and such Petition is hereafter referred to as an Election Petition.

4. The following requirements shall be observed with respect to the presentation of an Election Petition under this Chapter:

(1) The Petition shall be signed by the Petitioner, or all the Petitioners, if more than one:

(2) The Petition shall be presented within twenty one days after the Return has been made to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, of the Members to whose Election the Petition relates:

(3) Presentation of a Petition shall be made by delivering it to the Clerk of the Pleas at Fredericton; and at the same time two copies of such Petition shall be delivered in like manner, one of which copies shall be certified by the Clerk of the Pleas, and endorsed with notice of such presentation and date thereof, which copy shall be delivered to the Petitioner, and shall be called the Duplicate Petition for service as hereinafter mentioned; the other of which copies shall be for publication as hereinafter provided:

(4) An Election Petition shall contain the following statements

(a) It shall state the right of the petitioner to petition. as aforesaid;

(b) It shall state the holding and result of the Election, and shall briefly state the facts and grounds relied on to sustain the prayer;

(c) It shall conclude with a prayer that the Election. should be declared void, and be set aside;

(d) Evidence need not be stated in the Petition, but the Court or Judge may order such particulars as may be necessary to prevent surprise and unnecessary expense, and to ensure a fair and effectual Trial, and upon such terms as to costs or otherwise, as may be ordered; but no respondent shall be called upon to answer the matters contained in such particulars within three days from the service of the same;

(e) The Petition shall be in the form A in the Schedule hereto, or to the like effect:

(5) At the time of the presentation of the Petition, security for the payment of all costs, charges and expenses that may become payable by the Petitioner

(a) To any person summoned as a witness on his behalf; or

(b) To the Member whose Election or Return is complained of, (who is hereinafter referred to as the respondent) shall be given on behalf of the petitioner, by delivering the same to the Clerk of the Pleas; (6) The security shall be to an amount of two thousand dollars, and shall be given by recognizance, to be entered into by a petitioner and two sureties, which recognizance may be acknowledged before a Judge of the Supreme Court or County Court, at Chambers, and may be in Form (B) of Schedule hereto annexed; and the sureties shall in all cases, before entering into recognizance, severally justify by affidavit made before a person authorized to take affidavits to be read in the Supreme Court, or before the Judge aforesaid, that they are severally worth double the sums for which they are respectively bound by such recognizance, after payment of all their just debts; which affidavit shall be left at the Office of the Clerk of the Pleas, by or on behalf of the petitioner, at the time of filing the recognizance.

5. On presentation of the Petition, and filing of the recog nizance and affidavit of sufficiency, the Clerk of the Pleas shall send a copy of the Petition, endorsed with the names. and places of residence and additions of the sureties, to the Sheriff of the County to which the Petition relates, who shall forthwith publish the same in the County or City, as the case may be, the cost of which publication, and of any other matter required to be published by the Sheriff, shall be paid by the petitioner or person moving in the matter, and shall form part of the general costs of the Petition.

6. The Duplicate Petition shall, within fourteen days after the presentation of the Petition, be served by or on behalf of the petitioner on the respondent, by a service of a copy of the same, and in all respects as nearly as may be in the manner in which a writ or summons is served; and in case of non-personal service, or an evasion of service, or in case of the absence from the Province of the respondent, the

Judge shall have power to make all orders for perfecting service, or for directing notice to be given, which shall be equivalent to personal service; but service may be made in such other manner as may be prescribed.

7. The petitioner shall, after the expiration of the time limited for service of the Petition, and within fourteen days thereafter, file in the Office of the Clerk of the Pleas the Duplicate Petition, with affidavit of service, and order of Judge when necessary, in the same manner as in cases of service of writ or summons, and when such Duplicate Petition shall have been so filed, with affidavits and orders when necessary, the Petition shall be deemed to be at issue; and the Clerk of the Pleas shall keep a Book called "The Controverted Elections List," in which he shall enter a minute of the time of filing of the different papers filed under the authority of this Chapter, and shall post in his Office a list of the Election Petitions so from time to time at issue,

TRIAL OF A PETITION.

8. The Trial of such Election Petition shall be conducted before a Judge of the Supreme Court.

9. The Court shall, in Hilary Term of each year, assign certain Judges of the Court to try any Election Petitions. standing for Trial in the several Counties of the Province to which such Judges may respectively be assigned.

