Undue influence is defined by the Act of 1883[223:3] as making use, or threatening to make use, of any force, violence, or restraint, or inflicting, or threatening to inflict, any temporal or spiritual injury on any person in order to influence, or on account of, his vote; or by duress or fraud impeding the free exercise of the franchise by any man. These provisions cover threats by an employer to discharge workmen,[223:4] and the denunciation by priests of spiritual penalties on political opponents.[223:5]
Personation it is unnecessary to describe.
Corrupt Practices avoid the Election.
All these corrupt practices are criminal offences punishable by fine or imprisonment, and by the loss of political rights for seven years.[223:6] What is more important for our purpose, they are liable to cost the member his seat; for if upon the trial of a controverted election the court reports that any corrupt practice has been committed by the candidate, or that bribery or personation has been committed with his knowledge and consent, his election is void, and he is forever incapable of being elected to Parliament by that constituency.[224:1] Moreover, if the election court reports that a corrupt practice has been committed by his agents, although he may be personally quite innocent, his election is void, and he is incapable of being chosen by that constituency for seven years.[224:2]
But only if done by the Candidate or his Agents.
It will be observed that in order to set aside an election, the corrupt practice must be brought home to the candidate, personally or through his agents. In accordance with the older traditions of English public life, the election is regarded as the affair of the candidates alone. The action of party organisations, or other bodies, is not taken into account,[224:3] and their conduct has no effect upon the result, unless their relations with the candidate have been such as to make them his agents. So long as a political association is urging the general interests of the party, rather than supporting a particular candidate, he is not responsible for their acts. It has been held, for example, that a candidate is not responsible for treating by such an association, although he was present and spoke at the meeting where it was done, if it was got up by them for their own purposes, and not to assist in his election.[224:4] It has been held, also, that a payment by a party organisation of bills for music and beer at public meetings, previous to an election, and even the candidate's subscription to their funds, need not be included in his election expenses, unless the organisation was a sham supported by him.[224:5]
In all such cases it is difficult to prove agency to the satisfaction of an election court. The time must come in any election, however, when the local party association by active assistance to the candidate becomes his agent.[225:1] But this is not true of other bodies less directly connected with the party organisation, which are, nevertheless, in the habit of doing a great deal of work at elections. Thus it has been held that a Licensed Victuallers Association, having a distinct and direct interest in the election, did not become the agent of the candidate, although it played an important part in the campaign.[225:2] That this leaves a door wide open for corrupt influence is self-evident.
General Corruption.
To the general principle that a corrupt practice must be brought home to the candidate there is one exception. If bribery, treating, personation, intimidation, or undue influence, whether physical or ecclesiastical, has been general in the constituency—that is, so extensive that the voting could not have been the free expression of the will of the electorate—the result of the election is invalid at common law, although neither the candidate nor his agent are directly implicated.[225:3]
Distinction between Corrupt and Illegal Practices.