1.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
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It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is the Sovereign of the United Kingdom and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, one of the boroughs of the British capital, the parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house and a lower house. The Sovereign forms the third component of the legislature, prior to the opening of the Supreme Court in October 2009, the House of Lords also performed a judicial role through the Law Lords. The House of Commons is an elected chamber with elections held at least every five years. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster in London, most cabinet ministers are from the Commons, whilst junior ministers can be from either House. The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Treaty of Union by Acts of Union passed by the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The UK parliament and its institutions have set the pattern for many throughout the world. However, John Bright – who coined the epithet – used it with reference to a rather than a parliament. In theory, the UKs supreme legislative power is vested in the Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the Prime Minister, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801, by the merger of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union. The principle of responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th century—the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an electoral system. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, many small constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, were controlled by members of the House of Lords, who could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. During the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, No longer dependent on the Lords for their seats, MPs grew more assertive. The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century, in 1909, the Commons passed the so-called Peoples Budget, which made numerous changes to the taxation system which were detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, on the basis of the Budgets popularity and the Lords consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general elections in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, in the face of such a threat, the House of Lords narrowly passed the bill. However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the parliaments of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and reduced the representation of both parts at Westminster
2.
William Ewart Gladstone
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William Ewart Gladstone, FRS, FSS was a British Liberal and earlier conservative politician. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times, more than any other person, Gladstone was also Britains oldest Prime Minister, he resigned for the final time when he was 84 years old. Gladstone first entered Parliament in 1832, beginning as a High Tory, Gladstone served in the Cabinet of Sir Robert Peel. After the split of the Conservatives Gladstone was a Peelite – in 1859 the Peelites merged with the Whigs, as Chancellor Gladstone became committed to low public spending and to electoral reform, earning him the sobriquet The Peoples William. Gladstones first ministry saw many reforms including the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, after his electoral defeat in 1874, Gladstone resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, but from 1876 began a comeback based on opposition to Turkeys reaction to the Bulgarian April Uprising. Gladstones Midlothian Campaign of 1879–80 was an example of many modern political campaigning techniques. The government also passed the Third Reform Act, Back in office in early 1886, Gladstone proposed Irish home rule but this was defeated in the House of Commons in July. The resulting split in the Liberal Party helped keep out of office, with one short break. In 1892 Gladstone formed his last government at the age of 82, the Second Home Rule Bill passed the Commons but was defeated in the Lords in 1893. Gladstone resigned in March 1894, in opposition to increased naval expenditure and he left Parliament in 1895 and died three years later aged 88. Gladstone was known affectionately by his supporters as The Peoples William or the G. O. M, Gladstone is consistently ranked as one of Britains greatest Prime Ministers. Born in 1809 in Liverpool, at 62 Rodney Street, William Ewart Gladstone was the son of the slave-owning merchant Sir John Gladstone. Although born and brought up in Liverpool, William Gladstone was of purely Scottish ancestry, in 1814 young Willy visited Scotland for the first time, as he and his brother John travelled with their father to Edinburgh, Biggar and Dingwall to visit their relatives. William and his brother were both made freemen of the burgh of Dingwall, in 1815 Gladstone also travelled to London and Cambridge for the first time with his parents. In London he attended a service of thanksgiving with his family at St Pauls Cathedral following the Battle of Waterloo, William Gladstone was educated from 1816 to 1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St Thomass Church at Seaforth, close to his familys residence, Seaforth House. In December 1831 he achieved the double first-class degree he had long desired, Gladstone served as President of the Oxford Union debating society, where he developed a reputation as an orator, which followed him into the House of Commons. At university Gladstone was a Tory and denounced Whig proposals for parliamentary reform, following the success of his double first, William travelled with his brother John on a Grand Tour of Europe, visiting Belgium, France, Germany and Italy. On his return to England, William was elected to Parliament in 1832 as Tory Member of Parliament for Newark, partly through the influence of the local patron, the Duke of Newcastle
3.
Royal assent
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Royal assent is the method by which a countrys constitutional monarch formally approves an act of that nations parliament, thus making it a law or letting it be promulgated as law. Royal assent is sometimes associated with elaborate ceremonies, however, royal assent is usually granted less ceremonially by letters patent. In other nations, such as Australia, the Governor-General merely signs the bill, in Canada, the Governor-General may give assent either in person at a ceremony held in the Senate or by a written declaration notifying parliament of his or her agreement to the bill. Before the Royal Assent by Commission Act of 1541 became law, the last time royal assent was given by the sovereign in person was during the rule of Queen Victoria at a prorogation on the 12th of August 1854. The Act was repealed and replaced by the Royal Assent Act of 1967, Royal assent is the final step required for a parliamentary bill to become law. -the sovereign may delay the bills assent through the use of his or her powers in near-revolutionary situations. -the sovereign may refuse royal assent on the advice of his or her ministers, under modern constitutional conventions, the sovereign acts on the advice of his or her ministers. Since these ministers most often maintain the support of parliament and are the ones who obtain the passage of bills, it is highly improbable that they would advise the sovereign to withhold assent. Hence, in practice, royal assent is always granted. The Monarch does not have the power to withhold a Bill from assenting, the last bill that was refused assent by the sovereign was the Scottish Militia Bill during Queen Annes reign in 1708. The so-called Model Parliament included bishops, abbots, earls, barons, in 1265, the Earl of Leicester irregularly called a full parliament without royal authorization. The body eventually came to be divided into two branches, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons formed the House of Lords, while the shire, the King would seek the advice and consent of both houses before making any law. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 provide a second potential preamble if the House of Lords were to be excluded from the process, the power of parliament to pass bills was often thwarted by monarchs. Charles I dissolved parliament in 1629, after it passed motions critical of, during the eleven years of personal rule that followed, Charles performed legally dubious actions, such as raising taxes without parliaments approval. After the English Civil War, it was accepted that parliament should be summoned to meet regularly, the last Stuart monarch, Anne, similarly withheld on 11 March 1707, on the advice of her ministers, her assent from a bill for the settling of Militia in Scotland. No monarch has since withheld royal assent on a passed by the British parliament. During the rule of the succeeding Hanoverian dynasty, power was gradually exercised more by parliament, the first Hanoverian monarch, George I, relied on his ministers to a greater extent than did previous monarchs. However, George IV reluctantly granted his assent upon the advice of his ministers, thus, as the concept of ministerial responsibility has evolved, the power to withhold royal assent has fallen into disuse, both in the United Kingdom and in the other Commonwealth realms
4.
