The hearing of the Bodmin election petition was con- cluded
on Monday, and resulted in the unseating of Mr. Agar- Robartes. Mr. Justice Grantham in giving judgment said that the two points in the case were the question of treating and the question when an election could be said to commence. The Corrupt Practices Act did not intend to make a candi-, date liable for the costs of nursing a constituency ; hence he could not hold that the expenses of the past three years were election expenses. As to the other matter, he accepted the view that Mr. Agar-Robartes had had no corrupt intention in. his actions; but the zeal of Mr. Millman, who in effect acted as election agent, bad outrun his discretion ; and the garden party given by the parents of the candidate, and organised by, the agent, was corrupt treating within the meaning of the Act. The time when the party was held—on the eve of the election—determined its character. Mr. Justice Lawrence concurred, but added that in his view the expenses of nursing the seat were election expenses, and that the election was void also on the ground of a false return. Mr. Justice Grantham in his judgment referred with some feeling to the Motion of Censure in the House of Commons, and the attacks upon his Yarmouth judgment,—a matter which we have dealt with elsewhere.
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