this act; and in case the jury shall find a verdict for the defendant or defendants, or if the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall be nonsuited, or discontinue his, her, or their action or suit, after the defendant or defendants shall have appeared, or upon any demurrer, judgment shall be given against the plaintiff or plaintiffs, then and in every such case the defendant or defendants shall recover double costs, and have such remedy for recovering the same as any defendants hath or have in other cases by law. Double costs. SCOTLAND. 50 ANNE REGINE, CAP. 8. S. 12. Peers and Act settling the Manner of electing the Sixteen A. D. 1706. electing the land. OUR Sovereign lady considering, that by the twenty- Act settling second article of the treaty of union, as the same is rati- the manner of fied by an act passed in this session of parliament, upon representathe sixteenth of January last, it is provided, That by tives of Scotvirtue of the said treaty of the peers of Scotland, at the Tenor of the time of the union, sixteen shall be the number to sit and act. vote in the house of lords, and forty-five the number of the representatives of Scotland, in the house of commons of the parliament of Great Britain, and that the said sixteen peers and forty-five members in the house of commons, be named and chosen in such manner, as by a subsequent act in this present session of parliament in Scotland shall be settled; which act is thereby declared to be as valid as if it were a part of, and ingrossed in, the said treaty: therefore, her majesty, with advice and consent of the estates of parliament, statutes, enacts and ordains, That How the sixthe said sixteen peers, who shall have right to sit in the teen peers house of peers, in the parliament of Great Britain, on the shall be electpart of Scotland, by virtue of this treaty, shall be named by the said peers of Scotland, whom they represent, their heirs or successors to their dignities and honours, out of their own number, and that by open election, and plurality of voices of the peers present, and of the proxies for such as shall be absent, the said proxies being peers, and producing a mandate in writing, duly signed before witnesses, and both the constituent and proxy being qualified according to law; declaring also, That such peers as are absent, being qualified as aforesaid, may send to all such meetings lists of the peers whom they judge fittest, validly signed by the said absent peers, which shall be reckoned in the same manner as if the parties had been present, and given in the said list; and, in case of the death, or legal ed. And also the forty-five re presentatives. incapacity of any of the said sixteen peers, that the aforesaid peers of Scotland shall nominate another of their own number in place of the said peer or peers, in manner before and after mentioned; and, that of the said forty-five representatives of Scotland in the house of commons, in the parliament of Great Britain, thirty shall be chosen by the shires or stewartries, and fifteen by the royal boroughs, as follows, viz. one for every shire and stewartry, excepting the shires of Bute and Caithness, which shall choose one by turns, Bute having the first election; the shires of Nairn and Cromarty, which shall also choose by turns, Nairn having the first election; and in like manner the shires of Clackmannan and Kinross shall choose by turns, Clackmannan having the first election. And in case of the death, or legal incapacity of any of the said members, from the respective shires or stewartries above-mentioned, to sit in the house of commons, it is enacted and ordained, That the shire or stewartry who elected the said member shall elect another member in his place; and that the said fifteen representatives for the royal boroughs be chosen as follows, viz. That the town of Edinburgh shall have right to elect and send one member to the parliament of Great Britain; and that each of the other burghs shall elect a commissioner in the same manner as they are now in use to elect commissioners to the parliament of Scotland; which commissioners and burghs, (Edinburgh excepted) being divided in fourteen classes or districts, shall meet at such time and burghs, within their respective districts, as her majesty, her heirs or successors, shall appoint, and elect one for each district, viz. the burghs of Kirkwall, Wick, Dornork, Dingwall, and Tayne, one; the burghs of Fortrose, Inverness, Nairne, and Forress, one; the burghs of Elgin, Cullen, Bamff, Inverury, and Kintore, one; the burghs of Aberdeen, Inverbervy, Montrose, Aberbrothock, and Bro. chine, one; the burghs of Forfar, Perth, Dundee, Coupar, and St. Andrew's, one; the burghs of Crail, Kilrennie, Anstruther Easter, Anstruther Wester, and Pittenweem, one; the burghs of Dysart, Kirkcaldie, Kinghorn, and Bruntisland, one; the burghs of Innerkithen, Dumfermline, Queensferry, Culross, and Stirling, one; the burghs of Glasgow, Renfrew, Ruglen, and Dumbarton, one; the burghs of Haddington, Dunbar, North Berwick, Lawder, and Jedburgh, one; the burghs of