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REGISTRATION. In all systems of law the registrationof certain legal facts has been regarded as necessary, chieflyfor the purpose of ensuring publicity and simplifying evidence.Registers, when made in performance of a public duty, are asa general rule admissible in evidence merely on the productionfrom the proper custody of the registers themselves or (in mostcases) of examined or certified copies. The extent to whichregistration is carried varies very much in different countries.For obvious reasons, judicial decisions are registered in allcountries alike. In other matters no general rule can be laiddown, except perhaps that on the whole registration is not asfully enforced in the United Kingdom and the United Statesas in continental states. The most important uses of registrationoccur in the case of judicial proceedings, land, ships, billsof sale, births, marriages and deaths, companies, friendly andother societies, newspapers, copyrights, patents, designs, trademarks and professions and occupations. In England registrarsare attached to the privy council, the Supreme Court and thecounty courts. In the king’s bench division (except in itsbankruptcy jurisdiction) the duty of registrars is performed bythe masters. Besides exercising limited judicial authority,registrars are responsible for the drawing up and recording ofvarious stages of the proceedings from the petition, writ orplaint to the final decision.[1] With them are filed affidavits,depositions, pleadings, &c., when such filing is necessary. Thedifference between filing and registration is that the documentsfiled are filed without alteration, while only an epitome isusually registered. The judicature Act 1873 created districtregistries in the chief towns, the district registrar having anauthority similar to that of a registrar of the Supreme Court.In the admiralty division cases of account are usually referredto the registrar and merchants. The registration in the centraloffice of the supreme court of judgments affecting lands, writsof execution, recognizances andlites pendentes in England, andthe registration in Scotland of abbreviates of adjudicationsand of inhibitions, are governed by special legislation. Allthese are among the incumbrances for which search is made oninvestigating a title. Decisions of criminal courts are said tobe recorded, not registered, except in the case of courts ofsummary jurisdiction, in which, by the Summary JurisdictionAct 1879, a register of convictions is kept. Probates of willsand letters of administration, which are really judicial decisions,are registered in the principal or district registries of the probatedivision. In Scotland registration is used for giving a summaryremedy on obligations without action by means of the fiction ofa judicial decision having been given establishing the obligation.See also the separate articlesLand Registration;Shipping;Bill of Sale;Companies;Friendly Societies;Building Societies;Press Laws;Copyright;Trade Marks;Patents, &c.
Registration of Voters.—Prior to 1832 the right of parliamentaryelectors in England was determined at the momentof the tender of the vote at the election, or, in the event of apetition against the return, by a scrutiny, a committee of theHouse of Commons striking off those whose qualification washeld to be insufficient, and, on the other hand, adding thosewho, having tendered their votes at the poll, with a good titleto do so, were rejected at the time. A conspicuous feature ofthe Reform Act of that year was the introduction of a newmode of ascertaining the rights of electors by means of anentirely new system of published lists, subject to claims andobjections, and after due inquiry and revision forming a registerof voters. Registration was not altogether unknown in GreatBritain in connexion with the parliamentary franchise beforethe Reform Acts of 1832. Thus in the Scottish counties theright to vote depended on the voter’s name being upon theroll of freeholders established by an act of Charles II.; asimilar register existed in Ireland of freeholders whose freeholdswere under £20 annual value; and in the universitiesof Oxford and Cambridge the rolls of members of Convocationand of the Senate were, as they still are, the registers of parliamentaryvoters. But except in such cases as the above,the right of a voter had to be determined by the returningofficer upon the evidence produced before him when the votewas tendered at a poll. This necessarily took time, and theresult was that a contested election in a large constituencymight last for weeks. The celebrated Westminster election of1784, in which the poll began on the 1st of April and ended onthe 17th of May, may be mentioned as an illustration. Moreover,the decision of the returning officer was not conclusive;the title of every one who claimed to vote was liable to bereconsidered on an election petition, or, in the case of a rejectedvote, in an action for damages by the voter against the returningofficer.
