SECTION VI.

OF SPECIAL SESSIONS FOR HEARING APPEALS AGAINST POOR-RATES.

Justices acting in every Petty Sessions Division shall, four times at least in every Year, hold a Special Sessions to hear Appeals against Poor Rates,-6 & 7 W. IV. c. 96, s. 6.]-In order to lessen the cost of appeal against an unfair poor rate, it is now enacted by the parochial assessment act, that the justices acting in and for every petty sessions division, shall, four times at least in every year, hold a special sessions for hearing appeals against the rates of the several parishes within their respective divisions, and shall cause public notice of the time and place when and where such special sessions will be holden, to be affixed to or near the door of the parish church of the said parishes, twenty-eight days at the least before the holding of the same; and such special sessions shall and may be adjourned from time to time by the justices there present, as they may think fit; and at such special or adjourned sessions the justices there present shall hear and determine all objections to any such rate on the ground of inequality, unfairness, or incorrectness in the valuation of any hereditaments included therein, which decision shall be binding and conclusive on the parties, unless the person or persons impugning such decision shall, within fourteen days after the same shall have been made, cause notice to be given in writing of his, her, or their intention of appealing against such decision, and of the matter or cause of such appeal, to the person or persons in whose favour such decision shall have been made, and within five days after giving such notice shall enter into recognizance before some justice of the peace, with sufficient securities conditioned to try such appeal at the then next general sessions or quarter sessions of the peace, which shall first happen, and to abide the order of, and pay such costs, as shall be awarded by the justices at such quarter sessions, or any adjournment thereof; and such justices, upon hearing and finally determining such matter of appeal, shall and may, according to their discretion, award such costs to the party or parties appealed against as they shall think proper; and their determination in or concerning the premises shall be conclusive and binding on all parties to all intents and purposes whatsoever (k): provided always, that

(k) R. v. St. Alban's (Justices), 8 Ad. & E. 932; 1 Per. and Dav. 148. It is enough for the purposes of the appeal, if the recognizance is verbally acknowledged within the five days before a justice, and if an entry of it is then made

in the minute-book of the petty sessions, such book being then signed by the chairman; for a recognizance is no more than an acknowledgment, as the record of it may be afterwards made up from such entry at any time before it

no such objection shall be inquired into by the said justices in special session, unless notice of such objection in writing, under the hand of the complainant, shall have been given seven days at least before the day appointed for such special session, to the collector, overseers, or other persons by whom such rate was made; provided also, that the said justices in special session shall not be authorized to inquire into the liability of any hereditaments to be rated, but only into the true value thereof, and into the fairness of the amount at which the same shall have been rated (7).

The justices present at such special or adjourned sessions shall, for the aforesaid purpose, have all the powers of amending or quashing any such rate so objected to of any parish or district within their division, and likewise of awarding costs to be paid by or to any of the parties, and of recovering such costs which any court of quarter sessions of the peace has, upon appeals from any such rate, except as herein excepted provided always, that no order of the said justices shall be removed by certiorari or otherwise into any of her Majesty's courts of record at Westminster; and that nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive any person or persons of the right to appeal against any rate to any court of general or quarter sessions: provided also, that no order of the said justices in special session shall be of any force pending any appeal touching the same subject-matter to the court of general or quarter sessions of the peace having jurisdiction to try such appeal, or in opposition to the order of any such court upon such appeal (m).

As to powers of special sessions for hearing appeals against poors' rates to appoint high constables in some cases, see 7 & 8 Vict. c. 33, s. 8, post.

SECTION VII.

OF SPECIAL PETTY SESSIONS FOR APPOINTMENT AND PAYMENT OF PARISH CONSTABLES.

By 5 & 6 Vict. c. 109, for increasing security of persons and

is sent to the clerk of the peace at the next quarter sessions.

Quere.-Whether the quarter sessions could inquire whether the recognizance had been entered into or not?

Semble.-That if the record of it was delivered to the clerk of the peace without the signature of one of the justices before whom the recognizance was taken,

it might be so signed at any time before the hearing of the appeal. S. C.

A faulty recognizance will not be sent back to be amended after having been removed into Q. B. in order to be estreated, Reg. v. Stack, 12 L. J. (M. C.) 58.

(2) 6 & 7 W. IV. c. 96, s. 6.
(m) Ibid, s. 7.

property, the justices of peace of every county in England shall on some day after 24th March, and before 9th April in each year, hold special petty (n) session of the peace in their several divisions, for the appointment of parochial constables; of which session due notice shall be given to every justice usually acting in that division (0).

Precepts to Overseers.]—5 & 6 Vict. c. 109, s. 2. The justices shall, within the first seven days of February in each year, issue a precept, under the hands of any two of them, to the overseers of each parish within the division, requiring them to make out and return, before the 24th March, a list in writing of a competent number of men within their respective parishes qualified and liable to serve as constables, and also to perform all other requisitions in the said precepts contained; and with the said precept shall be given notice to the said overseers of the time and place where such special session of the peace as aforesaid will be holden.

