STATUTORY
RULES.
1904. No. 49.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.
RULES
OF COURT.
As
of Monday, the 22nd day of August, a.d.
1904.
It
is ordered as follows:—
Short title
1. These
Rules may be cited as “The Election Rules of 1904.”
Application
of General Rules of Court.
2. The
Rules of Court contained in Part I. of the Schedule to the High Court Procedure Act 1903, and the Rules of Court as of
Tuesday, the sixth day of October, a.d.
1903, relating to Fees and Percentages, and all amendments thereof and
additions thereto respectively, shall, so far as the same are applicable, and
are not inconsistent with these Rules, extend and apply to proceedings in the
High Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction as the Court of Disputed
Returns.
A petition disputing an election or return shall be deemed to be an
originating proceeding within the meaning of the first-mentioned Rules.
Title of Petition.
3. The
petition shall be entitled in the manner prescribed in Rule 2 of Order I, and
shall also be entitled “In the matter of the Election” in question, describing
it as an election of members of the Senate for the State in which the election
was held, or as an election of a member of the House of Representatives for the
Electoral Division in question, or as the case may be.
It
shall be divided into paragraphs in the same manner as a Statement of Claim.
Publication.
4. The
Registrar shall forthwith after the presentation of a petition publish a copy
thereof in the Commonwealth Gazette and
in the official Gazette of the State
in which the election was held.
In
the case of an election of a member of the House of Representatives he shall
also forthwith publish in some newspaper circulating in the Electoral Division
for which the election was held a notice setting forth the fact of the
presentation of the petition, the date of presentation, the name of the
petitioner, the nature of the relief claimed, and, as concisely as may he, the
grounds on which the election is disputed.
Service
of Petition.
5. The
petitioner shall within thirty days after the presentation of the petition, or
within such further time as a Justice may allow, cause an office copy of the
petition to be served upon every person whose election or return is disputed by
the petition.
Service
upon a person returned as elected may be made either personally or by post by
prepaid registered letter addressed to him at his address as stated in his
nomination paper.
C.7728.—Price 3d.
Service
at an Address for Service.
6. Any
person who has been returned as a member may send to the Registrar at the
Registry in the State in which the election was held a writing signed by him
giving an address not more than one mile from the Registry at which a petition
may be served upon him, and may by the same or another like writing appoint some
person entitled to practise in the High Court as a solicitor to act as his
agent in respect of any such petition.
When
such writing has been sent to the Registrar, service of a petition upon the
person by whom it was sent may be made by leaving the office copy of the
petition with some person at the address specified in the writing.
Appearances.
7. Any
person returned as a member whoso election or return is disputed by a petition
may within fourteen days after service of the petition upon him, and any person
who voted or had a right to vote at the election to which the petition relates,
may within fourteen days after the publication of the petition in the official Gazette of the State in which the
election was held, enter an appearance to the petition. Every person so entering
an appearance shall be deemed to be a party to the proceedings upon the petition.
Particulars
of Votes objected to.
8. When the petition, not being a petition merely claiming a fresh
count of the votes actually counted at the election, claims
the seat for a person who has not been returned as a member, alleging that such
person had a majority of valid votes, each of the parties shall, six days
before the day appointed for the trial of the petition, deliver to the
Registrar and to the opposite party at his address for service a list of the
ballot-papers or classes of ballot-papers intended to be claimed or objected
to, specifying, in the case of ballot-papers objected to, the grounds of
objection on which he intends to rely; and no objection shall be entertained
against the validity of any ballot-paper upon any ground not specified in the
lists so delivered, except by leave of the Court or a Justice and upon such
terms as to amendment of the list, adjournment of the trial, and payment of
costs, as the Court or Justice may order.
Countercharges.
9. When a
petition claims a seat for a person who has not been returned as a member, and
a party respondent desires to set up that the person for whom the seat is
claimed was not duly elected, upon some ground other than those mentioned in
the last preceding Rule, he shall within six days after entering his
appearance, or within such further time as the Court or a Justice may allow,
deliver to the Registrar and to the petitioner at his address for service a
statement of the grounds on which he intends to rely. The statement shall set
forth the grounds in the same manner in which facts relied on to invalidate an
election or return are required to be set forth in a petition.
Particulars
in general.
10. The Court or a Justice may order any party to
the proceedings upon a petition to deliver to any other party particulars, or
further and better particulars, of any matter alleged by such party.
Trial.
11. The trial of the petition shall be held at a
time and place to he appointed by the order of a Justice on the application of
some party to the petition. Ten days’ notice of trial shall be given by the
party obtaining the order to the other parties to the petition, and shall be
advertised by the Registrar in some paper or papers circulating in the State or
Electoral Division for which the election was held.
An
order appointing the time and place of trial may be varied from time to time.
Withdrawal
of Petition.
12. A petition may be withdrawn by leave of the Court or a
Justice upon such terms as the Court or Justice
may think fit.
Substitution
of another Petitioner.
Ten
days’ notice of the intention to apply for leave shall ho given by
advertisement in some newspaper or newspapers circulating in the State or
Electoral Division for which the election was held, and at the hearing of the
application the Court or Justice may allow any other person who was competent
to present a petition on the like grounds to be substituted for the petitioner.
The proceedings upon the petition shall thereupon he continued as if the person
so substituted had been the original petitioner.
Abatement
by death of Petitioner.
13. When a solo petitioner dies beforethe trial of the petition, the Court or
a Justice may allow some other person who was competent to present a petition
on the same grounds to be substituted as petitioner. The proceedings upon the
petition shall thereupon be continued as if the person so substituted had been
the original petitioner.
S.
W. GRIFFITH, C.J. |
EDMUND BARTON, J. |
R. E. O’CONNOR, J. |
J. W. O’HALLORAN, Deputy Registrar.
By Authority: Robt.
S. Brain, Government Printer,
Melbourne.