County in which the principal portion of such locality, or in the immediate vicinity of which such Town, Village or Reserve, shall be situate, unless such Augmentation, Gore or Settlement, Town, Village or Reserve, shall, under the provisions of this Act, or of any Act or Law of Lower Canada, or of the Act passed in the now last Session, and 14 & 15 V. c. 5. intituled, An Act to make certain alterations in the Territorial Divisions of Upper Canada, form part of some other County or Electoral Division, either as being included therein by name, or according Parishes, Town- to the boundaries established for the same; and any place mentioned tioned in this Act. in this Act as constituting a Parish, Township or Village, shall, with its usually acknowledged and known limits, be reputed to be a Parish, Township or Village for all the purposes of this Act, notwithstanding that such place may not have been, under the authority of the law, therefore erected, proclaimed, acknowledged or incorporated as such.

ships, &c., men

Inconsistent enactments re

4, c. 73.

X. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the Act of the Legis pealed. lature of the late Province of Lower Canada, passed in the ninth year Act of L. C. 9 G. of the Reign of King George the Fourth, and intituled, An Act to make a new and more convenient subdivision of the Province into Counties, for the purpose of effecting a more equal Representation thereof in the Assembly, than heretofore; and so much of the Act passed in the Session held in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Her 14 & 15 V. c. 5. Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Act to make certain alteration in the Territorial Divisions of Upper Canada, or of any other Act or Law in force in this Province, or in any part thereof, as may be inconsistent with this Act, shall be superseded and repealed from the time this Act shall come into force and effect.

Certain provi

sions of 12 V. c.

XI. And be it enacted, That the provisions of the present Election 27, s. 68,repealed. law, for holding in certain cases more than two days Polling in the Townships of Waterloo and Wilmot, be and the same are hereby repealed.

Commencement

of Act.

Preamble.

XII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall have force and effect from and after the end of the present Provincial Parliament, and not before.

REGISTRATION OF VOTERS' ACT.

ACT 16 VIC., CAP. 153.

www

An Act to extend the Elective Franchise, and better to define the qualification of Voters in certain Electoral Division, by providing a system for the Registration of Voters.

Whereas it is right to extend the Elective Franchise to certain classes of persons who are now excluded from voting at Elections of

Members of the Legislative Assembly of this Province, and to provide for the Registration of persons entitled to vote at such Elections in certain Electoral Divisions, and for that purpose to amend the Act passed in the twelfth year of Her Majesty's Reign, and intituled, An Act to repeal certain Acts therein mentioned, and to amend, consolidate and reduce into one Act the several Statutory provisions now in force for the regulation of Elections of Members to represent the People of this Province in the Legislative Assembly thereof; Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, constituted and assembled by virtue of and under the authority of an Act passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and intituled, An Act to re-unite the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the Government of Canada, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That the following persons, being of the full Certain persons age of twenty-one years, and subjects of Her Majesty by birth or natu- qualified as Elecralization, and not being disqualified as the holder of any office or otherwise by Law prevented from voting, shall be entitled to vote at Elections of Members to serve in the Legislative Assembly of this Province, that is to say:

tors.

Cities and Towns

Every male person entered on the then last Assessment Roll, revised, At Elections for corrected and in force in any City or Town entitled to send a Member or Members to the Legislative Assembly of this Province, as the owner or as the tenant or occupant of real property therein or in the liberties thereof, as bounded for Municipal purposes, of the assessed yearly value of seven pounds and ten shillings or upwards, or who is entered on such last corrected Assessment Roll of any Township, Parish or place, as the owner, tenant or occupant of any real property which is within the limits of any City or Town for the purposes of Representation, but not for municipal purposes, of the assessed value of fifty pounds at least, or the yearly value of five pounds or upwards, shall be entitled to vote at any Election of a Member to represent such City or Town as aforesaid.

Counties and

Every male person entered on the then last Assessment Roll, revised, At Elections for corrected and in force in any Parish, Township, Town, Village or place Ridings. not being within any City or Town entitled to send a Member or Members to the Legislative Assembly of this Province, as the owner, tenant or occupant of real property of the assessed actual value of fifty pounds or upwards, or the yearly assessed value of five pounds or upwards, shall be entitled to vote at any Election of a Member to represent the Electoral Division in which such Parish, Township, Town,

As to partners, joint tenants, &c,

Village or place is included: subject always to the provisions hereinafter made.

II. And be it enacted, That whenever two or more persons shall, whether as being partners in business, joint tenants or tenants in common, or par indivis, be entered on such Assessment Roll as aforesaid, as the owners of any real property, or as tenants or occupants thereof each of such persons shall be entitled to vote and to be entered on the list of Voters (if any be made for the place in which such property lies,) in respect of such property, if the value of his part or share be sufficient to have entitled him to vote at any Election for Members to represent in the Provincial Parliament the Electoral Division within which such property is situate, if such property had been assessed in his individual name; except that if the property be held by any body bodies corporate. corporate, no one of the members thereof shall be thereby entitled to vote or be entered on the list of Voters in respect of such property.

Exceptions as to

Persons qualified

under 12 V. cap.

certain parts of L. C.

III. Provided always, and be it enacted, That in Lower Canada all 27, may vote in persons who without this Act would under the Act cited in the Preamble to this Act, be qualified to vote at any Election of a Member, of the Legislative Assembly, in respect of property lying elsewhere than in the City of Quebec or the City of Montreal as bounded for municipal purposes, shall be entitled to vote at such Election, notwithstanding any thing in this Act, but subject to the provisions hereinafter made.

