7. PROCEEDINGS OF SELECT ELECTION COMMITTEES.

Time and place of

meeting.

LXXVII. And be it enacted, That the House shall refer the Petitions in each case Petitions, &c. to be for which a Select Election Committee shall have been so reported by the Gene- referred to Committee. ral Committee of Elections to the Select Committee so appointed and sworn, and shall order the said Select Committee to meet at a certain time to be fixed by the House, which shall be within twenty-four hours of their being sworn at the Table of the House, unless a Sunday or other Statutory Holiday intervene; and the place of their meeting shall be some convenient room or place adjacent to the House properly prepared for that purpose.

Committee shall try

the petition, shall not than twenty-four hours without leave,

adjourn for more

&c.

LXXVIII. And be it enacted, That every such Select Committee shall meet at the time and place appointed for that purpose, and shall proceed to try the merits of the Election Petition so referred to them, and they shall sit from day to day, Sundays and other Statutory Holidays only excepted, and shall never adjourn for a longer time than twenty-four hours, unless a Sunday or other Statutory Holiday intervene, and in such case not for more than twenty-four hours, exclusive of such Sunday or other Statutory Holiday, without leave first obtained from the House upon motion and special cause assigned for a longer adjournment; and if the House be sitting at the time to which such Select Committee is adjourned, then the business of the House shall be stayed, and a motion shall be made for a further adjournment, for any time to be fixed by the House; Provided always, that if such Select Committee have occasion to apply or report to the Proviso. House, and the House be then adjourned for more than twenty-four hours, such Select Committee may also adjourn to the day appointed for the meeting of the House. LXXIX. And be it enacted, That the parties complaining of or defending the election Lists of voters or return complained of in any Election Petition, shall, except in the case provided objected to, to be for, in and by the fifty-eighth section of this Act, or where otherwise directed by order of the Select Committee, appointed to try the validity of such election by themselves or their agents, deliver to the Chairman of such Select Committee lists of the voters intended to be objected to, giving in the said lists the several heads of objection, and distinguishing the same against the names of the voters excepted to, and the said Chairman shall cause such lists to be filed amongst the proceedings of such Committee, open to the inspection of all parties concerned.

LXXX. And be it enacted, That when not otherwise directed by order of such Select Committee, the said lists shall and may be so delivered to the said Chairman at any time before six o'clock in the afternoon of the day on which by order of the House such Select Committee shall have been first appointed to meet, provided the said Committee shall have actually met and proceeded with the case on such day, or by the like hour of the first day on which such Committee shall actually meet, and so proceed with the

case.

delivered and filed.

Within what time such lists must be

delivered.

Select Committee may

make other order as to delivery of such lists,

LXXXI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any such Select Committee, by an order to be made by them for that purpose, on the first day on which they shall meet and proceed with the case referred to them, or on any day to which the consideration of any application for such an order shall be adjourned, to require the delivery of such lists, in such other manner, at such other place, and to such other person as in their judgment may be more convenient to the parties concerned, or more conducive to the ends of justice, and any such order having been so made by such Select Committee, it shall and may be lawful for the said Committee, upon the subsequent consent in writing of the parties to such Election Petition to such Committee varying, altering or modifying such order or the directions therein contained, from time to time to vary, alter or modify the directions contained in such order, either as to time, place or person, as to such Select Committee shall or may from time to time appear more convenient to the parties concerned or more conducive to the ends of justice, and every such order made under Such order to be the authority of this section shall, for information only, be reported by the said Committee reported. to the House, by the second meeting of the House next after such order shall have been

made by such Select Committee, with their reasons for having made the same.

LXXXII.

Evidence restricted to votes on the lists.

Members not to be

from the House.

LXXXII. And be it enacted, That no evidence shall be given before the Select Committee, or before any Commission issued by such Committee, against the validity of any vote not included in one of the lists of voters delivered as aforesaid, or upon any head of objection to any voter included in any such list, other than one of the heads specified against him in such list.

LXXXIII. And be it enacted, That no Member of any such Select Committee shall absent without leave absent himself from the same, without leave obtained from the House, or an excuse, allowed by the House at the next sitting thereof, for the cause of sickness, verified upon the oath of his medical attendant, or for other special cause shewn and verified upon oath, and in every such case the Member to whom such leave is granted or excuse allowed shall be discharged from attending, and shall not be entitled again to sit or vote on such Committee; and such Select Committee shall never sit until all the during absence of any Members to whom such leave has not been granted nor excuse allowed are met; and leave, &c.

