Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1832 c. 65 |
(2 & 3 Will. 4) C A P. LXV.
[17th July 1832]
'WHEREAS the Laws which regulate the Election of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament forScotland are defective whereby great Inconveniences and Abuses have been occasioned: And whereas it is expedient, and would be for the evident Utility of the Subjects within Scotland , that those Defects should be remedied, and especially that Members should be provided for Places hitherto unrepresented, and the Right of Election extended to Persons of Property and Intelligence, and that the Mode of conducting Elections should be better regulated and ordered:' Beit therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the End of this present Parliament, and in all future Parliaments to be assembled, there shall be Fifty-three Representatives returned forScotland to the Commons House of Parliament, of whom Thirty shall be for the several or conjoined Shires or Stewartries herein-after enumerated, and Twenty three for the several Cities, Burghs, and Towns, or Districts of Cities, Burghs, and Towns, herein-after enumerated or described.
II As to the Burghs of Peebles, Selkirk, and Rothesay.
II. And be it enacted, That after the End of this present Parliament the Burghs ofPeebles and Selkirk Shall no longer form Parts of the District to which they now belong, or be entitled to contribute with any other Burghs in the Election of any Member of Parliament, but shall, in the Matter of Elections, be held to be Parts of the Counties of Peebles and Selkirk respectively; and in like Manner that the Burgh of Rothsay in the County of Bute shall no longer form Part of the District to which it now belongs, but be held, in the Matter of Elections, to be Part of the County of Bute .
III Enumeration of Counties hereafter to return Members severally or jointly.
III. And be it enacted, That of the Thirty Members hereafter to be returned to Parliament by the separate or combined Shires ofScotland , One shall always be returned by each of the separate Shires or Parts of Shires enumerated in the Schedule (A.) hereunto annexed, and One by each Two of the combined Shires or Parts of Shires enumerated and described in Schedule (B.) hereunto annexed: Provided always, that all Properties lying locally within the Limits of any County or Shire, though hitherto constituting Part of some other County, shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be held to be Part of the County within which they are locally included.
IV Enumeration of Burghs and Towns hereafter to return Members severally or jointly.
IV. And be it enacted, That of the Twenty-three Members to be returned for the several or combined Cities, Burghs, and Towns ofScotland , Two shall always be returned by each of the separate Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated and described in Schedule (C.) hereunto annexed, One by each of the separate Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated and described in Schedule (D.) hereunto annexed, and One by each of the Districts or Sets of Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated and described in Schedule (E.) hereunto annexed.
V Boundaries of Cities, Burghs and Towns.
V. And be it enacted, That the Limits and Boundaries of all the Cities, Burghs, and Towns enumerated in any of the above-mentioned Schedules shall, for the Purposes of this Act, be taken and held to be according to the Description and Specification of such Limits and Boundaries set forth and contained in Schedule (M.) to this Act annexed; and all the Properties within the Boundaries therein specified shall hereafter, for the Purposes of this Act, be Parts of the said Cities, Burghs, and Towns, and not of the adjoining or of any other County: Provided always, that the following Rules shall be observed in the Construction of the several Descriptions of Boundaries contained in the said Schedule (M.) hereunto annexed; (that is to say,)
1.—That the Words ‘Northward,’‘Southward,’‘Eastward,’‘Westward,’ shall respectively be understood to denote only the general Direction in which any Boundary proceeds from the Point last described, and not that such Boundary shall Continue to proceed throughout in the same Direction to the Point next described:
2.—That when any Road is mentioned merely by the Name of the Place to which such Road leads, the principal Road thither from the City, Burgh, or Town of which the Boundary is in course of Description shall be understood:
3. That whenever a Line is said to be drawn from, to, through, or in the Direction of, or any Distance to be measured from or to, an Object, such Line shall, in the Absence of any Direction to the contrary, be understood to be drawn from, to, through, or in the Direction of, or such Distance to be measured from or to, the Centre of such Object, as nearly as the Centre thereof can be ascertained:
4.—That every Building through which or through any Part whereof any Boundary hereby established shall pass shall be considered as within such Boundary: Provided always, that if the Boundaries of any Two or more of the Cities, Burghs, and Towns, whereof the Boundaries are hereby described, shall pass through the same Building or any Part thereof, such Building shall be considered as within that One of such Two or more of the said Cities, Burghs, and Towns which was before the passing of this Act entitled to return Members or a Member to serve in Parliament; or if neither or more than One of such Two or more of the said Cities, Burghs, and Towns shall have been so entitled, then within that one of them whereof the Area hereby established is the smallest:
5.—That whenever any Boundary by this Act established is said to pass, or any Distance to be measured, along any Street, Road, Lane, or Loaning, or up, down, or along any River, Stream, Canal, or Burn, the Middle (as nearly as the same can be ascertained) of such Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn shall be understood:
6.—That the Middle of any Street, Road, or Lane shall be understood as the Middle of the Carriageway along the same:
7.—That when any Boundary by this Act established is said to proceed, or any Distance to be measured, along a Street, Road, or Lane, or up, down, or along a River, from or to an Object, such Boundary shall be understood to proceed, or such Distance to be measured (as the Case may be), from or to that Point in the Middle of such Road, Lane, or River from which the shortest Line would be drawn to the Centre of such Object, as nearly as the Centre thereof can be ascertained:
8.—That the Point at which any Wall, March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, Path, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn is said to meet, join, cross, reach, or leave any March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn, shall be understood as that Point at which a Line passing along the Middle of the March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, River, Stream, Canal, or Burn so met, joined, crossed reached, or left, would be intersected by a Line drawn along the Middle of the Wall, March, Boundary, Street, Road, Lane, Loaning, Avenue, Railway, Walk, Path, River, Stream Canal, or Burn so meeting, joining, crossing, reaching, or leaving, if such Line were prolonged sufficiently far; and that the Point at which any Burn or River joins any Firth or the Sea shall be understood as that Point at which a Line passing along the Low-water Mark of such Firth or the Sea would be cut by a Line to be drawn along the Middle of such Burn or River, if such Line were prolonged sufficiently far; and that the Point at which a Burn or Feeder joins a Loch shall be understood as that Point at which a Line drawn along the Shore of such Loch would be cut by a Line drawn thereto along the Middle of such Burn or Feeder:
9.—That when a Line is said to be drawn to a Road, Lane, River, Stream, or Canal, such Line shall be considered as prolonged to the Middle of such Road, Lane, River, Stream, or Canal:
10.—That by the Words ‘Sea’ and ‘Shore’ shall be understood the Low-water Mark:
11.—That if any Deficiency shall be found to exist in the Line of any Boundary described in the said Schedule to this Act annexed by reason of the Intervention of any Space between any Two immediately consecutive Points, such Deficiency shall be supplied by a straight Line to be drawn from the one to the other of such Two immediately consecutive Points.
VI None hereafter to acquire Votes, except as herein-after provided; but Freeholders now enrolled in Shires to be entitled to vote for their Lives.
VI. And be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act no Person shall acquire, by Succession, Purchase, Gift, or otherwise, the Right of voting for a Member of Parliament, either in Shires, or in Cities, Burghs, or Towns, except by one or other of the Qualifications herein-after prescribed and directed: Provided always, that all Persons who at the passing of this Act shall be lawfully on the Roll of Freeholders of any Shire inScotland , or who shall then be entitled to be put on such Roll, or who shall previous to the First Day of March One thousand...
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