fraudulently, nor in exchange for any Freehold or Leasehold in any other County, City, or Town, (and if the said Leaseholder be the Lessee or Assignee of a derivative Term, or under Lease,) that I am in the actual Occupation thereof. So help me GOD.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 8 Oath to be taken by Householders registering as Voters in any City, Town, or Borough I E. F. of ____ in the City (Town or Borough) of ____ Merchant, (or, &c. as the Case may be,) do swear, That I am, and have been for Six Calendar Months last past, in Possession and actual Occupation of the House, Warehouse, &c. (describing the Premises), situate at ____ in the said City (Town or Borough); and that the said Premises are bonâ fide of the clear yearly Value of not less than Ten Pounds (or Five Pounds, as the Case may be); and that not more that One Half Year’s Grand Jury or Municipal Cesses, Rates, or Taxes are now due or payable by me in respect to the said Premises or any Part thereof. So help me GOD.

SCHEDULE (C) No. 9 Oath to be taken by Resident Freemen and Forty-shilling Freeholders whose Rights are saved I A. B. of ____ in the City (or Town or Borough) of ____ Merchant (or, &c. as

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

the Case may be, ) do swear, That I am a Freeman or other Corporate Officer (as the Case may be) of the said City, (Town or Borough,) having a Right to vote at Elections for the said City (&c.) of ____ (or that I am a registered Forty-shilling Freeholder having a Right to vote at Elections for the said City, &c. of ____ as the Case may be); and that I am, and for the last Six Months have been, a Resident within the said City (&c.) of ____ or within Seven Statute Miles of the usual Place of Election in the said City (Town or Borough, as the Case may be.) So help me GOD.

SCHEDULE (D) No. 1 Certificate of Rent-charger Freeholder or Leaseholder County City Town of or Borough

SCHEDULE (D) No. 2 Certificate of Householder City Town of or Borough

___ (as the Case may be.)

This is to certify, That A. B. of ____ in this ____ was this Day duly registered before me as a Voter for this City (Town or Borough, as the Case may be) in right of his House, &c. situate at (describing the Place and Situation). Dated this ____ Day of ____ O. Judge, Chairman, Assistant Barister, or Barrister, &c. O. Clerk of the Peace. Certificate, No. ____ (&c.)

SCHEDULE (D) No. 3 Certificate of Freemen, &c. ___ (as the Case may be.)

THIS is to certify, that A. B. of ____ in this County, (City or Town, as the Case may be,) Clerk, (Merchant, Gentleman, Farmer, Yeoman, &c. as the Case may be,) was this Day duly registered before me as a Voter for this (County, &c. as the Case may be,) in right of a Rent-charge Freehold (or Leasehold, as the Case may be) of the yearly Value of Fifty Pounds, or Twenty Pounds, or Ten Pounds, or (as the Case may be), situate at (describing the Townland and Place, &c.) in this County, (City, &c.) O. Judge, Chairman, or Assistant Barrister. O. Clerk of the Peace. Certificate, No. ____ (&c.)

City Town of or Borough

___ (as the Case may be.)

This is to certify, That A. B. of ____ in this ____ Yeoman (or as the Case may be) was this Day duly registered before me as a Voter for this City (Town or Borough, as the Case may be,) in right of his being a Resident Freeman (or Resident Fortyshilling Freeholder, as the Case may be.) Dated this ____ Day of ____ at ____ O. Judge, Chairman, Assistant Barrister, or Barrister, &c. O. Clerk of the Peace. Certificate, No. ____ (&c.) 1

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, XII: From A. D. 1829;

245

THE GREAT REFORM ACT (IRELAND, 1832)

11 George IV to A. D. 1832; 2 & 3 William IV, London: George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, 1832, 930-943. This act was repealed in stages mainly by the Statute Law Revision Acts of 1888 and 1953,

246

and by the Representation of the People Act of 1918 (7 & 8 George V, c. 64). 2 1 George IV, c. 2. 3 4 George IV, c. 15 (8 July 1823).

The Municipal Reform Act (1835)

5 & 6 Will. IV, c. 76 An Act to provide for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales (9 September 1835)1

WHEREAS divers Bodies Corporate at sundry Times have been constituted within the Cities, Towns, and Boroughs of England and Wales, to the Intent that the same might for ever be and remain well and quietly governed; and it is expedient that the Charters by which the said Bodies Corporate are constituted should be altered in the Manner herein-after mentioned; be it therefore enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same. That so much of all Laws, Statutes, and Usages, and so much of all Royal and other Charters, Grants, and Letters Patent now in force relating to the several Boroughs named in the Schedules (A.) and (B.) to this Act annexed, or to the Inhabitants thereof, or to the several Bodies or reputed Bodies Corporate named in the said Schedules, or any of them, as are inconsistent with or contrary to the Provisions of this Act, shall be and the same are hereby repealed and annulled. II. And whereas in divers Cities, Towns, and Boroughs the Common Lands and Public Stock of such Cities, Towns, and Boroughs, and the Rents and Profits thereof, have been held and applied for the particular Benefit of the Citizens, Free-

men, and Burgesses of the said Cities, Towns, and Boroughs respectively, or of certain of them, or of the Widows or Kindred of them, or certain of them, and have not been applied to public Purposes; be it therefore enacted, That every Person who now is or hereafter may be an Inhabitant of any Borough, and also every Person who has been admitted or who might hereafter have been admitted a Freeman or Burgess of any Borough if this Act had not been passed, or who now is or hereafter may be the Wife or Widow or Son or Daughter of any Freeman or Burgess, or who may have espoused or may hereafter espouse the Daughter or Widow of any Freeman or Burgess, or who has been or may hereafter be bound an Apprentice, shall have and enjoy and be entitled to acquire and enjoy the same Share and Benefit of the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, and of the Rents and Profits thereof, and of the Common Lands and Public Stock of any Borough or Body Corporate, and of any Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, and any Sum or Sums of Money, Chattels, Securities for Money, or other Personal Estate, of which any Person or any Body Corporate may be seised or possessed in whole or in part for any charitable Uses or Trusts, as fully and effectually, and for such Time and in such Manner, as he or she by any Statute, Char-

247

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

ter, Bye Law, or Custom in force at the Time of passing this Act might or could have had, acquired, or enjoyed in case this Act had not been passed: Provided always, that the total Amount to be divided amongst the Persons whose Rights are herein reserved in this Behalf shall not exceed the Surplus which shall remain after Payment of the Interest of all lawful Debts chargeable upon the Real or Personal Estate out of which the Sums so to be divided have arisen, together with the Salaries of Municipal Officers, and all other lawful Expences which, on the Fifth Day of June, were defrayed out of or chargeable upon the same: Provided also, that nothing herein-before contained shall be construed to apply to any Claim, Right, or Title of any Burgesses or Freemen, or of any Person, to any Discharge or Exemption from any Tolls or Dues levied wholly or in part by or to the Use or Benefit of any Borough or Body Corporate; and that after the passing of this Act no Person shall have or be entitled to claim thenceforward any Discharge or Exemption from any Tolls or Dues lawfully levied in whole or in part by or to the Use of any Body Corporate, except as herein-after is excepted: Provided nevertheless, that every Person who, on the Fifth Day of June in this present Year, was an Inhabitant, or was or was entitled to be admitted a Freeman or Burgess of any Borough, or who on the said Fifth Day of June was the Wife or Widow, Son or Daughter of any Freeman or Burgess of any Borough, or who on the said Fifth Day of June was bound an Apprentice, shall be entitled to have or acquire and enjoy the same Discharge or Exemption from any Tolls or Dues lawfully levied in whole or in part by or to the Use of any Borough or Body Corporate as fully and for such Time and in

248

such Sort as he or she, by any Statute, Charter, Bye Law, or Custom in force on the said Fifth Day of June, might or would have had, acquired, and enjoyed the same if this Act had not been passed, and no further or otherwise: Provided also, that where, by any Statute, Charter, Bye Law, or Custom in force within any Borough at the Time of passing this Act, any Person whose Rights in this Behalf are herein reserved would have been liable in case this Act had not been passed to pay any Fine, Fee, or Sum of Money to any Body Corporate, or to any Member, Officer, or Servant of any Body Corporate, in consideration of his Freedom, or of his or her Title to such Rights as are herein reserved, no such Person shall be entitled to have or claim any Share or Benefit in respect of the Rights herein reserved as aforesaid until he or she shall have paid the full Amount of such Fine, Fee, or Sum of Money to the Treasurer of such Borough, appointed under the Provisions of this Act, on account of the Borough Fund herein-after mentioned: Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to entitle any Person to any Share or Benefit of the Rights herein reserved who shall not have first fulfilled every Condition which, if this Act had not passed, would have been a Condition precedent to his or her being entitled to the Benefit of such Rights, so far as the same is capable of being fulfilled according to the Provisions of this Act, or to strengthen, confirm, or affect any Claim, Right, or Title of any Burgesses or Freemen of any Borough or Body Corporate, or of any Person, to the Benefit of any such Rights as are herein-before reserved, but the same in every Case may be brought in question, impeached, and set aside in like Manner as if this Act had not been passed.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act no Person shall be elected, made, or admitted a Burgess or Freeman of any Borough by Gift or Purchase. IV. And whereas the Right of voting in the Election of Members to serve in Parliament was by an Act passed in the Second Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled An Act to amend the Representation of the People of England and Wales,2 preserved to all Persons who then were or thereafter might become Freemen or Burgesses of any City or Borough, subject to the Conditions and Provisions in that Act contained; be it therefore enacted, That every Person who if this Act had not been passed would have enjoyed, as a Burgess or Freeman, or might hereafter have acquired, in respect of Birth or Servitude, as a Burgess or Freeman, the Right of voting in the Election of a Member or Members to serve in Parliament for any City or Borough, shall be entitled to enjoy or acquire such Right of voting as fully as if this Act had not been passed; and the Town Clerk of every City or Borough returning a Member or Members to Parliament shall at all Times hereafter do and perform all Things appertaining to the due Registration of the Freemen or Burgesses of such City or Borough according to the Provisions of the said Act. V. And be it enacted, That the Town Clerk of every Borough shall on or before the First Day of December next make out a List, to be called “The Freemen’s Roll,” of all Persons who at the Time of the passing of this Act shall have been admitted as Burgesses or Freemen of such Borough; and that whenever any Person shall hereafter become entitled to be ad-

mitted a Burgess or Freeman for the Purposes aforesaid of such Borough in respect of Birth, Servitude, or Marriage, and shall claim to be admitted accordingly, the Mayor of such Borough shall examine into such Claim, and upon such Claim being established every such Person shall thereupon be admitted and enrolled by the Town Clerk of such Borough upon the Freemen’s Roll; and the Town Clerk shall keep a true Copy of such Roll, to be perused by any Person without Payment of any Fee at all reasonable Times, and shall deliver a Copy thereof to any Person requiring the same, on Payment of a reasonable Price for such Copy. VI. And be it enacted, That after the First Election of Councillors under this Act in any Borough the Body or reputed Body Corporate named in the said Schedules in connexion with such Borough shall take and bear the Name of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of such Borough, and by that Name shall have perpetual Succession, and shall be capable in Law, by the Council herein-after mentioned of such Borough, to do and suffer all Acts which now lawfully they and their Successors respectively may do and suffer by any Name or Title of Incorporation; and the Mayor of each of the said Boroughs shall be capable in Law to do and suffer all Acts which the Chief Officer of such Borough may now lawfully do and suffer, so far as the same respectively are not altered or annulled by the Provisions of this Act. VII. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act the Metes and Bounds of the several Boroughs named in the First Section of the said Schedules (A.) and (B.) for the Purposes of this Act shall be the

249

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

same as the Limits thereof respectively settled and described in an Act passed in the Second and Third Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs in England and Wales, so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament;3 and the Metes and Bounds of the several Boroughs named in the Second Section of the said Schedules for the Purposes of this Act shall be and remain as the same are now taken to be until such Time as Parliament shall otherwise direct: Provided nevertheless, that notwithstanding any thing herein contained no Parish or Place, or Part of any Parish or Place, which is detached from the main Part of such Borough or County of a City or Town Corporate, shall after the passing of this Act be included within any such Borough or County; and, subject to this Provision, the Metes and Bounds of every such Borough and County shall include the whole of the Liberties of such Borough or County by Land and by Water as the same now are or are taken to be. VIII. And be it enacted, That every Place and Precinct which shall be included within the Metes and Bounds of any Borough as herein-before provided, and none other, shall be Part of such Borough, and in those Boroughs which are Counties of themselves shall be Part of such County and of none other; and in every Case in which the Metes and Bounds of any Borough or County under the Provisions of this Act shall not include any Place or Precinct which before the passing of this Act was Part of such Borough or County, such Place or Precinct shall thenceforward be taken to be Part of the County wherein such Place or Precinct is situated,

250

or with which it has the longest common Boundary: Provided nevertheless, that if any such Place or Precinct shall have been liable before the passing of this Act to contribute to any Rate made for the Purpose of satisfying any lawful Debt to which the Rate-payers of such Borough or County were liable to contribute before the passing of this Act, and in case any Difference shall arise concerning the Proportion of such Debt as ought therefore to be paid and contributed in respect of such Place or Precinct, it shall be lawful for the senior Justice of Assize for the County of which such Place or Precinct shall thenceforward be taken to be Part, on his Circuit, on the Application of the Council of such Borough, or of the Chairman of a public Meeting of the Ratepayers of such Place or Precinct, to appoint, by Writing under his Hand, a Barrister not having any Interest in the Question to arbitrate between the Parties, and by his Award under his Hand and Seal to assess the Proportion, if any, of such Debt as ought therefore to be paid and contributed in respect of such Place or Precinct; and such Arbitrator shall also assess the Costs of the Arbitration, and shall direct by whom, and in what Proportion, and out of what Fund, the same shall be paid; and such Rate as aforesaid shall continue to be levied by Warrant of the Council of such Borough, and paid by such Place or Precinct, as if this Act had not passed, until such Proportion shall have been fully paid and satisfied to the Treasurer of the Borough, and no longer: Provided nevertheless, that every County Gaol, House of Correction, or Lunatic Asylum, Court of Justice, or Judge’s Lodging, which at the Time of the passing of this Act is taken to be for any Purpose within any County, shall still, for all such Purposes, be taken

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

to be within such County, any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. IX. And be it enacted, That every Male Person of full Age who on the last Day of August in any Year shall have occupied any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop within any Borough during that Year and the whole of each of the Two preceding Years, and also during the Time of such Occupation shall have been an Inhabitant Householder within the said Borough, or within Seven Miles of the said Borough, shall, if duly enrolled in that Year according to the Provisions hereinafter contained, be a Burgess of such Borough and Member of the Body Corporate of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of such Borough: Provided always, that no such Person shall be so enrolled in any Year, unless he shall have been rated in respect of such Premises so occupied by him within the Borough to all Rates made for the Relief of the Poor of the Parish wherein such Premises are situated during the Time of his Occupation as aforesaid, and unless he shall have paid on or before the last Day of August as aforesaid all such Rates, including therein all Borough Rates, if any, directed to be paid under the Provisions of this Act, as shall have become payable by him in respect of the said Premises, except such as shall become payable within Six Calendar Months next before the said last Day of August: Provided also, that the Premises in respect of the Occupation of which any Person shall have been so rated need not be the same Premises or in the same Parish, but may be different Premises in the same Parish or in different Parishes: Provided also, that no Person being an Alien shall be so enrolled in any Year, and that no Person shall be so enrolled in any Year

who within Twelve Calendar Months next before the said last Day of August shall have received Parochial Relief or other Alms, or any Pension or charitable Allowance from any Fund intrusted to the charitable Trustees of such Borough herein-after mentioned: Provided that in every Case provided in this Act the Distance of Seven Miles shall be computed by the nearest public Road or Way by Land or Water. X. And be it enacted, That no Medical or Surgical Assistance given by the charitable Trustees of any Borough shall be taken to be such charitable Allowance as shall disqualify any Person from being enrolled a Burgess as aforesaid; nor shall any Person be so disqualified by reason that any Child of such Person shall have been admitted and taught within any public or endowed School. XI. And be it enacted, That in every Borough it shall be lawful for any Person occupying any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop to claim to be rated to the Relief of the Poor in respect of such Premises, whether the Landlord shall or shall not be liable to be rated to the Relief of the Poor in respect thereof; and upon such Occupier so claiming, and actually paying or tendering the full Amount of the last made Rate then payable in respect of such Premises, the Overseers of the Parish in which such Premises are situate are hereby required to put the Name of such Occupier upon the Rate for the Time being; and in case such Overseer shall neglect or refuse so to do such Occupier shall nevertheless, for the Purposes of this Act, be deemed to have been rated to the Relief of the Poor in respect of such Premises from the Period at which the

251

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Rate shall have been made in respect of which he shall have so claimed to be rated as aforesaid: Provided always, that where by virtue of any Act of Parliament the Landlord shall be liable to the Payment of the Rate for the Relief of the Poor in respect of any Premises occupied by his Tenant, nothing herein contained shall be deemed to vary or discharge the Liability of such Landlord, but in case the Tenant who shall have been rated for such Premises in consequence of any such Claim as aforesaid shall make default in the Payment of the Poor’s Rate payable in respect thereof such Landlord shall be and remain liable for the Payment thereof in the same Manner as if he alone had been rated in respect of the Premises so occupied by his Tenant. XII. And be it enacted, That where any House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop in any Borough shall come to any Person by Descent, Marriage, Marriage Settlement, Devise, or Promotion to any Benefice or Office, such Person shall be entitled to reckon the Occupancy and Rating, in respect of the Occupancy thereof by the Person from or by whom such House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop shall have so come to him, as his own Occupancy and Rating conjointly with the Time during which he shall have since occupied and been rated for the same, and shall be entitled to be enrolled a Burgess in respect of such successive Occupancy and Rating, provided he shall be otherwise qualified as herein provided. XIII. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act no Person shall be enrolled a Burgess of any Borough, for the Purpose of enjoying the Rights conferred for the first Time by this Act, in respect of

252

any Title other than by Occupancy and Payment of Rates within such Borough, according to the Meaning and Provisions of this Act. XIV. And whereas in divers Cities, Towns, and Boroughs a certain Custom hath prevailed, and certain Bye Laws have been made, that no Person, not being free of a City, Town, or Borough, or of certain Guilds, Mysteries, or Trading Companies within the same, or some or one of them, shall keep any Shop or Place for putting to Show or Sale any or certain Wares or Merchandize by way of Retail or otherwise, or use any or certain Trades, Occupations, Mysteries, or Handicrafts for Hire, Gain, or Sale within the same; be it enacted, That notwithstanding any such Custom or Bye Law, every Person in any Borough may keep any Shop for the Sale of all lawful Wares and Merchandizes by Wholesale or Retail, and use every lawful Trade, Occupation, Mystery, and Handicraft, for Hire, Gain, Sale, or otherwise, within any Borough. XV. And be it enacted, That on the Fifth Day of September in every Year the Overseers of the Poor of every Parish wholly or in part within any Borough shall make out an Alphabetical List, to be called “The Burgess List,” according to the Form Number 1. in the Schedule (D.) to this Act annexed, of all Persons who shall be entitled to be enrolled in the Burgess Roll of that Year, according to the Provisions of this Act, in respect of Property within such Parish; and the Overseers shall sign such Burgess Lists, and shall deliver the same to the Town Clerk of the Borough on the said Fifth Day of September in every Year, and shall keep a true Copy of such Lists, to be perused by any Person,

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours between the Fifth and Fifteenth Days of September in every Year; and the Town Clerk shall forthwith cause Copies to be printed of all Overseers Lists delivered to him, and shall deliver a Copy of all such Lists to any Person requiring the same, on Payment of a reasonable Price for each Copy, and shall cause a Copy of all such Lists to be fixed on or near the outer Door of the Town Hall, or in some public and conspicuous Situation within the Borough, on every Day during the Week next preceding the Fifteenth Day of September in every Year. XVI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That in any Borough in which there shall be no Town Clerk, or in which the Town Clerk shall be dead or incapable of acting, all Matters by this Act required to be done by and with regard to the Town Clerk shall be done by and with regard to the Person executing Duties in such Borough similar to those of Town Clerk, and if there be no such Person, or if such Person shall be dead or incapable of acting, then by and with regard to such fit Person as the Mayor of such Borough shall appoint in that Behalf: Provided always, that every Precinct or Place, whether Extraparochial or otherwise, which shall have no Overseers, shall, for the Purpose of making out such Lists as aforesaid, be deemed within the Parish adjoining thereto, such Parish being wholly or in part situate within the same Borough as such Precinct or Place, and if such Precinct or Place shall adjoin Two or more Parishes so situate as aforesaid it shall be deemed to be within the least populous of such Parishes according to the last Census for the Time being; and the Overseers of the Poor of every such Parish shall insert in the List

for their Parish the Names of all Persons who would have been entitled to be inserted in the Lists for such Precinct or Place if such Precinct or Place had had Overseers or been rated to the Maintenance of the Poor. XVII. And be it enacted, That every Person whose Name shall have been omitted in any such Burgess List and who shall claim to have his Name inserted therein, shall, on or before the Fifteenth Day of September in every Year, give Notice thereof to the Town Clerk in Writing, according to the Form No. 2. in the said Schedule (D.), or to the like Effect; and every Person whose Name shall have been inserted in any Burgess List for any Borough may object to any other Person as not being entitled to have his Name retained in the Burgess List for the same Borough, and every Person so objecting shall, on or before the Fifteenth Day of September in every Year, give to the Town Clerk of such Borough, and also give to the Person objected to, or leave at the Premises for which he shall appear to be rated in the Burgess List, Notice thereof in Writing according to the Form Number 3. in the said Schedule (D.) or to the like Effect; and every Town Clerk shall include the Names of all Persons so claiming to be inserted on the Burgess List in a List according to the Form Number 8. in the said Schedule (D.) and shall include the Names of all Persons so objected to as not entitled to be retained on the Burgess List in a List according to the Form Number 5. in the said Schedule (D.), and shall cause Copies of such several Lists to be fixed on or near the outer Door of the Town Hall or in some public and conspicuous Situation within such Borough during the Eight Days next preceding the First Day

253

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

of October in every Year; and the Town Clerk shall likewise keep a Copy of the Names of all Persons so claiming as aforesaid, and also a Copy of the Names of all Persons so objected to as aforesaid, to be perused by any Person, without Payment of any Fee, at all reasonable Hours during the Eight Days, Sunday excepted, next preceding the First Day of October in every Year, and shall deliver a Copy of each of such Lists to any Person requiring the same, on Payment of a Sum not exceeding One Shilling for each Copy. XVIII. And be it enacted, That the Mayor and the Two Assessors hereinafter mentioned, to be chosen in every Year by the Burgesses of every Borough, shall hold an open Court within such Borough, for the Purpose of revising the said Burgess Lists at some Time between the First Day of October inclusive and the Fifteenth Day of October inclusive in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and every succeeding Year, having first given Three clear Days Notice of the holding of such Court, to be fixed on or near the outer Door of the Town Hall or in some public and conspicuous Situation within the Borough; and the Town Clerk of every such Borough shall, at the opening of the Court, produce the said Lists, and a Copy of the Lists of the Persons claiming and of the Persons objected to, so made out as aforesaid; and the Overseers, Vestry Clerks, and Collectors of Poor’s Rates of every Parish wholly or in part within every such Borough shall attend the Court, and shall answer upon Oath all such Questions as the Court may put to them or any of them touching any Matter necessary for revising the Burgess Lists; and the Mayor shall insert in such Lists the Name of every Person who shall

254

be proved, to the Satisfaction of the Court, to be entitled to be inserted therein, according to the Provisions of this Act, and shall retain on the said List the Names of all Persons to whom no Objection shall have been duly made, and shall also retain on the said Lists the Name of every Person who shall have been objected to by any Person, unless the Party so objecting shall appear by himself or by some one on his Behalf in support of such Objection; and where the Name of any Person inserted in any one of the said Lists shall have been duly objected to, and the Person objecting shall appear by himself or by some one on his Behalf in support of such Objection, the Court shall require Proof of the Qualification of the Person so objected to; and in case the Qualification of such Person shall not be proved to the Satisfaction of the Court the Mayor shall expunge the Name of every such Person from the said Lists, and he shall also expunge from the said Lists the Name of every Person who shall be proved to the Court to be dead, and shall correct any Mistake or supply any Omission which shall be proved to the Court to have been made in any of the said Lists in respect of the Name or Place of Abode of any Person who shall be included in any such List, or in respect of the local Description of his Property: Provided always, that no Person’s Name shall be inserted by the Mayor in any such List, or shall be expunged therefrom, except in the Case of Death, unless Notice shall have been given as is herein-before required in each of the said Cases. XIX. And be it enacted, That every Mayor holding any Court under this Act for the Revision of the said Lists shall have Power to adjourn the same from Time to

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Time, so that no such adjourned Court shall be held after the Fifteenth Day of October in any Year, and shall have Power to require any Overseer, or Person having the Custody of any Book containing any Rate made for the Relief of the Poor during that or any preceding Year, in any Parish wholly or in part within the Borough, to produce the same and allow the same to be inspected at any Court to be held for Revision of the Burgess Lists, and shall have Power to administer an Oath to the Town Clerk and to the Overseers, and to all Persons claiming to be inserted in or making Objection to the Omission or Insertion of any Name in any of the said Lists, and to all Persons objected to in any of such Lists, and to all Persons claiming to have any Mistake in any of such Lists corrected, and to all Witnesses who may be tendered or examined on either Side; and the Mayor and Assessors shall, upon the Hearing in open Court, determine upon the Validity of such Claims and Objections, and the Mayor shall, in open Court, write his Initials against the Names respectively struck out or inserted, and against any Part of the said Lists in which any Mistakes shall have been corrected, and shall sign his Name to every Page of the several Lists so settled. XX. And be it enacted, That the senior Judge, or in case of his Absence from the Kingdom the next Judge, in the Commission of Assize for the Summer Circuit in this Year for every County, shall, before the last Day of September in this Year, appoint so many Barristers as the said Judge shall deem necessary to revise the Lists of Burgesses of every Borough in or adjoining to such County; and the Town and County of the Town of Kingstonupon-Hull shall for this Purpose be con-

sidered as next adjoining to the County of York, and the Town of Berwick-uponTweed and Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne as next adjoining to the County of Northumberland, and the City and County of the City of Bristol as next adjoining to the County of Somerset; and the said Judge shall have Power to appoint One or more Barristers to revise the Lists for the same Borough, and the same Barrister to revise the Lists of more than One Borough; and the Barrister so appointed to any Borough shall for that Purpose, during this Year, be in the Place and Stead of the Mayor and Assessors of such Borough, and shall revise the Lists of Burgesses in this Year in the Manner herein-before enacted concerning the Mayor and Assessors in every succeeding Year; and if it shall be made to appear to the said Judge that for any Cause such Lists cannot be revised within the Period directed by this Act, it shall be lawful for such Judge and he is hereby required to appoint One or more Barristers to act in the Place of or in addition to those originally appointed; and every such Barrister so subsequently appointed shall have the same Power as if originally appointed; and every Barrister appointed to revise any Lists under this Act shall be paid at the Rate of Five Guineas for every Day that he shall be so employed over and above his travelling and other Expences; and every such Barrister, after the Termination of his last Sitting, shall lay or cause to be laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury for the Time being a Statement of the Number of Days during which he shall have been so employed in each Borough, and an Account of the Travelling and other Expences incurred by him in respect of such Employment; and the said Lords Commis-

255

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

sioners shall make an Order for the Amount to be paid to such Barrister out of the Consolidated Fund: Provided nevertheless, that as soon as a Council shall be chosen in any Borough under the Provisions of this Act the said Lords Commissioners shall make an Order on the Council of such Borough for the Amount of daily Salary herein-before enacted to be paid to such Barrister during the Time that he shall have been employed in revising the Lists of such Borough; and the Council of such Borough shall forthwith cause the same to be repaid to the said Lords Commissioners out of the Borough Fund of such Borough; and the same, if not paid, shall be deemed to be a Debt due to His Majesty, and recoverable as such. XXI. And be it enacted, That every Person authorized by Law to make an Affirmation instead of taking an Oath shall make such Affirmation in every Case in which by this Act an Oath is required to be taken; and if any Person taking any Oath required by this Act, or making any Affirmation instead of taking such Oath, shall wilfully swear or affirm falsely, such Person shall be deemed guilty of Perjury, and shall be punished accordingly. XXII. And be it enacted, That the Burgess Lists, so revised and signed as last aforesaid, shall be delivered by the Mayor to the Town Clerk of such Borough, who shall keep the same, and shall cause the said Burgess Lists to be fairly and truly copied into one general Alphabetical List in a Book to be by him provided for that Purpose, with every Name therein numbered, beginning the Numbers from the first Name, and continuing them in a regular Series to the last Name, and shall cause such Books to be completed on or before

256

the Twenty-second Day of October in every Year, and shall deliver such Books, together with the Lists, at the Expiration of his Office, to the Person succeeding him in such Office; and every such Book in which the said Burgess Lists shall have been copied shall be the Burgess Roll of the Burgesses of such Borough entitled to vote, after the passing of this Act, in the Choice of the Councillors, Assessors, and Auditors of such Borough, as herein-after mentioned, at any Election which may take place in such Borough between the First Day of November inclusive in the Year wherein such Burgess Roll shall have been made and the First Day of November in the succeeding Year; provided that no Stamp Duty shall be payable in respect of the Admission, Registry, or Enrolment of any Burgess, according to the Provisions of this Act. XXIII. And be it enacted, That the Town Clerk of every Borough shall cause to be written or printed Copies of the Burgess Roll in every Year, and shall deliver such Copies to all Persons applying for the same, on Payment of a reasonable Price for each Copy; and the Monies arising from the Sale thereof, and of the Overseers Lists, and of the Lists of Claims and Objections as aforesaid, shall be paid over to the Treasurer of such Borough, and shall be applied by him in aid of the Borough Fund herein-after mentioned. XXIV. And be it enacted, That the said Council of every Borough shall take an Account of the reasonable Expences incurred by the Overseers of the Poor in carrying into effect the several Provisions of this Act so far as relates to the said Lists, and shall order the Treasurer of the

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

said Borough to pay the same out of the Borough Fund of the said Borough. XXV. And be it enacted, That in every Borough shall be elected, at the Time and in the Manner herein-after mentioned, One fit Person, who shall be and be called “The Mayor” of such Borough; and a certain Number of fit Persons, who shall be and be called “Aldermen” of such Borough; and a certain Number of other fit Persons, who shall be and be called “The Councillors” of such Borough; and such Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors for the Time being shall be and be called “The Council” of such Borough; and the Number of Persons so to be elected Councillors of such Borough shall be the Number of Persons in that Behalf mentioned in conjunction with the Name of such Borough in the Schedules (A.) and (B.) to this Act annexed; and the Number of Persons so to be elected Aldermen shall be One Third of the Number of Persons so to be elected Councillors; and on the Ninth Day of November in this present Year the Councillors first to be elected under the Provisions of this Act, and on the Ninth Day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and Thirty-eight, and in every Third succeeding Year, the Council for the Time being of every Borough shall elect from the Councillors, or from the Persons qualified to be Councillors, the Aldermen of such Borough, or so many as shall be needed to supply the Places of those who shall then go out of Office according to the Provisions herein-after contained; and that upon the Ninth Day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and in every Third succeeding Year, One Half of the Number appointed as aforesaid to be the whole Number of the Aldermen of every Bor-

ough shall go out of Office; and the Councillors immediately after the first Election of Aldermen shall appoint who shall be the Aldermen who shall go out of Office in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and thereafter those who shall go out of Office shall always be those who have been Aldermen for the longest Time without Re-election: Provided always, that any Aldermen so going out of Office may be forthwith re-elected, if then qualified as herein provided; provided also, that the Aldermen so going out of Office shall not be entitled to vote in the Election of a new Alderman. XXVI. And be it enacted, That the Mayor and Aldermen shall, during their respective Offices, continue to be Members of the Council of the Borough, notwithstanding any thing herein-after contained as to Councillors going out of Office at the End of Three Years. XXVII. And be it enacted, That whenever any extraordinary Vacancy shall take place in the Office of Alderman of any Borough, the Council of such Borough shall, within Ten Days after such Vacancy shall occur, on a Day to be fixed by the Mayor for such Purpose, elect some other fit Person to fill such Vacancy, either from the Councillors or from the Persons qualified to be Councillors; and in case any Councillor shall be elected to fill the Office of Alderman, then the Vacancy which will thereby be occasioned in the Council shall be filled up at the Time and in the Manner herein-after directed; and every Person so elected an Alderman to fill an extraordinary Vacancy shall hold such Office until the Time when the Person in the Room of whom he was chosen would regularly have gone out of Office, and he shall then

257

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

go out of Office, but may be re-elected if then qualified as herein provided. XXVIII. And be it enacted, That no Person being in Holy Orders, or being the regular Minister of any Dissenting Congregation, shall be qualified to be elected or to be a Councillor of any such Borough or an Alderman of any such Borough, nor shall any Person be qualified to be elected or to be a Councillor or an Alderman of any such Borough who shall not be entitled to be on the Burgess List of such Borough, nor unless he shall be seised or possessed of Real or Personal Estate or both to the following Amount, that is to say, in all Boroughs directed by this Act to be divided into Four or more Wards to the Amount of One thousand Pounds, or be rated to the Relief of the Poor of such Borough upon the annual Value of not less than Thirty Pounds, and in all Boroughs directed to be divided into less than Four Wards, or which shall not be divided into Wards, to the Amount of Five hundred Pounds, or be rated to the Relief of the Poor in such Borough upon the annual Value of not less than Fifteen Pounds, or during such Time as he shall hold any Office or Place of Profit, other than that of Mayor, in the Gift or Disposal of the Council of such Borough, or during such Time as he shall have directly or indirectly, by himself or his Partner, any Share or Interest in any Contract or Employment with, by, or on behalf of such Council; provided that no Person shall be disqualified from being a Councillor or Alderman of any Borough as aforesaid by reason of his being a Proprietor or Shareholder of any Company which shall contract with the Council of such Borough for lighting or supplying with Water or insuring against Fire any Part of such Borough.

