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and parochial taxes. The knights of shires are the representativesof the landholders, or landed interest of the kingdom : their elec-tors must therefore have estates in lands or tenements within thecounty represented. These estates must be freehold, that is, forterm of life at least; because beneficial leases for long terms ofyears were not in use at the making of these statutes, and copy-holders were then little better than villeins, absolutely dependentupon their lords. This freehold must be of 40 shillings annualvalue; because that sum would then, with proper industry, furnishall the necessaries of lite, and render the freeholder, if he pleased,an independanl man. For bishop Fleetwood, in his ChroniconPretiosum, written at the beginning of the ISth century, has fullyproved 40 shillings in the reign of Henry VI. to have been equalto 12 pounds per annum in the reign of Queen Anne ; and, as thevalue of money is very considerably lowered since the bishopwrote, we may fairly conclude, from this and other circumstances,that what was equivalent to 12 pounds in his days, is equivalent to25 pounds at present. The other less important qualifications of theelectors for counties in England and Wales may be collected fromthe statutes 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 25. 10 Ann. c. 23. 2. Geo. II. c.21. 18 Geo. 11. c. 18. 31 Geo. II. c. 14. 3 Geo. III. c. 24. whichdirect, 2. 'i hat no person under twentv-one years of age shall hecapable of voting for any member. This extends to all sorts ofmembers as well for boroughs as counties; as does also the next,viz. 3. That no person convicted of perjury, or subornation of per-jury, shall he capable of voting in any election. 4. That no per-son shall vote in right of any freehold, granted to him fraudulentlyto qualify him to vote. Fraudulent grants are such as contain anagreement to recovery, or to defeat the estate granted; which,agreements are made void, and the estate is absolutely vested inthe person to whom it is so granted. And, to guard’ the betteragainst such frauds, it is farther provided. 5. That every votershall have been in the actual possession, or receipt of the profits,of his freehold to his own use for 12 calendar months before; ex-cept it came to him by descent, marriage, marriage settlement, will,or promotion, to a benefice or office. 6. That no person shall votein respect of an annuity or rent-charge, unless registered with theclerk of the peace 12 calendar months before. 7. That inmortgaged or trust-estates, the person in possession, under theabovementioned restrictions, shall have the vote. 8. That only-one person shall be admitted to vote for any one house or tene-ment, to prevent the splitting of freeholds. 9. Thai no estate shallquality a voter, unless the estate lias been assessed to some land-taxaid, at least 12 months before the election. 10. That no tenantby copy of court-roll shall be permitted to vote as a freeholde..'1 Inis much for the electors in counties. As for the electors ofcitizens and burgesses, these are supposed to he the mercantilepart or trading interest of this kingdom. Hut as trade is of a fluc-tuating nature, and seldom long fixed in a place, it was formerlyleft to the crown to summon pro re nata, the most nourishing townsto send representatives lo parliament. So that as towns increasedin trade, and grew populous, they were admitted to a share in thelegislature. But the misfortune is, that the deserted boroughscontinued to be summoned, as well as those to whom their tradeand inhabitants were transferred ; except a few which petitioned tobe eased of the expence, then usual, of maintaining their members:four shillings a-day being allowed for a knight of the shire, andtwo shillings for a citizen or burgess; which was the rate of wagesestablished in the reign of Edward III . Hence the members forboroughs now bearahove a quadruple proportion to those for coun-ties; and the number of parliament men is increased since For-tescue’s time, in the reign of Henry VI. from 300 to upwards of500, exclusive of those for Scotland . The universities were, ingeneral, not empowered to send burgesses to parliament; thoughonce, in 28 Edw. I. when a parliament was summoned lo considerof the king’s right to Scotland , there were issued writs, which re-quired the university of Oxford to send up four or five, and thatof Cambridge two or three, of their most discreet and learned law-yers for that purpose. But it was king James I. who indulgedthem with the permanent privilege to send constantly two of theirown body ; to serve for those students who, though useful mem-bers of the community, were neither concerned in the landed northe trading interest; and to protect in the legislature the rights ofthe republic of letters. The right of election in boroughs is vari-ous, depending entirely on the several charters, customs, andVOL. i — no. 71.

constitutions, of the respective places ; which has occasioned infinitedisputes: though now, by statute 2 Geo. II. c. 24. the right ofvoting for the future shall he allowed according to the last deter-mination of die house of commons concerning it; and, by statute3 Geo. HI. c. 15, no ireeinen of any city or borough (other thansuch as claim by birth, marriage, or servitude,) shall be infilled tovote therein, unless lie hath been admitted to iiis freedom twelvecalendar months before.

