said city after the day on which notice shall be given by the sheriff or sheriffs, according to the statute, of any election for a member or members to serve in Parliament for the said city, till after the final close of every such election. 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that, at every election of members to serve in Parliament for the said city, every person who shall come to poll at such election, shall, if required by any candidate at such election, or by any two or more persons having a right to vote at such elections, previous to his being permitted to poll, take the following oath, or, being one of the persons Electors to be called Quakers, shall solemnly affirm the effect thereof; (that is to say,) sworn. "You do swear, that your name is A. B., and that The oath. you have been admitted to the freedom of the city of Coventry under indentures, or deeds of apprenticeship, and that you have served seven years' apprenticeship to one and the same trade in the said city, or the suburbs thereof; and that you are of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards; and have not been polled before at this election. So help you God." Which oath the returning officer or officers, or his deputy, is hereby empowered to administer. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Penalty on that all persons who shall be guilty of wilful and corrupt of perjury. persons guilty perjury, in consequence of any oath which they shall have taken by the direction of this act, shall, on conviction thereof, incur and suffer the like pains and penalties to which any other person convicted of wilful and corrupt perjury is liable by the laws and statutes of this realm. 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that, if the returning officer or officers, at any election of a member or members to serve in Parliament for the said city, shall wilfully admit any person to poll at such elec F tion without his having first taken the above-mentioned Penalty on returning officer oath, if required so to do, in manner aforesaid, the said for admitting, returning officer or officers shall, for every such offence, without being forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds to him, her, or them, who shall sue for the same. persons to poll sworn; And on mem council for re 10. And be it further enacted by the authority aforebers of the said, that if the mayor, and the other members composing fusing to admit any council to be held for the purpose of proclaiming the electors, &c. persons presenting accounts of their claim to the freedom of the said city, or for the purpose of admitting such persons to the freedom of the said city, shall refuse to proclaim, or to admit such person or persons as shall come and prove their titles according to the provisions of this act, they shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds. Proviso. Penalty on town clerk for &c. 11. Provided always, that if any doubts shall arise as to the legality of the titles so sworn to, it shall and may be lawful for the said council to hear witnesses, and admit evidences to disprove the same. 12. And be it further enacted by the authority aforemaking frau- said, that if the town clerk shall neglect to make the produlent entries, per entries, or shall make any false and fraudulent entries in the admission book; or if he shall neglect to make out and sign the lists of the freemen admitted, and cause them to be pasted or fixed on the doors of the churches in manner herein-before directed; or if he shall make out, sign, or cause to be pasted or fixed on the doors of the churches as aforesaid, any false or fraudulent list, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of ten pounds. To what freemen this act shall extend. Election booth where to be erected. 13. Provided also, and it is hereby enacted and declared, that this act shall not extend, nor be construed to extend, to any freemen of the said city but such as have a right to vote in the election of members to serve in Parliament for the said city. 14. And be it further enacted, that the returning officer or officers shall, at all future elections of citizens to serve in Parliament for the said city, cause the booth for holding such election to be erected in the widest and most convenient part of the open market place called Cross-cheaping, not contiguous to any other building. vered. 15. And be it further enacted by the authority afore- Penalties how said, that all penalties laid or imposed by this act shall to be recobe recovered, with full costs of suit, by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in any of his Majesty's courts of record at Westminster, wherein no essoin, protection, wager of law, or more than one imparlance, shall be allowed. actions. 16. Provided always, and it is hereby further enacted Limitation of and declared by the authority aforesaid, that no person shall be liable to any penalty by this act laid or imposed, unless prosecution be commenced within one year after such penalty shall be incurred. 17. And it is further enacted by the authority afore- Public act. said, that this act shall be deemed, adjudged, and taken to be a public act; and be judicially taken notice of as such, by all judges, justices, and other persons whomsoever, without specially pleading the same. appren dentures of apprentice be registered by the town 18. And be it further enacted by the authority afore- Deeds or insaid, that the dates of all deeds or indentures of ticeship, together with the names of the parties, and their ship, &c. shall places of abode, which from and after the passing of this act, shall be made and executed, between any person or clerk. persons residing in the said city of Coventry, or the suburbs thereof, and his, her, or their apprentice or apprentices, under which such apprentice or apprentices may hereafter have a right to be admitted to the freedom of the said city, shall be registered in a book to be kept for that purpose by the town clerk of the same city for the time being, within the space of six calendar months next after the execution thereof; which the said town clerk is hereby required to register, and on such deeds or indenture to indorse a certificate of such register; and in Cricklade. Preamble. holders inti Cricklade. default thereof, such deeds or indentures shall, to all intents and purposes, be null and void. 22 G. III. c. 31., An act for the preventing of Bribery and Corruption in the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for the Borough of Cricklade, in the County of Wilts. Whereas there was the most notorious bribery and corruption at the last election of burgesses to serve in Parliament for the borough of Cricklade in the county of Wilts; and whereas such bribery and corruption is likely to continue and be practised in the said borough in future, unless some means are taken to prevent the same: in order, therefore, to prevent such unlawful practices for the future, and that the said borough may from henceforth be duly represented in Parliament: Be it enacted, &c. that from henceforth it shall and may be lawful to and for every freeholder, being above the age of twenty-one Certain free years, who shall have, within the hundreds or divisions of tled to vote for Highworth, Cricklade, Staple, Kingsbridge, and Malmsthe borough of bury, or one or more of them, in the county of Wilts, a freehold of the clear yearly value of forty shillings, to give his vote at every election of a burgess or burgesses to serve in Parliament for the said borough of Cricklade. 2. And be it further enacted by the anthority aforesaid, that the right of election of a member or members to serve in Parliament for the said borough of Cricklade, shall be, and is hereby declared to be, in such freeholders as aforesaid, and in the persons who, by the custom and usage of the said borough, have, or shall hereafter have, a right to vote at such election; and the proper officer for the time being, to whom the return of every writ or process does belong, is hereby required to return the person or persons to serve in Parliament for the said borough who shall have the major number of votes of such freeholders and other persons having a right to vote Customary voters also entitled. at such election; any law or usage to the contrary not withstanding. to vote but such as are 3. Provided always, that such freeholders only shall No freeholders be entitled to vote as shall be duly qualified to vote at elections for knights of the shire for the said county of qualified to be Wilts, according to the laws now in being for regulating county elections. county voters. be sworn. 4. And be it further enacted by the authority afore- Freeholders to said, that every such freeholder, before he is admitted to poll at any election for the said borough, shall, if required by the candidates, or any of them, or any other person having a right to vote at the said election, first take the oath, or being one of the people called Quakers, the solemn affirmation following, viz. “I do swear, [or, being a Quaker, solemnly affirm] The oath. that I am a freeholder in the hundred or division of Highworth, Cricklade, Staple, Malmsbury, and Kingsbridge, or any one or more of them, in the county of Wilts, and have a freehold estate, consisting of at [specifying the nature thereof; and if it consists in messuages, lands, tenements, or tithes, in whose occupation the same are; and if in rents, the names of the owners or possessors of the tenements out of which such rent is issuing, or some of them], situate, lying, or being in the aforesaid hundreds or divisions, or in one or more of them, of the clear yearly value of forty shillings, over and above all rents and charges payable out of or in respect of the same; and that I have been in the actual possession or receipt of the rents and profits thereof, for my own use, above twelve calendar months, [or, that the same came to me within the time aforesaid by descent, marriage, marriage settlement, devise, or promotion to a benefice in a church, or by promotion to an office]; and that such freehold estate has not been granted or made to me fraudulently, on purpose to qualify me to give my vote; and that the place of my abode is |