258

XXIX. And be it enacted, That every Burgess of any Borough who shall be enrolled on the Burgess Roll for the Time being of such Borough shall be entitled to vote in the Election of Councillors and of the Auditors and Assessors herein-after mentioned for such Borough, and no Person who shall not be enrolled in such Burgess Roll for the Time being shall have any Voice or be entitled to vote in any such Election. XXX. And be it enacted, That upon the First Day of November in every Year the Burgesses so enrolled in every Borough shall openly assemble and elect from the Persons qualified to be Councillors the Councillors of such Borough, or such Part of them as shall be needed to supply the Places of those who shall then go out of Office: Provided nevertheless, that whenever any Day by this Act appointed for any Purpose shall in any Year happen on a Sunday, in every such Case the Business so appointed to be done shall take place on the Monday following. XXXI. And be it enacted, That upon the First Day of November One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and in every succeeding Year, One Third Part of the Number appointed as aforesaid to be the whole Number of the Councillors of every Borough shall go out of Office; and in the said Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six those who shall go out of Office shall be the Councillors who were elected under the Provisions of this Act by the smallest Numbers of Votes in this present Year, and in the next Year, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, those who shall so go out of Office shall be the Councillors who were elected under the Provisions of this Act by the next

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

smallest Numbers of Votes in this present Year, the Majority of the whole Council always determining, when the Votes for any such Persons shall have been equal, who shall be the Persons so to go out of Office; and thereafter those who shall so go out of Office shall always be the Councillors who have been for the longest Time in Office without Re-election: Provided always, that any Councillor so going out of Office shall be capable of being forthwith re-elected, if then qualified, as herein provided. XXXII. And be it enacted, That every Election of Councillors within any Borough according to the Provisions of this Act shall be held before the Mayor and Assessors for the Time being of such Borough, except as herein is excepted; and the voting at every such Election shall commence at Nine o’Clock in the Forenoon, and shall finally close at Four o’Clock in the Afternoon of the same Day, and shall be conducted in manner following; that is to say, every Burgess entitled to vote in the Election of Councillors may vote for any Number of Persons not exceeding the Number of Councillors then to be chosen, by delivering to the Mayor and Assessors or other presiding Officer as herein-after mentioned a Voting Paper, containing the Christian Names and Surnames of the Persons for whom he votes, with their respective Places of Abode and Descriptions, such Paper being previously signed with the Name of the Burgess voting, and with the Name of the Street, Lane, or other Place in which the Property for which he appears to be rated on the Burgess Roll is situated. XXXIII. And be it enacted, That at every Election in any Borough the Mayor,

if it shall appear to him expedient for taking the Poll at such Election, may cause Booths to be erected, or Rooms to be hired and used as such Booths, for different Parts of such Borough, which may be situated either in one Place or in several Places, and shall be so divided and allotted into Compartments as to the Mayor shall seem most convenient; and the Mayor shall appoint a Clerk to take the Poll at each Compartment, and shall cause to be affixed on the most conspicuous Part of each of the said Booths the Names of the Parts for which such Booth is respectively allotted; and no Person shall be admitted to vote at any such Election except at the Booth allotted for the Part wherein the House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop occupied by him as described in the Burgess Roll may be; but in case no Booth shall happen to be provided for any particular Part as aforesaid the Votes of the Persons voting in respect of Property situate in any Part so omitted may be taken at any of the said Booths; and public Notice of the Situation, Division, and Allotments of the different Booths shall be given Two Days before the Commencement of the Poll by the Mayor; and in case the Booths shall be situated in different Places the Mayor may appoint a Deputy to preside at each Place: Provided also, that no Election shall be holden under this Act in any Borough in any Church, Chapel, or other Place of Public Worship. XXXIV. And be it enacted, That no Inquiry shall be permitted at any Election as to the Right of any Person to vote as a Burgess in any Borough, except only as follows; (that is to say,) that the Mayor or other presiding Officer shall, if required by any Two Burgesses entitled to vote in the same Borough, put to any Voter at the

259

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Time of his delivering in his Voting Paper, and not afterwards, the following Questions, or any of them, and no other: 1. Are you the Person whose Name is signed as A. B. to the Voting Paper now delivered in by you? 2. Are you the Person whose Name appears as A. B. on the Burgess Roll now in force for this Borough, being registered therein as rated for Property described to be situated in ____ ? (Here specify the Street, c&., as described in the Burgess Roll.) 3. Have you already voted at the present Election? And no Person required to answer any of the said Questions shall be permitted or qualified to vote until he shall have answered the same; and if any Person shall wilfully make a false Answer to any of the Questions aforesaid he shall be deemed guilty of a Misdemeanor, and may be indicted and punished accordingly. XXXV. And be it enacted, That the Mayor and Assessors shall examine the Voting Papers so delivered as aforesaid, for the Purpose of ascertaining which of the several Persons voted for are elected; and so many of such Persons, being equal to the Number of Persons then to be chosen, as shall have the greatest Number of Votes, shall be deemed to be elected; and in case of an Equality in the Number of Votes for any Two or more Persons, the Mayor and Assessors, or any Two of them, shall name from amongst those Persons for whom the Number of Votes shall be equal so many as shall be necessary to complete the requisite Number of Persons to be chosen; and the Mayor shall cause the Voting Papers to be kept in the Office

260

of the Town Clerk during Six Calendar Months at the least after every such Election; and the Town Clerk shall permit any Burgess to inspect the Voting Papers of any Year, on Payment of One Shilling for every Search; and the Mayor shall publish a List of the Names of the Persons so elected not later than Two of the Clock in the Afternoon of the Day next but One following the Day of such Election, unless such Day be Sunday, and then on the Monday following. XXXVI. And be it enacted, That if the Mayor of any Borough shall, at the Time when it shall be necessary to execute the Powers and Duties herein provided with respect to Elections, be dead, absent, or otherwise incapable of acting, the Council of such Borough shall forthwith elect One of the Aldermen to execute all such Powers and Duties in the Place of the Mayor; provided that in the first Election of Councillors and of Auditors and Assessors, as herein-after provided, the Mayor alone shall act with all the Powers and Duties herein-before enacted concerning the Mayor and Assessors jointly in such Elections. XXXVII. And be it enacted, That on the First Day of March in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and in every succeeding Year, the Burgesses of every Borough shall elect from the Persons qualified to be Councillors by a Majority of Votes, Two Burgesses, who shall be and be called Auditors of such Borough, and Two Burgesses, who shall be and be called Assessors of such Borough; and every such Auditor and Assessor shall continue in Office until the First Day of March in the Year following his Election; and the Election of such Audi-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

tors and Assessors respectively shall be in form and manner herein-before provided for the Election of Councillors: Provided nevertheless, that in every such Election of Auditors or Assessors no Burgess shall vote for more than One Person to be an Auditor or Assessor: Provided also, that no Burgess shall be eligible to be or be elected such Auditor or Assessor as aforesaid who shall be of the Council, or the Town Clerk or Treasurer of such Borough.

of the passing of this Act shall continue to hold such Office, and to have all the Powers, and be subject to all the Duties, and be entitled to the same Salary and Fees of such Office, as he would have had and been if elected to such Office between the Day of the passing of this Act and the said First Day of May until the Time provided by this Act for him to go out of Office; any Statute, Charter, Bye Law, or Custom notwithstanding.

XXXVIII. And be it enacted, That after the Declaration of the First Election of the Councillors under the Provisions of this Act in any Borough, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Councilmen, and all other Members of the Common Council or governing Body of the Body Corporate named in conjunction with such Borough in the said Schedules (A.) and (B.), by whatever Name or Style they may be known or called, then in Office, shall go out of Office, and their whole Powers and Duties shall cease: Provided nevertheless, that any of the Persons so going out of Office shall be eligible to be elected and appointed under the Provisions of this Act: Provided also, that such Persons as are Justices of the Peace in any Borough at the Time of passing this Act shall continue to have and exercise all the Powers which at the Time of passing this Act they have as Justices of the Peace, until the First Day of May in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and no longer: Provided also, that in every Borough in which, by Statute, Charter, Bye Law, or Custom, any Election is appointed to be holden between the Day of the passing of this Act and the First Day of May next, both inclusive, no such Election shall be holden, but every Person holding Office in any Borough on the Day

XXXIX. And whereas it is expedient that certain Boroughs of large Population should be divided into Wards before any Election of Councillors for such Boroughs should take place; be it therefore enacted, That every Borough in the said Schedule (A.) shall be divided into the Number of Wards mentioned in such Schedule in conjunction with the Name of such Borough; and that it shall be lawful for the Barrister or Barristers appointed in pursuance of the Provisions herein-before contained to revise the Burgess and Councillors Lists of any Borough in the present Year, and he or they is and are hereby required within the Space of Six Weeks next after the passing of this Act to determine and set out the Extent, Limits, and Boundary Lines of such Wards, and what Portions of such Borough shall be included therein respectively; and the Copy of the Particulars of such Division shall be forthwith transmitted to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, and, if His Majesty by Advice of His Privy Council shall approve such Determination, shall be published in the London Gazette, and another Copy of such Particulars shall be delivered to the Town Clerk of such Borough, to be by him safely kept among the Public Documents of such Borough; and every such Borough shall, after such Pub-

261

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

lication as aforesaid, be deemed to be divided into such Wards as shall be so determined and set out as aforesaid, and such Division shall continue and be in force until the same shall be altered by Authority of Parliament: Provided always, that if His Majesty, by Advice of His Privy Council, shall not approve such Determination, such Publication as aforesaid shall nevertheless be made, and such Division be in force for the Purpose of any Election under the Provisions of this Act, and until such Time as His Majesty shall by Advice of His Privy Council, upon further Information and Report from such Barristers, definitively approve the Division of such Borough into Wards in manner herein-before mentioned. XL. And be it enacted, That the said Barrister or Barristers shall, after the Division of the Borough into such Number of Wards as is directed by this Act, apportion among the several Wards of such Borough the Number of Councillors mentioned in conjunction with the Name of such Borough in the said Schedule (A.); and in assigning the Number of Councillors to each Ward the said Barrister or Barristers shall, as far as in his or their Judgment he or they may deem it to be practicable, have Regard as well to the Number of Persons rated to the Relief of the Poor in such Ward as to the aggregate Amount of the Sums at which all the said Persons shall be so rated: Provided always, that the Number of Councillors assigned to each Ward shall be a Number divisible by Three; and a Copy of the Particulars of the Number of Councillors so assigned to the several Wards of the Borough shall be forthwith transmitted to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, and subject as aforesaid to the Approval of

262

His Majesty by the Advice of His Privy Council, shall be published in the London Gazette, and another Copy of such Particulars shall be delivered to the Town Clerk of the Borough, to be by him safely kept among the Public Documents of such Borough; and the Number of Councillors so assigned to each Ward of such Borough shall, after such Publication as aforesaid, be the Number to be elected in such Ward, and shall so continue until the same shall be altered by Authority of Parliament: Provided always, that if His Majesty, by the Advice of His Privy Council, shall not approve the Number of Councillors so assigned to each Ward, such Publication shall nevertheless be made, and the Number of Councillors so assigned to each Ward of such Borough by such Barrister shall be the Number to be elected in such Ward at any Election of Councillors under this Act until such Time as His Majesty shall by Advice of His Privy Council, upon further Information and Report from such Barrister, definitively approve such Assignment in manner herein-before mentioned. XLI. And whereas it may be convenient in divers Boroughs to adhere in the Division of the same into Wards to the ancient Division thereof into Parishes or into Districts under any Local Act, or to adapt such Division to local Circumstances, and such Division so made might render difficult such Apportionment of Councillors as is herein-before directed: be it therefore enacted, That in every such Case the said Barrister or Barristers shall be empowered, at his or their Discretion, subject as aforesaid to the Approval of His Majesty by the Advice of His Privy Council, to divide any Borough in conjunction with the Name of which, in the said Schedule

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

(A.), shall be mentioned any Number of Wards greater than Two, into any Number of Wards more or less by One than the Number of Wards mentioned in conjunction with the Name of such Borough in the said Schedule. XLII. And be it enacted, That the said Barrister or Barristers shall have Power to require any Overseer, or Person having the Custody of any Book containing any Rate made for the Relief of the Poor, in any Parish wholly or in part within any Borough to be divided into Wards, to produce such Book before and allow the same to be inspected by the said Barrister or Barristers; and the said Barrister or Barristers shall have Power to administer an Oath to the Overseers and to all other Persons, who are hereby required to answer upon Oath all such Questions as the said Barrister or Barristers may put to them or any of them touching any Matter which the said Barrister or Barristers may deem necessary for enabling them to execute the Duties by this Act imposed upon them. XLIII. And be it enacted, That in every Case in which there shall be a Division into Wards of any Borough, the Burgesses of every such Ward, and none others, shall on the Day fixed for the First Election of Councillors separately elect from the Persons qualified to be Councillors the whole Number of Councillors assigned to such Ward respectively, and on the First Day of November in any subsequent Year shall separately elect from the Persons qualified to be Councillors One Third Part of the whole Number of Councillors assigned to such Ward, and on the First Day of March next after the First Election of Councillors in such Ward, and in every subsequent Year, shall separately elect

from the Persons qualified to be Councillors Two Assessors for such Ward; and every such Ward Election first after such Division into Wards of any such Borough shall be held before the Mayor, or the Person whom the Mayor for the Time being shall appoint in that Behalf, and in every succeeding Year shall be held before the Alderman whom the Councillors chosen in such Ward shall yearly appoint in that Behalf and before the Two Assessors of such Ward; and the Assessors who shall hold the Court for revising the Burgess Lists with the Mayor shall be the Assessors of the Mayor’s Ward, and the Votings and other Proceedings in all other respects at such Ward Elections shall be conducted in the same Manner as at Elections of Councillors or Assessors respectively by the Burgesses of the whole Borough, and the Alderman and Assessors of each Ward shall have the same Powers in regard to Elections in their Ward as the Mayor and Assessors for the whole Borough if not divided into Wards; and every Person so elected a Councillor or Assessor in such Ward shall hold his Office for the same Time that he would have held it if he had been elected by the Burgesses of the whole Borough and if the Number elected in such Ward had been the whole Number for the Borough. XLIV. And be it enacted, That every Burgess of any Borough shall be entitled to vote in the Election of the Councillors and Assessors to be chosen within that Ward in which the Property of such Burgess for which he appears to be rated on the Burgess Roll for the Time being of such Borough shall appear to be situated, and not otherwise; and if any Burgess shall be rated in respect of distinct Premises in Two or more Wards, then he shall

263

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

be entitled to be enrolled and to vote in such one of the said Wards as he shall select, but not in more than One. XLV. And be it enacted, That for the Purpose of better ascertaining who are the Burgesses of any such Ward the Burgess Roll of every Borough so divided into Wards shall thenceforward be made out, by or under the Direction of the Town Clerk, in Alphabetical Lists of the Burgesses in each Ward, to be called “Ward Lists.” XLVI. And be it enacted, That if at any Election of Councillors or Assessors for any Borough any Person shall be elected a Councillor or Assessor in more than One of the Wards of such Borough, he shall within Three Days after Notice thereof choose, or in his Default the Mayor shall declare, for which one of the said Wards such Councillor or Assessor shall serve, and such Person shall thereupon be held to be elected in that Ward only which he shall so choose, or which the Mayor shall so declare. XLVII. And be it enacted, That if any extraordinary Vacancy shall be occasioned in the Office of Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor for any Borough, the Burgesses entitled to vote shall, on a Day to be fixed by the Mayor of such Borough, or in the Case of a Councillor or Assessor, where the Borough shall have been divided into Wards, by the Alderman of the Ward in which the Vacancy has happened, (such Day not to be later than Ten Days after such Vacancy,) elect from the Persons qualified to be Councillors another Burgess to supply such Vacancy; and such Election shall be held, and the voting and other Proceedings, in case of a Contest,

264

shall be conducted in the same Manner and subject to the same Provisions as are herein-before enacted with respect to the Election of Councillors as aforesaid; and every Person so elected shall hold such Office until the Time at which the Person in room of whom he was chosen would regularly have gone out of Office, and he shall then go out of Office, but shall be capable of immediate Re-election if then qualified as herein provided: Provided always, that after the full Number to be regularly elected of the Councillors in any Year shall have declared their Acceptance of Office no new Election of Councillors shall be made by reason of such extraordinary Vacancy, unless the Number of Councillors remaining after such Vacancy shall not exceed Two Thirds of the whole Number of the Council of such Borough. XLVIII. And be it enacted, That if any Mayor, Alderman, or Assessor of any Borough who shall be in Office at the Time herein appointed for the Revision by them of the Burgess List under this Act, or for any Election of Councillors, Assessors, or Auditors which he is required to conduct or declare, shall neglect or refuse to revise such Burgess List, or to conduct or declare such Election as aforesaid, every such Mayor, Alderman, and Assessor shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay the Sum of One hundred Pounds; and if any Overseer of any Parish wholly or in part within any Borough shall neglect or refuse to make out, sign, and deliver such List as aforesaid, or if the Town Clerk of any Borough shall neglect or refuse to receive, print, and publish such Lists as aforesaid, or if any such Overseer or Town Clerk shall refuse to allow any such List to be perused by any Person having Right thereunto, every such Overseer and Town

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Clerk respectively for every such Offence shall forfeit and pay the Sum of Fifty Pounds; and the said Penalties hereby in such Case imposed shall be recovered, with full Costs of Suit, by any Person who will sue for the same within Three Calendar Months after the Commission of such Offence, by Action of Debt or on the Case in any of His Majesty’s Superior Courts of Record; and the Money so to be recovered shall, after Payment of the Costs and Expences attending the Recovery thereof, be paid and apportioned as follows; (that is to say,) one Moiety thereof to the Person so suing, and the other Moiety thereof to the Treasurer to be appointed by virtue of this Act, to be by him applied in aid of the Borough Fund herein-after mentioned. XLIX. And be it enacted, That on the Ninth Day of November in every Year the Council of the Borough shall elect out of the Aldermen or Councillors of such Borough a fit Person to be the Mayor of such Borough, who shall continue in his Office for One whole Year; and in case a Vacancy shall be occasioned in the Office of Mayor of the Borough during such Year by reason of any Person who shall have been elected to such Office not accepting the same, or by reason of his dying or ceasing to hold the said Office, the Council of the Borough shall within Ten Days after such Vacancy elect out of the Aldermen or Councillors of the said Borough another fit Person to be the Mayor thereof for the Remainder of the then current Year. L. And be it enacted, That no Person elected a Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor, or Auditor or Assessor, for any Borough, shall be capable of acting as such, except in administering the Declaration herein-

after contained, until he shall have made and subscribed before any Two or more such Aldermen or Councillors (who are hereby respectively authorized and required to administer the same to each other) a Declaration in the Words or to the Effect following; (that is to say,) ‘I A. B., having been elected Mayor (or Alderman, Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor) for the Borough of ____ do hereby declare, That I take the said Office upon myself, and will duly and faithfully fulfil the Duties thereof according to the best of my Judgment and Ability; (and in the Case of the Party being qualified by Estate say, and I do hereby declare that I am seised or possessed of Real or Personal Estate, or both, (as the Case may be,) to the Amount of One thousand Pounds or Five hundred Pounds, as the Case may require, over and above what will satisfy all my Debts).’ And that every Alderman who shall have made and subscribed the foregoing Declaration in respect of Estate shall once in every Period of Three Years, if required in Writing so to do by any Two Members of the Council, make and subscribe a Declaration that he is qualified to the same Amount in Real or Personal Estate, or both, as the Case may then be, as the Amount mentioned in the Declaration originally made and subscribed by him: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to dispense with the Obligation of any Person to make and subscribe the Declaration provided and enjoined by an Act made in the Ninth Year of His late Majesty George the Fourth, intituled An Act for repealing so much of several Acts as imposes the Necessity of receiving the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a Qualification for certain Offices and Employments.4

265

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

LI. And be it enacted, That every Person duly qualified who shall be elected to the Office of Alderman, Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor, and every Councillor who shall be elected to the Office of Mayor, for any Borough, shall accept such Office to which he shall have been elected, or shall in lieu thereof pay to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of such Borough such Fine not exceeding Fifty Pounds in case of Aldermen, Councillors, Auditors, or Assessors. and such Fine not exceeding One hundred Pounds in case of Mayor, as the Council of such Borough by a Bye Law to be made as herein-after provided shall declare in that Behalf; and such Fine if not duly paid shall be levied by the Warrant of any Justice having Jurisdiction within the Borough, who is hereby required on the Application of the Council to issue the same, by Distress and Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the Person so refusing to accept Office, with the reasonable Charges of such Distress; and every such Person so elected shall accept such Office by making and subscribing the Declaration herein-before mentioned within Five Days after Notice of his Election, otherwise such Person shall be liable to pay the said Fine as for his Non-acceptance of such Office, and such Office shall thereupon be deemed to be vacant and shall be filled up by a fresh Election to be made in the Manner herein before mentioned: Provided always, that no Person disabled by Lunacy or Imbecility of Mind, or by Deafness, Blindness, or other permanent Infirmity of Body, shall be liable to such Fine as aforesaid: Provided also, that every Person so elected to any such Office who shall be above the Age of Sixty-five Years, or who shall have already served such Office respectively, or paid the Fine for not accepting such Office re-

266

spectively, within Five Years from the Day on which he shall be so re-elected, shall be exempted from accepting or serving the same Office if he shall claim such Exemption within Five Days after Notice of his Election: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to compel the Acceptance of any Office or Duty whatever in any Borough by any Military, Naval, or Marine Officer in His Majesty’s Service on full Pay, or by any Officer or other Person employed and residing within any of His Majesty’s Dockyards, Victualling Establishments, Arsenals, or Barracks. LII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That if any Person holding the Office of Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor for any Borough shall be declared bankrupt, or shall apply to take the Benefit of any Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, or shall compound by Deed with his Creditors, or, being Mayor, shall be absent for more than Two Calendar Months, or, being an Alderman or Councillor, for more than Six Months, at one and the same Time, (unless in case of Illness), from the Borough of which he shall be Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor, then and in every such Case such Person shall thereupon immediately become disqualified and shall cease to hold the Office of such Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor as aforesaid, and in the Case of such Absence shall be liable to the same Fine, to be recovered in the same Manner, as if he had refused to accept the said Office, and the Council thereupon shall forthwith declare the said Office to be void, and shall signify the same by Notice in Writing under the Hands of Three or more of them, countersigned by the Town Clerk, to be affixed in some public Place within the Borough, and the said

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Office shall thereupon become void; but every Person so becoming disqualified and ceasing to hold such Office on account of his being declared a Bankrupt, or of his applying to take the Benefit of any Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, or having compounded with his Creditors as aforesaid, shall, on obtaining his Certificate or on Payment of his Debts in full, be capable (if otherwise qualified) of being re-elected to such Office, and every Person becoming disqualified to hold such Office on account of Absence as aforesaid shall on his Return to such Borough be capable of being reelected to such Office, provided he shall then be otherwise qualified. LIII. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall act as Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor, or Auditor or Assessor, for any Borough, without having made the Declaration herein-before required in that Behalf, or without being duly qualified at the Time of making such Declaration, or after he shall cease to be qualified according to the Provisions of this Act, or after he shall have become disqualified to hold any such Office, he shall for every such Offence forfeit the Sum of Fifty Pounds, such Sum to be recovered, with full Costs of Suit, by any Person who will sue for the same within Three Calendar Months after the Commission of such Offence, by Action of Debt or on the Case in any of His Majesty’s Superior Courts of Record; and every Person so sued by reason of not being so qualified in respect of Estate shall prove that he was at the Time of so acting qualified as aforesaid, or otherwise shall pay the said Penalty, without any further Evidence being given on the Part of the Plaintiff than that such Person has acted as the Mayor, or as Alderman, Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor (as the Case may be)

of such Borough: Provided always, that it shall be lawful for any Defendant, by Judge’s Order to be obtained within Fourteen Days after he shall have been served with Process in any such Action, to require the Plaintiff to give Security for Costs; and in such Case all further Proceedings in the said Cause shall be stayed until the Plaintiff shall give Security to the Satisfaction of the proper Officer of the Court for the Costs of such Action in case a Verdict shall pass for the Defendant, or the Plaintiff shall become Nonsuit, or discontinue such Action, or if upon Demurrer or otherwise Judgment shall be given against the Plaintiff; and the Defendant shall in either of such Cases recover his full Costs as between Attorney and Client: Provided also, that no such Action shall be brought except by a Burgess of such Borough, nor unless the Burgess bringing the same shall, within Fourteen Days after the Commission of the Offence, have served a Notice in Writing personally upon the Party committing such Offence of his Intention to bring such Action; and in case the Plaintiff in any such Action shall obtain a Verdict, the Money so to be recovered shall, after Payment of the Costs and Expences attending the Recovery thereof, be paid and apportioned as follows; (that is to say,) one Moiety thereof to the Person so suing, and the other Moiety thereof to the Treasurer to be appointed by virtue of this Act, to be by him applied in aid of the Borough Fund: Provided always, that all Acts and Proceedings of any Person in Possession of the Office of Mayor, Alderman, Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor, and acting as a Mayor, Alderman, Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor, shall, notwithstanding such Disqualification or Want of Qualification, be as valid and effectual as if such Person had been duly qualified.