Selkirk, Peebles, Linlithgow, and Lanerk, one; the burghs of Dumfries, Sanquhar, Annan, Lockmaben, and Kirkudbright, one; the burghs of Wigtoun, New-galloway, Stranraver, and Whitehern, one; and the burghs of Air, Irvine, Rothesay, Campbletoun, and Inverary, one. And it is hereby declared and ordained, That where the votes of the commissioners for the said burghs met to choose representatives from the several districts to the parliament of Great Britain, shall be equal, in that case the president of the meeting shall have a casting or decisive vote, and that by and according to his vote as a commissioner from the burgh from which he is sent; the commissioner from the eldest burgh presiding in the first meeting, and the commissioners from the other burghs, in their respective districts, presiding afterwards, by turns, in the order as the said burghs are now called in rolls of the parliament of Scotland; and in case that any of the said fifteen commissioners from the burghs shall decease, or become legally incapable to sit in the house of commons, then the town of Edinburgh, or the district which choosed the said member, shall elect a member in his or their place. It is always hereby expressly provided and declared, That none shall be capable to elect, or be elected, for any of the said estates, but such as are twenty-one years of age complete, and protestant, excluding all papists, or such, who being suspect of popery, and required, refuse to swear and subscribe the formula, contained in the third act made in the eighth and ninth sessions of king William's parliament, intituled, 'An act for preventing the growth of popery:' and also declaring, That none shall be capable to elect, or be elected, to represent a shire or burgh in the parliament of Great Britain, for this part of the united kingdom, except such as are now capable, by the laws of this kingdom, to elect, or be elected, as commissioners for shires or burghs to the parliament of Scotland. And further, her majesty, with advice and consent aforesaid, for the effectual and orderly election of the persons to be chosen to sit, vote, and serve, in the respective houses of the parliament of Great Britain, when her majesty, her heirs, and successors, shall declare her or their pleasure for holding the first, or any subsequent parliament of Great Britain, and when, for that effect, a writ shall be issued out under the great seal of the united kingdom, directed to the privy council of Scotland, conform to the said twenty-second article, statutes, enacts, and ordains, That until the parliament of Great Britain shall make further provision therein, the said writ shall contain a warrant and command to the said privy council to issue out the proclamation in her majesty's name, requiring the peers of Scotland for the time, to meet and assemble at such time and place, within Scotland, as her majesty and royal successors shall think fit, to make election of the said sixteen peers, and requiring the lord clerk register, or two of the clerks of session, to attend all such meetings, and to administer the oaths that are or shall be by law required, and to ask the votes, and having made up the lists in presence of the meeting, to return the names of the sixteen peers chosen (certified under the subscription of the said lord clerk register, clerk, or clerks of session attending) to the clerk of the privy council of Scotland; 16 Geo. 2. c.11. and in like manner requiring and ordaining the several freeholders in the respective shires and stewartries, to meet and convene at the head burghs of their several shires and stewartries, to elect their commissioners conform to the order above set down; and ordaining the clerks of the said meetings immediately after the said elections are over, respectively, to return the names of the persons elected to the clerks of the privy council; and lastly ordaining the city of Edinburgh to elect their commissioner, and the other royal boroughs to elect, each of them a commissioner, as they have been in use to elect commissioners to the parliament, and to send the said respective commissioners, at such times, to such burghs, within their respective districts, as her majesty and successors, by such proclamation, shall appoint, requiring and ordaining the common clerk of the respective burghs where such election shall be appointed to be made, to attend the said meetings, and immediately after the election, to return the name of the person so elected, (certified under his hand,) to the clerk of privy council, to the end that the names of the sixteen peers, thirty commissioners for shires, and fifteen commissioners for burghs, being so returned to the privy council, may be returned to the court from whence the writ did issue under the great seal of the united kingdom, conform to the said twenty-second article: And whereas, by the said twenty-second article it is agreed, That if her majesty shall, on or before the first day of May next, declare that it is expedient the lords and commons of the present parliament of England, should be the members of the respective houses of