The inconvenience of such a state of things would have beengreatly aggravated had the old practice continued after theenlargement of the franchise in 1832. The establishment of ageneral system of registration was therefore a necessary. andimportant part of the reform then effected. It has enabled anelection in the most populous constituency to be completed ina single day. It has also been instrumental in the extinction of the “occasional voter,” who formerly gave so much troubleto returning officers and election committees—the person,namely, who acquired a qualifying tenement with the view ofusing it for a particular election and then disposing of it. Theperiod of qualification now required in all cases, being fixedwith reference to the formation of the register, is necessarilyso long anterior to any election which it could effect,that the purpose or intention of the voter in acquiring thequalifying tenement has ceased to be material, and is not investigated.
England.—The reform of parliamentary representation in 1832was followed in 1835 by that of the constitution of municipalcorporations, which included the creation of a uniform qualification(now known as the old burgess qualification) forthe municipal franchise. In 1888 the municipal franchisewas enlarged, and was at the same time extended to the wholecountry for the formation of constituencies to elect countycouncils; and in 1894 parochial electors were called intoexistence for the election of parish councils and for other purposes.Inasmuch as provision was made for the registering ofpersons entitled to votes for the above purposes, there are nowthree registers of voters, namely, the parliamentary register,the local government register (i.e. in boroughs under theMunicipal Corporation Acts, the burgess rolls, and elsewherethe county registers) and the register of parochial electors.Under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 the registrationof burgesses, though on similar lines to that of parliamentaryvoters, was entirely separate from it. Since, however, thequalification for the municipal franchise covered to a greatextent the same ground as that for the parliamentary franchisein boroughs which sent members to parliament, a considerablenumber of voters in such boroughs were entitled in respect ofthe same tenement to be upon both parliamentary registerand burgess roll. The waste of labour involved in settlingtheir rights twice over was put an end to in 1878, when thesystem of parliamentary registration was extended to theboroughs in question for municipal purposes, and the lists weredirected to be made out in such a shape that the portion commonto the two registers could be detached and combined withthe portion peculiar to each, so as to form the parliamentaryregister and the burgess roll respectively. This system ofregistration was extended to the non-parliamentary boroughsand to the whole country in 1888, the separate municipalregistration being completely abolished.
The procedure of parliamentary registration is to be found inits main lines in the Parliamentary Registration Act 1843, whichsuperseded that provided by the Reform Act of 1832,and has itself been considerably amended by later legislation.The acts applying and adapting the system to localgovernment and parochial registration are the Parliamentary andProcedure.Municipal Registration Act 1878, the County Electors Act 1888,and the Local Government Act 1894. Registration is carried outby local machinery, the common-law parish being taken as theregistration unit; and the work of preparing and publishing thelists, which when revised are to form the register, is Committed tothe overseers. The selection of these officers was no doubt due totheir position as the rating authority, and to their consequentopportunities for knowing the ownership and occupation of tenementswithin their parish. They do not always perform the dutiesthemselves, other persons being empowered to act for them inmany parishes by general or local acts of parliament; but in allor almost all cases they are entitled to act personally if they thinkfit, they sign the lists, and the proceedings are conducted in theirname.
In order to render intelligible the following summary of theprocedure, it will be necessary to divide the voters to be registeredinto classes based on the nature of their qualification, sincethe practice differs in regard to each class. The classes are asfollows: (1) Owners, including the old forty-shilling freeholders,and the copyholders, long leaseholders and others entitled underthe Reform Act of 1832 to vote at parliamentary elections forcounties; (2) occupiers, including those entitled to (a) the £10occupation qualification, (b) the household qualification and (c) theold burgess qualification; (3) lodgers, subdivided into (a) old,i.e. those on the previous register for the same lodgings, and (b) new;(4) those entitled to reserved rights,i.e. in addition to those (ifany still remain) who were entitled to votes before the Reform Actof 1832 in respect of qualifications abolished by that act, (a) freeholdand burgage tenants in Bristol, Exeter, Norwich, and Nottingham,and (b) liverymen of the City of London and freemen ofcertain old cities and boroughs, whose right to the parliamentaryfranchise was permanently retained by the same act. In regardto these classes it may be said that the general scheme is thatowners must make a claim in the first instance before they canget their names upon the register, but that, once entered on theregister, the names will be retained from year to year until removedby the revising barrister; that the lists of occupiers and of freeholdand burgage tenants are made out afresh every year by the overseersfrom their own information and inquiries, without any actbeing required on the part of the voters, who need only make claimsin case their names are omitted; that lodgers must make claimsevery year; and that liverymen and freemen are in the same positionas occupiers, except that the lists of liverymen are made outby the clerks of the several companies, and those of freemen by thetown clerks, the overseers having nothing to do with these voters,whose qualifications are personal and not locally connected withany parish.
