to divide the members equally, or with a rough attempt at equality, among the population. Before the Act became law the average throughout the country of population to members was, in counties, 78,000, in boroughs, 41,200, to a member. But this proportion was not preserved for instance, 79 boroughs in England, with populations under 15,000, each returned a member, and 36 boroughs, with populations under 50,000, each returned two members. The Redistribution Act starts on the principle, sacrificed to some extent in favour of local representation, that the proportion of 54,000 to a member should be the basis of calculation. All towns with a population of less than 15,000 are thrown into their respective counties, whether or no they have previously returned members. Towns which have more than 15,000 inhabitants and less than 50,000 are to return one member; those which have more than 50,000 and less than 165,000 are to return two members; and beyond this an additional member is given for every additional 50,000 of population; and the county representation is based in like manner upon numbers. tions. The Universities are exceptions from the general principle Excepof the Act. Oxford has more than 6,000 voters, Cambridge about 6,700, Dublin about 4,500; each returns two members. Glasgow and Aberdeen combined have about 8,700 voters; Edinburgh and St. Andrews about 9,100. Of these last, each returns one member, and so does the University of London with about 3,800 voters 1. member encies. But the Redistribution Act makes a further change and Singledeparture from the traditions of our representative system; a constituchange which follows not unnaturally from the attempt to proportion members to population throughout the country. Except in the cases of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, of the City of London, which is reduced 1 As regards the number of voters the Universities compare favourably with several of the Irish Constituencies-with Galway (1759), Kilkenny (1769), Newry (1872). Registration. from four members to two, and of those towns which have hitherto combined the possession of two members with a population between the limits of 50,000 and 165,000, the constituencies return one member apiece. For instance, Wolverhampton, which returned two members, receives an additional member, and is cut into three wards or constituencies. Liverpool, which returned three members, now returns nine, and is divided into as many constituencies. Lancashire, which returned eight members in four divisions, now returns twentythree members in twenty-three divisions. Except in the cases which I have named as exceptions, in which the principle of the 'community has still been preserved,' the Act adopts, said Mr. Gladstone 1 : 'not absolutely as a uniform, but as a general and prevailing rule the system of what is known as one-member districts. The one-member district is, as far, as England is concerned, almost a novelty, because in a system of representation which counts and reckons more than six centuries of life, what began at the Reform Bill 2 may be considered almost a novelty. The recommendations of this system are, I think, these that it is very economical, it is very simple, and it goes a very long way towards what is roughly termed the representation of minorities ".' § 2. Registration. It is a condition precedent to the exercise of the right to vote that the voter should be upon the Register. This preliminary to the enjoyment of the franchise was first introduced when the franchise was remodelled in 1832, and the rules respecting it have been dealt with by various statutes. 1 CCXCIV. Hansard, 380. Debate of Dec. 1, 1884. 2 This is not strictly accurate. Edward IV gave by charter the right of returning one member to Wenlock. The Welsh counties and county towns each returned a member by a statute of Henry VIII; so did Bewdley, Higham Ferrers, and Banbury, enfranchised, the first two by Mary, the last by James I. 3 It can hardly be said that in the elections which have taken place under the new law the representation of minorities was much advanced by the single-member system. As this book is not a manual of election law I do not propose to go into the rules of Registration in detail. It is enough to describe the practice in outline for England, as settled by the Registration Act, 1885. 48 Vict. c. 15. Clerk of It is the duty of the clerk of the peace in a county, of the Duties of town-clerk in a borough, to send to the overseers of every the peace; parish or township, on or within seven days of the 15th of April in each year, a precept. The precept contains a description of the qualifications which entitle persons to be registered as voters, and the order and dates of the things which the overseer is required to do. By following the chief instructions conveyed in this precept we may obtain some knowledge of the process of registration. overseer, The overseer must in April or May ascertain who is entitled of the to be registered as an inhabitant occupier of a rated dwellinghouse, and must enter the names of such persons in a column of the rate-book. And if rateable property is not rated, the overseer must act in respect of the inhabitant occupiers of it as if it was rated. (41 & 42 Vict. c. 26, s. 14.) of owners, Before