267

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

LIV. And be it enacted, That if any Person who shall have or claim to have any Right to vote in any Election of Mayor, or of a Councillor, Auditor, or Assessor of any Borough, shall, after the passing of this Act, ask or take any Money or other Reward by way of Gift, Loan, or other Device, or agree or contract for any Money, Gift, Office, Employment, or other Reward whatsoever, to give or forbear to give his Vote in any such Election, or if any Person, by himself or any Person employed by him, shall, by any Gift or Reward, or by any Promise, Agreement, or Security for any Gift or Reward, corrupt or procure, or offer to corrupt or procure, any Person to give or forbear to give his Vote in any such Election, such Person so offending in any of the Cases aforesaid shall for every such Offence forfeit the Sum of Fifty Pounds of lawful Money of Great Britain, to be recovered, with full Costs of Suit, by any one who shall sue for the same, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information in any of His Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster; and any Person offending in any of the Cases aforesaid, being lawfully convicted thereof, shall for ever be disabled to vote in any Election in such Borough, or in any Municipal or Parliamentary Election whatever in any Part of the United Kingdom, and also shall for ever be disabled to hold, exercise, or enjoy any Office or Franchise to which he then shall or at any Time afterwards may be entitled as a Burgess of such Borough, as if such Person was naturally dead. LV. And be it enacted, That if any Person offending in any of the Cases aforesaid shall, within the Space of Twelve Months next after such Election as aforesaid, discover any other Person offending in any of the Cases aforesaid, so that such

268

other Person be thereon convicted, such Person so discovering, and not having been before that Time convicted of any such Offence, shall be indemnified and discharged from all Penalties and Disabilities which he shall then have incurred by any such Offence. LVI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That no Person shall be made liable to any Incapacity, Disability, Forfeiture, or Penalty by this Act imposed in any of the Cases aforesaid, unless Prosecution be commenced within Two Years after such Incapacity, Disability, Forfeiture, or Penalty shall be incurred, any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. LVII. And be it enacted, That the Mayor for the Time being of every Borough shall be a Justice of the Peace of and for such Borough, and shall continue to be such Justice of the Peace during the next succeeding Year after he shall cease to be Mayor, unless disqualified as aforesaid; and such Mayor shall, during the Time of his Mayoralty, have Precedence in all Places within the Borough, and in Boroughs which return a Member or Members to serve in Parliament, other than the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and other than Cities and Towns which are Counties of themselves, shall be the Returning Officer at all such Elections; and in case the Mayor shall, at the Time when he shall be required to perform the Duties of such Returning Officer be dead, absent, or otherwise incapable of acting, or in case there shall be no Mayor, the Council of such Borough shall forthwith elect one of the Aldermen to be the Returning Officer for such Borough in the Place of the Mayor being so dead, absent, or otherwise incapable: Provided always, that in every Case

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

where there shall be more than One Mayor within the Boundaries of any Borough as the same are or shall at any future Time be settled in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament the Mayor of that Borough to which the Writ of Election shall be directed shall be the Returning Officer. LVIII. And be it enacted, That the Council of every Borough, on the Ninth Day of November, in this present Year, shall appoint a fit Person, not being a Member of the Council, to be the Town Clerk of such Borough, who shall hold his Office during Pleasure; and in any Borough may be an Attorney of One of His Majesty’s Superior Courts at Westminster, any Law, Statute, Charter, or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding; and the Council of every Borough shall in every Year appoint another fit Person, not being a Member of the Council, to be the Treasurer of the Borough, and also such other Officers as have been usually appointed in such Borough, or as they shall think necessary for enabling them to carry into execution the various Powers and Duties vested in them by virtue of this Act, and may from Time to Time discontinue the Appointment of such Officers as shall appear to them not necessary to be re-appointed; and shall take such Security for the due Execution of his Office by any such Town Clerk, Treasurer, or other Officer, as the said Council shall think proper; and shall order to be paid to the Mayor, and to the Town Clerk and Treasurer, and to every such other Officer to be employed as aforesaid, such Salary or Allowance as the said Council shall think reasonable; and in case of a Vacancy in any such Office as aforesaid by Death, Resignation, Removal, or otherwise, the Council of such Borough

may appoint another fit Person in the Place of the Person so making such Vacancy; provided that the Town Clerk and Treasurer shall not be the same Person. LIX. And be it enacted, That the Treasurer of any Borough shall pay no Money on account of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of such Borough, save only in such Case as is provided by this Act, or upon the Order in Writing of the Council, signed by Three or more Members of the Council, and countersigned by the Town Clerk of such Borough, or by Order of the Court of Sessions of the Peace for the Borough, or of a Justice of the Peace acting in and for the Borough in the Discharge of this Judicial Duty, in such Case as is provided by this Act, or in such Case as a Court of Sessions of the Peace for any County, or a Justice of the Peace acting in and for a County in the Discharge of his Judicial Duty, may make an Order for the Payment of Money on the Treasurer of such County, or for the Payment of the Salaries granted to any Recorder or Police Magistrate as herein-after provided. LX. And be it enacted, That every Town Clerk, Treasurer, or other Officer appointed by the Council as aforesaid shall, at such Times during the Continuance of his Office, or within Three Months after the Expiration of his Office, and in such Manner as the said Council shall direct, deliver to the Council, or to such Person as they shall authorize for that Purpose, a true Account in Writing of all Matters committed to his Charge by virtue of this Act, and also of all Monies which shall have been by him received by virtue or for the Purposes of this Act, and how much thereof shall have been paid and disbursed, and for what Purposes, together

269

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

with proper Vouchers for such Payments, and also a List of the Names of all such Persons as shall not have paid the Monies due from them for the Purposes of this Act, and of the Amount due from each of them; and every such Officer shall pay all such Monies as shall remain due from him to the Treasurer for the Time being, or to such Person as the said Council shall authorize to receive the same; and if any such Officer shall refuse or wilfully neglect to deliver such Account, or the Vouchers relating to the same, or such List as aforesaid, or to make Payment as aforesaid, or shall refuse or wilfully neglect to deliver to the said Council, or to such Person as they shall authorize, within Three Days after being thereunto required by Notice in Writing under the Hands of any Three or more of the said Council, to be given to or left at the last Place of Abode of such Officer, all Books, Papers, and Writings in his Custody or Power relating to the Execution of this Act, or to give Satisfaction to the said Council, or to such other Person as aforesaid, respecting the same, then and in every such Case, upon Complaint made on behalf of the said Council, by such Person as they shall authorize for that Purpose, of any such Refusal or wilful Neglect as aforesaid, to any Justice of the Peace for the County or other Jurisdiction wherein such Officer so refusing or neglecting shall be or reside, such Justice is hereby authorized and required to issue a Warrant under his Hand and Seal for bringing such Officer before any Two Justices of the Peace for such County or Jurisdiction; and upon the said Officer appearing, or not being found, it shall be lawful for such Justices to hear and determine the Matter in a summary Way; and if it shall appear to such Justices that any Monies remain due from such Officer, such Justices may and they

270

are hereby authorized and required, upon Nonpayment thereof, by Warrant under their Hands and Seals, to cause such Monies to be levied by Distress and Sale of the Goods of such Officer; and if sufficient Goods shall not be found to satisfy the said Monies and the Charges of the Distress, or if it shall appear to such Justices that such Officer has refused or wilfully neglected to deliver such Account, or the Vouchers relating thereto, or such List as aforesaid, or that any Books, Papers, or Writings relating to the Execution of this Act remain in the Hands or in the Custody or Power of such Officer, and that he has refused or wilfully neglected to deliver the same, or to give Satisfaction respecting the same as aforesaid, then and in every such Case such Justices shall and they are hereby required to commit such Offender to the Common Gaol or House of Correction for the County or Jurisdiction where such Offender shall be or reside, there to remain without Bail, until he shall have paid such Monies as aforesaid, or shall have compounded with the said Council for such Monies, and shall have paid such Composition in such Manner as they shall appoint, (which Composition the said Council are hereby empowered to make and receive,) or until he shall have delivered a true Account as aforesaid, together with such Vouchers and Lists as aforesaid, or until he shall have delivered up such Books, Papers, and Writings, or have given Satisfaction in respect thereof, to the said Council, or to such other Person as aforesaid, as the Case may be: Provided always, that no Person so committed shall be detained in Prison for Want of sufficient Distress only for a longer Space of Time than Three Calendar Months; provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall prevent or abridge any Remedy by Action

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

against any such Officer so offending as aforesaid, or against any Surety for any such Officer, but such Officer shall not be sued by Action and also proceeded against in a summary Manner by virtue of this Act for the same Cause. LXI. And be it enacted, That in the City of Oxford, in the Town of Berwick-uponTweed, and in the Counties of the Cities of Bristol, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Exeter, Gloucester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Norwich, Worcester, and York, and in the Counties of the Towns of Caermarthen, Haverfordwest, Kingston-upon-Hull, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Poole, and Southampton, the Council shall on the First Day of November in every Year appoint a fit Person to execute the Office of Sheriff, with the like Duties and Powers as the Sheriff or the Person filling the Office of Sheriff in the said Town and Counties respectively would have had if this Act had not passed; and every Person who, at the Time of the passing of this Act, shall hold the Office or execute the Duties of Sheriff in the said Town and Counties respectively shall continue to hold and execute the same until the first Appointment of a Sheriff therein under the Provisions of this Act, and no longer. LXII. And be it enacted, That the Council of every Borough in which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden, as is herein after provided, shall, within Ten Days next after the Grant of the said Court shall have been signified to the Council of such Borough, appoint a fit Person, not being an Alderman or Councillor, to be Coroner of such Borough so long as he shall well behave himself in his Office of Coroner, and shall fill up every Vacancy of the Office of Coroner of the

Borough, by Death, Resignation, or Removal, within Ten Days next after such Vacancy shall have occurred, and none thereafter shall take any Inquisition which belongs to the Office of Coroner within such Borough save only the Coroner so from Time to Time to be appointed; and every such Coroner, for every Inquisition which he shall duly take within such Borough, shall be entitled to have the Sum of Twenty Shillings, and also the Sum of Nine-pence for every Mile exceeding Two Miles which he shall be compelled to travel from his usual Place of Abode to take such Inquisition, to be paid by the Treasurer out of the Borough Fund of such Borough, by Order of the Court of Quarter Sessions for such Borough. LXIII. And be it further enacted, That on or before the First Day of February in every Year after the passing of this Act every Coroner appointed in any Borough shall make and transmit to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State a Return in Writing, according to such Form as the said Secretary of State from Time to Time shall direct, of all the Cases in which he may have been called upon to hold an Inquest touching the Cause of Death of any Person during the Year ending on the Thirty-first Day of December immediately preceding. LXIV. And be it enacted, That in every Borough in and for which no separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden no Person from and after the End of this present Year shall take any Inquisition which belongs to the Office of Coroner within such Borough, save only the Coroner for the County or District in which such Borough is situated; and the Coroner of such County or District, for

271

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

every Inquisition which he shall duly take within any Place or Precinct within any such Borough, shall be entitled to have such rateable Fees and Salary as would be allowed and due to him, and to be allowed and paid in like Manner, as for any other Inquisition taken by him within such County: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to annul, diminish, or affect the Authority of the Lord High Admiral, or of the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom for the Time being, or of the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty of England, as the Lieutenant of the Lord High Admiral in the said Court, to appoint Coroners to act within the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty in the several Ports and Havens and on the Sea Coast of England, and to take Inquisitions touching Deaths happening within the said Jurisdiction, as hath heretofore been done. LXV. And be it enacted, That the Council elected under this Act in any Borough shall have Power to remove from his Office every Bailiff, Treasurer, or Chamberlain, and every other ministerial or executive Officer of such Borough and Body Corporate who shall be in Office at the Time of the first Election of Councillors under this Act; and every such Bailiff, Treasurer, or Chamberlain, and every other ministerial or executive Officer in such Borough, shall continue to act in the same Capacity as heretofore, and to execute all the Duties heretofore belonging to his Office, and be entitled to have the same Salaries, Fees, and Emoluments as he would have had if this Act had not passed, until he shall be removed from his Office and no longer, unless he shall be re-appointed according to the Provisions of this Act;

272

and every Officer who shall be in Possession or Receipt of any Monies, Goods, valuable Securities, Books, and Papers belonging to or concerning the Body Corporate whose Officer he is shall deliver up and account for the same to the Council of such Body Corporate appointed under this Act; and the Council shall have the same Remedy against such Officer to recover the same as is herein-before provided in the Case of Officers appointed by such Council: Provided always, that all the Charters, Deeds, Muniments, and Records of every Borough, or relating to the Property thereof, shall be kept in such Place as the Council from Time to Time shall direct, and the Town Clerk for the Time being shall have the Charge and Custody of and be responsible for the same. LXVI. And be it enacted, That every Officer of any Borough or County who shall be in any Office of Profit at the Time of the passing of this Act, whose Office shall be abolished, or who shall be removed from his Office under the Provisions of this Act, or who shall not be re-appointed as aforesaid, shall be entitled to have an adequate Compensation, to be assessed by the Council, and paid out of the Borough Fund, for the Salary, Fees, and Emoluments of the Office which he shall so cease to hold, Regard being had to the Manner of his Appointment to the said Office, and his Term or Interest therein, and all other Circumstances of the Case; and every Person entitled to such Compensation as aforesaid shall deliver to the Town Clerk, or in case such Person shall himself be Town Clerk then to the Treasurer of the Borough, a Statement under the Hand of such Person setting forth the Amount received by him or his Predecessors in every Year during the Period of

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Five Years next before the passing of this Act on account of the Salary, Fees, Emoluments, Profits, and Perquisites in respect whereof he shall claim such Compensation, distinguishing the Office, Place, Situation, Employment, or Appointment in respect whereof the same shall have been received, and containing a Declaration that the same is a true Statement according to the best of the Knowledge, Information, and Belief of such Person, and also setting forth the Sum claimed by him as such Compensation; and the Town Clerk or Treasurer, as the Case shall be, shall lay such Statement before the Council, who shall take the same into consideration, and determine thereon; and immediately upon such Determination being made the Person preferring such Claim, if he shall not himself be the Town Clerk, shall be informed thereof by Notice in Writing under the Hand of the Town Clerk; and in case such Claim shall be admitted in part and disallowed in part, such Notice shall specify the Particulars in which the same shall have been admitted and disallowed respectively; and in case the Person preferring such Claim shall think himself aggrieved by the Determination of the Council thereon, or in case One Third of the Members of the Council shall subscribe a Protest against the Amount of Compensation allowed by the Determination of the Council as excessive, it shall be lawful for the Person preferring such Claim, or any Member of the Council who shall subscribe such Protest, to appeal to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, who shall thereupon make such Order as to them shall seem just; and such Order, signed by Three or more of such Lords Commissioners, shall be binding on all Parties: Provided always, that if the Council shall not determine on such Claim

within Six Calendar Months after the aforesaid Statement shall be delivered to the Town Clerk or Treasurer, as the Case shall be, such Claim shall be considered as admitted: Provided also, that it shall not be lawful for any Member of the Council to subscribe such Protest as aforesaid except within such Period of Six Calendar Months; Provided also, that the Person preferring such Claim, if any Member of the Council shall so require, upon receiving Notice in Writing signed by the Town Clerk, unless such Person shall himself be Town Clerk, in which Case no such Notice shall be requisite, shall from Time to Time attend at any Meeting or adjourned Meeting of the Council for the Investigation of such Claim, and then and there, upon his Oath or solemn Affirmation, to be taken or made before the Mayor, (who is hereby authorized to administer the same,) shall answer all such Questions as shall be asked by any Member of the Council touching the Matters set forth in the Statement subscribed by such Person as aforesaid, and produce all Books, Papers, and Writings in his Possession, Custody, or Power relating thereto: Provided also, that every such Officer who shall be continued in or reappointed to such Office under the Provisions of this Act, and who shall be subsequently removed from such Office for any Cause other than such Misconduct as would warrant Removal from any Office held during good Behaviour, shall be entitled to Compensation in like Manner as if he had been forthwith removed under the Provisions of this Act, and had not been continued in or re-appointed to such Office. LXVII. And be it enacted, That the Sum payable to any Person as such Compensation as aforesaid shall be secured to such Person by Bond or Obligation under

273

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

the Common Seal of the Borough out of whose Funds the same shall be payable, in a sufficient Penalty, conditioned for the Payment to such Person, his Executors or Administrators or Assigns, of such Sum, with all Arrears thereof (if any) accrued due before the Date of such Bond; and such Bond or Obligation shall be prepared and executed at the Expence of the Borough Fund, and delivered to the Person entitled to such Compensation as soon as conveniently may be after the Amount thereof shall have been admitted as aforesaid by the Council of the Borough; or shall have been determined, in the Event of such Appeal as aforesaid, by the Order of the said Lords Commissioners. LXVIII. And be it enacted, That all Pensions and Allowances granted on or before the Fifth Day of June in this present Year, by the Corporate Body named in the said Schedules (A) and (B.) in conjunction with any Borough, to any retired Officer or Servant, or to the Widow or Child of any Officer or Servant, and all Stipends and Allowances which during Seven Years next before the said Fifth Day of June have been usually paid and granted to the Minister or late Minister of any Church or Chapel, or to the Master or Usher of any School, or to the Governor or Master of any Hospital within such Borough, and all charitable Allowances which have been usually paid as aforesaid to the Inmates of any Almshouses by such Corporate Body, shall be secured, as soon as conveniently may be after the passing of this Act, to every Person entitled or accustomed to have and receive the same, by Bond or Obligation under the Common Seal of the Borough out of whose Funds the same shall be payable, in a sufficient Penalty, conditioned for the Payment to such Per-

274

son, his Executors and Administrators, of such Pension, Stipend, or Allowance, with all Arrears thereof, if any, accrued due before the Date of such Bond; and such Bond or Obligation shall be prepared and executed at the Expence of the Borough Fund. LXIX. And be it enacted, That all Acts whatsoever authorized or required by virtue of this Act to be done by the Council of such Borough, and all Questions of Adjournment or others that may come before such Council, may be done and decided by the Majority of the Members of the Council who shall be present at any Meeting held in pursuance of this Act, the whole Number present at such Meeting not being less than One Third Part of the Number of the whole Council; and at all such Meetings the Mayor, if present, shall preside; and the Mayor, or, in the Absence of the Mayor, such Alderman, or in the Absence of all the Aldermen, such Councillor as the Members of the Council then assembled shall choose to be the Chairman of that Meeting, shall have a Second or Casting Vote in all Cases of Equality of Votes; and Minutes of the Proceedings of all such Meetings shall be drawn up and fairly entered into a Book to be kept for that Purpose, and shall be signed by the Mayor, Alderman, or Councillor presiding at such Meeting; and the said Minutes shall be open to the Inspection of any Burgess at all reasonable Times on Payment of a Fee of One Shilling: Provided always, that previous to any Meeting of the Council held by virtue of this Act a Notice of the Time and Place of such intended Meeting shall be given Three clear Days at least before such Meeting, by fixing the said Notice on or near the Door of the Town Hall of the Borough; and such Notice shall be signed by the

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Mayor, who shall have Power to call a Meeting of the Council as often as he shall think proper; and in case the Mayor shall refuse to call any such Meeting after a Requisition for that Purpose signed by Five Members of the Council at the least shall have been presented to him, it shall be lawful for the said Five Members to call a Meeting of the Council by giving such Notice as is herein-before required in that Behalf, such Notice to be signed by the said Members instead of the Mayor, and stating therein the Business proposed to be transacted at such Meeting; and in every Case a Summons to attend the Council, specifying the Business proposed to be transacted at such Meeting, signed by the Town Clerk, shall be left at the usual Place of Abode of every Member of the Council or at the Premises in respect of which he is enrolled a Burgess, Three clear Days at least before such Meeting; and no Business shall be transacted at such Meeting other than is specified in the Notice: Provided always, that there shall be in every Borough Four quarterly Meetings in every Year at which the Council shall meet for the Transaction of general Business, and no Notice shall need to be given of the Business to be transacted on such quarterly Days; and the said quarterly Meetings shall be holden at Noon on the Ninth Day of November, or if the Ninth Day of November shall fall on a Sunday on the Day following, and at such Hour on such other Three Days before the First Day of November then next following as the Council at the quarterly Meeting in November shall decide; and the first Business transacted at the quarterly Meeting in November shall be the Election of Mayor. LXX. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Council of any Borough

to appoint out of their own Body, from Time to Time, such and so many Committees, either of a general or special Nature, and consisting of such Number of Persons as they may think fit, for any Purposes which, in the Discretion of such Council, would be better regulated and managed by means of such Committees: Provided always, that the Acts of every such Committee shall be submitted to the Council for their Approval. LXXI. And whereas divers Bodies Corporate now stand seised or possessed of sundry Hereditaments and Personal Estate, in Trust, in whole or in part, for certain charitable Trusts, and it is expedient that the Administration thereof be kept distinct from that of the Public Stock and Borough Fund; be it enacted, That in every Borough in which the Body Corporate, or any One or more of the Members of such Body Corporate, in his or their Corporate Capacity, now stands or stand solely, or together with any Person or Persons elected solely by such Body Corporate, or solely by any particular Number, Class, or Description of Members of such Body Corporate seised or possessed for any Estate or Interest whatsoever of any Hereditaments, or any Sums of Money, Chattels, Securities for Money, or any other Personal Estate whatsoever, in whole or in part in Trust or for the Benefit of any charitable Uses or Trusts whatsoever, all the Estate, Right, Interest, and Title, and all the Powers of such Body Corporate, or of such Member or Members of such Body Corporate, in respect of the said Uses and Trusts, shall continue in the Persons who at the Time of the passing of this Act are such Trustees as aforesaid, notwithstanding that they may have ceased to hold any Office by virtue of which before the pass-

275

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

ing of this Act they were such Trustees, until the First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, or until Parliament shall otherwise order, and shall immediately thereupon utterly cease and determine: Provided always, that if any Vacancy shall be occasioned among the charitable Trustees for any Borough before the said First Day of August, it shall be lawful for the Lord High Chancellor or Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal for the Time being, upon Petition, in a summary Way, to appoint another Trustee to supply such Vacancy; and every Person so appointed a Trustee as last aforesaid shall be a Trustee until the Time at which the Person in the Room of whom he was chosen would regularly have ceased to be a Trustee, and he shall then cease to be a Trustee: Provided also, that if Parliament shall not otherwise direct, on or before the said First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, the Lord High Chancellor or Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal shall make such Orders as he or they shall see fit for the Administration, subject to such charitable Uses or Trusts as aforesaid, of such Trust Estates. LXXII. And be it enacted, That the Body Corporate named in the said Schedules (A.) and (B.) in conjunction with any Borough shall be Trustees for executing by the Council of such Borough the Powers and Provisions of all Acts of Parliament made before the passing of this Act, (other than Acts made for securing charitable Uses and Trusts,) and of all Trusts (other than charitable Uses and Trusts) of which the said Body Corporate, or any of the Members thereof in their Corporate Capacity, was or were sole Trustees before the Time of the First Election of Councillors in such Borough under this Act.

276

LXXIII. And be it enacted, That in every Borough in which the Body Corporate, or a particular or limited Number, Class, or Description of Members of the Body Corporate, or of Persons appointed by the Body Corporate, was or were before the passing of this Act Trustees jointly with other Trustees for the Execution of any Act of Parliament, or of any Trust, or in which the Body Corporate, or any particular or limited Number, Class, or Description of Members or Nominees of the Body Corporate, by any Statute, Charter, Bye Law, or Custom was or were before the passing of this Act lawfully appointed to or exercised any Powers, Duties, or Functions whatsoever not otherwise herein provided for, and the Continuance of which is not inconsistent with the Provisions of this Act, the Council of such Borough, on the Day named in such Act as last aforesaid, or in the Deed or Will by which such Trust is created for a new Election, Nomination, or Appointment of Trustees, or on which such new Election, Nomination, or Appointment has usually been made, (and if there shall be no such Day named or usually observed, then on the First Day of January in every Year,) shall appoint the like Number of Members of the Council, or as near as may be to the like Number of Members of the Council, as there were theretofore Members or Nominees of such Corporate Body who in right of their Office were such Trustees, or charged with the Execution of such Powers, Duties, and Functions, in room of the Members or Nominees of such Corporate Body ceasing to be Trustees, or ceasing to exercise such Powers, Duties, and Functions by virtue of this Act, and in every Case of extraordinary Vacancy among the Trustees or Persons so appointed by the Council shall forthwith

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

appoint one other Member of the Council in the Room of the Person by whom such Vacancy has been made, and to hold his Trust or Office for such Time as the Person by whom such Vacancy has been made would regularly have held it. LXXIV. And be it enacted, That notwithstanding any thing in this Act contained, every Member of any Body Corporate who in his Corporate Capacity, and every Nominee of any Body Corporate, or any particular Number, Class, or Description of Members of such Body Corporate, who at the Time of the passing of this Act shall be for a definite Number of Years or other shorter Time a Trustee of such Acts or Trusts as last aforesaid, shall continue to be such Trustee until the Time when he would have ceased to be such Trustee if this Act had not passed; and if a Trustee for an indefinite Time, or for Life, or for so long as he shall be a Member, or of a particular Class or Description of such Body Corporate, then until the First Day of January in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and no longer; and every Member of the Council appointed under the Provisions of this Act to be a Trustee of such Acts or Trusts as last aforesaid shall continue to be such Trustee until the Time herein provided for the new Appointment of a Member of the Council to be Trustee in his Room, notwithstanding that he may have ceased to be a Member of the Council; and in case any particular Member or Officer of any of the said Bodies Corporate shall have been appointed by any such Act, or by any such Trust Deed or Will as last aforesaid, to perform during a definite Number of Years or other shorter Time any specific Powers, Duties, or Functions whatsoever, the Person who at the Time of the passing

of this Act shall be the Person designated and qualified to perform the same shall continue to perform the same until the Time when he would have ceased to perform the same if this Act had not passed; and if appointed for an indefinite Time, or for Life, or for so long as he shall be a Member, or of a particular Class or Description of such Body Corporate, then until the First Day of January in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six and no longer: Provided nevertheless, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to extend to the Body Corporate of the Trustees of the Liverpool Docks, but that every Person who at the Time of the passing of this Act shall be a Trustee of the Liverpool Docks, and none other, shall be continued to be such Trustee until the First Day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and no longer; and every such Trustee who is appointed to discharge, or in his Corporate Capacity discharges any Powers, Duties, or Functions whatsoever in respect of the said last-mentioned Trust Estate, and none other, shall continue to discharge the same, as if this Act had not passed, until the First Day of November in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty six, and no longer. LXXV. And whereas it may be expedient that the Powers now vested in the Trustees appointed under sundry Acts of Parliament for paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, regulating, supplying with Water, and improving certain Boroughs, or certain Parts thereof, should be transferred to and vested in the Councils of such Boroughs respectively; be it enacted, That the Trustees appointed by virtue of any such Act of Parliament as last aforesaid, wherein the Trustees, or the Persons whose

277

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Trustees they may be, are not beneficially interested, may, if it shall seem to them expedient, at a Meeting to be called for that Purpose, transfer in Writing under their Hands and Seals all the Powers vested in them as such Trustees by any such Act or Acts of Parliament as aforesaid to the said Body Corporate of such Borough, and the said Body Corporate of such Borough shall thenceforth be Trustee for executing by the Council of such Borough the several Powers and Provisions of any such Act or Acts of Parliament, and the Members of the Council shall have the same Powers and be subject to the same Duties as if their Names had been originally inserted in such Act or Acts, or as if they had been elected under the Provisions of any such Act or Acts as such Trustees respectively: Provided always, that no such Transfer as aforesaid shall be made of the Powers vested by virtue of the Acts mentioned in Schedule (E.) which relate to the Town of Cambridge, without the Consent of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Cambridge. LXXVI. And be it enacted, That the Council to be elected for any Borough shall, immediately after their First Election, and so from Time to Time thereafter as they shall deem expedient, appoint, for such Time as they may think proper, a sufficient Number of their own Body, who, together with the Mayor of the Borough for the Time being, shall be and be called the Watch Committee for such Borough; and all the Powers herein-after given to such Committee may be executed by the Majority of those who shall be present at any Meeting of such Committee, the whole Number present at such Meeting being not less than Three; and such Watch Com-

278

mittee shall, within Three Weeks after their First Formation, and so from Time to Time thereafter as Occasion shall require, appoint a sufficient Number of fit Men, who shall be sworn in before some Justice of the Peace having Jurisdiction within the Borough to act as Constables for preserving the Peace by Day and by Night, and preventing Robberies and other Felonies, and apprehending Offenders against the Peace; and the Men so sworn shall not only within such Borough, but also within the County in which such Borough or Part thereof shall be situated, and also within every County being within Seven Miles of any Part of such Borough, and also within all Liberties in any such County, have all such Powers and Privileges, and be liable to all such Duties and Responsibilities, as any Constable duly appointed now has or hereafter may have within his Constablewick by virtue of the Common Law of this Realm, or of any Statutes made or to be made, and shall obey all such lawful Commands as they may from Time to Time receive from any of the Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction within such Borough, or within any County in which they shall be called on to act as Constables, for conducting themselves in the Execution of their Office. LXXVII. And be it enacted, That the Watch Committee for any such Borough as aforesaid may from Time to Time frame such Regulations as they shall deem expedient for preventing Neglect or Abuse, and for rendering such Constables efficient in the Discharge of their Duties; and the said Committee, or any Two Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction within the Borough, may at any Time suspend or dismiss any Constable whom they shall think negligent in the Discharge of his Duty, or

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

otherwise unfit for the same; and when any Man shall be so dismissed, or cease to belong to the said Constabulary Force, all Powers vested in him as a Constable by virtue of this Act shall immediately cease; and no Man so dismissed as aforesaid shall be re-appointed without the Consent of Two of the Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction within the Borough. LXXVIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Constable during the Time of his being on Duty to apprehend all idle and disorderly Persons whom he shall find disturbing the public Peace, or whom he shall have just Cause to suspect of Intention to commit a Felony, and to deliver any Person so apprehended into the Custody of the Constable appointed under this Act, who shall be in attendance at the nearest Watch-house, in order that such Person may be secured until he can be brought before a Justice of the Peace to be dealt with according to Law, or may give Bail for his Appearance before a Justice of the Peace, if the Constable shall think fit to take Bail, in the manner herein-after mentioned. LXXIX. And be it enacted, That where any Person charged with any petty Misdemeanor shall be brought without the Warrant of a Justice of the Peace into the Custody of any Constable appointed under this Act, during his Attendance in the Night-time at any Watch-house within any such Borough as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for such Constable, if he shall think fit, to take Bail by Recognizance, without any Fee or Reward, from such Person, conditioned that such Person shall appear for Examination within Two Days before a Justice of the Peace within the Borough at some Time and Place to be specified in

the Recognizance; and every Recognizance so taken shall be of equal Obligation on the Parties entering into the same, and liable to the same Proceedings for the estreating thereof, as if the same had been taken before a Justice of the Peace; and the Constable shall enter in a Book, to be kept for that Purpose in every Watch-house, the Names, Residence, and Occupation of the Party, and his Surety or Sureties, if any, entering into such Recognizance, together with the Condition thereof, and the Sums respectively acknowledged, and shall lay the same before such Justice as shall be present at the Time and Place when and where the Party is required to appear; and if the Party does not appear at the Time and Place required, or within One Hour after, the Justice shall cause a Record of the Recognizance to be drawn up to be signed by the Constable, and shall return the same to the next General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Borough, or for the County in which such Borough is situate, in those Boroughs for which there shall be no separate General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, with a Certificate at the Back thereof, signed by such Justice, that the Party has not complied with the Obligation therein contained; and the Clerk of the Peace shall make the like Estreats and Schedules of every such Recognizance as of Recognizances forfeited in the Sessions of the Peace; and if the Party not appearing shall apply by any Person on his Behalf to postpone the hearing of the Charge against him, and the Justice shall think fit to consent thereto, the Justice shall be at liberty to enlarge the Recognizance to such further Time as he shall appoint; and when the Matter shall be heard and determined, either by the Dismissal of the Complaint or by binding the Party over to answer the

279

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Matter thereof at the Sessions, or otherwise, the Recognizance for the Appearance of the Party before a Justice shall be discharged without Fee or Reward. LXXX. And be it enacted, That if any Constable of any Borough shall be guilty of any Neglect of Duty or of any Disobedience of any lawful Order, every such Offender, being convicted thereof before any Two Justices of the Peace, shall for every such Offence be liable to be imprisoned for any Time not exceeding Ten Days, or to be fined in any Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings, or to be dismissed from his Office, as such Justices shall in their Discretion think meet. LXXXI. And be it enacted, That if any Person shall assault or resist any Constable of any Borough appointed under this Act in the Execution of his Duty, or shall aid or incite any Person so to assault or resist, every such Offender, being convicted thereof before any Two Justices of the Peace, shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay such Sum not exceeding Five Pounds as the said Justices shall think meet: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall prevent any Prosecution by way of Indictment against any Person so offending, but so as that such Person shall not be prosecuted by Indictment and also proceeded against under this Act for the same Offence. LXXXII. And be it enacted, That the Treasurer of every Borough appointed under this Act shall pay to the Constables of such Borough appointed under this Act such Salaries, Wages, and Allowances, and at such Periods, as the Watch Committee for such Borough shall, subject to the Approbation of the Council, direct,

280

and the Council shall order to be paid also any extraordinary Expences which such Persons shall appear to have necessarily incurred in apprehending Offenders and executing the Orders of any Justice of the Peace having Jurisdiction within such Borough, such Expences having been first examined and approved by such Justice; and the said Treasurer shall also pay such further Sums as the Watch Committee shall, subject to the Approbation of the Council, award to any of the Persons belonging to the said Constabulary Force, as a Reward for extraordinary Diligence or Exertion, or as a Compensation for Wounds or severe Injuries received in the Performance of their Duty, or as an Allowance to such of them as shall be disabled by bodily Injury received, or shall be worn out by Length of Service, and all other Charges and Expences which the Watch Committee shall, subject to the Approbation of the Council, direct to be paid for the Purposes of the Constabulary Force under this Act. LXXXIII. And be it enacted, That any Two or more of the Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction within any Borough are hereby authorized and required in the Month of October in every Year to nominate and appoint by Precept in Writing, under their Hands, so many as they shall think fit of the Inhabitants of such Borough (not legally exempt from serving the Office of Constable), to act as Special Constables within such Borough whensoever they shall be required by the Warrant of any of the Justices of the Peace having Jurisdiction within such Borough so to act, and not otherwise; and every such Warrant shall recite that in the Opinion of the Justice granting the same the ordinary Police Force of the Borough is insuffi-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

cient at that Time to maintain the Peace of the Borough; and every Person so appointed a Special Constable shall take the Oath set forth in the Act passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the First and Second Years of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled An Act for amending the Laws relative to the Appointment of Special Constables, and for the better Preservation of the Peace,5 and shall have the Powers and Immunities and be liable to the Duties and Penalties enacted by the said last-mentioned Act; and every Person so appointed a Special Constable shall receive, out of the Borough Fund, for every Day during which he shall be called out to act as such, the Sum of Three Shillings and Sixpence, and no more. LXXXIV. And be it enacted, That as soon as Constables shall have been appointed by the Watch Committee for any Borough, a Notice, signed by the Mayor of such Borough, specifying the Day on which such Constables shall begin to act, shall be fixed on the Door of the Town Hall and every Church within such Borough; and on the Day so specified in such Notice so much of all Acts named in conjunction with such Borough in the Schedule (E.) to this Act annexed, and of all Acts made before the passing of this Act, as relates to the Appointment, Regulation, Powers, and Duties, or to the Assessment or Collection of any Rate to provide for the Expences of any Watchmen, Constables, Patrol, or Police for any Place situated within such Borough, shall cease and determine; and all Watch-houses and Watch-boxes in any such Place, and all Arms, Accoutrements, and other Necessaries provided at the Public Expence for any Watchmen, Constables, Patrol, or