the first parliament of Great Britain, for and on the part of England, they shall accordingly be the members of the said respective houses, for and on the part of England; her majesty, with advice and consent aforesaid, in that case only, doth hereby statute and ordain, that the sixteen peers and forty-five commissioners for shires and burghs, who shall be chosen by the peers, barons, and burghs, respectively, in this present session of parliament, and out of the members thereof, in the same manner as committees of parliament are usually now chosen, shall be the members of the respective houses of the said first parliament of Great Britain, for and on the part of Scotland, which nomination and election being certified by a writ under the lord clerk register's hand, the person so nominated and elected, shall have right to sit and vote in the house of lords, and in the house of commons, of the said first parliament of Great Britain. ANNO 60 ANNÆ Reginæ, CAP. 6. An Act for rendering the Union of the Two Kingdoms more 5. AND for the more uniform and express method of electing and returning members of parliament, be it likewise further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That when any parliament shall, at any time hereafter, be summoned or called, the forty-five representatives of Scotland in the house In what man- of commons of the parliament of Great Britain, shall be ner the forty elected and chosen by authority of the queen's writs under tatives of Scot the great seal of Great Britain, directed to the several land shall be elected. sheriffs and stewarts of the respective shires and stewartries; five represen and the said several sheriffs and stewarts shall, on receipt of such receipts, forthwith give notice of the time of election for the knights or commissioners for their respective shires or stewartries, and at such time of election the several freeholders in the respective shires and stewartries shall meet and convene at the head burghs of their several shires and stewartries, and proceed to the election of their respective commissioners or knights for the shire or stewartry; and the clerks of the said meetings, immediately after the said elections are over, shall respectively return the names of the persons elected, to the sheriff or stewart of the shire or stewartry, who shall annex it to his writ, and return it with the same into the court out of which the writ issued: and as to the manner of election of the fifteen representatives of the royal boroughs, the sheriff of the shire of Edinburgh shall, on the receipt of the writ directed to him, forthwith direct his precept to the lord provost of Edinburgh, to cause a burgess to be elected for that city; and on receipt of such precept, the city of Edinburgh shall elect their member, and their common clerk shall certify his name to the sheriff of Edinburgh, who shall annex it to his writ, and return it with the same into the court from whence the writ issued; and as to the other royal burghs, divided into fourteen classes or districts, the sheriffs or stewarts of the several shires and stewartries, shall, on the receipt of their several writs, forthwith direct their several precepts to every royal borough within their respective shires or stewartries, reciting therein the contents of the writ, and the date thereof, and commanding them forthwith to elect each of them a commissioner, as they used formerly to elect commissioners to the parliament of Scotland, and to order the said respective commissioners, to meet at the presiding borough of their respective district (naming the said presiding borough,) upon the thirtieth day after the day of the test of the writ, unless it be upon the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, and then the next day after, and then to choose their burgess for the parliament; and the common clerk of the then presiding borough shall, immediately after the election, return the name of the person so elected, to the sheriff or stewart of the shire or stewartry wherein such presiding borough is, who shall annex it to his writ, and return it with the same into the court from whence the writ issued: and in How vacancies, happencase a vacancy shall happen in time of parliament, by the ingin time of decease or legal incapacity of any member, a new member parliament, shall be supshall be elected in his room, conformable to the method herein-before appointed; and in case such vacancy be of a representative for any one of the said fourteen classes or districts of the said royal boroughs, that borough which presided at the election of the deceased or disabled member, shall be the presiding borough at such new election. 6. PROVIDED always, That upon the issuing of writs of to elect, to be summons for the electing of a parliament, if any shire omitted out of or stewartry wherein a royal borough is, hath not then See Ann. a turn, or right to elect a commissioner, or knight of the c. 6. & 1 G. 1. shire or stewartry for that parliament, that then it shall be st. c. 54. plied. Shire, or stew artry. &c. not having a turn the writ, &c. 15. |