the 20th of June he must publish, if in a county con- in respect stituency, the existing register of ownership voters, and must give notice to any £10 occupier who has not paid his rates. Before the 22nd of July he must make out a list of such of occuoccupiers as, not having paid their rates by the 20th of July, are disqualified. And before the 31st of July he must ascertain from the relieving officer of the parish the names of all persons disqualified by receipt of parochial relief. piers, Before the 31st of July he must also make out a list of occupiers, that is, of all persons whom he has ascertained to be qualified as £10 rated occupiers, as inhabitant occupiers, and, if in a county, as 50 rental occupiers 1. He must make out a list of lodgers already on the register who have sent in of lodgers. The provision of the Act of 1832, which created this qualification, was expressly repealed by the Act of 1884, but the rights of persons entitled to be registered under this qualification were saved by s. 10 of the Act of 1884. Claims and objec tions. The Revising their claims to appear in respect of the same lodgings; and, if in a county, a list of ownership claimants. By the 20th of August all new claims have to be sent in, and the lists, together with notices of objections, have to be published on the door of every church or public chapel in the parish. By the 25th of August the lists of occupiers and old lodgers, and of claims and objections, must be sent by the overseer to the town-clerk in a borough, to the clerk of the peace in a county, with the addition of a copy of the ownership register, and of lists of claims and objections in respect of ownership. In September the Revising Barrister comes round and Barrister, adjudicates upon disputed claims and objections to names existing on the Register: from his decision an appeal lies on a case stated by him, to the Queen's Bench Division of the the Regis High Court, and on the result of the revision the Register is made out, containing three lists if it is for a county, two if it is for a borough. These are lists of ownership, occupation, and lodger voters; the ownership list is omitted in boroughs. The Register, thus made up, comes into force on the ensuing 1st of January, unless accelerated by special legislation. ter, how far conclusive. It will be seen that much care is taken in these provisions on behalf of the occupier. The ownership voter must claim in order to get on to the Register, but once there he need not make a fresh claim. The lodger voter has to claim afresh every year. The occupier is privileged to be entered by the overseer on the occupier's list without needing to make a claim. A man therefore who desires to vote for a county or borough must first obtain some one of the qualifications which have been set forth above, and next he must ensure that his name is placed upon the Register. But he may be subject to disqualifications which, if known and urged before a Revising Barrister, would have disentitled him to be placed upon the Register; and it has been questioned how far the evidence furnished by the Register is conclusive not only upon the returning officer who receives the votes, but upon the Court which may have to inquire into the validity of elections. Vict. c. 33, The question turns on the construction of s. 7 of the Ballot 35 & 36 Act, which enacts that no one shall be entitled to vote whose s. 7. name is not on the Register; that every one shall be entitled whose name is on the Register, but that nothing in this section shall entitle any person to vote who is prohibited from voting by any Statute or by the common law of Parliament.' And this exception to the conclusiveness of the Register has been interpreted not to include receipt of parochial relief, nonresidence within proper distance of the borough, non-occupation, insufficient qualification.' 'It does not mean persons who from failure in the incidents or elements of the franchise could be successfully objected to on the revision of the Register: it means persons who from some inherent or for the time irremoveable quality in themselves have not, either by prohibition of statute or of common law, the status of parliamentary electors 1.' The votes of such persons might be rejected by the returning officer, or if accepted by him might be struck off at a scrutiny upon an election petition. Thus an undergraduate of full age who, in default of objection, was placed on the Register of parliamentary voters for the City of Oxford in virtue of the occupation of college rooms, would be entitled to vote. Not so an infant undergraduate in a like position. §3. Mode of Election. The process by which an election is made has been described, in its preliminary stages, in an earlier chapter. It has been described up to the point at which the returning officer 2 1 Stowe V. Jolliffe, L. R. 9 C. P. 734. 2 The returning officer for a county, or town which is a county, is the sheriff, or a deputy appointed by him where there are divisions of the county and the sheriff does not act in all. In boroughs which are incorporated the mayor is the returning officer; in others a returning officer is provided by statute, or appointed by the sheriff. In the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, the Vice-Chancellor |