Representation of the People Act 1918
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The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in the United Kingdom. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act and this act was the first to include practically all men in the political system and began the inclusion of women, extending the franchise by 5.6 million men and 8.4 million women. Even after the passing of the Third Reform Act in 1884, following the horrors of World War I, millions of returning soldiers would still not have been entitled to vote in the long overdue general election. The issue of a right to vote first gathered momentum during the later half of the nineteenth century based on the work of liberal thinkers such as John Stuart Mill. The issue was raised by Suffragist Millicent Fawcett at the Speakers Conference in 1916 and she called for the age for voting to be lowered to 18 overthrowing the male majority. She also suggested that, if this would not be possible, during the debates in Parliament, there was virtual cross party unanimity. The Home Secretary, George Cave introduced the Act, War by all classes of our countrymen has brought us together, has opened men’s eyes. I think I need say no more to justify this extension of the franchise, the Representation of the People Act 1918 widened suffrage by abolishing practically all property qualifications for men and by enfranchising women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications. The enfranchisement of this group was accepted as recognition of the contribution made by women defence workers. However, women were not politically equal to men, full electoral equality did not occur until the Representation of the People Act 1928. The terms of the Act were, All men over 21 gained the vote in the constituency where they were resident, the Representation of the People Act 1920 clarified this in the affirmative, albeit after the 1918 general election. Women over 30 years old received the vote if they were either a member or married to a member of the Local Government Register, some seats redistributed to industrial towns. Elections to be held on a day each year The costs incurred by returning officers were for the first time to be paid by the Treasury. Prior to the 1918 general election, the costs were passed on the candidates to pay. The size of the electorate tripled from the 7.7 million who had been entitled to vote in 1912 to 21.4 million by the end of 1918, Women now accounted for about 43% of the electorate. Had women been enfranchised based upon the requirements as men. This may explain why the age of 30 was settled on, the bill for the Representation of the People Act was passed by a majority of 385 to 55 in the House of Commons on 19 June 1917. Many other opponents of the Bill in the Lords lost heart when he refused to act as their spokesman, the bill passed by 134 to 71 votes
5.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
6.
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
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The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was associated with, but not part of, the Reform Act 1884, the first major reform of parliamentary seats took place under the Reform Act 1832. The next redistribution of seats occurred in three parliamentary acts in 1867–68. The Reform Act 1867 applied to English and Welsh constituencies and this was followed by the Representation of the People Act 1868 which redistributed Scottish seats and gave Scotland extra seats at the expense of England. The third act was the Representation of the People Act 1868, the 1868 redistribution had proved unsatisfactory and there had been only superficial attempts to match the numbers of representatives to the population of a constituency. A few of the largest towns were given three MPs, but electors could vote for two candidates. As a result, the importance of these boroughs was reduced, for example. In a Commons vote on party lines, the Conservative neutralised one of the Liberals, smaller boroughs with two members of the same party had twice the voting power in the house as the larger boroughs. By the 1880s, continued growth and resulting population movements had resulted in an increased imbalance between the constituencies in terms of the numbers of MPs and the population. The Liberals had a majority in the House of Commons. The House of Lords, on the hand, was dominated by the Conservative Party. The Conservative leader, Lord Salisbury, was opposed to the bill, the majority of the Conservative partys MPs were elected by the counties, with the Liberals being electorally strong in the boroughs. This, he claimed, would lead to the absolute effacement of the Conservative Party, Salisbury hoped to use the Conservative majority in the Lords to block the bill and force Gladstone to seek a dissolution of Parliament before the reforms could be enacted. The Lords duly rejected the bill and returned it to the Commons, a campaign organised around the slogan The Peers Against the People called for reform or abolition of the Lords if they rejected the bill a second time. In October 1884 Queen Victoria intervened in what was becoming a constitutional crisis, urging the party leaders to meet. Negotiations duly started at Salisburys London home in Arlington Street, Westminster, Salisbury agreed to allow the reform bill to pass on condition that a bill to redistribute parliamentary seats was also enacted. The two parties reached an agreement, known as the Arlington Street Compact, whereby the majority of MPs would be elected in single-member constituencies. The division of boroughs would allow the suburban areas of towns to be represented separately from the inner cities, allowing the growth of Villa Toryism
7.
