MUNICIPAL deputy-chairman does not become disqualified as such AND by reason of absence. COUNTY COUNCILS. priation of corporate Any member of a corporation who is convicted in the Misappro- High Court of an offence against 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 124, is for ever disqualified for office in that corporation. The section prohibits the expenditure of corporate funds on parliamentary elections. funds. Persons exempt from serv ing. Qualifications. Nothing in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, is to compel the acceptance of any municipal office by military (n), naval, and marine officers on full or half-pay, and officers or other persons employed and residing in any of her Majesty's dockyards, victualling establishments, arsenals, barracks, or other naval or military establishments: Ibid., s. 253. The following are also exempt : Officers of customs: 39 & 40 Vict. c. 36, s. 9. Officers of inland revenue: 53 & 54 Vict. c. 21, s. 8. Officers in the post office: 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 33, s. 12. Registrars of births, deaths, and marriages: 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 22, s. 18. Inspectors under the Factory Act, 1878: 41 & 42 Vict. Men in the army reserve: 45 & 46 Vict. c. 48, s. 7. Persons registered under the Dentists Act, 1878: 41 PARISH COUNCILS. Parish councils, which have been recently instituted, are to consist of a chairman and such number of councillors as the county council may fix, being not less than five nor more than fifteen: The Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73). It is submitted that this number is exclusive of the chairman. (n) See as to the disqualification of military officers, ante, p. 6. The chairman is to be elected by the parish councillors from their own body, or from other persons qualified to be councillors of the parish: section 3 (8). A woman, even though married, may become a parish councillor if qualified in other respects: section 3 (2). There are two qualifications for being a parish councillor. He must either be a parochial elector of the parish, or "have during the whole of the twelve months preceding the election resided in the parish or within three miles thereof": section 3 (1). As regards the former qualification, it is to be noticed that "parochial electors" are the persons registered in such portions either of the local government register or of the parliamentary register, as relate to the parish, or in the separate list (sections 2 (1) and 44 (1), (6), and (8)), and that the being entitled to be on the register is not expressly made a part of the qualification, as in the case of those for town and county councillors: ante, p. 3. But a person whose name is on the register cannot vote if prohibited by any Act of Parliament (see section. 44 (1), post, p. 523), and it is difficult to suppose the intention of the Legislature was that a person prohibited from voting should be capable of being elected. The second qualification arises from residence only. Many cases have been decided under other Acts as to what is sufficient residence to entitle a person to be put upon the register of voters, and will be useful in considering whether a person is qualified by residence for being elected under this Act. The leading case is Powell v. Guest, 18 C. B., N. S. 72; H. & P. 149; 34 L. J., C. P. 69, which was decided upon similar words contained in 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 45, s. 27. Erle, C. J., there adopted the principles laid down in "Elliott on Registration," 2nd ed., p. 204 :-"In order to constitute residence, a party must possess at the least a sleeping apartment, but an uninterrupted abiding at such dwelling is not requisite. Absence, no matter how long, if there be the liberty of returning at any time, and no abandonment PARISH COUNCILS. COUNCILS. PARISH of the intention to return whenever it may suit the party's pleasure or convenience so to do, will not prevent a constructive legal residence. But if he has debarred himself of the liberty of returning to such dwelling by letting it for a period, however short, or has abandoned his intention of returning, he cannot any longer be said to have even a legal residence there." The question of "residence" has been fully treated of in Part I. of this work, commencing at page 132, and it is sufficient here to mention the following cases:— Durant v. Carter, L. R., 9 C. P. 261; 2 Hop. & C. 142; 43 L. J., C. P. 17; Ford v. Pye, L. R., 9 C. P. 269; 2 Hop. & C. 157; 43 L. J., C. P. 21; Beal v. Town Clerk of Exeter, 20 Q. B. D. 300; 57 L. J., Q. B. 128; Barlow v. Smith, 1 Fox, 293; Rowland v. Pritchard, 5 R. 311; 62 L. J., Q. B. 319; 1 Fox, 310; Ward v. Mackonochie, 7 Times L. R. 536. It is to be noticed that persons who are not entitled to be registered, and who therefore cannot vote, may be qualified by residence to be