Supplemental and Exceptional Provisions. Duties of town clerk, deputy, and treasurer during vacancy or incapacity. (3.) A burgess roll shall not be liable to be questioned by reason of a defect in the title, or want of title, of the mayor or any revising authority by whom it is revised, if he was then in actual possession and exercise of the office of mayor or revising authority. [The effect of section 53 of the Act of 1835, and sections 1 & 5 of 7 Will. 4 and 1 Vict. c. 78 (1837), is preserved in this clause.] 43.-If there is no town clerk, and no deputy town clerk, or there is no treasurer, or the town clerk, deputy town clerk, or treasurer (as the case may be) is incapable of acting, all acts by law authorized or required to be done by or with respect to the town clerk or the treasurer (as the case may be) may, subject to the provisions of any other Act, be done by or with respect to a person appointed in that behalf by the mayor. [The effect of section 16 of the Act of 1835 is preserved in this clause]. PART III. PREPARATIONS FOR AND PROCEDURE AT ELECTIONS. Parish Burgess Lists; Burgess Rolls; Ward Rolls. Parish Burgess Lists; Ward Rolls. Preparation 44.-(1.) Where the whole or part of the area of a borough Burgess Rol's; is co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, the lists of burgesses are to be made out and revised, and revision of parish burgess and claims and objections relating thereto are to be made, lists. in accordance with the provisions of the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act, 1878*. [Sections 15 to 23 of the Act here referred to (40 & 41 Vict. c. 26), being that portion which enacts the method of revision, may be here usefully cited as follows:-S. 15. Where the whole or part of the area of a municipal borough is co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, the lists of parliamentary voters and the burgess lists shall, so far as practicable, be made out and revised together. In every such case the overseers of every parish situate wholly or partly either in the parliamentary borough or in the municipal borough shall, on or before the last day of July in every year, make out a list of all persons entitled under any right conferred by the Reform Act, 1832, or by 8. 3 of the Representation of the People Act, 1867, to be registered as voters for the parliamentary borough in respect of the occupation of property situate wholly or partly within that parish, or entitled to be enrolled as burgesses of the municipal borough in respect of the occupation of any property so situate. With respect to every list so made out the following provisions shall have effect (1) The lists shall be in substitution for the lists of persons so entitled, which are required to be made out under the Parliamentary Registration Acts and the Municipal Corporation Acts: (2.) Where the parish is situate, wholly or partly, both in the parliamentary borough and in the municipal borough, the list for the parish shall be made out in three divisions: Division One shall comprise the names of the persons entitled both to be registered as parliamentary voters under a right conferred as aforesaid, and to be enrolled as burgesses; Division Two shall comprise the names of the persons entitled to be registered as parliamentary voters under a right conferred as aforesaid, but not to be enrolled as burgesses; Division Three shall comprise the names of the persons entitled to be enrolled as burgesses, but not to be registered as parliamentary voters under a right conferred as aforesaid: (3.) Each list shall state the surname and other name or names of every person whose name is inserted therein, his place of abode, the nature of his qualification, and the situation and description of the property in respect of which he is entitled: (4.) Each list shall be signed and otherwise dealt with in manner directed by the Parliamentary Registration Acts with respect to the alphabetical lists mentioned in 8. 13 of the Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843: (5.) Where no part of the parish is situate within the municipal borough, the list for the parish shall be deemed to be a list of voters for the parliamentary borough: (6.) Where no part of the parish is situate within the parliamentary borough, the list for the parish shall be deemed to be a burgess list for the municipal borough: (7.) Where the list is made out in divisions, Divisions One and Two shall be deemed to be lists of voters for the parliamentary borough, and Divisions One and Three shall be deemed to be burgess lists for the municipal borough: (8.) The lists, and, if the lists are made out in divisions, each division thereof shall, if and so far as the local authority from time to time direct, according to convenience for use, be framed in parts for polling districts or wards; and where the polling districts and wards are not conterminous, in such manner that the parts may be conveniently compiled or put together to serve either as lists for polling districts or as ward lists. S. 16. In the case of any parliamentary By the County Electors Act, 1888 (section 4, subsection 7), this Act was directed to apply so far as circumstances would admit to all municipal boroughs excluded therefrom. See sections 19 and 20 on next page. Further, by section 6, the eighth of September is to be substituted for the fifteenth, and declarations sent to the clerk of the peace or town clerk on or before the fifth of September. Parish borough in which any persons are entitled to be registered as freemen, or under Burgess Lists; any right other than a right conferred by the Reform Act, 1832, or s. 3 of the Burgess Rolls; Representation of the People Act, 1867, the registration of such persons shall be Ward Rolls. carried out in the manner directed by the Parliamentary Registration Acts, as modified by this Act. S. 17. In the case of a parliamentary borough which includes in whole or in part more municipal boroughs than one, each such municipal borough shall, for the purposes of this