Police therein, shall be given up to such Persons as shall be named by the said Mayor in such Notice, for the Use and Accommodation of the Constables to be appointed under this Act, and all the Property so to be given up shall be deemed to belong to the Body Corporate of such Borough; and in case any Person having the Charge, Control, or Possession of any Watch-house, Watch-box, Arms, Accoutrements, or Necessaries as aforesaid shall neglect or refuse to give up the same as herein before required, every such Offender, being convicted thereof before any Two Justices of the Peace, shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay, over and above the Value of the Property not given up, such Sum not exceeding Five Pounds as the said Justices shall think meet; and where there shall be any Building in any such Place as aforesaid a Part only of which Building shall have been heretofore used as a Watch-house, such Part shall be given up every Day, from the Hour of Four in the Afternoon until the Hour of Nine in the Forenoon, for the Use and Accommodation of the Constables to be appointed under this Act; and if any Person having the Charge, Control, or Possession of any such Building shall neglect or refuse to give up such Part thereof for the Purposes aforesaid, or to permit free Access thereto or Egress therefrom during any Portion of the Time above prescribed, every such Offender, being convicted thereof before any Two Justices of the Peace, shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay such Sum not exceeding Five Pounds as the said Justices shall think meet: Provided nevertheless, that in every Case in which before the passing of this Act a Rate might be levied in any Borough for the Purpose of watching, conjointly with any other Purpose, nothing in

281

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

this Act contained shall be construed to prevent the levying and collecting of such Rate for such other Purpose solely, or to repeal the Powers given in any Act so far as the same relate to such other Purpose: Provided always, that where the Amount of such Rate before the passing of this Act might not exceed a given Rate in the Pound on the Value of Property rateable thereunto, the Rate so to be levied for such other Purpose solely shall not exceed such Proportion of the said given Rate in the Pound as shall appear to have been expended for such Purpose other than watching by an Account of the average yearly Expenditure during the last Seven Years, or where such Rate shall not have been levied during Seven Years, then during such less Number of Years as such Rate shall have been levied. LXXXV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That any Rate for defraying the Expences of any Watchmen, Constables, Patrol, or Police in any such Place as aforesaid, made previously to the Day specified in such Notice as aforesaid, shall be levied and collected in the same Manner as if this Act had not been passed: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the levying and collecting of any Rate in any such Place as aforesaid for the Purpose of paying any Debt contracted before the passing of this Act, or the Interest of any such Debt, but that such Rate shall and may be levied and collected in the same Manner as if this Act had not been passed. LXXXVI. And be it enacted, That the Watch Committee of every such Borough shall, on the First Day of January, the First Day of April, the First Day of July, and the First Day of October in every Year,

282

transmit to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State a Report of the Number of Men appointed to act as Constables or Policemen in such Borough, and of the Description of Arms, Accoutrements, and Clothing, and other Necessaries furnished to each Man, and of the Salaries, Wages, and Allowances payable to such Constables or Policemen, and of the Number and Situation of all Station Houses in such Borough; and also a Copy of all Rules, Orders, and Regulations which shall from Time to Time be made by such Watch Committee or by the Council of such Borough for the Regulation and Guidance of such Constables or Policemen. LXXXVII. And whereas Parts of certain Boroughs are within the Provisions of One or more Local Act or Acts for regulating the lighting thereof, and certain other Parts of the same Boroughs are not within the Provisions of any Local Act for regulating the lighting thereof, and for Want of such lighting the Efficiency of the Constables may be much diminished, and great Facilities afforded for the Commission of Crimes and for the Escape of Offenders; for Remedy thereof be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Council of any Borough in any Part of which there is a Local Act for the lighting thereof to make an Order that any Part of such Borough not being within the Provisions of any Local Act for the lighting thereof shall, from and after a certain Day to be named in such Order, be taken to be within the Provisions of such Local Act or Acts for lighting any Part of such Borough as the Common Council shall specify in such Order; and after such Day the Part named in such Order shall be within the Provisions of the Act or Acts so specified, so far as relates to lighting, or to any Rates

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

authorized to be levied for the Purpose of lighting, as fully as if such Part had been originally named in such Act or Acts, any thing in such Act or Acts to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided always, that every Part named in such Order shall be lighted in the like Manner as those Parts which before the making of such Order were within the Provisions of such Local Act, and that the Rate to be raised for the Purpose of defraying the Expences of lighting any Part so named in such Order shall not exceed the Average Expence in the Pound of the lighting of the other Parts of such Borough. LXXXVIII. And be it enacted, That if the Council of any Borough chosen under this Act shall, by public Notice to be affixed on the outer Door of the Town Hall or in some public Place within the Borough, declare that on a certain Day, to be named in such Notice, not less than Twenty-one Days after the Day on which such public Notice shall have been given, they will take upon themselves the Powers given to the Inspectors named in a certain Act made in the Third and Fourth Year of His present Majesty, intituled An Act to repeal an Act of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, for the lighting and watching of Parishes in England and Wales, and to make other Provisions in lieu thereof,6 so far as the same relates to the lighting the Whole or any Part of any Borough which is not within the Provisions of any Local Act, or in which there is no Power of levying Rates for lighting the same, the Council of such Borough shall, after the Day named in such Notice, have the same Powers and Duties as belong to Inspectors under the said lastrecited Act in regard to lighting, and to levying Rates for the Purpose of lighting

such Part of the Borough, except so far as the same are contrary to or inconsistent with the Provisions of this Act; and in such Case the Council shall have the sole Power to fix and determine the Amount of Money which they will call for in any One Year for the Purpose of lighting such Part of the Borough, so that such Sum shall not exceed the Rate of Sixpence in the Pound on the full and fair annual Value of all Property rateable to the Relief of the Poor within such Part of the Borough: Provided also, that it shall not be lawful in such Case for the Inhabitants of such Part of the Borough at any Time to determine that the Provisions of the said recited Act shall cease to be acted upon. LXXXIX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to interfere with the watching, paving, or lighting, and internal Regulations established for the Government and Security of any of His Majesty’s Dockyards, Victualling Establishments, Arsenals, and Barracks respectively; nor shall any of the Tenements within the said Dockyards, Victualling Establishments, Arsenals, or Barracks, or the Inhabitants of the same, be liable to be assessed to the Rates for watching, paving, or lighting the other Parts of the City, Borough, or Parish within which the same may be respectively situated, unless such Tenements or the Inhabitants thereof are now or may hereafter become liable to be assessed to any such Rates made under or by virtue of any Law or Statute now in force; nor shall any thing herein contained extend to defeat or affect the Authority of Justices of the Peace which by an Act passed in the Second Year of His present Majesty’s Reign, intituled An Act to amend the Laws relating to the Business of the Civil

283

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Departments of the Navy, and to make other Regulations for more effectually carrying on the Duties of the said Departments,7 is vested in the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, and in the Superintendents of the several Dockyards and other Naval and Victualling Establishments, in all Places and in all Matters relating to His Majesty’s Naval Service, and to the Stores, Provisions, Ammunition, and Accounts thereof. XC. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Council of any Borough to make such Bye Laws as to them shall seem meet for the good Rule and Government of the Borough, and for Prevention and Suppression of all such Nuisances as are not already punishable in a summary Manner by virtue of any Act in force throughout such Borough, and to appoint by such Bye Laws such Fines as they shall deem necessary for the Prevention and Suppression of such Offences; provided that no Fine so to be appointed shall exceed the Sum of Five Pounds, and that no such Bye Law shall be made unless at least Two Thirds of the whole Number of the Council shall be present; provided that no such Bye Law shall be of any Force until the Expiration of Forty Days after the same or a Copy thereof shall have been sent, sealed with the Seal of the said Borough, to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, and shall have been affixed on the outer Door of the Town Hall or in some other public Place within such Borough; and if at any Time within the said Period of Forty Days His Majesty, with the Advice of His Privy Council, shall disallow the same Bye Law or any Part thereof, such Bye Law or the Part thereof disallowed shall not come into

284

operation: Provided also, that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, if He shall think fit, at any Time within the said Period of Forty Days, to enlarge the Time within which such Bye Law, if disallowed, shall not come into force; and no such Bye Law shall in that Case come into force until after the Expiration of such enlarged Time. XCI. And be it enacted, That all the Provisions herein-after contained relative to Offences against this Act punishable upon summary Conviction shall be taken to apply to all Offences committed in breach of any Bye Law or Regulation made by virtue of this Act. XCII. And be it enacted, That after the Election of the Treasurer in any Borough the Rents and Profits of all Hereditaments, and the Interest, Dividends, and annual Proceeds of all Monies, Dues, Chattels, and valuable Securities belonging or payable to any Body Corporate named in conjunction with the said Borough in the said Schedules (A.) and (B.), or to any Member or Officer thereof in his Corporate Capacity, and every Fine or Penalty for any Offence against this Act (the Application of which has not been already provided for), shall be paid to the Treasurer of such Borough; and all the Monies which he shall so receive shall be carried by him to the Account of a Fund to be called “The Borough Fund;” and such Fund, subject to the Payment of any lawful Debt due from such Body Corporate to any Person, which shall have been contracted before the passing of this Act, and unredeemed, or of so much thereof as the Council of such Borough from Time to Time shall be required or shall deem it expedient to redeem, and to the Payment from Time to Time of the Interest of so much thereof as

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

shall remain unredeemed, and saving all Rights, Interests, Claims, or Demands of all Persons or Bodies Corporate in or upon the Real or Personal Estate of any Body Corporate by virtue of any Proceedings either at Law or in Equity which have been already instituted or which may be hereafter instituted, or by virtue of any Mortgage or otherwise, shall be applied towards the Payment of the Salary of the Mayor, and of the Recorder and of the Police Magistrate herein-after mentioned when there is a Recorder or Police Magistrate, and of the respective Salaries of the Town Clerk and Treasurer, and of every other Officer whom the Council shall appoint, and also toward the Payment of the Expences incurred from Time to Time in preparing and printing Burgess Lists, Ward Lists, and Notices, and in other Matters attending such Elections as are herein mentioned, and, in Boroughs which shall have a separate Court of Sessions of the Peace as is herein-after provided, towards the Expences of the Prosecution, Maintenance, and Punishment of Offenders, and towards such other Sum to be paid by such Borough to the Treasurer of such County as is herein-after provided, and towards the Expence of maintaining the Borough Gaol, House of Correction, and Corporate Buildings, and towards the Payment of the Constables, and of all other Expences not herein otherwise provided for which shall be necessarily incurred in carrying into effect the Provisions of this Act; and in case the Borough Fund shall be more than sufficient for the Purposes aforesaid, the Surplus thereof shall be applied, under the Direction of the Council, for the public Benefit of the Inhabitants and Improvement of the Borough; provided that it shall not be lawful for the Council to be elected under the Provisions

of this Act, in any Borough in which the Body Corporate named in conjunction with the said Borough in the said Schedules (A.) and (B.), before the Time of the passing of this Act shall have contracted any lawful Debt chargeable on any Tolls or Dues belonging or payable to the said Body Corporate, or to any Member or Officer thereof in his Corporate Capacity, or towards the Satisfaction whereof such Tolls or Dues or any Part thereof were applicable before the passing of this Act, to alter or reduce the Amount to be levied and payable of such Tolls or Dues, or to grant for any Consideration any Remission of or Exemption from such Tolls or Dues or any Part thereof, unless with the Consent in Writing under the Hands of a Majority in Number and Amount of the Creditors to whom such Debt is due, until after such Debt and all Arrears of Interest due thereon shall have been fully paid and satisfied; and in case the Borough Fund shall not be sufficient for the Purposes aforesaid, the Council of the Borough is hereby authorized and required from Time to Time to estimate, as correctly as may be, what Amount, in addition to such Fund, will be sufficient for the Payment of the Expences to be incurred in carrying into effect the Provisions of this Act; and in order to raise the Amount so estimated the said Council is hereby authorized and required from Time to Time to order a Borough Rate in the Nature of a County Rate to be made within their Borough, and for that Purpose the Council of such Borough shall have within their Borough all the Powers which any Justices of the Peace assembled at their General or Quarter Sessions in any County in England have within the Limits of their Commission by virtue of an Act made in the Fifty-fifth Year of His late Majesty King George the

285

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Third, intituled An Act to amend an Act of His late Majesty King George the Second, for the more easy assessing, collecting, and levying of County Rates,8 or as near thereto as the Nature of the Case will admit, except as is herein-after excepted; and all Warrants required by the said Act to be issued under the Hands and Seals of Two or more Justices shall in like Case be signed by the Mayor, and sealed with the Seal of the Borough; provided that such Council shall not be empowered to receive, hear, or determine any Appeal against any such Rate; and if any Person shall think himself aggrieved by any such Rate it shall be lawful for him to appeal to the Recorder herein-after mentioned at the next Quarter Sessions for the Borough in which such Rate has been made, or in case there shall be no Recorder within such Borough, to the Justices at the next court of Quarter Sessions for the County within which such Borough is situate or whereunto it is adjacent; and such Recorder or Justices respectively shall have Power to hear and determine the same, and to award Relief in the Premises, as in the Case of an Appeal against any County Rate; and all such Sums levied in pursuance of such Borough Rate shall be paid over to the Account of the Borough Fund, and, subject to the Provisions hereinbefore contained, shall be applied to all Purposes to which before the passing of this Act a Borough Rate or County Rate was by Law applicable in such Borough or County: Provided that in every Case in which before the passing this Act any Rate might be levied in any Borough, or in any Parish or Place made Part of any Borough under the Provisions of this Act, for the Purpose of watching solely by Day or by Night, or for the Purpose of watching by Day or by Night conjointly with

286

any other Purpose, it shall be lawful for the Council of such Borough to levy a Watch Rate sufficient to raise any Sum not greater than the average yearly Sum which during the last Seven Years, or where such Rate shall not have been levied during Seven Years then during such less Number of Years as such Rate shall have been levied, shall have been expended in the Maintenance and Establishment of Watchmen, Constables, Patrole, or Policemen within the District in which such Rate was levied, and for that Purpose the Council shall have all the Powers herein-before given to the Council in the Matter of the Borough Rate; and where any Part of any Borough shall not at the Time of the passing of this Act be within the Provisions of the Act authorizing the Levy of such Rate for watching as aforesaid it shall be lawful for the Council from Time to Time to order that such Part, or so much thereof as to the Council shall seem fit, shall be rated to the Watch Rate in like Manner as other Parts of the Borough to be specified in such Order, and such Watch Rate thereupon shall be levied within the Part mentioned in such Order in like Manner as in the other Parts of the Borough so specified, and all such Sums levied in pursuance of such Watch Rate shall be paid over to the Account of the Borough Fund: Provided always, that no such Order as last aforesaid shall be made for rating to such Watch Rate any Part of any Borough in which at the Time of passing this Act such Rate as aforesaid shall not be levied, and which is more than Two hundred Yards distant from any Street or continuous Line of Houses which shall be regularly watched within the Borough under the Provisions of this Act: Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to render liable to the Payment of any Debt contracted be-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

fore the passing of this Act by any Body Corporate any Part of the Real or Personal Estate of the said Body Corporate which before the passing of this Act was not liable thereto, or to authorize the Levy of any Rate within any Part of any Borough for the Purpose of paying any Debt contracted before the passing of this Act which before the passing of this Act could not lawfully be levied therein towards the Payment of the same. XCIII. And be it enacted, That the Treasurer of every Borough shall, in Books to be kept for that Purpose, enter true Accounts of all Sums of Money by him received and paid, and of the several Matters for which such Sums shall have been received and paid; and the Books containing the Accounts shall at all seasonable Times be open to the Inspection of any of the Aldermen or Councillors of such Borough; and all the Accounts, with all Vouchers and Papers relating thereto, shall, in the Months of March and September in every Year, be submitted by the Treasurer of the Borough to the Auditors herein-before provided to be elected, and to such Member of the Council as the Mayor shall name on the First Day of March in every Year, or in case of extraordinary Vacancy within Ten Days next after such Vacancy, for the Purpose of being examined and audited, from the First Day of September in the Year preceding to the First Day of March, and from the First Day of March to the First Day of September in the Year in which the said Auditors were elected and named, and if the said Accounts shall be found to be correct, the Auditors shall sign the same; and after such Accounts shall have been so examined and audited in the Month of September in every Year, the Treasurer

shall make out in Writing, and shall cause to be printed, a full Abstract of his Accounts for the Year, and a Copy thereof shall be open to the Inspection of all the Rate-payers of such Borough, and Copies thereof shall be delivered to all Ratepayers of such Borough applying for the same, on Payment of a reasonable Price for each Copy. XCIV. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for the Council of any Body Corporate to be elected under this Act to sell, mortgage, or alienate the Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments of the said Body Corporate, or any Part thereof, except in pursuance of some Covenant, Contract, or Agreement bonâ fide made or entered into on or before the Fifth Day of June in this present Year, by or on behalf of the Body Corporate of any Borough, or of some Resolution duly entered in the Corporation Books of such Body Corporate on or before the said Fifth Day of June, or to demise or lease, except in pursuance of some Covenant, Contract, or Agreement bonâ fide made or entered into on or before the said Fifth Day of June by or on the Behalf of such Body Corporate, or in pursuance of some Resolutions duly entered in the Corporation Books of such Body Corporate on or before the said Fifth Day of June, or except in the Cases hereinafter mentioned, any Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments of such Body Corporate, or any Part thereof, or to enter into any new Covenant, Contract, or Agreement (except in the Cases herein-after mentioned) for demising or leasing any such Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, or any Part thereof, for any Term exceeding Thirty-one Years from the Time when such Lease shall be made, or if made in pursuance of a previous Agreement, then

287

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

from the Time when such Agreement shall have been entered into; and in every Lease which the said Council is not hereby restrained from making there shall (except in the Cases herein-after mentioned) be reserved and made payable during the whole of the Term thereby granted such clear yearly Rent as to the Council shall appear reasonable, without taking any Fine for the same: Provided nevertheless, that in every Case in which such Council shall deem it expedient to sell and alienate or to demise and lease for a longer Term than Thirty-one Years, or upon different Terms and Conditions than those hereinbefore mentioned, any of the said Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, it shall be lawful for such Council to represent the Circumstances of the Case to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury; and it shall be lawful for such Council, with the Approbation of the said Lords Commissioners or any Three of them, to sell, alienate, and demise any of the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments of the said Body Corporate in such Manner and on such Terms and Conditions as shall have been approved by the said Lords Commissioners: Provided always, that Notice of the Intention of the Council to make such Application as aforesaid shall be fixed on the outer Door of the Town Hall, or in some public and conspicuous Place within the Borough, One Calendar Month at least before such Application; and a Copy of the Memorial intended to be sent to the said Lords Commissioners shall be kept in the Town Clerk’s Office during such Calendar Month, and shall be freely open to the Inspection of every Burgess at all reasonable Hours during the same. XCV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That in all Cases in which any Body

288

Corporate shall on the Fifth Day of June in this present Year have been bound or engaged by any Covenant or Agreement, express or implied, or have been enjoined by any Deed, Will, or other Document, or have been sanctioned or warranted by ancient Usage or by Custom or Practice, to make any Renewal of any Lease for Years, or for Life or Lives, or for Years determinable with any Life or Lives at any fixed or determinate or known or accustomed Period, or after the Lapse of any Number of Years, or on the dropping of any Life or Lives, and Years determinable after the Lapse of any Number of Years, at a Fine certain, or under any special or specific Terms or Conditions, and also in all Cases in which any Body Corporate shall theretofore have ordinarily made Renewal of any Lease for Years, or for Life or Lives, or for Years determinable with any Life or Lives at any fixed or determinate or known or accustomed Period, or after the Lapse of any Number of Years, or upon the dropping of any Life or Lives, upon the Payment of an arbitrary Fine, it shall be lawful for the Council of such Borough to renew such Lease for such Term or Number of Years, either absolutely or determinable with any Life or Lives, or for such Life or Lives, and at such Rent, and upon the Payment of such Fine or Premium, either certain or arbitrary, and with or without any Covenant for the future Renewal thereof, as such Body Corporate could or might have done in case this Act had not been passed. XCVI. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That in any of the Instances herein-after mentioned it shall be lawful for the Council from Time to Time to demise and lease, or to enter into any Contract or Agreement for demising and

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

leasing, any of the said Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments, to any Person, Body Politic, Corporate, or Collegiate, for any Term not exceeding Seventy-five Years from the Time of making such Lease or Agreement; (that is to say,) of Tenements or Hereditaments the greater Part of the yearly Value of which shall at the Time of making the Lease or Agreement consist of any Building or Buildings, of Land or Ground proper for the Erection of any Houses or other Buildings thereupon, with or without Gardens, Yards, Curtilages, or other Appurtenances to be used therewith, and, where the Lessee or intended Lessee shall covenant or agree to erect a Building or Buildings thereon of greater yearly Value than such Land or Ground, of Land or Ground proper for Gardens, Yards, Curtilages, or other Appurtenances to be used with any other House or other Building erected or to be erected on any such Ground, belonging either to such Body Corporate or to any other Proprietor, or proper for any other Purpose calculated to afford Convenience or Accommodation to the Occupiers of any such House or Building. XCVII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Council first to be elected in any Borough under the Provisions of this Act to call in question all Purchases, Sales, Leases, and Demises not made in pursuance of some such bonâ fide Covenant, Contract, Agreement, or Resolution made or entered into as aforesaid before the said Fifth Day of June, and all Contracts for the Purchase, Sale, Lease, or Demise of any Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, and all Divisions and Appropriations of the Monies, Goods, and valuable Securities, or any Part of the Real or Personal Estate, of which on or

before the Fifth Day of June in this present Year the Body Corporate of which they are the Council, whether in their own Right or as Trustees for charitable or other Purposes, was seised or possessed, which shall have been made or contracted between the said Fifth Day of June and the Day of the Declaration of their Election; and for that Purpose, if it shall appear to the said Council that there is Ground for believing that any such Purchase, Sale, Lease, or Demise, or such Contract, or such Division or Appropriation of the Premises, was collusively made for no Consideration, or for an inadequate Consideration, it shall be lawful for the Council of such Borough, at any Time within Six Calendar Months next after the First Election of Councillors under this Act shall have been declared in such Borough, upon Notice of their Intention being first given in the London Gazette, and also affixed on the outer Door of the Town Hall or in some public Place within the Borough, to cause the Value of the Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, and Premises in question to be inquired of and found by a Jury of Twelve indifferent Men of the County in which, or adjoining to which in the Case of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and of all Counties of Cities and Towns Corporate, such Lands, Tenements Hereditaments, or Premises do lie; and in order thereto the said Council is empowered to summon and call before such Jury all Persons having the Custody and Possession of any Deed or Agreement concerning the said Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, and Premises made or entered into since the said Fifth Day of June, and to cause all such Deeds and Agreements to be produced before the said Jury, and examined by them, and to examine upon Oath every Person who shall be thought necessary to

289

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

be examined (which Oath the Mayor is hereby empowered to administer); and the Council shall, by ordering a View or otherwise, use all lawful Means for the Information as well of themselves as of the said Jury in the Premises; and the Jury shall find the Value of the said Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, and Premises, and the Consideration which shall have been given, and also that which ought of Right to have been given, for the Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, or Appropriation thereof, according to the Terms of such Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, Contract, or Appropriation, and taking into account all the Circumstances under which the same shall have taken place; and if the Jury by their Oaths shall find that no Consideration, or a Consideration less than that which they shall have so found to be the Value which ought therefore to have been given, shall have been collusively given or contracted to be given by the Terms of any such Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, Contract, or Appropriation, the Party to such Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, Contract, or Appropriation shall have his Option, either to re-convey and restore the Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, and Premises in question, and to abandon the Contract to which he shall have been Party, upon Receipt in each Case of the Consideration, if any, which he shall have given for the same, or to give therefore in each Case such additional Consideration so that the whole Consideration given shall be that which ought of Right to have been given, so found by the Jury as aforesaid; and in every such Case as last aforesaid the additional Consideration given or to be given shall be endorsed on the original Deed or Conveyance; and unless he shall so do within One Calendar Month next

290

after the Finding of the Jury every such Purchase, Sale Lease, Demise, Contract, and Conveyance shall be absolutely void and of none Effect as against the said Body Corporate and their Successors; and in every Case in which any such Contract shall have been abandoned as aforesaid, or in which any such Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, Contract, or Conveyance shall become void and of none Effect, under the Provisions of this Act, the Party who would otherwise have had the Benefit of the same shall be remitted to his former Estate, Title, and Interest (if any) in the Premises as if no such Contract, Purchase, Sale, Lease, or Demise had been made or entered into; and for summoning and returning such Juries, and for imposing Fines on the Sheriff, his Deputy, Bailiff, or Agent, and on the Persons summoned and returned on the said Jury, and on any Person required to give Evidence, who shall in this Behalf contravene the Provisions of this Act, the Council of every such Borough shall have all the Powers given in that Behalf to the Trustees or Commissioners of any Turnpike Road by an Act made in the Third Year of His late Majesty George the Third, intituled An Act to amend the General Laws now in being for regulating Turnpike Roads in that Part of Great Britain called England;9 and all the Costs of the said Jury, and of all Witnesses tendered by the said Council to be examined before the said Jury, shall in every Case be borne by the Council, and paid out of the Borough Fund: Provided nevertheless, that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, if He shall think fit, by the Advice of His Privy Council, upon Petition to Him setting forth the special Circumstances under which any Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, Contract, or Appropriation of any of the said Lands, Tene-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

ments, Hereditaments, and Premises shall have been made since the said Fifth Day of June, to order that the same shall not be called in question under the Provisions of this Act; and in such Case as last aforesaid the same shall not be called in question or set aside or affected under the Provisions of this Act: Provided always, that in every Case in which such Petition shall have been presented it shall be lawful for His Majesty, if He shall think fit, to enlarge the Time within which (in case His Majesty shall not think fit to make such Order as aforesaid) the Council may have Power as aforesaid to call in question any Purchase, Sale, Lease, Demise, Contract, or Appropriation referred to in such Petition. XCVIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for His Majesty from Time to Time to assign to so many Persons as he shall think proper His Majesty’s Commission to act as Justices of the Peace in and for each Borough, and in and for each of the Counties of Cities and Towns respectively named in the said Schedule (A.), and in and for such of the Boroughs in the said Schedule (B.) to which His Majesty may be pleased upon the Petition of the Council thereof to grant a Commission of the Peace: Provided nevertheless, that every Person so to be assigned shall reside within the Borough for which he shall be so assigned, or within Seven Miles of such Borough, or of some Part thereof, during such Time as he shall act as a Justice of the Peace in and for such Borough. XCIX. And be it enacted, That if the Council of any Borough shall think it requisite that a salaried Police Magistrate or Magistrates be appointed within such Borough, such Council is hereby empowered to make a Bye Law fixing the Amount of

the Salary which he or they are to receive in that Behalf; and such Bye Law so made by any Council as aforesaid shall be transmitted to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, and it shall be lawful thereupon for His Majesty, if he shall think fit, to appoint One or more fit Persons, according to the Number fixed in the said Bye Law (being Barristers at Law of not less than Five Years standing), to be during His Majesty’s Pleasure Police Magistrate or Magistrates and a Justice or Justices of the Peace for such Borough, and to direct that such Sum shall be paid quarterly out of the Borough Fund of such Borough as will be sufficient to pay such yearly Salary to each of the Justices so assigned as last aforesaid, not exceeding in the whole the Salary mentioned in the Prayer of such Petition, clear of all Fees or Deductions, as to His Majesty shall seem fit; and the Treasurer of such Borough shall thereupon pay to each Justice so assigned as last aforesaid, out of the Borough Fund of such Borough, the Salary so directed to be paid, by Four equal quarterly Payments, and in the same Proportion up to the Time of the Death of such Justice or his ceasing to act under such Assignment as aforesaid; provided that in every Case of Vacancy of the Office of Police Magistrate in any Borough aforesaid no new Appointment of Police Magistrate in such Borough shall be made until the Council shall again make Application to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State in that Behalf, and as in the Case of the first Appointment of a Police Magistrate in such Borough. C. And be it enacted, That the Council of every Borough to which a separate Commission of the Peace shall be granted under the Provisions of this Act shall be author-

291

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

ized and required to provide and furnish One or more fit and suitable Office or Offices, to be called “The Police Office” or “Offices” of the Borough, for the Purpose of transacting the Business of the Justices of such Borough, and to pay from Time to Time out of the Borough Fund such Sums as may be necessary for providing, upholding, and furnishing, and for the necessary Expences of such Police Office or Offices; provided that no Room in any House licensed as a Victualling House or Alehouse shall be used for the Purposes of any such Police Office. CI. And be it further enacted, That every Person assigned to keep the Peace within any Borough under the Provisions of this Act, or any of them, shall, during the Continuance of such Assignment, execute the Duties of a Justice of the Peace in and for the Borough for which he shall have been so assigned, although he may not have such Qualification by Estate as is required by Law in the Case of other Persons being Justices of the Peace for a County, provided that such Person be not disqualified by Law to act as a Justice of the Peace for any other Cause or upon any other Account than in respect of Estate, and although such Person may not be a Burgess of the Borough in and for which he shall have been assigned to act as a Justice of Peace; and that every Summons for the Appearance of any Person, or Warrant to compel such Appearance, or Warrant for the Apprehension of any Person charged with any Offence, or Search Warrant, issued by any Justice of the Peace acting in and for any Borough in any Matter within his Jurisdiction, may be respectively served and executed within any County in which the said Borough shall be situated, or within any Distance not exceeding Seven Miles

292

from such Borough, and within such Limits as aforesaid shall have the same Force and Effect as if the same had been originally issued or subsequently indorsed by a Justice of the Peace having Jurisdiction in the Place where the same shall be served or executed, any Law, Statute, Charter, or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding; and every such Summons and Warrant shall and may be lawfully served or executed within such Limits as aforesaid by the Constable or Special Constable to whom the same shall be directed: Provided nevertheless, that no such Person, by virtue of such Assignment, shall act as a Justice of the Peace at any Court of Gaol Delivery or General or Quarter Sessions, or in making or levying any County Rate, or Rate in the Nature of a County Rate. CII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Justices of every Borough to which a separate Commission of the Peace shall be granted as aforesaid, at their First or any other Meeting, and they are hereby respectively required, to appoint a fit Person to be the Clerk to the Justices of such Borough, to be removeable at their Pleasure, and so as often as there shall be a Vacancy in the said Office of Clerk to the Justices by Death, Resignation, Removal, or otherwise; provided that it shall not be lawful for the said Justices to appoint or continue as such Clerk to the Justices any Alderman or Councillor of such Borough, or Clerk of the Peace of such Borough, or the Partner of such Clerk of the Peace, or any Clerk or Person in the Employ of such Clerk of the Peace: Provided also, that it shall not be lawful for the said Clerk to the Justices, by himself or his Partner, to be directly or indirectly interested or employed in the Prosecution of any Offender committed for Trial by the Justices of

