A MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARIES TO WRIT ON A GENERAL ELECTION: On a General Election.] The first requisite of a Parliamentary election is the writ, which, upon a general election is issued out of Chancery by advice of the Privy Council.' For English and Scotch elections the writs go from the Petty Bag Office by warrant of the Lord Chancellor." For Irish elections they are issued from the office of the Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper in Dublin by order of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.3 On a Vacancy.] In every other election, a new writ, as it is called, is issued from the office of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, under the Speaker's warrant, and, if the House be sitting, by its own order. Certain preliminaries are, however, requisite, which will be noticed in the present chapter. 4 for the issue A new writ may be rendered necessary by any Occasions of the following causes :-1, by a death vacancy; of new writs. 2, by the elevation, or succession, of a member to the peerage; 3, by his accepting an office of profit 1 May's Parl. Pract. ed. 7, p. 44. 2 12 & 13 Vict. c. 109, s. 14, App. xxxviii, B CHAP. I. from the Crown; 4, by his accepting a merely formal office of profit, like the Chiltern Hundreds ; 5, by his being disqualified when elected; 6, by his becoming bankrupt; 7, by his being returned for more than one constituency; 8, by his being unseated on petition; 9, by his expuision. It may be convenient to consider the preliminaries to obtaining a new writ in each of the foregoing cases in the following order; first, during the sitting of the House; and, secondly, during the New writs, how obtained during recess. Every new writ required during the sitting of the House is applied for by a motion regularly the sitting of made and seconded; and such motions take precedence of other business, by reason of their relation to privilege of Parliament.1 the House. When moved: On a vacancy by death; By peerage; By accepting office from the Crown, The time for making them is determined by the occasion of the vacancy. On a death vacancy, the motion may be made at once, but if the death occurs within 21 days of the return, it is usual to wait until the expiration of the 21 days in order to give an opportunity to present a petition and claim the seat. When a member has been created a peer, the motion may be made as soon as he has kissed hands; but it is sometimes deferred until the patent of his peerage is made out, or the recipi is indorsed. Thus, Lord Eddisbury sat until the 15th May, 1848, though his creation appeared in the Gazette six days previously. When, however, a member succeeds to a peerage, the motion is usually made so soon as the death of his ancestor is known.3 If a vacancy is occasioned by the acceptance of an office of profit from the Crown, the motion is. 1 May's Parl. Pract. ed. 7, p. 627. On Feb. 8, 1875, Mr. Dyke moved that no new writ should be issued without two days' notice, such motion to take precedence of other business. Times, Feb, 9, 1875. 2 See Tipperary Case, 3 O. & H. 19. 3 May's Parl. Pract. ed. 7, p. 626. CHAP. I. usually made as soon as the appointee has kissed hands, without waiting for the formal completion of his appointment.' The motion may be made, directly the assent of the Treasury is given, whenever a member 2 has applied for, and obtained, one of the sinecures, known as the stewardship or bailiffship of her Majesty's three Chiltern Hun- By taking dreds of Stoke, Desborough, and Bonenham, or of the Chiltern the Manors of East Hendred, Northstead, or Hempholme, or the escheatorship of Munster. Hundreds ; fication at election: Three instances have occurred in which gentle- By disqualimen returned to Parliament have vacated their the time of seats by the expedient of themselves informing the Speaker by letter that they were disqualified at the time of their election. In the first case, where the disqualification consisted in a lack of the requisite estate, the letter was read to the House by the Speaker on the 22nd November, 1826; time was then given for the expiration of a fortnight, so as to exhaust the prescribed period for presenting election petitions; and two days afterwards, viz., on the 8th December, the letter was again read, and the Speaker was directed to issue his warrant for a new writ. In the second case, where the 3 1 But on Dec. 16, 1868, Mr. Ayrton, on behalf of the Government, stated that no new writ would be moved for in cases where a petition was pending which claimed the seat. Times, Dec. 17, 1868, and May's Parl. Pract. ed. 7, p. 625. 2 The appointment is resigned as soon as the vacancy has been effected; but, though granted as a matter of course on ordinary occasions, has sometimes been refused (Mr. Goulburn's letter to Viscount Chelsea, Parl. Pap. 1842, 544, cited May's Parl. Pract, ed. 7, p. 637). In the first debate on the motion for Mr. James Sadleir's expulsion, the Premier (Lord Palmerston) engaged, on the part of Government, that no application by the offending member for the Chiltern Hundreds should be granted (183 Hans. 1407). 3 Twenty-one days after the return is now the period for the presentation of election petitions; unless corruption by, or on behalf of, a member is alleged to have taken place since the return; in which case the petition may be presented within twenty-eight days after the date of the offence so alleged; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 125, s. 6. 1 CHAP. I. applicant declared his disqualification to have been that he was a party to a contract with the Queen's Stationery Office, his letter was read, and the motion made, at the end of a fortnight, when a similar direction was given. In the third case, where the disqualification attached to the person elected, owing to his having, at the time of his election, held shares in a steam vessel, the owners of which were under an agreement with the Postmaster-General to carry mails, his letter was read on the re-assembling of Parliament, and a motion for a new writ made forthwith, as the time for presenting petitions had already elapsed.2 A new writ may also be rendered necessary if the House of Commons resolve that a person who has been returned as a member is incapable of being elected. Thus on Feb. 10, 1870, the House resolved, on the motion of the Prime Minister, that, "Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, returned as a knight of the shire for the County Tipperary, having been adjudged guilty of felony, and sentenced to penal servitude for life, and being now imprisoned under such sentence, has become and continues inca 1 May's Parl. Pract. ed. 7, p. 639. 2 The following is a report of what occurred as given in the Times, Mar. 20, 1874 : A DISQUALIFIED MEMBER. The Speaker further notified that he had received a communication from Mr. J. Ramsay, who had been returned for the Falkirk Burghs, explaining that since the election he had been made aware of a disqualification which seemed to have attached to him owing to his having at the time of his election held shares in a steam vessel, the owners of which were under an agreement with the Postmaster-General to carry mails to and from the Island of Islay. (Laughter.) The value of these shares to him was £9 7s. 6d. (renewed laughter), and though he had been released from his position as a shareholder, and now had no interest in the steamer, yet he was advised that, having been disqualified at the time of the election, he was precluded from taking a seat in the House. On the motion of Mr. Adam, a new writ then was issued for the election of a member for the Falkirk Burghs. |