Division of Borough into Wards, or alteration of Wards. Proceedings for (4.) Every revising assessor shall, as soon as conveniently may be after his election, and from time to time as occasion requires, appoint, by writing signed by him, a person eligible to the office of revising assessor, to be his deputy, to act for him in case of his illness or incapacity to act. [Section 15 of 7 Will. and 1 Vict. c. 78 (by which no burgess was eligible to be elected a member of the council of a borough while holding the office of assessor), applied only to assessors elected under 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 37, and did not apply to an assessor for revising the burgess list appointed under 7 Will. 4 and 1 Vict. c. 78, s. 4]. (5.) The appointment shall be signified to the council, in writing signed by the assessor, and be recorded in their minutes. [The effect of section 37 of the Act of 1835, sections 4 and 17 of 7 Will. 4 and 1 Vict. c. 78 (1837), and section 20 of 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26 (1878), was preserved in this clause]. Division of Borough into Wards, or alteration of Wards. 30.-(1.) If two thirds of the council of a borough agree to petition, and the council thereupon petition, the Queen for the division of the borough into wards, or for the alteration of the number and boundaries of its wards, it shall be lawful for Her tion of wards. Majesty from time to time, by Order in Council, to fix the number of wards into which the borough shall be divided; and the borough shall be divided into that number of wards. division of borough into wards or altera (2.) Notice of the petition, and of the time when it pleases Her Majesty to order that the same be taken into consideration by Her Privy Council, shall be published in the London Gazette one month at least before the petition is so considered. (3.) Where an Order in Council has been so made, the Secretary of State shall appoint a commissioner to prepare a scheme for determining the boundaries of the wards and apportioning the councillors among them. (4.) In case of division into wards, the commissioner shall apportion all the councillors among the wards. (5.) In case of alteration of wards, he shall so apportion among the altered wards the councillors for those wards as to provide for their continuing to represent as large a number as possible of their former constituents. (6.) In either case, each councillor shall hold his office in the ward to which he is assigned for the same time that he would have held it had the borough remained undivided or the wards unaltered. Wards, or (7.) In case of division into wards the returning officer at the Division of first election for each ward held after the division shall, notwith- Borough into standing anything in this Act, be the mayor or a person alteration of appointed by the mayor. (8.) If by reason of any division or alteration under this section any doubt arises as to which councillor should go out of office, the doubt may be determined by the council. (9.) The division of a borough into a greater number of wards shall not affect the qualification of aldermen or councillors. (10.) The number of councillors assigned to each ward shall be a number divisible by three; and in fixing their number the commissioner shall, as far as he deems it practicable, have regard as well to the number of persons rated in the ward as to the aggregate rating of the ward. (11.) The commissioner shall make the scheme in duplicate, and shall deliver one of the duplicates to the town clerk, and shall send the other to the Secretary of State, to be submitted by him to Her Majesty in Council for approval. (12.) The scheme shall be published in the London Gazette, and shall come into operation at the date of that publication, and thenceforth the boundaries of wards and apportionment of councillors determined and made by the scheme shall be observed and be in force. (13.) If Her Majesty in Council does not approve the scheme, as originally prepared by the commissioner, it shall nevertheless be published in the London Gazette, and shall be in force for the purposes of any municipal election until Her Majesty in Council, on further information and report from the commissioner, definitively approves a scheme in that behalf. (14.) The commissioner may administer oaths, and may require any person having the custody of any book containing a poor rate made for a parish to produce the book for his inspection; and every person required by the commissioner to answer any question put to him for the purposes of this section shall answer it. (15.) The commissioner shall have remuneration as appearing by the Fourth and Fifth Schedules.