Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/59

Rh of the “ occasional voter, ” who formerly gave so much trouble to returning officers and election committees-the person, namely, who acquired a qualifying tenement with the View of using it for a particular election and then disposing of it. The period of qualification now required in all cases, being fixed with reference to the formation of the register, is necessarily so long anterior to any election which it could effect, that the purpose or intention of the voter in acquiring the qualifying tenement has ceased to be material, and is not investigated. England.-The reform of parliamentary representation in 1832 was followed in 1835 by that of the constitution of municipal corporations, which included the creation of a uniform qualification (now known as the old burgess qualification) for the municipal franchise. In 1888 the municipal franchise was enlarged, and was at the same time extended to the whole country for the formation of constituencies to elect county councils; and in 1894 parochial electors were called into existence for the election of parish councils and for other purposes. Inasmuch as provision was made for the registering of persons entitled to votes for the above purposes, there are now three registers of voters, namely, the parliamentary register, the local government register ('i.e. in boroughs under the Municipal Corporation Acts, the burgess rolls, and elsewhere the county registers) and the register of parochial electors. Under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 the registration of burgesses, though on similar lines to that of parlia.mentary voters, was entirely separate from it. Since, however, the qualincation for the municipal franchise covered to a great extent the same ground as that for the parliamentary franchise in boroughs which sent members to parliament, a considerable number of voters in such boroughs were entitled in respect of the same tenement to be upon both parliamentary register and burgess roll. The waste of labour involved in settling their rights twice over was put an end to in 1878, when the system of parliamentary registration was extended to the boroughs in question for municipal purposes, and the lists were directed to be made out in such a shape that the portion common to the two registers could be detached and combined with the portion peculiar to each, so as to form the parliamentary register and the burgess roll respectively. This system of registration was extended to the non-parliamentary boroughs and to the whole country in 1888, the separate municipal registration being completely abolished. .

The procedure of parliamentary registration is to be found in its main lines in the Parliamentary Registration Act 1843, which superseded that provided by the Reform Act of 1832, The acts applying and adapting the system to local government and parochial registration are the Parliamentary and Municipal Registration Act 1878, the County Electors Act 1888, and the Local Government Act 1894. Registration is carried out by local machinery, the common-law parish being taken as the registration unit; and the work of preparing and publishing the lists, which when revised are to form the register, is Committed to the overseers. The selection of these officers was no doubt due to their position as the rating authority, and to their consequent opportunities for knowing the ownership and occupation of tenements within their parish. They do not always perform the duties themselves, other persons being empowered to act for them in many parishes by general or local acts of parliament; but in all or almost all cases they are entitled to act personally if they think fit, they sign the lists, and the proceedings are conducted in their name.
 * '-:JN and has itself been considerably amended by later legislation.

In order to render intelligible the following summary of the procedure, it will be necessary to divide the voters to be registered into classes based on the nature of their rgualification, since the practice differs in regard to each class. he classes are as follows: (1) Owners, including the old forty-shilling freeholders, and the copy holders, long leaseholders and others entitled under the Reform Act of 1832 to vote at parliamentary elections for counties; (2) occupiers, including those entitled to (a) the £10 occupation qualification, (b) the household qualification and (c) the old burgess qualification; (3) lodgers, subdivided into (a) old, i.e. those on the previous register for the same lodgings, and (b) new; (4) those entitled to reserved rights, Le. in addition to those (if any still remain) who were entitled to votes before the Reform Act of 1832 in respect of qualifications abolished by that act, (a) freehold and bur a e tenants in Bristol, Exeter, Norwich, and Nottingham, and (lg hverymen of the City of London and freemen of certain old cities and boroughs, whose right to the parliamentary franchise was permanently retained by the same act. In regard to these classes it may be said that the general scheme is that owners must make a claim in the first instance before they can get their names upon the register, but that, once entered on the register, the names will be retained from year to year until removed by the revising barrister; that the lists of occupiers and of freehold and burgage tenants are made out afresh every year by the overseers from their own information and inquiries, without any act being required on the part of the voters, who need only make claims in case their names are omitted; that lodgers must make claims every year; and that liverymen and freemen are in the same position as occupiers, except that the lists of liverymen are made out by the clerks of the several companies, and those of freemen by the town clerks, the overseers having nothing to do with these voters, whose qualifications are personal and not locally connected with any parish.

The overseers and other officers concerned are required to perform their duties in connexion with registration in accordance with the instructions and precepts, and to use the notices and forms prescribed by Order in Council from time to time. The Registration Order, 1895, directs the clerk of every county council, on or within seven days before the 15th of April in every year, to send to the overseers of each parish in his county a precept with regard to the registration of ownership electors, and to every parish not within a parliamentary or municipal borough a precept with regard to the registration of occupation electors (which expression for this purpose includes lodgers as Well as occupiers proper). The town clerk of every borough, municipal or parliamentary, is to send to the overseers of every parish in his borough a precept with regard to the registration of occupation electors. These precepts are set out in the Registration Order, and those issued by the town clerks differ according as the borough is parliamentary only, or municipal only, or both parliamentary and municipal; in the cases of Bristol, Exeter, Norwich and Nottingham they contain directions as to freehold and burgage tenants. The duties of the overseers in regard to registration are set out in detail in the precepts. Along with the precepts are forwarded forms of the various lists and notices re uired to be used, and with the ownership precept a certain number of copies of that portion of the parliamentary register of the county at the time in force which contains the ownership voters for the parish, the register being so printed that the portion relating to each parish can be detached. It is the duty of the overseers to publish on the 20th'of June, in manner hereinafter described, the portion of the register so received, together with a notice to owners not already registered to send in claims by the 20th of July. Meanwhile the overseers are making the inquiries necessary for the preparation of the occupier list. For this purpose they may require returns to be furnished by owners of houses let out in separate tenements, and by employers who have servants entitled to the service franchise. The registrars of births, deaths and marriages are required to furnish the overseers with returns of deaths, as must the assessed tax collectors with returns of defaulters; the relieving officers are to give information as to recipients of parochial relief. On or before the 31st of Jul the overseers are to make out and sign the lists of voters. These are the following: the list of ownership electors, consisting of the portion of the register previously published with a supplemental list of those who have sent in claims by the 20th of July; the occupier list; and the old lodger list, the last being formed from claims sent in by the 25th of July. The overseers do not select the names in the first and last of these lists; they take themas supplied in the register and claims. It is, however, their dut'y to write “ dead ” or “ objected " in the margin against the names of persons whom they have reason to believe to be dead or not entitled to vote in respect of the qualification described. The ownership and old lodger lists will be divided into two parts, if the register contains names of owners entitled to a parochial vote only, or if claims by owners or old lodgers have been made limited to that franchise. The occupier list contains the names of persons whom the overseers believe to be qualified, and no others, and therefore will be free from marginal objections. Except in the administrative county of London, it is made out in three divisions-division 1 giving the names of occupiers of property qualifying for both parliamentary and local government votes, ivisions 2 and 3 those of occupiers of property qualifying only for parliamentary and only for local government votes respectively. It happens so frequently that a tenement, if not of sufficient value to qualify for the £10 occupation franchise (parliamentary and local government), qualifies both for the household franchise (parliamentary) and for the old burgess franchise (local government), that division I would in most cases be the whole list, but for two circumstances. The service franchise is a special modification of the household franchise only; and the service occupants, being therefore restricted to the parliamentary vote, form the bulk of division 2; while peers and women, being excluded from the parliamentary vote, are consequently relegated to division 3. In the administrative county of London the local government register, being coextensive with the register of parochial electors, includes