OUTLINE OF THE BILL TO AMEND THE REPRESENTATION OF THE

PEOPLE IN SCOTLAND.

PR EAMBLE—Whereas the laws which regulate the election of Members to serve ill the Commons' House of Parliament for Scotland are defective, whereby great in-

conveniences and abuses have been occasioned ; and whereas it is expedient and would be for the evident utility of the subjects within Sentland that those defects should be remedied, and especially that the right of election should be extended to persons of property and intelligence, and the mode of conducting elections be better regulated and ordered. Be it therefore enacted, &e. that from and after the time when this Act shall come into operation, and in all future Parliaments to be assem-

bled, there shall lie fifty Representatives returned for Scotland to the Commons' House of Parliament, of whom twenty-eight shall be for the several or conjoined shires or stewartries hereinafter enumerated, and twenty-two for the several burghs and towns, or districts of burghs and towns, hereinafter enumerated or described.

That the two shires of Peebles and Selkirk shall jointly return one member to all future Parliaments, and the whole electors in both shires, qualified as hereinafter directed, shall vote together as the electors of one shire for such member; and in like manner the two shires of Ross and Cromarty, and the two shires of Dumbarton and Bute, and the two shires of Nairne and Elgin, and the two shires of Clackman- nan and Kinross, shall, each two of them, jointly return one member to Parliameet; and all the electors qualified in the manner hereinafter provided shall vote, or be en- titled to vote, together for the return of such member, in each of the two shires hereby for this purpose united. The district of burghs, consisting of Easter Anstruther, Pittenween, Wester Anstruther, Kilrenny, and Crail, shall no longer return a member to Pairtiament; and these places shall, in the matter of such elections, be held to be parts of the shire or county of Fife.

That of the twenty-eight representatives hereafter to be returned to Parliament by the separate or combined shires or stewartries of Scotland, one shall always be re-

turned by each of the counties or stewartries following, and no others—namely, one

by each of the counties or stewartries of Aberdeen, Argyle' Ayr, Banff, Berwick, Caithness, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Fife, Forfar, Haddington, Inverness, Kincardine,

Kirkcudbright, Lanark, Linlithgow. Perth, Renfrew, Rexburgli,Stirling, Sutherland, mid Wigtown ; and that one member shall also be returned by the two shires of Peebles and Selkirk jointly, one by Dumbarton and Bute, one by Elgin and Nairne, one by Ross and Cromarty, one by Orkney and Shetland, and one by Clackmannan and Kinross.

That of the twenty-two Members to be returned for the several or combined berehs and towns of Scotland, two shall always be returned by Edinburgh, including Portsburgh, Canongate, and other contiguous suburbs ; two by Glasgow, in-

cluding Calton, Gorbals, Anderstou, and other contiguous suburbs ; one by Aber- deen and suburbs thereof ; one by Paisley and suburbs thereof; one by Dundee

and suburbs thereof; one by Greenock and suburbs thereof; and one by Leith, north and south, and suburbs thereof, together with roiteemm; eresssita.eas. .nd Fisherrow, jointly ; and one by each of the districts or classes of burghs specified in an act passed in the fifth year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Anne, intituled " An Act for an Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland," and hitherto in use to return members to Parliament: provided always. that the district of Easter Anstruther, Pittenween, Wester Anstruther, Kiirenny, and Grail, shall, as hereinbefore provided, no longer return any member : provided also, that Aber- deen shall not, after this Act shall come into operation, form a part of the district to which it bath belonged, and the town of Peterhead shall be added to that dis. trict, and all the qualified electors it contains shall be entitled to vote at the elec- tion of members to serve in Parliament, along with those in the other towns of which it consists : provided also, that Glasgow shall in like manner no longer form a part of the district to which ithes hitherto belonged, and the town of Kilmaruock shall be added to that district, and all its qualified electors be entitled to vote at tbe election of members to serve in Parlialnent, along with those of Dumbarton, Rutherglen, and Renfrew : provided also, that Dundee shall in like manner no longer form a part of the district to which it has hitherto belonged, and that the

whole right of election for that district shall, after this Act shall come into.opera- tion, be in Perth, Saint Andrew's, Forfar, and Cupar of Fife : provided also, that the tonal of Falkirk shall be added to the district hitherto consisting of Lin-

