(3.) Within five days after the presentation of the petition the Ante, petitioner shall in the prescribed manner serve on the respondent P. 214. a notice of the presentation of the petition, and of the nature of the proposed security, and a copy of the petition.

(4.) Within five days after service of the notice the respondent Ante, may object in writing to any recognizance on the ground that any p. 217. surety is insufficient or is dead, or cannot be found or ascertained for want of a sufficient description in the recognizance, or that a person named in the recognizance has not duly acknowledged the

same.

(5.) An objection to a recognizance shall be decided in the Ante, prescribed manner.

p. 217.

(6.) If the objection is allowed, the petitioner may, within a Ante, further prescribed time not exceeding five days, remove it by a P. 217. deposit in the prescribed manner of such sum of money as will,

in the opinion of the court or officer having cognizance of the matter, make the security sufficient.

(7.) If no security is given, as prescribed, or any objection is Ante, allowed and is not removed, as aforesaid, no further proceedings P. 223. shall be had on the petition.

issue.

Ante,

p. 218.

90. On the expiration of the time limited for making objec- Petition at tions, or, after objection made, on the objection being disallowed or removed, whichever last happens, the petition shall be at issue. 91.-(1.) The prescribed officer shall as soon as may be make a Municipal list, in this Act referred to as the municipal election list, of all election election petitions at issue, placing them in the order in which they were presented, and shall keep at his office a copy of this list, open to inspection in the prescribed manner.

(2.) The petitions shall, as far as conveniently may be, be tried in the order in which they stand in the list.

(3.) Two or more candidates may be made respondents to the same petition, and their cases may be tried at the same time, but for the purposes of this Part the petition shall be deemed to be a separate petition against each respondent.

(4.) Where more petitions than one are presented relating to the same election, or to elections held at the same time for different wards of the same borough, they shall be bracketed together in the list as one petition, but shall, unless the High Court otherwise directs, stand in the list in the place where the last of them would have stood if it had been the only petition relating to that election.

list.

92.-(1.) An election petition shall be tried by an election Constitucourt consisting of a barrister qualified and appointed as in this tion of section provided, without a jury.

election court.

(2.) A barrister shall not be qualified to constitute an election Ante,

R.

X

p. 241.

Trial of election petition.

Ante, p. 241.

Ante, p. 2671

Ante, p. 267.

court, if he is of less than fifteen years' standing, or is a member of the Commons House of Parliament, or holds any office or place of profit under the Crown, other than that of recorder.

(3.) A barrister shall not be qualified to constitute an election court for trial of an election petition relating to any borough for which he is recorder, or in which he resides, or which is included in a circuit of her Majesty's judges on which he practises as a barrister.

(4.) As soon as may be after a municipal election list is made out the prescribed officer shall send a copy thereof to each of the judges for the time being on the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions. *

(5.) If a commissioner to whom the trial of a petition is assigned, dies, or declines or becomes incapable to act, the said judges or two of them may assign the trial to be conducted or continued by any other of the commissioners appointed under this section.

(6.) The election court shall for the purposes of the trial have the same powers and privileges as a judge on the trial of a parliamentary election petition, except that any fine or order of committal by the court may on motion by the person aggrieved be discharged or varied by the High Court, or in vacation by a judge thereof, on such terms, if any, as the High Court or judge thinks fit.

93.-(1.) An election petition shall be tried in open court, and notice of the time and place of trial shall be given in the prescribed manner not less than seven days before the day of trial.

(2.) The place of trial shall be within the borough, except that the High Court may, on being satisfied that special circumstances exist rendering it desirable that the petition should be tried elsewhere, appoint some other convenient place for the trial.

(3.) The election court may in its discretion adjourn the trial from time to time, and from any one place to any other place within the borough or place where it is held.

(4.) At the conclusion of the trial the election court shall determine whether the person whose election is complained of, or any and what other person, was duly elected, or whether the election was void, and shall forthwith certify in writing the determination to the High Court, and the determination so certified shall be final to all intents as to the matters at issue on the petition.

(5.) Where a charge is made in a petition of any corrupt practice or offence against this Part having been committed at the election the court shall, in addition to the certificate, and at the same time, report in writing to the High Court as follows:

(a) Whether any corrupt practice or offence against this Part has or has not been proved to have been committed by or with the knowledge and consent of any candidate at the election, and the nature of the corrupt practice or offence; (b) The names of all persons (if any) proved at the trial to have been guilty of any corrupt practice or offence against this Part;

(c) Whether any corrupt practices have, or whether there is reason to believe that any corrupt practices have, extensively prevailed at the election in the borough or in any ward thereof (u).

p. 269.

(6.) The election court may at the same time make a special Ante, report to the High Court as to any matters arising in the course of the trial, an account of which ought, in the judgment of the election court to be submitted to the High Court.

(7.) If, on the application of any party to a petition made in the Ante, prescribed manner to the High Court, it appears to the High P. 227. Court that the case raised by the petition can be conveniently stated as a special case, the High Court may direct the same to be stated accordingly, and any such special case shall be heard before the High Court, and the decision of the High Court shall be final.

