APPENDIX. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS (CORRUPT AND ILLEGAL PRACTICES) ACT, 1884. (47 & 48 VICT., c. 70.) [14 August, 1884] PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ELECTIONS OF MEMBERS OF Short Title. 1. This Act may be cited as the Municipal Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices) Act, 1884. Corrupt Practices.-Definition and Punishment of Corrupt Practice at Municipal Election. 2. (1.) The expression "corrupt practice" in this Act means any of the following offences, namely, treating, undue influence, bribery, and personation as defined by the enactments set forth in part one of the third schedule to this Act, and aiding, abetting, counselling, and procuring the commission of the offence of personation. (2.) A person who commits any corrupt practice in reference to a municipal election shall be guilty of the like offence, and shall on conviction be liable to the like punishment, and subject to the like incapacities, as if the corrupt practice had been committed in reference to a parliamentary election. For the enactments set forth in Part I. of the Third Schedule, (viz., the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854, secs. 2 and 3; the Representation of the People Act, 1867, sec. 49; the Ballot Act, 1872, sec. 24; the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, secs. I and 2; and the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, sec. 77), which define the offences of bribery, personation, treating, and undue influence, see pp. 413-416. The section applies to any "corrupt practice" (as defined in the Acts mentioned) "in reference to a municipal election." The term "municipal election," it is provided by sec. 34 of the Act, shall have the same meaning as in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882. By sec. 7 of that Act, "municipal election " is an "election to a corporate office," and " corporate office" means the office of mayor, alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor. The office of a member of a school board is for the purpose of this Act to be deemed a corporate office (see sec. 36), and therefore the section also applies to elections of members of school boards. A person who commits any corrupt practice in reference to any election as above defined, is, on conviction, to be liable to the like punishment and subject to the like incapacities as if the corrupt practice had been committed in reference to a parliamentary election. By sec. 6 of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, it is provided as follows with regard to parliamentary elections: "(1.) A person who commits any corrupt practice other than personation, or aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the commission of the offence of personation, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction on indictment, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding one year, or to be fined any sum not exceeding £200. "(2.) A person who commits the offence of personation, or of aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the commission of that offence, shall be guilty of felony, and any person convicted thereof on indictment, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, together with hard labour. "(3.) A person who is convicted on indictment of any corrupt practice shall (in addition to any punishment as above provided) be not capable, during a period of seven years, from the date of his conviction "(a.) Of being registered as an elector or voting at any election in the United Kingdom, whether it be a parliamentary election or an election for any public office within the meaning of this Act; or "(b.) Of holding any public or judicial office within the meaning of this Act, and if he holds any such office the office shall be vacated. "(c.) Any person so convicted of a corrupt practice in reference to any election shall also be incapable of being elected to and of sitting in the House of Commons during the seven years next after the date of his conviction, and if at that date he has been elected to the House of Commons his election shall be vacated from the time of such conviction." As regards the term "public office" in the above section, the expression is defined by sec. 64 as meaning "any office under the Crown or under the charter of a city or municipal borough, or under the Acts relating to municipal corporations or to the Poor Law or under the Elementary Education Act, 1870, or under the Public Health Act, 1875, or under any Acts amending the above-mentioned Acts, or under any other Acts for the time being in force (whether passed before or after the commencement of this Act) relating to local government, whether the office is that of mayor, chairman, alderman, councillor, guardian, member of a board, commission or other local authority in any county, city, borough, union, sanitary district or other area, or is the office of clerk of the peace, town clerk, clerk or other officer under a council, board, commission or other authority, or is any other office to which a person is elected or appointed under any such charter or Act as abovementioned, and includes any other municipal or parochial office." As regards the term "judicial office," it is defined as including "the office of justice of the peace and revising