Committee not to sit

Member without

Report.

Members absent

without leave, how punishable.

Committee not

death,

new Chairman in certain cases.

in case all such Members do not ineet within one hour after the time appointed for the first meeting of such Committee, or within one hour after the time to which such Committee has been adjourned, a further adjournment shall be made and reported to the House by their Chairman, with the cause thereof.

LXXXIV. And be it enacted, That every Member whose absence without leave or excuse is so reported, shall be directed to attend the House at its next sitting, and shall then be ordered to be taken into the custody of the Sergeant at Arms attending the House, for such neglect of his duty, and shall be otherwise punished or censured at the discretion of the House, unless it appear to the House by facts specially stated and verified upon oath, that such Member was by a sudden accident or by necessity prevented from attending the said Select Committee.

LXXXV. And be it enacted, That an Election Committee shall not be dissolved dissolved by Members: by reason of the death or necessary absence of one Member or two Members thereof only, but the remaining Members shall thenceforward constitute the Committee, and if there ever be occasion for electing a new Chairman on the death or necessary absence of the Chairman first appointed, the remaining Members of the Committee shall elect one of themselves to be Chairman, and if in that election there be an equal number of voices, the Member whose name stands foremost in the list of the Committee as reported to the House, shall have a second or casting vote.

Committee reduced to
less than three, to be
dissolved, and
another appointed.

Proviso.

Committee may cause their room to be

cleared.

LXXXVI. And be it enacted, That if the number of Members able to attend any such Select Committee be, by death or otherwise, unavoidably reduced to less than three, and so continue for the space of three sitting days, such Select Committee shall be dissolved, (except in the case hereinafter provided,) and another shall be appointed to try the Petition referred to such Committee; and the General Committee and Members of the Chairmen's Panel shall meet for that purpose as soon as conveniently may be after the occasion arises, at a day and hour to be appointed by the General Committee, and notice of such meeting shall be published with the votes; and all the proceedings of such former Committee shall be void and of no effect except only any Order that may have been made by them for a Commission for the examination of witnesses and the proceedings under such Order and Commission, which shall be as valid and effectual as if the dissolution of such Committee had not taken place, and shall be made use of by any other Select Committee that may be appointed to try such Election Petition, as if such Order and Commission had been made and issued under their own authority according to the provisions of this Act: Provided always, that if all the parties before the Committee consent thereto, the two remaining Members of the Committee, or the sole remaining Member, if only one, shall continue to act, and shall thenceforward constitute the Committee.

LXXXVII. And be it enacted, That whenever any such Select Committee think it necessary to deliberate among themselves upon any question arising in the course of the trial, or upon the determination thereof, or upon any resolution concerning the matter of the Petition referred to them, as soon as they have heard the evidence and

Counsel

Counsel on both sides relative thereto, the room where they sit shall be cleared, if they think proper, whilst the Members of the Committee consider thereof.

LXXXVIII. And be it enacted, That all questions before the Committee, if for the time being consisting of more than one Member, shall be decided by a majority of voices, and whenever the voices are equal, the Chairman shall have a second or casting voice; and no Member of the Committee shall be allowed to refrain from voting on any question on which the Committee is divided.

LXXXIX. And be it enacted, That whenever the Select Committee is divided upon any question, the names of the Members voting in the affirmative, and in the negative, shall be entered in the Minutes of the said Committee, and shall be reported to the House, with the questions on which such divisions arose, at the same time with the final report of the Committee.

XC. And be it enacted, That in case the parties or any of them shall desire it, and such parties or those so desiring it shall make such arrangements as in the opinion of the said Committee shall be proper and sufficient to secure such object and the payment of the necessary expense to be incurred thereby, the said Committee shall be attended by a short hand writer to be appointed by the Speaker of the Commons House of Legislative Assembly, and sworn by the Chairman of the said Select Committee faithfully and truly to take down the evidence given before such Committee, and from day to day, as occasion requires, to write or cause the same to be written in words at length for the use of the Committee.

Majority to decide;

casting vote; every

Member must vote.

Yeas and Nays to be recorded,

Short hand writer,

may be appointed on

certain conditions, &c.

&c.

misbehaving, &c.

