Definitions for rotten and pocket boroughs
rotten and pocket bor·oughs

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1. Rotten and pocket boroughs

   A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain unrepresentative influence within the unreformed House of Commons. The same terms were used for similar boroughs represented in the 18th-century Parliament of Ireland. The Reform Act 1832 abolished the majority of these rotten and pocket boroughs.

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1. Rotten and pocket boroughs

   A rotten, decayed, or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within the Unreformed House of Commons. A rotten borough was an election borough with a very tiny population, often small enough that voters could be personally bribed. These boroughs had often been assigned representation when they were large cities, but the borough boundaries were never updated as the town's population declined. For example, in the 12th century Old Sarum had been a busy cathedral city but was abandoned when Salisbury was founded nearby; despite this, Old Sarum retained its two members. Many such rotten boroughs were controlled by peers who gave the seats to their sons, other relations or friends; they had additional influence in Parliament because they held seats themselves in the House of Lords. Pocket boroughs were boroughs that could effectively be controlled by a single person who owned most of the land in the borough. As there was no secret ballot at the time, the landowner could evict residents who did not vote for the person he wanted. By the 19th century there were moves toward reform and this political movement was eventually successful, culminating in the Reform Act 1832, which disfranchised the 57 rotten boroughs and redistributed representation in Parliament to new major population centres. The Ballot Act of 1872 enacted a secret ballot, making vote bribery impractical as there is no way of knowing for certain how an individual has voted.

How to pronounce rotten and pocket boroughs?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say rotten and pocket boroughs in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of rotten and pocket boroughs in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of rotten and pocket boroughs in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

References

1. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_and_Pocket_Boroughs
2. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=rotten and pocket boroughs