barrister." See also sec. 3 of this Act, post, with reference to the incapacities to which a candidate is subject when upon the trial of an election petition it is found by the report of the election court that any corrupt practice other than treating and undue influence has been committed by or with his knowledge and consent, or that the offence of treating or undue influence has been committed by him, or that he has been guilty by his agents of any corrupt practice. See also sec. 31, post, which provides that if any person, in consequence of conviction, or of the report of an election court under this Act, becomes not capable of being elected to or sitting in the House of Commons, or of being elected to or holding any public or judicial office, and at the date of the conviction or report has been so elected or holds any such office, his seat or office shall be vacated as from that date. Sec. 23, post, renders applicable the provision in the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, which is to the effect that a person who is reported by an election court to have been guilty of any corrupt practice at an election, is, whether he obtained a certificate of indemnity or not, subject to the same incapacity as he would be subject to if he had at the date of the election been convicted of the offence of which he has been reported to be guilty. Sec. 28 further enacts that when a person is prosecuted before an Election Court for any corrupt practice, and such person appears before the court, the court may proceed to try him summarily for the offence, and such person if convicted thereof upon the trial shall be subject to the same incapacities as he is subject to upon conviction, whether on indictment or in any other proceeding for the offence. As to prosecutions for corrupt practices, see also secs. 28 and 30, post. As regards the circumstances under which the election of a candidate may not be void and the candidate may not be subject to any incapacity under this Act, although upon the trial of an election petition, the election court reports that the candidate has been guilty by his agents of the offence of treating or undue influence, see sec. 19. In Birkbeck v. Bullard, Norwich Election Petition, 54 L. T., 625 ; 4 O'M. & H., 84, it was held that a single case of bribery by an agent renders an election void. To offer a voter his travelling expenses with the intention of inducing him to come and vote for a particular candidate is bribery. Packard v. Collings and West, 54 L. T., 619; 4 O'M. & H., 70. Where a person was guilty of bribery by giving money to five voters at a municipal election, it was held that in each case there was a separate offence, and that the person was liable to a penalty in respect of each offence. Milnes v. Bale, Milnes v. Lea, L. R., 10 C. P. 591; 44 L. J., C. P. 336; 33 L. T., 174; 23 W. R. 660. In order to sustain a conviction for personation it is not necessary to state in the indictment or to prove at the trial that the presiding officer at the booth where the offence was committed was duly appointed. R. v. Garvey, 16 Cox C. C., 252. In R. v. Norton, 16 Cox C.C., 59, it was held that an indictment under the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, which merely charged the defendant with being guilty of a corrupt practice at an election, but did not specifically allege against him what that corrupt practice was, was bad for generality. In R. v. Stroulger, L. R., 17 Q. B. D. 327; 55 L. J., M. C. 137; 55 L. T., 122; 34 W. R., 719, the prisoner was tried and convicted on an indictment which alleged that he was guilty of " corrupt practices" in a parliamentary election. It was proved at the trial that he had promised money to two voters to induce them to vote. After verdict the objection was taken by the plaintiff's counsel that the indictment was bad, because it did not sufficiently describe the nature of the offence with which the prisoner was charged. It was held by Lord Coleridge, C.J., and Field and Matthew, JJ., Denman and Day, JJ. dissenting, that if the indictment were defective, the defect was cured by verdict; by Lord Coleridge, C.J., and Denman, Matthew, and Day, JJ., that the indictment was defective, and on application before verdict might have been quashed. With regard to the disqualification of electors for corrupt practices, see secs. 22 and 23, post. Incapacity of Candidate reported Guilty of Corrupt Practice. 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50. 3. (1.) Where upon the trial of an election petition respecting a municipal election for a borough or ward of a borough it is found by the report of an election court made in pursuance of sec. ninety-three of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, that any corrupt practice, other than treating and undue influence, has been proved to have been committed in reference to such election by or with the knowledge and consent of any candidate at such election, or that the offence of treating or undue influence has been proved to have been committed in reference to such election by any candidate at such election, that candidate shall not be capable of ever holding a corporate office in the said borough, and if he has been elected his election shall be void; and he shall further be subject to the same incapacities as if at