The overseers and other officers concerned are required to performtheir duties in connexion with registration in accordance with theinstructions and precepts, and to use the notices and forms prescribedby Order in Council from time to time. The RegistrationOrder, 1895, directs the clerk of every county council, on or withinseven days before the 15th of April in every year, to send to theoverseers of each parish in his county a precept with regard to theregistration of ownership electors, and to every parish not withina parliamentary or municipal borough a precept with regard tothe registration of occupation electors (which expression for thispurpose includes lodgers as Well as occupiers proper). The townclerk of every borough, municipal or parliamentary, is to send tothe overseers of every parish in his borough a precept with regardto the registration of occupation electors. These precepts are setout in the Registration Order, and those issued by the townclerks differ according as the borough is parliamentary only, ormunicipal only, or both parliamentary and municipal; in the casesof Bristol, Exeter, Norwich and Nottingham they contain directionsas to freehold and burgage tenants. The duties of the overseersin regard to registration are set out in detail in the precepts.Along with the precepts are forwarded forms of the various lists andnotices required to be used, and with the ownership precept a certainnumber of copies of that portion of the parliamentary register ofthe county at the time in force which contains the ownership votersfor the parish, the register being so printed that the portion relatingto each parish can be detached. It is the duty of the overseersto publish on the 20th of June, in manner hereinafter described, theportion of the register so received, together with a notice to ownersnot already registered to send in claims by the 20th of July. Meanwhilethe overseers are making the inquiries necessary for thepreparation of the occupier list. For this purpose they may requirereturns to be furnished by owners of houses let out in separatetenements, and by employers who have servants entitled to theservice franchise. The registrars of births, deaths and marriagesare required to furnish the overseers with returns of deaths, asmust the assessed tax collectors with returns of defaulters; therelieving officers are to give information as to recipients of parochialrelief. On or before the 31st of July the overseers are to makeout and sign the lists of voters. These are the following: thelist of ownership electors, consisting of the portion of the registerpreviously published with a supplemental list of those who havesent in claims by the 20th of July; the occupier list; and the oldlodger list, the last being formed from claims sent in by the 25th ofJuly. The overseers do not select the names in the first and lastof these lists; they take them as supplied in the register and claims.It is, however, their duty to write “dead” or “objected” in themargin against the names of persons whom they have reason tobelieve to be dead or not entitled to vote in respect of the qualificationdescribed. The ownership and old lodger lists will be dividedinto two parts, if the register contains names of owners entitledto a parochial vote only, or if claims by owners or old lodgers havebeen made limited to that franchise. The occupier list containsthe names of persons whom the overseers believe to be qualified,and no others, and therefore will be free from marginal objections.Except in the administrative county of London, it is made out inthree divisions—division 1 giving the names of occupiers of propertyqualifying for both parliamentary and local governmentvotes, divisions 2 and 3 those of occupiers of property qualifyingonly for parliamentary and only for local government votes respectively.It happens so frequently that a tenement, if not of sufficientvalue to qualify for the £10 occupation franchise (parliamentaryand local government), qualifies both for the household franchise(parliamentary) and for the old burgess franchise (local government),that division 1 would in most cases be the whole list, but fortwo circumstances. The service franchise is a special modificationof the household franchise only; and the service occupants, beingtherefore restricted to the parliamentary vote, form the bulk ofdivision 2; while peers and women, being excluded from theparliamentary vote, are consequently relegated to division 3. Inthe administrative county of London the local government register,being coextensive with the register of parochial electors, includes the whole of the parliamentary register. The occupier lists areconsequently there made out in two divisions only, the names whichwould elsewhere appear in division 2 being placed in division.The lists of freehold and burgage tenants in Bristol, Exeter, Norwichand Nottingham are to be made out and signed by the same date.The overseers have also to make out and sign a list of personsqualified as occupiers to be elected aldermen or councillors, but asnon-residents disqualified from being on the local governmentregister. By the same date also the clerks of the livery companiesare to make out, sign and deliver to the secondary (who performsin the City of London the registration duties which elsewhere fallon the town clerk) the lists of liverymen entitled as such to theparliamentary vote; and the town clerks are to make out and signthe lists of freemen so entitled in towns where this franchise exists.
