d to bring
in such a bill, in conjunction with Mr. Townshend, Mr. Cornwall, and
lords North and Craysfort; and in the usual course, the bill being
prepared, was enacted into a law, under the title of, "An act for
further explaining the laws touching the electors of knights of the
shire to serve in parliament for that part of Great Britain called
England." The preamble specified, that though, by an act passed in the
eighteenth year of the present reign, it was provided, that no person
might vote at the election of a knight or knights of a shire within
England and Wales, without having a freehold estate in the county for
which he votes, of the clear yearly value of forty shillings, over and
above all rents and charges, payable out of or in respect to the
same; nevertheless, certain persons, who hold their estates by copy
of court-roll, pretend to a right of voting, and have at certain times
presumed to vote at such elections; this act, therefore, ordained, that
from and after the twenty-ninth day of June in the present year, no
person who holds his estate by copy of court-roll should be entitled
thereby to vote at the election of any knight or knights of a shire
within England or Wales; but every such vote should be void, and the
person so voting should forfeit fifty pounds to any candidate for whom
such vote should not have been given, and who should first sue for the
same, to be recovered with full costs, by action of debt, in any court
of judicature.*

* For the more easy recovery of this forfeit, it was
enacted, that the plaintiff in such action might only set
forth, in the declaration or hill, that the defendant was
indebted to him in the sum of fifty pounds, alleging the
offence for which the suit should be brought, and that the
defendant had acted contrary to this act, without mentioning
the writ of summons to parliament, or the return thereof;
and, upon trial of any issue, the plaintiff should not be
obliged to prove the writ of summons to parliament, or the
return thereof, or any warrant or authority to the sheriff
upon any such writ; that every such action should be
commenced within nine months after the fact committed; and
that, if the plaintiff should discontinue his action, or be
non-suited, or have judgment given against him, the
defendant should recover treble costs.

So far the act, thus procured, may be attended with salutary
c