XCI. And be it enacted, That every such Select Committee may send for persons, Committee may send papers and records, and may examine any person who had subscribed the Petition for persons, papers which such Select Committee are appointed to try, unless it otherwise appear to such Committee that such person is an interested witness, and they shall examine all the witnesses who come before them upon oath, which oath the Clerk attending such Select Committee may administer; and if any person summoned by such Select As to witnesses Committee, or by the Warrant of the Speaker of the Commons House of Legislative refusing to attend, Assembly, (which Warrants the Speaker may issue from time to time as he thinks fit,) disobey such Summons, or if any witness before such Select Committee give false evidence or prevaricate, or otherwise misbehave in giving or refusing to give evidence, the Chairman of such Select Committee, by their direction, may, at any time during the course of their proceedings, report the same to the House for the interposition of the authority or censure of the House, as the case requires, and may by a Warrant under his hand directed to the Sergeant at Arms attending the Commons House of Legislative Assembly, or to his Deputy or Deputies, commit such person (not being a Legislative Councillor of the Province,) to the custody of the said Sergeant, without bail or mainprize, for any time not exceeding twenty-four hours, if the House be then sitting, and if not, then for a time not exceeding twenty-four hours after the hour to which the House stands adjourned.

XCII. And be it enacted, That where in this Act any thing is required to be verified on oath to the Commons House of Legislative Assembly, it shall be lawful for the Chief Clerk of the said House to administer an oath for that purpose, or an Affidavit for such purpose may be sworn before any Justice of the Peace; and that where for any incidental purpose connected with the conduct of any such trial before any such Election Committee, an Affidavit is required to be taken, to be used before such Election Committee, either by the provisions of this Act, or any Regulations that may be made by such General Committee of Elections for the better ordering of trials before such Election Committees, every such Affidavit may be taken before the said Chief Clerk of the said Commons House of Legislative Assembly, or before the Clerk of the Select Election Committee, or before a Justice of the Peace.

XCIII. And be it enacted, That every such Select Committee shall try the merits of the return or election complained of in the Election Petition referred to them, and shall determine by a majority of voices, if for the time being consisting of more than one Member, whether the sitting Members or either of them, or any and what other

person

How witnesses shall be sworn, affidavits

received, &c,

What points the decide.

Committee shall

Decision to be final, and entered on journals, &c.

Committee may

report resolutions on other points for consideration of the House.

Proviso.

Committee not dissolved by

prorogation but shall proceed during the next session.

Committee may order the appointment of a commission to take evidence.

Notice of application for commission.

Provisions as to the appointment of a commissioner.

person were duly returned or elected, or whether the election be void, or whether a new Writ ought to issue, which determination shall be final between the parties to all intents and purposes, and the House, on being informed thereof by the Committee, shall order such report to be entered on their Journals, and shall give the necessary directions for confirming or altering the Return, or for ordering a Return to be made, or for issuing a Writ for a new Election, or for carrying the said determination into execution, as the case may require.

XCIV. And be it enacted, That if any such Select Committee come to any resolution other than the determination above mentioned, they shall, if they think proper, report the same to the House for their opinion, at the same time that they inform the House of such determination, and the House may confirm or disagree with such resolution, and make such orders thereon as to them seems proper: Provided always, and it is hereby expressly declared, that the power conferred by this section upon the said House shall not extend or be construed to extend to the order or orders, resolution or resolutions, containing or declaring such determination of such Select Committee, or to any orders or resolutions of such Select Committee touching the delivery of lists of objected voters or the objections to such voters, the issue of Commissions for the examination of witnesses, or other matters arising in the course of the trial of such election, and relating merely to the conduct of such trial.

XCV. And be it enacted, That if the Parliament be prorogued after the appointment of any Select Committee for the trial of any Election Petition, and before they have reported to the House their determination thereon, such Committee shall not be dissolved by such prorogation, but shall be thereby adjourned to twelve o'clock on the day immediately following that on which Parliament meets again for the despatch of business (Sunday and all other Statutory Holidays always excepted), and all proceedings of such Committee and on any Commission to take evidence issued under the authority of such Committee, shall be of the same force and effect as if Parliament had not been so prorogued, and such Committee shall meet on the day and hour to which they are so adjourned, and shall thenceforward continue to sit from day to day in the manner hereinbefore provided, until they have reported to the House their determination on the merits of such Petition.

8. COMMISSION FOR THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. XCVI. And be it enacted, That upon its appearing to any such Select Election Committee, from the nature of the case and the number of witnesses to be examined relative to any particular allegation or allegations in the said Petition, that the same cannot be effectually inquired into before such Committee, without great expense and inconvenience to the parties or either of them, it shall and may be lawful for the said Election Committee, upon application of any of the parties before the said Committee, at any period during the course of their proceedings upon such Petition, to make an order for the nomination and appointment of a Commission in manner herein directed. XCVII. And be it enacted, That every party intending to apply for the issue of such Commission, shall give to the opposite party or parties two full days' notice in writing exclusive of any intervening Sunday or other Statutory Holiday, (as on Monday for Thursday, or on Saturday for Wednesday,) of his intention to apply to the said Committee for such Commission as aforesaid.