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

whom he shall be such Clerk as aforesaid, or any of them, at any Court of Gaol Delivery or General or Quarter Sessions; and any Person being an Alderman or Councillor, or Clerk of the Peace of any Borough, or the Partner or Clerk or in the Employ of such Clerk of the Peace, who shall act as Clerk to the Justices of such Borough, or shall otherwise offend in the Premises, shall for every such Offence forfeit and pay the Sum of One hundred Pounds, one Moiety thereof to the Treasurer of such Borough, to be paid over to the Credit and Account of the Borough Fund of such Borough, and the other Moiety thereof, with full Costs of Suit, to any Person who will sue for the same in any of His Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster. CIII. And be it enacted, That the Council of every Borough, which shall be desirous that a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be or continue to be holden in and for such Borough shall signify the same by Petition to His Majesty in Council, setting forth the Grounds of the Application, the State of the Gaol, and the Salary which they are willing to pay to the Recorder in that Behalf; and it shall be lawful for His Majesty, if He shall be pleased thereupon to grant that a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be thenceforward holden in and for such Borough, to appoint for such Borough, or for any Two or more of such Boroughs conjointly, a fit Person, being a Barrister at Law of not less than Five Years standing, who shall be and be called the Recorder of such Borough or Boroughs, and shall hold such Office during his good Behaviour, and upon any Vacancy in any such Office to appoint another fit Person, being a Barrister at Law

of not less than Five Years standing, to be the Recorder in the Place of the Person so making such Vacancy; and the Council of every such Borough shall appoint a fit Person to be Clerk of the Peace during his good Behaviour; and the Recorder for the Time being of any Borough shall be a Justice of the Peace of and for such Borough, although he may not have such Qualification by Estate as is required by Law in the Case of any other Person being a Justice of the Peace for a County; and such Recorder shall have Precedence in all Places within the Borough of which he may be the Recorder next after the Mayor thereof; and in such Case it shall be lawful for His Majesty to direct that an annual Salary, not exceeding the Sum stated in the Petition of the Council, shall be paid to such Recorder by the Treasurer of such Borough out of the Borough Fund: Provided always, that no Person being such Recorder as aforesaid shall be eligible to serve in Parliament for such Borough, nor shall he be an Alderman, Councillor, or Police Magistrate of such Borough: Provided nevertheless, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to disqualify any such Recorder from being appointed a Barrister to revise any List of Voters under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Second Year of His Majesty, intituled An Act to amend the Representation of the People in England and Wales,10 or from being eligible to serve in Parliament, otherwise than is herein-before provided: Provided also, that in every Borough in and for which a separate Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace is now holden, and of which the present Recorder or Deputy Recorder is a Barrister of Five Years standing, such Recorder or Deputy Recorder, being qualified as aforesaid, shall be continued or appointed Recorder

293

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

under the Provisions of this Act: Provided also, that in the Case of Sickness or unavoidable Absence, the Recorder of any Borough shall be empowered, under his Hand and Seal, with the Consent of the Council of such Borough, to appoint a Deputy Recorder, being a Barrister of Five Years standing, to act for him at the Quarter Sessions of the Peace then next ensuing, and no longer or otherwise. CIV. Provided nevertheless, and be it enacted, That no Recorder or Person assigned to keep the Peace within any such Borough shall be capable of acting as Recorder or Justice of the Peace within such Borough until he shall have taken the Oaths provided to be taken by Justices of the Peace, except the Oath as to Qualification by Estate, and until he shall have made before the Mayor or before any Two or more of the Aldermen or Councillors of such Borough (who is and are hereby authorized and required to administer the same) a Declaration in the following Form; (that is to say,) ‘I A. B. do hereby declare, That I will faithfully and impartially execute the Office of Recorder (or Justice of the Peace) for the Borough of ____ according to the best of my Judgment, and Ability.’ CV. And be it enacted, That the Recorder of every Borough shall hold once in every Quarter of a Year, or at such other and more frequent Times as the said Recorder in his Discretion may think fit, or as His Majesty shall think fit to direct, a Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for such Borough, of which Court the Recorder of such Borough shall sit as the sole Judge; and such Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be a Court of Record, and shall have Cognizance of all

294

Crimes, Offences, and Matters whatsoever cognizable by any Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for Counties in England, and the said Recorder shall have Power to do all Things necessary for exercising such Jurisdiction, notwithstanding his being such sole Judge, as fully as any such last-mentioned Court: Provided nevertheless, that no Recorder, by virtue of his Office, shall have Power to make or levy any County Rate, or Rate in the Nature of a County Rate, or to grant any Licence or Authority to any Person to keep an Inn, Alehouse, or Victualling House, to sell exciseable Liquors by Retail, or to exercise any of the Powers herein specially vested in the Council of such Borough. CVI. And be it enacted, That in the Absence of the Recorder and Deputy Recorder the Mayor shall be authorized and required, at the proper Times appointed for the holding of such Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for such Borough, to open the said Court, and to adjourn over the holding of the same, and to respite all Recognizances conditioned for appearing at the same, until such further Day as such Mayor then and there, and so from Time to Time, shall cause to be proclaimed: Provided nevertheless, that nothing in this Act contained shall authorize or require any such Mayor to sit as a Judge of the said Court for the Trial of Offenders, or to do any other Act in the Character of a Judge of such Court, save only in opening and adjourning the same, and respiting the said Recognizances in manner aforesaid. CVII. And be it enacted, That after the First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six all Powers and Jurisdictions to try Treasons, Capital Felonies,

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

and all other Criminal Jurisdictions whatsoever granted or confirmed by any Law, Statute, Letters Patent, Grant, or Charter whatsoever, to any Mayor, Bailiff, Alderman, Recorder, or other Corporate or Chartered Officer, or Corporate or Chartered Justice of the Peace whomsoever, in any Borough, and all Right of any Body Corporate in any Borough, or any of the Members thereof, by virtue of any Law, Statute, Letters Patent, Grant, or Charter whatsoever, to elect or nominate any Justices to keep the Peace in and for any Borough, or by any Members of any such Corporate Body to act as such Justices of the Peace in or for any of the last-named Boroughs other than is herein declared, shall cease: Provided nevertheless, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to restrain or prevent the holding of any Court of Gaol Delivery or General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for any Borough for which such Court may now be holden, until the said First Day of May, but every such Court may be holden in like Manner, and with the same Powers, until the said First Day of May, as if this Act had not been passed. CVIII. And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act so much of all Laws, Statutes, and Usages, and so much of all Royal and other Charters, Grants, and Letters Patent heretofore granted to any Borough or Body Corporate, whereby such Borough, or any Place within the Precincts or Liberties of the same, or such Body Corporate, or the Freemen or Inhabitants of the same, claims or claim to be exempted and released from the Jurisdiction and Office of the Lord High Admiral of England, or of the High Court of the Admiralty of England, or whereby any Body Corporate, or any Mayor, Bailiff,

Recorder, Steward, or other Chartered or Corporate Officer of any Borough has or claims any thing belonging to the Office of Admiral, whether or not to be exercised by virtue of any Commission to them or any of them to be directed, shall be and the same is hereby repealed: Provided nevertheless, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to alter or affect the Jurisdiction and Office of the Lord Warden in his Office of Admiral of the Cinque Ports: Provided also, that all Suits and Matters wherein before the passing of this Act the Rights of any Salvors, or any Droits or Perquisites to the Office of Admiral belonging, were drawn into question, may be continued, heard, determined, and adjudicated upon in like Manner as if this Act had not passed. CIX. And whereas an Act was passed in the Thirty-eighth Year of His late Majesty George the Third, intituled An Act to regulate the Trial of Causes, Indictments, and other Proceedings which arise within the Counties of certain Cities and Towns Corporate within this Kingdom,11 but certain Cities and Counties of Cities were excepted out of the Operation of the same: And whereas it is expedient to repeal in part the said Exceptions; be it therefore enacted, That so much of the last recited Act as provides that nothing therein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to the City or County of the City of Bristol, or the City or County of the City of Chester, or to the Criminal Jurisdiction of the City of Exeter and County of the same City, shall be and the same is hereby repealed; and that the Town of Berwickupon-Tweed shall be taken to be a County of a Town Corporate, and to be within all the Provisions of the last-recited Act; and that after the First Day of May in the Year

295

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

One thousand eight hundred and thirtysix, and until His Majesty shall be pleased to direct a Commission of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery to be executed within any County of a City or Town Corporate, all Bills of Indictment for Offences committed within such County of a City or Town Corporate shall be preferred and all Proceedings upon such Indictments shall be had as in the last recited Act is authorized to be done, and the Counties of the Cities and Towns Corporate named in the First Column of the Schedule (C.) to this Act annexed shall be considered as next adjoining to the County named in conjunction with the same respectively in the Second Column of the said Schedule (C.) CX. And be it enacted, That after the said First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six every Person who shall then stand committed to take his Trial at any Court of Gaol Delivery, General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace for any Borough, charged with any Offence which the Recorder of such Borough after the said First Day of May will not have Jurisdiction to try, may be lawfully removed and committed to the Gaol or House of Correction of the County in which or adjoining to which such Borough is situated, there to remain and take his Trial at the next Court of Quarter Sessions for such County, if the Offence is cognizable by a Court of Quarter Sessions, and if not, then before the Judges of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery at their next Circuit; and all Persons bound by Recognizance to prosecute and give Evidence against such Offenders shall be bound to appear to prosecute and give their Evidence at the Court at which such Offenders shall be tried as aforesaid; and all such Recog-

296

nizances and all Depositions relating to such Charges shall be transmitted to the proper Officer of the Court where such Offenders shall be tried; and the Sheriff, Under Sheriff, Gaolers, and other Officers of the County in which such Offenders shall be so tried are hereby authorized and required in every such Case to receive every Prisoner so committed to their Custody, and him safely to keep until delivered by due Course of Law; and the Judges of Assize and others named in His Majesty’s Commissions of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery, or the Justices for the County, as the Case may be, in which such Offenders shall be tried, are hereby authorized and required to hear and determine all such Cases, and to order the Payment of the usual and fit Expences of the Prosecutors and Witnesses, and all other Costs and Expences which in like Case may be directed to be paid by Order of the Court. CXI. And be it enacted, That after the said First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six the Justices assigned or hereafter to be assigned to keep the Peace in and for the County in which any Borough is situated, to which His Majesty shall not have granted that a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden in and for the same, shall exercise the Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace in and for such Borough as fully as by Law they and each of them can or ought to do in and for the said County; and no Part of any Borough in and for which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden shall be within the Jurisdiction of the Justices of any County from which such Borough before the passing of this Act was exempt, any Law, Statute, Letters Patent, Charter,

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Grant, or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding. CXII. And be it enacted, That within Ten Days after the Grant of a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace to any Borough the Council of such Borough shall send a Copy of such Grant, sealed with the Seal of the Borough, to the Clerk of the Peace of the County in which such Borough or any Part thereof is situated; and after the Grant of such Court to any Borough it shall not be lawful for the Justices of the Peace of any County wherein such Borough or Part of such Borough is situate to assess any Messuages, Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments within such Borough to any County Rate thereafter to be made, but every Part of every such Borough shall thenceforward be wholly free and discharged from contributing, otherwise than is herein-after provided, to any Rate or Assessment of any Kind of and for the County in which any Part of such Borough is situated: Provided nevertheless, that all Arrears of such Rates theretofore made may be levied and collected as if this Act had not been passed. CXIII. And whereas by an Act made in the Seventh Year of His late Majesty George the Fourth, intituled An Act for improving the Administration of Criminal Justice in England and Wales,12 it was enacted that all Sums directed to be paid by virtue of that Act in respect of Felonies and Misdemeanors therein enumerated, committed in Liberties, Franchises, Cities, Towns, and Places which do not contribute to the Payment of any County Rate, should be paid as therein is directed; be it therefore enacted, That all Sums directed to be paid by virtue of the last-recited Act in respect of Felonies and such Misde-

meanors as aforesaid, committed or supposed to have been committed in any Borough in which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden, shall be paid out of the Borough Fund of such Borough, any thing in the said Act contained notwithstanding; and the Order of Court shall in every such Case be directed to the Treasurer of such Borough instead of the Treasurer of the County. CXIV. And be it enacted, That the Treasurer of every County in England and Wales shall keep an Account of all Costs arising out of the Prosecution, Maintenance, and Punishment, Conveyance and Transport of all Offenders committed for Trial to the Assizes in such County from any Borough in which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden; and the Treasurer of every such County shall, not more than Twice in every Year, send a Copy of the said Account to the Council of each of the said Boroughs, and shall make an Order for Payment of the same on the Council of such Borough; and the Council of every such Borough shall forthwith order the same, with all reasonable Charges of making and sending such Account, to be paid to the Treasurer of such County out of the Borough Fund; and in case any Difference shall arise concerning the said Account, it shall be decided by the Arbitration of a Barrister to be named as is provided in the Case of Differences with respect to the Payment of Monies under Contracts made by Authority of an Act made in the Fifth Year of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for amending an Act of the last Session of Parliament, relating to the building, repairing, and enlarging of certain Gaols and Houses of Correction, and for pro-

297

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

curing Information as to the State of all other Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales:13 Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter or restrain the Powers given by the last-mentioned Act of contracting with the Justices of the Peace having Authority or Jurisdiction in and over any Gaol or House of Correction of the County wherein or where such Borough is situated, or whereto it is adjacent, for the Conveyance, Support, and Maintenance in such last-mentioned Gaol or House of Correction of Prisoners committed thereto from such Borough, save only that all such Powers shall after the First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six be vested in the Council of such Borough in the Name of the Body Corporate whose Council they are, and in none other; and for the Purpose of making such Contracts as aforesaid the Council of such Borough, and none other, shall have Power to make the Orders required by the said last-mentioned Act to be made by the Justices of the Borough at the Borough Sessions. CXV. And be it enacted, That in every Case in which it shall have been made to appear to the Satisfaction of One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State that there is in any Borough a Gaol or House of Correction fit for the Confinement of Prisoners, the Council of any Borough shall have the same Powers of contracting, in the Name of the Body Corporate whose Council they are, with any Person or Body Corporate having the Government or ordering of such lastmentioned Gaol or House of Correction, in like Manner as is herein-before enacted concerning Contracts with Justices of the Peace having Authority or Jurisdiction in and over County Gaols and Houses of

298

Correction; and all the Provisions of the last-recited Act made in the Fifth Year of His late Majesty shall extend, or as nearly as may be, to all such Contracts for the Conveyance to and Support and Maintenance of Offenders in such Borough Gaol or House of Correction; and in case His Majesty shall have granted to the Borough in which such Gaol or House of Correction shall be situated a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, such Offenders may be tried and sentenced by such Court for all Offences of which the Court has Cognizance, and punished accordingly; and all the Provisions of the last-recited Act made in the Fifth Year of His late Majesty shall extend as nearly as may be to the Trial and Punishment of such Offenders, and to all Acts necessary for such Trial or consequent thereon. CXVI. And whereas by an Act passed in the Fourth Year of His late Majesty George the Fourth, intituled An Act for consolidating and amending the Laws relating to the building, repairing, and regulating of certain Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales,14 it was provided, that certain Cities, Towns, and Places included in a certain Schedule (A.) to the said Act annexed should be taken to be within the Provisions of the same: And whereas by an Act passed in the Fifth Year of His late Majesty George the Fourth, intituled An Act for amending an Act of the last Session of Parliament, relating to the building, repairing, and enlarging of certain Gaols and Houses of Correction, and for procuring Information as to the State of all other Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales,15 so much of the last-recited Act as related to the Cities of Canterbury, Lichfield, and Lincoln was repealed; be it there-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

fore enacted, That the Council of every Borough named in the last-mentioned Schedule (A.) (except the Cities of Canterbury, Lichfield, and Lincoln) shall have within their Borough all the Powers (except in hearing and determining Appeals against Convictions) which any Justices of the Peace assembled at their General or Quarter Sessions in any County in England have within the Limits of their Commission by virtue of the said last-recited Acts or either of them, or as near thereto as the Nature of the Case will admit; and all Things in the said last-recited Acts or either of them provided to be done at any General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be done at some quarterly Meeting of the Council of such Borough. CXVII. And be it enacted, That the Treasurer of every County in England and Wales shall keep an Account of all Sums of Money received in aid or on account of the County Rate, and of the Sum of Money expended out of the County Rate for other Purposes than the Costs arising out of the Prosecution, Maintenance, and Punishment, Conveyance and Transport of Offenders committed for Trial in such County, and in the Case of Boroughs having a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace other than out of Coroners Inquests, and shall, not more than Twice in every Year, send a Copy of the said Account to the Council of every Borough situate within such County in which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden, and which before the passing of the said Act, intituled An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs in England and Wales,16 so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament was chargeable with

or liable to contribute in whole or in part to the County Rate of such County, and shall make an Order on the Council of every such Borough for the Payment of such Proportion of such Sum as would have been chargeable, after deducting all Sums of Money received in aid of the County Rate as aforesaid, if this Act had not passed, upon such Borough as the same shall be bounded according to the Provisions of this Act; and the Council of such Borough shall forthwith order the same, with all reasonable Charges of making and sending the said Account, to be paid to the Treasurer of such County out of the Borough Fund; provided that in case any Difference shall arise concerning the last-mentioned Account it shall be decided by the Arbitration of a Barrister to be named as is provided in the Case of Differences with respect to the Payment of Monies under Contracts made by Authority of the said Act made in the Fifth Year of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for amending an Act of the last Session of Parliament, relating to the building, repairing, and enlarging of certain Gaols and Houses of Correction, and far procuring Information as to the State of all other Gaols and Houses of Correction in England and Wales.17 CXVIII. And be it enacted, That in every Borough in which by Charter or Custom there is or ought to be holden a Court of Record for the Trial of Civil Actions not regulated by the Provisions of any Local Act of Parliament, or in which, at the Time of the passing of this Act, a Barrister of Five Years standing shall not act as Judge or Assessor, the Recorder, or in the Absence of the Recorder, or in case there shall not be a Recorder, such Officer

299

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

of the Borough as by the Charter constituting such Court or by Custom shall be the Judge of such Court, shall continue to be and act as such Judge; and the Council of such Borough in every Case, whether such Court be regulated by the Provisions of a Local Act of Parliament or otherwise, shall have Power for that Purpose to appoint the necessary Officer, other than the Recorder, before whom such Court is to be holden; and every such Judge or Assessor, other than the Mayor, shall hold his Office during his good Behaviour; and the Judge of every such Court shall hold the said Court at such Times and Places, and with such Rules of Practice, and with the same Powers and Jurisdiction as belonged to the said Court at the Time of passing this Act: Provided always, that in every Case in which such Court had not before the passing of this Act Authority to try such Actions as are herein-after next mentioned any such Court in which a Barrister of Five Years standing shall act as Judge or Assessor shall have Authority to try Actions of Assumpsit, Covenant, and Debt, whether the Debt be by Specialty or on Simple Contract, and all Actions of Trespass or Trover for taking Goods and Chattels, provided the Sum or Damages sought to be recovered shall not exceed Twenty Pounds, and all Actions of Ejectment between Landlord and Tenant wherein the annual Rent of the Premises of which Possession is sought to be recovered shall not exceed Twenty Pounds, and upon which no Fine shall have been reserved or made payable: Provided also, that every such Judge respectively from Time to Time may make Rules for regulating the Practice of such Court over which he presides, but so that no such Rules shall be of force until they shall have been allowed and confirmed by Three or more Judges of the

300

Superior Courts of Common Law at Westminster: Provided also, that the Jurisdiction of every Court of Record for the Trial of Civil Actions within any Borough shall be extended so far as the Metes and Bounds of every such Borough as the same shall be and be declared under the Provisions of this Act: Provided also, that no Action shall be tried by any such Judge, wherein the Title to Land, whether Freehold, Copyhold, or Leasehold, or other Tenure whatsoever, or to any Tithe, Toll, Market, Fair, or other Franchise shall be in question, in any Court which before the passing of this Act had not Authority to try Actions in which such Titles as last aforesaid were in question; and in case it shall appear in the Course of any Action in such Court as last aforesaid, or shall be made to appear upon Oath to such Court as last aforesaid, that any such Title as last aforesaid is in question in such Action, that then the Jurisdiction of such Court as last aforesaid in the Matter of such Action shall cease, and it shall be in the Discretion of the Court to award Costs against the Party commencing the same. CXIX. And be it enacted, That the Council of every Borough in which there shall be holden a Court of Record for the Trial of Civil Actions as aforesaid shall appoint a Registrar of such Court, except in Boroughs where the Town Clerk acts as such Registrar, and such other Officers and Servants as are necessary for carrying on the Business and executing the Process of such Court; provided that no Registrar or other Officer of such Court shall, by himself or any Partner, or by his or their Clerks, practise as an Attorney in such Court, nor shall any such Partner or Clerk act as Agent for any other Attorney in such Court: Provided also, that, unless

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

disqualified as herein provided, every Attorney of His Majesty’s Superior Courts at Westminster shall have full Liberty to practise as an Attorney in every such Court. CXX. And be it enacted, That no Suit commenced in any Court of Record in any Borough before the First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six shall abate by reason of any Change that shall have been made in the Constitution of such Court by the Provisions of this Act, but that the same may continue and be heard and determined as if it had been commenced before such Judge. CXXI. And be it enacted, That every Person, being a Burgess of any Borough wherein there shall be a separate Court of Sessions of the Peace, or a Court of Record for the Trial of Civil Actions, (unless he shall be exempt or disqualified otherwise than in respect of Property from serving on Juries by virtue of an Act passed in the Sixth Year of the Reign of King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for consolidating and amending the Laws relative to Jurors and Juries,)18 shall be qualified and liable to serve on Grand Juries in such Borough, and also upon Juries for the Trial of all Issues joined in any Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and in any Court of Record for the Trial of Civil Actions triable within the Borough of which such Person shall be a Burgess; and the Clerk of the Peace of every such Borough shall give public Notice of the Time and Place of holding every such Quarter Sessions of the Peace, Ten Days at the least before the holding thereof, and shall, Seven Days at the least before the holding thereof, cause to be summoned a sufficient Number of Persons, being qualified and liable as afore-

said, to serve as Grand Jurors at such Sessions; and the Clerk of the Peace and Registrar of the Court of Record respectively shall also cause to be summoned not less than Thirty-six nor more than Sixty Persons so qualified and liable as aforesaid to serve as Jurors at every such Sessions, and at the holding of every such Court of Record for the Trial of Causes in case there shall be any Cause then to be tried; and such Summons shall be made by showing to the Person to be summoned, or in case he shall be absent from the usual Place of his Abode by leaving with some Person therein inhabiting, Notice under the Hand of such Clerk of the Peace or Registrar respectively containing the Substance of such Summons; and such Clerk of the Peace shall make out a List of the Names of such Persons so summoned as Grand Jurors, and the Clerk of the Peace and Registrar respectively shall also make out a Panel of such Persons so summoned other than Grand Jurors, and such List and Panel shall respectively contain therein the Christian Names and Surnames, Places of Abode, and Descriptions of the several Persons therein named; and if any Person, having been duly summoned to attend on any Jury, shall not attend in pursuance of such Summons, or, being thrice called, shall not answer to his Name, or after his Appearance wilfully withdraw himself from the Presence of the Court, the Court shall impose such Fine upon every Person so making Default (unless some reasonable Excuse shall be proved to the Satisfaction of the Court) as the Court shall think meet; and if any Person on whom such Fine shall be imposed shall refuse to pay the same to the Person who shall be authorized by the Court to receive the same, it shall be lawful for the Court, then or at its next Sitting, by Order

301

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

of the Court, signed by the Clerk of the Peace or Registrar respectively, to cause to be levied, by Distress and Sale of the Goods of the Person on whom such Fine shall have been imposed, every such Fine, and the reasonable Charges of such Distress and Sale; and every Fine so received shall be paid to the Treasurer of the Borough, to be by him carried to the Account of the Borough Fund herein-before mentioned: Provided nevertheless, that no Person shall be summoned to serve as a Juror at such Sessions or Court of Record oftener than once in One Year. CXXII. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act every Member of the Council for the Time being of every Borough, and every Justice assigned to keep the Peace therein, and the Treasurer and Town Clerk for the Time being of every such Borough, shall be exempt and disqualified from serving on any Jury summoned within such Borough respectively, and exempt from serving on any Jury summoned to serve in the County wherein such Borough is situate; and all Burgesses of every Borough in and for which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden shall be exempt from serving on any Jury summoned for the Trial of Issues joined in any Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace in the County wherein such Borough is situate. CXXIII. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act no Person in any Borough shall continue to be exempt from serving on Juries in any of the King’s Courts of Record at Westminster, or in the Superior Courts, Civil or Criminal, of the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Durham, or in any Court of Assize, Nisi Prius,

302

Oyer and Terminer, Gaol Delivery, or Sessions of the Peace, or in any other of the King’s Courts, by virtue of any Writ, Grant, Charter, Prescription, or otherwise; and so much of an Act made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled An Act for consolidating and amending the Laws relative to Jurors,19 as provides that all Persons in any Borough exempt from serving upon Juries in any of the Courts aforesaid, by virtue of any Prescription, Charter, Grant, or Writ, shall continue to have and enjoy such Exemption in as ample a Manner as before the passing of that Act, and shall not be inserted in the Lists thereafter mentioned, shall be and the same is hereby repealed. CXXIV. And be it enacted, That the Council of every Borough shall and they are hereby required, within Six Calendar Months next after their Election, to make and settle a Table of the Fees which shall be taken by the Clerk of the Peace in those Boroughs in which a separate Court of Quarter Session of the Peace shall be holden, and in those Boroughs to which a Commission of the Peace shall have been granted, a Table of the Fees to be taken by the Clerk to the Justices, and in those Boroughs in which there shall be a Court of Record, a Table of the Fees to be taken by the Registrar and Officers of such Court; and such Tables of Fees shall be submitted to One of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State; and when such Tables of Fees shall be confirmed and allowed by such Secretary of State, either as such Table shall have been submitted to him, or with such Alterations, Additions, or Abatements as he shall think proper, the Fees therein mentioned may thenceforth be lawfully taken by the Person

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

therein named to be entitled thereunto; and it shall be lawful for the Council of such Borough, from Time to Time, as Occasion may require, to make new Tables of Fees to be taken instead of the Fees contained in the Tables which shall have been made as aforesaid, which new Table shall be confirmed and allowed in the Manner herein-before mentioned, otherwise the same shall be of no Validity; and that until Tables of the Fees so to be taken in any such Borough shall have been made and confirmed as aforesaid it shall be lawful for such Clerk of the Peace at the Quarter Sessions for any such Borough, and such Clerk to the Justices, to take the Fees authorized by the Table for the Time being to be taken by the Clerk of the Peace at the Quarter Sessions and Clerk to the Justices respectively for the County within or adjoining to which such Borough is situated, and for the Registrar and Officers of such Court of Record to take the Fees usually taken by them before the passing of this Act. CXXV. And be it enacted, That the Town Clerk of every Borough shall cause a true Copy of the Tables of Fees in force for the Time being to be hung up in a conspicuous Part of the Room in which the Business of his Office is transacted, and also in the Room wherein the Justices of the Peace of such Borough shall sit for transacting their Business, and also in the Room wherein the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Borough shall be held, and also in the Court of Record of the said Borough. CXXVI. And be it enacted, That when by any Act any Penalties or Forfeitures are or shall hereafter be made recoverable in a summary Manner before any Justice

or Justices of the Peace, and by such Act respectively the same are or shall be limited and made payable to His Majesty, or to any Body Corporate, or to any Person whomsoever, save and except the Informer, who shall sue for the same, or any Party aggrieved, in every such Case the same, if recovered and adjudged before any Justice of any Borough in which a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace shall be holden as aforesaid, shall, notwithstanding any thing in such Act respectively contained, be recovered for and adjudged to be paid to the Treasurer of such Borough for the Time being, to the Credit and on account of the Borough Fund of such Borough; and no such Penalty or Forfeiture, or Share of such Penalty or Forfeiture, shall in any Case be recovered by or adjudged to be paid to any other Person than the said Treasurer, unless such Person be the Informer or the Party aggrieved: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to any Penalties or Forfeitures recovered under any Act relating to the Customs, Excise, and Post Office, or to Trade or Navigation, or any Branch of His Majesty’s Revenue. CXXVII. And for the more effectual Prosecution of Offences punishable upon summary Conviction by virtue of this Act, be it enacted, That the Prosecution for every such Offence shall be commenced within Three Calendar Months after the Commission of the Offence, and not otherwise; and that where any Person shall be charged on the Oath of a credible Witness with any such Offence before a Justice of the Peace the Justice may summon the Party charged to appear before any Two Justices of the Peace acting in and for the Borough in which such Offence

303

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

shall have been committed, at a Time and Place to be named in such Summons; and if such Party shall not appear accordingly the Justices of the Peace then and there present (upon Proof of the due Service of the Summons by delivering a Copy thereof to the Party, or by delivering such Copy at the Party’s usual Place of Abode to some Inmate thereat, and explaining the Purport thereof to such Inmate,) may either proceed to hear and determine the Case in the Absence of the Party, or may issue their Warrant for apprehending and bringing such Party before them, as they shall think proper. CXXVIII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Justice of the Peace acting in and for any Borough to issue his Summons requiring any Person to appear before any such Justices of the Peace for the Purpose of giving Evidence touching any Offence against this Act; and if any Person so summoned shall neglect or refuse to appear at the Time and Place appointed by such Summons, and no reasonable Excuse for his Absence shall be proved before the Justices of the Peace then and there present, or if any Person appearing in obedience to such Summons shall refuse to be examined on Oath touching any such Offence by the Justices then and there present, every Person so offending shall, on Conviction thereof before the said Justices, or any other Justices of the Peace, forfeit and pay such Sum of Money not exceeding Five Pounds as to the convicting Justices shall seem meet; and no Person, although liable to the Rate contributing to the Borough Fund of any Borough, shall be deemed an incompetent Witness in Proof of any Offence against this Act by reason of any Penalty or Forfeiture for such Offence being ap-

304

plicable to the Use of such Borough Fund; and no Justice of the Peace shall be disabled from acting in the Execution of this Act by reason of his being liable to the Rate contributing to the Borough Fund of any Borough. CXXIX. And be it enacted, That the Justices of the Peace by whom any Person shall be summarily convicted and adjudged to pay any Sum of Money for any Offence against this Act may adjudge that such Person shall pay the same either immediately or within such Period as the said Justices shall think fit; and in case such Sum of Money shall not be paid at the Time so appointed the same shall be levied by Distress and Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the Offender, with the reasonable Charges of such Distress; and for Want of sufficient Distress such Offender shall be imprisoned, with or without hard Labour, in the Common Gaol or House of Correction, as to the convicting Justices shall seem meet, for any Term not exceeding One Calendar Month where the Sum to be paid shall not exceed Five Pounds, and for any Term not exceeding Two Calendar Months in any other Case, the Imprisonment to cease in each of the Cases aforesaid upon Payment of the Sum due. CXXX. And be it enacted, That the Justices of the Peace before whom any Person shall be summarily convicted of any Offence against this Act may cause the Conviction to be drawn up in the following Form of Words, or in any other Words to the like Effect, as the Case may require; (that is to say,) to wit, BE it remembered, That on the ____ Day of ____ in the Year of our Lord ____ in the Borough of ____ in the County of

