Cap. 363 ст. 111Authorized excuse for non- compliance with provisions as to return and declaration respecting election expense.

(1) Where the return and declarations respecting election expenses of a candidate at an election have not been transmitted as required by these regulations, or being transmitted contain some error or false statement, then if the candidate in any criminal or civil proceedings under these regulations proves to the satisfaction of the court that the failure to transmit such return and declarations, or any of them or any part thereof, or any error or false statement therein, has arisen by reason of his illness, or by reason of inadvertence, or of any reasonable cause of a like nature, and not by reason of any want of good faith on the part of the candidate, the court may, after giving the Attorney General an opportunity of being heard, make such order for allowing an authorized excuse for the failure to transmit such return and declarations, or for an error or false statement in such return and declarations, as to the court seems just.

(2) Where in any proceedings it appears to the court that any person has refused or failed to make such return or to supply such particulars as will enable the candidate to comply with the provisions of these regulations as to the return and declaration respecting election expenses, the court, before making an order allowing the excuse as in this regulation mentioned, shall order such person to appear, and shall, unless he attends, and shows cause to the contrary, order him to make the return and declaration, or to deliver a statement of the particulars required to be contained in the return, as to the court seems just, and to make or deliver the same within such time and to such person and in such manner as the court may direct, or may order him to be examined with respect to such particulars, and in default of compliance with any such order, such person shall be guilty of an illegal practice.

(3) The court may allow the excuse conditionally upon the making of a return and declaration in a modified form or within an extended time, and upon the compliance with such other terms as to the court seem best calculated for carrying into effect the objects of these regulations; and an order allowing an authorized excuse shall relieve the candidate from any liability or consequences under these regulations in respect of the matter excused by the order.

(4) The date of the order, or if conditions and terms are to be complied with, the date at which the applicant fully complies with them, is referred to in these regulations as the date of the allowance of the excuse.