9.

Lists to be made out and revised with regard to this Act.

10. Occupier claiming to be rated to be placed on burgess roll.

11. Misnomer or misdescription not to affect qualification.

12. Provision as to premises coming by descent.

13. Provision as to joint occupiers.

14. Act not generally to alter existing law.

15. Short title of Act.

A

BILL

ΤΟ

Amend the law relating to the Municipal Franchise in A.D. 1876.

W

Ireland.

HEREAS by an Act of Parliament passed in the sixth Preamble. year of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An "Act to provide for the regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales," it was, among other things, enacted that, 5 subject to the provisions therein contained, the qualification of burgesses in municipal corporations in England and Wales in any year was declared and defined to be the occupation of premises rated to the relief of the poor during the said year and the whole of the two preceding years:

10

And whereas by another Act of Parliament passed in the fourth year of the reign of Her Majesty the now Queen, intituled " An "Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland," it was, among other things, enacted that the persons to be burgesses in municipal corporations in Ireland should be qualified as in said 15 Act mentioned:

And whereas the qualification prescribed by said last-mentioned Act is other than and different from that then by law prescribed in municipal corporations in England and Wales:

66

And whereas by another Act passed in the thirteenth year of 20 Her Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to amend an Act for the regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland, so far as relates "to the borough of Dublin," the qualification of burgesses in the city of Dublin was altered from that prescribed by the said secondrecited Act, and the qualification of burgesses in said city of Dublin 25 was assimilated to that then required for burgesses in municipal corporations in England and Wales:

And whereas by another Act passed in the thirty-third year of Her Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to shorten the term of "residence required as a qualification for the municipal franchise,

A.D. 1876.

Interpretation.

Repeal of

existe in

franchise

Dublin.

fications of

"and to make provision for other purposes," it was, among other things, enacted that the period of residence and rating required for such qualification in municipal corporations in England and Wales should be reduced from three years to one; but the provisions of the said last-mentioned Act have not yet been extended to 5 the city of Dublin, and in all the other municipal corporations of Ireland the municipal franchise still continues as fixed by the said second-recited Act of the fourth year of Her Majesty's reign:

And whereas it is expedient and just to establish both in the city of Dublin and in all other Irish municipalities the municipal 10 franchise as same as is now established in England under the said fourth-recited Act of the thirty-third year of Her Majesty's reign, so as to establish in respect of the municipal franchise equality of law between England and Ireland:

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, 15 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, as follows:

1. The word "borough" in this Act shall mean any city, town, or borough, including the city of Dublin, in which a municipal 20 corporation now exists, or shall hereafter exist, pursuant to the provisions of the said first-recited Act; and "mayor" as to the city of Dublin shall mean "lord mayor."

2. The provisions of the said third-recited Act of the thirteenth year of Her Majesty's reign, so far as they require as a qualification 25 for a burgess of the city of Dublin that the person to be enrolled as a burgess should have occupied or been rated for the premises in respect of which he is qualified during the two whole years preceding that in which he is enrolled as a burgess, shall be and the same are hereby repealed; and the qualification of a burgess in 30 the city of Dublin shall be that prescribed by this Act, but in all other respects, except as relate to such qualification, said Act shall continue in full force and effect.

Repeal of 3. From and after the passing of this Act so much of the said former quali- second-recited Act as requires that the premises in respect of the 35 burgesses. occupation of which any person shall be qualified as a burgess in any borough shall be of the yearly value of not less than ten pounds, to be ascertained and determined in manner in said Act mentioned, shall be and the same is hereby repealed.

New qualification.

4. In lieu and stead of the qualification required by the said Acts 40 the following shall be the qualification of burgesses in the city of Dublin and in every other borough in Ireland; that is to say, at