XCVIII. And be it enacted, That whenever any such Select Election Committee shall think fit to make an order for the appointment of a Commission as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for such Committee, if they shall think fit so to do, to appoint such person to be such Commissioner as may be mutually agreed upon in writing by all the parties interested or concerned in such Election Petition, their Counsel or Agents, upon the written consent of such person to serve as such Commissioner, with an Affidavit of the due execution thereof, being laid before such Select Committee; or in the event of all such parties not so agreeing as to the person to be appointed such Commissioner,

appointed.

STREET GRANT DONATION

Commissioner, or of the said Select Committee not thinking fit to appoint the person who may be so agreed upon by such parties for that purpose, the said Select Election Circuit or County Committee shall appoint some one of the Circuit Judges of Lower Canada, if the Judges may be election shall have been one in Lower Canada, or some one of the County Judges of Upper Canada, if the election shall have been one in Upper Canada, to be such Commissioner, and such Commissioner shall be appointed in manner herein mentioned, that is to say, on the next sitting day of such Select Committee after the said order Manner of shall have been made by the said Committee, at the time previously appointed by the appointment. said Committee for that purpose, in the presence of all the parties interested or concerned in such Election Petition, their Counsel or Agents, if they shall choose to attend, the said select Committee shall proceed to select from the list of Circuit or County Judges, as the case may require, such person as it may then appear to them to be most desirable to appoint as such Commissioner, and shall openly announce the name of such person for the information of the parties, and thereupon, either then or at such future day as the said Select Committee may allow for that purpose, any of such parties may submit to the consideration of the said Select Committee any grounds that he may have to urge against the appointment of such person as such Commissioner, and in the event of such Committee being of opinion that upon the grounds so laid before them, such person ought not to be so appointed, they shall, so soon as they have come to a resolution declaratory of the same, proceed to select and announce some other of the said Circuit or County Judges, as the case may require, for that purpose, and in like manner to hear and dispose of any grounds of objection that the Objections how heard parties or any of them may have to urge against the appointment of such person, and and disposed of, so on until they shall have selected and announced some one of such Circuit or County Judges as aforesaid against whose appointment no objection shall have been urged as aforesaid, or with respect to whom the objections so urged have been over-ruled by the said Select Committee, and thereupon such person shall by the said Committee be appointed to be such Commissioner; and in all cases of such appointment, a Warrant Warrant to issue to in the nature of a Commission, under the hand and seal of the Chairman of such Commissioner. Select Committee, shall be issued to such Commissioner, empowering him to examine all such matters and things as shall for that purpose be referred to him by the said Select Committee, by any order made or to be made by the said Committee for that purpose, and commanding such Commissioner under the penalty of One Hundred Pounds to repair to the County, Riding, City, Town, Borough or place in and for which the Election or Return complained of, or other subject matter of the Petition, arose or happened, on a day certain to be named in the said Warrant, and which day shall not be less than fourteen days nor more than twenty-one days distant from the day on which the said Commissioner was appointed by the said Select Committee in manner aforesaid, and in case the said Commissioners shall neglect or refuse to obey the injunction of the said Warrant, he shall forfeit the sum of One Hundred Pounds; and Form of warrant. every such Warrant shall and may, as nearly as may be, be in the form set forth in the Schedule to this Act annexed marked B. (1) with such alteration as may be necessary to adapt such form to the circumstances of the case.

certain cases,

XCIX. And be it enacted, That in every case in which any such Commissioner New Commissioner shall have been so appointed as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for the said Select may be appointed in Committee by whom such appointment was made, or in case of their dissolution as provided for by this Act, then for the new Select Committee appointed in their stead, in the event of such Commissioner dying or becoming incompetent or unable to act under such Commission, to supersede such Commissioner and appoint another as hereinbefore provided, and with similar powers; in every which case such new Commissioner shall have the like powers as the person first appointed, and shall and may complete the takings of any evidence that may have been only partially taken by the said former Commissioner, or take the whole anew, as by order of such Select Committee he shall be directed or required; and in every such case the Warrant for the appointment of such new Commissioner shall and may as nearly as may be in the form

226

set