ON THE LAW AND PRACTICE IN REGARD TO MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS AND THE CONDUCT OF THE BUSINESS, OF TOWN COUNCILS IN SCOTLAND BY JAMES DAVID MARWICK, LL.D. TOWN-CLERK OF GLASGOW WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXIX All Rights reserved PREFACE. In the following pages I have endeavoured to provide, for those engaged in the conduct of municipal elections in Scotland, a handbook, which shall not only meet to some extent the need for a consolidation of the existing laws on that subject, but lead to greater uniformity of practice than has hitherto prevailed. A few weeks after the passing of the Ballot Act, in July 1872, a meeting of the town-clerks of Scotland was held in Edinburgh to consider the provisions of that Act, and to arrange a uniform course of action with reference to it. A small committee was then appointed to obtain the opinion of eminent counsel on points of difficulty, and to prepare an analysis of the several acts relating to municipal elections, with forms applicable to the various steps of procedure. The duty thus remitted to them the committee devolved upon me as its convener, and a work, entitled "An Analysis of the Ballot Act, and of the several Municipal Election Statutes," was hurriedly prepared during the months of September and October. Proof sheets of the work, containing every an annotated edition of all the municipal election statutes, and instructions for the guidance of presiding officers, were forthwith furnished to the several town clerks previous to the elections of that year. The Edinburgh Municipal Election of 1872-which was keenly contested and scrutinized-was carried out in strict accordance with the recommendations in the proof sheets, so that detail was, practically tested by myself. Subsequently, the committee of sheriffs on parliamentary elections adopted for these elections, with only one or two alterations, the instructions to presiding officers which had been prepared for municipal elections. Immediate requirements having been thus met, I was urged by many of the friends at whose request the work was first undertaken, to extend its scope, and to deal with the law and practice of town councils and commissioners of police in regard to several collateral matters. I agreed to do so, anticipating no longer delay than would admit of my getting the benefit of the experience of another election in applying the provisions of the Ballot Act. This was afforded, in March 1873, by the first School Board election in Edinburgh,' the conduct of which I 1 The Rules and Directions for the First Election of School Boards in Burghs in Scotland appointed the votes of the electors to be taken in the same manner as a poll at a contested municipal election; and applied the provisions of the Ballot Act to School Board elections,-substituting the term "School Board Election" for the term " Municipal Election." undertook as returning officer. My removal to Glasgow in the following month, and the engrossing duties and responsibilities of official life here, have prevented my giving to the completion of this work more than distracted attention at wide intervals of short leisure. I am so conscious of the shortcomings of my work, that my engagements to others have alone prevented my abandoning its publication. As it goes forth, I can only hope that it will be judged, not as a legal treatise-to which it has not, and never was intended to have, any pretensions-but simply as a series of practical observations, designed to assist those who may have had fewer opportunities than I have had of becoming acquainted with the working of our municipal system. I would also indulge the hope that the disadvantages attendant upon distracted work, extended over so long a period, may be to some extent compensated by the increased experience gained in conducting the Glasgow municipal elections of the last six years, and by having been called on frequently during that time to consider many questions connected with similar elections in other burghs. In the observations on the miscellaneous rights, duties, and liabilities of magistrates, councillors, and commissioners of police, I have, in compliance with the suggestions of several friends, gone somewhat |
