Petitioner's cafe, 476. Profecution of legal remedies in the Note (A).-Cafes collected relative to the neceffity of legal pro- The Borough of Newcastle under Lyme, 489 Neceffity of the production of the poll, 490. against the confent of one party, 492. port, ib. Treating, ib. Notice of the ineligi bility of a candidate, ib. Decifion and report, 496. Note (A).-Cafes collected upon the fubject of notice given to the No. 1. The Borough of Colchester 1789, 503 Petition not within ft. 28 G. 3, 503. Petition confidered within 14 days, 504. Returning Officer not admitted a party, ib. What is a double return, 505. Directory ftatutes, 506. Non- compliance with them do not avoid an election, ib. Excufe of rates, 507; rates returned, 508. Alms, ib. Conviction for No. 2. The Borough of Fowey, 1791, Page 512 Double return, 512. Question upon the returning officer, ib. Statements, 514. What is a laft refolution, 515. Decla- rations of him whose right is in issue, no evidence, 516. Ar- guments on the right, and decifions, 517. Objections to the poll, 518. Rights of electors twice questioned, 519, Ne- ceffity of legal proceedings, 520. Evidence of voters' title, 521. Interefted witness, ib. Notice to produce deeds, 523, 524, 525. Evidence of rateability, ib. Allegations of peti- tion, ib. Fraudulent title of 20 years, ib. Decifion, 525. Appeal, and the decifion reversed, ib. INTRODUCTION. THE defign of the following pages is to present to the reader a view of the proceedings of the House of Commons refpecting the trial of Controverted Elections, in several inftances, where queftions have arifen either upon the conftruction of acts of parliament, or upon the exercise of the discretion of the houfe in cafes where they are left at liberty by the ftatutes to form their own determination, according to the nature and the circumstances of each cafe. Their conftitutional jurisdiction in matters of this kind, and the outline of the system first created and introduced by Mr. George Grenville, are fo ably treated and defcribed by Lord Glenbervie*, that it would not only be vain, but prefumptuous to attempt to add any thing to what he has faid upon the fubject: and the alterations that have fince taken place in that fyftem are so easily to be found in the several statutes by which they have been enacted, that it is better to refer the reader to them in the ftatutes themselves, than to recite them here. But the questions that have arisen in the houfe upon their application, are not to be referred to in the journals without fome labor and difficulty; nor without a longer fearch than can easily be made under the preffure of a particular occafion. Moreover, the entries of the proceedings in the house, which in the years immediately following the first inftitution of select committees were extremely full and minute", are now become mere notices, on what days the committees were appointed; a fufficient • Vol. 1. Introduction, fect, I. and III. See note (A), post. VOL. I. number petition. number of precedents having been already furnished. For these reasons it has been thought that a fhort extract and an arrangement of these precedents, may be found useful to fuch as defire to obtain information refpecting the fubje& of them. The order of fuch an arrangement is naturally fuggefted by the course of the proceedings themselves; commencing from the prefenting of the petition, and continuing from thence, to the appointment of the felect committee. This Introduction will accordingly be arranged under the following heads; I. Who may prefent fuch a petition as may be referred to a felect committee; 2. What may be the fubject of such a petition; 3. Within what tims fuch a petition may be prefented; 4. Of recognizances; 5. Of the admiffion of feparate parties, in striking the lift of the 49 members drawn by ballot. 1. Who may petition. e. Who may All perfons may prefent a petition , who claim therein either, 1. to have had a right to vote at the election to which the fame fhall relate; 2. to have had a right to be returned thereat; 3. to have been a candidate; or, 4. to have had a right to vote at the election of a delegate, or commillioner, in Scotland ; 5. dany perfon whatever may petition against a right of election reported by a felect committee under ft. 28 G. 3. c. 25. f. 25.; and any perfon may also petition to be heard in defence of the right so reported. Upon these fubjects, the only remarkable cafe that has occurred in the house, is that of the petition against the MidMiddlefex, dlefex election 1802, where it was objeded that the peti− tioners had not properly defcribed themfelves; but the houfe decided, that the description was fufficient. The reader will find an account of that cafe, in a note to the cafe of Caermarthenshire, poft, p. 294. 1802. The fubject 2. The fubject of the petition. The fubject of fuch a petition must be a complaint either, of the peti- I. against the election; 2. against the return; 3. that no tion. See ft. 28 G. 3. e. 52. f. 1. poit. 434. cafe of Caermarthenshire, p. 289. Mid- St. 28 G. 3. c. 52. l. 26. return return has been made; 4. that an infufficient return has been made; 5. to oppose a right of election, or of appointing returning officers, determined by a felect committee, and reported to the house; or, 6. to defend such a right: in the two former cafes by the provifions of ft. 10 G. 3. c. 16.; in the third and fourth by thofe of ft. 25 G. 3. c. 84.; in the two laft, by those of 28 G. 3. c. 52. Upon this head, the following cafes have come before the Houfe of Commons; Worcester, 2 Feb. 1781, 38 Journ. 172. A petition of Petition of a William Mathers, an alderman of Worcester, was offered perfon comto be prefented, complaining of the allegations of the peti- to be heard tion of Sir Watkin Lewes, knt.; and defiring to be heard against that complainc by his counsel before the felect committee to be appointed before the to try and determine the merits of the faid petition. The motion that Mr. Mathers' petition be brought up was nega tived. plained of, committee, not received. against an infufficient Westminster, 25 May, 1784, 40 Journ. 13. The peti- Petition tion of the Rt. Hon. Cha. Ja. Fox complained of a return made by the high bailiff of Westminster, in which return, behe stated that there were three candidates at the election; G. c. 4. fore ft. 25 that he took the poll for fix hours daily, from the 1ft of not received. April to the 17th of May; that at the final close of the poll the numbers flood thus; for Lord Hood 6694; for Mr. Fox 6233; for Sir Cecil Wray 5998: that Sir Cecil Wray demanded a scrutiny, which was granted, and that the high bailiff was proceeding in the fame with all practicable difpatch, and that he humbly conceived that he could not make any other or further return. The petitioner prayed the house to order the high bailiff to execute an indenture, returning the petitioner. The house, after reading the statutes 10 G. 3. c. 16. & 11 G. 3. c. 42. determined that the faid petition did not come within the defcription of a petition complaining of an undue election or return of a member to ferve in parliament; and ordered it to be withdrawn. This petition was prefented a fecond time, and counsel were heard thereon at the bar of the house: 3 Mar. 1785, it was refolved, "That it appearing to this house, that Thogas Corbett, Efq. high bailiff of the city of Weftminster, |