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
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He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley. He is one of only four British Prime Ministers to have three or more separate periods in office, however his ministries all lasted less than two years, and totalled 3 years 280 days. Historian Frances Walsh says it was, Derby who educated the party and acted as its strategist to pass the last great Whig measure, the 1867 Reform Act. It was his greatest achievement to create the modern Conservative Party in the framework of the Whig constitution, Stanley was born to Lord Stanley and his wife, Charlotte Margaret née Hornby, the daughter of the Reverend Geoffrey Hornby. The Stanleys were a long-established and very wealthy landowning family whose residence was Knowsley Hall in Lancashire. Stanley was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1822 Edward Stanley, as he was then, was elected to Parliament in the rotten borough of Stockbridge as a Whig, the traditional party of his family. In 1824, however, he alienated his Whig colleagues by voting against Joseph Humes motion for an investigation into the Established Protestant Church of Ireland. When the Whigs returned to power in 1830, Stanley became Chief Secretary for Ireland in Lord Greys Government, as Chief Secretary Stanley pursued a series of coercive measures which frequently brought him into conflict with the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Anglesey. In 1833, Stanley moved up to the important position of Secretary of State for War. Stanley, a conservative Whig, broke with the ministry over the reform of the Church of Ireland in 1834, the term Derby Dilly was coined by Irish Nationalist leader Daniel OConnell. Joining the Conservatives, Stanley again served as Colonial Secretary in Sir Robert Peels second government in 1841, in 1844 he was summoned to the House of Lords as Lord Stanley of Bickerstaffe in his fathers Barony of Stanley by Writ of Acceleration. He broke with the Prime Minister again in 1845, this time over the repeal of the Corn Laws and he thereafter led the protectionist faction of the Conservative Party. In 1851 he succeeded his father as Earl of Derby, the party system was in a state of flux when the Conservatives left office in 1846, the outstanding issues being the question of Ireland and the unresolved franchise. The protectionists had a core of leaders, of whom Disraeli was a leading light, but in opposition the party was still in-fighting, although Disraeli was determined to heal rifts. Derby formed a minority Government in February 1852 following the collapse of Lord John Russells Whig Government, in this new ministry, Benjamin Disraeli would be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. With many senior Conservative ministers having followed Peel, Derby was forced to appoint many new men to office – of the Cabinet only three were pre-existing Privy Counsellors. When the aged Duke of Wellington, by then very deaf, heard the list of inexperienced Cabinet Ministers being read aloud in the House of Lords, from then this government would be known as the Who. Traditionally Derbys ministries were thought in hindsight to have been dominated by Disraeli, however recent research suggests that this was not always the case, especially in the governments conduct of foreign policy
8.
Reform Act 1867
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The Representation of the People Act 1867,30 &31 Vict. c.102 was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first time. Before the Act, only one million of the seven million adult males in England and Wales could vote, moreover, by the end of 1868 all male heads of household were enfranchised as a result of the end of compounding of rents. However, the Act introduced only a negligible redistribution of seats, the overall intent was to help the Conservative Party, yet it resulted in their loss of the 1868 general election. After 1848, this movement declined rapidly, and elite opinion began to change and it was thus only 28 years after the initial, quite modest, Great Reform Act that leading politicians thought it prudent to introduce further electoral reform. Lord John Russell, who in 1861 became the first Earl Russell, attempted this in 1860, but the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, when Palmerston died in 1865, however, the floodgates for reform were opened. Influential commentators included Walter Bagehot, Thomas Carlyle, Anthony Trollope, Karl Marx, in 1866, the Prime Minister, Lord Russell, introduced a Reform Bill. It was a bill, which proposed to enfranchise respectable working men, excluding unskilled workers and what was known as the residuum. This was ensured by a £7 householder qualification, which had been calculated to require an income of 26 shillings a week and this entailed two fancy franchises, emulating measures of 1854, a £10 lodger qualification for the boroughs, and a £50 savings qualification in the counties. Liberals claimed that the classes, strengthened by the best of the artisans. When it came to the vote, however, this split the Liberal Party, a split partly engineered by Benjamin Disraeli. On one side were the reactionary conservative Liberals, known as the Adullamites, the Adullamites were supported by Tories and the liberal Whigs were supported by radicals and reformists. The bill was defeated and the Liberal government of Russell resigned. The Conservatives formed a ministry on 26 June 1866, led by Lord Derby as Prime Minister and they were faced with the challenge of reviving Conservatism, Palmerston, the powerful Liberal leader, was dead and the Liberal Party split and defeated. Thanks to manoeuvring by Disraeli, Derbys Conservatives saw an opportunity to be a strong, viable party of government, however, the Adullamites, led by Robert Lowe, had already been working closely with the Conservative Party. Despite the fact that he had blocked the Liberal Reform Bill, in February 1867, by this time the attitude of many in the country had ceased to be apathetic regarding reform of the House of Commons. Huge meetings, especially the ‘Hyde Park riots, and the feeling that many of the working class were respectable, had persuaded many that there should be a Reform Bill. However, wealthy Conservative MP Lord Cranborne resigned his government ministry in disgust at the bills introduction, the Reform League, agitating for universal suffrage, became much more active, and organized demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people in Manchester, Glasgow, and other towns. Though these movements did not normally use revolutionary language as some Chartists had in the 1840s, the high point came when a demonstration in May 1867 in Hyde Park was banned by the government
9.
