copies hereof, immediately after such readings respectively, to be affixed on the said market-cross, and upon the most patent doors of the several parish churches. And the several precentors, or ministers, or elders, or others in their absence, on receiving this precept, are hereby required and ordained to give a receipt to the bearer, under a penalty of five pounds sterling.

UPON the

and

day of

eighteen hundred

years, being a market-day, I A. B. sheriff-off

cer, in obedience to the within precept, passed to the market-cross head burgh of the sheriffdom of

of
and thereat, between the hours of

and

in open market time, and after crying three several oyesses, did publicly read the said precept, and immediately thereafter I affixed and left at and upon the said marketcross, a printed copy thereof. These things were so done and acted by me betwixt the hours foresaid of the said day, before and in presence of

and

witnesses specially called to the premisses,

church of

Form of Execution by the Precentor.

precentor in the parish hereby certify, that I

read the prefixed precept, in said church, on Sunday after divine service in the forenoon; and that I immediately thereafter affixed a copy of said precept on the most patent door of said church.

N. B. If there is no sermon, the precept ought to be affixed to the church door, and the fact so certified.

APPENDIX.

XII.

Form of the Sheriff's annexing to the Writ the Return made bý the Clerk to the Freeholders.

THE return is made in the form of an indenture between the sheriff and clerk in the following manner :

This indenture, made at ing of the sheriffdom thereof, holden the in the

year

in a full court, or meet

day of

of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, betwixt an honourable man, A. B., Esquire, sheriff-depute (or substitute) of the said shire, upon the one part, and Mr C. D., clerk elected, to the effect under written, by the electors or freeholders of the said shire, on the other part, witnesseth, That, according to the form and tenor of the brieve, or writ, of our Sovereign Lord the King annexed to this indenture, proclamation having been lawfully made at the market-cross of the head borough of the said shire of borough of

and at the respective parish churches within the same, as the custom is, the electors and freeholders of the said sheriffdom being met the day above mentioned, in the

and those who were there present being sworn of or examined, according to the form, strength, and effect, of the several statutes made and provided thereanent, they unanimously (or by plurality of voices) elected and chose F. G., of H., knight, girt with a sword, habile, fit, and discreet, giving and granting to the aforesaid knight full and sufficient power, for himself, and the whole commonalty of the said county, to do and consent to those things which, in the present Parliament, by the common council of the said united kingdom, (by God's assistance) shall happen to be ordained upon the affairs aforesaid, specified in the said writ. In testimony whereof, to the one part of this indenture, remaining with the said A. B., to be annexed to and returned with the writ, he, the said A. B. and C. D., have set their hands and seals; and to the other part of the said indenture, remaining with the said C. D. for the use of the before mentioned shire, the said A. B. has also set his hand and seal, place, day, month, and year of God, and King's reign, aforesaid.

When there is only a return made to the sheriff of a member to represent the shire, there is wrote and signed by him, upon the back of the writ, as follows, The execution of the within writ is con'tained in an indenture hereto annexed.' If there is likewise a return of a burgess, the indorsement is in these words, The execution of the within writ is contained in certain indentures herein 'annexed.'

XIII.

List of all the Royal Boroughs in Scotland, as divided into their several Classes or Districts; in which the Precedence of the Boroughs of each District is observed, according to the order in which they were called in the Rolls of the Parliament of Scotland.

Precept from a Sheriff to a Borough.

I, A. B., sheriff-depute (or substitute) of the county of

, provost, the magistrates and

of election to the Parliament, to be holden at Westminster, on

day of

the
bearing teste the

day of

Whereas, by a writ

next, directed to me, and

last, I am com

manded that, of every royal burgh of the aforesaid county, I freely and indifferently cause to be elected one commissioner, to elect one burgess, of the most discreet and sufficient, for the class or district, according to the form of the statutes thereupon made and provided, as in the said writ at more length is contained. Herefore I require and ordain you that, with all convenient speed, ye freely and indifferently elect one commissioner (in the same manner as you was in use to elect commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland), in order to elect a burgess for the class or district of burghs whereunto your burgh does belong, of the more discreet and substantial men, and that ye order the said commissioner so to be elected by you, to repair to the presiding burgh of the said class or district, upon the day of , (being the thirtieth day from the teste of the said writ), and then and there to elect the said burgess to Parliament, according to the form of the statutes thereupon made and provided, and in terms of the said writ. Given under my hand and seal at one thousand eight hundred and jesty's reign the

year.

the

day of years, and of his Ma(Signed) A. B.

and council of the said burgh of

being convened in obedience to a precept directed to them by A. B., his Majesty's sheriff-depute of the county of

date the hundred and

day of

of one thousand eight , requiring them to elect one commissioner for the said burgh, in order to elect one burgess of the most discreet and sufficient for the district or class of burghs to which this burgh belongs, and to order the said commissioner to repair to the presiding burgh of the said class or district, upon the day of being the thirtieth day from the teste of the writ, and then and there to elect a burgess, according to the form of the statutes thereupon made and provided, to represent the said district in the ensuing Parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to be holden at the city of Westminster, on the day

of

current,

next, by a writ directed to the sheriff of the shire of bearing teste at Westminster, the

last;

day of the said magistrates and council being all qualified conform to law, and having heard read the act of Parliament against bribery and corruption, did unanimously elect and choose, and hereby elect and choose, C D, whom they testify to be a man fearing God, of the true Protestant religion, now publicly professed and authorised by the laws of this realm, expert in the common affairs of this burgh, and a burgess thereof, their very lawful and undoubted commissioner; and did, and hereby do give and grant to C. D. commission and full power for them, and in their names, and on their behalf, to meet and convene within the

of

as the presiding burgh of the class or district of burghs whereof this burgh is one, upon the said day of with the rest of the commissioners chosen for the several burghs of this district, and to vote for and elect a burgess of the said class or district, of the most discreet and sufficient freely and indifferently to represent the said district in the Parliament of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, appointed to be held at Westminster on the said

day of

, promising to hold firm all and whatever things their said commissioner does in the premises; and ordain the common clerk to give out extracts of the above commission to the said C. D., and to affix the seal of the said

burgh of thereto. Extracted forth of the council record;

and the sale of the burgh is hereto affixed by me.

Indenture between the Sheriff and the Clerk of the presiding

Burgh.

THIS indenture made at the burgh of

day of

the

one thousand eight hundred and years, and of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Fourth, by the grace of God of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, the year, betwixt A. B., sheriff-depute or substitute of on the one part, and C. D. common, and clerk to the election of

the shire of

clerk of the burgh of a burgess to serve in Parliament for the class or district after mentioned, specially appointed to make the return of the said election, conform to the statutes made on that behalf, on the other part, witnesseth, That by virtue of writs of election, bearing teste the

day of

, directed to the sheriff of the said shire of and to the sheriffs of the shires of