410 



ELECTION LAWS. 



uiary in. 



t |" mi*- 



is after he has been 

 brought aiul (Ijsmis- 

 wnrcU l>i- stuirk off, 



a iliininution ot' his 



brought within four calendar months from the date of 



.. ..-,! in 

 If : 



within four . 



lidded to the roll, or if it h.i- 

 Md by f : nttci 



without such n change of cin 

 for inst 

 , low the reipiisite valuation. 



Tiie follow iii^; is the mcMle of' proceeding at the 

 tion of a representative for a county, \\licn a new 

 .pnrli , illed. the lord chuncellor sc n<N hi 



rant to the clerk of die crown, to i --ue writ- to the 

 of each county f. r the election of members. 

 AVhi-n the writ comes into the hands of the sheriff, he 

 appoints a day for the election, which must be ,<t least 

 ore the meeting of parliament ; and the 

 writ must Ix? published three days before the election, 

 at the head borough of the county, on a market-day, 

 Ih'tw ixt ten and twelve forenoon, and at each p 

 church on the Sunday immediately thereafter. Tlic 

 frcehoiik'rs i>eing assembled in the crmrt-room, Ix 

 twt I vi 1 and two, the sheriff produces the writ and reads 

 it, and produces the executions at the market-en. 



': churches. If the publication has been regular, 

 the business proceeds by the reading of the act i! Geo. 

 II. c. 24, for the more effectually preventing bribery 

 and corruption. The sheriff-clerk then produces the 

 roll of freeholders, and the minutes of their proceed- 

 together with copies of the oaths of allegiance 

 anil abjuration, written on parchment. The freehold- 

 ers, whose names stand on the roll, then proceed to 

 make choice of a preses and clerk. In the case of an 

 "quHlity of votes, the casting vote is given in the fol- 

 lov. ing order : 1. To the last representative of the coun- 

 ty in parliament. 2. To the representative of the coun- 

 ty in a preceding parliament. ;{. To the freeholder 

 who last presided at a meeting of election. 4. To the 

 freeholder who has presided at a Michaelmas meeting; 

 and, failing all these, to the freeholder present whose 

 name stands first on the roll. A minute is then pre- 

 pared, stating the appointment of their officers, which 

 u signed by the last representative for the county, or 

 by the siieriff-clirk, and delivered to the clerk to the 

 meeting ; after which the freeholders proceed to take 

 and subscribe the oaths of allegiance, abjuration, and 

 assurance ; and the trust-oath may also now be put, if 

 required. The next step is to clear the roll of the 

 names of those who have died since the former meeting. 

 The freeholders then proceed to consider the objec- 

 tions made to those who stand on the roll, and, last of 

 all, they take up the claims for enrolment that have 

 been presented. A new roll is then made up, and de- 

 livered to the sheriff-clerk to be recorded. The preses 

 and clerk, however, may alter the order of the business 

 in any manner they think proper. 



At a meeting of election, the preses next calls the 

 rectified roll, and takes the votes of the freeholders for 

 the representative of the county, and he possesses a 

 casting vote in case of equality. The person having 

 the majority of votes is dec hired to be duly elected ; ami 

 minutes of the whole procedure are prepared by the 

 clerk to the meeting, and signed by the pre.-es and 

 i'ltrk. The clerk to the meeting must immediately re- 

 turn the person chosen; and the sheriff, after annexing 

 the return to the writ, transmits both to the crown-of- 

 fice in Chancery ; and the clerk to the crown must en- 

 ter the writ and return, in a book kept in his office, 

 without alteration, within six days after they shall have 

 come into his hands. 



The duties incumbent on person* noting t election* 

 in any oi ; 



presides in the election of i 

 clerk inn-! mil regularly, under a penalty "f 



. til-- minutrs of this nomination , 

 up, and delivered u: 

 of the 



the cliTl, >wn- 



i 



'.I. I ' ronghl. I'll, -non of 



()! ; ners by v 



scntcd in | '. 1.'. are.choten by the boroi 



one by Edinburgh, and one by each of the oilier J* ',"'1,'^"" 

 districts of ro\ ,il boroughs. 



The following is a list of the 1 ) districts of royal bo- 

 roughs, in the order of their precedency : 



1 

 Tnin. 



Dingwall. 

 Donioch. 

 Wick. 

 Kirkwall. 



4 



Aberdeen. 

 Montrose. 

 lirechin. 

 AlH;rb:-othic. 

 Inverbervie. 



7 



Dysart. 

 Kirkcaldy. 

 Imrntislaud. 

 Kinghorn. 



Inverness. 

 Nairn. 

 I'orris. 

 Fort rose. 



5 



Perth. 

 Dundee. 

 St Andrews, 

 ('upir. 

 Forfar. 



8 



Stirling. 

 Inverkeithing. 

 Dimfermlino. 

 Culross. 

 Queensferry. 



11 



Linlithgow. 

 Selkirk. 

 Lanark. 

 Peebles. 



in. 

 Banffl 



('alien. 

 Kintoro. 

 . ury. 

 6 



I'lUciiwcem. 

 Cmil. 



Ai!struthcr\Y( 

 Kilreimy. 



Glasgow. 

 Dunbarton. 

 h'enit 

 liutherglen. 



10 



Iladdington. 

 .Tedburgh. 

 Dunbar. 

 North Berwick 

 Lander. 



13 



Wigton. 



Whithom. 



New Galloway. 



Stranraer. 



1:2 



Dumfries. 



Kirkcudbright. 



Annan. 



Lochmabcn. 



San([uhar. 



11. 

 Ayr. 

 Irvine. 

 IJoth 

 Invcrary. 

 Campbelton. 



When an election is to take place, each royal bo- 

 rough in the district chuscs a commissioner, or dele- 

 gate, who meet and chuse the representative for the 

 district. At the meeting of tbe'conunueknen for clm- 

 sing a representative, the commissioners from the seve- 

 ral boroughs in the district preside in tlieir respective 

 turns, and have a casting vote in the case of an equa- 

 lity. Any person, whether a burgess or not, may be 

 chosen as a delegate, to whom a commission is dr:wn 

 up by the clerk of the borough, authenticated with the 

 common seal. The delegates from the different bo- 

 roughs meet at the presiding borough thirty days alter 

 the Ifx/i of the writ issued to the sheriff, U-tween eleven 

 and twelve forenoon, for the purpu.-c of electing the re- 

 'ilative. After production of the sheriff's pre- 

 cepts, and reading the -d act of Geo. II. the conimis- 

 fur the presiding borough administers the oaths 

 to government, and agninst briber\ . to tin- clerk of the 

 ])n-si(iing borough, as clerk of the meeting. The com- 

 missions are then read, and, if any objections are made, 

 the-.', with the ;ins\\ crs, \-e. must be entered on the mi- 

 nutes of the election. The commissioners tlvcn take 



