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 C A S E
OFTHE J

ELE C TION of the Shire
Of Linlit/agaw.

 

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I 5. " £,_~~;.,_ _» Y the Lawof Scotland, the Right of ‘Election for a Shire or County, is in thofe who
M _  ,nold.Lands immediately of the Crown in Capite, to the yearly Value of Fort} Shidings, ac-

"  5 cording to the old Tax-Rolls ; or where that old Tax-Roll does not appear, to the Van?
5 A 5 lue of l. .400 Scots, according to the Roll by which the Land-Tax is now paid : and
 there is a Roll of fuch Freeholders kept by the Sheriff Clerk of the Shire, upon which 
:~ —~--, 2 -  the proper Alterations are made at every Meeting for an Election, according to the    .,
Incidents that have happen’d by Death of any of the Freeholders, or by new Purchafes. 5 5    

  THE Freeholders have power at their Meeting, to chufe their own Prafis or Chairman, and hi‘
likewife their Clerk 5 but by Act of Parliament, the lalt Reprefentative for the Shire, is to take

l the Chair,‘ and prefide until a new -Prafes be chofen, and the Sherilf—Clerk acts as Clerk, until a
Li new Clerk be chofen.

 

at/0

B Y an Act of Parliament 12 Anne no Man has Right to vote, but he who is Infeft (or feifed) in

a Freehold of the yearly,Value as above, and poffefs’d of it, in his own Right, and for his own Behoof, ..
W63 and who hath been infeft a full Year before the Telte of the Writs ilfued for electing. ‘

A T the lalt Election for the Shire of Linlithgow, Sir _‘7ames Canninghame the Petitioner, and George
Dandas Efq; the Sitting Member, were Candidates 5 and according to the Direction of the Law, Sir
_‘}’ame5 Canninghame, who was Reprefentative lalt Parliament, took the Chair as Prafer, and there were
then prefent fourteen Freeholders formerly inrolled, including Sir _‘}’ames himfelf : But one of thofe,
viz. Rohert Durham, had, after the preceding Election, and long before this laft Meeting, divefied him-4
felf of a great Part of his Eltate, and fold it to a Purchafer ; which Purchafer had received
Livery of Seifin, and his Feofment was duly recorded, and he in poffeflion of the Eltate . 5 {'0 as
that Durham had no Right or Qualification remaining in him, whereby to enable him to vote or meddle
in any part of this Election : which was a thing publickly known, and he himfelf did not deny it, when
the Objection was made to him in the Meeting 5 f0 there remained only thirteen having any pretence to
VOt€. .

OF thefe thirteen, feven appear’d in the Intereft of the Sitting Member; and the Petitioner
feeing the Majority againft him, he, in the Election of a new Prafes (which was the firfi Queltion that
occurred) firlt alfumed a Vote -to himfelf, notwithfianding he was in the Chair, and fiz had no Right to
vote, except in Cafe Qf Equality; and that not being fufiicient for his Purpofe, caufed the faid Rohert
Durham likewife to claim a Vote, tho’ he had no pretence, for want of Qualification. And then pre-.+
tending the Votes were thereby equal, aflitmed another deci/irve More to himjelf 5 and fo he, with others
and Durham, voted for oneSte-wart of Binning to be Prafe: 5 and the other {even voted for Alexander
Hamilton of Balincrezj’, whereby, deducing Darham’s Vote, who had no pretence, there was a plain
Majority, by one Vote, for Mr. Hamilton 5 and deducing the Petitioner’s own Vote (which he, being
in the Chair, had no Right to give, except in Cafe of Equality) Mr. Hamilton was chofen Prajer by a A
,Majority of two; and Alexander Bell, Sheriff Clerk, was chofe to act and continue as Clerk to the
Meeting, by the fame Voices. i  

Mr. Hamilton being thus duly elefied Prajer, he and the other fix in the Interelt of the Sitting
Member, proceeded to add four new Voters to the Roll, three of them in the room of their Ancefizors,
whofe Names ltood on the Roll, and who were dead,“‘a‘>titLthe fourth in Virtue of a new Purchafe ; and  
then proceeded to the Election of a Knight for the>Sh”ir;Q@Ind gave their Votes to the Number of
eleven for the Sitting~,Member, and the Petitioner alone gave his own I/ote for himfelf. T
A ; NOTVVITHSTANDIN G which, in oppofition to all Order, and in the face of an acknow-'
ledged Majority, the Petitioner, and the five in his Interefiz, pretended to make up a Roll of their
own 5 and after havingiadmitted feveral to vote, who had no pretence to a Qialification, they pro-
ceeded to make fuch an appearance of electing the Petitioner, as hath afforded him a colour for entring
a Petition to the Honourable Houfe againfl: the Sitting Member, and to renew it every Seffion of this
Parliament. 1 .«

BUT ’tis hoped the Petition is without Foundation, for that Mr. Hamilton of Balincrezfi; was duly
ele&ed Prafiy, or Chairman, of the Meeting, and Alexander Bell Clerk 5 and the Petitioner’s alfuming
two Votes to himfelf, and Mr. Darham his affuming one, was unwarrantable.

FOR that of confequence the Petitioner could not be duly elected, lince nobody but himfelf voted.
for him in the Meeting where Mr. Hamilton did prelide5 and any feparate Election he and his five
Friends may have patched up, is illegal. '

F OR that the Sitting Member had eleven Votes for him, and the Petitioner, after all the Ar--
tifice ufed, cannot pretend to above feven 5 for tho’ he fays that he had ten Voters, it will be obvious,
that three of them had no pretence, viz. the {aid Durham for the Reafons already given; Andrew
Marjorihanles, for that by his own Title it will appear, that he was not Infeft one Year before the Telte
of the \7Vrit, as the Law requires, nay, nor before the Election 5 and I/Vzlliam PI/ll,/E312, for that he hath
no Land-Eltate in the Shire, but claim’d a Vote as Proxy or Attorney for certain Managers, or Re-
prefentatives, as they are call’d, of the Town of Borrowfloannefr, who by Law have no Right to vote 3
befides, that the Lands managed by thofe Trultees, or Reprefentatives, tor the behalf of the Town,
are not valued, nor do they pay any Taxes within the Shire.

AS the Sitting Memberhath the Right of the Election undoubtedly on his fide, ’tis hoped his
Cafe is not the lefs favourable, that he and his Ancefiors have had a very old Family-slnterelt in that
County, having lived and enjoyed their Eltate in itfor feveral hundred Years. S

   
  
 
 
    
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
    
   
 
  
 
 
 
   

 

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