Act, be dealt with separately, and as if each were the only municipal borough included in whole or in part in such parliamentary borough; and if any parish is partly in one and partly in another or others of such municipal boroughs, so much thereof as is in any one of such municipal boroughs shall, for the purposes of this Act, be dealt with as a separate parish. The town clerk of each such municipal borough shall, so far as regards the area of such municipal borough, issue the precepts and perform the other duties to be performed by the town clerk under and shall be the town clerk for the purposes of the Parliamentary Registration Acts and this Act. S. 18. The Municipal Corporations Acts shall not, as to anything prior to the completion of the revision of the burgess lists, apply to any burgess list made out under this Act, and instead thereof the Parliamentary Registration Acts, as modified by this Act, shall, up to the completion of the revision of the burgess lists, apply to every such burgess list, as if it were a list of parliamentary voters made out under those Acts, and as if the municipal borough to which such burgess lists relate were a parliamentary borough: Provided as follows:-(1.) Nothing in this Act shall authorize a person entered on a burgess list, not being also entered on a list of parliamentary voters, to make any objection in respect of a list of parliamentary voters, or authorize any person entered on a list of parlia mentary voters, not being also entered on a burgess list to make any objection in respect of a burgess list; (2.) The last day for revising a burgess list made out under this Act shall be the 12th October; and (3.) The burgess lists when revised shall be copied for the burgess roll in manner directed by the Municipal Corporation Acts. S. 19*. Where the whole or part of the area of a municipal borough is co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, the separate lists of the persons entitled to be elected councillors or aldermen of the municipal borough, though not entitled to be on the burgess roll, shall be made out at the same time and in the same manner as the burgess lists, and all the provisions of this Act with respect to the burgess lists shall apply to those separate lists. S. 20*.After the commencement of this Act assessors shall not be elected in any municipal borough which as regards the whole or part of its area is co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, and any assessors elected in any such municipal borough before the commencement of this Act shall cease to hold office upon the commencement of this Act. S. 21. If and so far as the local authority so direct, the lists of parliamentary voters and registers of parliamentary voters in parliamentary boroughs, and the burgess lists and burgess rolls in municipal boroughs, and the lists of claimants and persons objected to in parliamentary boroughs and municipal boroughs respectively, or any of those documents, shall, so far as they relate to persons qualified in respect of the ownership or occupation of property (including persons qualified in respect of lodgings) be so arranged in the same order in which the qualifying premises appear in the rate book for the parish in which those premises are situate, or as nearly thereto as will cause those lists, registers, and rolls to record the qualifying premises in successive order in the street or other place in which hey are situate, subject in the case of a municipal borough divided into wards to the division of the burgess roll into ward lists. The local authority in this Act means as regards a parliamentary borough the authority having power to divide the parliamentary borough into polling districts, and as regards a municipal borough the council of the municipal borough. S. 22. Where a person is entered in respect of lodgings on the register of voters for the time being in force, and desires to be entered on the next register in respect of the same lodgings, he may claim to be so entered by sending notice of his claim to the overseers of the parish in which his lodgings are situate on or before the 25th July. The overseers shall on or before the last day of July make out a list of all persons so claiming, and if they have reasonable cause to believe that any person whose name is entered on the list is not entitled to be registered or is dead, shall add in the margin of the list opposite his name the words "objected to," or dead" as the case may be. The lists so made out shall be signed, published, and otherwise dealt with in the same manner as the alphabetical lists mentioned See footnote on preceding page. in s. 13 of the Parliamentary Registration Act, 1843, and shall for the purposes Parish of the Parliamentary Registration Acts be deemed to be lists of voters, and the Burgess Lists; provisions of the Parliamentary Registration Acts as to objections shall apply to Burgess Rolls; such lists, and the persons against whose names the overseers have so written the Ward Rolls. words "objected to or "dead" shall be deemed to be duly objected to. S. 23. In the case of a person claiming to vote as a lodger, the declaration annexed to his notice of claim shall, for the purposes of revision, be primâ facie evidence of his qualification."] (2.*) Where no part of the area of a borough is co-extensive with or included in the area of a parliamentary borough, the lists of burgesses shall be made out and revised, and claims and objections relating thereto may be made, in accordance, as nearly as may be, with the provisions of Part I. of the Third Schedule. Part I (now obsolete as regards the method of revision-see footnote) of Schedule III is as follows: 1. On or before each first of September, the overseers of each parish shall make, sign, and deliver to the town clerk a list, called the parish burgess list, of all persons entitled to be enrolled in the burgess roll for the year in respect of property in that parish.