Want of property qualification admitted. cation admitted. XXIII. of Clare, in the room of Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, who, since Chapter Mr. Southey, in 1826, elected for Downton, during his absence on the Continent, addressed a letter to the Speaker, in which he stated that he had not the qualification of estate then required by law (see p. 28). The house waited until after the expiration of the time limited for presenting election petitions, and then issued a new writ for the Disqualifi- borough. In like manner, Mr. Cowan, member for Edinburgh, addressed a letter to the Speaker, 25th November, 1847, stating that at the time of his election he had been disqualified, as being a party to a contract then subsisting with her Majesty's stationery office. At the expiration of fourteen days, when his seat could no longer be claimed by any other candidate, his letter was read, and a new writ ordered. The same course was adopted, in 1874, Disqualifiby Mr. Ramsay, member for the Falkirk Burghs, on condiscovering that he held a small share in a contract with trac the post-office. On the 24th June, 1880, a new writ bankrupts, was issued for Buteshire in the room of Thomas Russell, an unEsq., who, having entered into a contract for the public member service, at the time of his election, was incapable of being elected." Chiltern It is a settled principle of parliamentary law, that a member, after he is duly chosen, cannot relinquish his seat; 8 Hardinge, Governor-general of India, 1 133 C. J. 376. 415; 134 ib. 161; 2 82 C. J. 28. • Ib. 108. 4 103 ib. 17. 5 8th Dec. 1847, 103 ib. 102. 81 C. J. 724; 2 ib. 201. In 1775, cation of tractors. see p. 31; see p. 32; sworn who has sit in the house, see P. 168. Chapter and, in order to evade this restriction, a member who wishes XXIII. to retire, accepts office under the Crown, which legally 8 vacates his seat, and obliges the house to order a new 1 According to Hatsell, this practice began about the year 1750. The first instance was that of Mr. John Pitt, on the 17th Jan. 1750, and the next that of Mr. Henry Vane, M.P. for Downton in 1753. The office of escheator of Munster was abolished in 1838. The offices of steward of the manors of East Hendred and Hempholme were last used for this purpose in 1840 and 1865 respectively. See appendix No. 5 to Report of select committee on House of Commons (Vacating of Seats), Parl. Paper, No. 278 (sess. 1894), pp. 57. 58. 2 See letter of Mr. Goulburn to Viscount Chelsea, Parl. Paper, 1842, (544); and see 3 Lord Dalling, Life of Lord Palmerston, 103. In 1775, Lord North refused to give one of these offices to Mr. Bayly, who de sired to stand for Abingdon, in opposition to a ministerial candidate, saying, "I have made it my constant rule to resist every application of that kind, when any gentleman entitled to my friendship would have been prejudiced by my compliance," 18 Parl. Hist. 418, n. "The office of steward of the Chiltern Hundreds is an appointment under the hand and seal of the chancellor of the exchequer," Lord Colchester's Diary, 175. 38 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 50; 103 ib. 212. In answer to a question, Mr. Goschen stated that during the years 1882-1888, on nine occasions the office of the Chiltern Hundreds was granted during a parliamentary recess, 15th Feb. 1892, 1 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 46. Members vacating to be re elected. Chiltern accepted by XXIII. warrants of appointment grant them "together with all Chapter writs with 632. Sir Fitzroy Kelly, solicitor-general, having been returned for Harwich on the 15th April, 1852, immediately afterwards announced himself as a candidate for East Suffolk, the election for which county was appointed to be held on the 1st May. He had been returned for Harwich without See issue of opposition, yet on the 29th April a petition was lodged held, p. against his return, in the hope of preventing the treasury from granting him the Chiltern Hundreds. But as his seat was not claimed, he at once received the required appointment; and was returned for East Suffolk, and took his seat again, before a new writ had been issued for Harwich.2 Again, in February 1865, The O'Donoghue, being member for Tipperary, offered himself as a candidate for Tralee : but before the day of election, he qualified himself to be elected by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds. In 1878, Mr. Wingfield Malcolm, member for Boston, accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, in order to qualify himself as a candidate for the county of Argyll.4 In the session of 1847-48, a member having had doubts suggested whether he had not been disqualified at the time a member of his election, as a contractor (see p. 31), thought it disqualiprudent not to take his seat, in case of being sued for the penalties under the Act. He was, however, unwilling to admit his disqualification; and he accordingly applied for the Chiltern Hundreds. Doubts were raised as to the fied. The words, "reposing especial trust and confidence in the care and fidelity of," &c., were first omitted in the year 1861. 2 The entry in the votes is as follows: "Sir Fitzroy Kelly having, since his return for the borough of Harwich, accepted the office of steward of her Majesty's 3 120 C. J. 4. 