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the petition may be held at such place within the district as the court may appoint.

12. The judge presiding at the trial may adjourn the same from time to time and from any one place to any other place within the county or borough, as to him may seem expedient.

13. At the conclusion of the trial the judge who tried the petition shall determine whether the member whose return or election is complained of, or any and what other person, was duly returned or elected, or whether the election was void, and shall forthwith certify in writing such determination to the Speaker, and upon such certificate being given such determination shall be final to all intents and purposes.

14. Where any charge is made in an election petition of any corrupt practice having been committed at the election to which the petition refers, the judge shall, in addition to such certificate, and at the same time, report in writing to the Speaker as follows: (a.) Whether any corrupt practice has or has not been proved to have been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of any candidate at such election, and the nature of such corrupt practice:

15.

(b.)

The names of all persons (if any) who have been proved at the trial to have been guilty of any corrupt practice: (c.) Whether corrupt practices have, or whether there is reason to believe that corrupt practices have, extensively prevailed at the election to which the petition relates. The judge may at the same time make a special report to the Speaker as to any matters arising in the course of the trial, an account of which in his judgment ought to be submitted to the House of Commons.

16. Where, upon the application of any party to a petition made in the prescribed manner to the court, it appears to the court that the case raised by the petition can be conveniently stated as a special case, the court may direct the same to be stated accordingly, and any such special case shall, as far as may be, be heard before the court, and the decision of the court shall be final; and the court shall certify to the Speaker its determination in reference to such special case.

XII. Provided always, that if it shall appear to the judge on the trial of the said petition that any question or questions of law as to the admissibility of evidence or otherwise require further consideration by the Court of Common Pleas, then it shall be lawful for the said judge to postpone the granting of the said certificate until the determination of such question or questions by the court, and for this purpose to reserve any such question or questions in like manner as questions are usually reserved by a judge on a trial at nisi prius.

XIII. The House of Commons, on being informed by the Speaker of such certificate and report or reports, if any, shall order the same to be entered in their journals, and shall give the necessary directions for confirming or altering the return, or for issuing a writ for a new election, or for carrying the determination into execution, as circumstances may require.

XIV. Where the judge makes a special report the House of Commons may make such order in respect of such special report as they think proper.

XV. If the judge states in his report on the trial of an election petition under this Act that corrupt practices have, or that there is reason to believe that corrupt practices have, extensively prevailed in any county or borough at the election to which the petition relates, such statement shall for all the purposes of the Act of the session of the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter fifty-seven, intituled an Act to provide for more effectual inquiry into the existence of corrupt practices at elections of members to serve in Parliament, have the same effect and may be dealt with in the same manner as if it were a report of a committee of the House of Commons appointed to try an election petition, and the expenses of any commission of inquiry which may be issued in accordance with the provisions of the said Act shall be defrayed as if they were expenses incurred in the registration of voters for such county or borough.

XVI. The report of the judge in respect of persons guilty of corrupt practices shall for the purpose of the prosecution of such persons in pursuance of section nine of the Act of the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter twenty-nine, have the same effeet as the report of the election committee therein mentioned that certain persons have been guilty of bribery and treating.

XVII. On the trial of an election petition under this Act, unless the judge otherwise directs, any charge of a corrupt practice may be gone into and evidence in relation thereto received before any proof has been given of agency on the part of any candidate in respect of such corrupt practice.

XVIII. The trial of an election petition under this Act shall be proceeded with notwithstanding the acceptance by the respondent of an office of profit under the Crown.

XIX. The trial of an election petition under this Act shall be proceeded with notwithstanding the prorogation of Parliament.

Proceedings.

XX. An election petition under this Act shall be in such form and state such matters as may be prescribed.

XXI. An election petition under this Act shall be served as nearly as may be in the manner in which a writ or summons is served, or in such other manner as may be prescribed.

XXII. Two or more candidates may be made respondents to the same petition, and their case may for the sake of convenience be tried at the same time, but for all the purposes of this Act, such petition shall be deemed to be a separate petition against each respondent.

XXIII. Where, under this Act, more petitions than one are presented relating to the same election or return, all such petitions shall in the election list be bracketed together, and shall be dealt with as one petition,

but such petitions shall stand in the election list in the place where the last of such petitions would have stood if it had been the only petition presented, unless the Court shall otherwise direct.

XXIV. On the trial of an election petition under this Act the shorthand writer of the House of Commons or his deputy shall attend and shall be sworn by the judge faithfully and truly to take down the evidence given at the trial, and from time to time as occasion requires to write or cause the same to be written in words at length; and it shall be the duty of such shorthand writer to take down such evidence, and from time to time to write or cause the same to be written at length, and a copy of such evidence shall accompany the certificate made by the judge to the Speaker; and the expenses of the shorthand writer shall be deemed to be part of the expenses incurred in receiving the judge.

Jurisdiction and Rules of Court.

XXV. The judges for the time being on the rota for the trial of election petitions in England and Ireland may respectively from time to time make, and may from time to time revoke and alter, general rules and orders (in this Act referred to as the rules of court), for the effectual execution of this Act, and of the intention and object thereof, and the regulation of the practice, procedure, and costs of election petitions, and the trial thereof, and the certifying and reporting thereon.

Any general rules and orders made as aforesaid shall be deemed to be within the powers conferred by this Act, and shall be of the same force as if they were enacted in the body of this Act.

Any general rules and orders made in pursuance of this section shall be laid before Parliament within three weeks after they are made if Parliament be then sitting, and if Parliament be not then sitting, within three weeks after the beginning of the then next session of Parliament.

