of being elected, or of sitting or voting as members of Sect. 3. the house of commons: and by section 29, are subjected sions from to the penalty therein contained, if they presume to the Crown sit or vote. The stat. 1 G. 1. s. 2. c. 56. which recites the above provision, to the end that it may not be defeated or eluded by any member accepting any pension for any number or term of years, by s. 1, enacts, That no person, having any pension from the crown for any term or number of years, either in his own name, or in the name or names of any other person or persons in trust for him, or for his benefit, shall be capable of being elected, or of sitting or voting as a member of the house of commons. during pleasure disqualified. A person having a pension from the crown for a term or number of years, is dis sect. 15.) ante, p. 49. By s. 2. of the same act, any person having such pen- Penalty. sion, and presuming to to sit or vote, forfeits £20 for every day in which he shall so sit or vote, to such person or persons as will sue for the same, in manner therein mentioned. c. 41. s. 1. It was formerly questionable under the terms of this enactment, whether a person whose wife had a pension for years was also disqualified, as being in effect for his benefit. By the Irish act any person whose wife has a 33 G. 3. pension for years, is disqualified; but this act does not extend to England, and it is now decided by a committee, that such pension held by the wife is not a disqualification to the husband in this country. In the last Reading case, March 1819, a petition having been presented against the return of Charles Fyshe Palmer, Esq. who had been elected, together with Charles Shaw Lefevre, Esq. member for Reading, it appeared before the committee, that soon after the election commenced, a public notice was given "That the said Charles Fyshe Palmer was disqualified to serve in parliament, having a pension in right of his wife, Lady Madelina Palmer; Sect. 3. 7 & 8 W. 3. c. 4, s. 2. 2 Peck. 189. Clifford 3. 79.131. 342. 353. 357.392. 81. 222. 261. &c. Roe 258. qualifications. and that the votes given for him after such notice, would be thrown away." Mr. Palmer did not deny that his wife had such pension, but contended that such pension did not disqualify him; and he having been returned, the electors petitioned in right of the third candidate, Mr. Weyland. Before the election Mr. Palmer had himself received the pension, but after the election the mode had been altered, and it was then received by Lady Madelina Palmer, without the intervention of Mr. Palmer. The attorney had received directions to account to Lady Madelina only. The committee decided that the sitting member was duly elected. A candidate guilting of treating, cannot serve in parliament upon such election for such county, city, town, borough, port, or place. Bribery committed by a successful candidate, whose election has been declared void on that account, disqualifies him from being elected at the ensuing election for that place; and in either of the last mentioned cases, if there be sufficient notice at the election of such disqualification, the votes given to such person will be thrown away, and the other candidate seated.* These are general disqualifications, which make the person who labours under them ineligible either for Partial dis- counties, cities, or boroughs. There are other disqualifications of a partial nature, which render the party ineligible for one representation and not for another. Thus [55] some persons are qualified for boroughs, who are not so for counties; others are qualified for some boroughs or counties, and not for others; and these partial or particular qualifications, or disqualifications, arise from civil policy, which has, from time to time, interposed for the better regulation of parliamentary representation. These See further on bribery and treating, and the penalties and disabilities which are thereby incurred, at the end of the 3d part of this treatise. $8 Jour. 15. 245. 415. Feb. 1782. will be mentioned more fully in the 2d and 3d chapters, Sect. s. under the different heads to which they belong. Before Kirkcudwe proceed to these particular disqualifications, it may bright Ca. not be improper to add, that if a person who is clearly ineligible becomes a candidate, and notice is given, and sufficient proof is shewn or tendered to the voters, of the facts or circumstances which render such candidate ineligible, the voices given to him are thrown away, and the candidate with the next greater number of votes is duly elected.* 689. Fife Ca. 9 Dec 1779. 37 Jour. 500. 560, 561. See Notice of disqualification, Appendix, No. See this act becoming a bankrupt, disqualified. By the stat. 52 G. 3. c. 144. s. 1. wherever a commis- 29, p. 32. sion of bankruptcy shall be awarded against any member in the Apof the house of commons, and he shall be found and de- pendix. Member clared a bankrupt under the same, he is incapacitated, for the next twelve calendar months, from sitting or voting in the house, unless within that period the commission shall be superseded, or the creditors proving their debts shall be paid or satisfied the full amount of their debts under the commission; the same clause having a proviso, that such debts, (if any,) as shall be disputed by the bankrupt, (if he shall, within the same time, enter into security according to the directions of the act, to pay such money as shall be recovered against him in law or equity, together with the costs,) shall be considered, for the