Voting
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Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion, usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting, residents of a place represented by an elected official are called constituents, and those constituents who cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called voters. In a democracy, a government is chosen by voting in an election, in a representative democracy voting is the method by which the electorate appoints its representatives in its government. In a direct democracy, voting is the method by which the electorate directly make decisions, turn bills into laws, a secret ballot has come to be the practice to prevent voters from being intimidated and to protect their political privacy. Voting usually takes place at a station, it is voluntary in some countries, compulsory in others. Different voting systems use different types of votes, a Plurality voting system does not require the winner to achieve a vote majority, or more than fifty percent of the total votes cast. In a voting system uses a single vote per race. A side effect of a vote per race is vote splitting, which tends to elect candidates that do not support centrism. An alternative to a system is approval voting. To understand why a vote per race tends to favor less centric candidates. If five marbles are assigned names and are placed up for election, the reason is that the three green marbles will split the votes of those who prefer green. In fact, in analogy, the only way that a green marble is likely to win is if more than sixty percent of the voters prefer green. If the experiment is repeated with other colors, the color that is in the majority will still rarely win, in other words, from a purely mathematical perspective, a single-vote system tends to favor a winner that is different from the majority. A development on the single system is to have two-round elections. The winner must receive a majority, which is more than half, if subsequent votes must be used, often a candidate, the one with the fewest votes or anyone who wants to move their support to another candidate, is removed from the ballot. An alternative to the Two-round voting system is the single round instant-runoff voting system as used in elections in Australia, Ireland. Voters rank each candidate in order of preference, votes are distributed to each candidate according to the preferences allocated. If no single candidate has 50% or more votes than the candidate with the least votes is excluded, the process repeating itself until a candidate has 50% or more votes
10.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
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Universal suffrage
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The concept of universal suffrage, also known as general suffrage or common suffrage, consists of the right to vote of all except a small number of adult citizens. As minors are excluded, the concept is frequently described as universal adult suffrage. Many countries make an exception for small numbers of adults that are considered incapable of voting. Other countries also exclude people convicted of crimes or people in jail. In some countries, including the United States, it is very difficult, in any case, where universal suffrage exists, the right to vote is not restricted by race, sex, belief, wealth, or social status. The term active suffrage is sometimes used for the right to vote, passive suffrage for the right to run for office, the equivalent term when talking about both genders would then be universal full suffrage, or full universal suffrage. Greece recognized full male suffrage in 1830 and France and Switzerland have continuously done so since the 1848 Revolution, the German Empire implemented full male suffrage in 1871. In 1893, the self-governing colony New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant active universal suffrage by giving women the right to vote and it did not grant universal full suffrage until 1919. In 1902 Australia become the first country to grant full suffrage for women, however, universal suffrage was not implemented, as aboriginals didnt get the right to vote until 1962. It also elected the worlds first female members of parliament the following year, in most countries, universal suffrage followed about a generation after universal male suffrage. Notable exceptions in Europe were France, where women could not vote until 1944, Greece and it is worth noting that countries that took a long time to adopt womens suffrage had previously often been pioneers in granting universal male suffrage. In the first modern democracies, governments restricted the vote to those with property and wealth, in some jurisdictions, other restrictions existed, such as requiring voters to practice a given religion. In all modern democracies, the number of people who could vote has increased progressively with time, in the 19th century in Europe, Great Britain and North America, there were movements advocating universal suffrage. The democratic movement of the late 19th century, unifying liberals and social democrats, particularly in northern Europe, used the slogan Equal, the concept of universal suffrage requires the right to vote to be granted to all its residents. All countries, however, do not allow certain categories of citizens to vote, saudi Arabia was the last major country that did not allow women to vote, but admitted women both to voting and candidacy in the 2015 municipal elections. France, under the 1793 Jacobin constitution, was the first major country to enact suffrage for all adult males, the Second French Republic did institute adult male suffrage after the revolution of 1848. In 1867, Germany enacted suffrage for all adult males, in the United States following the American Civil War, slaves were freed and granted rights of citizens, including suffrage for adult males. Several European nations that had enacted universal suffrage had their legal process, or their status as an independent nation, interrupted during
12.
United Kingdom constituencies
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In local government elections electoral areas are called wards or electoral divisions. Since the advent of universal suffrage, the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight, formerly the franchise differed, and there were also county borough and university constituencies. Borough constituencies are predominantly urban while county constituencies are predominantly rural, otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies. In Scotland, all House of Commons constituencies are county constituencies except those in the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, the returning officer will typically be a local Councils Chief Executive or Head of Legal Services. The role, however, is separate from these posts, the spending limits for election campaigns are different in the two, the reasoning being that candidates in county constituencies tend to need to travel further. For by-elections to any of these bodies, the limit in all constituencies is £100,000, in the House of Commons of England, each English county elected two knights of the shire while each enfranchised borough elected burgesses. From 1535 each Welsh county and borough was represented, by one knight or burgess, a county borough was the constituency of a county corporate, combining the franchises of both county and borough. Until 1950 there were also university constituencies, which gave graduates an additional representation, similar distinctions applied in the Irish House of Commons, while the non-university elected members of the Parliament of Scotland were called Shire Commissioners and Burgh Commissioners. After the Acts of Union 1707, Scottish burghs were grouped into districts of burghs in the Parliament of Great Britain, after the Acts of Union 1800, smaller Irish boroughs were disenfranchised, while most others returned only one MP to the United Kingdom Parliament. The Reform Act 1832 reduced the number of parliamentary boroughs by eliminating the rotten boroughs and it also divided larger counties into two two-seat divisions, the boundaries of which were defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832, and gave seven counties a third member. Constituency names are geographic, and should reflect the main population centre contained in the constituency. Compass points are used to distinguish constituencies from each other when a suitable label cannot be found. This is the reason for the difference in naming between, for example, North Shropshire and Reading West, in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, the House of Commons had 646 constituencies covering the whole of the United Kingdom. This rose to 650 in the 2010 election, each constituency elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election. The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Parliament of the United Kingdom, the other being the House of Lords, eleven additional members are elected from Greater London as a whole to produce a form or degree of mixed-member proportional representation. Constituency names and boundaries remain now as they were for the first general election of the assembly, the assembly is part of the Greater London Authority and general elections of the assembly are held at the same time as election of the mayor of London. There are 18 Northern Ireland Assembly Constituencies, four borough and 14 county constituencies elsewhere, each elects six MLAs to the 108 member NI Assembly by means of the single transferable vote system. Assembly Constituency boundaries are identical to their House of Commons equivalents, the constituencies below are not used for the election of members to the 11 district councils
13.