Persons indebted

IV. And be it enacted, That no person shall, either under the propurchase money, visions of this Act, or those of the Act cited in the Preamble to this

to the Crown for

&c., of Land, not

such Land.

to be qualified on Act, be held qualified to vote at any such election as aforesaid, as the owner or as the occupant or tenant of any real property, on which any instalment of purchase money or any rent or other sum of money which he may have undertaken to pay to the Crown therefor, (except seigniorial rents or dues,) shall be over due and unpaid, or as the owner or occupant of any real property belonging to the Crown and which he shall hold or occupy without authority from the Crown, whatever be the value of such property; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Crown Lands in the month of January in each year, to transmit to the Chamberlain of each City and to the County-Treasurer of each County in Upper Canada, and to the Clerk or Secretary-Treasurer of each City or County Municipality in Lower Canada, a list of all the Lands within the said County, City or County Municipality, granted or leased, or in respect of which a License of Occupation has issued, during the preceding year, and of all ungranted lands of which po person has received permission to take possession, and also of all lands on which any instalment of purchase money or rent or any other sum of

Lists to be furnished by Commissioner of Crown Lands.

P

List to be fur

oflicers.

money as aforesaid, shall be over due and unpaid; a copy of which Copies of such list every County-Treasurer and City Chamberlain in Upper Canada, nished to certain and the Secretary-Treasurer of each County Municipality in Lower Canada, is hereby required to furnish to the Clerk of each Municipality in the County, and to the Clerk of the City, as far as regards lands in his Municipality; and in places where lists of voters are made under Disqualification this Act, any person disqualified under this section in respect of any property, at the time of the final revision and correction of such list, shall remain disqualified in respect of such property so long as such list shall be in force.

V. And as regards Upper Canada only, Be it enacted—

under such Lists.

sions as to U. C.

ed under c. 4, to

Assessment

1. That in any Alphabetical list of parties and property assessed, Special Proviwhich by the Assessment Laws in force in Upper Canada, the Clerk only. of every Municipality may be required to prepare and post up, he shall write Disqualified opposite to any parcel of land which may appear from the return of the Commissioner of Crown Lands to be the property of the Crown, on which any payment may be over due, or of which no person has received permission to take possession, and he shall give notice of such disqualification to the party assessed for such Land; and any complaint that any person is disqualified to vote in Voters disqualifi respect of any Land for the reasons above mentioned, or that any per- be so entered on son has been wrongfully returned as so disqualified, shall be decided by Rolis. the Court of Revision established by Law for the determination of disputed questions of Assessment, and the notices required to be given of such complaints, and the appeal provided to the Judge of the County Complaints Court, and all other provisions which may be in force relative to com- try, how made plaints and appeals in disputed questions of Assessment, shall equally apply to complaints and appeals respecting the qualification of Electors for purposes of representation in the Provincial Parliament; Provided Proviso. always, that it shall at any time before the final revision and correction of such list, be competent to any person upon whose Land any payment was returned by the Commissioner of Crown Lands to be over due, to prove before the Court of Revision or the Judge of the County Court, by a subsequent receipt, that the same has been paid.

against such en

and determined.

be made after Assessment

2. That the Clerk of each Municipality in Upper Canada shall, after Alphabetical the final revision and correction of the Assessment Rolls, forthwith Lists of Voters to make a correct Alphabetical List of all persons entitled to vote at the final revision of Election of a Member of the Provincial Parliament within such Mu- Rolls. nicipality, according to the provisions of this Act, together with the number of the Lot or part of Lot or other description of the real property, in respect of which they are so qualified, and in Cities and Towns the

ed: and cop.es delivered to certain officers.

Clerks shall make out a separate List for each Ward, of the names with a description of the property of all parties on the Assessment Rolls, who may be entitled to vote in respect of real property situate within such Ward; and if any Municipality shall be partly in one Electoral Division, and partly in another for the purpose of such Election, he shall make out one such Alphabetical List for each such Electoral Division, containing the names with such description of property of all the parties on the Assessment Rolls, who may be entitled to vote in respect of real property situate in each such Electoral Division resLists to be attest-pectively; and the Clerk shall certify by oath or affirmation before the Judge of the County Court or before two Justices of the Peace, to the correctness of the List or Lists so by him made out, and he shall keep such certified Lists amongst the records of the Municipality, and shall deliver a duplicate thereof certified as aforesaid to the Registrar of the County within which the said Municipality shall lie, and all such Lists shall be completed and delivered as aforesaid, on or before the First day of September in each year, and no person shall be admitted to vote at any Election of a Member to serve in the Provincial Parliament, unless his name shall appear upon the List then last made and certified, and no question of qualification shall be raised at any such Election except to ascertain whether the party tendering his vote, is the same party intended to be designated in the Alphabetical List aforesaid.

Deputy Returning Officers to be furnished with copies of tre

such Lists.

3. That it shall be the duty of every Returning Officer in Upper Canada, upon receiving a Writ to hold any Election for a Member to proper parts of serve in the Provincial Parliament, to ascertain that every Deputy Returning Officer is in possession of a certified copy of the then last revised and certified List of Voters within the Municipality or Ward for which he shall be Deputy Returning Officer; and if the Clerk of the Municipality is not the Deputy Returning Officer, or if the copy in the possession of the Clerk has been lost or destroyed, the Returning Officer shall procure from the Registrar of the County a copy certified by him to be correct, of the then last List of Voters for such Municipality or Ward filed in his office, and shall cause the same to be delivered to the Deputy Returning Officer; and the Returning Officer shall be authorized to include any charge for obtaining such certified copies in the account of the general expenses of holding such election furnished by him to the Government.

Voters on Lists to vote on taking

only.

VII. And be it enacted, That the Deputy Returning Officer at any the following oath Election of a Member of the Legislative Assembly in any part of this Province, shall receive the vote of any person whose name he shall find on the proper List of Voters furnished to him as aforesaid, provided such person shall, if required by any Candidate, or the Agent of any