Scottish Reform Act 1832

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The Scottish Reform Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the election laws of Scotland. The act was passed at approximately the same time as the Reform Act 1832, which applied to England. The chief architects of the act Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn.

The act did not substantially change the method in which the Scottish counties elected members of Parliament. As a general rule the counties each continued to elect one member. However before the Act six small counties elected an MP only in alternate Parliaments. This arrangement was ended, but a different solution was adopted for each pair of counties. Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire became a single constituency. Buteshire and Caithness-shire were given a separate MP in every Parliament. Cromartyshire and Nairnshire were each united with a different neighbouring county, to form Ross and Cromarty, and Elginshire and Nairnshire.

Edinburgh and Glasgow now had two MPs; Aberdeen, Dundee, Greenock, Paisley and Perth one each. The remaining burghs combined in districts to elect 18 MPs, much as before; but now individual votes were added up among burghs across the constituency — in the past the MP had been elected at a meeting of representatives from each burgh. Boundary changes meant that a burgh for parliamentary elections might not have the same boundaries as the burgh for other purposes.

Electoral reform in the United Kingdom

Parliamentary Reform Acts

England (1832) | Scotland (1832) | Ireland (1832)

England (1867) | Scotland (1868) | Ireland (1868)

Municipal Reform Acts

Scotland (1833) | England (1835) | Ireland (1840)

Representation of the People Acts

1884 | 1918 | 1928 | 1948 | 1949

1969 | 1983 | 1985 | 1989 | 2000

Other acts

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 | Ballot Act 1872

Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883 | Electoral Administration Act 2006

Related

Reform Club | Carlton Club | Rotten borough | Women's suffrage