The Government of England (Vol. I)Lowell, A. Lawrence (Abbott Lawrence)
History
The Government of England (Vol. I)
Lowell, A. Lawrence (Abbott Lawrence)
Great Britain -- Politics and government
The other franchise which is not universal is that of freemen in those
towns where they had a right to vote before 1832. The privilege still
exists in a number of old boroughs, but, except in the City of London,
is confined to freemen who have become such by birth or apprenticeship.
[Sidenote: Occupiers, Householders, and Lodgers.]
The three remaining franchises are universal, though not precisely
uniform. They are those of the ten-pound occupiers, the householders,
and the lodgers. The first of these gives the right to vote to a man who
occupies, as owner or tenant, any land or tenement of the clear yearly
value of ten pounds. The second confers the right on a man who occupies,
as owner or tenant, any dwelling-house, or part of a house used as a
separate dwelling, without regard to its value. The qualification
extends also to men who are not owners or tenants, but who occupy by
virtue of an office, service, or employment, a dwelling-house in which
the employer does not himself reside. The third of these franchises
confers the right to vote upon a man who occupies lodgings of the value,
unfurnished, of ten pounds a year.
The application of these franchises to particular cases has given rise
to a great amount of litigation, and in particular the courts have found
it almost impossible to distinguish between a householder and a lodger.
For the general reader, who is concerned with the study of the English
government, and not with the effort to get the largest possible number
of party members registered, such questions have little interest; but
there are two or three matters that ought to be noted, because they have
an important bearing on the actual size of the electorate.
[Sidenote: Period of Occupation.]
One matter of political consequence relates to the period of occupation
required. Owners of land in counties, who have acquired it by descent,
marriage, promotion to an office, etc., are not required to have owned
it for any period. All other owners must have held the title for six
calendar months before the 15th of July preceding the registration; and
all other voters, except freemen, must have been in occupation of the
qualifying premises, or some other premises within the same
constituency, for one year preceding the 15th of July.[211:1] This, of
course, has the effect of disqualifying entirely persons whose
occupation has not been continuous for the whole of that year, and as
the register does not take effect until the 1st of January following,
and then remains in effect a whole year, voters who have moved to
another part of the country within eighteen months after their year of
occupation can vote only by a journey back to their former place of
abode.
[Sidenote: Residence.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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