Nature of the offence. Bribery is a misdemeanor punishable at common law. Bribery in strict sense, says Hawkins, is taken for a great misprision of one in a judicial place, taking any valuable thing except meat and drink of small value of any man who has to do before him in any way, for doing his office, or by color of his office. In a large sense, it is taken for the receiving or offering of any undue reward by or to any person whomsoever, whose ordinary profession or business relates to the administration of justice, in order to incline him to do a thing against the known rules of honesty and integrity. Also bribery sometimes signifies the taking or giving a reward for offices of a public nature. Hawk. P. C. b. 1, c. 67, ss. 1, 2, 3.

An attempt to bribe is a misdemeanor, as much as the act of successful bribery, as where a bribe is offered to a judge, and refused by him. 3 Inst. 147. So it has been held, that an attempt to bribe a cabinet minister, for the purpose of procuring an office, is a misdemeanor. Vaughan's case, 4 Burr. 2494. So an attempt to bribe, in the case of an election to a corporate office, is punishable. Plumpton's case, 2 Ld. Raym. 1377.

Bribery at elections for members of parliament. By the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, s. 1) :— (1.) Any person who corruptly by himself or by any other person, either before, during, or after an election, directly or indirectly gives or provides, or pays wholly or in part the expense of giving or providing, any meat, drink, entertainment or provision to or for any person, for the purpose of corruptly influencing that person or any other person to give or refrain from giving his vote at the election, or on account of such person or any other person having voted or refrained from voting, or being about to vote or refrain from voting at such election, shall be guilty of treating.

(2.) And every elector who corruptly accepts or takes any such meat, drink, entertainment or provision shall also be guilty of treating.

Sect. 2. Every person who shall directly or indirectly, by himself, or by any other person on his behalf, make use of or threaten to make use of any force, violence, or restraint, or inflict or threaten to inflict, by himself or by any other person, any temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm, or loss upon or against any person in order to induce or compel such person to vote or refrain from voting, or on account

of such person having voted or refrained from voting at any election, or who shall by abduction, duress, or any fraudulent device or contrivance impede or prevent the free exercise of the franchise of any *elector, or shall thereby compel, induce, or prevail upon any *344] elector either to give or to refrain from giving his vote at any election, shall be guilty of undue influence.

Sect. 3. The expression "corrupt practice," as used in this Act, means any of the following offences, namely, treating and undue influence as defined by this Act, and bribery, and personation, as defined by the enactments set forth in Part III. of the Third Schedule to this Act, and aiding, abetting, counselling, and procuring the commission of the offence of personation, and every offence which is a corrupt practice within the meaning of this Act shall be a corrupt practice within the meaning of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 1868. The principal enactment referred to in the above section as being contained in Part III. of the Third Schedule is the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, which by sect. 2 defines the offence of bribery, and enacts that the following persons shall be deemed guilty of bribery. 1. Every person who shall, directly or indirectly, by himself, or by any other person on his behalf, give, lend, or agree to give or lend, or shall offer, promise, or promise to procure, any money or valuable consideration, to or for any voter, or to or for any person on behalf of any voter, to or for any other person, in order to induce any voter to vote, or refrain from voting, or shall corruptly do any such act as aforesaid, on account of such voter having voted or refrained from voting at any election; 2. Every person who shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, give or procure, or agree to give or procure, or offer, promise, or promise to procure or to endeavor to procure, any office, place, or employment to or for any voter, or to or for any person on behalf of any voter, or to or for any other person in order to induce such voter to vote, or refrain from voting, or shall corruptly do any such act as aforesaid, on account of any voter having voted or refrained from voting at any election; 3. Every person who shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, make any such gift, loan, offer, promise, procurement, or agreement, as aforesaid, to or for any person, in order to induce such person to procure, or endeavor to procure, the return of any person to serve in parliament, or the vote of any voter at any election; 4. Every person who shall, upon or in consequence of any such gift, loan, offer, promise, procurement, or agreement, procure or engage, promise, or endeavor to procure, the return of any person to serve in parliament, or the vote of any voter at any election; 5. Every person who shall advance or pay, or cause to be paid, any money to or to the use of any other person, with the intent that such money or any part thereof shall be expended in bribery at any election, or who shall knowingly pay or cause to be paid any money to any person in discharge or repayment of any money wholly or in part expended in bribery at any election. (The concluding portion of the above section provided for the punishment of persons guilty of any of the above offences. This portion of the section has been repealed,

and the punishment is given by s. 6 of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1883, infra.)

By s. 3 of the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 102, the following persons are also to be deemed guilty of bribery-1. Every voter who shall, before or during any election, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, receive, agree, or contract for any money, gift, loan, or valuable consideration, office, place, or employment, for himself or for any other person, for voting or agreeing to vote, or for *refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting at any election;

2. Every person who shall, after any election, directly or in- [*345 directly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, receive any money or valuable consideration on account of any person having voted or refrained from voting, or having induced any other person to vote or refrain from voting, at any election.

By sect. 10, no indictment for bribery or undue influence shall be triable before any court of quarter sessions. This section is extended to prosecutions on indictment for the offences of corrupt practices within the meaning of the 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, by sec. 53.

