XXIX. And be it enacted, That it fhall and may be lawful for any perfon or perfons, at any time before the day fo appointed for taking fuch petition into confideration, to petition the Houfe to be admitted as a party or parties to defend fuch right of election, or of chufing, nominating, or appointing the returning officer or returning officers; and such person or perfons fhall thereupon be fo admitted, and fhall be confidered as fuch to all intents and purpofes whatever.

XXX. And be it enacted, That at the hour appointed by the Houfe for taking fuch petition into confideration, the House shall proceed to appoint a felect committee to try the merits thereof, according to the directions of the above-recited Acts, and of this Aft; and fuch felect committee fhall be fworn to try and determine the merits of fuch petition, fo far as the fame relate to any question or queftions refpecting the right of election for the place to which the petition shall relate, or refpecting the right of appointing, nominating, or chufing the returning officer or returning officers who are to make return of fuch election; and the determination of fuch committee on fuch question or questions, fhall be entered on the journals of the House, and fhall be held and taken to be final and conclufive in all fubfequent elections of members of Parliament for that place to which the fame fhall relate, and to all intents and purposes whatever; any ufage to the contrary notwithstanding..

XXXI. And whereas it is amongst other things enacted, by an Act paffed in the fecond year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled, An Act for the more effectual preventing bribery and corruption in the elections of members to ferve in Parliament, That fuch votes fhall be deemed to be legal which have been fo declared by the last determination in the Houfe of Commons; which laft determination concerning any county, fhire, city, borough, cinque port, or place, fhall be final to all intents and purposes whatever, any ufage to the contrary notwithftanding; be it enacted, That fo much of the faid Act as is above recited fhall be, and the fame is hereby repealed, in fo far only as the fame relates, or might be conftrued to relate, to any fuch determination to be made in the Houfe of Commons fubfequent to the paffing of this Act.

XXXII. And be it enacted, That all and every the rules, regulations, authorities, and powers, prefcribed or given by the aboverecited Acts, or by this Act, to select committees for the trial of controverted elections, or returns, fhall be in full force and effect with refpect to felect committees appointed by virtue of this Act for the trial of fuch queftion or queftions of right as aforesaid, in as full and ample a manner as if the fame were herein repeated, and particularly and fpecially enacted, concerning fuch felect committees Provided always, That the feveral rules and regulations herein-before enacted, by which certain perfons are directed to enter

into

into recognizances, and by which certain perfons are made liable to the payment of cofts, in the particular manner and in the feveral cafes herein before fpecified, fhall not be conftrued to apply to the cafe of any petition presented in pursuance of this Act, and relating folely to any question or questions refpecting the right of election, or of chufing, nominating, or appointing a returning officer or returning officers.

XXXIII. And be it further enacted, That whenever it shall happen that Parliament shall be prorogued while any felect commitee fhall be fitting for the trial of any fuch petition as aforefaid, and before they fhall have reported to the Houfe their determination thereon, fuch committee fhall not be diffolved by fuch prorogation; but fhall be thereby adjourned to twelve of the clock on the day immediately following that on which Parliament shall meet again for the dispatch of business (Sundays, Good-Friday, and Christmas-Day, always excepted), and all former proceedings of the faid committee fhall remain and continue to be of the fame force and effect as if Parliament had not been fo prorogued; and fuch committee shall meet on the day and hour to which it fhall be fo adjourned, and shall thenceforward continue to fit from day to day, in the manner provided in the aboverecited Acts, and in this Act, until they shall have reported to the Houfe their determination on the merits of fuch petition.

S

Form of the Recognizance referred to in this Alt.

day

BE it remembered, That on the

in the year of our Lord before me

A. B. [Speaker of the Houfe of Commons] or [one of his Majefty's juftices of the peace for the county of I came C. D. E. F. and J.G. and feverally acknowledged themselves to owe to our Sovereign Lord the King the following fums; that is to fay, the faid C. D. the fum of two hundred pounds, and the faid E. F. and the faid J. G. the fum of one hundred pounds each, to be levied on their respective goods and chattels, lands and tenements, to the ufe of our faid Sovereign Lord the King, his heirs and fucceffors, in cafe the faid C. D. fhall fail in performing the condition hereunto annexed.

The condition of this Recognizance is, that if the faid C. D. fhall duly appear before the House of Commons, at fuch time or times as shall be fixed by the faid House for taking into confideration the petition. figned by the faid C D. complaining of an undue election or return for the

of

[Here fpecify the county, city, borough, or district of burghs], or complaining that no Return has been made for the faid [ ] of [

within the time limited by Act of Parliament, or, that the return made for the

faid

faid [

] of [

] is not

a return of a member or members ac-
cording to the requifition of the writ, and
fhall
before any
appear
felect committee
which fhall be appointed by the House
of Commons for the trial of the fame,
and shall renew his faid petition in every
subsequent feffion of this prefent Parlia-
ment, until a felect committee fhall have
been appointed by the faid House for the
trial of the fame, or until the fame fhall
have been withdrawn by the permiffion of
the faid House; then this recognizance
to be void, otherwife to be of full force
and effect.

A few Obfervations as to proceeding in the
Committee.

Preliminary Objections.

If a petitioner claiming to have been duly elected, be 21 Jour. 138, 9. incapacitated from a feat by holding an office, or as hav- Bedford Ca. ing his former election avoided for bribery, the committee cited 3 Lud. will not hear the petition. It is a preliminary objection, 164. to which the oppofite party is let in.

So any irregularity in the figning or prefenting of a re- 3 Lud. 155. newed petition, has been examined into by committee previous to difcuffing the merits-though objected they

had no jurifdiction.

Where the petitioner was out of the kingdom at the Colchester Ca, time of election--the committee proceeded, though the cited 3 Lud. oppofite party called for his qualification, which was not 166.

produced.