In the case of Orkney and Shetland, the provisions of the Scotch Reform Act, so far as they relate to the fixing and announcement of the day of election and the interval to elapse between the receipt of the writ and the day of election, are not altered. See 2 & 3 Wm. 4, c. 65, s. 31. Notice in Scotch Burghs.] In Scotch burgh elections the sheriff to whom the writ for any burgh or district of burghs is directed is to endorse on the back of the writ the day on which he received it, and must within two days thereafter announce a day or days for the election or elections, which day or days shall be not less than four nor more than ten days after the day on which the writ was received. The sheriff is to give due intimation by affixing notices on the doors of the parish churches, and by advertising, in the manner directed in the Scotch Reform Act (a). Two districts of burghs, commonly known as the Wick and Ayr burghs, are excluded from the operation of this act, and are governed in this respect by the provisions of the Reform Act (a). See 5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 78. The proper sheriff to execute writs for districts of burghs is pointed out in Schedule (L.) to the Reform Act. Irish Counties.] Here the sheriff, having endorsed upon the writ the day he received it, within two days after the receipt, must make proclamation of the time and place of holding the election, between ten in the morning and two in the afternoon; he must then on the same day affix a notice, signed by himself (b), on the doors of the county court-house of the time of holding the election, and he must hold the election (a) 2 & 3 Wm. 4, c. 65, s. 28. not sooner than the tenth day, nor later than the sixteenth day after making the proclamation and affixing the notice (a). In Irish Boroughs.] The returning officer must proceed to election within eight days after the receipt of the writ or precept, giving three clear days' notice at least of the day appointed for the election, exclusive of both the day of proclamation and the day appointed for the election (b). It seems to be agreed, that the notice of the time and place of the election may lawfully be given on a Sunday (c). As to the manner of giving notice, it cannot be too widely distributed. No particular method is fixed by statute. 66 Form of Notice.] The recent statute 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, (The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854"), has provided an express form of notice, to be given at all elections in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Sect. 11. "For the more effectual observance of this act, every returning officer to whom the execution of any writ or precept for electing any member or members to serve in Parliament may appertain or belong, shall, in lieu of the proclamation or notice of election heretofore used, publish or cause to be published such proclamation or notice of election, as is mentioned in Schedule (B.) to this act, or to the like effect." (d). With regard to the signature of the proper officer, (a) 1 Geo. 4, c. 11, s. 5. (b) 9 & 10 Vict. c. 30. (c) Orme, 63. Rogers on Elections, 10. (d) The forms of notice for counties and boroughs will be found in the Appendix, in the Schedule to the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102. which it will be seen is required by the form given in the Schedule, it may be observed that it is not necessary that the notices published and affixed to the walls should be actually signed by the returning officer. The name of the officer may be printed at the foot of the notice. 2nd Sligo, P. R. & D. 211. It was there objected that the election was void, because the notice required by the 1 Geo. 4, c. 11, s. 5, had not been given. That act required the mayor to affix in the usual public place in the borough, a notice under his hand of the time and place of holding the election. The name of the mayor had been printed at the foot of the notice, by his direction. The committee at once decided against the objection, and held the notice to be sufficient. The time of day at which notices are to be given of elections in Great Britain, is fixed by the 33 Geo. 3, c. 64. "All notices to be given of the time and place of any election, shall be given publicly, at the usual place or places within the hours of eight in the forenoon and four in the afternoon, from the 25th of October to the 25th of March inclusive, and within the hours of eight in the forenoon and six in the afternoon from the 25th of March to the 25th of October. And no notice shall be deemed or taken to be a good or valid notice for any purposes, or to take any effect whatsoever, which shall not be made and published in the manner and within the time of day aforesaid." It has been said by a learned author, that an election, when the provisions of this statute are neglected, will be utterly void (a). It may however be doubted, (a) Simeon, Add. xvii. 1 Frazer, 369. Post, 365. But see Orkney and Zetland case, whether a committee would now hold the election to be void, because the notice had been irregular. The language of this act is certainly very strong; and a notice given at any other than the proper time, will be the same as no notice at all. Were an election to be holden without any notice at all from the returning officer, if it should appear that candidates had been formally proposed and a poll demanded, and that the electors had given their votes at the election of such candidates, the subsequent discovery of the irregularity would probably not be considered at the present day sufficient to avoid the election (a). At the same time the officer who made the blunder would be inexcusable. Place of election.] In counties the place of election is to be the most public and usual place of election. 7 & 8 Wm. 3, c. 25. The Reform Act, 2 Wm. 4, c. 45, ss. 12, 13, prescribes the places where the county courts are to be holden for the new divisions of counties. There is no particular place fixed for holding elections in boroughs, but there is always some customary place where they are held (b). Preparations for a Contest.] The proper statutable notice of holding the election having been given, the returning officer must next make preparations for the convenient holding of the election, and taking the poll, if that should become necessary. He must therefore consider the probability of a contest taking place at the election. It is not often that there can be much (a) Orme on Elections, 16, post, 365. (b) Rogers on Elections, 11. doubt upon this subject. The previous canvassing usually gives ample indications of the intended struggle. The returning officer is sometimes placed in a situation of difficulty with regard to the incurring of expense in the erection of polling booths, which may not be required. By sect. 68 of 2 Wm. 4, c. 45, the returning officer in English boroughs is directed to give public notice of the situation, division, and allotment of the different booths two days before the commencement of the poll. As the day of polling in English boroughs is now the day after the nomination or day of election, the returning officer must have arranged the polling booths before he knows for certain whether there will be a contest or not. It is only at contested elections that the candidates are liable to defray the expenses of erecting polling booths; and until the time of election, it cannot be known whether a candidate who has been prosecuting an active canvass, will go to the poll. Unless he goes to the poll, he is not a candidate within the meaning of the 71st sect. of the. 2 Wm. 4, c. 45, and therefore not liable for the expenses of the booths. Muntz v. Sturge, 8 M. & W. 302. It will therefore always be prudent for the returning officer to get an undertaking from the several candidates before the day of nomination, to pay a proportionate part of the expense of the booths. The sheriff or returning officer may, instead of erecting booths, hire houses for the purpose of taking the poll; but by a recent enactment it is provided that, 66 no poll at any election for members of Parliament in England and Wales, shall be taken at |