Folios 34-35. Letter from [Henry Walter Parker], Assistant Secretary to the Poor...

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Reference	MH 12/13904/27
Date	1839-03-22
Description	Folios 34-35. Letter from [Henry Walter Parker], Assistant Secretary to the Poor Law Commission, to Mr Vincent, Assistant Overseer, Redditch, giving his opinion as to whether a ratepayer who is not entitled to vote is eligible to be elected as guardian. He states that the proviso in the 40th section of the Poor Law Amendment Act stating that no person shall be deemed a ratepayer unless he has been rated to relief of poor for a whole year and has paid the parochial rate assessment for that period in no way affects the qualification to be a guardian. The qualification of a guardian is not that he should be a ratepayer but that he should be rated. To be a ratepayer includes several requisites and only one of these is that he should be rated. The Commission is satisfied that to be qualified as a guardian it is sufficient that the person be on the rate book at the time of election even though he has not made any payment. They are of the opinion that a court of law will construe a qualification liberally and not strictly and will not constrict the choice of the voters. Paper Number: 2231/C/1839. Poor Law Union Number 526. Counties: Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire.
Held by	The National Archives, Kew
Legal status	Public Record(s)
Language	English
Closure Status	Open Document, Open Description

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