lithgow, Selkirk, Lanark, and Peebles: provided also, that the town of Cromarty shall be added to the district hitherto consisting of 'fain, Dingwall, Wick, awl Kirkwall. There are then clauses providing that freeholders now enrolled in counties be entitled to vote for their lives, but none hereafter to acquire votes, except as herein. after provided. That proprietors of lands or houses worth 101. a year to be qualified to vote in counties. That heirs apparent and husbands in possession be entitled to vote. That tenants possessing on leases of nineteen years for 301. rent, be entitled to vote in counties; and where a farm shall be let to two or morejoint tenants for more than 1001 a year, two joint tenants to be allowed to vote, provided they be resident on the farm. That in elections for counties or stewnrtries, where two or more persons are in- terested in the subject from which the vote arises, as life-renter and as fiar, the right of voting shall be in the life renter, and not in the liar ; and where the subject,. being of less value than to afford a free yearly return to each co-proprietor of 10L, is held by heir-portioners, without division, the right to vote shall belong to the eldest. heir-portioner happening to be a male, or to the husband of the eldest heirportioner being a female, and married. That the right of voting for burghs and towns no longer be in Town Councils or Delegates, but in qualified inhabitants. The member to be returned according to the majority of individual votes given in the whole district per capita. That the owners and occupants of houses worth 101. a year be entitled to vote in burghs and towns. That persons claiming to be entitled to vote make application to the sheriff competent, to any other registered person in the same shire or town, to object be. fore the sheriff to the claim of any such claimant, and to maintain any personaL disqualification that may attach to him, provided all such claims be presented one calendar month before an election. That the sheriff shall adjust and make up the register within months. after tlw passing of this act. That when the sheriff shall be satisfied that the claim is well founded, and that no personal disability has been proved against the claimant, he shall forthwith enrol the claimant in a register-book, setting forth the date, place, shire; stewartry, burghs or town, the name and calling of claimant, the character, as landlord, tenant, or otherwise, in which his claim has been allowed, and the name or description of the property on which it is founded, and the sheriff shall sign every such entry, and fur- nish an exact copy of it to every claimant who may require it.

The sheriff's decision to be conclusive of the claimant's right to be registered anti vote as long as it stands ; but a rejected claimant may require the verdict of a jury as to disputed facts ; and any registered voter in the same shire or burgh may appeal to the Court of Session on grounds of law from the decision of the sheriff on the right of any admitted claimant. The next clause provides the form and manner of receiving or rejecting votes at elections.

That the sheriff shall fix and publish the day of election—namely, to endorse on the back of the writ the day on which he received it, and shall, within three days thereafter, name and publicly announce a day, which day shall not be later than twenty-one days after that on which the writ was received, for the election for his county or stewartry, or for any burgh or town within his jurisdiction ; and shall give due intimation thereof by advertisement, &c. That on the day of election the sheriff or stewart shall, wherever the registered voters exceed 500 in number, have two or more separate places for taking the poll, or one place, as nearly as may be, for each RIO voters, each of which places shall be under the personal charge either of the sheriff or stewart, or of a substitute ap- /minted by him, for whom he shall be responsible ; and no poll shall be kept open for more than two days, and only between the hours of nine in the morning and four in the afternoon, &c. That the sheriff's substitutes shall, immedi§tely after the closing of the poll, make up a report of the state of it, and transmit itio the sheriff.

That the voters in burghs shall not vote in the county where the burgh is situate, nor rice versa. That the limits of towns and burghs shall be determined by the terminations of the streets, or of the continuous or nearly continuous buildings commonly known as the town or its suburbs. That no sheriff or stewart, or sheriff or stewart-substitute, shall be entitled to vote at any election for a member to serve in Parliament for the shire of which he is the sheriff or stewart, or for any burgh or town, or district of burghs or towns, lying partly or wholly within such shire: and no Judge of the Court of Session, or of the Court of Exchequer, shall be entitled to vote at any such election for any shire, burgh, or town, or district of burghs or towns in Scotland. That from and after the passing of this act, no person shall be eligible to repre- -sent any county or stewartry who shall not be the proprietor of a land estate in Scotland of the value of 5001. a year, or be the heir apparent to such an estate. _Provided always, that all persons who, at the time of the passing of this act, were qualified tube elected as representatives of any shire or stewartry, shall continue to be eligible as midi representatives, for the tefm of their natural lives, and so long as they retain the qualification of whirl; they were then possessed.

That eldest sons of Scotch Peers may be elected. That persons wilfully disobeying this act be liable to penalties and damages, and persons guilty of crimes at elections liable to punishment and damages. Dis- qualified persons voting, to be liable in penalties and costs. That sheriffs.substitute may act as sheriffs where not otherwise provided.

That every person claiming to be registered shall, at the time of making such claim, pay to the sheriff or stewart officiating the sum of is,; and every registered Voter shall, when tendering his vote at any election, make payment of the like sum of Is. to the acting sheriff or stewart. Provided always, that out of the money so received the sheriff or Stewart shall be bound to defray the whole expense of pre- paring and adjusting the register, and keeping and providing books and copies of entries, and all the other expenses not otherwise provided for, of carrying this Act into execution, and shall also keep an exact account of the whole sums so received and expended, to be at all times open to the inspection of any registered voter.

That the expenses of booths and polling-clerks be paid by candidates. That all former laws be repealed, where contrary to this Act.