ABSTRACT
The subsection 16 of Section 2 of the 1881 Act, by which women graduates are placed on the Register as Members of the General Council, conferred no franchise on Members of the General Council and could scarcely be used to construe an Act of Parliament passed thirteen years before, when the Legislature had within its purview only male persons, and it would be extravagant to assume that when Parliament, in 1889, conferred powers on the Universities to enable them to admit women to graduation, that it was introducing so important a constitutional change as the extension of the Franchise to women in University constituencies. The Act of 1889 bad not the remotest bearing on election law. The only other matter which was argued was, that in any event the pursuers were entitled, so long as they were on the Register of the General. Council of the University of Edinburgh, to receive voting papers from the registrar, and that the registrar, in refusing to issue such papers to them, was in breach of his statutory duty. The short and, to his mind, conclusive answer ,to that contention was, that the registrar was bound only to issue voting papers to persons who were qualified to vote. If he made a -mistake by refusing to issue the voting paper to s.uch a person he might render himself liable in a penalty; but it would be neither good sense nor good law to hold that he should be compelled to issue voting papers to persons whose votes, when given, he would be compelled to reject. His Lordship was, therefore, of opinion that that separate ground of action fell.
