Reform Acts

In the UK, acts of Parliament in 1832, 1867, and 1884 that extended voting rights and redistributed parliamentary seats; also known as Representation of the People Acts.

The 1832 act abolished the pocket, or rotten borough, which had formed unrepresentative constituencies; redistributed seats on a more equitable basis in the counties; and formed some new boroughs. The franchise was extended to male householders in property worth £10 a year or more in the boroughs and to owners of freehold property worth £2 a year, £10 copyholders (those whose property rights depended on the customs of the local manor), and £50 leaseholders in the counties. The 1867 act redistributed seats from corrupt and small boroughs to the counties and large urban areas. It also extended the franchise in boroughs to adult male heads of households, and in counties to males who owned, or held on long leases, land worth £5 a year, or who occupied land worth £12 on which they paid poor rates. The 1884 act extended the franchise to male agricultural labourers.