A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present.
Development of the term
The origin of the term comes from the Old English and Old Norse (literally "house thing"), an assembly of the followers or household retainers of a nobleman, such as a king, earl or chief. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, the husting contrasted with the folkmoot, which was the assembly of the entire people.
The use of husting to mean a "temporary platform for political speeches" had developed by the year 1719, as an extension of the meaning of the Court of Husting, which was held at a platform at the Guildhall in the City of London, and presided over by the lord mayor, sheriff, and aldermen. Hustings crowds were often boisterous and unruly.
An individual parliamentary constituency might have several separate hustings. but the Reform Act 1832 required that a separate hustings exist for every 600 electors. The 1832 act also slightly extended the franchise, expanding the percentage of the population eligible to vote from about 5% to 7%, and furthering the notions of representation.
The Ballot Act 1872 abolished the hustings in Britain in favor of the secret ballot. Proponents of the abolition of the public hustings also argued that the increased literacy rate and the availability of inexpensive newspapers rendered the hustings superfluous.
Canada
In the Province of Canada, prior to Confederation, the returning officer (under an 1849 act) typically administered elections from the hustings. "Nomination day" and "declaration day" were separate. The returning officer took nominations by a show of hands to determine if any candidate received a majority; if a losing candidate demanded a vote, this was followed by several days of polling, then a return to the hustings where the returning officer declared the winner. (The polling period was originally six days, but this was reduced to two days with the 1842 and 1849 Election Acts). The show of hands and hustings declaration were abolished in 1866, and hustings nominations were abolished in federal elections by a federal statute in 1874. Historian George Neil Emery writes that after this point, "only in provincial elections did the hustings retain its original meaning: an elevated platform at the place of election from which the returning officer, candidates, and nominators of candidate addressed an assembled of electors before then."
Virginia
In Virginia, the Corporation or Hustings Courts were formerly lower-level state courts. However, a reorganization of state courts that took effect on July 1, 1973, abolished these and other courts, replacing them with a streamlined Virginia Circuit Court system. and British usage.
See also
- Mass meeting
- Town meeting
- Stump speech