Lists of Persons to serve as Constables.]—Sect. 3. The overseers of every parish, upon the receipt of such precept, shall summon a meeting of the inhabitants in vestry to be holden within fourteen days after such receipt; and the vestry at such meeting shall make out a list in writing of such number as shall be named in the precept of men residing within their parish who shall be qualified and liable to serve as constables, with the christian name and surname, and with the true place of abode, the title, quality, calling, or business of each, written at full length: provided also, that it shall be lawful for the vestry to annex to the said return the names of any number of men willing to serve the office of constable, and whom the vestry will recommend to be appointed, although not having the qualification hereinafter mentioned.

Lists in small Parishes and Extra-parochial Places.]—Sect. 4. The justices at a special petty session of the peace to be holden for that purpose, at any convenient time before the issuing of such precept as aforesaid (of which last-mentioned session due notice shall be given to every justice usually acting within the division), may make an order for uniting any parish or parishes, whenever they shall think it expedient, to any parish adjoining thereto, or for the annexing of any extraparochial places to any parish adjoining thereto for the purposes of this act; and a copy of such order shall be served on the overseers

(n) Including Wales and Berwick, 20 G. II. c. 42, s. 3; and see observations prefixed to Tyrwhitt and Tyndale's Di

gest of Statutes, p. xiii.

(0) This makes it a special sessions, properly so called.

of every parish so united, and also on the overseers of such adjoining parish and every such extra-parochial place so annexed, with the precept herein before mentioned; and every such parish or extraparochial place so united to any adjoining parish shall thenceforward be deemed, for all the purposes of this act, to be a part of such adjoining parish; and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to attend and vote at any meeting in vestry for the purposes of this act of the inhabitants of the parish to which such parish is united as fully as if they were inhabitants of the parish where such meeting is holden.

Who qualified to be Constables.]-5 & 6 Vict. c. 109, s. 5. Every able-bodied man resident within the said parish, between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-five, rated to the relief of the poor, or to the county rate, on any tenements of the net yearly value of £4, or upwards, shall be qualified and liable to serve as constable of that parish;-but by sect. 6, all peers; members returned to serve in the commons house of parliament; judges of her majesty's courts of record at Westminster; justices of the peace; deputy-lieutenants; clergymen in holy orders; priests of the Roman Catholic faith who shall have duly taken and subscribed the oaths and declarations required by law; persons who shall teach or preach in any congregation of Protestant dissenters, whose place of meeting is duly registered, and who shall follow no secular occupation, except that of a schoolmaster, producing a certificate of some justice of the peace of their having taken the oaths and subscribed the declaration required by law; all schoolmasters; serjeants and barristers at law actually practising; members of the society of doctors of law and advocates of the civil law actually practising; attornies, solicitors, and proctors duly admitted in any court of law or equity, or of ecclesiastical or admiralty jurisdiction, in which attornies, solicitors, and proctors have usually been admitted, actually practising, and having duly taken out their annual certificates; conveyancers and special pleaders below the bar; officers of any such courts actually exercising the duties of their respective offices; coroners, gaolers,. and keepers of houses of correction; all members and licentiates of the royal college of physicians in London, actually practising; surgeons, being members of one of the royal colleges of surgeons in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, and actually practising; apothecaries, having obtained a certificate to practise as an apothecary from the master, wardens, and society of apothecaries of the city of London, and actually practising; officers in her majesty's navy or army on full pay; persons enrolled and serving in any corps of yeomanry under officers having commis

sions from her majesty, or lieutenants of counties, or others specially authorized by her majesty for that purpose; pilots licensed by the trinity-house of Deptford Strond, Kingston-upon-Hull, or Newcastleupon-Tyne; masters of vessels in the buoy and light service employed by either of those corporations; and all pilots licensed by the lord warden of the cinque ports, or under any act of parliament or charter for the regulation of pilots in any other port; household servants of her majesty; officers of customs and excise; sheriffs and sheriffs' officers; high constables; the clerks of all boards of guardians of the poor, masters of union workhouses; county or district constables; parish clerks; registrars and superintendent registrars of births, deaths, and marriages; churchwardens, overseers, and relieving-officers, are exempt from serving.

Disqualification from Serving as Constables.]-5 & 6 Vict. c. 109, s. 7. Licensed victuallers and persons licensed to deal in any exciseable liquors or to sell beer by retail, gamekeepers, and persons who have been attainted of any treason or felony, or convicted of any infamous crime, shall be disqualified from serving the office of constable under this act.

Lists to be fixed on Church Doors, und kept for Inspection.]—Sect. 8. The overseers of each parish shall make out true copies of the list so agreed to in vestry; and where any of the persons named in the said list shall have been chosen to serve, and shall have served, the office of constable in the said parish, in person or by substitute, the overseers shall set against his name in the list the date of the year of such service, and shall on the first three Sundays in the month of March in each following year, fix a true copy of such list upon the principal door of every church, chapel, and other public place of religious worship within their parish, having first subjoined to every such copy a notice, stating that all objections to the list will be heard by the justices of the peace at a time and place to be mentioned in such notice, and having also signed their names at the foot of such copy, and shall likewise keep the original list, or a true copy thereof, to be perused by any of the inhabitants of their parish at any reasonable time during the three weeks next before the day limited for making their return in this year, and during the first three weeks of the month of March in each following year, without any fee or reward, and on or before the day limited for making their return shall sign and return the original list to the justices as required by the precept.