THE BALLOT ACT, 1872, WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND INDEX. BY WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM GLEN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW. London: SHAW AND SONS, FETTER LANE, PREFACE. It is not my purpose to preface this little work with anything like an historical essay on the Ballot. To do so would take up much more time than I could spare from other avocations; and would, besides, only encumber a work which is intended for practical use, and not for the shelves of the library. In conjunction with Mr. C. W. Lovesy (now Mr. Justice Lovesy, of Trinidad), I edited the Representation of the People Act, 1867. The subject of the Ballot Act, 1872, being cognate to the Representation of the People Act, and having treated of the subject of Parliamentary Registration and Elections in other works, I have undertaken the present work. I do not claim for it anything more than its being a carefully annotated edition of a statute which, like the Act of 1807, may as yet be called "a leap in the dark." In the introduction to the Representation of the People Act, the then statistics with regard to the electoral franchises were given, and it was observed that it would be interesting at a future time to compare them with the ascertained alterations in the constituencies to be effected by that Act. The following are the comparative results: In the counties, in 1867, there were 116,527 occupiers possessing the £50 occupation franchise, and 423,744 possessing other qualifications. In the year 1871 these numbers had increased to 242,003 occupiers possessing the £12 occupation franchise given by the Act of 1867, and 558,311 possessing other qualifications; the gross constituencies of the counties in 1871 being 800,314, against 540,271, or an increase in the county electors of 260,043. In the boroughs, in 1867, there were 489,071 electors on the register; and in the year 1871 these numbers had increased to 1,294,467. It appears, therefore, that "the leap in the dark," which was taken in 1867, placed on the register 1,065,439 electors who would not otherwise have possessed the parliamentary franchise. In the speech from the throne on the prorogation of Parliament, Her most gracious Majesty is made to say, that the Act which establishes the Ballot will assist to secure alike the independence of the voter, and the tranquillity and purity of elections for members to serve in Parliament. But curiously enough, though the Ballot Act extends also to Municipal Elections, the same hopes are not held out as regards those elections. Let us trust, however, that experience will be found fully to justify, not the expectations merely, but the confident assurances of the Royal Speech; and that Parliamentary and Municipal Elections will henceforth be reflexes of the independence of the voter, of tranquillity in the conduct of the election, and of purity on the part of candidates as well as of constituencies. W. C. G. 5, ELM COURT, TEMPLE, 31st August, 1872. |