On the 1st of August all the above lists are to be published, thelivery lists by the secondary, lists of freemen by the town clerksand the rest by the overseers. In addition the overseers may haveto publish a list of persons disqualified by having been found guiltyof corrupt or illegal practices; this list they will receive, when itexists, from the clerk of the county council or town clerk with theprecept. Publication of lists and notices by overseers is made byaffixing copies on the doors of the church and other places of worshipof the parish (or, if there be none, in some public or conspicuoussituation in the parish), and also, with the exception to be mentioned,in the case of a parish wholly or partly within a municipalborough or urban district, in or near every public or municipal orparochial office and every post and telegraph office in the parish.The exception is that lists and notices relating to ownership electorsneed not be published at the offices mentioned when the parish iswithin a parliamentary borough. Publication by the secondary ismade by affixing copies outside the Guildhall and Royal Exchange;publication by town clerks is made by affixing copies outside theirtown hall, or, where there is none, in some public or conspicuousplace in their borough. From the 1st to the 20th of August inclusiveis allowed for the sending in of claims and objections. Those whosenames have been omitted from the occupier or reserved rights lists,or the non-resident list, or whose names, place of abode or particularsof qualification have been incorrectly stated in such lists, maysend in claims to have their names registered; lodgers who are notqualified as old lodgers, or who have omitted to claim as such, mayclaim as new lodgers; persons whose names are on the corrupt andillegal practices list may claim to have them omitted. Any personwhose name is on the list of parliamentary, local government orparochial electors for the same parliamentary county, administrativecounty, borough or parish, may object to names on the same lists.Notices of claim and objection in the case of liverymen and freemen areto be sent to the secondary and town clerk, and in other cases to theoverseers; and notices of objection must also in all cases be sent to theperson objected to. All notices must be sent in by the 20th of August,and on or before the 25th of August the overseers, secondary and townclerks are to make out, sign and publish lists of the claimants andpersons objected to. It remains to be added that any person on alist of voters (i.e. on one of the lists published on the 1st of August)may make a declaration before a magistrate or commissioner foroaths correcting the entry relating to him. In the case of ownershipelectors the correction can only deal with the place of abode; in thecase of other lists it extends to all particulars stated, and is usefulinasmuch as it enables the revising barrister to make corrections asto the qualification which he could not make in the absence of adeclaration. The declarations must be delivered to the clerk of thecounty council or town clerk on or before the 5th of September.
The next stage is the revision of the lists. For this purposerevising barristers are appointed yearly. The period within whichrevision courts can be held is from the 8th of Septemberto the 12th of October, both days inclusive. The clerk ofthe county council attends the first court held for eachparliamentary division of his county, and the town clerkRevising barristers.the first court held for his city or borough; and they respectivelyproduce all lists, notices and declarations in their custody, andanswer any questions put to them by the revising barrister. Theoverseers also attend the courts held for their parish, produce therate books, original notices of claim and objection, &c., and answerquestions. The claimants, objectors and persons objected to appearpersonally or by representative to support their several contentions.Any person qualified to be an objector may also appearto oppose any claims, upon giving notice to the barrister before suchclaims are reached. The powers of the revising barristers are asfollows: As regards persons whose names are on the lists of voterspublished on the 1st of August, he is to expunge the names, whetherobjected to or not, of those who are dead or subject to personal incapacity,such as infants and aliens, and for parliamentary purposespeers and women. If an entry is imperfect, the name must beremoved, unless the particulars necessary for completing it aresupplied to the barrister. All names marginally objected to by overseersmust be expunged, unless the voters prove to the barrister thatthey ought to be retained. Objections made by other objectorsmust be supported by prima facie proof, and if this is not rebuttedthe name is struck out. Claimants must be ready to support theirclaims. The declaration attached to a lodger claim is indeed primafacie proof of the facts stated in it, but other claimants requireevidence to make out even a prima facie case, and if they fail toproduce it their claims will be disallowed. The barrister is requiredto correct errors in the lists of voters, and has a discretion to rectifymistakes in claims and objections upon evidence produced to him,although his power in this respect is limited. Lastly, the barristerhas to deal with duplicates, as a voter is entitled to be on the registeronce, but not more than once, as a parliamentary voter for eachparliamentary county or borough, as a burgess for each municipalborough, as a county elector for each electoral division, and as aparochial elector for each parish in which he holds a qualification.Consequently, he deals with duplicate entries by expunging or transferringthem to separate parochial lists. The decision of the revisingbarrister is final and conclusive on all questions of fact; butan appeal lies from him on questions of law at the instance of anyperson aggrieved by the removal of his name from a list of voters, bythe rejection of his claim or objection or by the allowance of a claimwhich he has opposed. Notice of the intention to appeal must begiven to the barrister in writing on the day when £15 decision isgiven. The barrister may refuse to state a case for appeal; but ifhe does so without due cause he may be ordered by the High Courtto state a case. The appeal is heard by a divisional court, fromwhose decision an appeal lies (by leave either of the divisional courtor of the court of appeal) to the court of appeal, whose decision isfinal.