purpoes of the act, as paid or satisfied. By s. 2. of the same statute, if the commission shall not, within twelve calendar months, be superseded, nor the debts so satisfied, then the commissioners are required, immediately after the expiration of twelve calendar months from the issuing of the commission, to certify the same to the speaker, and thereupon the election of such member is to be void; and the speaker is authorized and required, during any recess, forthwith, after receiving such certificate, to cause notice thereof to be inserted in the London Gazette, and then, upon the expiration of See this subject mere fully discussed at the end of the 3d part of this work. Vide also Leominster case, post. p. 60. [56] Sect. 3. Roe p. 226. Sheriffs. fourteen days, to issue his warrant to the clerk of the crown, to make out a new writ in the room of such member: but the act does not empower the speaker to issue such warrant, unless such certificate shall have been delivered to him so long before the next meeting of the house for the dispatch of business, as that the writ may be issued before that time. And, by s. 3. of the act, the provisions of the stat. 24 G. 3. with respect to the issuing of writs during the vacancy of the office of speaker, or during his absence out of the realm, are extended to the case of seats so becoming vacant. This disqualification is confined to the case of persons who being already in parliament, become bankrupt. There is nothing in the act, which goes to incapacitate any other persons by reason of bankruptcy. It was long unsettled how far a sheriff was or was not capable of being elected, and for what place. Sir E. Coke,* when he was sheriff for the county of Bucks, was [57] chosen member for the county of Norfolk, and actually took his seat. He was at that time under the persecution of the court, and notwithstanding the interference of Car. I. the committee of privileges and elections, to whom his case was referred, made no report against his eligibility; and afterwards, in a suit in chancery, he was allowed the privilege of parliament. This is laid down by himself, in his 4th Institute, as an adjudication of his right; and Mr. Bl. Com. v. Justice Blackstone, in his Commentary, considers the 1. p. 175. *The history of the case of Sir Edward Coke is well known. He, together with Sir Thomas Wentworth, Sir Francis Seymour, Sir Robert Phillips, Sir Guy Palmer, Mr. Edw. Alford, and Sir Wm. Fleetwood, being able and distinguished opposers of the arbitrary attempts of the crown, were appointed sheriffs, with the express intention of disqualifying them from being chosen to parliament.-4 Doug. 102, 439. As the stat. 3 G. 1, takes away the obligation to residence, sheriffs are now eligible, except for those places where they are to make the return.3 G. 1. c. 15, s. 18. 30 Journ. 439, 456, 466, 506, 601. 4 Dougl. 87, 125. Roe, p. 161. (n). 9 Journ. p. 378. 10 Journ. 324, 335. Sect. 3. vid. Abing ton Ca. 143. point as settled. In the first case on that subject, which has occurred since the establishment of the new judicature, it has been determined, that a sheriff is ineligible to a borough within the county of which he is sheriff at the time of election ;* and, in a subsequent case, that the Dougl. 1. sheriff of a county is eligible for a town, which is a county did. Ab of itself, though lying within the district of the county 446. whereof he is sheriff. +. The former case must be presumed 4 Dougl. to have been decided upon; the impolicy and inconveni- Southamp ence of suffering a person to return himself, and of leaving it in his power to judge of the legality of votes which are given to himself: a contrary doctrine would make him actor and judex in the same cause. But that reason does [58] not hold in the latter case, because the district is out of his jurisdiction, and he himself has nothing to do in the execution of the writ. Thus the negative words of the writ are construed not to make a general, but only a local disability. The words of the writ are, "Willing neverthe- Nolumus "less that neither you, nor any other sheriff of this our "said kingdom, be in any wise elected." The statute or ordonance of 46 E. 3. upon which this change of the writ was founded, being restrictive only of the choice of The case of members becoming sheriffs is not likely again to occur, (except in London and Middlesex, where they are eligible by the people,) the house having resolved on the 7th Jan. 1689," that the nominating any member of this house to the king, to be made a sheriff, is a breach of the privilege of this house;" the king, at the same time, (on petition from the house,) appointed another person sheriff for Yorkshire, in the room of a member of the house who had been nominated. Roe p. 161. (n), Mr. M. returned for Abingdon, was sheriff for Berks; the return was disputed on the ineligibility of Mr. M. The committee determined, that neither the sitting member nor the petitioner, were duly elected, and that the election was void. 1 Doug. 446.-The committee assigned no reason for their determination. There are instances of sheriffs returned for boroughs within their own counties, and allowed to sit, although objected to at their election, and petitioned against. 1 Doug. 454. n. (K.) In the Southampton case, “Resolved, that it is the opinion of this com"mittee, that J. F. being sheriff for HAMPSHIRE at the time of the last "general election, was eligible to serve in parliament for the town of Southampton," which is a county of itself. 4 Doug. 143, clause. |