the date of the said report he had been convicted of a corrupt practice. (2.) Upon the trial of an election petition respecting a municipal election for a borough or ward of a borough in which a charge is made of any corrupt practice having been committed in reference to such election, the election court shall report in writing to the High Court whether any of the candidates at such election has been guilty by his agents of any corrupt practice in reference to such election, and if the report is that any candidate at such election has been guilty by his agents of a corrupt practice in reference to such election, that candidate shall not be capable of being elected to or holding any corporate office in the said borough, during a period of three years from the date of the report, and if he has been elected, his election shall be void. The election of a member of a school board is a "municipal election" within the meaning of this section. See sec. 36. Section 93 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (see Appendix, p. 425), requires the election court in the case of a petition charging any corrupt practice to state whether any corrupt practice has or has not been proved to have been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of any candidate at the election, and the nature of the corrupt practice. Sub-section I, it will be observed, refers to a case where bribery or personation has been proved to have been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of a candidate, or treating, or undue influence has been proved to have been committed by the candidate himself; whilst sub-sec. 2 refers to the case where a candidate has been guilty by his agents of a corrupt practice. For definition of the term 66 corporate office," see secs. 34 and 36 (b). With regard to the incapacities of a person convicted of a "corrupt practice," see secs. 2, 23, 28 (4), and 31, and as to the disqualification of electors, see secs. 22 and 23. See also sec. 19 as to the circumstances under which the election of a candidate who is reported by the election court to have been guilty by his agents of the offence of treating or undue influence, may not by reason of the offence be void, and the candidate may not be subject to any incapacity under the Act. Illegal Practices.-Certain Expenditure to be Illegal Practice. 4. (1.) No payment or contract for payment shall, for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of a candidate at a municipal election, be made This section refers to a "municipal election," but by sec. 36 it is made applicable to the election of members of school boards. (a.) On account of the conveyance of electors to or from the poll whether for the hiring of horses or carriages, or for railway fares, or otherwise; or This section, it will be observed, prohibits payment, or contract for payment, on account of the conveyance of electors to or from the poll, whether for the hiring of horses or carriages or for railway fares, &c., and provides that if any payment or contract for payment is knowingly made in contravention of the section, the person making such payment or contract is guilty of an illegal practice. It might be inferred from sec. 10 that it was not illegal to hire for the purpose of the conveyance of electors to or from the poll any carriage, horse, or other animal which was not kept or used for the purpose of letting out for hire, but the prohibition in this section, subject to the provision in sec. 10 (3), is absolute. Sub-sec. 10 (3) enacts that nothing in this Act shall prevent a carriage, horse, or other animal being let to or hired, employed or used by an elector or several electors at their joint cost, for the purpose of conveying him or them to or from the poll. (b.) To an elector on account of the use of any house, land, building, or premises for the exhibition of any address, bill, or notice, or on account of the exhibition of any address, bill, or notice; or The prohibition in this sub-section applies only to "electors." For definition of "elector," see sec. 34. See also sub-sec. 3 as to the exception in the case of an elector whose ordinary business it is, as an advertising agent, to exhibit for payment bills and advertisements. (c.) On account of any committee room in excess of the number allowed by this Act (that is to say), if the election is for a borough one committee room for the borough, and if the election is for a ward one committee room for the ward, and if the number of electors in such borough or ward exceeds two thousand, one additional committee room for every two thousand electors and incomplete part of two thousand electors, over and above the said two thousand. In the application of this section to a school board election, the school district, or division of the metropolis is to be deemed to be substituted for the " 'borough" or ward." See sec. 36. 66 As to the definition of the term "committee room," see sec. 34, by which the provision in sec. 64 of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act, 1883, appears to be made applicable, and consequently the expression "committee room "9 does not include any house or room occupied by a candidate at an election as a dwelling by reason only of the candidate there transacting business with his agents in relation to such election. And a room |