* * The remuneration is five guineas for every day he is employed over and above his travelling and other expenses (The Fourth Schedule, paragraph 1), and the same may not be paid without an order (The Fifth Schedule, Part II., paragraph 8.) Wards. Supplemental and Excep tional Provisions. Occupation of part of house. Claim by occu pier to be rated. [The effect of sections 39, 40, 42, and 43 of the Act of 1835, section 10 of 7 Will. 4 and 1 Vict. c. 78 (1837), sections 1, 2, and 3 of 22 Vict. c. 35 (1859), section 4 of 32 & 33 Vict. c. 23 (1869), and 34 & 35 Vict. c. 67 (1871) is preserved in this clause]. Supplemental and Exceptional Provisions. 31.-In and for the purposes of this Act (a.) The terms house, warehouse, counting house, shop, or other building include any part of a house, where that part is separately occupied for the purposes oť any trade, business, or profession; and any such part may, for the purpose of describing the qualification, be described as office, chambers, studio, or by any like term applicable to the case. [There may, by this subsection, be several persons deriving their qualification to be on the burgess roll by separate occupancy of part of the same building. The occupancy must be for trade, business or professional-not merely residen. tial-purposes. "Separately" applies to the trade, as in Reg. v. Mayor of Exeter (L.R., 4 Q.B., 114)-Held, that a joint occupation is sufficient to confer the municipal franchise]. (b.) Where an occupier is entitled to the sole and exclusive use of any part of a house, that part shall not be deemed to be occupied otherwise than separately, by reason only that the occupier is entitled to the joint use of some other part. [Although by the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 5), the term "dwelling-house" in the Representation of the People Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 102) is to mean part of a house separately occupied, yet, in order to be entitled to the borough franchise as the occupier of a dwelling-house, the person must have an occupation in respect of which he can be rated to the relief of the poor, and therefore he is not entitled to such dwellinghouse franchise by reason of the occupation of part of a house if he occupies such part as a lodger.-"The tenant of two rooms, which he took unfurnished at a weekly rent, had the exclusive use of such rooms, and a key of the outer door of the house. His landlord also had a key of the outer door, and resided in all the rest of the house, but supplied no attendance or service to such tenant:-Held, that such tenant occupied the rooms as a lodger, and consequently that in respect of such occupation he could not acquire the dwelling-house franchise under the Representation of the People Act, 1867."-"The tenant of two rooms, which he took unfurnished at a weekly rent, had in common with the other tenants of the house, which was wholly let out on similar tenancies, the user of the passages, staircase, street door, and usual conveniences of the house. The landlord and not the tenant was rated, and the landlord did all repairs inside and out, but he did not reside in the house, nor did he, save as aforesaid, retain the control and dominion over the house or render any services to any of the tenants:-Held, that such tenant did not occupy the rooms as a lodger but as an occupying tenant under the Representation of the People Act, 1867, and that he could therefore acquire the dwelling-house franchise in respect of such occupation." Bradley, appellant, Bayless, respondent; Morfee, appellant, Norris, respondent; Kirby, appellant, Biffen, respondent. (L. R., Q. B. D., vol. 8, p. 195.) In Greenway v. Batchelor (Aldridge's case) 12 Q. B. D., 381, on a statement of case by a revising barrister (Nov. 26, 1883). it was held by the court that the payment of all ates by the landlord is sufficient to confer the municipal franchise on a tenant occupying only a portion of a house as a private dwelling.] 32.-(1.) If an occupier of any qualifying property, whether and Excep sions. the landlord is or is not liable to be rated to the poor rate in Supplemental respect thereof, claims to be rated to the poor rate in respect tional Provithereof, and pays or tenders to the overseers of the parish where the property is situate the full amount of the poor rate last made in respect of the property, the overseers shall put the occupier's name on the rate book in respect of that rate. [The landlord is not relieved from liability to the poor rate by the operation of this subsection should the tenant fail to act as here permitted or make default: and by the following subsection, any laches on the part of the overseers will not deprive the tenant of his right to qualify in respect of assessment to the poor rate. Generally, the clause may be regarded as the tenant's means of securing his franchise privileges notwithstanding omission or default, or the possibility of such, on the part of the landlord]. (2.) If they fail to do so, he shall nevertheless for the of this Act be deemed rated to that rate. purposes [The effect of section 11 of the Act of 1835 is preserved in this clause. By 59 Geo. 3 c. 12, s. 19, the vestry of any parish may resolve that the owners of all houses in the parish, being the immediate lessors of the actual occupier, which shall be let "at any rent not exceeding twenty pounds by the year for any less term than one year, or any agreement by which the rent shall be reserved or made payable at any shorter period than three months," shall be assessed to the rates in respect of such houses, instead of the actual occupiers:-Held (by Lord Coleridge CJ. and Brett LJ., Baggallay LJ. dissenting) that this section has no application to houses let at a weekly rent amounting to more than twenty pounds by the year.