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

____ A. O. is convicted before us, J. P. and J. J. P., Two of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the said County (or Borough, or otherwise, as the Case may be), for that the said A. O. did (here specify the Offence, and the Time and Place when and where the same was committed, as the Case may be); and we do adjudge that the said A. O. shall for the said Offence forfeit the Sum of ____ and shall pay the same immediately (or shall pay the same on or before the ____ Day of ____ ) to ____ the Treasurer for the said Borough, to be by him applied according to the Directions of the Statute in that Case made and provided. Given under our Hands the Day and Year first above mentioned.’ CXXXI. And be it enacted, That any Person who shall think himself aggrieved by any summary Conviction in pursuance of this Act may appeal to the next Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be holden not less than Twelve Days after such Conviction for the County or for the Borough wherein the Cause of Complaint shall have arisen, provided that such Person shall give to the Complainant a Notice in Writing of such Appeal, and of the Cause and Matter thereof, within Three Days after such Conviction, and Seven clear Days at the least before such Sessions, and shall also either remain in Custody until the Sessions, or enter into a Recognizance, with a sufficient Surety, before a Justice of the Peace, within such Three Days, or at any Time during his Custody, on giving to the Complainant Three Days Notice in Writing of his Intention so to do, and of the Name, Description, and Place of Abode of his proposed Surety, conditioned personally to appear at the said Sessions, and to try such Appeal, and to abide the Judgment of the Court

thereupon, and to pay such Costs as shall be by the Court awarded; and upon such Notice being given and such Recognizance entered into the Justice before whom the same shall be entered into shall liberate such Person if in Custody; and the Court at such Sessions shall hear and determine the Matter of the Appeal, and shall make such Order therein, with or without Costs to either Party, as to the Court shall seem meet, and in case of the Dismissal of the Appeal or the Affirmance of the Conviction shall order and adjudge the Offender to be dealt with and punished according to the Conviction, and to pay such Costs as shall be awarded, and shall, if necessary, issue Process for enforcing such Judgment. CXXXII. And be it enacted, That no Conviction, Order, Warrant, or other Matter made or purporting to be made by virtue of this Act shall be quashed for Want of Form, or be removed by Certiorari or otherwise into any of His Majesty’s Courts of Record at Westminster; and no Warrant of Commitment shall be held void by reason of any Defect therein, provided that it be therein alleged that it is founded on a Conviction, and there be a good and valid Conviction to sustain the same; and where any Distress shall be made for levying any Money by virtue of this Act the Distress itself shall not be deemed unlawful, nor the Party making the same be deemed a Trespasser, on account of any Defect or Want of Form in the Summons, Conviction, Warrant of Distress, or other Proceedings relating thereto, nor shall the Party distraining be deemed a Trespasser ab initio on account of any Irregularity afterwards committed by him, but the Person aggrieved by such Irregularity may recover full Satisfaction for the

305

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

special Damage, if any, in an Action upon the Case. CXXXIII. And for the Protection of Persons acting in the Execution of this Act, be it enacted, That all Actions and Prosecutions to be commenced against any Person for any thing done in pursuance of this Act shall be laid and tried in the County where the Fact was committed, and shall be commenced within Six Calendar Months after the Fact committed, and not otherwise; and Notice in Writing of such Action, and of the Cause thereof, shall be given to the Defendant One Calendar Month at least before the Commencement of the Action; and in any such Action the Defendant may plead the General Issue, and give this Act and the special Matter in Evidence at any Trial to be had thereupon; and no Plaintiff shall recover in any such Action if Tender of sufficient Amends shall have been made before such Action brought, or if a sufficient Sum of Money shall have been paid into Court after such Action brought by or on behalf of the Defendant; and if a Verdict shall pass for the Defendant, or the Plaintiff shall become Nonsuit, or discontinue any such Action after Issue joined, or if upon Demurrer or otherwise Judgment shall be given against the Plaintiff, the Defendant shall recover his full Costs as between Attorney and Client, and have the like Remedy for the same as any Defendant hath by Law in other Cases. CXXXIV. And be it enacted, That the Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace of the Towns and Ports of Hastings, Sandwich, Dovor,20 and Hythe, and of the ancient Town of Rye, or of such of the said Towns and Ports and ancient Town to which His Majesty shall grant a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace,

306

shall have Jurisdiction over Offences and Matters committed, arising, and happening as well within the Boundaries of such Towns and Ports and ancient Town respectively as within the ancient Members and Liberties not being Corporate of the same respectively, and also within the Towns named in the Schedule to this Act which are ancient Corporate Members and Liberties of the said Towns and Ports and ancient Town respectively, and to which His Majesty shall not grant a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace; and also any or either of the said Towns and Ports of Hastings, Sandwich, Dovor, and Hythe, and ancient Town of Rye, to which His Majesty shall not grant a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and their or its Members and Liberties, shall for all Purposes relating to the Jurisdiction of Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace be respectively within the Jurisdiction of the Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace of the nearest other of the said Towns and Ports or ancient Town to which His Majesty shall grant a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace; and the Recorders, Clerks of the Peace, and Coroners of the said Towns and Ports and ancient Town respectively, or of such of them to which His Majesty shall grant a separate Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace respectively, shall and may have and exercise the same Jurisdiction, Powers, and Authorities within all Places within or subject to the Jurisdiction of such Courts respectively, as within the said ancient Towns and Ports and ancient Town respectively of which they are or may be appointed Recorders, Clerks of the Peace, or Coroners. CXXXV. And be it enacted, That the Justices of the Peace of the Towns and Ports of Hastings, Sandwich, Dovor, and

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Hythe, and of the ancient Town of Rye, or of such of the said Towns and Ports and ancient Town as shall have Justices of the Peace assigned to them by virtue of this Act, shall and may have and exercise the same Jurisdiction, Powers, and Authorities over Offences and Matters committed, arising, and happening within the ancient Members and Liberties not being Corporate of such Towns and Ports and ancient Town respectively, as such Justices shall and may have and exercise within the Towns and Ports and ancient Town for which they are or may be respectively Justices of the Peace; and also His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, acting under the Authority of a Commission or Commissions, issued by virtue of an Act passed in the Fifty first Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled An Act to facilitate the Execution of Justice within the Cinque Ports,21 shall and may have and exercise all the Jurisdiction, Powers, and Authorities given to such Justices by such Act of Parliament, as well within the Members and Liberties not being Corporate of the said Towns and Ports and ancient Town respectively as within the said Towns named in the Schedules to this Act being Corporate Members and Liberties thereof, or any of them, or any of the said Towns and Ports and ancient Town which shall not have Justices of the Peace assigned to them by virtue of this Act: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall affect the Liability of all Inhabitant Householders within any of the Members and Liberties of the Cinque Ports and ancient Towns thereof, not being Corporate, to serve on Juries at Quarter Sessions as heretofore. CXXXVI. Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing contained in this

Act shall alter or affect certain Letters Patent bearing Date in the Fifth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King Edward the Sixth, founding a Free Grammar School at Louth, in the County of Lincoln, and creating a Body Corporate for the Management and Regulation thereof, and for the Benefit of Twelve poor Persons mentioned in the said Letters Patent, by the Name of the “Warden and Six Assistants of the Town of Louth and Free School of King Edward the Sixth in Louth;” but that the said Warden and Assistants shall continue and be a Body Corporate with perpetual Succession under the Provisions of the said Letters Patent, for the Management and Regulation of the said School and the Purposes aforesaid only, and shall remain and be seised of and entitled to all Lands, Tolls, Tenements, and Hereditaments now vested in them for the Purposes therein mentioned, in the same Manner to all Intents and Purposes as if this Act had not been passed. CXXXVII. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to alter or affect the Rights or Privileges, Duties or Liabilities, of the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge respectively, as by Law possessed under the respective Charters of the said Universities or otherwise, or to entitle any Person to be enrolled a Citizen of the City of Oxford or Burgess of the Borough of Cambridge, by reason of his Occupation of any Rooms, Chambers, or Premises in any of the Colleges or Halls of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, or either of them, or to compel any resident Member of either of the said Universities to accept any Office in or under the Body Corporate of the Mayor and Citizens of the City

307

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

of Oxford, or of the Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Cambridge, or to authorize the Levy of any Rate within the Precincts of the said Universities, or of any of the Colleges or Halls of the same which now by Law cannot be levied therein. CXXXVIII. And be it enacted, That all the Jurisdictions and Authorities now exercised in and over the Precinct or Close of any Cathedral shall be continued, as if this Act had not been passed, concurrently with the Jurisdiction and Authority of the Justices of the Peace of the Borough within which such Close is situated; and that nothing herein contained shall affect or interfere with the Rights and Privileges granted by Charter or Act of Parliament to the University of Durham. CXXXIX. And be it enacted, That in every Case in which any Body Corporate, or any particular Class, Number, or Description of Members, or the governing Body of any Body Corporate, now is or are in their Corporate Capacity, and not as charitable Trustees, according to the Meaning and Provisions of this Act, seised or possessed of any Manors, Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments whereunto any Advowson or Right of Nomination or Presentation to any Benefice or Ecclesiastical Preferment is appendant or appurtenant, or of any Advowson in gross, or hath or have any Right or Title to nominate or present to any Benefice or Ecclesiastical Preferment, every such Advowson and every such Right of Nomination and Presentation shall be sold at such Time and in such Manner as the Commissioners appointed by His Majesty to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues may direct, so that the best

308

Price may be obtained for the same; and it shall be lawful for the Council of such Body Corporate, and they are hereby authorized and required, with the Consent of the said Commissioners or any Three or more of them, in Writing under their Hands, to convey and assure under the Common Seal of such Body Corporate such Advowson or such Right of Nomination or Presentation as aforesaid to the Purchaser or Purchasers thereof respectively, his or their Heirs, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, or to such Uses as he or they shall direct; and the Proceeds of every such Sale shall be paid to the Treasurer of the Borough, whose Receipt shall be a sufficient and effectual Discharge to the Purchaser or Purchasers to whom the same shall be given for the Amount of his or their Purchase Money, and shall be by him invested in Government Securities for the Use of the Body Corporate, and the annual Interest payable thereon shall be carried to the Account of the Borough Fund: Provided always, that in any Case of Vacancy arising before any such Sale shall have taken place and been completed, such Vacancy shall be supplied by the Presentation or Nomination of the Bishop or Ordinary of the Diocese in which such Benefice or Ecclesiastical Preferment is situated. CXL. And whereas it may happen that the several Provisions of this Act cannot be carried into effect within the several Periods in the present Year herein-before specified and limited in that Behalf; be it therefore enacted, That it shall be lawful for His Majesty, if He shall think fit, by the Advice of His Privy Council, to order any Days and Times before the First Day of February next for doing the several Matters required or authorized by this Act

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

to be done in lieu of the several Days and Times for the present Year herein-before specified, or any of them; and in such Case all Matters mentioned in such Order shall be done on and within such Days and Times as shall be mentioned respectively in that Behalf in such Order, as if the Days and Times mentioned in such Order had in every Instance been mentioned in this Act instead of the Days and Times herein-before respectively mentioned in that Behalf, and not otherwise: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall authorize His Majesty to appoint any Days or Times other than are herein-before specified for any Matters required or authorized by this Act to be done after the Expiration of this present Year: Provided also, that no Person shall be entitled to be enrolled in the Burgess Roll of any Borough in this present Year unless he would have been entitled on the last Day of August in this Year to have his Name included in some Overseers List, if such List had been made out on the Fifth Day of September in this Year. CXLI. And whereas sundry Towns and Boroughs of England and Wales are not Towns Corporate, and it is expedient that several of them should be incorporated; be it enacted, That if the Inhabitant Householders of any Town or Borough in England and Wales shall petition His Majesty to grant to them a Charter of Incorporation, it shall be lawful for His Majesty, by any such Charter, if He shall think fit, by Advice of His Privy Council, to grant the same, to extend to the Inhabitants of any such Town or Borough within the District to be set forth in such Charter the Powers and Provisions in this Act contained: Provided nevertheless, that Notice of every such Petition, and of the Time when it

shall please His Majesty to order that the same be taken into consideration by His Privy Council, shall be published by Royal Proclamation in the London Gazette One Month at least before such Petition shall be so considered. CXLII. And be it enacted, That in the Construction of this Act the Word “Borough” shall be construed to mean City, Borough, Port, Cinque Port, or Town Corporate, named in One of the said Schedules (A.) and (B.); and the Words “Body Corporate” shall be construed to mean Body Corporate named in One of the said Schedules (A.) and (B.); and the Word “Burgess” shall be construed to mean Citizen in the Case of a City; and the Word “County” shall be construed to mean County, Riding, Parts, Liberty, or Division; and the Word “Trustees” shall be construed to mean Trustees, Commissioners, or Directors, or the Persons charged with the Execution of a Trust or public Duty, by whatever Name they are designated; and the Word “Parish” shall be construed to mean Parish, Township, Vill, Hamlet, Chapelry, Tithing, District, Precinct, or Place maintaining its own Poor; and the Words “Overseers of the Poor” shall be construed to mean all Persons who execute the Duties of Overseers of the Poor; and that in all Things hereinbefore provided to be done, until the First Election of Councillors in any Borough under this Act shall have been declared, the Word “Mayor” shall be construed to mean the Chief Officer of a Borough, by whatever Name he is now called; and in describing any Person or Thing, any Word importing the Singular Number shall be construed to mean also several Persons or Things respectively, unless there be something in the Subject or Context repugnant to

309

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

such Construction; and that no Misnomer or inaccurate Description of any Person, Body Corporate, or Place named in any Schedule to this Act annexed, or in any Roll, List, Notice, or Voting Paper required by this Act, shall hinder the full Operation of this Act with respect to such Person, Body Corporate, or Place, pro-

vided that the Description of such Person, Body Corporate, or Place be such as to be commonly understood. CXLIII. And be it enacted, That this Act may be altered or amended by any Act to be passed in this present Session of Parliament.

SCHEDULES to which this Act refers SCHEDULE (A) England and Wales Boroughs which are to have a Commission of the Peace

Section 1

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

Parliamentary Boundaries to be taken until altered by Parliament

Aberystwith

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town, Borough, and Liberty of Aberystwith.

Abingdon

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Abingdon.

Barnstaple

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough and Parish of Barnstaple in the County of Devon.

Bath

7

14

42

Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the City of Bath.

Bedford

2

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Town of Bedford.

Berwick-uponTweed

3

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Bridgewater

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Bridgewater.

Bridport

2

6

18

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Bridport.

Bristol

10

16

48

Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the City of Bristol.

Bury St.Edmond’s22

3

6

18

Alderman and Burgesses of Bury St. Edmunds in the County of Suffolk.

Borough.

310

Style of Corporate Body.

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Cambridge

5

10

30

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Cambridge.

Canterbury

3

6

18

Mayor and Commonalty of the City of Canterbury.

Cardiff

2

6

18

Bailiffs, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of Cardiff.

Carlisle

5

10

30

Mayor, Aldermen, Bailiffs, and Citizens of the City of Carlisle.

Carmarthen

3

6

18

Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Carmarthen.

Carnarvon

2

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Town and Borough of Caernarvon.

Chester

5

10

30

Mayor and Citizens of the City of Chester.

Chichester

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the City of Chichester.

Colchester

3

6

18

Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough of Colchester.

Dartmouth

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness in the County of Devon.

Denbigh

0

4

12

Aldermen, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Denbigh.

Derby

6

12

36

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Derby.

Devizes

2

6

18

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Devizes.

Dorchester

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Dorchester in the County of Dorset.

Dovor23

3

6

18

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town and Port of Dovor.

Durham

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of Durham and Framwelgate.

Evesham

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Evesham.

Gateshead

3

6

18

Boroughholders and Freemen of the Borough of Gateshead.

Gloucester

3

6

18

Mayor and Burgesses of the City of Gloucester in the County of the City of Gloucester.

Guildford

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town of Guldeford in the County of Surrey.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

311

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Harwich

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Harwich.

Haverfordwest

0

4

12

Mayor, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the County of the Town of Haverfordwest, or of the Town and County of the Town of Haverfordwest.

Hereford

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the City of Hereford.

Hertford

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the Borough of Hertford.

Ipswich

5

10

30

Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Town or Borough of Ipswich.

Kendal

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Kirby-in-Kendal in the County of Westmorland.

Kidderminster

3

6

18

High Bailiff and Commonalty of the Borough of Kidderminster in the County of Worcester.

Kingston-uponHull

7

14

42

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town or Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull.

King’s Lynn

3

6

18

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Lynn Regis.

Leeds

12

16

48

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Leeds in the County of York.

Leicester

7

14

42

Mayor, Bailiff, and Burgesses of the Borough of Leicester.

Leominster

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Leominster.

Lichfield

2

6

18

Bailiff and Citizens of the City of Lichfield.

Liverpool

16

16

48

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Liverpool.

Macclesfield

6

12

36

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Macclesfield.

Monmouth

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the Town and Borough of Monmouth.

Neath

0

4

12

Portreeve, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Neath.

Newark

3

6

18

Mayor and Aldermen of the Borough of Newark in the County of Nottingham.

Newcastle-underLyne

2

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of Newcastle-underLyne in the County of Stafford.

Borough.

312

Style of Corporate Body.

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Newcastle-uponTyne

7

14

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town of Newcastle-uponTyne in the County of the Town of Newcastle-uponTyne.

Newport, Monmouth

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Newport.

Newport (Isle of Wight)

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Chief Burgesses of the Borough of Newport in the Isle of Wight in the County of Southampton.

Northampton

3

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of Northampton.

Norwich

8

16

48

Mayor, Sheriffs, Citizens, and Commonalty of the City of Norwich.

Nottingham

7

14

42

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town of Nottingham.

Oxford

5

10

30

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the City of Oxford in the County of Oxford.

Pembroke

2

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Town and Borough of Pembroke.

Poole

2

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Town of Poole.

Portsmouth

7

14

42

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Portsmouth in the County of Southampton.

Preston

6

12

36

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Preston in the County Palatine of Lancaster.

Reading

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Reading in the County of Berks.

Ripon

0

4

12

Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Ripon in the County of York.

Rochester

3

6

18

Mayor and Citizens of the City of Rochester in the County of Kent.

St. Albans

0

4

12

Mayor and Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Saint Albans in the County of Hertford.

Sarum, New

3

6

18

Mayor and Commonalty of the City of New Sarum in the County of Wilts.

Scarborough

2

6

18

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Town of Scarborough.

Shrewsbury

5

10

30

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of Shrewsbury in the County of Salop.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

313

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Southampton

5

10

30

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Town of Southampton.

Stafford

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Stafford.

Stamford

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Capital Burgesses of the Town or Borough of Stamford in the County of Lincoln.

Stockport

7

14

42

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Stockport.

Sudbury

0

14

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Sudbury.

Sunderland

7

14

42

Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the Borough of Sunderland.

Swansea

3

6

18

Portreeve, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Swansea.

Tiverton

3

6

18

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town and Parish of Tiverton in the County of Devon.

Truro

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Capital Burgesses of the Borough of Truro.

Warwick

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Warwick.

Wells

0

4

12

Mayor, Masters, and Burgesses of the City or Borough of Wells in the County of Somerset.

Weymouth and Melcombe Regis

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough and Town of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in the County of Dorset.

Wigan

5

10

30

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Wigan.

Winchester

3

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the City of Winchester.

Windsor

2

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of New Windsor in the County of Berks.

Worcester

6

12

36

Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of the City of Worcester.

Yarmouth, Great

6

12

36

Mayor, Aldermen, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Great Yarmouth in the County of Norfolk.

Borough.

314

Style of Corporate Body.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Section 2

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

Municipal Boundaries to be taken until altered by Parliament

Andevor

0

4

12

Bailiff, approved Men, and Burgesses of the Borough of Andevor.

Banbury

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Banbury in the County of Oxford.

Beverley

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Beverley in the County of York.

Bewdley

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Inhabitants of the Town and Borough of Bewdley.

Bideford

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Capital Burgesses of the Borough, Town, and Manor of Bideford in the County of Devon.

Boston

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Boston.

Brecon

0

4

12

Bailiff, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Brecon.

Bridgenorth

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Bridgnorth.

Clitheroe

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Clitheroe in the County of Lancaster.

Chesterfield

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Chesterfield.

Congleton

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Congleton in the County of Chester.

Coventry

6

12

36

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the City of Coventry.

Deal

2

6

18

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town of Deal in the County of Kent.

Doncaster

3

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Doncaster in the County of York.

Exeter

6

12

36

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the City of Exeter.

Falmouth

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of Falmouth in the County of Cornwall.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

315

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Grantham

0

4

12

Aldermen and Burgesses of the Town or Borough of Grantham.

Gravesend

2

6

18

Mayor, Jurats, and Inhabitants of the Villages and Parishes of Graves-end and Melton in the County of Kent.

Grimsby

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town of Grimsby in the County of Lincoln.

Hastings

3

6

18

Mayors, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town and Port of Hastings in the County of Sussex.

Kingston-uponThames

3

6

18

Bailiffs and Freemen of the Borough of Kingston-uponThames.

Lancaster

3

6

18

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the Town of Lancaster in the County Palatine of Lancaster.

Lincoln

3

6

18

Mayor, Sheriffs, Citizens, and Commonalty of the City of Lincoln.

Liskeard

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Liskerret otherwise Liskeard in the County of Cornwall.

Louth

2

6

18

Warden and Six Assistants of the Town of Louth and Free School of King Edward the Sixth in Louth.

Ludlow

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Town and Borough of Ludlow.

Maidstone

3

6

18

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the King’s Town and Parish of Maidstone in the County of Kent.

Maldon

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Capital Burgesses and Commonalty of Maldon.

Newbury

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Newbury.

Oswestry

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, Common Councilmen, and Burgesses of Oswestry.

Penzance

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the Town of Penzance in the County of Cornwall.

Plymouth

6

12

36

Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough of Plymouth.

Pontefract

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough or Town of Pontefract.

Richmond

0

4

12

Mayor and Aldermen of the Borough of Richmond in the County of York.

Borough.

316

Style of Corporate Body.

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Romsey

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of Romsey Infra in the County of Southampton.

St. Ives

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of St. Ives.

Saffron Walden

0

4

12

Mayor and Aldermen of the Town of Saffron Walden in the County of Essex.

Stockton

2

6

18

Mayor, Aldermen, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Stockton.

Tewkesbury

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Tewkesbury in the County of Gloucester.

Walsall

3

6

18

Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough and Foreign of Walsall in the County of Stafford.

Welchpool

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Poole in the County of Montgomery.

Wenlock

3

6

18

Burgesses of the Borough of Wenlock.

Wisbech

2

6

18

Burgesses of the Borough of Wisbech.

York

6

12

36

Mayor and Commonalty of the City of York.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

SCHEDULE (B) England and Wales Boroughs which are not to have a Commission of the Peace, unless on Petition and Grant

Section 1

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

Parliamentary Boundaries to be taken until altered by Parliament

Arundel

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Arundel.

Beaumaris

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiff, and Burgesses of the Borough of Beaumaris.

Cardigan

0

4

12

Mayor, Common Council, and Burgesses of the Town and Borough of Cardigan.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

317

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Llanidloes

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Llanidloes.

Pwllheli

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Pwllheli.

Ruthin

0

4

12

Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Ruthin.

Tenby

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Tenby.

Thetford

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Thetford.

Totnes

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Totnes in the County of Devon.

Section 2

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

Municipal Boundaries to be taken until altered by Parliament

Basingstoke

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of Basingstoke in the County of Southampton.

Beccles

0

4

12

Portreeve, Surveyors, and Commonalty of the Fen of Beccles in the County of Suffolk.

Blandford Forum

0

4

12

Bailiff and Burgesses of the Borough of Blandford Forum in the County of Dorset.

Bodmin

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Bodmin in the County of Cornwall.

Buckingham

0

4

12

Bailiff and Burgesses of the Borough and Parish of Buckingham in the County of Buckingham.

Calne

0

4

12

Guild Stewards and Burgesses in the Borough of Calne.

Chard

0

4

12

Portreeve and Burgesses of the Borough of Chard in the County of Somerset.

Chippenham

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Chippenham in the County of Wilts.

Chipping Norton

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Chipping Norton in the County of Oxford.

Daventry

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Daventry in the County of Northampton.

Droitwich

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Wych otherwise Droitwich in the County of Worcester.

Borough.

318

Style of Corporate Body.

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Eye

0

4

12

Bailiff, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Town and Burgh of Eye.

Faversham

0

4

12

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town of Faversham.

Folkestone

0

4

12

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town of Folkestone.

Flint

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Flint.

Glastonbury

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Town of Glastonbury in the County of Somerset.

Godalming

0

4

12

Warden and Inhabitants of the Town of Godalming.

Godmanchester

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Borough of Cirencester alias Godmanchester.

Helstone

0

4

12

Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough of Helstone.

Huntingdon

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Huntingdon.

Hythe

0

4

12

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town and Port of Hythe in the County of Kent.

Launceston

0

4

12

Mayor and Commonalty of the Borough of Dunneheved otherwise Launceston.

Llandovery

0

4

12

Bailiff and Burgesses of the Borough of Lianymtheverye.

Lyme Regis

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Lyme in the County of Dorset.

Lymington

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Lymington.

Maidenhead

0

4

12

Mayor, Bridgemasters, and Burgesses of the Town of Maydenheth.

Marlborough

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough and Town of Marlborough in the County of Wilts.

Morpeth

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough of Morpeth in the County of Northumberland.

Penryn

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of Penryn in the County of Cornwall.

Retford, East

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Burgesses of East Retford in the County of Nottingham.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

319

Wards.

Aldermen.

Councillors.

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Rye

0

4

12

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the ancient Town of Rye.

Sandwich

0

4

12

Mayor, Jurats, and Commonalty of the Town and Port of Sandwich in the County of Kent.

Shaftesbury

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough of Shafton otherwise Shaftesbury in the County of Dorset.

South Wold

0

4

12

Bailiffs, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of South Wold.

South Molton

0

4

12

Mayor and Burgesses of the Borough and Parish of South Molton in the County of Devon.

Stratford-on-Avon

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Tamworth

0

4

12

Bailiffs and Commonalty of the Borough of Tamworth.

Tenterden

0

4

12

Mayor, Jurats, and Commons of the Town and Hundred of Tenterden in the County of Kent.

Torrington

0

4

12

Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough and Town of Great Torrington in the County of Devon.

Wallingford

0

4

12

Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Wallingford.

Wycombe, Chepping.

0

4

12

Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of Chipping Wycombe (otherwise Wycombe) in the County of Buckingham.

Borough.

Style of Corporate Body.

SCHEDULE (C) Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Northumberland.

Bristol.

Gloucestershire.

Chester.

Cheshire.

Exeter.

Devonshire.

Kingston-upon-Hull.

Yorkshire.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Northumberland.

320

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

SCHEDULE (D) No. 1 The List of Burgesses of the Borough of ____ in the Parish (or Township) of ____ Christian Name and Surname of each Person at full Length.

Nature of the Property rated.

Ashton, John

Shop

Bates, Thomas

House

(Signed)

Street, Lane, or other Place in this Parish (or Township) where the Property is situated for which he is now rated. No. 23, Church Street. Brook’s Farm.

A. B. Overseers of the said Parish (or Township). C. D.

No. 2

No. 3

Notice of Claim

Notice of Objection

To the Town Clerk of the Borough of ____ . I HEREBY give you Notice, That I claim to have my Name inserted in the Burgess List of the Borough of ____ that I occupy (here describe the House, Warehouse, Counting-house, or Shop then occupied by the Claimant) in the Borough, and that I have been rated in the Parish of ____ (here state the Parish or several Parishes, and the Time during which the Claimant has been rated in each of them within the Borough, necessary for his Qualification.) Dated the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ . (Signed) John Allen of (Place of Abode).

To the Town Clerk of the Borough of ____ (or to the Person objected to, as the Case may be). I HEREBY give you Notice, That I object to the Name of Thomas Bates of Brook’s Farm in the Parish of ____ (describe the Person objected to as described in the Burgess List) being retained on the Burgess List of the Borough of ____ . Dated the ____ Day of ____ in the Year ____ . (Signed) John Ashton of ____ (here state the Place of Abode and Property for which he is said to be rated in the Burgess List).

321

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

No. 4 List of Claimants The following Persons claim to have their Names inserted on the Burgess List of the Borough of ____ . Christian Name and Surname of each Claimant. Allen, John

(Signed)

Nature of the Property for which he is now rated.

Situation of the Property for which he is now rated.

Parish (or Parishes) in which he has been rated, as stated in the Claim.

House

No. 17, High Street.

Rated in the last Year in Saint Mary’s Parish in the Borough, and in the Two preceding Years in Saint James’s Parish in the Borough.

A. B. Town Clerk.

No. 5 List of Persons Objected to The following Persons have been objected to as not being entitled to have their Names retained on the Burgess List of the Borough of ____ . Christian Name and Surname of each Person objected to.

Nature of the Property for which he is now rated.

Situation of the Property for which he is said to be now rated in the Overseer’s List.

Bates, Thomas

House

Brook’s Farm

(Signed)

Saint James’.

A. B. Town Clerk.

SCHEDULE (E) Abingdon An Act for better paving, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the Town of Abingdon in the County of Berks, for removing Nuisances, Annoyances, and Encroachments therein, and for preventing the same in future. (6 Geo. 4. c. 189.) Arundel An Act for the better paving, cleansing, and lighting the Streets, Lanes, Ways,

322

Parish in which is the Property for which he is now said to be rated in the Overseer's List.

and Passages within the Borough of Arundel in the County of Sussex, and for removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein. (25 Geo. 3. c. 90.) Banbury An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the several Streets, Lanes, public Passages and Places in the Borough of Banbury in the County of Oxford. (5 Geo. 4. c. 130.)

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Barnstaple An Act for paving, improving, and regulating the Streets and public Places in the Borough and Parish of Barnstaple, and for better Regulation of the present Markets, and providing others therein. (51 Geo. 3. c. 154.) Basingstoke An Act for paving the Footways and Crosspaths, and lighting, watching, cleansing, widening, and otherwise improving the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places in the Town of Basingstoke in the County of Southampton. (55 Geo. 3. c. 7.) Bath An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets, Squares, Lanes, Ways, Passages, and public Places within such Part of the Parish of Walcot in the County of Somerset as is not within the Circuit, Precinct, and Jurisdiction of the City of Bath in the same County; and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, Encroachments, and Obstructions, and for establishing a proper and effective Police therein; and for licensing and regulating Hackney Coaches, Chairs, Porters, Basket Men, and Basket Women within the said City of Bath, and a certain Distance thereof. (33 Geo. 3. c. 89.) An Act for paving, steaning, cleansing, watering, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets, Squares, Lanes, Ways, Passages, and public Places within the Parish of Bathwick in the County of Somerset, and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, Encroachments, and Obstructions, and for establishing a proper and effective Police therein. (41 Geo. 3. c. 126.)

An Act for better paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, regulating, and improving the City of Bath, and the Liberties and Precincts thereof. (54 Geo. 3. c. 105.) An Act to amend an Act of His late Majesty, for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets and public Places within such Part of the Parish of Walcot in the County of Somerset as is not within the City of Bath. (6 Geo. 4. c. 74.) Beccles An Act for paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Streets and other public Passages and Places within the Town of Beccles in the County of Suffolk. (36 Geo. 3. c. 51.) Bedford An Act for the Improvement of the Town of Bedford in the County of Bedford, and for rebuilding the Bridge over the River Ouze in the said Town. (43 Geo. 3. c. 128.) An Act for amending and enlarging the Powers of an Act of His present Majesty, intituled “An Act for the Improvement of the Town of Bedford in the County of Bedford, and for rebuilding the Bridge over the River Ouze in the said Town.” (50 Geo. 3. c. 82.) Berwick-Upon-Tweed An Act for lighting the Streets and Lanes of the Borough of Berwick-uponTweed, and the Quays and Wharfs belonging to the said Borough, and that Part of the Bridge over the River Tweed which lies within the Liberties of the said Bor-

323

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

ough, and also the Street of Castlegate within the said Borough or the Liberties thereof; and for paving the Footpaths of the Streets of the said Borough and of Castlegate aforesaid; and for preventing Obstructions, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein. (40 Geo. 3. c. 25.) Beverley An Act for lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets and Lanes and other public Passages and Places in the Town of Beverley in the County of York. (48 Geo. 3. c. 87.)

better paving, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Borough of Boston in the County of Lincoln. (46 Geo. 3. c. 40.) An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act passed in the Sixteenth Year of His present Majesty, for lighting and watching the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Borough of Boston in the County of Lincoln, and for removing and preventing Nuisances therein. (46 Geo. 3. c. 41.) Brecknock

An Act to amend and enlarge the Powers of an Act passed in the Forty-eighth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, for lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Town of Beverley in the County of York. (6 Geo. 4. c. 138.)

