Peers of Scotland may take the oath, of Ireland, and before communication which now exist such delay is no longer necessary, and it is expedient that the same should be shortened: be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, instead of twenty-five days, all such proclamations shall be published ten days at least before the time therein appointed for the meeting of the peers to proceed to such elections, and that the time to be appointed in any such proclamation for such meeting shall not be later than twenty-five days from the date of such proclamation. 3. That a peer of Scotland may take the oaths and subscribe the declaration required by law to entitle such peer to vote by proxy &c., in courts or signed list at such elections in her majesty's High Court of Chancery in Ireland, or her majesty's Courts of Queen's Bench, other officers. Common Pleas, or Exchequer in Ireland, in the same manner and under the same regulations as they may take and subscribe the same in the like courts in England, or may take the said oaths and subscribe the said declaration before the lieutenant of any county in Great Britain or Ireland, or any member of her majesty's most honourable Privy Council in Great Britain or Ireland, or any judge of a County Court in England, or any British ambassador or minister accredited to any foreign court, or the secretary of any such embassy or legation, or the governor, lieutenant governor, or officer administering the government of any of her majesty's plantations, colonies, or possessions abroad, or any of her majesty's judges residing therein; and every such person before whom the said oaths shall be taken and the said declaration subscribed shall certify the same in a certificate attached to the declaration, which shall be produced, together with the proxy or signed list of the peer, at such election: provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any peer taking such oaths and subscribing such declaration in any manner at present competent by law. Titles of peerages in right of which no vote be called at lords shall so direct. 4. And whereas by the before-mentioned act passed in the parliament held in the tenth and eleventh years of her present majesty, chapter fifty-two, it is enacted, that at all future meetings of the has been peers of Scotland for such elections the lord clerk register, or the given for fifty clerks of session officiating thereat in his name, shall not call the years, not to titles of any peerages standing on the roll in right of which no vote elections, if shall have been received and counted since the year one thousand the house of eight hundred, with other provisions connected therewith, and it is expedient that the principle on which the said enactment is founded should be continued and extended: be it enacted, That after every meeting of the peers of Scotland assembled under any royal proclamation for the election of a peer or peers to represent the peerage of Scotland in parliament, the lord clerk register, or the clerks of session officiating thereat in his name, shall transmit to the clerk of the parliaments the titles of any peerages called at such meeting in right of which no vote shall have been received and counted for fifty years then last past or for any longer period, and on receiving an order from the house of lords to abstain from calling such title at future meetings for such elections it shall not be lawful for the said lord clerk register or clerks of session to call such title at any subsequent meeting, or to administer the oaths to any person claiming to vote in right of such peerage, or to receive and count the vote of any such person, or to permit any such person to take part in the proceedings of any such election, until otherwise directed by order of the house of lords. II. ACTS RELATING TO The Election. OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FOR SCOTLAND. * The number of the representatives of Scotland in the house of commons, fixed by the Treaty of Union, it has been seen, was forty-five-thirty for counties, and fifteen for the royal burghs. It will presently appear that the number was increased, in the year 1832, to fiftythree, of whom thirty represent the counties, and twentythree the royal burghs. I. STATUTE 7 Geo. 2, c. 16, [A. D. 1734,] intituled, inter alia, And for incapacitating the Judges of the Court of Session, Court of Justiciary, and Barons of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland, to be elected, or to sit or vote as Members of the House of Commons, enacts, S. 4. That no judge of the court of session or justiciary, or baron of the court of exchequer in Scotland, shall be capable of being elected, or of sitting, or voting, as a member of the house of commons, in any parliament which shall be hereafter summoned or holden. [Note. On the 29th July, 1839, by stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 36, s. 4, the jurisdiction of the Scottish court of exchequer was transferred to two of the judges of the court of session (not being lords commissioners of the court of justiciary) by whom it is now exercised.] II. STATUTE 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 65, [17 July, 1832,] intituled An Act to amend the Representation of the People in Scotland. Whereas the laws which regulate the election of members to serve in the commons house of parliament for Scotland are defective, whereby great inconveniences and abuses have been occasioned: And whereas it is expedient, and would be for the evident utility of the subjects within Scotland, that those defects should be remedied, and especially that members should be provided for places hitherto unrepresented, and the right of election extended to persons of property and intelligence, and that the mode of conducting elections should be better regulated and ordered: be it therefore enacted, &c., That from and after the end of this present parliament, and in all future parliaments to be assembled, there Burghs of Selkirk to be Peebles and shall be fifty-three representatives returned for Scotland to the commons house of parliament, of whom thirty shall be for the several or conjoined shires or stewartries hereinafter enumerated, and twenty-three for the several cities, burghs, and towns, or districts of cities, burghs, and towns, hereinafter enumerated or described. 