in. Two justices convicted Hague for inducing Fogle to personate Bamford at the said election, and the sessions, on appeal, confirmed the conviction, subject to the opinion of the Court of Queen's Bench, whether Hague had, under the above facts, committed the alleged offence; and it was urged that, as Fogle did not vote, and on being asked, at once declared that he was not Bamford, he had not been guilty of personation, and therefore Hague had not been guilty of inciting him to commit it. But it was held that if a man goes up to a voting place and represents himself as another person, it is a false personation. Here Fogle gave in a voting paper, and so represented himself to be another person, and thereby the personation was complete. (m)

Definition of words.

By 35 & 36 Vict. c. 33, sec. 29, the expression municipal borough' means any place for the time being subject to the Municipal Corporation Acts, or any of them. The expression Municipal Corporation Acts' means, as regards England, the Act of 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, and the Acts amending the same. The expression municipal election' means, as regards England, an election of any person to serve the office of councillor, auditor, or assessor of any municipal borough, or of councillor for a ward of a municipal borough. By sec. 30, this Act shall apply to any parliamentary or municipal election which may be held after the passing thereof.

By sec. 31, nothing in this Act, except part III. [ss. 24 to 27] thereof, shall apply to any election for a university or combination of universities.

Corrupt practices at municipal elections. - By the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, (n) s. 77, 'bribery,' 'treating,' 'undue influence,' and 'personation' include respectively anything done before, at, after, or with respect to a municipal election which if done before, at, after, or with respect to a Parliamentary election would make the person doing the same liable to any penalty, punishment, or disqualification for bribery, treating, undue influence, or personation, as the case may be, under any Act for the time being in force with respect to Parliamentary elections.

By sec. 86, The enactments for the time being in force for the detection of personation and for the apprehension of persons charged with personation at a Parliamentary election, shall apply in the case of a municipal election.'

By sec. 59, at an election of councillors the presiding officer shall, if required by two burgesses, or by a candidate or his agent, make enquiry of voters whether they are the persons enrolled on the roll, and whether they have already voted, and if any person wilfully make a false answer thereto, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.'

By sec. 74, If any person forges or fraudulently defaces or fraudulently destroys any nomination paper, or delivers to the town clerk any forged nomination paper, knowing it to be forged, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to imprisonment for any term. not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour.

Any attempt to commit any such offence shall be punishable as the offence is punishable.'

(m) R. v. Hague, 9 Cox, C. C. 412. The conviction merely alleged that Hague 'unlawfully and knowingly did induce Fogle to personate Bamford' and it was held that

it was good, and that it was not necessary to state the means of the inducement.

(n) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50.

By the Municipal Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act, 1884), 47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, s. 2 (o) (1.), the expression corrupt practice' is defined in similar terms to those in 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 3 (see ante, p. 449), and is made to include treating and undue influence as defined by 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, ss. 1 and 2. See ante, p. 449, and also 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 77.

(2.) A person who commits any corrupt practice in reference to a municipal election shall be guilty of the like offence, and, on conviction, shall 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.'

Secs. 4-8 deal with illegal practices and their punishment on summary conviction; and secs. 9-18 have reference to illegal employment, hiring, &c.

Sec. 26, which regulates the proceedings or the withdrawal of an election petition, is in the same terms as sec. 41 of 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51 (see ante, p. 450).

Sec. 28, which has reference to the attendance of the Director of Public Prosecutions at the trial of election petitions, is identical with sec. 43 of 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51 (see ante, p. 451).

By sec. 30, Subject to the other provisions of this Act, the procedure for the prosecution of a corrupt or illegal practice, or any illegal payment, employment, or hiring, committed in reference to a municipal election, and the removal of any incapacity incurred by reason of a conviction or report relating to any such offence, and the duties of the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to any such offence, and all other proceedings in relation thereto (including the grant to a witness of a certificate of indemnity), shall be the same as if such offence had been committed in reference to a parliamentary election; and secs. 45 & 46 and secs. 50-57, both inclusive, and secs. 59 and 60 of the 46 and 47 Vict. c. 51, shall apply accordingly as if they were re-enacted in this Act, with the necessary modifications, and with the following additions:

a. Where the Director of Public Prosecutions considers that the circumstances of any case require him to institute a prosecution before any Court other than an election Court, for any offence other than a corrupt practice committed in reference to a municipal election in any borough, he may, by himself or his assistant, institute such prosecution before any Court of summary jurisdiction in the county in which the said borough is situate, or to which it adjoins, and the offence shall be deemed for all purposes to have been committed within the jurisdiction of such Court;

b. General rules for the purposes of part 4 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, shall be made by the same authority as rules of court under the said section; and

c. The giving or refusal to give a certificate of indemnity to a witness by the election Court shall be final and conclusive.'

By sec. 35 the Act is made applicable to the city of London, and by sec. 36 to elections for local boards, guardians, improvement commissioners, and school-boards.

(0) The Act applies to the election of County Councillors, 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41, s. 75.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.

OF NEGLECTING OR DELAYING TO DELIVER ELECTION WRITS.

