Rotten and pocket boroughs

For the novel by Oliver Anderson, see Rotten Borough (novel).

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 of 1832 which had very few voters. They could be used by a patron to gain disproportionate influence within the House of Commons. The Reform Act of 1832 abolished the majority of these rotten and pocket boroughs.

The same terms were used for similar boroughs represented in the 18th-century Parliament of Ireland.

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