41 Geo. 3, c. 52. Irish Offices of Profit. Seat of acceptor of any successors); anything therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. This distinction of offices held quamdiu bene se gesserit from offices held durante bene placito does not occur in 6 Anne, but occurs in 15 Geo. 2, c. 22, 8. 3, p. 354, as to deputies and clerks. 9. Provided always, That if any person being chosen a member of the House of Commons shall, from and after the office vacated. passing of this Act, accept of any office of profit whatever, immediately and directly from the Crown of the said United Kingdom, or by the nomination or appointment, or by any other appointment subject to the approbation of the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, Lord Justices, or other chief governor or governors of that part of the said United Kingdom called Ireland, his seat shall thereupon become vacant, and a writ shall issue for a new election: Provided nevertheless, That such person (if he be not incapacitated by anything herein before contained), shall be capable of being again elected to be a member of the House of Commons for the place for which he had been a member, or for any other place sending members to the House of Commons. This applies s. 26 of 6 Anne to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and to offices to which appointments are made by the Lord Lieutenant. The words "immediately and directly" are contrasted with "by appointment of the Lord Lieutenant," and do not throw light on the word "from" in 8. 25 of 6 Anne. 41 Geo. 3, c. 63. Priests and deacons, and ministers of the Church of Scotland. 41 Geo. 3, c. 63. 1. Whereas it is expedient to remove doubts which have arisen respecting the eligibility of persons in holy orders to sit in the House of Commons, and also to make effectual provision for excluding them from sitting therein; be it therefore declared and enacted, That no person having been ordained to the office of priest or deacon, or being a minister of the Church of Scotland, is or shall be capable of being elected to serve in Parliament as a member of the House of Commons. The words "ordained to the office of priest or deacon" include ordinations of the Irish Church. The English Act of Uniformity is 1 Eliz. c. 2. An Irish Act of Uniformity was passed in Ireland in 1560. By 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42, s. 2, the union between the English and Irish churches was dissolved, but not so as to affect this Act, because since the Irish Church Act clergymen of the Church of Ireland are still "priests or deacons." Minister of the Church of Scotland.] The Church of Scotland was established by an Act in Scotland in 1592 as a Presbyterian Church. It afterwards became Episcopalian until the Revolution, when it became Presbyterian again, and was recognised by the Act of Union as the Presbyterian Church of Scotland for ever established as a fundamental part of the union. As to Roman Catholic priests, see 10 Geo. 4, c. 7, s. 2 (p. 369). By the Clerical Disabilities Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 91, s. 4), a minister of the Church of England on executing a deed of relinquishment is relieved from the disabilities of this Act. 41 Geo. 3, c. 63. Election void. 2. And be it further declared and enacted, That if any person, having been ordained to the office of priest or deacon, or being a minister of the Church of Scotland, shall hereafter be elected to serve in Parliament as aforesaid, such election and return shall be void; and that if any person, being elected to serve in Parliament as a Member of the House of Commons, shall, after his election, be ordained to the office of priest or deacon, or become a minister of the Church of Scotland, then and in such case the seat of such person shall immediately become void; and if any such person shall, in any of the aforesaid cases, presume to sit or vote as a member of the House of Commons, he shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds for every day in Penalty. which he shall sit or vote in the said House, to any person or persons who shall sue for the same in any of his Majesty's Courts at Westminster; and the money so forfeited shall be recovered by the person or persons so suing, with full costs of suit, in any of the said Courts, by any action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in which no essoign, privilege, protection, or wager of law, or more than one imparlance, shall be allowed; and every person against whom any such penalty or forfeiture shall be recovered by virtue of this Act, shall be from thenceforth incapable of taking, holding, or enjoying any benefice, living, or promotion ecclesiastical, and of taking, holding, or enjoying any office of honour or profit under his Majesty, his heirs or successors. This section ended with a proviso in favour of "any election which shall have taken place before the passing of this Act." This preserved the seat of Horne Tooke. It was doubtful whether the disqualification existed at common law. 3. Provided also, and be it enacted, That no person shall be Limitation of liable to any forfeiture or penalty inflicted by this Act, unless actions. a prosecution shall be commenced within twelve calendar months after such penalty or forfeiture shall be incurred. 4. And be it further enacted, That proof of the celebration Proof. of divine service, according to the rites of the Church of England, or of the Church of Scotland, in any church or chapel consecrated or set apart for public worship, shall be deemed and taken to be prima facie evidence of the fact of such person having been ordained to the office of a priest or deacon, or of his being a minister of the Church of Scotland, within the intent and meaning of this Act. By the Act of Union (39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 67, art. 5) the "doctrine and worship of the United Church of England and Ireland shall be as established for the Church of England." Divine service is therefore celebrated in the Church of Ireland according to the "rites of the Church of England." The Irish Church Act (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) makes no alteration, as by s. 20 the "rites" of the Church of Ireland remain as before, and the ecclesiastical law of Ireland, which was that of England, binds the Church of Ireland as if by contract. A curious disqualification both from voting in and being elected to Scotch constituencies is still retained in 32 Geo. 3, c. 63, s. 13, by which attendants at Scotch Episcopal chapels where the Royal Family is not prayed for are disqualified. 42 Geo. 3, c. 116, s. 185. Land Tax 44 Geo. 3, c. 54, s. 58. 