Scottish Highlands
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The Highlands are a historic region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, the term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands, the Scottish Gaelic name of A Ghàidhealtachd literally means the place of the Gaels and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands. The area is sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region. At 9.1 per km2 in 2012, the density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotlands as a whole, comparable with that of Bolivia, Chad. The Highland Council is the body for much of the Highlands. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth & Kinross, Stirling. The Scottish highlands is the area in the British Isles to have the Taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest. Between the 15th century and the 20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent, historically, the Highland line distinguished the two Scottish cultures. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided, there was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Tartan had largely abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. The period of the Napoleonic wars brought prosperity, optimism, the economy grew thanks to wages paid in industries such as kelping, fisheries, and weaving, as well as large-scale infrastructure spending such as the Caledonian Canal project. On the East Coast, farmlands were improved, and high prices for cattle brought money to the area, Service in the Army was also attractive to young men from the Highlands, who sent pay home and retired there with their army pensions. This prosperity ended after 1815, and long-term negative factors began to undermine the position of the poor tenant farmers, who typically rented a few acres
14.
Highland Clearances
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The Highland Clearances was the eviction, mostly during the 18th and 19th centuries, of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands. It resulted from enclosures of common lands and a change from farming to sheep raising, the Clearances were a complex series of events occurring over more than a hundred years. A Highland Clearance has been defined as an enforced simultaneous eviction of all living in a given area such as an entire glen. The Clearances relied on the insecurity of tenure of most tenants under the Scottish legal system, there was no equivalent of the English system of copyhold, which provided a heritable tenancy for many English counterparts of the Scots who were cleared from their farms. The Clearances resulted in significant emigration of Highlanders to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands, in the early 21st century, many times more descendants of Highlanders are found in these diaspora destinations than in Scotland. The enclosures in rural England in the British Agricultural Revolution started much earlier, similar developments in Scotland have lately been called the Lowland Clearances by historians such as Tom Devine. But in the Highlands, the impact on a Goidelic -speaking semi-feudal culture, there has been a lingering bitterness among the descendants of those forced to emigrate or to remain in crofting townships on very small areas of poor farming land. From the late 16th century, laws required clan leaders to appear in Edinburgh regularly to provide bonds for the conduct of anyone in their territory and this created a tendency among chiefs to identify as landlords, rather than leaders of men. The lesser clan-gentry increasingly took up droving, taking cattle along the old unpaved drove roads to sell in the Lowlands and this brought wealth and land ownership within the clan, though the Highlands continued to be overpopulated and poor. The Jacobite Risings brought repeated government efforts to curb those clans who supported James VII of Scotland and II of England and James Francis Edward Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart. The government of the day responded with repression after the 1746 Battle of Culloden, the 1746 Act of Proscription, incorporating the Dress Act, required all swords to be surrendered to the government, it prohibited the traditional wearing of clan tartans and kilts. The Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746 removed the virtually sovereign power which the chiefs held over their clans, the governments enforcement of the prohibitions varied and often related to the degree of a clans support during the rebellion. But, overall these actions led to the destruction of the clan system. From about 1725, in the aftermath of the first Jacobite Rising, under the Disarming Act of 1746 and the Clan Act of 1715, the Crown made ineffectual attempts to subdue the Scottish Highlands, and eventually sent in troops. These had the effect of limiting organisational travel and choking off news, but, social conditions remained unsettled for the whole decade. What became known as the Clearances were regarded by the landlords as necessary improvements to make agriculture viable and they are thought to have been begun by Admiral John Ross of Balnagowan Castle in 1762. MacLeod of MacLeod began experimental work on Skye in 1732, chiefs hired Lowland, or sometimes English, factors with expertise in more profitable sheep farming. They encouraged, sometimes forcibly, the population to move off land judged suitable for raising sheep, to landlords, improvement and clearance did not initially mean depopulation
15.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
16.
Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act 1885
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The Medical Relief Disqualification Removal Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It became law on 6 August 1885, the disqualification remained, however, with regards to voting for a member of a parochial board or any other body which governed poor relief. The removal of the disqualification was to be considered as having been effective from 15 July 1884, oliver & Boyds new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1886
17.
