of the county wherein such hundred half hundred rape lathe wapentake ward or other division shall be situate; save and except that if any dispute shall arise as to the validity of any vote tendered to any such high constable or constables or other principal peace officer or their deputy, objected to by any candidate or candidates at any such election, or by his or their agent or agents, or by any two or more persons having right to vote at such election, on any reasonable ground stated by the person or persons so objecting, such high constable or constables or other principal peace officer or his or their deputy shall not receive or record such vote, but the question of the admissibility of such vote shall be referred to the sheriff of such county, to whom the same may be again tendered at the principal place of holding such election, who shall decide all disputes relating to votes tendered at such election, and if on investigating any such disputes such sheriff shall be of opinion that any such votes so objected to ought to be received, then such sheriff shall give a written authority to the proper poll clerk for receiving such vote, or shall personally direct such proper poll clerk to receive the same, upon which no farther objection shall be made to such vote, but the same shall be immediately received.

[For remunerating High Constables, Deputies, and Messengers.] And be it further enacted, that for the remuneration of any high constable or other peace officer or any deputy of such high constable or other peace officer iaking such last-mentioned poll in any county, and of any messenger on messengers to be appointed by any such high constable or other peace officer to convey such poll and accounts, there shall be paid by the sheriff of such county to every such high constable or other peace officer or his deputy taking such poll the sum of one guinea for each and every day such pull shall be kept open, together with the reasonable expense, if any, attendant upon giving notice of such poll and procuring a fit and proper place to take such poll in, and to the messenger or messengers such sum or sums of money as shall appear to such sheriff a reasonable and fair remuneration to such messenger or messengers for their trouble and the expenses attending the conveyance of such poll and accounts; which several sums of money shall be paid by such sheriff, and reimbursed to him in manner hereinafter pro.vided.

[How Expenses to be defrayed.] And be it further cnacted, that all the expenses of any election for a knight or knights of the shire to serve in parliament for any county, in England and Wales, as well the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in providing or erecting booths and polling places as well in the several hundreds half hundreds rapes lathes wapentakes wards and other divisions as in the principal place of holding such election, and of procuring and paying poll clerks and other persons employed therein, as any other expenses thereof authorised by this act and necessarily attendant on such election, shall be borne and paid out of the county rate of the county for which such election shall be held, and shall be paid by the clerk of the peace or treasurer of such county to the sheriff of such county, on demand thereof, out of the county rate of such county; and in default of payment thereof one month after such demand, such sheriff may recover the amount thereof by action of debt or assumpsit in any of his Majesty's courts at Westminster, to he brought against the clerk of the peace or treasurer of such county, in which it shall be lawful for such sheriff to lay the venue either in the same or some neighbouring county, and in case such sheriff shall recover the full amount demanded of such clerk of the peace or treasurer, then such sheriff shall also recover and be paid double costs of suit.

[1.Geo. 1. c. 38. Repealed; and Parliaments to be Triennial.] And where

as in and by an act of Parliament made in the first year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the First, intituled, 'An Act for enlarging the time of continuance of Parliaments appointed by an Act made in the sixth year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, intituled, An Act for the frequent meeting and calling of Parliaments,' it was enacted, that the then present parliament, and all parliaments that should at any time thereafter be called assembled or held, should and might respectively have continuance for seven years and no longer, to be accounted as therein mentioned: And whereas the frequent meetings and callings of fresh parliaments tend to the promotion of the independence of parliament and the happy union and good agreement of the king and people; and it is therefore expedient that the time of continuance of parlia ments should be shortened; 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 the commons, in parliament assembled, that the said Act, intituled, 'An Act for enlarging the time of continuance of parliaments appointed by an Act made in the sixth year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, intituled, an Act for the frequent meetings and callings of parliaments,' shall be and the same is hereby wholly Repealed and declared to be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever as if the said Act had never been had or made, and that from henceforth and from and after the dissolution or expiration of this present parliament, no parliament whatsoever that shall at any time hereafter be called assembled or held, shall have any continuance longer than for three years only at the furthest, to be accounted from the day on which by the writs of summons the said parlia ment shall be appointed to meet.