42 Geo. 3, c. 116, s. 185. The acceptance of any commission from his Majesty in pursuance of the said recited Acts or any of them, or of this Act, shall not vacate the seat of any person returned to serve in Parliament, nor shall the election of any person who hath accepted or who shall accept any such commission be in any manner impeached thereby or made void, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding, Provided always that the acceptance of the office of a commissioner for the redemption or sale of land tax under the said recited Acts or this Act, shall not, by reason of any allowance for executing the same, be deemed, taken, or construed to be a place or employment of profit under his Majesty, notwithstanding the appointment shall be by warrant under the Royal sign manual, but that the same shall be deemed, taken, and construed to be a place or employment under the authority of this Act to all intents and purposes. 44 Geo. 3, c. 54, s. 58. No person who has accepted or shall hereafter accept of a Yeomanry and commission in any corps of yeomanry or volunteers in Great Britain or Ireland, shall be deemed in respect thereof to have vacated or vacate his seat as a member returned to serve in Parliament. volunteer officers. 48 Geo. 3, c. 140, s. 14. Dublin metropolitan police. 52 Geo. 3, c. 38, s. 195. Militia officers. 52 Geo. 3, c. 68, s. 176. Scotch militia officers. This section extends the principle of s. 5 of the Act of Anne, p. 351. 48 Geo. 3, c. 140, s. 14. The said Divisional Justices and Receiver and all other persons holding any office in or under the said police establishment shall be incapable of being chosen members of or sitting in the House of Commons in any Parliament during such time as they shall hold their said offices respectively. So of the justices and receivers appointed under 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 29, s. 19, p. 372. 52 Geo. 3, c. 38, s. 195. The acceptance of a commission in the local militia shall not vacate the seat of any member returned to serve in Parliament. 52 Geo. 3, c. 68, s. 176. The acceptance of a commission in the local militia shall not vacate the seat of any member returned to serve in Parliament. 54 Geo. 3, c. 16. 54 Geo. 3, c. 16. the Lord 1. If at any time any person being a member of the House of Commons who shall have accepted of any office of profit what- Offices under other appoint- Lieutenant ever on the nomination or appointment, or by any other appointment subject to the approbation of any lord lieutenant, lord held under deputy, lord justices, or other chief governor or governors of successor. Ireland for the time being, shall have remained or continued in, or shall remain or continue in, or shall have accepted or reaccepted, or shall accept or reaccept the same by the nomination or appointment, or by any appointment subject to the approbation of any successor or successors to the lord lieutenant, lord deputy, lord justices, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland by whom such person was previously nominated, appointed, or approved, or reappointed or continued, the seat of such person so remaining or continuing in, or accepting or reaccepting such office from or under any such successor or successors, shall not thereupon become vacant, nor shall any writ issue for a new election anything in the said recited Acts the contrary notwithstanding. 2. Provided always, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to any person or persons, but such as shall have been, or shall have continued and remained, or shall be or shall continue and remain in any such office at the time of the decease, removal, or absence (as the case may be) of the lord lieutenant, lord deputy, lord justices, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland by whom such person was nominated, appointed, or approved, or reappointed or continued. The object of this Act was to prevent the staff of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland vacating their seats under 41 Geo. 3, c. 52 (p. 360), on a change in the Lord Lieutenant. 56 Geo. 3, c. 46, s. 8. 56 Geo.3, c. 46, s. 8. It shall be lawful for the Lord High Treasurer or the Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury for the time being, or any Auditor of three or more of them, and they are hereby required to appoint Civil List. a proper person who shall be empowered and required to examine and audit all the tradesmen's bills, and the accounts and expenses incurred or to be incurred in the departments of the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Steward, and Master of the Horse, and to examine into all the expenditure within those departments during its progress, and to report thereon to the Lord High Treasurer or the Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury for the time being, so that the same may be, as far as may be practicable, in conformity to the previous estimates thereof as sanctioned and approved by the Lord High Treasurer or the s. 8. 56 Geo. 3, c. 46, Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury for the time being, or any three or more of them; and the said officer, during the holding of the said office, shall be and is hereby declared to be incapable of being elected into or of sitting and voting in Parliament. 56 Geo. 3, c. 98, s. 16. of the Treasury of the United Kingdom qualified. 56 Geo. 3, c. 98, s. 16. The appointment of any person or persons to be Commissioner Commissioners or Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall not, nor shall any such appointment be deemed or taken to be an appointment or appointments to a new office or new offices, or place or places of profit under the Crown; and any person so to be appointed one of the Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall not, nor shall any of them be thereby disabled from sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons, nor shall he be thereby rendered incapable of being elected a member of the House of Commons, anything in any Act or Acts to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding. The Commissioners of the Treasury in England were excepted from 5 & 6 Will. & M. c. 7, s. 59 (p. 346). 57 Geo. 3, c. 62, s. 10. Irish offices. 57 Geo. 3, c. 62, s. 10. And be it further enacted, That every office and appointment belonging to and making part of the establishment of any of the said offices respectively, when so regulated as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a new office within the true intent and meaning of an Act passed in the forty-first year of the reign of his present Majesty, intituled "An Act for declaring what persons shall be disabled from sitting and voting in the House of Commons," &c., and every person holding any such office shall be incapable of sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons, and every such officer who shall sit or vote in the House of Commons shall be liable and subject to the penalties and forfeitures contained in the said recited Act with respect to such person or persons as shall be disabled or incapacitated by the holding or accepting of any office, employment, or place of profit in the said Act enumerated and particularised. The offices regulated by this Act are the Irish offices of Clerk of the Council, Master-General, Pratique Master of the port of Dublin, Storekeeper of the Customs in the said port, and Commissioners of the Board of Works in Ireland. For 41 Geo. 3, c. 52, see p. 362. The Act is general, and so is not limited to Irish seats. |