10. In the event of the death or illness of any Judge for the time being so assigned, or his inability to act for any reasonable cause in the Trial of such Election Petition, the Court or the Chief Justice shall assign another Judge of the Court to hear and try such Election Petition."

11. Every Election Petition as aforesaid shall,except where it raises a question of Law for the determination of the Court (as hereinafter mentioned), be tried by one of the Judges in this behalf mentioned, sitting in open Court without a Jury.

12. The Trial of an Election Petition under this Chapter shall take place at the Court House in the County to which such Petition relates.

13. Notice of the time at which an Election Petition will be tried shall be given not less than fourteen days before the day on which the trial is to be held.

14. The time of the Trial of such Petition shall be fixed by the Judge assigned to hold the Trial of Election Petitions

under this Chapter, in the County to which such Petition relates, and notice thereof shall be given in writing by the Clerk of the Pleas by posting notice in his Office, and sending one copy by the Post to the Sheriff of the County, who shall forthwith publish the same by posting printed notices thereof on the Court House and in the Registry Office, and in some public place in the Parish in which the respondent resides, if a resident of the County, and such notice shall run from the time of such publication; and the Sheriff shall serve copy of notice of Trial on the respondent in the same manner as other papers; but the failure of the Sheriff to serve such notice on the respondent shall not of itself be cause of postponing such Trial, if in fact the above public notice has been given: The notice of Trial may be in Form (C) in Schedule.

15. A Judge may from time to time by order made upon the application of a party to the Petition, his attorney or agent, or by notice in such form as the Judge may direct to be sent to the Sheriff, postpone the beginning of the Trial to such day as he may name; and such notice, when received, shall be forthwith made public by the Sheriff.

16. In the event of the Judge not having arrived at the time appointed for the Trial, or to which the Trial is postponed, the commencement of the Trial shall ipso facto stand adjourned to the ensuing day, and so from day to day.

17. No formal adjournment of the Court for the Trial of an Election Petition under this Chapter shall be necessary; but the Trial is to be deemed adjourned and may be continued from day to day until the inquiry is concluded; and in the event of the Judge who begins the Trial being disabled by sickness or otherwise, it may be recommenced and concluded by another Judge: The Judge presiding at the Trial may adjourn the same from time to time, as to him may seem expedient. ·

18. The Clerk of the Pleas shall send the Petition to the Sheriff of the County to which the Petition relates, or to the Judge so as above assigned, which, with the particulars, a copy of which shall be furnished by the petitioner, shall constitute the Record in the cause.

19. At the conclusion of the Trial the Judge who tried the Petition shall determine and publicly declare whether the

Member whose Return and Election is complained of, was duly elected and returned, or whether such Election and Return is void and should be set aside, publicly stating the grounds and reasons for such determination, which grounds and reasons shall previously have been reduced to writing, and shall forthwith, after the time limited for appeal, if no appeal be had, certify in writing such determination, and the grounds and reasons aforesaid, to the Speaker; and upon such certificate being given, such determination shall be final to all intents and purposes.

20. The Judge shall at the same time make a report to the Speaker whether Bribery has been committed by or with both the knowledge and consent of the Member, and may at the same time make a special report to the Speaker as to any matters arising in the course of the Trial, an account of which in his judgment ought to be submitted to the House of Assembly.

21. Provided always, that if it shall appear to the Judge on the Trial of the said Petition, that any question or ques tions of law as to the admissibility of evidence, or otherwise, require further consideration by the Court, then it shall be lawful for the said Judge to postpone the granting of the said certificate until the determination of such question or questions by the Court, and for this purpose to reserve any such question or questions in like manner as questions are usually reserved by a Judge at Nisi Prius.

22. Where upon the application of any party to a Petition, whether a petitioner or respondent, by rule in the Court when sitting, or by summons before a Judge at Chambers, upon hearing the parties, it appears to the Court or Judge that the case raised by the Petition can be conveniently stated as a special case, the Court or Judge may direct the same to be stated accordingly; and any such special case shall,as far as may be, be heard before the Court, and the decision of the Court shall be final; and the Court shall certify to the Speaker its determination in reference to such special case.

23. On receipt by the Speaker of the certificate of the Court or Judge, when the House of Assembly is not sitting, the Speaker shall, in case the election or return has been thereby declared void, forthwith send his Warrant to the Provincial Secretary, to issue a Writ for the election of a