An Act for supplying the Borough and Town of Brecknock, and Liberties thereof, with Water; and for paving, cleansing, regulating, and lighting the Streets, Lanes, and public Passages there; and for widening and making commodious some of the said Streets, Lanes, and Passages. (16 Geo. 3. c. 56.)

Boston

An Act to enlarge the Market House and regulating the Markets within the Borough of Bridgewater in the County of Somerset; for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the said Borough, or adjacent thereto; and for the Improvement thereof. (7 Geo. 4. c. 7.)

An Act for lighting and watching the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Borough of Boston in the County of Lincoln, and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, and Obstructions therein. (16 Geo. 3. c. 25.) An Act for the better paving, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Borough of Boston in the County of Lincoln. (32 Geo. 3. c. 80.) An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act passed in the Thirtysecond Year of His present Majesty, for

324

Bridgewater

Bridport An Act for taking down the Market House in the Borough of Bridport in the County of Dorset, and rebuilding the same, together with a Session or Court House, in a more convenient Situation; for removing the Shambles or Butchers Row; for pav-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

ing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the said Borough; for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances; and for prohibiting the covering of any new Houses or Buildings within the Borough with Thatch. (25 Geo. 3.)24

of Bristol, and for opening several new Streets and Passages within the same; and for explaining, amending, and enlarging the Powers of the several Acts passed for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets and other Places within the said City and Liberties thereof. (6 Geo. 3. c. 34.)

Bristol An Act for the better preserving the Navigation of the Rivers Avon and Frome, and for cleansing, paving, and lighting the Streets of the City of Bristol. (11 Will. 3. c. 23.) An Act for making more effectual an Act passed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Years of the Reign of King William the Third, for the better preserving the Navigation of the Rivers Avon and Frome, and for cleansing, paving, and enlightening the Streets of the City of Bristol, so far as the same Act relates to the paving and enlightening of the said Streets; and for the regulating Hackney Coachmen, Halliers, Draymen, and Carters, and the Markets and Sellers of Hay and Straw, within the said City and Liberties thereof. (22 Geo. 2.)25 An Act for establishing, maintaining, and well-governing a Nightly Watch within the City of Bristol. (28 Geo. 2. c. 32.) An Act to explain and render more effectual an Act made in the last Session of Parliament, intituled “An Act for establishing, maintaining, and well-governing a Nightly Watch within the City of Bristol.” (29 Geo. 2. c. 47.) An Act for widening several Streets, Lanes, Ways, and Passages within the City

An Act for removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, Annoyances, and other Nuisances within the City of Bristol and the Liberties thereof; and for licensing and better regulating Hackney Coaches, Chairs, Waggons, Carts, and other Carriages, and the Owners, Drivers, and Carriers thereof respectively, and Porters and other Persons, within and for certain Distances round the said City and Liberties; and for better regulating the Shipping and Trade, and the Rivers, Wharfs, Backs, and Quays, and the Markets, within the same City and Liberties; and for other Purposes. (23 Geo. 3. c. 65.) An Act for amending, altering, and enlarging the Powers of several Acts passed for paving, pitching, cleansing, and lighting the Streets and other Places within the City of Bristol and Liberties thereof. (46 Geo. 3. c. 26.) An Act for the Employment, Maintenance, and Regulation of the Poor of the City of Bristol, and for altering the Mode of assessing the Rates for the Relief of the Poor, and certain Rates authorized to be raised and levied within the said City by certain Acts for improving the Harbour there, and for paving, pitching, cleansing, and lighting the same City; and for the Relief of the Churchwardens and Overseers

325

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

from the collecting of such Rates; and for amending the Act for paving, pitching, cleansing, and lighting the said City. (3 Geo. 4. c. 24.) An Act for repairing, lighting, and watching the District of the United Parishes of Saint James and Saint Paul in the County of Gloucester, and for the Care of the Poor thereof. (2 Geo. 4. c. 89.) An Act for lighting and watching the Parish of Clifton in the County of Gloucester. (5 Geo. 4. c. 79.) Bury St. Edmund’s An Act for better paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the Town of Bury Saint Edmund’s in the County of Suffolk. (51 Geo. 3. c. 9.) An Act to amend, extend, and render more effectual an Act of His late Majesty, for paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the Town of Bury Saint Edmund’s in the County of Suffolk. (1 Geo. 4.)26 Cambridge An Act for better paving, cleansing, and lighting the Town of Cambridge, for removing and preventing Obstructions and Annoyances, and for widening the Streets, Lanes, and other Passages within the said Town. (28 Geo. 3. c. 64.) An Act to amend and enlarge the Powers of an Act passed in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty,

326

intituled “An Act for the better paving, cleansing, and lighting the Town of Cambridge, for removing and preventing Obstructions and Annoyances, and for widening the Streets, Lanes, and other Passages within the said Town.” (34 Geo. 3. c. 104.) Canterbury An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Walls of the City of Canterbury and the Liberties thereof, and also several Streets and other Places near or adjoining to the said City; and for removing and preventing Incroachments, Obstructions, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein. (27 Geo. 3. c. 31.) Cardiff An Act for better paving, cleansing, and lighting the Streets, Lanes, and public Passages in the Town of Cardiff and Liberties thereof, in the County of Glamorgan, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (Geo. 3. c. 7.) Carlisle An Act for lighting the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the City of Carlisle in the County of Cumberland, and the Suburbs of the said City; for paving the Footpaths of the Streets of the said City and Suburbs; and for otherwise improving the said City. (44 Geo. 3. c.58.) An Act for watching, regulating, and improving the City of Carlisle and the Suburbs thereof. (7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 86.)

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Chester An Act for better regulating the Poor, maintaining a Nightly Watch, lighting, paving, and cleansing the Streets, Rows, and Passages, providing Fire Engines and Firemen, and regulating the Hackney Coachmen, Chairmen, Carmen, and Porters, within the City of Chester. (2 Geo. 3.)27 An Act to amend, alter, and enlarge the Powers of an Act passed in the Second Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, so far as the same relates to maintaining a Nightly Watch, and lighting and cleansing the Streets, Rows, and Passages, within the City of Chester, and for preventing Nuisances and Annoyances in the Streets, Rows, and Passages within the said City, and for regulating and improving the Police thereof. (43 Geo. 3. c. 47.) Chichester An Act for repealing an Act made in the Eighteenth Year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, intituled “An Act for paving of the City of Chichester;” and for the better paving, repairing, and cleansing the Streets, Lanes, and public Ways and Passages within the Walls of the said City, and for removing and preventing Incroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein. (31 Geo. 3. c. 63.) An Act for better lighting and for watching the City of Chichester and Places adjacent. (1 & 2 Geo 4. c. 68.) Chepping Wycombe An Act for paving, widening, cleansing, watching, lighting, and regulating the

Streets and other public Places within the Borough of Chepping Wycombe in the County of Bucks, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Obstructions therein. (53 Geo. 3. c. 164.) Chippenham An Act for lighting, watching, cleansing, paving, and otherwise improving the Town of Chippenham in the County of Wilts. (4 Will. 4. c. 47.) Coventry An Act for the better paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the City of Coventry and the Suburbs thereof, and removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein; and for regulating the public Wells and Pumps within the said City and Suburbs. (30 Geo. 3. c. 77.) Dartmouth An Act for building a Market House in the Borough of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness in the County of Devon, and for better paving, lighting, widening, and improving the Streets and other public Places within the said Borough. (55 Geo. 3. c. 28.) Daventry An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Town of Daventry in the County of Northampton, and for regulating the Market there, and for enabling the Bailiff, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Daventry to purchase the Moot-Hall, and to rebuild the same. (46 Geo. 3. c. 118.)

327

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Deal An Act for more effectually paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Highways, Streets, and Lanes within the Town and Borough of Deal in the County of Kent, and for removing and preventing Encroachments, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein. (52 Geo. 3. c. 73.)

His present Majesty as relates to the lighting the Streets and Places within the Borough and Soke of Doncaster in the County of York; and for more effectually lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the said Borough, and for preventing Nuisances therein. (43 Geo. 3. c. 147.)

Derby

Dorchester

An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and otherwise improving the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Borough of Derby, and for selling a certain Piece of Waste Ground situate within the said Borough, called Nun’s Green, towards defraying the Expence of the said Improvements. (32 Geo. 3. c. 78.)

An Act for better cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages within the Borough of Dorchester in the County of Dorset, and in the Tithing of Colliton-row in the Town of Dorchester aforesaid; for paving the Footways and repairing certain Horseways of such Parts thereof as are Turnpike, and for paving the Footways and repairing the Horseways of such Parts thereof as are not Turnpike; for removing Nuisances, Annoyances, and Obstructions therein; and for preventing Houses or Buildings hereafter to be erected in the said Borough and Tithing from being thatched. (16 Geo. 3. c. 27.)

An Act for better paving and otherwise improving the Borough of Derby. (6 Geo. 4. c. 132.) Devizes An Act for amending, regulating, cleansing, lighting, watching, and keeping in repair the Streets, Lanes, and Passages within the Borough of The Devizes in the County of Wilts, and for preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, and Obstructions therein. (21 Geo. 3. c. 36.) An Act for paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and improving the Borough of Devizes in the County of Wilts, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (6 Geo. 4. c. 162.) Doncaster An Act for repealing so much of an Act passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of

328

An Act for better paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, watering, and otherwise improving the Streets and other public Passages and Places within the Borough of Dorchester in the County of Dorset, and the Tithing of Colliton-row in the Town of Dorchester aforesaid. (4 Will. 4. 22 May.)28 Dovor An Act for better paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets and Lanes in the Town of Dover in the County of Kent, and in the several Parishes of Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint James the Apostle in the said Town and County; and

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (18 Geo. 3. c. 76.) An Act to amend an Act made in the Eighteenth Year of His present Majesty, for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Town of Dover, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (50 Geo. 3. c. 26.) An Act to amend Two Acts of His late Majesty, for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Town of Dover, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (11 Geo. 4. c. 117.) Durham An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets, Lanes, Ways, and public Passages and Places within the City of Durham and Borough of Framwelgate, and the Suburbs thereof, and the Streets thereto adjoining; for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, Encroachments, and Obstructions therein; for widening and rendering more commodious several of the said Streets, Lanes, Ways, and public Passages and Places, and for regulating and improving the Markets, within the said City and Suburbs. (30 Geo. 3. c. 67.)

selling certain Waste Lands within the said Borough, and for appropriating the Monies arising from such Sales towards the Purposes therein mentioned. (5 Geo. 4. c. 67.) Exeter An Act for enlightening the Streets within the City of Exeter and Suburbs thereof. (1 Geo. 3.)29 An Act for better repairing the Streets, Lanes, and Passages within the City of Exeter and County of the said City; and for amending an Act passed in the First Year of His present Majesty, intituled “An Act for enlightening the Streets within the City of Exeter and Suburbs thereof;” and for the better regulating of the Watch within the said City and County, and for otherwise improving the same. (46 Geo. 3. c. 39.) An Act for better and more effectually paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the Streets, Ways, and other public Passages and Places in the City and County of the City of Exeter. (50 Geo. 3. c. 146.) An Act for better paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, and otherwise improving the City of Exeter and County of the same City. (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 106.)

Evesham

Faversham

An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, regulating, and improving the Borough of Evesham in the County of Worcester; for repairing, improving, and maintaining the Bridge over the River Avon within the said Borough; and for

An Act for the better paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Highways, Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Town and Liberty of Faversham in the County of Kent, and also certain Places near or ad-

329

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

joining thereto; and for removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein. (29 Geo. 3. c. 69.)

paving and cleansing of the several Streets within the said City, and for removing Nuisances and Annoyances therefrom, and preventing the like in future. (17 Geo. 3. c. 68.)

Folkestone An Act for paving, repairing, and cleansing the Highways, Streets, and Lanes in the Town of Folkestone, and Liberty thereof, in the County of Kent, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (36 Geo. 3. c. 49.) Gateshead An Act for cleansing, lighting, and otherwise improving certain Streets and Places within and near the Town and Borough of Gateshead in the County of Durham. (54 Geo. 3. c. 109.) Glastonbury An Act for paving and improving the Streets and other public Passages and Places in the Parishes of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Benedict in the Town of Glastonbury in the County of Somerset. (51 Geo. 3. c. 173.) Gloucester An Act for the more effectual Relief and Employment of the Poor within the City of Gloucester, and for lighting the Streets of the said City. (4 Geo. 3. c. .)30 An Act for rebuilding the Bridge over the River Severn at Maisemore, near the City of Gloucester; for raising, widening, and securing Over’s Causeway leading from the said City towards Maisemore aforesaid; and for enforcing the proper

330

An Act for erecting a new Gaol, and for removing certain Gateways, in the City of Gloucester, and for amending the several Acts passed for the Maintenance and Support of the Poor of the said City, and for lighting, paving, and regulating the Streets there. (21 Geo. 3. c. 74.) An Act for establishing a proper Place for holding Markets and Fairs for the Sale of Live Stock in the City of Gloucester and the Suburbs thereof, and for opening convenient Avenues thereto, and for watching and otherwise improving the said City. (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 22.) An Act to provide for lighting the Suburbs of the City of Gloucester with Gas. (4 Will. 4. c. 44.) Godalming An Act for paving, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the Town of Godalming in the County of Surry. (6 Geo. 4. c. 177.) Gravesend An Act for paving, cleansing, and lighting the High Street, East Street, and West Street in the Town and Parishes of Gravesend and Milton, in the County of Kent, and for lighting the other Streets; and for removing all Incroachments and Annoyances within the said Town and Parishes. (13 Geo. 3. c. 15.)

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

An Act for altering and enlarging the Powers of an Act of the Thirteenth Year of His present Majesty, for improving the Town and Parishes of Gravesend and Milton in the County of Kent; and for the better Assessment and Collection of the Poor Rates and other Rates within the Parish of Gravesend. (56 Geo. 3. c. 77.)

An Act for paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, and improving the Town and Port of Hastings in the County of Sussex, and for establishing and regulating Markets therein, and supplying the Inhabitants thereof with Water, and for other Purposes. (2 Will. 4. c. 91.)

An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and improving the Town and Parishes of Gravesend and Milton in the County of Kent, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (3 Geo. 4. c. 51.)

An Act for paving, repairing, cleansing, and lighting the Streets and Lanes in the City of Hereford and Suburbs thereof, and removing Nuisances and Annoyances therein, and for creating a Fund towards the Expences thereof, by inclosing divers Waste Grounds within the Liberties of the said City; and for the better Application of Chanty Money; for setting the poor People of the said City to work; and to enable Bodies Corporate to alienate their Houses and Lands within the said City. (14 Geo. 3. c. 38.)

Guilford An Act establishing, regulating, and maintaining a Nightly Watch, and for enlightening the open Places and Streets, within the Town of Guildford in the County of Surrey. (32 Geo. 2.)31 An Act for paving, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Town of Guildford in the County of Surrey. (52 Geo. 3. c. 51.) Harwich An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Town of Harwich in the County of Essex, and supplying the same with Water. (59 Geo. 3. c. 118.) Hastings An Act for better paving, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the Town of Saint Leonard in the County of Sussex. (2 Will. 4. c. 45.)

Hereford

An Act to enlarge, amend, and render more effectual the Provisions of an Act of His present Majesty, for paving and lighting the City of Hereford, and removing Nuisances therein; and for enabling the Corporation of the said City to sell and apply the Produce of certain Messuages and Lands in establishing Market Places and otherwise improving the said City. (56 Geo. 3. c. 23.) Hertford An Act for paving the Footways, and cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets and other public Passages and Places, within the Borough of Hertford, and removing and preventing Obstructions, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein. (28 Geo. 3. c. 75.)

331

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

An Act to amend and extend the Provisions of an Act for paving and improving the Streets and other public Passages and Places within the Borough of Hertford. (9 Geo. 4. c. 38.) Huntingdon An Act for paving, cleansing, and lighting the High Street and other Places within the Town of Huntingdon, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (25 Geo. 3. c. 9.) Hythe An Act for paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Highways, Streets, and Lanes in the Town and Port of Hythe and Liberty thereof in the County of Kent, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (38 Geo. 3. c. 16.) Ipswich An Act for the pavyng of the Towne of Ipswiche. (13 Eliz. c. 24.) An Act for paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Town of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk, and for removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein. (33 Geo. 3. c. 92.) An Act for amending and rendering more effectual an Act passed in the Thirtythird Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Town of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk, and for removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein. (37 Geo. 3. c. 44.)

332

An Act for amending and enlarging the Powers of Two Acts of His present Majesty, for paving, lighting, cleansing, and improving the Town of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk, and removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein; and for watching the said Town. (55 Geo. 3. c. 26.) An Act to alter and amend several Acts of His late Majesty’s Reign, for paving, lighting, and otherwise improving the Town of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk. (1 & 2 G. 4. c. 104.) Kingston-upon-Hull An Act for explaining, amending, and making more effectual several Acts of Parliament relating to the Maintenance and Employment of the Poor of the Town of Kingstone-upon-Hull; and for better paving, preserving, and cleansing the Streets, Squares, Lanes, and Alleys in the said Town, and preventing Obstructions therein; and for preserving the Lamps which shall be set up to enlighten the Streets of the said Town, and securing the Property of such Lamps to the Owners. (28 Geo. 2. c. 27.) An Act to amend and render more effectual several Acts made for cleansing and enlightening the Streets of the Town of Kingstone-upon-Hull, and for preventing Annoyances therein. (2 Geo. 3.)32 An Act for amending and supplying the Deficiencies of an Act passed in the Second Year of the Reign of His present Majesty King George the Third, intituled “An Act to amend and render more effectual several Acts made for cleansing and

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

enlightening the Streets of the Town of Kingstone-upon-Hull, and for preventing Annoyances therein.” (4 Geo. 3.)33 An Act for building a new Gaol for the Town and County of the Town of Kingstone-upon-Hull, and for purchasing an additional Burial Ground for the Use of the Parish of the Holy Trinity in the said Town; for regulating the Affairs of Hackney Coachmen, Chairmen, and Porters, and the Prices of Carriage of Goods; for altering the Time of lighting Lamps; for ascertaining the Breadth of Party Walls, and for preventing certain Nuisances, within the said Town, Liberties, and Precincts thereof; for amending an Act of the Fourteenth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for making and establishing public Quays or Wharfs at Kingstoneupon-Hull, in respect to such as are or may be built opposite to certain Staiths in the said Act described, and for other Purposes. (23 G. 3. c. 55.)

Lordship of Mytton in the Parish of the Holy Trinity in the said Town, and for preventing Nuisances therein; and also for preventing Frauds and Impositions in the Quality, Measure, and Carriage of Coals sold in the said Town and the Neighbourhood thereof. (50 Geo. 3. c. 41.) Kidderminster An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the Streets and other public Passages and Places in Kidderminster, in the County of Worcester. (53 Geo. 3. c. 83.) Kingston-upon-Thames An Act for the better lighting and watching the Town of Kingstone-uponThames in the County of Surrey, and for removing and preventing all Obstructions, Encroachments, and Nuisances therein. (13 Geo. 3. c. 61.) King’s Lynn

An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets, Squares, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Parish of Sealcotes in the East Riding of York, and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, Encroachments, and Obstructions, and for licensing and regulating Hackney Coaches, Chairs, Porters, Coal Carriers and Water Carriers, Trucks, Carts, and other Carriages, within the said Parish. (41 Geo. 3. c. 30.) An Act for watching and more effectually lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Town of Kingstone-uponHull, and the Liberty of Trippett and the

An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching and improving the Borough of King’s Lynn in the County of Norfolk, and for removing Nuisances and Annoyances therein; and for holding the Saturday and Beast Markets within more convenient Parts of the said Borough. (43 Geo. 3. c. 37.) Lancaster An Act for lighting, watching, paving, cleansing, and improving the Streets, Highways, and Places within the Borough and Town of Lancaster in the County Palatine of Lancaster. (5 Geo. 4. c. 66.)

333

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Leeds

Leominster

An Act for better supplying the Town and Neighbourhood of Leeds in the County of York with Water; and for more effectually lighting and cleansing the Streets and other Places within the said Town and Neighbourhood, and removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, Encroachments, and Obstructions therein. (30 Geo. 3. c. 68.)

An Act for inclosing Lands in the Borough of Leominster in the County of Hereford, and in the Township of Luston in the Parish of Eye, in the said County; and for paving and otherwise improving the Streets and other public Places within the Town of Leominster in the said County. (48 Geo. 8. c. 148.) Lichfield

An Act to amend and enlarge the Powers of an Act passed in the Thirtieth Year of His present Majesty, for better supplying the Town and Neighbourhood of Leeds in the County of York with Water, and for more effectually lighting and cleansing the Streets and other Places within the said Town and Neighbourhood, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein; and for erecting a Court House and Prison for the Borough of Leeds; and for widening and improving the Streets and Passages in the said Town. (49 Geo. 3. c. 122.)

An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the City of Lichfield and the Suburbs thereof. (46 Geo. 3. c. 42.)

An Act to amend and enlarge the Powers and Provisions of an Act of His present Majesty, for erecting a Court House and Prison for the Borough of Leeds in the County of York and other Purposes; to provide for the Expence of the Prosecution of Felons in certain Cases; and to establish a Police and Nightly Watch in the Town, Borough, and Neighbourhood of Leeds aforesaid. (55 Geo. 3. c. 42.)

An Act for the building a Church in the Town of Liverpool in the County Palatine of Lancaster, and for enlightening and cleansing the Streets of the said Town, and for keeping and maintaining a Nightly Watch there. (21 Geo. 2. c. 24.)

An Act for lighting, cleansing, and improving the Town and Neighbourhood of Leeds in the County of York. (5 Geo. 4. c. 124.)

334

Lincoln An Act for paving, lighting, watching, and improving the City of Lincoln and the Bail and Close of Lincoln, and for regulating the Police thereof. (9 Geo. 4. c. 27.) Liverpool

An Act for opening, making, widening, and altering certain Streets, Passages, and Places within the Town of Liverpool in the County Palatine of Lancaster; for supplying the said Town with fresh and wholesome Water; for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein; for appointing additional Market Places; and

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

for extending so much of the Powers of an Act of the Second Year of His present Majesty as relates to Hackney Coachmen, Chairmen, Carters, and Porters, to a certain Distance beyond the Liberties of the said Town. (26 Geo. 3. c. 12.) An Act for enlarging and varying some of the Powers contained in certain Acts of Parliament relating to the lighting, watching, and cleansing the Streets and other Places within the Town of Liverpool, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (28 Geo. 3. c. 13.) An Act for the reviving, extending, and varying the Powers of an Act passed in the Twenty-Sixth Year of His late Majesty King George the Third, for making and widening certain Streets, Passages, and Places in the Town of Liverpool in the County Palatine of Lancaster, and for several other Purposes in the said Act mentioned; and also for further improving the said Town. (1 Geo. 4. c. 13.) An Act for widening and improving certain Streets in the Town of Liverpool in the County Palatine of Lancaster; for the further Prevention of Nuisances and Annoyances in the said Town; for the Regulation of Weighing Machines, Weights, and Measures; and the Establishment of a Fire Police therein. (7 Geo. 4. c. 57.) An Act for the better Pavage and Sewerage of the Town of Liverpool in the County Palatine of Lancaster; and for settling the Boundaries of the said Town and the Township of Kirkdale, and Parts

of the Townships of Everton and West Derby. (11 Geo. 4. c. 15.) Louth An Act for paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, regulating, and otherwise improving the Town and Parish of Louth in the County of Lincoln. (6 Geo. 4. c. 129.) Ludlow An Act for paving the Footpaths within the Borough of Ludlow in the County of Salop, and for lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the said Borough. (33 Geo. 3. c. 25.) Macclesfield An Act for lighting, watching, and regulating the Police within the Borough of Macclesfield in the County of Chester. (54 Geo. 3. c. 23.) An Act for better lighting, watching, and improving the Borough and Township of Macclesfield in the County of Chester, and regulating the Police thereof. (6 Geo. 4. c. 96.) An Act for better supplying the Inhabitants of the Borough of Macclesfield in the County of Chester with Water, and to establish the Rates payable for the same. (11 Geo. 4. c. 124.) Maidstone An Act for widening, improving, regulating, paving, cleansing, and lighting the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the King’s Town of Maidstone in the County of Kent; for

335

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein; for better supplying the said Town with Water; and for repairing the Highways within the Parish of Maidstone. (31 Geo. 3. c. 62.) An Act for altering and amending an Act passed in the Thirty-first Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled “An Act for widening, improving, regulating, paving, cleansing, and lighting the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the King’s Town of Maidstone in the County of Kent; for removing and preventing Encroachments, Obstructions, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein; for better supplying the said Town with Water; and for repairing the Highways within the Parish of Maidstone;” and for raising a further Sum of Money for completing the Purposes of the said Act. (42 Geo. 3. c. 90.) An Act to enlarge the Powers of Three Acts of His present Majesty, for paving, cleansing, and lighting the Streets and other public Places within the King’s Town of Maidstone in the County of Kent, and better supplying the Inhabitants with Water; and for watching the said Town, and making public Wharfs therein. (59 Geo. 3. c. 16.) Monmouth An Act for paving the Footways, and cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets, in the Town of Monmouth. (58 Geo. 3. c. 81.) Newark An Act for the better paving, lighting, and cleansing of the Streets, Lanes, and

336

other public Passages and Places in the Town of Newark-upon-Trent in the County of Nottingham, and for removing the Market for Butcher’s Meat in the said Town, and for regulating the said Market; and for repealing an Act made in the Twentyseventh Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth, intituled “An Acte for the pavinge of Newarke-uponTrent in the Countie of Nottingham.” (38 Geo. 3. c. 26.) Newbury An Act for lighting, watching, paving, cleansing, and improving the Streets, Highways, and Places within the Borough, Town, and Parish of Newbury and the Tithing or Hamlet of Speenhamland in the Parish of Speen in the County of Berks. (6 Geo. 4. c. 72.) Newcastle-under-Lyme An Act for paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, regulating, and improving the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. (59 Geo. 3. c. 71.) Newcastle-upon-Tyne An Act for lighting the Streets and other Places, and maintaining a regular and nightly Watch, within the Town and County of the Town of Newcastle-uponTyne; and for regulating the Hackney Coachmen and Chairmen, Cartmen, Porters, and Watermen within the same. (3 Geo. 3.)34 An Act for widening, enlarging, and cleansing the Streets, Lanes, and other public Places, and for opening new Streets, Markets, and Passages, within the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Liberties

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

thereof, and for removing and preventing Annoyances therein; and for regulating the public Markets, and Common Stage Waggons, Drays, and Carts carrying Goods for Hire. (26 Geo. 3. c. 39.) An Act for lighting and watching the Streets and other Places without the Walls but within the Liberties of Newcastle-uponTyne. (52 Geo. 3. c. 76.) Newport (Isle of Wight) An Act for paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets, Lanes, Ways, Passages, and Places within the Borough of Newport in the Isle of Wight; and for the Removal of present and the Prevention of future Incroachments, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein. (26 Geo. 3. c. 119.) Newport (Monmouth) An Act for lighting, watching, paving, cleansing, and improving the Streets, Highways, and Places within the Town and Borough of Newport in the County of Monmouth. (7 Geo. 4. c. 6.) Northampton An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Town of Northampton, and for removing and preventing Incroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein. (18 Geo. 3. c. 79.) An Act for altering and amending an Act passed in the Eighteenth Year of the

Reign of His present Majesty, intituled “An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Town of Northampton, and for removing and preventing Incroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein; and for continuing the Term of certain Tolls by the said Act.” (37 Geo. 3. c. 42.) An Act for better paving, lighting, watching, and improving the Town of Northampton; and for taking down, widening, and rebuilding the Bridge over the Nine or Nen, at the South Entrance of the said Town, and improving the Avenues to the said Bridge. (54 Geo. 3. c. 193.) Norwich An Act for better paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the City of Norwich. (46 Geo 3. c. 67.) An Act for amending and enlarging an Act of His late Majesty, for better paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the City of Norwich. (6 Geo. 4. c. 78.) Nottingham An Act for enlightening the Streets, Lanes, and Passages within the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham. (2 Geo. 3.)35 An Act to alter, amend, and enlarge the Powers of an Act of the Second Year of His late Majesty’s Reign, intituled “An Act for enlightening the Streets, Lanes, and Passages within the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham.” (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 70.)

337

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Oswestry An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the Streets and other public Passages and Places in the Town and Borough of Oswestry in the County of Salop, (49 Geo. 3. c. 140.) Oxford An Act for amending certain of the Mileways leading to Oxford; for making a commodious Entrance through the Parish of Saint Clement; for rebuilding or repairing Magdalen Bridge; for making commodious Roads from the said Bridge through the University and City and the Avenues leading thereto; for cleansing and lighting the Streets, Lanes, and Places within the said University and City and the Suburbs thereof, and the Parish of Saint Clement; for removing Nuisances and Annoyances therefrom, and preventing the like for the future; for empowering Colleges and Corporations to alienate their Estates there; for removing, holding, and regulating Markets within the said City; and for other Purposes. (11 Geo. 3. c. 19.) An Act to amend and enlarge the Powers of an Act passed in the Eleventh Year of His present Majesty’s Reign, for performing several Works and making Improvements within the University and City of Oxford and the Suburbs thereof, and in the adjoining Parish of Saint Clement. (21 Geo. 3. c. 47.) An Act for enlarging the Term and Powers of Two Acts of His present Majesty, for amending certain Mileways leading to Oxford, and making Improvements in the University and City of Oxford, the

338

Suburbs thereof, and adjoining Parish of Saint Clement, and for other Purposes. (52 Geo. 3. c.72.) An Act for continuing the Term and amending and enlarging the Powers of Three Acts of His Majesty King George the Third, for amending certain Mileways leading to Oxford, and making Improvements in the University and City of Oxford, the Suburbs thereof, and adjoining Parish of Saint Clement, and for other Purposes in the said Acts mentioned. (5 & 6 W.4. c. .)36 Pembroke An Act for supplying with Water the Town of Pembroke and the Neighbourhood thereof, within the County of Pembroke. (9 Geo. 4. c. 119.) Plymouth An Act for improving the Town of Plymouth in the County of Devon. (51 Geo. 3. c. 102.) An Act for better paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and improving the Town and Borough of Plymouth in the County of Devon, and for regulating the Police thereof, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (5 Geo. 4. c. 22.) Pontefract An Act for paving and otherwise improving the Streets and other public Passages within the Town of Pontefract in the County of York; for better supplying the said Town with Water; and for altering and amending an Act passed in the Twen-

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

tieth Year of His present Majesty, intituled “An Act for dividing the Park of Pontefract in the County of York, and for other Purposes mentioned therein.” (50 Geo. 3. c. 40.)

within the said Town, and removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (7 Geo. 4. c. 64.) Preston

Portsmouth An Act for the better paving and cleansing the Streets and other public Passages in the Town of Portsmouth in the County of Southampton, and for preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein, and for widening and rendering the same more commodious. (8 Geo. 3.)37 An Act for lighting and watching the Town of Portsmouth in the County of Southampton; and for explaining and amending an Act passed in the Eighth Year of His present Majesty’s Reign, for the better paving and cleansing the Streets and other public Passages in the said Town, and for preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein, and for widening and rendering the same more commodious. (16 Geo. 3. c. 59.) An Act for the better paving, cleansing, widening, and regulating the Streets, Courts, Roads, Lanes, Ways, Rows, Alleys, and public Passages and Places within the Town of Portsea in the County of Southampton; and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, and Obstructions within the said Town. (32 Geo. 3. c. 103.) An Act for better lighting and watching the Town of Portsea in the County of Southampton; and for amending an Act passed in the Thirty-second Year of His late Majesty, for paving, cleansing, and regulating the Streets and public Places

An Act to light, watch, pave, cleanse, and improve the Streets, Highways, and Places within the Borough of Preston in the County Palatine of Lancaster, and to provide Fire Engines and Firemen for the Protection of the said Borough. (55 Geo. 3. c. 22.) Reading An Act for better paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the Borough of Reading in the County of Berks. (7 Geo. 4. c. 56.) Rochester An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the High Streets and Lanes in the Parish of Saint Nicholas within the City of Rochester and Parish of Strood in the County of Kent, and for making a Road through Star Lane, across certain Fields adjoining thereto, to Chatham Hill in the said County. (9 Geo. 3. c. 32.) Sandwich An Act for the better repairing, paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Highways, Streets, and Lanes of and in the Town and Port of Sandwich in the County of Kent, and in the several Parishes of Saint Peter the Apostle, Saint Mary the Virgin, and Saint Clement, in the said Town, Port, and County; and for removing and preventing Encroachments, Nui-

339

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

sances, Obstructions, and Annoyances in the said Highways, Streets, and Lanes, and on the common Quay belonging to the said Town and Port, and in the Haven adjoining to the said Quay, and the Bridge built over the said Haven; and for regulating the Berths and Mooring Places of Vessels at the said Quay, and the proper Times for Vessels to pass through the said Bridge. (27 Geo. 3. c. 67.)

watching the Streets, Highways, Lanes, and Passages within the Town of Shrewsbury in the County of Salop. (29 Geo. 2. c. 78.) An Act for repealing an Act passed in the Twenty-ninth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the Second, for paving, lighting, and watching the Town of Shrewsbury in the County of Salop; and for granting other Powers in lieu thereof. (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 58.)