2. That after the end of this present parliament the burghs of Peebles and Peebles and Selkirk shall no longer form parts of the district to held as parts which they now belong, or be entitled to contribute with any other of counties of burghs in the election of any member of parliament, but shall, in the matter of elections, be held to be parts of the counties of Peebles and Selkirk respectively; and in like manner that the burgh of Rothsay, in the county of Bute, shall no longer form part of the district to which it now belongs, but be held, in the matter of elections, to be part of the county of Bute. Selkirk. Burgh of Enumeration of counties hereafter to return mem 3. That of the thirty members hereafter to be returned to parliament by the separate or combined shires of Scotland, one shall always be returned by each of the separate shires or parts of bers severally shires enumerated in the schedule (A.) hereunto annexed, and one or jointly. by each two of the combined shires or parts of shires enumerated and described in schedule (B.) hereunto annexed: Provided always, that all properties lying locally within the limits of any county or shire, though hitherto constituting part of some other county, shall, for the purposes of this act, be held to be part of the county within which they are locally included. Enumeration of burghs and towns hereafter to return mem bers severally or jointly. None hereafter to ac. quire votes, except as hereinafter provided; but free holders now 4. That of the twenty-three members to be returned for the several or combined cities, burghs and towns of Scotland, two shall always be returned by each of the separate cities, burghs and towns enumerated and described in schedule (C.) hereunto annexed, one by each of the separate cities, burghs and towns enumerated and described in schedule (D.) hereunto annexed, and one by each of the districts or sets of cities, burghs and towns enumerated and described in schedule (E.) hereunto annexed. 6. That from and after the passing of this act, no person shall acquire, by succession, purchase, gift, or otherwise, the right of voting for a member of parliament, either in shires, or in cities, burghs, or towns, except by one or other of the qualifications hereinafter prescribed and directed: Provided always, that all persons who at the passing of this act shall be lawfully on the roll of freeholders of any shire in Scotland, or who shall then be entitled to be put on such roll, or who shall, previous to the first day of vote for their March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, have become the owners or superiors of land affording the qualifications for being so enrolled, shall, so long as they retain the necessary qualification on which they are now enrolled or are entitled to be enrolled as aforesaid, be entitled to be registered and to vote as hereinafter directed in the election of a member for such shire. enrolled in shires to be entitled to lives. Qualification of county voters. 7. That from and after the passing of this act every person not subject to any legal incapacity shall be entitled to be registered as hereinafter directed, and thereafter to vote at any election for a shire in Scotland, who, when the sheriff proceeds to consider his claim for registration in the present or in any future year, shall have been, for a period of no less than six calendar months next previous to the last day of August in the present or the last day of July in any future year, the owner, (whether he has made up his titles, or is infeft or not) of any lands, houses, feu duties, or other heritable subjects (except debts heritably secured) within the said shire, provided the subject or subjects on which he so claims shall be of the yearly value of ten pounds, and shall actually yield, or be capable of yielding, that value to the claimant, after deducting any feu duty, ground, annual, or other consideration which he may be bound to pay or to give or account for as a condition of his right, provided he be, by himself, his tenants, vassals, or others in possession of the said subjects, and be either himself in the actual occupation or in receipt of the profits and issues thereof to the extent above mentioned: Provided always, that where the whole profits and issues of any such subject do not arise annually, but at longer intervals, the worth and amount of such occasional profits shall be taken into computation in estimating the annual value: Provided also, that where any property which would entitle the owner to be registered, and to vote as above, shall come to any person within the said period of six months, by inheritance, marriage, marriage settlement, or mortis causa disposition, or by appointment to any place or office, such person shall be entitled to be registered on the first occasion of making up the list of voters, as hereinafter provided, next following such succession or acquisition. and fiars and joint owners. 