c. 28.)

claiming to

m elections of

members of parliament in England lands, the

200. And whereas doubts may arise by reason of the provisions of an act, passed in the nineteenth year of the reign of his late majesty king George the second, intituled, An act for better regulating of elections of members to (19 G. 2. serve in parliament for such cities and towns in that part of Great Britain called England, as are counties of themselves; and of another act passed in the twentieth year of the reign of his present majesty, intituled, An act to re- 20 G. 3. move certain difficulties relative to voters at county elec- c. 17. tions, as to the right of voting for the election of knights of the shire, or other members to serve in parliament, by persons who may claim so to vote in respect of messuages, lands, or tenements, the land tax charged whereon may have been redeemed; be it therefore enacted, That every Persons person who shall tender his vote at the election of any knight or knights of the shire, or other member or members, to serve in parliament within that part of Great Britain called England, or the principality of Wales, in respect of any messuages, lands, or tenements, of the quality and value which would by law entitle him to vote at such election, the land tax charged whereon shall have been redeemed or purchased, shall, from and after the passing of this act, be entitled to vote at any such election as aforesaid, without being compelled to shew that such messuages, lands, or tenements, have been assessed to the land tax, upon proving to the satisfaction of the returning officer, on oath or otherwise, that such land therefrom, tax hath at any time previously to such election, been redeemed or purchased, and the said messuages, lands, or tenements, become exonerated therefrom, under the provisions of the said recited acts for the redemption of land tax, or of this act, the said recited acts passed in the nineteenth year of his late majesty's reign, and in the twentieth year of his present majesty's reign, or any other act or law to the contrary notwithstanding.

or Wales for

land tax whereon

has been re

deemed or purchased, shall be en

titled to

vote, upon proving the

lands have

been ex

onerated

under the for redemption of

recited acts

of land tax,

or this act.

to be regis

Evidence

and stamps.

No. LIV.

The stat, 53 Geo. 3. c. 123.

An Act to amend and render more effectual several Acts passed for the Redemption and Sale of the Land

Tax.

Certificates COMMISSIONERS for the affairs of taxes are hereby tered gratis. made commissioners for the sale of the land tax; further provisions are also made for the redemption and sale of the land tax; and by sect. 36, it is further enacted, That the officer appointed for the registry of contracts for redemption of the land tax, shall register all such lastmentioned certificates of land tax, and the said certificates of exoneration, gratis; and shall make out and transmit duplicates of the land tax thereby certified and exonerated under the provisions of this act, and do all such other acts and things necessary for the exoneration of the messuages and hereditaments so to be exonerated, as by the said act of the forty-second year of his present majesty, are directed, in regard to contracts entered into under the provisions thereof: and every copy of the registry of any such certificate shall be allowed in all courts and places, and before all persons, to be good and sufficient evidence of such certificate; and no such certificate, nor any copy of the registry thereof, shall be liable to any stamp duty.

No. LV.

The stat. 52 Geo. 3. c. 114.

An Act to suspend and finally vacate the seats of Members of the House of Commons, who shall become Bankrupts, and who shall not pay their Debts in full, within a limited Time.

WHEREAS it is highly necessary, for the preservation of the dignity and independence of parliament, that members of the house of commons of the united kingdom, who become bankrupts, and do not pay their debts in full, shall not retain their seats; be it therefore enacted, by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this act, whenever a commission of bankruptcy shall issue and be awarded against any person being a member of the house of commons, and he shall be found and declared a bankrupt under the same, such member shall be and shall remain during twelve calendar months from the time of the issuing thereof, utterly incapable of sitting and voting in the said house of commons, unless within the said period, such commission shall be superseded, or unJess within the same period the creditors of such member of the house of commons, proving their debts under the commission of bankruptcy, shall be paid or satisfied to the full amount of their debts under the said commission: provided always, that such of the debts, if any, as shall be disputed by such bankrupt, if he shall, within the time aforesaid, enter into a bond or bonds, in such sum or sums, with two sufficient sureties to be approved by the commissioners under the said commission of bankruptcy, or the major part of them, to pay such sum or sums of

c. 114.

59 Geo. 3. money as shall be recovered in any action, suit, or other proceeding in law or equity, concerning such debt or debts, together with such costs as shall be given in the same, shall be considered for the purposes of this act as paid or satisfied."

2. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that if the said commission shall not, within twelve calendar months from the issuing thereof, be superseded, nor the debts satisfied in manner aforesaid, then the commissioners, or the major part of them named in such commission, shall, and they are hereby required, immediately after the expiration of twelve calendar months from the issuing of the said commission, to certify the same, as the case may be, to the speaker of the house of commons of the united kingdom, and thereupon the election of such member shall be and is hereby declared to be void; and it shall and may be lawful for the speaker of the house of commons for the time being, during any recess of the said house, whether by prorogation or adjournment, and he is hereby required forthwith after receiving such certificate, to cause notice thereof to be inserted in The London Gazette, and upon the expiration of fourteen days after the day of inserting such notice in the Gazette, to issue his warrant to the clerk of the crown, to make out a new writ for electing another member, in the room of such member who shall have so vacated his seat: provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to enable the speaker of the house of commons to issue his warrant for the purposes aforesaid, unless such certificate shall have been delivered to him so long before the then next meeting of the house of commons for the dispatch of business, as that the writ for the election may be issued before the day of such next meeting of the house of commons.

3. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all and every of the powers contained in an act of the

twenty-fourth year of the reign of his present majesty, for repealing so much of two former acts, as authorized the speaker of the house of commons to issue his warrant to the clerk of the crown for making out writs for the election of members to serve in parliament in the manner therein mentioned, and for substituting other provisions for the like purposes, so far as such powers enable the speaker of the house of commons to nominate and appoint other persons, being members of the house of commons, to issue warrants for the making out of new writs during the vacancy of the office of speaker, or during his absence out of the realm, shall be, and they are hereby made to be in force, for the purpose of enabling him to make the like nomination and appointment for issuing warrants under the like circumstances and conditions, for the election of members of parliament, in the room of such whose seats shall become vacant under the provisions of this act.

sn Act to renew the Powers of exonerating Small Livings and Charitable Institutions from the Land Tax, and for making further Provision for the Redemption of the Land Tax.

WHEREAS certain acts passed in the 46th, 49th, 50th, and 53d years of his present majesty, relating to the redemption of the land tax, authorized the commissioners appointed by his majesty's royal letters patent under the great seal of Great Britain for carrying into effect certain powers and provisions of the land tax redemption act, to direct the exoneration and discharge of the land tax charged upon hereditaments belonging to livings or other ecclesiastical benefices or charitable in

46 G. 3. 49 G. 3. c. 67.

c. 133.

50 G. 3.

c. 58.

53 G. 3.

c. 123.