Manchester University Press
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Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher and it maintains its links with the University. Manchester University Press publishes monographs and textbooks for teaching in higher education. It produces around 140 new books annually, areas of expertise are history, politics and international law, literature and theatre studies, and visual culture. MUP has been involved in open access publishing for several years. It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, MUP was founded in 1904, initially to publish academic research being undertaken at the Victoria University of Manchester. The office was accommodated in a house in Lime Grove, distribution was then in the hands of Sherratt & Hughes of Manchester, from 1913 the distributors were Longmans, Green & Co. though this arrangement came to an end in the 1930s. MUP was founded by James Tait and his successor was Thomas Tout and between them they were in charge for the first 20 years of the Presss existence. H. M. McKechnie was secretary to the press from 1912 to 1949, the MUP offices moved several times to make way for other developments within the university. Since 1951 these have been Grove House, Oxford Road, then the former Dental Hospital and thirdly the Old Medical School
18.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
19.
Routledge
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Routledge is a British multinational publisher. The company publishes approximately 1,800 journals &5,000 new books each year, Routledge is claimed to be the largest global academic publisher within humanities and social sciences. Following the merger of Informa and T&F in 2004, Routledge become a publishing unit, the firm originated in 1836, when Camden bookseller George Routledge published an unsuccessful guidebook, The Beauties of Gilsand with his brother-in-law W H Warne as assistant. The company was restyled in 1858 as Routledge, Warne & Routledge when George Routledges son, Robert Warne Routledge, Frederick Warne eventually left the company after the death of his brother W. H. Warne in May 1859. Gaining rights to titles, he founded Frederick Warne & Co in 1865. In July 1865, his son Edmund Routledge became a partner, by 1902 the company was running close to bankruptcy. Following a successful restructuring, however, it was able to recover and began to acquire and merge with other publishing companies including J. C. In 1912 the company merged with Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. the descendant of companies founded by Charles Kegan Paul, Alexander Chenevix Trench, Nicholas Trübner and it was soon particularly known for its titles in the social sciences. In 1985, Routledge & Kegan Paul joined with Associated Book Publishers, just two year later, Cinven and Routledges directors accepted a deal for Routledges acquisition by Taylor & Francis Group, with the Routledge name being retained as an imprint and subdivision. In 2004, T&F became a division within Informa plc after a merger, Routledge has grown considerably as a result of organic growth and acquisitions of other publishing companies and other publishers titles by its parent company. Humanities and social sciences acquired by T&F from other publishers are rebranded under the Routledge imprint. The famous English publisher Fredric Warburg was an editor at Routledge during the early 20th century. Novelist Nina Stibbe author of Love, Nina worked at the company as a Commissioning Editor in the 1990s, the republished works of these authors have appeared as part of the Routledge Classics and Routledge Great Minds series. Competitors to the series are Verso Books Radical Thinkers, Penguin Classics, Taylor and Francis closed down the Routledge print encyclopaedia division in 2006. Some of its publications were, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, by Edward Craig, in 10 volumes, Encyclopedia of Ethics, by Lawrence C. Reference Works by Europa Publications, published by Routledge, Europa World Year Book, many of Routledges reference works are published in print and electronic formats as Routledge Handbooks and have their own dedicated Web site, Routledge Handbooks Online. Records of Routledge & Kegan Paul - Correspondence files covering the period 1935 to 1990, as well as review files 1950s-1990s, Special Collections, archives of George Routledge & Company 1853-1902, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd,1973. 6 reels of microfilm and printed index, archives of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Henry S. King 1858-1912, Chadwyck-Healey Ltd,1973
20.
Reform Act 1832
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The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. According to its preamble, the Act was designed to take effectual Measures for correcting divers Abuses that have prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament. Before the reform, most members nominally represented boroughs, the number of electors in a borough varied widely, from a dozen or so up to 12,000. Frequently the selection of MPs was effectively controlled by one patron, for example Charles Howard. Criteria for qualification for the franchise varied greatly among boroughs, from the requirement to own land, there had been calls for reform long before 1832, but without success. The Act that finally succeeded was proposed by the Whigs, led by Prime Minister Charles Grey and it met with significant opposition from the Pittite factions in Parliament, who had long governed the country, opposition was especially pronounced in the House of Lords. Nevertheless, the bill was passed, mainly as a result of public pressure. The Act also increased the electorate from about 500,000 to 813,000, with one in five adult males allowed to vote. The full title is An Act to amend the representation of the people in England and its formal short title and citation is Representation of the People Act 1832. The Act applied only in England and Wales, the Scottish Reform Act 1832 and Irish Reform Act 1832 brought similar changes to Scotland and Ireland, respectively. After the Act of Union 1800, sometimes referred to as the Act of Union 1801, there were two types of constituencies, counties and boroughs. County members were supposed to represent landholders, while members were supposed to represent the mercantile. Counties were historical national subdivisions established between the 8th and 16th centuries and they were not merely parliamentary constituencies, many components of government were organised along county lines. The members of Parliament chosen by the counties were known as Knights of the Shire, Parliamentary boroughs in England ranged widely in size from small hamlets to large cities, partly because they had evolved haphazardly. The earliest boroughs were chosen in the Middle Ages by county sheriffs, in later centuries the reigning monarch decided which settlements to enfranchise. The monarchs seem mostly to have done so capriciously, often with regard for the merits of the place they were enfranchising. Of the 70 English boroughs that Tudor monarchs enfranchised,31 were later disenfranchised, after Newark was enfranchised in 1661, no additional boroughs were enfranchised, and the unfair system remained unchanged until the Reform Act of 1832. Grampounds disenfranchisement in 1821 was the sole exception, most English boroughs elected two MPs, but five boroughs elected only one MP, Abingdon, Banbury, Bewdley, Higham Ferrers and Monmouth
21.
