MR. DICK-PEDDIEasked the Lord Advocate, Whether, having regard to questions which have arisen in Scotland as to a legal obligation lying on Town Councils to return Representative Elders to the General Assembly of the Established Church, and to the right which has been assumed by minorities of Town Councils to elect such Representative Elders when the Town Council has by a majority refused to do so, he will take steps to prevent such questions arising in future by bringing in a Bill expressly relieving Town Councils of any obligation of the kind referred to that may now rest on, thorn, and declaring it illegal for a minority to act in the name of a Town Council which has failed to elect or resolved against the election of Representative Elders?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)Sir, I have observed from the newspapers that differences in regard to this matter have occasionally arisen in Town Councils; but, until this Question was placed on the Paper, I had not received any representation on the subject, nor is it one to which, so far as I am aware, much importance is attached. A somewhat analogous point was raised in the Courts of Law in 1843; but not, to my knowledge, since that time. It appears to me that there are more urgent and pressing matters demanding the attention of Parliament.
MR. DICK-PEDDIEsaid, he wished to point out that the right hon. and learned Gentleman had not answered the latter part of the Question—namely, whether, in the absence of a statutory obligation, it was legal for the minority to act for the majority?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)I have not been able to discover any original statutory obligation on this matter, although I have looked; but there has been in various statutes a recognition of the representatives sent by Town Councils as constituent mem- 1780 bers of the Assembly, although, so far as I have been able to discover, there is no statutory origin for Town Councils sending representatives to the Assembly; but there has been a uniform practice in the matter since the time of the Reformation. Of course, the point that my hon. Friend puts now is one of law, and I rather think that if there is, either from statute or from inveterate usage, a duty grown up on the part of Town Councils to send representative Members, and the majority of the Council refuse to discharge that duty, it could be performed by a minority, and have legal force.
§ MR. DALRYMPLE,with reference to the point, said, he would ask, Whether reluctance on the part of Town Councils to elect a representative is not of rare occurrence; and, whether, even where there may be indifference on the part of the majority, there is not generally a complete acquiescence in the action of a minority when taking steps on the part of the Town Council to elect a Representative Elder according to custom?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)This Question has already been answered in what I have said, and I do not think I can add anything further on the matter.