[Present Parliament to expire on

]And be it further enacted, that this present parliament shall cease and determine on the

which will be in the year of our Lord

day of

unless previously dissolved by the King's Most Excellent Majesty. [Oath to be taken by Candidate.] And be it further enacted, that before any person can be returned to sit in parliament for any county shire or district within England or Wales, he shall take and subscribe the oath following, and which he shall repeat and again subscribe at the table of the House of Commons before he is admitted to take his seat :

'I, A. B. do swear (or affirm) that I have not, directly or indirectly, given or offered, or promised to give procure or allow, and will not give or offer or promise to give procure or allow, by myself or any other person, and have not directly or indirectly authorised, and will not authorise any other person for me or on my behalf, either directly or indirectly, to give or offer, or to promise to give procure or allow any sum of money place office or employment gift or reward, or any promise or security, or the hope or expectation of any money office or employment or gift, to any person entitled or claiming to vote at this election, or to any person for or in trust for him or any of his family, in order to influence his vote at this election.'

Which oath the proper officer to whom the return of any writ or precept for such election shall belong, or his deputies, are required to administer, under a penalty of five hundred pounds for omitting so to do, such penalty to be recoverable in any of His Majesty's courts of record at Westminster by any person having a right to vote for such place; and in case any person taking the said oath shall therein commit perjury and shall thereof be convicted by due course of law, such person shall incur and suffer the pains and penalties which by law are enacted or inflicted in cases of wilful and corrupt perjury. [Persons guilty of Bribery, and convicted by two persons, to suffer all the

Penalties, &c. now inflicted by Law.] And be it further enacted, that every person or persons who shall be convicted, by the evidence of two witnesses, of having given or offered, or of having promised to give or allow any sum or sums of money, office or employment, to any person whomsoever, in order to influence the vote of any elector or his choice of a person to serve as a member in the high court of parliament, shall be held to be guilty of bribery, and be subject to all the pains and penalties enacted or inflicted in cases of bribery, and shall suffer all the pains and penalties, disabilities and disqualifications now inflicted and attendant on persons proved to be guilty of bribery at elections of members to serve in parliament.

[Ambassadors, &c. to be incompetent to sit in parliament.] And be it further enacted, That no ambassador or other person whomsoever having or accepting any office, commission or employment under His Majesty, whe ther civil or military, the duties whereof shall be executed out of the United Kingdom, shall be capable of being elected or of sitting or voting as a member of the house of commons in any parliament which shall be hereafter summoned and holden; and if any person who shall be elected to serve as a member of the house of commons in any parliament which shall be hereafter summoned and holden, shall, during such time as he shall continue a member, accept or take any such office, commission or employment, his election shall be and is hereby declared to be void, and the seat of such person shall be thereby immediately vacated, and a new writ shall issue for a new election in the room of such person as if such person so accepting was naturally dead.

[Statutes now in force relative to elections, continued.] And be it further enacted, That all statutes now in force touching or concerning the qualification, election or return of knights of the shire, or of burgesses to serve in the high court of parliament, shall be held to extend, and the same are hereby declared to extend to the qualification, election and return of knights of the shire and members to be elected and chosen to serve in the said high court of parliament under or by virtue of this act, so far as the provisions of the said statutes shall be applicable to the same, and in so far as they are not varied or altered or repealed by the present Act.

And be it further enacted, That this Act and the provisions thereof shall extend to that part of the United Kingdom called England and Wales, and no further.

Pam.

NO. XLI.

т

VOL. XXI.

1

Schedule (A.)

SDHEDULE (B.)

A Schedule containing the Form of Notices to be given of the Time and Place of holding Elections, to be affixed on Churches, &c.

No. 1.

A General Notice of the Time and Place of Election in Districts where no Votes are to be tendered to Overseers.

Election of a Member to serve in Parliament for the District of

NOTICE is hereby given, That an Election of a Member to serve in Parliament for this District, will be held on Monday next, the

at the

(naming the place of election) at the hour of Nine o'clock in the Morning. Dated this

day of day of

A. B. Returning Officer.

No. 2.

Form of Notice to be added to the above in Districts where Votes are to be tendered to Overseers of Parishes.

And NOTICE is hereby further given, That any Persons residing within the several Parishes (or Hamlets, &c. naming the Parishes, &c. of which any part is more than five miles from the principal place of election) of who reside more than five miles from the said town of

and who may be desirous of polling, without coming to the said town of inay tender their votes to the Overseers of their said respective Parishes, Hamlets, &c. at the places hereunder written, and for that purpose appointed respectively, where such Votes will be respectively received. And the Overseers of the said Parishes, Hamlets, &c. are hereby respectively required to meet at such places accordingly, on Tuesday the

such Votes.

day of

at Nine o'clock in the Morning, to open a Poll to receive any Dated this

day of

A. B. Returning Officer.

Places for tendering Votes in the above Parishes, Hamlets, &c. respectively.