In and for the purposes of this Act—
(a)The terms house, warehouse, counting house, shop, or other building include any part of a house, where that part is separately occupied for the purposes of any trade, business, or profession ; and any such part may, for the purpose of describing the qualification, be described as office, chambers, studio, or by any like term applicable to the case.
(b)Where an occupier is entitled to the sole and exclusive use of any part of a house, that part shall not be deemed to be occupied otherwise than separately by reason only that the occupier is entitled to the joint use of some other part.
(1)If an occupier of any qualifying property, whether the landlord is or is not liable to be rated to the poor rate in : respect thereof, claims to be rated to the poor rate in respect thereof, and pays or tenders to the overseers of the parish where the property is situate the full amount of the poor rate last made in respect of the property, the overseers shall put the occupier's name on the rate book in respect of that rate.
(2)If they fail to do so, he shall nevertheless for the purposes of this Act be deemed rated to that rate.
(1)Where a person succeeds to qualifying property by descent, marriage, marriage settlement, devise, or promotion to a benefice or office, then, for the purpose of qualification, the occupancy of the property by a predecessor in title, and the rating of the predecessor in respect thereof, shall be equivalent to the occupancy and rating of the successor ; and rating in the name of the predecessor shall, until a new rate is made after the date of succession, be equivalent to rating in the name of the successor; and the successor shall not be required to prove his own residence, occupancy, or rating before the succession.
(2)The qualifying property need not be throughout the twelve, months constituting the period of qualification the same property or in the same parish.
(3)Where by law a borough rate is payable by instalments, payment by any person of any such instalment shall, as regards his qualification to be enrolled as a burgess, be deemed a payment of the borough rate in respect of the period to which the instalment applies.
(4)A person shall not be disentitled to be enrolled as a burgess by reason only—
(a)That he has received medical or surgical assistance from the trustees of the municipal charities, or has been removed, by order of a justice, to a hospital or place for reception of the sick, at the cost of any local authority; or
(b)That his child has been admitted to and taught in any public or endowed school.
(1)Every qualified person elected to a corporate office, unless exempt under this section or otherwise by law, either shall accept the office by making and subscribing the declaration required by this Act within five days after notice of election, or shall, in lieu thereof, be liable to pay to the council a fine of such amount not exceeding, in case of an alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor, fifty pounds, and in case of a mayor one hundred pounds, as the council by byelaw determine.
(2)If there is no byelaw determining fines, the fine, in case of an alderman, councillor, elective auditor, or revising assessor, shall be twenty-five pounds, and in case of a mayor fifty pounds.
(3)The persons exempt under this section are—
(a)Any person disabled by lunacy or imbecility of mind, or by deafness, blindness, or other permanent infirmity of body; and
(b)Any person who, being above the age of sixty-five years, or having within five years before the day of his election either served the office or paid the fine for non-acceptance thereof, claims exemption within live days after notice of his election.
(4)A fine payable under this section shall be recoverable summarily.
A person elected to a corporate office shall not, until he has made and subscribed before two members of the council, or the town clerk, a declaration as in the Eighth Schedule, act in the office except in administering that declaration.
(1)A person elected to a corporate office may at any time by writing signed by him and delivered to the town clerk, resign the office, on payment of a fine provided for non-acceptance thereof.
(2)In any such case the council shall forthwith declare the office to be vacant, and signify the same by notice in writing, signed by three members of the council and countersigned by the town clerk, and fixed on the town hall, and the office shall thereupon become vacant.
(3)No person enabled by law to make an affirmation instead of taking an oath shall be liable to any fine for non-acceptance of office by reason of his refusal on conscientious grounds to take any oath or make any declaration required by this Act or to take on himself the duties of the office.
A person ceasing to hold a corporate office shall, unless disqualified to hold the office, be re-eligible.
The mayor and aldermen shall, during their respective offices, continue to be members of the council, notwithstanding anything in this Act as to councillors going out of office at the end of three years.
(1)If the mayor, or an alderman or councillor—
(a)Is declared bankrupt, or compounds by deed with his creditors, or makes an arrangement or composition with his creditors, under the [32 & 33 Vict. c. 71.] Bankruptcy Act, 1869, by deed or otherwise; or
(b)Is (except in case of illness) continuously absent from the borough, being mayor, for more than two months, or, being alderman or councillor, for more than six months :
he shall thereupon immediately become disqualified and shall cease to hold the office.
(2)In any such event the council shall forthwith declare the office to be vacant, and signify the same by notice signed by three members of the council, and countersigned by the town clerk, and fixed on the town hall, and the office shall thereupon become vacant.
(3)Where a person becomes so disqualified by being declared bankrupt, or compounding, or making an arrangement or composition, as aforesaid, the disqualification, as regards subsequent elections, shall, in case of bankruptcy, cease on his obtaining his order of discharge, and shall, in case of a compounding or composition as aforesaid, cease on payment of his debts in full, and shall, in case of an arrangement as aforesaid, cease on his obtaining his certificate of discharge.
(4)Where a person becomes so disqualified by absence, he shall be liable to the same fine as for non-acceptance of office, recoverable summarily, but the disqualification shall, as regards subsequent elections, cease on his return.
(1)On a casual vacancy in a corporate office, an election shall be held by the same persons and in the same manner as an election to fill an ordinary vacancy; and the person elected shall hold the office until the time when the person in whose place he is elected would regularly have gone out of office, and he shall then go out of office.
(2)In case of more than one casual vacancy in the office of councillor being filled at the same election, the councillor elected by the smallest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected in the place of him who would regularly have first gone out of office, and the councillor elected by the next smallest number of votes shall be deemed to be elected in the place of him who would regularly have next gone out of office, and so with respect to the others; and if there has not been a contested election, or if any doubt arises, the order of rotation shall be determined by the council.
(3)Non-acceptance of office by a person elected creates a casual vacancy.
(1)If any person acts in a corporate office without having made the declaration by this Act required, or without being qualified at the time of making the declaration, or after ceasing to be qualified, or after becoming disqualified, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, recoverable by action.
(2)A person being in fact enrolled in the burgess roil shall not be .liable to a fine for acting in a corporate office on the ground only that he was not entitled to be enrolled therein.
(1)The acts and proceedings of a person in possession of a corporate office, and acting therein, shall, notwithstanding his disqualification or want of qualification, be as valid and effectual as if he had been qualified.
(2)An election of a person to a corporate office shall not be liable to be questioned by reason of a defect in the title, or want of title, of the person before whom the election was had, if that person was then in actual possession of, or acting in, the office giving the right to preside at the election.
(3)A burgess roll shall not be liable to be questioned by reason of a defect in the title, or want of title, of the mayor or any revising authority by whom it is revised, if he was then in actual possession and exercise of the office of mayor or revising authority.
If there is no town clerk, and no deputy town clerk, or there is no treasurer, or the town clerk, deputy town clerk, or treasurer (as the case may be) is incapable of acting, all acts by law authorized or required to be done by or with respect to the town clerk or the treasurer (as the case may be) may, subject to the provisions of any other Act, be done by or with respect to a person appointed in that behalf by the mayor.