Sarum, New An Act for the better repairing and paving the Highways, Streets, and Watercourses within the City of New Sarum; and for enlightening the Streets, Lanes, and Passages, and better regulating the Nightly Watch within the said City. (10 Geo. 2.)38 An Act to alter, extend, and amend the Powers of Two Acts passed in the Tenth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Second, and in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, for better paving, lighting, and watching the City of New Sarum in the County of Wilts. (55 Geo. 3. c. 23.) Scarborough An Act for paving and otherwise improving the Streets and other Places in the Township of Scarborough in the North Riding of the County of York, and for licensing Hackney Coaches and establishing other Regulations in the said Township. (41 Geo. 3. c. 94.) Shrewsbury An Act for the better paving and amending, cleansing, enlightening, and

340

Southampton An Act for the better paving, repairing, and cleansing the Streets and other public Passages in the several Parishes and Wards of Saint Michael, Saint John, Holy Rood, Saint Lawrence, All Saints-within-the-Bar, All Saints-without-the-Bar, and East Street and Bay Row, within the Town of Southampton and Liberties thereof, and for preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein; and for widening and rendering the same more commodious, and for lighting and watching the said Streets and public Passages. (10 Geo. 3. c. 25.) An Act to amend an Act made in the Tenth Year of His present Majesty, for paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets and other public Passages in the Town of Southampton. (50 Geo. 3. c. 169.) Stafford An Act for paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, regulating, and improving the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Borough of Stafford in the County of Stafford. (11 Geo. 4. c. 44.)

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

St. Alban’s An Act for paving the Footways and Crosspaths, and for cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets and other public Passages and Places, within the Borough of Saint Alban in the County of Hertford. (44 Geo. 3. c. 8.) Stockport An Act for lighting, cleansing, watching, and otherwise improving the Streets, Lanes, and other public Passages and Places within the Town of Stockport in the County Palatine of Chester; and for regulating the Police of the said Town. (7 Geo. 4. c. 118.)

An Act for paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, and improving the Town and Parish of Sunderland near the Sea in the County of Durham, for removing the Market, and for otherwise improving the said Town. (7 Geo. 4. c. 120.) Swansea An Act for better paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the several Streets and other public Passages and Places within the Town and Franchise of Swansea in the County of Glamorgan, and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, and Obstructions therein. (49 Geo.3. c. 79.)

Stockton

Tewkesbury

An Act for lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Town and Borough of Stockton in the County of Durham. (1 Geo. 4. c. 62.)

An Act for paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets, Lanes, Ways, Passages, and Places within the Town of Tewkesbury and the Precincts thereof, in the County of Gloucester; for the Removal of present and Prevention of future Encroachments, Nuisances, and Annoyances therein; for regulating Carts and other Carriages, and ascertaining the Rates of Carriage; and for widening some Part of the Street called Church Street, within the said Town. (26 Geo. 3. c. 17.)

Sunderland An Act for lighting and watching the Town of Bishop Wearmouth and Bishop Wearmouth Panns, for cleansing, paving, and regulating the Footpaths, and for removing and preventing Nuisances and Encroachments therein. (50 Geo. 3. c. 25.) An Act for paving, lighting, watching, and cleansing the Town of Sunderland near the Sea in the County of Durham; for removing the Market; for building a Town Hall or Market House; and for otherwise improving the said Town; and for establishing a Watch on the River Wear. (50 Geo. 3. c.27.)

Tiverton An Act for the better and more easy rebuilding of the Town of Tiverton in the County of Devon, and for determining Differences touching Houses and Buildings burnt down or demolished by reason of the late dreadful Fire there, and for the better preventing Dangers from Fire for the future. (5 Geo. 2.)39

341

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

An Act for paving and otherwise improving the Town of Tiverton in the County of Devon. (34 Geo. 3. c. 52.) An Act for amending and enlarging the Powers and Provisions of an Act of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled “An Act for paving and otherwise improving the Town of Tiverton in the County of Devon, and for lighting the said Town.” (3 Geo. 4. c. 60.) Truro An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and widening the Streets, Lanes, and Passages, for removing and preventing Encroachments, Nuisances, and Annoyances, and for regulating the Porters and Drivers of Carts, within the Borough of Truro, and Part of the adjoining Parishes, in the County of Cornwall. (30 Geo. 3. c. 62.) Wallingford An Act for paving the Footways, and for cleansing, lighting, watching, and regulating the Streets, Lanes, Passages, and Places, within the Borough of Wallingford in the County of Berks, and for removing and preventing Nuisances, Annoyances, Encroachments, and Obstructions therein. (35 Geo. 3. c. 75.) Walsall An Act for paving, lighting, watching, cleansing, widening, regulating, and otherwise improving the Town of Walsall and the Neighbourhood thereof, within the Parish of Walsall in the County of Stafford. (5 Geo. 4. c. 68.)

342

Wells An Act for more effectually repairing and improving certain Roads leading to and from the City or Borough of Wells in the County of Somerset; and for paving, cleansing, lighting, watching, and watering the said Roads, and the Streets, Lanes, and public Passages within the said City or Borough, the Liberty of Saint Andrew, and Suburbs of the said City and Borough, and removing and preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 12.) An Act for lighting with Gas the City and Borough of Wells in the County of Somerset, the Liberty of Saint Andrew, and Suburbs of the said City or Borough. (2 Will. 4. c. 37.) Weymouth and Melcombe Regis An Act for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Borough and Town of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in the County of Dorset, and for removing all Encroachments, Obstructions, and Annoyances therein. (16 Geo. 3. c. 57.) An Act for more effectually cleansing, lighting, and watching the Borough and Town of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in the County of Dorset, and removing Encroachments and Annoyances therein; for licensing and regulating Chairmen and other Persons plying for Hire, for establishing Markets, and for giving further Powers to the Quay Master of the Harbour of the said Town. (50 Geo. 3. c. 187.) Winchester An Act for the better paving, repairing, cleansing, lighting, and watching the

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

Streets and other public Passages within the City of Winchester, and also within the several Parishes of Saint Bartholomew, Hide, Saint John’s in the Soke, Saint Peter’s Cheesehill, Saint Swithin, and Saint Michael in the West Soke, in the Suburbs of the said City; and for preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein, and for widening and rendering the same more commodious. (11 Geo. 3. c. 9.) An Act for amending and enlarging the Powers of an Act of His present Majesty, for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets and public Passages in the City of Winchester, and several Parishes in the Suburbs thereof, and for removing and preventing Nuisances therein. (48 Geo. 3. c. 2.) Windsor An Act for the better paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the Streets and Lanes in the Parish and Borough of New Windsor in the County of Berks, and for preventing Nuisances and Annoyances therein. (9 Geo. 3. c. 10.) Wisbeach An Act for the establishing a Cattle Market within the Town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely; for taking down and removing Shambles therein; for paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching the said Town, and removing Nuisances therein; for preserving and improving the Port and Harbour of Wisbech, and for regulating the Pilots belonging thereto. (50 Geo. 3. c. 206.)

Worcester An Act for better supplying the City of Worcester and the Liberties thereof with Water; and for more effectually paving, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the said City. (4 Geo. 4. c. 69.) Yarmouth (Great) An Act for better paving, lighting, cleansing, and watching the Town of Great Yarmouth in the County of Norfolk, and for removing Nuisances and Annoyances therein, and for making other Improvements in the said Town. (50 Geo. 3. c. 23.) York An Act for paving, lighting, watching, and improving the City of York and the Suburbs thereof, and the Liberty of Saint Peter within the said City, and for regulating the Police of the same respectively. (6 Geo. 4. c. 127.) An Act for improving and enlarging the Market Places within the City of York, and rendering the Approaches thereto more commodious; and for regulating and maintaining the several Markets and Fairs held within the same City and the Suburbs thereof; and for amending an Act of His late Majesty, for paving, lighting, watching, and improving the said City; and other Purposes. (3 Will. 4. c. 62.)

1

Verified by The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, XIII: From A. D. 1833; 3 & 4 William IV to A. D. 1835; 5 & 6 William IV, London: George Eyre and Andrew Spottiswoode, 1835, 1013-1065. This act was repealed by

343

THE MUNICIPAL REFORM ACT (1835)

the Municipal Corporations Act of 1882 (45 & 46 Victoria, c. 50). 2 The Great Reform Act of 1832, printed above (2 William IV, c. 45). 3 2 & 3 William IV, c. 64 (11 July 1832). 4 The Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, printed above (9 George IV, c. 17; 9 May 1828). 5 1 & 2 William IV, c. 41 (15 October 1831). 6 3 & 4 William IV, c. 15, repealing 11 George IV, c. 27. 7 2 William IV, c. 40 (1 June 1832). 8 55 George III, c. 51 (12 May 1815). 9 No such act is listed in the Statutes at Large. In 1773 (not 1763), however, there is listed ‘An act to explain, amend, and reduce into one Act of Parliament, the general Laws now in being for regulating the Turnpike Roads in that part of Great Britain called England.’ 13 George III, c. 84. 10 The Great Reform Act of 1832, printed above (2 William IV, c. 45). 11 38 George III, c. 52 (1 June 1798). 12 7 George IV, c. 64 (26 May 1826). 13 5 George IV, c. 85 (21 June 1824). 14 4 George IV, c. 64 (10 July 1823). 15 5 George IV, c. 85 (21 June 1824).

344

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

2 & 3 William IV, c. 64 (11 July 1832). 5 George IV, c. 85 (cited above). 6 George IV, c. 50 (22 June 1825). Ibid. Dover. 51 George III, c. 36 (25 May 1811).

Bury St Edmund’s.

Dover. 25 George III, c. 91. 25 22 George II, c. 20. 26 1 George IV, Local and Personal Acts, lxi. 27 2 George III, c. 65. 28 4 William IV, Local and Personal Acts, xvi (22 May 1834). 29 1 George III (Local Acts), c. 28 (1760). 30 4 George III, c. 60. 31 32 George II, c. 68. 32 2 George III, c. 70. 33 4 George III, c. 74. 34 3 George III, c. 65. 35 2 George III, c. 47. 36 5 & 6 William IV, Local and Personal Acts, lxix. 37 8 George III, c. 62. 38 10 George II, c. 6. 39 5 George II, c. 14 . 24

Glossary Advocate General (Scotland): The principal law officer of the crown in Scotland, whose role is similar to that of the Attorney-General in England.

all goods except precious metals, previous stones and medicines.

advowson: The right of presentation of a clergyman to a benefice or living.

Bank of England: Created in 1694 it secured certain privileges in return for lending large sums of money to the government. It manages the servicing of the national debt and receives and accounts for the public revenue when collected.

Alderman: A senior member and magistrate of a town council or corporation; next in dignity to the mayor; and often the chief elected official in a ward of the town. assessed taxes: Those taxes levied on inhabited houses, male servants, carriages, dogs, hair-powder, armorial bearings, and game. assumpsit: A promise or contract, oral or in writing, founded upon a consideration; or an action to recover damages for the non-performance of such a contract. Assize courts: The law courts held regularly in each county in England to administer civil and criminal justice for more serious disputes and offences. They are presided over by judges appointed by the crown, who visit the county usually once or twice a year. Attorney-General: The senior ministerial law-officer of the government in the English state, who is empowered to act in all cases in which the state is a party. avoirdupois (weight): The standard system of weights used in Great Britain for

bailiff: A leading magistrate of a town.

Bar (The Bar): The place where all the business of a law court is transacted; a lawyer ‘called to the Bar’ has completed his training, has become a barrister and is allowed to practise in court; it can also refer to the whole body of barristers practising in a particular court. barony: In Scotland a large freehold estate which might be held by a commoner; in Ireland the division of a county. barrister: A lawyer who has completed his legal training and has gained the privilege of practising as an advocate in the superior courts of law. Benchers (of the Inns of Court): Senior members of the Inns of Court who form for each Inn a self-elective body, managing its affairs and possessing the privilege of ‘calling to the bar’. Benefit of clergy: A clergyman who has the privilege of being exempted from the jurisdiction or sentence of the ordinary secular courts of law. It can assist an accused person suffering the death penalty

345

GLOSSARY

for a felony, for example. The privilege is sometimes claimed by someone who can read a Latin verse, usually the beginning of the fifty-first psalm. This ‘neck verse’ privilege was abolished in 1827. borough: A town which possesses a royal charter allowing it special privileges, including the right to establish a town council or corporation, and also a town which sends representatives to parliament. boroughreeve: The chief municipal officer in certain unincorporated towns, before the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. borsholder: A petty constable. burgage: A freehold property in a borough; or a property held of a superior and occupied by a tenant. burgess: A person possessing the full municipal rights of a particular borough, a magistrate of a town, or a member of a town government. burgh: The Scottish term for a borough; that is, a town possessing a royal charter conferring on it particular rights and privileges. cess: An assessment, tax or levy, usually a rate levied by a local authority. Cestuique Trust: The granting of lands, tenements or hereditaments during the life of a particular person. chattels: Movable possessions (and therefore not real estate). Chief Justice (of the Court of King’s Bench): The principal judge presiding over

346

a particular court of law (in this case, the high court in London, King’s Bench). Chief Secretary (Ireland): The principal executive officer acting under and on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Church of England: The established church of the English people, Protestant and episcopalian, which is headed by the monarch and possesses various privileges conferred by the state. churchwardens: The honorary lay officers of a parish who are elected to assist the parish minister in the discharge of his administrative duties, and to act as the lay representatives of the parish in matters of church organization. Cinque ports: The ports of Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney, and Sandwich (to which were added Rye and Winchelsea), on the south east coast of England. They were given many important privileges and franchises in return for furnishing a major part of the English navy. These were mostly abolished by the Great Reform Act of 1832 and the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835. circuit (of a court): The journey taken by royal judges through an appointed area (usually several counties) for the purpose of holding assize courts. Civil List: The money granted by act of parliament for the household and personal expenses of the monarch. Clerk of the Peace: The official who prepares indictments and keeps a record of the proceedings of the lower courts of the magistrates or justices of the peace.

GLOSSARY

Commissary Court of Edinburgh: The supreme court established in Edinburgh in which matters of probate and divorce are decided. It was absorbed by the Court of Session in 1836. Commissioners of supply: Officials appointed to collect taxes. Commons, House of: The lower house of parliament. There were 558 Members of Parliament elected for Great Britain after the Union between England and Scotland in 1707. The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland in 1800 added 100 Irish MPs, making the total 658. constable: An officer of a parish or township who is appointed to act as a keeper of the peace and to perform some public administrative duties in his district. constablewick: The office or jurisdiction of a constable. copyholder: The holder of property of ancient origin, whose title is held by copy of the manorial court-roll. counting house: An office of commercial business where bookkeeping, accounts and correspondence are carried on. coroner: An officer in a county or town whose chief function is to hold inquests on the bodies of those supposed to have died by violence or accident.

the earl or lord had once possessed royal privileges, with the right of exclusive civil and criminal jurisdiction. Court of Admiralty: The tribunal for the trial and decision of maritime questions and offences. Court of Chancery: The court of the Lord Chancellor of England, the highest court of judicature next to the House of Lords. It acts as a court of appeal proceeding upon rules of equity and conscience, in order to moderate the rigour of the common law and to give relief in cases where there is no remedy in the common law courts. Court of Exchequer (England): The court of law representing the Exchequer in its judicial capacity (the judges are known as ‘barons’). Court of Exchequer (Scotland): A court of law representing the Exchequer in its judicial capacity. It was abolished in Scotland in 1856. Court of Session (Scotland): The supreme civil law tribunal of Scotland. Courtesy of Scotland: A tenure by which a husband, after his wife’s death, holds certain kinds of property which she has inherited, the conditions varying with the nature of the property.

councillor: An elected or co-opted member of a town council or corporation; ranking below the office of alderman.

curtilages: A small court, yard or piece of ground attached to a dwelling-house and legally forming one enclosure with it.

county palatine: A county (such as Cheshire, Lancashire and Durham) where

Custus Rotulorum: The principal justice of the peace in a county, who has the

347

GLOSSARY

custody of the rolls and records of the sessions of the peace.

sion, unencumbered with rents or feudal duties.

demurrer: A pleading which, admitting for the moment the facts as stated in the opponent’s pleading, denies that he is legally entitled to relief, and thus stops the action until this point has been determined by the courts.

freeman: A man who possesses certain rights and privileges within a city, borough or company (for example, the right to vote in elections, to carry on a business, to have access to certain charitable funds, etc.). These privileges could be conferred by the town council or gained by inheritance, marriage or payment.

devise: The clause in a will disposing of real property. droits of the Admiralty: Rights or perquisites arising from the seizure of enemy ships, salvaging wrecks, etc. droits of the crown: The legal claims and perquisites of the crown. equerry: An officer of the royal household who is charged with the duty of occasional attendance on the sovereign. essoin: The excuse for the non-appearance of a person in court. estreats: The fines and other payments enforced by the law.

Free Masons: A fraternity of men who have been admitted into a knowledge of the secret rites of the society and who meet for social, convivial and charitable purposes. gaol delivery: The clearing of a gaol of prisoners by bringing them to trial, especially at the assize courts. General Assembly (Scotland): The representative body of ministers and elders of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland that meets annually to conduct church business.

fiar: The owner of the fee-simple of a property, as opposed to the life-renter.

General Sessions (of JPs): For very minor offences Justices of the Peace can meet in petty sessions, but for the more serious offences and issues, which come under their jurisdiction or consideration, they meet in General Sessions every quarter of the year (hence these are often called Quarter Sessions).

franchise: The right of voting in elections; and the district over which a particular privilege granted by the sovereign extends.

Gentlemen Pensioners: The 40 gentlemen who act as guards, or attendants to the sovereign on state occasions (they are also known as Gentlemen-at-Arms).

freeholder: The owner of land which is held indefinitely in absolute posses-

glebe: A portion of land assigned to a clergyman as part of his benefice.

feu duties: A rent paid annually (instead of military service) by a vassal to his superior for the tenure of land.

348

GLOSSARY

Grand Jury: A body of local men of repute who receive and inquire into indictments at every session of the peace in order to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to go to trial. The jury at the actual civil or criminal trial, which decides the case, is officially the Petty Jury. grassum: A premium or fine paid to a feudal superior in Scotland on entering upon a holding. Great Seal: The seal used in Britain for the authentication of documents of the highest importance issued in the name of the sovereign. Gresham College: A college established in London in 1597 by the Company of Mercers and the Mayor and Alderman of London with money and property bequeathed by the financier, Sir Thomas Gresham. Several professorships were established to teach scientific subjects, including navigational science, as well as divinity, law, and other subjects. The Royal Society meets on its premises. Groom of the Bedchamber: An officer of the royal household, acting under the Lord Chamberlain, with responsibility for the management of the royal bedchambers. ground annual: A perpetual yearly duty payable upon land. Guildhall (London): The meeting place of the town corporation of the City of London. Guinea: An old coin of the value of one pound and one shilling in pre-decimal

sterling. It has not been coined since 1813. headborough: A parish officer with the same powers and functions as a petty constable. hereditaments: Any kind of property that can be inherited. High Commissioner to the General Assembly: The representative of the crown at the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. House of Correction: A building for the confinement and punishment of offenders, with a view to their reformation. hundred: A subdivision of a county, having its own court. imparlance: An extension of time to put in a response in pleading a case, on the ground of desiring to negotiate an amicable settlement; or a petition for such a delay. Inns of Court: The four sets of buildings in London (the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn) belonging to the four legal societies which possess the exclusive right to train within the law and to admit them to practise at the bar (i.e. in the superior courts of law). jurat: A person bound by oath, or memoranda as to when, where and before whom an affidavit is sworn. Justice of the Peace: A prominent local man who is appointed by the crown as an inferior magistrate, in towns and rural

349

GLOSSARY

areas, to preserve the peace and to hear and decide minor cases. They are normally unpaid magistrates. Keeper of the Great Seal: In England the Keeper of the Great Seal is normally also Lord Chancellor. The Great Seal is used to authenticate documents of the highest importance issued in the name of the sovereign. Keeper of the Privy Purse: An officer of the royal household who is charged with the payment of the private expenses of the sovereign. King’s Bench: The supreme court of common law in England. leaseholder: A person who possesses property on a lease for which rent is paid. letters patent: An open letter or document from a person in authority putting on record some command, agreement or contract or conferring some right, privilege, title, property or office. liege subjects: Loyal, faithful subjects of the monarch. life-renter: The rent of a property which is received for life. livery companies: The merchant or craft companies in the City of London which had formerly worn a distinctive costume for special occasions. liveryman: A freeman of the City of London who is entitled to wear the ‘livery’ of the company to which he belongs, and to exercise other privileges belonging to the company.

350

loaning: A right of way across land. London Gazette: A regular government publication listing information (proclamations, appointments, promotions, petitions, bankrupts, addresses to the crown, etc.) which the government wishes to make public. Lord Chamberlain: A chief officer who shares with the Lord Steward, the Master of the House and the Master of the Robes, the oversight of all officers of the royal household. He appoints many of those working in the royal household. Lord Chancellor: The highest judicial functionary in the kingdom, who keeps the royal seal, is president of the House of Lords, presides over the Court of Chancery, and appoints all justices of the peace, etc. Lord Lieutenant: The chief executive authority and head of the magistracy in a county. He is usually a peer or rich landowner, and he is appointed by the crown. He can recommend qualified persons to be justices of the peace. Lord Lieutenant (Ireland): The viceroy, or Lord Deputy, who holds the deputed authority of the sovereign and leads the crown’s administration in Dublin. Lord President (of the Privy Council): The officer of the crown who presides over the meetings of the Privy Council and reports to the sovereign on the business transacted there. He takes precedence after the Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minister, and usually sits in the cabinet. Lord President (Scotland): The senior judge in the Court of Session (High Court) of Scotland.

GLOSSARY

Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports: A royal official who has responsibility for the privileges of the Cinque Ports and who is also usually governor of Dover Castle. It is largely an honorary post, though it can be useful during parliamentary elections, etc.

Master Cutler (Sheffield): The head of the guild of cutlers (who made knives and similar steel utensils).

Lords Commissioners of Appeals: Judges who hear appeal cases from decisions reached in the high courts.

messuages: The portion of land intended to be occupied or actually occupied by a dwelling house.

Lords Commissioners of the Treasury: The Treasury controls the collection, management and expenditure of the public revenue. There was no Lord Treasurer appointed after 1710. Thereafter the work of the Treasury is managed by a commission or board of Lords of the Treasury. The first lord is the Prime Minister. The second lord is usually the Chancellor of the Exchequer. There are also a small number of junior lords on the commission.

metes: The dimensions or measure of a property; or in the marking out of the boundary of a property.

Lords spiritual: 26 bishops of the Church of England sat in the House of Lords before 1801. Four Irish bishops joined them after the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland. Lords temporal: The lay peers who have the right to sit in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of parliament. These include all English and Welsh peers who are barons or higher nobility and 16 Scottish peers elected each parliament by all the Scots peerage. After the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland in 1800, the Irish peers elected 28 of their number to sit in the House of Lords. mainprize: The act of making oneself legally responsible for the fulfillment of a contract or undertaking by another person;

the act of procuring the release of a prisoner by becoming surety for his appearance in court at a specified time.

missive of lease: A document in the form of a letter interchanged by the parties to a contract leasing out property. Moravian: A member of the pietist sect of Moravians, sometimes associated with Methodists and Quakers. mortis causa disposition: In Scots law at this time heritable power can not be left to someone by the will made by the property owner, but must go to the heir at law. A disposition of this kind can transfer property to another person but only in the event of the person making this disposition. Nisi Prius: A limiting term used in a writ to indicate that something is valid or can take effect if some cause is not shown or reasons arise to prevent this; an action tried under a writ of this kind, or the trial or hearing of civil causes of this kind by judges of assize. nonsuit: The cessation of a suit because the plaintiff voluntarily withdraws the case or a judge stops the suit when he believes

351

GLOSSARY

the plaintiff has failed to make out a legal cause of action or has failed to bring forward sufficient evidence. overseer of the poor: A parish officer who is appointed annually to perform various administrative duties mainly connected with the relief of the poor. Oyer and Terminer: A commission directed to the King’s judges empowering them to hold courts for the trial of offences.

proxy vote: A member of the House of Lords (but not a member of the House of Commons) can formally appoint another member to vote on his behalf during a particular session of parliament. Quaker: A member of the religious Society of Friends founded by George Fox in the mid-17th century and distinguished by peaceful principles and plainness of dress.

parish clerk: An official who is appointed by the parish minister to assist in various duties connected with the church and its services.

Quarter Sessions: A law court dealing with lesser civil and criminal cases, held quarterly by the justices of the peace in the counties and by the recorder in the boroughs.

poll clerk: An official assisting in recording in a poll book the votes cast in a parliamentary election.

rape (Sussex): One of the six administrative districts into which Sussex is divided, each comprising several hundreds.

portreeve: The chief officer or leading magistrate of a town or borough, usually inferior to the mayor (and similar to a boroughreeve).

rates: Taxes collected on urban and rural property to meet local government expenses, such as the poor law.

Privy Council: A body of private counsellors or advisers, selected by the sovereign, to advise on matters of state. It is an honour recognizing distinguished service in church and state, and it is conferred on leading opposition politicians as well as on members of the cabinet, princes of the blood, and archbishops. Privy Seal: The seal affixed to documents that are afterwards to pass the Great Seal or to documents of less importance which do not require the Great Seal. provost: The chief magistrate of a burgh in Scotland (similar to a mayor in England).

352

recorder: A magistrate who has criminal and civil jurisdiction in a city or borough, and who presides over the Quarter Sessions in that place. The appointment is made by the crown, but, after the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 the duties of the officer are regulated by that and subsequent acts. registrar: The keeper of official records (such as those of a town corporation). returning officer: The official presiding over a parliamentary election and certifying the result of the election (normally the Sheriff in a county election and the mayor in a borough election).

GLOSSARY

Riding: An administrative division of a country (especially Yorkshire where there was an East, West and North Riding). “Rogue money”: A Scottish term for a tax which is levied on a parish or county to provide a fund for the apprehension, prosecution and maintenance in gaol of rogues. Royal Exchange (London): The burse or exchange for the transaction of business built in London by Sir Thomas Gresham and receiving its name from Queen Elisabeth I. royal sign manual: An autograph signature of the sovereign serving to authenticate a document. salvors: Those compensated for taking risks to salvage a ship or cargo in peril on the sea; or the compensation payments so made. Secretary of State: A principal government minister, responsible, for example, for foreign policy, or for home affairs, or for the Colonies. seise: To put in possession, to invest with the fee simple of some property. seisin: The act of giving possession of feudal property by the delivery of symbols, or the instrument by which the possession of feudal property is proved. session of parliament: The annual meetings of parliament; the period between the opening of meetings and their prorogation (normally between about October and May the following year). sheriff: The representative of royal authority in a shire (county), who is re-

sponsible for keeping prisoners in safe custody, for preparing the panel of jurors for assizes, for carrying out executions, and for presiding over parliamentary elections for the county. sheriff clerk: The official in charge of the records, correspondence and accounts of the sheriff. shilling: There used to be 20 shillings in the pound sterling (equivalent to five pence in modern decimal currency.) shire: Another word for a county (an administrative district of all the countries of the British Isles). Sinking Fund: A fund which is formed by periodically setting aside revenue to accumulate at interest in order to reduce the principal sum owed as the National Debt. statute: Normally synonymous with an Act of Parliament, that is a law created by parliament as distinct from a law established by precedent in common law or a by-law passed by a borough corporation. statute mile: A mile as fixed by act of parliament. stewartry: A territorial division of Scotland under the jurisdiction of a steward. The term is often applied to Orkney and Shetland, and Kirkcudbright, but it can also refer to an area smaller than a county. As an administrative division it was abolished in 1748. tenements: Land or real property held either freehold or another by some form of tenure.

353

GLOSSARY

tithing: A small division of a rural area, originally one tenth of a hundred, which itself is a sub-division of a county. town clerk: The clerk of a town corporation, who has charge of the records, correspondence and legal business of the town, and the conduct of municipal elections. trover: The act of finding and assuming possession of any personal property; and an action at law to recover the value of personal property illegally converted by another to his own use. videlicet: A Latin term meaning that is to say; namely; or to wit. It is used to introduce an amplification or more precise and explicit explanation.

354

ward: An administrative division of a city of borough usually created to allow separate representation in the town corporation by an alderman or town councillor for that particular district. watch committee: The committee which is established by a town council to be responsible for policing and street lighting within the borough. watchman: A person who is appointed to keep guard and maintain order in the streets, especially during the night. Yeomen of the Guard: The personal bodyguard of the sovereign, normally made up of non-commissioned officers such as sergeants and sergeant-majors.

Index corporations 247-343 education 109 election, eligibility for 17-21, 117-169, 171-219, 221-245 disqualifying attributes 19-21, 266269 property 17-18, 122-129, 173-179, 224-225, 237-238, 249, 251-253, 258 religion 106-108 elections voting procedure 129-137, 139-151, 179-193, 225-240, 253, 254-261, 264-265 electoral districts 117-169, 171-219, 224, 240-241, 249-251, 261-264, 310-343 executive head of state 87-100 members qualifications 110 monarch regency 87-100 powers 87-100 fundamental rights and principles abolition, alteration of government, right of people 27-29, 31-39, 4156 freedom of assembly 31-39, 41-56 freedom of religion 101-104, 105-115 freedom of speech 23, 46-49 freedom of the press 50-52

government form of monarchy or empire 57, 87-100 judiciary courts local courts 292-303 jurisdiction 25-26 trials 23, 25-26, 29 legislature 57-86 lower house 117-169, 171-219, 221245 members 17-21, 79-85 election 17, 117-169, 171-219, 221-245 immunity, indemnity 26 qualifications 106-108, 117-169, 171-219, 221-245 upper house 58-61, 79-85 members 79-85, 106-107 military quartering of troops 88-89, 97-98 municipal government 110, 247-343 oaths 42, 43, 241, 243-245, 265 loyalty oaths 105-115 of office 101-104 police power 278-283, 291-302 taxation 61-63, 76-78, 284-287 voting rights disqualifying attributes 17-18 religion 106-107

355