Irish Reform Act 1832
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The Representation of the People Act,1832, commonly called the Irish Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the election laws of Ireland. The act was passed at approximately the time as the Reform Act 1832. The chief architects of the act were Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn, from 1 January 1801, Ireland had been represented in the House of Commons by 100 members. Each of the thirty-two counties returned two MPs as did the Boroughs of Dublin City, County Dublin and Cork City, County Cork, thirty-one other Boroughs and Dublin University sent one MP to Westminster. The 1832 legislation slightly changed some boundaries of Borough constituencies, the total number of seats in Ireland was therefore increased to 105. From 1801–29 the possession of land worth at least 40 shillings conferred a county vote, as in England. Catholics, who had permitted to qualify as Irish voters only since 1793, were excluded from serving in Parliament until 1829. The 1832 legislation left the Irish county electorate much the same, before 1832 each Borough constituency had its own qualification for voting. In some, only the members of the corporation had the vote, in others a wider group of freemen and 40 shilling freeholders could vote. The number of Borough voters before the Reform Acts varied considerably, a by-election took place in Bandon, County Cork. On 22 July 1831, the by-election was decided by only 11 voters, a by-election was held for the two seats of Dublin City, County Dublin, on 18 August 1832. This last vote was the final pre-reformed Parliamentary election in Ireland, in 1832 the Irish Boroughs were given a more uniform franchise. In addition to those who qualified under the rules, all occupiers of property worth at least £10. The freemen were members of guilds, either because they had inherited membership or because they had served an apprenticeship to become members. The franchise for the University had been held by the provost, fellows and scholars of Trinity College, from 1832, all University of Dublin graduates holding MA degrees could vote. The introduction of electoral registration in Ireland in 1832 confirms that there continued to be differences in electorates after the Reform legislation. The range in number of registered voters was as follows, list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 1820–39 The law journal for the year 1832–1949. C.88, Representation of the People Act,1832 c.89, Parliamentary Boundaries Act,1832 Lewis, Samuel
22.
Municipal Corporations Act 1835
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The legislation was part of the reform programme of the Whigs and followed the Reform Act 1832, which had abolished most of the rotten boroughs for parliamentary purposes. The government of Lord Grey, having carried out of parliamentary constituencies. The committee made their report in June 1833, having enquired into a handful of boroughs, the principle which prevails of a small portion of corporators choosing those who are to be associated with them in power, generally for life, is felt to be a great grievance. The committee are further led to infer that corporations, as now constituted, are not adapted to the present state of society, to make corporations instruments of useful and efficient local government, it seems to be essential that the corporate officers should be more popularly chosen. That their proceedings should be open and subject to control of public opinion, the committee did not believe that they had sufficient powers to carry out a full review of the existing system. They instead recommended the appointment of a commission, and that the country be divided into districts with a commissioner responsible for enquiring into boroughs in each district. The royal commission was appointed by letters patent passed under the great seal, the commission issued its report in 1835. Altogether 285 towns had been investigated, the main conclusions of the report were, The corporations were exclusive bodies with no community of interest with the town after which they were named. The electorate of some corporations was kept as small as possible, some corporations merely existed as political engines for maintaining the ascendancy of a particular party. Members of corporations usually served for life and the body was a self-perpetuating entity. Roman Catholics and Dissenters, although no longer disabled from being members, were systematically excluded, vacancies rarely occurred and were not filled by well-qualified persons. Some close corporations operated in almost complete secrecy, sometimes secured by oath, local residents could not obtain information on the operation of the corporation without initiating expensive legal actions. The duties of the mayor were, in places, completely neglected. Magistrates were appointed by the corporations on party lines and they were often incompetent and did not have the respect of the inhabitants. Juries in many boroughs were exclusively composed of freemen, as the gift of freedom lay with the corporation, they were political appointees and often dispensed justice on a partisan basis. Policing in the boroughs was often not the responsibility of the corporation, an extreme example was the City of Bath, which had four districts under different authorities, while part of the city had no police whatever. Borough funds were expended in feasting, and in paying the salaries of unimportant officers rather than on the good government of the borough. In some places funds had been expended on public works without adequate supervision and this often arose from contracts being given to members of the corporation or their friends or relations
23.
Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840
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The Municipal Corporations Act 1840, An Act for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in Ireland, was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 10 August 1840. It was one of the Municipal Corporations Acts 1840 to 1888, the Act followed similar lines to the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 which reformed municipal boroughs in England and Wales. The Act dissolved all but ten of the corporations, under section 13 of the Act, the remaining 58 borough corporations were dissolved on 25 October 1840. The extinguished boroughs were listed in schedules B and I of the Act, boroughs in schedule B could petition for a grant of a charter restoring borough status, as could any town with a population of more than 3,000. Boroughs in Schedule I were already extinct at the time of the passing of the Act. Wexfords application for restoration of its charter was granted in 1846, cashel also applied, but without success. Where such a body existed, it was deemed to be the successor to the corporation, in most cases, the commissioners appointed under the terms of the 1840 Act eventually adopted the terms of the 1828 Act or its replacement, the Towns Improvement Act 1854. By 1876, only Carrickfergus was still governed by commissioners appointed under the 1840 Act, the Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Mark Callanan & Justin F Keogan, Local Government in Ireland Inside Out, Dublin,2003 Desmond Roche, Local Government in Ireland, Dublin,1982
24.