(8.) If it appears to the election court on the trial of a petition Ante, that any question of law as to the admissibility of evidence, or p. 256. otherwise, requires further consideration by the High Court, the election court may postpone the granting of a certificate until the question has been determined by the High Court, and for this purpose may reserve any such question, as questions may be reserved by a judge on a trial at nisi prius.

(9.) On the trial of a petition, unless the election court other- Ante, wise directs, any charge of a corrupt practice or offence against P. 248. this Part may be gone into, and evidence in relation thereto received before any proof has been given of agency on behalf of any candidate in respect of the corrupt practice or offence.

(10.) On the trial of a petition complaining of an undue election Ante, and claiming the office for some person, the respondent may give P. 256. evidence to prove that that person was not duly elected, in the same manner as if he had presented a petition against the election of that person.

(11.) The trial of a petition shall be proceeded with notwith- Ante, standing that the respondent has ceased to hold the office his P. 243. election to which is questioned by the petition.

(12.) A copy of any certificate or report made to the High Court

(u) See post, 47 & 48 Vict. c. 70, ss. (2) and 8 (2).

Witnesses. Ante, p. 245.

With

drawal of petition. Ante, p. 220.

on the trial of a petition, and, in the case of a decision by the High Court on a special case, a statement of the decision, shall be sent by the High Court to the Secretary of State.

(13.) A copy of any such certificate and a statement of any such decision shall also be certified by the High Court, under the hands of two or more judges thereof, to the town clerk of the borough.

94.-(1.) Witnesses at the trial of an election petition shall be summoned and sworn in the same manner, as nearly as circumstances admit, as witnesses at a trial at nisi prius, and shall be liable to the same penalties for perjury.

(2.) On the trial the election court may, by order in writing, require any person who appears to the court to have been concerned in the election to attend as a witness, and any person refusing to obey the order shall be guilty of contempt of court.

(3.) The court may examine any person so required to attend or being in court although he is not called and examined by any party to the petition.

(4.) A witness may, after his examination by the court, be cross-examined by or on behalf of the petitioner and respondent or either of them.

(9.) The reasonable expenses incurred by any person in appearing to give evidence at the trial of an election petition, according to the scale allowed to witnesses on the trial of civil actions at the assizes, may be allowed to him by a certificate of the election court or of the prescribed officer, and if the witness was called and examined by the court, shall be deemed part of the expenses of providing a court, but otherwise shall be deemed costs of the petition.

95.-(1.) A petitioner shall not withdraw an election petition without the leave of the election court or High Court on special application, made in the prescribed manner, and at the prescribed time and place.

(2.) The application shall not be made until the prescribed notice of the intention to make it has been given in the borough.

(3.) On the hearing of the application any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the court to be substituted as a petitioner, and the court may, if it thinks fit, substitute him accordingly.

(4.) If the proposed withdrawal is in the opinion of the court induced by any corrupt bargain or consideration, the court may by order direct that the security given on behalf of the original petitioner shall remain as security for any costs that may be incurred by the substituted petitioner, and that to the extent of the sum named in the security, the original petitioner and his

sureties shall be liable to pay the costs of the substituted petitioner.

(5.) If the court does not so direct, then security to the same amount as would be required in the case of a new petition, and subject to the like conditions, shall be given on behalf of the substituted petitioner before he proceeds with his petition and within the prescribed time after the order of substitution.

(6.) Subject as aforesaid, a substituted petitioner shall, as nearly as may be, stand in the same position and be subject to the same liabilities as the original petitioner.

(7.) If a petition is withdrawn, the petitioner shall be liable to pay the costs of the respondent.

(8.) Where there are more petitioners than one, an application to withdraw a petition shall not be made except with the consent of all the petitioners.

ment of petition.

96.-(1.) An election petition shall be abated by the death of a Abatesole petitioner or of the survivor of several petitioners. (2.) The abatement of a petition shall not affect the liability of the petitioner or of any other person to the payment of costs previously incurred.

(3.) On the abatement of a petition the prescribed notice thereof shall be given in the borough, and, within the prescribed time after the notice is given, any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the election court or High Court in the prescribed manner and at the prescribed time and place to be substituted as a petitioner; and the court may, if it thinks fit, substitute him accordingly.

(4.) Security shall be given on behalf of a petitioner so substituted, as in the case of a new petition.

Ante,

p. 225.

97.-(1.) If before the trial of an election petition a respondent Withother than a returning officer

drawal and substitu

(a) Dies, resigns, or otherwise ceases to hold the office to which tion of the petition relates; or

(b) Gives the prescribed notice that he does not intend to oppose

the petition;

the prescribed notice thereof shall be given in the borough, and within the prescribed time after the notice is given any person who might have been a petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the election court or High Court to be admitted as a respondent to oppose the petition, and shall be admitted accordingly, except that the number of persons so admitted shall not exceed three.

(2.) A respondent who has given the prescribed notice that he does not intend to oppose the petition shall not be allowed to

respondents.

Ante,

p. 226.