-Iles, appellant; The Assessment Committee of West Ham Union and others, respondents. (L.R., Q. B. D., vol. 8, p. 69)]. qualification of succession, &c. 33.-(1.) Where a person succeeds to qualifying property by Rules as to descent, marriage, marriage settlement, devise, or promotion to burgess on a benefice or office, then, for the purpose of qualification the occupancy of the property by a predecessor in title, and the rating of the predecessor in respect thereof, shall be equivalent to the occupancy and rating of the successor; and rating in the name of the predecessor shall, until a new rate is made after the date of succession, be equivalent to rating in the name of the successor; and the successor shall not be required to prove his own residence, occupancy, or rating before the succession. (2.) The qualifying property need not be throughout the twelve months constituting the period of qualification the same property or in the same parish. (3.) Where by law a borough rate is payable by instalments, payment by any person of any such instalment shall, as regards his qualification to be enrolled as a burgess, be deemed a payment of the borough rate in respect of the period to which the instalment applies. (4.*) A person shall not be disentitled to be enrolled as a burges by reason only Supplemental and Exceptional Provisions. Obligation to accept office or pay fine. (a.) That he has received medical or surgical assistance from the trustees of the municipal charities, or has been removed, by order of a justice, to a hospital or place for reception of the sick, at the cost of any local authority; or (b.) That his child has been admitted to and taught in any public or endowed school, [The effect of sections 9, 10, and 12 of the Act of 1835, sections 8 & 9 of 7 Will. 4 and 1 Vict. c. 78 (1837), and section 1 of 32 & 33 Vict. c. 55 (1869), is preserved in this clause]. 34.-1.) Every qualified person elected to a corporate office, unless exempt under this section or otherwise by law, either shall accept the office by making and subscribing the declaration † required by this Act within five days after notice of election, or shall, in lieu thereof, be liable to pay to the council a fine of such amount not exceeding, in case of an alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor, fifty pounds, and in case of a mayor one hundred pounds, as the council by bye-law determine. [The town clerk should notify the election. Reg. v. Preece, 5 Q. B. 94. By the Local Government Act, 1888, section 75, subsection 16, para. c, it is directed that nothing in this Act "shall render any person elected to a corporate office without his consent to his nomination being previously obtained liable to pay a fine on non-acceptance of office."] (2.) If there is no bye-law determining fines, the fine, in case of an alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor,§ shall be twenty-five pounds, and in case of a mayor fifty pounds. [There is no authority given by this Act to remit this penalty, which is fixed in amount in case a bye-law has not otherwise determined.] (3.) The persons exempt under this section are- (4) A fine payable under this section shall be recoverable summarily. [The effect of section 51 of the Act of 1835 is preserved in this clause]. Disqualification on account of receipt of medical or surgical relief is now altogether removed by 48 & 49 Vict., c. 46., s. 2 (1885). See Appendix. The declaration is as follows:-"I, A.B., having been elected mayor [or alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor] for the borough of hereby declare that take the said office upon myself, and will duly and faithfully fulfil the duties thereof according to the best of my judgment and ability [and in the case of the person being qualified by estate, say, And I hereby declare that I am seised or possessed of real or personal estate, or both [as the case may be], to the value or amount of one thousand pounds or five hundred pounds [as the case may require], over and above what will satisfy my just debts]."-Schedule VIII., Form A. Extended to ten days for any corporate office under the Local Government Act, 1888 (sec. 75, subsec. 11). See Appendix. § Practically abolished by County Electors Act, 1888. See Appendix. |