† [A printed list, corrected by an overseer in his own handwriting and in which his own name was inserted as a burgess, was not a sufficient signing. R. v. Burrell, 12 A. & E. 460.1 2. The overseers shall keep a printed copy of the parish burgess list made by them open to public inspection on the first fifteen days of September. 3. The town clerk shall cause a printed copy of all the parish burgess lists to be fixed on the town hall, and to be kept so fixed during the last seven of those fifteen days. [It was incumbent upon the town clerk to make certain that a perfect list was exposed daily. R. v. Rochester, 7 E. & B. 910.] 4. Every person whose name is not in a parish burgess list, and who claims to have it inserted therein (in this Act referred to as a claimant), shall, on or before the fifteenth of September, give notice in writing of his claim to the town clerk. 5. Every person whose name is in a parish burgess list may object to any other person as not being entitled to have his name retained in that or any other parish burgess list. 6. Every person so objecting (in this Act referred to as an objector), shall, on or before the fifteenth of September, give to the town clerk, and also give to the person objected to, or leave at or on the property for which he appears in the parish burgess list to be rated, notice in writing of the objection. 7. The town clerk shall make two separate lists of the claimants and the persons objected to (in this Act referred to as respondents), and shall cause printed copies thereof to be fixed on the town hall, and to be kept so fixed during the last seven days of September. 8. He shall also keep a printed copy of each of these lists open to public inspection on any day during the same seven days. 9. The mayor and the two revising assessors shall in each year revise the parish burgess lists. 10. They shall for this purpose hold an open court in the borough on some or one of the first fifteen days of October. As to this subsection (2) and the schedule attached, see the County Electors Act, 1888 (Appendix) which practically abolished the office of revising assessor, and directed the lists to be made out and revised in accordance with the procedure for boroughs included in subsection 1 preceding. + Overseers are entitled to have reasonable expenses incurred by them in preparing the lists, to be defrayed out of the borough fund. In view of Addison v. Mayor of Preston, 12 C. B. 108, the overseers' remedy for non-payment of reasonable expenses would appear to be by mandamus and not by an action against the council. Parish The burgess roll and ward rolls. 11. They shall give three clear days' notice of the holding of the court, by notice fixed on the town hall. 12. The town clerk shall at the opening of the court produce the parish burgess lists, and a copy of the lists of claimants and respondents. 13. The court shall insert in the parish burgess lists the name of every person who has duly claimed to have his name inserted therein, and is proved to the satisfaction of the court to be so entitled. 14. The court shall expunge from the parish burgess lists the name of every person proved to the court to be dead. 15. Subject as aforesaid, the court shall retain in the parish burgess lists the name of every person to whom objection has not been duly made. 16. The court shall also retain therein the name of every respondent, unless the objector appears by himself, or by some person on his behalf, in support of the objection. 17. Where the objector so appears, the court shall require proof of the respondent's qualification, and, if it is not proved to the satisfaction of the court, shall expunge his name from the parish burgess list. [An appeal laid to the Supreme Court for a mandamus.] 18. If the name of any person is entered in respect of property situate in more than one ward, the court may call upon him to choose. and if he does not choose, may determine in which of those wards he shall be entitled to vote. 19. The court shall correct any mistake and supply any omission proved to the court to have been made in any of the lists with respect to the name or abode of any person, or the description of any property. 20. The overseers, vestry clerks, and collectors of poor rates of every parish shall attend the court. 21. The court may require any overseer or person having the custody of any book containing any poor rate made in any year in any parish to produce the same at the court for inspection. 22. The court may examine on oath the town clerk, overseers, vestry clerks, and collectors, and any claimant, objector, respondent, or witness. 23. The court shall, on the hearing in open court, determine on the validity of all claims and objections. 24. The mayor shall, in open court, write his initials against each name inserted or expunged, and against any part of the lists in which a mistake has been corrected or omission supplied, and shall sign his name to every page of the lists so revised. 25. The Mayor may adjourn the court from time to time, so that no adjourned court be held after the fifteenth of October. [As to this Schedule, which is now practically obsolete, see footnote on preceding page]. (3.) In either case the lists shall be styled the parish burgess lists. [The effect of sections 15, 17, 18, 19, and 44 of the Act of 1835, section 7 of 20 & 21 Vict. c 50 (1857), section 18 of 41 & 42 Vict. c. 26 (1878), and other sections of that Act cited under subsection 1, was preserved in this clause. It will also be noticed that a new designation was introduced in the clause (subsection 3), namely, that of "Parish burgess lists "]. 45.-(1.) When the parish burgess lists have been revised and signed, the revising authority shall deliver them to the town clerk, and a printed copy thereof, examined by him and signed by him, shall be the burgess roll of the borough. (2.) The burgess roll shall be completed on or before the twentieth of October in each year, and shall come into operation on the first of November in that year, and shall continue in operation for the twelvemonths beginning on that day. |