1850. PHILLPOTTS. of the same, or any part thereof; the first payment of the said annuity or clear yearly rent-charge or sum of 31. to be made on the 24th of June next ensuing the PHILLPOTTS date of these presents, if the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger shall then be living: And the said T. G. Phillpotts the elder, for himself, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, doth hereby covenant, grant and agree to and with the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger, and his assigns, by these presents, in manner following, that is to say, that, if the said annuity or clear yearly rent-charge or sum of 31., or any part thereof, which is hereby charged and made payable on the premises mentioned to be situate in the said parish of Dingeston, in the county of Monmouth aforesaid, or the said annuity or clear yearly rent-charge or sum of 31, or any part thereof, which is hereby charged or made payable on the premises mentioned to be situate in the parish of Hewelsfield, in the county of Gloucester aforesaid, or either of them, shall be in arrear and unpaid by the space of twenty-one days next after any of the said days or times whereon the same ought to be respectively paid as aforesaid, and in either of such cases, as often as the same shall respectively happen, it shall and may be lawful for the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger, or his assigns, to enter into and upon all or any of the said messuages, hereditaments, great and small tithes, glebe lands, and premises, herein before charged with the said several annuities or yearly rents or sums of 31. each, and to distrain for the said several annuities or yearly rents or sums of 31. each, or either of them, for all respective arrears, or either of them, and to sell and dispose of the distress and distresses then and there taken on them, or either of them, or otherwise demean therein according to law, in like manner as in case of distress taken for rent reserved by lease or common demise; to the end and intent that 1850. PHILLPOTTS บ. the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger, and his assigns, may be fully paid and satisfied the said several annuities or yearly rents or sums of 31. each respectively, or PHILLPOTTS. either of them, and all respective arrears or either of them, and all costs, charges, and expenses occasioned by the respective non-payment of the same: And the said T. G. Phillpotts the elder, for himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, doth covenant, promise, and agree to and with the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger, and his assigns, by these presents, in manner following, that is to say, that he the said T. G. Phillpotts the elder, his heirs, executors, and administrators, or some or one of them, shall and will well and truly pay, or cause to be paid, unto the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger, or his assigns, for and during the natural life of him the said T. G. Phillpotts the younger, the said several annuities or clear yearly rent-charges of 31. each, making together the sum of 127., when the same shall respectively become due and payable as aforesaid, without any deduction or abatement whatever, according to the true intent and meaning of these presents: In witness, &c. The defendants then pleaded, that the said indenture in the declaration mentioned, was fraudulently and collusively made and executed by and between the said T. G. Phillpotts the elder and the plaintiff, for the purpose of multiplying the voices, and of splitting and dividing the interest, in divers houses and lands, to wit, the houses and lands in the said indenture mentioned, between the said T. G. Phillpotts the elder and the said plaintiff, in order to enable them to vote at elections of members to serve in parliament for the said several counties of Hereford, Gloucester, Monmouth, and Brecon, in the said indenture mentioned; and that the said indenture was not made bonâ fide, or for a good or valuable consideration; but, on the contrary, was made 1850. PHILLPOTTS and executed solely for the purpose of multiplying voices as aforesaid, and under and subject to a secret trust and condition that no estate or interest should pass beneficially to the plaintiff by virtue of the said PHILLPOTTS. indenture; but that the plaintiff should stand possessed of the said annuities or rent-charges as trustee for the said T. G. Phillpotts the elder, and not otherwise, verification. To this plea the plaintiffs replied de injuriâ. The cause was tried before Wilde, C. J., at the sittings at Westminster after the last term, when a verdict was found for the defendants. Channell, Serjt., on a former day in this term, moved for judgment non obstante veredicto, on the ground that the plea afforded no answer to the action. The question arises upon the construction of the 7 & 8 W. 3. c. 25. s. 7., and 10 Ann. c. 23. s. 1. The former enacts "that all conveyances of any messuages, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, in any county, city, borough, towncorporate, port, or place, in order to multiply voices, or to split and divide the interest in any houses or lands among several persons, to enable them to vote at elections of members to serve in parliament, are hereby declared to be void and of none effect, and that no more than one single voice shall be admitted for one and the same house or tenement." And the latter, reciting the former provision, "for the more effectual preventing of such undue practices," enacts "that all estates and conveyances whatsoever made to any person or persons in any fraudulent or collusive manner, on purpose to qualify him or them to give his or their vote or votes at such elections of knights of the shire (subject, nevertheless, to conditions or agreements to defeat or determine such estate, or to re-convey the same), shall be deemed and taken, against those persons who executed v. V. 1850. the same, as free and absolute, and be holden and enjoyed by all and every such person or persons to PHILLPOTTS whom such conveyance shall be made as aforesaid, PHILLPOTTS, freely and absolutely acquitted, exonerated, and discharged of and from all manner of trusts, conditions, clause of re-entry, powers of revocation, provisoes of redemption, or other defeasances whatsoever, between or with the said parties, or any other person or persons in trust for them, or any of them, for the redeeming, revoking, or defeating such estate or estates, or for the restoring or re-conveying thereof, or any part thereof, to any person or persons who made or executed such conveyance, or to any other person in trust for them, or any of them, shall be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and that every person who shall make and execute such conveyance and conveyances as aforesaid, or, being privy to such purpose, shall devise or prepare the same, and every person who, by colour thereof, shall give any vote at any election of any knight or knights of the shire to serve in parliament, shall, for every such conveyance so made, or vote so created or given, forfeit the sum of 401.," &c. Taking these two statutes together, the deed is clearly good to vest the estate in the grantee; though, possibly, it might be difficult to contend that a right to vote would be created under the facts stated upon this record. These two statutes were under the consideration of this court in a case of Alexander, app., Newman, resp. (a), where Tindal, C. J., in giving the judgment of the court, says: "The very language of the statute of William seems to point to the necessary distinction, that real and bona fide conveyances were not intended to be avoided, although the motive or purpose of the parties might be that of multiplying voices at elections, but (a) Antè, Vol. II. p. 122. 1850. PHILLPOTTS ข. such conveyances only made for that purpose as were pretended and fictitious. The statute says, 'All conveyances in order to multiply voices' are declared to be void. The statute names the conveyance only: it PHILLPOTTS. makes no reference whatever to any contract for sale upon which a real conveyance was grounded, nor professes to deal in any manner with the estate or interest in the land which was affected by such contract of sale, nor provides for the revesting of the land which passed into the possession of the purchaser under the contract of sale, nor for the re-payment of the purchase-money to the purchaser, all which provisions might reasonably be expected, if a conveyance upon a real bonâ fide contract of sale, and not a fictitious conveyance only, was intended to be avoided, on account of the motive upon which it was entered into." And, further, observing upon the statute of Anne, he says: "We consider this latter statute to be a legislative exposition of the clause of the statute of W. 3. therein set forth; that the avoiding of conveyances made in order to multiply voices at elections, was meant, by the original statute, to be confined to such conveyances only as were fraudulent and collusive, to conveyances which are such in form only, but never intended to pass the property; or such as were accompanied with some secret trust or reservation for the benefit of the grantors; and not to extend to a bona fide conveyance made in contemplation of an actual contract of sale and purchase of land: for, the statute of Anne is expressly limited to fraudulent conveyances; and it cannot be intended that the statute of Anne, passed to render, the former statute of William more efficacious, should be, as to county elections, less comprehensive in its provisions than the former statute; or that the former should comprise within it the avoidance of a bona fide conveyance, when the latter is restricted to fraudulent conveyances only." [Maule, J. |