On the completion of the revision the barrister hands the countyand borough lists (every page signed and every alteration initialledby him) to the clerk of the county council and the town clerk respectively,to be printed. With the following exceptions the revisedlists are to be made up and printed by the 20th of December, andcome into force as the register for all purposes on the 1st of January.In the boroughs created by the London Government Act 1899, thewhole register is to be made up and printed by the 20th of October,and to come into force for the purpose of borough elections underthe act on the 1st of November. In boroughs subject to the MunicipalCorporations Acts, divisions 1 and 3 of the occupiers’ list areto be made up and printed by the 20th of October, and come intoforce for the purpose of municipal and county council elections onthe 1st of November. Corrections ordered in consequence of asuccessful appeal from a revising barrister are to be made by theofficers having the custody of the registers, but a pending appealdoes not affect any right of voting. The register in its final formwill consist of the lists published on the 1st of August as corrected,with the claims which have been allowed on revision incorporatedwith them. It is printed in such form that each list and eachdivision of a list for every parish can be separated from the rest forthe purpose of making up the parliamentary, local government andparochial registers respectively. The alphabetical order is followed,except in London and some other large towns, where street order isadopted for all except the ownership lists and lists of liverymen andfreemen. The parliamentary register for a parliamentary countywill consist of the ownership lists for all parishes in the county, andof the lodger lists and divisions 1 and 2 of the occupier lists forparishes within the county and not within a parliamentary borough.The parliamentary register for a parliamentary borough will consistof the lodger lists, of the lists of freehold and burgage tenants (ifany), and of divisions 1 and 2 of the occupier lists for all parisheswithin the borough, and also of the borough lists (if any) of liverymenor freemen. The local government register for an administrativecounty will consist of divisions 1 and 3 of the occupier lists for allparishes in the county, and the burgess roll for a municipal boroughof divisions 1 and 3 of the occupier lists for all parishes in the borough.It will be seen, therefore, that, except in county boroughs, theburgess roll is also a part of the local government register of theadministrative county within which the borough is situate. Theregister of parochial electors consists of the complete set of lists foreach parish; but this does not include the lists of liverymen andfreemen, which, as has been stated, are not parish lists.
No one whose name is not on the register can vote at an election.The fact that a man’s name is on the register is now so far conclusiveof his right that the returning officer is bound to receivehis vote. Only two questions may be asked of him when hetenders hIs vote, namely, whether he is the person whose name ison the register, and whether he has voted before at the election.The Reform Act 1832 allowed him to be asked at parliamentaryelections whether he retained the qualification for which he hadbeen registered; but the Registration Act 1843 disallowed thequestion, and made the register conclusive as to the retention ofthe qualification. When, however, a petition is presented againstan election, the register, although conclusive as to the retentionof the qualification, does not prevent the court from inquiringinto the existence of personal incapacities, arising in connexionwith the election or otherwise, and striking off on scrutiny thevotes of persons subject thereto,e.g. aliens, infants, or in parliamentaryelections peers, &c.