50. XXIII. Chapter propriety of allowing him to vacate his seat by this method : but it was agreed that, as the time had expired for questioning, by an election petition, the validity of his return, and as the house had no cognizance of his probable disqualification, there could be no objection to his accepting office, which solved all doubts, and at once obliged the house to issue a new writ. In 1880, Mr. Dodson, elected at the general election in March for the city of Chester, afterwards accepted the office of president of the local government board, and was reelected without opposition. Meanwhile a petition had been lodged against his first election; and in July the election judges determined that his election was void, on the ground of bribery by his agents. It was generally held that, by virtue of the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, and the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868, s. 46, he was thenceforth incapable of sitting for Chester in that Parliament. But as his second election had not been questioned, doubts were raised whether he had legally ceased to be a member, and was qualified to sit for another constituency. To remove all doubts upon this question, he accordingly accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, and was elected for Scarborough. Unsworn members can avail themselves of these offices: 1 and when Mr. Bradlaugh voted, on the 11th February, 1884, being an unsworn member (see p. 167), the office of the Chiltern Hundreds was granted to him, whereon the new writ was issued to supply the vacancy which by his conduct had taken place.2 not va If one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of state should When seats be transferred from one department to another, his seat is cated. not vacated, as there is no such division of departments in the office of secretary of state as to render them distinct Position of offices under the Crown. And by the Reform Acts of 1867 cumulative and 1868, members holding certain offices are not required offices, see to vacate their seats on the acceptance of any other office there enumerated; and as this list comprises, or was intended holders of p. 648. 1857, 112 ib. 343. 1 Baron L. de Rothschild, 27th June, 1849, 104 C. J. 430; 23rd July, 2 12th Feb. 1884, 139 ib. 46. XXIII. to comprise, all the parliamentary offices under the Crown Chapter which vacate the seats of members, it may now be stated generally that any member who has already vacated his seat on the acceptance of one of these offices, is not required to vacate it, on the immediate acceptance of another.' But if he has held an office which did not vacate his seat, a new writ is issued on his acceptance of another office, by which his seat is vacated by law. The resumption of an office which has been resigned, but to which no successor has been appointed, does not vacate a seat. As the secretaries of the treasury, the several under secretaries of state, and the secretary to the admiralty, are by 15 Geo. II. c. 22, qualified to sit in Parliament, their seats are not vacated; and in like manner, the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 72 enacted that the office of parliamentary secretary to the board of trade, which was substituted for the vice-presidentship of the board of trade, shall not render the person holding it incapable of being elected, or of sitting or voting as a member, or vacate his seat if returned. By 29 & 30 Vict. c. 55, it was declared 130 & 31 Vict. c. 102, s. 52, and sch. H. The like clauses and schedules are also comprised in the Scotch and Irish Reform Acts of 1868. 2 On the 28th Feb. 1868, a new writ was issued for Northamptonshire, in the room of Mr. Hunt, secretary to the treasury, on his acceptance of the office of chancellor of the exchequer. Again, Mr. Ayrton, secretary to the treasury, vacated his seat in 1869, on accepting the office of first commissioner of works. Mr. Stansfeld having been a commissioner of the treasury in 1868, was afterwards appointed secretary to the treasury, and in March, 1871, having accepted the office of commissioner for the relief of the poor, it became a question whether his seat was again vacated. A writ had been issued on his acceptance of one office in the schedule, and now he had accepted another; but the words of the Act are, "where a person has been returned as a member to serve in Parliament since the acceptance by him, from the Crown, of any office described in sch. H to this Act annexed, the subsequent acceptance by him, from the Crown, of any other office or offices described in such schedule, in lieu of, and in immediate succession the one to the other, shall not vacate his seat;" and as he had occupied an intermediate office, not in the schedule, a writ was issued for Halifax on the 8th March, 1871. 3 For similar provisions in later statutes see 33 & 34 Vict. c. 17, ss. 2 & 3 (surveyor general of ordnance and financial secretary to the war office); 34 & 35 Vict. c. 70, s. 4 (one secretary of the local government board); 62 & 63 Vict. c. 33, s. 8 (2) (one secretary of the board of education); ib. c. 50, s. 1 (3) (vice-president of department of agriculture in Ireland). |