Representation of the People Act 1948
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The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. Part I of the Act declared that in future the United Kingdom would be divided into single-member borough constituencies and these terms replaced the former designations of parliamentary borough/division of a parliamentary borough and parliamentary county/division of a parliamentary county. There were to be 613 such constituencies, in place of the 591 under previous legislation and these were to be the only constituencies, and the Act thus abolished the university constituencies, thus graduates of universities no longer had the right to vote in two constituencies. Constituencies which had been represented by more than one MP were also abolished, persons eligible to vote were to be British subjects of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity to vote, provided that they were registered to vote in the constituency. Each voter was only permitted to cast a vote in one constituency. The arrangements which had given plural votes to electors who met a property qualification because of their business or shop premises were abolished, each constituency was to have an electoral registration officer, who was to compile the electoral register. An electoral register was to be published in Spring and Autumn of each year, qualifications for an elector to be registered were set out, with residence in the constituency on a specified date being the principal requirement. There was an additional qualification for members of the armed forces and other persons outside the state on diplomatic or other Crown business. Electors were to vote in person, except in circumstances in which a proxy vote might be permitted. Each constituency was to be divided into polling districts by the registration officer, rules were laid down for the process, for instance each civil parish in an English or Welsh county constituency was to be a separate district. Where a group of thirty electors felt that they were not provided with a convenient polling place, the procedures for recounts and for choosing the winning candidate by lot in the event of a tie were laid down. A candidate who received less than an eighth of the number of votes cast would forfeit their monetary deposit. Finally Part I dealt with the appointment and duties of the returning officer, in Scotland the returning officer was to be a sheriff of a local sheriffdom, and in Northern Ireland the under-sheriff of a county or county borough. The electorate for local elections was larger than that for parliamentary elections, electors were not permitted to be registered more than once in a single local government district, even if they occupied multiple premises. There was no prohibition on voting in different local authority areas, polling districts were to be delineated and polling places designated by the registration officer. In the absence of other arrangements these were to be identical to those used for parliamentary elections, Part III of the Act set new limits for the expenses that candidates were permitted to pay their election agent. In a county constituency this was to be £450, plus 2d for each name in the electoral register, there was to be a limit of one vehicle per 1,500 electors in a county constituency and 2,500 in a borough constituency. The broadcast of any programme relating to an election on a station other than one operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation was also prohibited
25.
Representation of the People Act 1949
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The Representation of the People Act 1949 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act consolidated previous electoral law, but also some changes to administration. The principal change was to provide for the conduct of future reviews of Parliamentary boundaries by the permanent Parliamentary Boundary Commissions, the Boundary Commissions were instructed to review all boundaries within 3-7 years from the Act coming into force, and thereafter to review the boundaries periodically. In addition the Act made some changes to the franchise, removing the provisions allowing plural voting by people who owned business premises. D. J. Rossiter, Ronald John Johnston, C. J. Pattie, The Boundary Commissions, redrawing the UKs map of constituencies, Manchester University Press,1999
26.
Representation of the People Act 1983
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The Representation of the People Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the British electoral process in the ways, Amended the Representation of the People Act 1969. Stated that a person cannot vote at any parliamentary or local election whilst in prison. Laid down the process in local elections The Act also regulates how political parties and people acting on their behalf are to behave before. Sections 72 to 90 control the election expenses that can be spent on behalf of a candidate. During the time limit of the election, all spent on the promotion of a candidate must be authorised by his election agent. It does not include travel expenses from home or similar personal expenses, the expenses limit for the campaign is £100,000 for a parliamentary by-election, but is approximately £5,483 plus either 6. 2p or 4. 6p for every registered voter in the district. Sections 91 to 94 entitle the candidate to one free mailshot of election material to all voters in the constituency and it is also illegal to print fake polling cards. Sections 95 to 98 entitle the candidate to hold public meetings free of charge in schools and other buildings in the constituency. Sections 99 makes it illegal for officers in charge of administering an election to be involved in any of the election campaigns, section 100 forbids a police officer from canvassing in any election which overlaps with their police area. Sections 101 to 105 made it illegal to hire or lend taxis and these sections were repealed by Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Similar provisions in previous laws have made this illegal since 1895 and it is also illegal to publish a false statement of a candidates withdrawal from an election. In November 2010, Labour MP Phil Woolas was found by a court to have breached section 106. The judges ruled that a by-election for the seat should be held, Woolas said that he would apply for a judicial review into the ruling. The judicial review failed to overturn the ruling of the election court, the petition was rejected by the High Court of Justice because it was served at Dorries constituency office and not her home address. Section 107 makes it illegal to bribe a candidate to withdraw from an election, section 108 made it illegal to hire a room in a pub for holding a campaign committee meeting. This section was repealed by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, section 109 prohibits hiring special advertising spaces for the display of campaign posters. Schedule 1 of the Act lays out in form the rules for running a parliamentary election
27.
Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832
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The Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which defined the parliamentary divisions in England and Wales required by the Reform Act 1832. Sections 1 to 25 of the Act defined the divisions of those larger counties of England which under the Reform Act were to be divided into two divisions and this did not include the 7 counties which were to return 3 members each. Sections 26 and 27 and Schedule M dealt with detached parts of counties, section 28 provided that liberties and other places with a separate jurisdiction were to be included in the county and division in which they were geographically located. Sections 29 to 34 prescribed polling districts and polling places within each constituency, sections 35 to 37 and Schedule O defined the boundaries of each parliamentary borough. List of constituencies enfranchised and disfranchised by the Reform Act 1832 Text of the Act
