The court or judge may, if it or he think fit, substitute as a petitioner any such applicant who is desirous of being substituted and on whose behalf security to the same amount is given as is required in the case of a new petition.

XXXVIII.

If before the trial of any election petition under this Act any of the following events happen in the case of the respondent; (that is to say,)

(1.) If he dies:

(2.) If he is summoned to Parliament as a peer of Great Britain by a writ issued under the great seal of Great Britain:

(3.) If the House of Commons have resolved that his seat is vacant: (4.) If he gives in and at the prescribed manner and time notice to the court that he does not intend to oppose the petition: Notice of such event 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 to be admitted as a respondent to oppose the petition, and such person shall on such application be admitted accordingly, either with the respondent, if there be a respondent, or in place of the respondent; and any number of persons not exceeding three may be so admitted.

XXXIX. A respondent who has given the prescribed notice that he does not intend to oppose the petition shall not be allowed to appear or act as a party against such petition in any proceedings thereon, and shall not sit or vote in the House of Commous until the House of Commons has been informed of the report on the petition, and the court or judge shall in all cases in which such notice has been given in the prescribed time and manner report the same to the Speaker of the House of Commons. XL. Where an election petition under this Act complains of a double return and the respondent has given notice to the prescribed officer that it is not his intention to oppose the petition, and no party has been admitted in pursuance of this Act to defend such return, then the petitioner, if there be no petition complaining of the other member returned on such double return, may withdraw his petition by notice addressed to the prescribed officer, and upon the receipt of such notice the prescribed officer shall report the fact of the withdrawal of such petition to the Speaker, and the House of Commons shall thereupon give the necessary directions for amending the said double return by taking off the file the indenture by which the respondent so declining to oppose the petition was returned, or otherwise as the case may require: [provided always, that this section shall not apply to Ireland.] (u)

Costs.

XLI. All costs, charges, and expenses of and incidental to the presentation of a petition under this Act, and to the proceedings consequent thereon, with the exception of such costs, charges, and expenses as are by this Act otherwise provided for, shall be defrayed by the parties to the

(a) Repealed by the 35th and 36th Victoriæ, cap. 33.

petition in such manner and in such proportions as the court or judge may determine, regard being had to the disallowance of any costs, charges, or expenses which may in the opinion of the court or judge have been caused by vexatious conduct, unfounded allegations, or unfounded objections the part either of the petitioner or the respondent, and regard being had to the discouragement of any needless expense by throwing the burden of defraying the same on the parties by whom it has been caused, whether such parties are or not on the whole successful.

The costs may be taxed in the prescribed manner but according to the same principles as costs between attorney and client are taxed in a suit in the High Court of Chancery, and such costs may be recovered in the same manner as the costs of an action at law, or in such other manner as may be prescribed.

XLII. If any petitioner in an election petition presented under this Act neglect or refuse for the space of six months after demand to pay to any persons ummoned as a witness on his behalf, or to the respondent, any sum certified to be due to him for his costs, charges, and expenses, and if such neglect or refusal be, within one year after such demand, proved to the satisfaction of the court of elections, in every such case every person who has entered into a recognizance relating to such petition under the provisions of this Act shall be held to have made default in his said recognizance, and the prescribed officer shall thereupon certify such recognizance to be forfeited, and the same shall be dealt with in England in manner provided by the Act of the third year of the reign of King George the fourth, chapter forty-six, and in Ireland in manner provided by "The fines Act (Ireland), 1851."

Punishment of corrupt Practices.

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XLIII. Where it is found, by the report of the judge upon election petition under this Act, that bribery has been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of any candidate at an election, such candidate shall be deemed to have been personally guilty of bribery at such election, and his election, if he has been elected, shall be void, and he shall be incapable of being elected to and of sitting in the House of Commons during the seven years next after the date of his being found guilty; and he shall further be incapable during the said period of seven years—

(1.) Of being registered as a voter and voting at any election in the United Kingdom; and

(2.)

Of holding any office under the Act of the session of the fifth and sixth years of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, chapter seventy-six, or of the session of the third and fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and eight, or any municipal office; and

(3.) Of holding any judicial office, and of being appointed and of acting as a justice of the peace.

XLIV. If on the trial of any election petition under this Act any candidate is proved to have personally engaged at the election to which such petition relates as a canvasser or agent for the management of the

election, any person knowing that such person has within seven years previous to such engagement been found guilty of any corrupt practice by any competent legal tribunal, or been reported guilty of any corrupt practice by a committee of the House of Commons, or by the report of the judge upon an election petition under this Act, or by the report of commissioners appointed in pursuance of the Act of the session of the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter fifty-seven, the election of such candidate shall be void.

XLV. Any person, other than a candidate, found guilty of bribery in any proceeding in which after notice of the charge he has had an opportunity of being heard, shall, during the seven years next after the time at which he is so found guilty, be incapable of being elected to and sitting in Parliament; and also be incapable

(1.) Of being registered as a voter and voting at any election in the united kingdom; and

(2.) Of holding any office under the Act of the session of the fifth

and sixth years of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, chapter seventy-six, or of the session of the third and fourth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter one hundred and eight, or any municipal office; and

(3.) Of holding any judicial office, and of being appointed and of acting as a justice of the peace.