8. That in elections for shires, where two or more persons are Rule as to interested in any subject to which a right of voting is for the first life-renters time attached by this act, as life-renter, and as fiar, the right of voting shall be in the life-renter, and not in the fiar; and all coproprietors or joint owners shall be entitled each to vote in respect of their joint property within the shire, provided the share or interest of each joint owner so claiming on such property is of the yearly value of ten pounds, as above specified, but not otherwise: Provided also, that husbands shall be entitled to vote in respect of property belonging to their wives, or owned or possessed by such husbands after the death of their wives by the courtesy of Scotland. leases of a shires. 9. That tenants in lands, houses, or other heritable subjects, Tenants posshall also be entitled to be registered, and to vote at elections for the sessing on shires in which the said heritable subjects are situated, provided tain descripeach tenant (whether joint or several) when the sheriff proceeds tion entitled to consider his claim for registration, shall, for a period of not less to vote in than twelve months next previous to the last day of August, in the present or the last day of July in any future year, have held such subjects or tenements, whether in his personal possession or not, under a lease or leases, missive of lease, or other written title, for a period of not less than fifty-seven years (exclusive of breaks), at the option of the landlord; or for the lifetime of the said tenant, where the clear yearly value of such tenant's interest, after paying the rent and any other consideration due by him for his said right, is not less than ten pounds; or for a period of not less than nineteen years, where the clear yearly value of such tenant's interest is not Right of voting for burghs and towns no longer to be in town councils and delegates, fied inhabi less than fifty pounds; or where such tenant shall, for the foresaid period of twelve months, have been in the actual personal occupancy of any such subject, where the yearly rent is not less than fifty pounds; or where the tenant, whatever the rent may be, has truly paid for his interest in such subject a price, grassum, or consideration of not less than three hundred pounds: Provided always, that where, in any of these cases, the rent is payable in whole or in part in grain, the value shall be estimated according to the average fiars of the counties in which the heritable subjects are situated for the three preceding years, and where payable in any other species of produce, according to the average market prices of the neighbourhood for the same period: and the said values being once so fixed at the time of registering or refusing to register, shall be held as settled for the whole period of the lease: Provided also, that where the right to any such lease as would entitle the tenant to be registered and to vote as hereinbefore provided shall come to any person, within the preceding twelve calendar months above specified, by inheritance, marriage, marriage settlement, or mortis causa disposition, such person shall be entitled to be registered on the first occasion of making up the lists of voters, as hereinafter provided, next following such succession or acquisition: Provided also, that no sub-tenant or assignee to any sub-lease for fifty-seven or nineteen years, shall be entitled to be registered or to vote in respect of his interest under such lease, unless he shall be in the actual occupation of the premises thereby set. 10. That from and after the end of this present parliament, the members who are to be returned to serve in any future parliament for any single city, town or burgh, on which the right of returning of a member or members is by this act conferred, shall no longer be elected by the town councils of such cities, burghs or towns, but directly by the several individuals on whom the right of electing but in quali such members to serve in parliament is by this act conferred; and where the election is by districts or sets of cities, burghs or towns conjoined, the right of electing shall no longer be in the town councils or corporations of the said cities, burghs, or towns, or in delegates appointed by them, but in the individual voters on whom the right of election is by this act conferred; and the member to serve in parliament for any such district shall be returned according to the majority of individual votes given in the whole district. tants. Occupants of houses year entitled to vote in cities, burghs, and towns. 11. That every person, not subject to any legal incapacity, shall be entitled to be registered as hereinafter directed, and to vote at worth £10 a elections for any of the cities, burghs or towns, or districts of cities, burghs or towns, hereinbefore mentioned, who, when the sheriff proceeds to consider his claim for registration, shall have been, for a period of not less than twelve calendar months next previous to the last day of August in the present or the last day of July in any future year, in the occupancy, either as proprietor, tenant or liferenter of any house, warehouse, counting-house, shop or other building, within the limits of such city, burgh or town, which either separately or jointly with any other house, warehouse, countinghouse, shop or other building within the same limits, or with any |