THE 53 Geo. 3, c. 89, was passed for the purpose of effecting the more expeditious and regular conveyance of writs for the election of members to serve in Parliament. It enacts that the messenger, or pursuivant of the great seal, or his deputy, shall, after the receipt of such writs, forthwith carry such of them as shall be directed to the sheriffs of London or Middlesex, to the respective officers of such sheriffs, and the other writs to the general post-office in London, and there deliver them to the postmaster-general for the time being, or to such other person as the postmaster shall depute to receive the same (which deputation the postmaster is thereby required to make), who, on receipt thereof, shall give an acknowledgment in writing, expressing therein the time of delivery, and shall keep a duplicate of such acknowledgment signed by the parties respectively to whom and by whom the same shall be so delivered; and that the postmaster or his deputy shall despatch all such writs free of postage, by the first post or mail, after the receipt thereof, under covers directed to the proper officers, to whom the said writs shall be respectively directed, accompanied with proper directions to the postmaster or deputy postmaster of the place, or nearest to the place where such officers shall hold their office, requiring such postmaster or deputy forthwith to carry such writs respectively to such office, and to deliver them there to the officers to whom they shall be respectively directed, or their deputies, who are required to give to such postmaster or deputy a memorandum in writing, acknowledging the receipt of every such writ, and setting forth the day and the hour the same was delivered by such postmaster or deputy, and which memorandum shall also be signed by such postmaster or deputy, who is required to transmit the same by the first or second post afterwards to the postinastergeneral or his deputy at the general post-office in London, who are required to make an entry thereof in a proper book for that purpose, and to file the memorandum along with the duplicate of the said acknowledgment, signed by the messenger, to the intent that the same may be inspected or produced upon all proper occasions by any person interested in such elections. (a)

The statute, after directing that all persons to whom the writs for the election of members to Parliament ought to be and are usually directed, shall, within a month, send to the postmaster-general an account of the places where they shall hold their offices, and so from time to time, as often as such places shall be changed; and of the

(a) 53 Geo. 3, c. 89, s. 1.

post town nearest to such offices; or in case any such office shall be in London, Westminster, or Southwark, or within five miles thereof, shall send such account to the messenger of the great seal; (b) proceeds to enact, that after the death of the then messenger of the great seal the allowances of mileage shall cease, except an allowance of two guineas on each writ for the election of a member on any vacancy, and of fifty pounds on the calling of a new Parliament. (c) And it further enacts, that whereas the messenger of the great seal and his deputy have from time to time received certain other fees for the conveyance and upon the delivery of these writs, such fees shall cease from the passing of the Act; and that neither the messenger nor his deputy, nor any other person, shall receive or take any fee, reward, or gratuity whatsoever, for the conveyance or delivery of any such writ. (d)

The sixth section enacts, 'that every person concerned in the transmitting or delivery of any such writ as aforesaid who shall wilfully neglect or delay to deliver or transmit any such writ, or accept any fee, or do any other matter or thing in violation of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may upon any conviction upon any indictment or information in his Majesty's Court of King's Bench be fined and imprisoned at the discretion of the Court for such misdemeanor.'

(b) 53 Geo. 3, c. 89, ss. 2, 3. By 36 & 37 Vict. c. 91, s. 2, from "the chancellor " to "Cinque Port," is repealed.

(c) Id. sec. 4. (d) Id. sec. 5.

And the section further

proceeds to give to the then messenger an annual allowance for his life of £520 in compensation for these fees. This part of the section is repealed by 36 & 37 Vict. c. 91.

CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.

OF DEALING IN SLAVES.1

THE 5 Geo. 4, c. 113 (a) (which is incorporated in the Slave Trade Act, 1873,') (b) repeals all the Acts and enactments relating to the slave trade, and the abolition thereof, and the exportation or importation of slaves, except so far as they have repealed any prior Acts or enactments, or may have been acted upon, or may be expressly confirmed by the present Act. It then enacts, that it shall not be lawful (except in such special cases as are thereinafter mentioned) to deal in slaves, or to remove, import, ship, trans-ship, &c., any persons as slaves, or to fit out, employ, &c., any vessels in order to accomplish such unlawful objects, or to lend money, &c., or to become guarantee, &c., for agents in relation to such objects, or in any other manner to engage, directly or indirectly, therein, as a partner, agent, or otherwise; or to ship, &c., any money, goods, or effects, to be employed in accomplishing any of these unlawful objects; or to command, or embark on board, or contract for commanding, or embarking on board, any vessel, &c., in any capacity, knowing that such vessel, &c., is employed, or intended to be employed, in such unlawful objects; or to insure, or contract for insuring, any slaves, or other property, employed, or intended to be employed, in accomplishing any of these unlawful objects. (c) Pecuniary penalties and forfeitures are then imposed upon persons offending, by engaging in such unlawful objects. (d) And the statute then proceeds to subject certain offenders to punishments of a more serious nature.

By sec. 9, If any subject or subjects of his Majesty, or any person or persons residing, or being within any of the dominions, forts, settlements, factories, or territories, now or hereafter belonging to his Majesty or being in his Majesty's occupation or possession, or under the government of the united company of merchants of England trading to the East Indies, shall, except in such cases as are in and by this Act 'permitted, (e) after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, upon the high seas, or in any haven, river, creek, or

(a) This Act is repealed except ss. 2 to 11, sec. 12 down to 'taken to be in full force,' ss. 39, 40, and 47. See 36 & 37 Vict. c. 88, s. 30.

(b) See infra. (c) Sec. 2.

(d) Secs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

(e) These excepted cases are repealed by the 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 73, s. 12, which abolishes slavery in the British colonies, plantations, and possessions abroad.

AMERICAN NOTE.

1 For the Acts of Congress relating to slave trade, see Revised Statutes of the United States.