elected, e. g., a married woman without property living with her husband: see 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 43. This qualification by residence for being elected is not affected by 54 Vict. c. 11, which provides that temporary absence in performance of duty shall not disqualify persons from being registered as voters. No provision is made as to how the distance of three miles is to be measured; but see section 231 of 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, which, however, is not expressly applied. For disqualifications, see post, p. 22. Qualifications: Urban district councils. DISTRICT COUNCILS AND GUARDIANS. Urban and rural district councils are created by the Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), s. 21. The chairman of an urban district council is to be appointed by the council as if it were a local board, except that he may be elected from outside the council COUNCILS DIANS. lors: section 59, and the Public Health Act, 1875 (38 & DISTRICT 39 Vict. c. 55), s. 199, and Sch. 1, Pt. I., r. 3, post, P. AND GUAR725. Therefore, any person, unless expressly disqualified, is eligible to be chairman, but a vice-chairman can only be appointed from the council: 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 59 (2). The qualifications for being elected an urban district councillor, where the urban district is not a borough, are either being a parochial elector of a parish within the district or having during the whole of the twelve months preceding the election resided in the district: Ibid., s. 23. As to who is a parochial elector, and what is a sufficient residence, see ante, p. 19. Sex or marriage is no disqualification: Ibid., s. 23 (2). These qualifications apply also to members of the local board of Woolwich, of the metropolitan vestries and district boards, and to auditors for metropolitan parishes, as if they were urban district councillors : Ibid., s. 31 (1). For disqualifications, see post, p. 22. district The qualifications of the chairman and members of a Rural rural district council are the same as those of guardians councils. and their chairman: Ibid., s. 24 (4). A vice-chairman may be appointed (Ibid., s. 59 (2)), but not, it would seem, from outside their body, as in the case of guardians. A board of guardians may elect a chairman and a Guardians. vice-chairman, and as additional guardians, not more than two other persons from outside their own body, but they must all be qualified to be guardians of the union: Ibid., s. 20 (7). The qualifications for being elected a guardian are either being a parochial elector of a parish in the union, or having, during the whole of the twelve months preceding the election, resided in the union, or, in the case of a guardian for a parish wholly or partly situate within a municipal or county borough, being qualified to be a councillor for that borough: Ibid., s. 20 (2). As to who is a parochial elector, and what is a sufficient DISTRICT residence, see ante, p. 19. Sex or marriage is no dis COUNCILS AND GUAR- qualification: Ibid., s. 20 (2). DIANS. Disqualifi cations. Infants. Aliens. The qualifications for being a councillor of a borough have been given ante, p. 3. PARISH AND DISTRICT COUNCILS AND GUARDIANS. The Local Government Act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), by section 46, expressly imposes certain disqualifications for being elected a chairman or member of a parish council, rural district council, urban district council (other than a council of a borough), and board of guardians. These disqualifications also apply to the local board of Woolwich, the metropolitan vestries, and the auditors for metropolitan parishes: Ibid., ss. 46 (9) and 31. They are not applied to the metropolitan district boards. The following persons are disqualified under section. 46, supra, for election to the offices above specified :1. Infants. 2. Aliens. By the common law all persons born hors de ligeance are aliens; but not so persons born abroad in a country whose crown is held by the Sovereign of England: Calvin's case, Coke Rep., part vii. p. 1; Isaacson v. Durant, 17 Q. B. D. 54; 55 L. J., Q. B. 331; 54 L. T., N. S. 684; 34 W. R. 547. The Act of Settlement (12 & 13 Will. 3, c. 2), by section 3, declared that no person born out of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or the dominions thereunto belonging, although he should be naturalized or made a denizen (except such as were born of English parents), should be capable to enjoy any office or place of trust, either civil or military. By 7 Anne, c. 5, s. 3, the children born abroad of natural-born subjects (thus including Scotch and Irish) were constituted naturalborn subjects to all intents and purposes. It was still, however, necessary that both parents should be natural-born subjects. The 4 Geo. 2, c. 21, declared that all children born abroad, whose fathers |