ABSTRACT
WOMEN CANDIDATES AND VoTERS.-It eeems strange that, while at Birmingham a woman was allowed to vote, at Camberwell a woman was not allowed to be voted for, but the :first decision does not appear to have been right. In regard to voting the register is conclUBive, unless the voter is " prohibited by statute or by the law of Parliament" from voting. A woman is not like an infant, a policeman, or an election agent, prohibited from voting by statute. If she were so prohibited she would not only be unable to vote in spite of her name being on the register, but she would be liable to a fine of £100. She was, however, according to the decision in "Stow v. Joliffe,'' 43 Law Journal Reports, C.P. 465, prohibited by the law of Parliament within the meaning of the section. This decision hu been doubted, but it is eleven years old. If it be incorrect, not only was the vote rightly allowed at Birmingham, but even on a scrutiny it would count, as the same case decided that the register is as conclusive upon a scrutiny as at the poll. In regard to Camberwell, aa Miss Helen Taylor presented her nomination paper herself, there is no doubt that the returning offi~er had the right to reject it. If her proposer or seconder bad presented it, and there was no indication of her sex on the paper except the name Helen, much doubt :night have been entertained. The rei,urning officer is entitled by the Ballot Act to require that the candidate be described, so as to identify him, but this is for the purpose of clear description only, and not for the purpose of rejecting the nomination. 1f Miss Taylor had taken legal advice she would probably have secured her nomination, but she preferred boldly to avow her sex, and proposes to test the matter in the Law Courts. No action lies against a.returning officer for reject.ing a nomination unless he acted maliciously, as in such a matter hie act is judicial. If, however, Miss Heleu Taylor insists on its being judicially decided that women cannot be members of Parliament, she may, as "a person alleging himself to be a candidate," present an election petition when the return is made and join the returning officer as a party.-Law Journal.