XLVI. For the purpose of disqualifying, in pursuance of the thirty-sixth section of The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854," a member guilty of corrupt practices, other than personal bribery within the fortythird section of this Act, the report of the judge on the trial of an election petition shall be deemed to be substituted for the declaration of an election committee and the said section shall be construed as if the words "reported by a judge on the trial of an election petition" were inserted therein in the place of the words "declared by an election committee."

XLVII. If at any time after any person has become disqualified by virtue of this Act, the witnesses, or any of them, on whose testimony such person shall have so become disqualified, shall, upon the prosecution of such person, be convicted of perjury in respect of such testimony, it shall be lawful for such person to move the Court to order, and the Court shall, upon being satisfied that such disqualification was procured by reason of perjury, order, that such disqualification shall thenceforth cease and determine, and the same shall cease and determine accordingly.

Miscellaneous.

XLVIII. If any returning officer wilfully delays, neglects, or refuses duly to return any person who ought to be returned to serve in Parliament for any county or borough, such person may, in case it has been determined on the hearing of an election petition under this Act that such person was entitled to have been returned, sue the officer having so wilfully delayed, neglected, or refused duly to make such return at his election in any of Her Majesty's Courts of record at Westminster, aud shall recover double the damages he has sustained by reason thereof,

together with full costs of suit; provided such action be commenced within one year after the commission of the Act on which it is grounded, or within six months after the conclusion of the trial relating to such election.

XLIX. In reckoning time for the purposes of this Act, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and any day set apart for a public fast or public thanksgiving shal! be excluded.

L. From and after the next dissolution of Parliament no election or return to Parliament shall be questioned except in accordance with the provisions of this Act, but until such dissolution, elections and return to Parliament may be questioned in manner heretofore in use.

LI. Where an election petition under this Act complains of the conduct of a returning officer, such returning officer shall for all the purposes of this Act, except the admission of respondents in his place, be deemed to be a respondent.

LII. A petition under this Act complaining of no return may be presented to the Court, and shall be deemed to be an election petition within the meaning of this Act, and the Court may make such order thereon as they think expedient for compelling a return to be made, or may allow such petition to be heard by the judge in manner herein-before provided with respect to ordinary election petitions.

LIII. On the trial of a petition under this Act complaining of an undue return and claiming the seat for some person, the respondent may give evidence to prove that the election of such person was undue in the same manner as if he had presented a petition complaining of such election.

LIV. From and after the next dissolution of Parliament the Acts contained in the schedule hereto are repealed so far as relates to elections and petitions to the extent therein mentioned; provided that such repeal shall not affect the validity or invalidity of anything already done or suffered, or any offence already committed, or any remedy or proceeding in respect thereof, or the proof of any past act or thing.

LV. The additional puisne judge appointed under this Act to each of the Courts of Queen's Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer in England shall, as to rank, salary, pension, attendant officers, jurisdiction, and all other privileges and duties as a judge, stand in the same position as the other puisne judges of the court to which he is attached.

Any puisne judge of the said courts appointed in pursuance of or after the passing of this Act shall be authorized to sit, and shall, when requested by the Lord Chancellor, sit as a judge of the court of probate and court of marriage and divorce or of the admiralty

court.

LVI. If upon a petition to the House of Commons, presented within twenty-one days after the return to the clerk of the Crown in Chancery in England, or to the clerk of the Crown and Hanaper in Ireland, of a member to serve in Parliament for any borough

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or county, or within fourteen days after the meeting of Parliament, and signed by any two or more electors of such borough or county, and alleging that corrupt practices have extensively prevailed at the then last election for such borough or county, or that there is reason to believe that corrupt practices have there so prevailed, an address be presented by both Houses of Parliament, praying that such allegation may be inquired into, the Crown may appoint commissioners to inquire into the same, and if such commissioners in such case be appointed, they shall inquire in the same manner and with the same powers and subject to all the provisions of the statute of the fifteenth and sixteenth of Victoria, chapter fifty

seven.

LVII. Any person who at the time of the passing of this Act was entitled to practise as agent according to the principles, practice, and rules of the House of Commons, in cases of election petitions and matters relating to election of members of the House of Commons, shall be entitled to practise as an attorney or agent in cases of election petitions and all matters relating to elections before the court and judges prescribed by this Act: provided, that every such person so practising as aforesaid shall in respect of such practice and everything relating thereto be subject to the jurisdiction and orders of the court as if he were an attorney of the said court: and further, provided that no such person shall practise as aforesaid until his name shall have been entered on a roll to be made and kept, and which is hereby authorized to be made and kept, by the prescribed officer in the ́prescribed manner.

LVIII. The provisions of this Act shall apply to Scotland, subject to the following modifications:

1. The expression "the court" shall mean either division of the inner house of the court of session, and either of such divisions shall have the same powers, jurisdiction, and authority with reference to an election petition in Scotland, and the proceedings thereon, which by this Act are conferred on the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster with respect to election petitions in England:

2. The expression "County" shall not include a county of a City, but shall mean any county or division of a county, or any com"bination of counties, or of counties and portions of counties returning a member to serve in Parliament:

3. The expression “Borough” shall mean any university or universities, or any city, town, burgh, or district of cities, towns, or burghs, returning a member or members to serve in Parlia ment:

4. "Recognizance" shall mean a bond of caution with usual and necessary clauses:

1.5. The trial of every election petition in Scotland shall be conducted before a judge of the court of session, to be selected from, a rota to be formed as herein-after mentioned:

6. The judges of the court of session shall on or before the first day of the winter session in every year, select, by a majority of votes,