In R. v. Leatham, 3 L. T. 504; 3 L. T. 777; 30 L. J., Q. B. 205, many questions were raised upon this act of parliament. The defendant was indicted for having on the 26th of April, 1859, paid to one T. G. money with the intent that it should be applied in bribery at an election. There were several other counts in which the defendant was charged with actual bribery of several persons named in those counts. The defendant was found guilty generally. Upon a motion for a new trial, it was objected that the offence was committed, if at all, more than a year before the filing of the information, and issuing the process on it. With respect to this objection, the Court of Queen's Bench said that, as it was upon the record, advantage could be taken of it in arrest of judgment, or by writ of error, and they would not interfere; but a strong opinion was expressed that sect. 14 did not apply to criminal proceedings, but only to the recovery of a penalty or forfeiture in a civil suit. The second objection was that as the defendant was found guilty upon the first count, he could not also be guilty of the offences charged in the other counts, as it appeared that there was but one act, namely, the payment of the money by the prisoner to the agent, but the court thought that this objection, if available at all, was only available at the trial by application to compel the prosecutor to elect upon which of the charges he would proceed; and the court said that it was quite possible that one act might produce several distinct offences. The third objection, that as it appeared from the evidence that the defendant had paid the money to T. G., and T. G. had employed subordinate agents to bribe, the defendant could not be found guilty of having bribed the voters himself. But the court thought that bribing by an agent was the same thing as bribing directly. (See now, however, s. 51 of the 46 & 47 Vict. c. 51, infra.) At a later stage of the proceedings in the same case, it was held that, because the defendant had, at the inquiry before the commissioners into the proceedings at his election, stated the substance of two letters between himself and one W., which were after

wards produced before the commissioners on their demand, these letters were not thereby rendered inadmissible against him on an indictment for bribery, under the proviso to the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 57, s. 8.

By the Corrupt Practices Act, 1883, Sect. 6, (1.) A person who commits any corrupt practice other than personation, or aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the commission of the offence of personation, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction on indictment, shall be liable to be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for a term not exceeding one year, or to be fined any sum not exceeding two hundred pounds.

(Sub-s. 2.) A person who commits the offence of personation, or of aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the commission of that offence, shall be guilty of felony, and any person convicted thereof on *indictment shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, together with hard labor.

*346] (Sub-ss. 3 and 4.) Persons so convicted are subject to certain incapacities.

Sect. 50 of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1883, provides for the removal of proceedings in certain cases to the Central Criminal Court or the Royal Courts of Justice.

Sect. 51. (1.) A proceeding against a person in respect of the offence of a corrupt or illegal practice or any other offence under the Corrupt Practices Prevention Acts or this Act shall be commenced within one year after the offence was committed, or, if it was committed in reference to an election with respect to which an inquiry is held by election commissioners, shall be commenced within one year after the offence was committed, or within three months after the report of such commissioners is made, whichever period last expires, so that it be commenced within two years after the offence was committed, and the time so limited by this section shall, in the case of any proceeding under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts for any such offence, whether before an election court or otherwise, be substituted for any limitation of time contained in the last-mentioned Acts.

(2.) For the purposes of this section the issue of a summons, warrant, writ, or other process shall be deemed to be a commencement of a proceeding, where the service or execution of the same on or against the alleged offender is prevented by the absconding or concealment or act of the alleged offender, but save as aforesaid the service or execution of the same on or against the alleged offender, and not the issue thereof, shall be deemed to be the commencement of the proceeding.

Sect. 52. Any person charged with a corrupt practice may, if the circumstances warrant such finding, be found guilty of an illegal practice (which offence shall for that purpose be an indictable offence), and any person charged with an illegal practice may be found guilty of that offence, notwithstanding that the act constituting the offence amounted to a corrupt practice, and a person charged with illegal payment, employment, or hiring, may be found guilty of that offence, notwithstanding that the act constituting the offence amounted to a corrupt or illegal practice.

Sect. 53. (1) Sections ten, twelve, and thirteen of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 102), and section six of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 29), (which relate to prosecutions for bribery and other offences under those Acts), shall extend to any prosecution or indictment for the offence of any corrupt practice within the meaning of this Act, and to any action for any pecuniary forfeiture for an offence under this Act, in like manner as if such offence were bribery within the meaning of those Acts, and such indictment or action were the indictment or action in those sections mentioned, and an order under the said section ten may be made on the defendant; but the Director of Public Prosecutions or any person instituting any prosecution in his behalf, or by direction of an election court shall not be deemed to be a private prosecutor, nor required under the said sections to give any security.

(2.) On any prosecution under this Act, whether on indictment or summarily, and whether before an election court or otherwise, and in any action for a pecuniary forfeiture under this Act, the *person prosecuted or sued, and the husband or wife of such

person may, if he or she think fit, be examined as an ordinary [*347

witness in the case.

(3.) On any such prosecution or action as aforesaid it shall be sufficient to allege that the person charged was guilty of an illegal practice, payment, employment, or hiring within the meaning of this Act, as the case may be, and the certificate of the returning officer at an election, that the election mentioned in the certificate was duly held, and that the person named in the certificate was a candidate at such election, shall be sufficient evidence of the facts therein stated.

Sect. 55. (2.) The enactments relating to charges before justices against persons for indictable offences shall, so far as is consistent with the tenor thereof, apply to every case where an election court orders a person to be prosecuted on indictment in like manner as if the court were a justice of the peace.

By sect. 56 the jurisdiction of the High Court may be exercised by a judge or master in certain cases.

By sect. 57 (1.), the duties of the director of public prosecutions are defined. By sub-s. 2, subject to the provisions of this Act, the costs of any prosecution on indictment for any offence punishable under this Act, whether by the director of public prosecutions or his representative, or by any other person, shall so far as they are not paid by the defendant be paid in like manner as costs in the case of a prosecution for felony are paid.

By sect. 58 (1.), provision is made for costs other than costs of a prosecution on indictment.

(2.) Where any costs or other sums are under the order of an election court or otherwise under this Act, to be paid by any person, those costs shall be a simple contract debt due from such person to the person or persons to whom they are to be paid, and if payable to the