§ MR. BIGWOOD (Middlesex, Brentford)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he could inform the House whether a Justice of the Peace who is on the Commission of the Peace for a county in England, and is duly qualified by estate, and has taken the Oath of Estate and made and subscribed the Declaration of Office, is subject to any penalty for acting as Justice of the Peace at a Court of Quarter or General Sessions by reason of his having no residence within the county; and can any valid legal objection be made to a Justice so acting on the ground that he is not resident within the county? I have also to ask the right hon. Gentleman if he can inform the House whether there is anything to prevent a Justice of the County of Middlesex, who is duly qualified by estate, and who was appointed a Magistrate of Middlesex prior to "The Local Government Act, 1888," continuing to act at Quarter Sessions as a Magistrate for Middlesex, notwithstanding the fact that his place of residence and qualification, which was in the County of Middlesex, has become by virtue of the provisions of "The Local Government Act, 1888," now within the County of London?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI am advised that the answer to these questions of my hon. Friend is in the negative. The power to act as a Middlesex Justice, although there is no Middlesex residence, is confined to those persons who were qualified Middlesex Justices when the Local Government Act passed.