was void by reason of his having neglected to make and subscribe a declaration of his qualification according to the requirements of the statute 1 & 2 Vict. c. 48. s. 3. Dundalk, 1 P. R. & D. 95. There is now no reasonable time within which the declaration is to be made; but the refusal or neglect to make the declaration must be wilful. If, therefore, the candidate were abroad, or in such a situation that he could not subscribe the declaration within the time limited, such neglect would not be wilful. Colchester, 3 Lud. 166. The declaration may be made before the returning officer, or a commissioner for that purpose lawfully appointed, or any justice of the peace within the United Kingdom. Where the declaration is made. before a justice of the peace, he must have jurisdiction in the place where it is made. In a recent case (a), the declaration purported to be taken in the county of Kilkenny before a justice of the peace of the county of Wexford, but, upon its appearing that the justice who took the declaration was also a justice for the county of Kilkenny, the declaration was held to be sufficient.

The returning officer, commissioner, or justice of the peace before whom the declaration is made, is required to certify the same to the High Court of Chancery or Court of Queen's Bench in England, when the declaration is made in England; and in like manner, when it is made in Ireland, it must be certified to the Court of Chancery or of Queen's Bench there (6). No provision is made for certifying

(a) New Ross, 2 P. R. & D. 191. See also Caernarvon, B. & Aust. 552.

(b) 1 & 2 Vict. c. 48, s. 4.

the declaration when it is made in Scotland. The former part of the 4th section enacts that the declaration may be made before any justice of the peace of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and, although no property qualification is required for the representative of a place in Scotland, it may often happen that the member for an English or Irish constituency may be in Scotland at the time he is requested to make his declaration. In such a case the making of the declaration would be sufficiently proved by its production and proof of the handwriting of the justice taking it.

The declaration must be certified by the person before whom it is made within three months after the making of the same, under a penalty of 1007.

The act does not require that the certificate shall be indorsed upon the declaration. It appears from the New Ross case (a) that in Ireland the justices sometimes send merely a certificate, without either the original or a copy of it, and sometimes the original, with the certificate indorsed thereon. In that case two declarations were produced and received in evidence; the one having a certificate indorsed upon it, and this document was received as coming from the proper custody, without any further proof of the declaration; the other, which had no certificate indorsed upon it, but purported to be taken before a justice of the peace, was admitted upon proof of the signature of the magistrate to the declaration. The provision as to the magistrate certifying the declaration ought to be considered directory, and a neglect on his part

(a) 2 P. R. & D. 189.

to comply with the directions of the statute, though it subjects him to a penalty, ought not to prevent the parties wishing to give the declaration in evidence from doing so, if it has been duly made in other respects (a).

The 5th section provides that no fees shall be taken for administering the declaration, &c., except certain fees amounting to the sum of five shillings; and, as has been pointed out before, this sum ought to be tendered to the candidate at the time the request is made to him.-1st Sligo, 1 P. R. & D.

Statement of, in the House.] Besides the declaration which any candidate may be called upon to make before the meeting of Parliament, every person elected for any place in England, Wales or Ireland, must, before he can sit or vote (after the Speaker has been chosen), deliver in at the table of the House, to the clerk of the House, and while the House is sitting, with their Speaker in the chair (b), a paper signed by such

(a) As the person taking the declaration has three months, within which he is to certify, it might often happen that the declaration would have to be proved before the time for certifying had elapsed.

(b) In consequence of the stringency of these words doubts were entertained in the session of 1855 whether the statement could be legally delivered in to the House during the absence of the Speaker, and when the chairman of committees was in the chair. A short act was passed which after reciting, inter alia, "whereas certain matters concerning the office of Speaker are regulated by statute, and the validity of acts done or proceedings taken during the absence of the Speaker may hereafter be questioned," enacts, that any acts done with a deputy Speaker in the chair shall be as valid as if the Speaker himself were in the chair (18 & 19 Vict. c. 84).

member, containing a statement of his qualification, and he must also make and subscribe the declaration contained in the act (section 5). This declaration is to be made immediately after the member has taken the oaths. Any member who knowingly makes a false declaration (a) will be guilty of a misdemeanor (section 7). And if any member sits or votes, after the election of the speaker, before he has complied with the provisions of the act in this respect, his election will be void, and a new writ will be issued.

It will thus be seen that a member may have his election questioned on several distinct grounds in respect of his qualification.

1st. That he had none at the time of his election and return.

2ndly. That he refused, or neglected to make a declaration when requested so to do.

3rdly. That the declaration made upon request does not contain a good qualification over and above all incumbrances affecting the same.

4thly. That the statement given in at the table of

the House contains an insufficient or untrue qualification.

Each of these are separate grounds of objection, and any one, if established, would be fatal. Thus, though the member had a good qualification at the time of his election, still if he did not include it in his declaration, or if he wilfully neglected to make it in due time, his election will be avoided. If the qualification given at the election be insufficient, and the member be peti tioned against on that ground, he cannot fall back on

(b) R. v. De Beauvoir, 7 C. & P. 17.

the statement given in at the House (a). A case, however, may be put in which the qualification given in at the election did not exist at the time the member took his seat, and yet he would be considered duly elected. For instance, if the qualification at the election was of the requisite value for the life of another person, and such person were to die after the return, but before the meeting of Parliament, there is nothing to prevent the member from obtaining a new qualification before he makes his declaration at the table of the House. He was duly qualified when he was elected; and he can truly say at the table of the House "I am to the best of my knowledge and belief duly qualified."

In framing a petition alleging want of qualification, care should be taken to express distinctly the objection intended to be raised. It is true that in one case (b), where the allegation was "that the petitioners verily believe that Mr. B. has not the requisite qualification or estate to be capable of sitting or voting in the House," the committee allowed the petitioners to go into evidence to attack the qualification. This allega

(a) The Dover case, P. & K. 412, if it ever was law, must be taken to be overruled by 1st Sligo, 1 P. R. & D., and by the provisions of the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 48. The insufficiency of the statement in the House would be primâ facie evidence of want of qualification at the election. Athlone, 2 P. R. & D. 178.

(b) Coventry, P. & K. 337-345. The objection raised in this case was that the sitting member had not complied with the Standing Orders of 1717, in delivering in a particular of his qualification, with the names and places of abode of the witnesses to the conveyance. These Standing Orders have ceased to exist since the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 48.