The City of London is not within the Municipal CorporationsActs, and is not subject to the general registration law in theformation of its roll of citizens for municipal purposes. But aregister of parliamentary, county and parochial electors is made in the ordinary way. The universities are also exempt from thegeneral law of registration. At Oxford and Cambridge the membersof Convocation and the Senate respectively have always formedthe parliamentary constituencies; and, as has been already stated,the registers of those members were before 1832, and still are,the parliamentary registers. Similarly, the Reform Act of 1867,which gave parliamentary representation to the university ofLondon, simply enacted that the register of graduates constitutingthe Convocation should be the parliamentary register of that body.
Scotland.—In Scotland the qualifications for local governmentand parish electors are the same as those for parliamentary voters,the only difference in the registers being in respect of personalincapacities for the parliamentary franchise, incapacity for theother franchises by reason of non-payment of rates, and duplicates.The principal act regulating registration in burghs is 19 & 20 Vict.c. 58, amended in some particulars as to dates by 31 & 32 Vict.c. 48, § 20. County registration, formerly regulated by 24 & 25 Vict.c. 83, has been assimilated to burgh registration by 48 & 49 Vict.c. 3, § 8 (6). The procedure consists, as in England, of themaking and publication of lists of voters, the making of claims andobjections and the holding of revision courts; but there are importantdifferences of detail. Though the parish is the registrationunit, parochial machinery is not used for the formation of theregister. The parliamentary lists for a county are made up yearlyby one or more of the assessors of the county, and those for a burghby one or more of the assessors for the burgh, or by the clerk of thecommissioners. They are published on the 15th of September;and claims and objections must be sent in by the 21st and arepublished on the 25th of the same month. Publication is madein burghs by posting on or near the town hall, or in some otherconspicuous place, in counties by posting the part relating to eacharish on the parish church door, and in both cases giving noticeby newspaper advertisement of a place where the lists may beperused. The revision is conducted by the sheriff, the time withinwhich his courts may be held being from the 25th of September tothe 16th of October, both days inclusive. An appeal lies to threejudges of the Court of Session, one taken from each division of theinner House, and one from the Lords Ordinary of the Outer House.The revised lists are delivered in counties to the sheriff clerk, inburghs to the town clerk, or person to whom the registration dutiesof town clerk are assigned. The register comes into force for allpurposes on the 1st of November.
The municipal register of a royal burgh which is coextensive,or of that part of a royal burgh which is coextensive with a parliamentaryburgh, consists of the parliamentary register with a supplementallist of women who but for their sex would be qualified forthe parliamentary vote. The municipal register for a burgh, orfor that part of one which is not within a parliamentary burgh,consists of persons possessed of qualifications within the burghwhich, if within a parliamentary burgh, would entitle them, or butfor their sex would entitle them, to the parliamentary vote. Theregister of county electors consists of the parliamentary register fora county with the supplemental list, hereafter mentioned; butinasmuch as exemption from or failure to pay the consolidatedcounty rate is a disqualification for the county electors’ franchise,the names of persons so disqualified are to be marked with a distinctivemark on the register; as are also the names of personswhose qualifications are situated within a burgh, such marks indicatingthat the persons to whose names they are attached are notentitled to vote as county electors. Every third year, in preparationfor the triennial elections of county and parish councils(casual vacancies being filled up by co-optation), a supplementallist is to be made of peers and women possessed of qualificationswhich but for their rank and sex would entitle them to parliamentaryvotes. The register of county electors in a county and themunicipal register in a burgh form the registers of parish electorsfor the parishes comprised in each respectively. Inasmuch, however,as a man is entitled to be registered as a parish elector in everyparish where he is qualified, duplicate entries are, when required,to be made in the register, with distinctive marks to all but one,to indicate that they confer the parish vote only. These distinctivemarks and those previously mentioned are to be made inthe lists by the assessors, subject to revision by the sheriff. Theregister is conclusive to the same extent as in England, except thatthe vote of a parish elector who is one year in arrear in paymentof a parish rate is not to be received. The clerk of the parishcouncil is to furnish the returning officer one week before anelection with the names of persons so in arrear; and the returningofficer is to reject their votes except upon the production of awritten receipt. Provision is made by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 48, §§ 27–41,for the formation of registers of parliamentary electors for theuniversities. The register for each university is to be made annuallyby the university registrar, with the assistance of two members ofthe council, from whose decisions an appeal lies to the universitycourt.