XXVI. Until rules of court have been made in pursuance of this Act, and so far as such rules do not extend, the principles, practice, and rules on which committees of the House of Commons have theretofore acted in dealing with election petitions shall be observed so far as may be by the court and judge in the case of election petitions under this Act.

XXVII. The duties to be performed by the prescribed officer under this Act shall be performed by such one or more of the masters of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster as may be determined by the chief justice of the said Court of Common Pleas, and by the master of the Court of Common Fleas at Dublin, and there shall be awarded to such masters respectively, in addition to their existing salaries, such remuneration for the performance of the duties imposed on them in pursuance of this Act as the chief justices of the said Courts of Common Pleas at Westminster and Dublin may respectively, with the consent of the commissioners of the treasury, determine.

Reception, Expenses, and Jurisdiction of Judge.

XXVIII. The judge shall be received at the place where he is about to try an election petition under this Act with the same state, so far as

circumstances admit, as a judge of assize is received at an assize town; be shall be received by the sheriff in the case of a petition relating to a county election, and in any other case by the mayor, in the case of a borough having a mayor, and in the case of a borough not having a mayor by the sheriff of the county in which the borough is situate, or by some person named by such sheriff.

The travelling and other expenses of the judge, and all expenses properly incurred by the sheriff or by such mayor or person named as aforesaid in receiving the judge and providing him with necessary accommodation and with a proper court, shall be defrayed by the commissioners to the treasury out of money to be provided by Parliament.

XXIX. On the trial of an election petition under this Act the judge shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have the same powers, jurisdiction, and authority as a judge of one of the superior courts and as a judge of assize and nisi prius, and the court held by him shall be a court of record.

XXX. The judge shall be attended on the trial of an election petition under this Act in the same manuer as if he were a judge sitting at nisi prius, and the expenses of such attendance shall be deemed to be part of the expenses of providing a court.

Witnesses.

XXXI. Witnesses shall be subpoenaed and sworn in the same manner as nearly as circumstances admit as in a trial at nisi prius, and shall be subject to the same penalties for perjury.

XXXII. On the trial of an election petition under this Act the judge may, by order under his hand, compel the attendance of any person as a witness who appears to him to have been concerned in the election to which the petition refers, and any person refusing to obey such order shall be guilty of contempt of court The judge may examine any witness so compelled to attend or any person in court although such witness is not called and examined by any party to the petition. After the examination of a witness as aforesaid by a judge such witness may be cross-examined by or on behalf of the petitioner and respondent, or either of them.

XXXIII. The provisions of the seventh section of the Act of the session of the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter twenty-nine relating to the examination and indemnity of witnesses, shall apply to any witness appearing before a judge on the trial of an election petition under this Act, in the same manuer as in the case of a trial before a committee of the House of Commons before the passing of this Act, and the certificate shall be given under the hand of the judge.

XXXIV. The reasonable expenses incurred by any person in appearing to give evidence at the trial of an election petition under this Act according to the scale allowed to witnesses on the trial of civil actions at the assizes, may be allowed to such persons by a certificate under the hand of the judge or of the prescribed officer, and such expenses if the witness was called and examined by the judge shall be deemed part of

the expenses of providing a court, and in other cases shall be deemed to be costs of the petition.

Withdrawal and Abatement of Election Petitions.

XXXV. An election petition under this Act shall not be withdrawn without the leave of the court or judge upon special application to be made in and at the prescribed manner, time, and place.

No such application shall be made for the withdrawal of a petition until the prescribed notice has been given in the county or borough to which the petition relates of the intention of the petitioner to make an application for the withdrawal of his petition.

On the hearing of the application for withdrawal any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election to which the petition relates may apply to the court or judge to be substituted as a petitioner for the petitioner so desirous of withdrawing the petition.

The court or judge may, if it or he think fit, substitute as a petitioner any such applicant as aforesaid; and may further if the proposed withdrawal is in the opinion of the court or judge induced by any corrupt bargain or consideration, by order direct that the security given on behalf of the original petitioner shall remain as security for any costs that may be incurred by the substituted petitioner and that to the extent of the sum named in such security the original petitioner shall be liable to pay the costs of the substituted petitioner.

If no such order is made with respect to the security given on behalf of the original petitioner, security to the same amount as would be required in the case of a new petition, and subject to the like conditions, shall be given on behalf of the substituted petitioner before he proceeds with his petition, and within the prescribed time after the order of substitution.

Subject as aforesaid a substituted petitioner shall stand in the same position as nearly as may be, and be subject to the same liabilities as the original petitioner.

If a petition is withdrawn, the petitioner shall be liable to pay the costs of the respondent.

Where there are more petitioners than one, no application to withdraw a petition shall be made except with the consent of all the petitioners.

XXXVI. In every case of the withdrawal of an election petition under this Act the court or judge shall report to the Speaker whether in its or his opinion the withdrawal of such petition was the result of any corrupt arrangement, or in consideration of the withdrawal of any other petition, and if so the circumstances attending the withdrawal.

XXXVII. An election petition under this Act shall be abated by the death a sole petitioner or of the survivor of several petitioners. The abatement of a petition shall not affect the liability of the petitioner to the payment of costs previously incurred.

The abatement of a petition, the prescribed notice of such abatement having taken place shall be given in the county or borough to which the petition relates, and within the prescribed time after the notice is given, any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election to which the petition relates may apply to the court or judge in and at the prescribed manner, time, and place, to be substituted as a petitioner.

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