2. Election Laws as to the Qualifications of Personsto be elected. Borne of the qualifications to be elected mem-bers of the house of commons depend upon the law anil custom ofparliaments, declared by the house; others upon certain statutes.And from these it appears, 1. That they must not he aliens born,or minors. 2. That they must not be any of the 12 judges, be-cause they sit in the lords’ house; nor ot the clergy, for they sitin the convocation: nor persons attainted of treason, or felony, forthey are unlit to sit any where. 3. That sheriffs of counties, andmayors and bailiffs of boroughs, are not eligible in their respectivejurisdictions, as being returning officers; but that sheriffs of onecounty are eligible to be knights of another. 4. That, in strictness,all members ought to have been inhabitants of the places for whichthey are chosen; but this, having been long disregarded, was atlength entirely repealed by statute 14 Geo. III. c. 58. 5. T hat

no persons concerned in the management of any duties or taxescreated since 1692, except the commissioners of the treasury, norany of the offices following (viz. commissioners of prizes, tran-sports, sick and wounded, wine-licences, navy, and victualling;secretaries, or receivers of prizes; comptrollers of the army ac-counts ; agents for regiments; governors of plantations, and theirdeputies ; officers of Minorca, or Gibraltar ; officers of the excise,and customs; clerks or deputies in the several offices of the trea-sury, exchequer, navy, victualling, admiralty, pay of the army ornavy, secretaries of stale, salt, stamps, appeals, wine-licences,hackney-coaches, hawkers, and pedlars,) nor any person that holdsany new office under the crown created from 1705, are capable ofbeing elected, or sitting as members. 6. That no person having apension under the crown during pleasure, or for any term of years,is capable of being elected or sitting. 7. That if any member ac-cepts an office under the crown, except an officer in the army ornavy accepting a new commission, his seat is void ; but such mem-ber is capable of being re-elected. 8. That all knights ot the shireshall be actual knights, or such notable esquires and gentlemen as-have estates sufficient to be knights, and by no means of the de-gree of yeomen. This is reduced to a still greater certainty, byordaining, 9. That every knight of a shire shall have a clear estateof freehold or copyhold to the value of 600/. per annum, andevery citizen and burgess of the value of 300/. except the eldestsons of peers and of persons qualified to he knights of shires, andexcept the members for the two universities: which somewhat ba-lances the ascendant which the boroughs have gained over thecounties, by obliging the trading interest lo make choice of landedmen: and of this qualification the member must make oath, andgive in the particulars in writing, at the time of his taking his seat.Tbit, subject to these standing restrictions and disqualifications,every subject of the realm is eligible of common right: thoughthere are instances, wherein persons in particular circumstanceshave forfeited that common right, and have been declared ineligi-ble for that parliament, by a vote of the house of commons; orforever, by an act of the legislature. But it-was an unconstitu-tional prohibition, which was grounded on an ordinance of thehouse of lords, and inserted in the king’s writs, for the parliamentbolden at Coventry, 6 Hen. IV. that no apprentice or other manof the law should be elected a knight for the shire therein: in re-turn for which, our law-books and historians have branded thisparliament with the name of parliainentum indoctum, or the lack-learning parliament; and Sir Edward Coke observes with somespleen, that there was never a good law made thereat.

3. Election, Laws respecting the Method of Proceed-ing. The third point, regarding elections, is the method of pro-ceeding therein. This is also regulated by the law of parliament,and by various statutes, all of which we shall blend together, andextract out of them a summary account of the method of proceed-ing to elections. As soon as the parliament is summoned, thelord chancellor, (or if a vacancy happens during the sitting of par-liament, the speaker, bv order of the house, and without such or-3 3' . der