Ireland.—There are no parish councils in Ireland, and no parochialelectors. There are therefore but two registers of voters,the parliamentary and the local government registers, the latterof which consists of the former with a local government supplementcontaining the names of those excluded from the parliamentaryregister by reason of their being peers or women, and duplicateentries relating to those whose names are registered elsewhere forthe same parliamentary constituency. The principal acts regulatingregistration are 13 & 14 Vict. c. 69, 31 & 32 Vict. c. 112, 48 &49 Vict. c. 17, and 61 & 62 Vict. c. 2. The lord lieutenant isempowered to make by Order in Council rules for registration,and to prescribe forms; and under this power has made the Registration(Ireland) Rules 1899, now in force. The registrationunit is not the parish, but the district electoral division, exceptwhere such division is subdivided into wards, or is partly withinand partly without any town or ward of a borough or town, in whichcases each ward of the division or part of a division is a separateregistration unit.
The procedure is as follows, subject to variation in cases wherethere are clerks of unions who held office on the 31st of March 1898,and have not agreed to transfer their registration duties. Theclerk of the peace sends out on the 1st of June a precept in the formprescribed for county registration to the secretary of the countycouncil and clerks of urban district councils, together with a copyof the existing register for their county or district; and a preceptin the form prescribed for borough registration to town clerks ofboroughs. As regards registration units not in a parliamentaryor municipal borough, the secretary of the county council or clerkof the urban district council is to put marginal objections, “dead”or “objected,” where required, to £10 occupiers and householdersin the copy of the register, both in the parliamentary list and inthe local government supplement. He is also to make out supplementalparliamentary and local government lists of £10 occupiersand householders not on the existing register, and to put marginalobjections where required to these. He is to verify on oath beforea magistrate the copy of the register and supplemental lists, andto return them to the clerk of the peace by the 8th of July. Asregards registration units in a parliamentary borough, but outsidea municipal borough, the secretary of the county council or clerkof the urban district council is to make out lists of £10 occupiersand householders with local government supplement, and transmitthem to the town clerk of the municipal borough or town. Theclerk of the peace is to publish the copy of the register, after himselfplacing marginal objections where required to voters other than£10 occupiers and householders, and the supplemental lists as received,and also the corrupt and illegal practices list, if any, on the22nd of July. On the same day the town clerk will publish thelists received as aforesaid for registration units outside the municipalborough, and the lists, which he will have made out himselffor the municipal borough, including the freemen’s list and corruptand illegal practices list. Freemen being entitled to the localgovernment vote will, if resident, be placed on the list of the registrationunit where they reside, and will, if non-resident, be allottedby the revising barrister among the registration units of the boroughfor local government purposes in proportion to the number ofelectors in each registration unit. Claims are to be sent in to theclerk of the peace and town clerk by the 4th of August, includingold lodger claims and, in the case of the clerk of the peace, ownershipclaims. Lists of claimants with marginal objections, whererequired, are to be published by the clerk of the peace and townclerk by the 11th of August. Notices of objection to voters orclaimants may be given by the 20th of August; and lists of personsobjected to are to be published by the clerk of the peace and townclerk by the 24th of the same month. Publication of lists andnotices by a clerk of the peace is made by posting copies of thoserelating to each registration unit outside every court-house, pettysessions court, and other public offices in the unit; publication bya town clerk is made by posting copies outside the town hall, or,if there be none, in some public and conspicuous place in theborough.
Revising barristers are specially appointed for the county andcity of Dublin by the lord lieutenant; elsewhere the county courtjudges and chairmen of quarter sessions act as suchex officio,assisted, when necessary, by additional barristers appointed bythe lord lieutenant. The time for the holding of revision courtsis from the 8th of September to the 25th of October inclusive. Anappeal lies to the court of appeal, whose decision is final. Therevised lists are handed to the clerk of the peace; they are to bemade up by him by the 31st of December, and come into force onthe 1st of January.
The registrar of the university of Dublin is to make out inDecember a list of the persons entitled to the parliamentary votefor the university, and to print the same in January, and to publisha copy in the university calendar, or in one or more public journalscirculating in Ireland. He is to revise the list annually, and expungethe names of those dead or disqualified; but an electorwhose name has been expunged because he was supposed to bedead is entitled, if alive, to have his name immediately restoredand to vote at any election. (L. L. S.)
