M'Daid v Galbraith

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 12 November 1900
• Date: 12 November 1900
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)

M'Daid

and

Galbraith (3).

Appeal.

CASES

DETERMINED BY

THE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

OF

THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND,

AND ON APPEAL THEREFROM IN

THE COURT OF APPEAL,

AND BY

THE COURT FOR CROWN CASES RESERVED.

1901.

Parliament — Franchise — Inhabitant householder — Payment of rates — Tender of part — Union charges — Poor-rate — Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898.

A voter on whom a demand note for “union charges” and “county at large charges,” forming the rate struck in respect of the qualifying premises, tendered to the rate collector so much of the rate as was described as “union charges.” The rate collector refused to accept the sum so tendered unless the voter also paid the portion representing the “county at large charges.” The Revising Barrister was of opinion that the “union charges” represented “the poor-rate” mentioned in the Franchise Acts, and as the sum equivalent thereto had been tendered to the collector, he retained the voter's name on the list:—

Held (by the Court of Appeal), that the rate could not be subdivided, and that, as the entire rate had not been paid, the voter was disqualified.

Per Lord O'Brien, L.C.J.: Tender of the poor-rate refused by the collector is not sufficient to qualify for the franchise. The rate must be paid.

Appeal by the objector from the decision of Mr. J. F. Moriarty, one of the Assistant Revising Barristers for the county borough of Londonderry, who admitted the respondent John Galbraith to the franchise. The respondent's name appeared on the Town Clerk's list, No. 17, as an inhabitant householder, and

was duly objected to. The facte were thus set forth in the case stated:—

“The point involved in this case is as to the payment of the rates on the house, 39, Lower Road, being Rate No. 1468. I ascertained the following facts from examination of the clerk of the union, the rate collector, the city accountant, and the landlord of the voter (M'Gill). The local financial year begins and ends on the 31st March in each year. For the year 1899, a rate was struck for the local financial year, ending 31st March, 1900, as follows:—Union charges, 8d. per £, county at large charges, 1s. 8d. per £., and that rate was directed to be collected in equal moieties by resolution of the Council, dated the 11th July, 1899. In the case of the house 39, Lower Road, out of which the voter was seeking to qualify, that rate amounted to the sum of 28s., and was made up as follows:—Union charges, 8s.; county at large charges, £1; and two demand notes were served in respect of it, on copies of which demand notes, marked respectively A and B, I have written my name, and which I annex to this case. The rate of 8d., struck to defray union charges, was struck to defray the expenses of the poor law guardians in pursuance of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, in compliance with “The Annual Estimate and Demand of Board of Guardians,” Form No. 23. I annex the original document served on the Council, and I have marked it C, and written my name on it, and embody it with this case. I also annex a form of receipt for rates to use in Derry marked D. I find, as a fact, that the sum of 8s., payable in respect of the said house, 39, Lower Road, and specified in the demand note as union charges, represents what, in the statutes dealing with Parliamentary franchise in Ireland, was called “poor-rates,” or “rates made for the relief of the poor,” in respect of such premises. The first demand note was served in August, and the sum of 14s., being 4s. for union charges and 10s. for county at large charges, was duly paid in August. The second demand note was served in December, 1899. The landlord of the voter, on two or three occasions before the 1st July, tendered to one of the rate collectors (Mr. Waller) in his office the sum of 4s., being the union charges remaining unpaid, and made a formal tender on the 30th June in his office, at a...