reform (2)

t. & i. [Pref. re-, and Eng. form, v. (q. v.)] A. Transitive : IMG:content-0357.png:[blocks in formation] "Who hath reformed the Spirit of the Lord?"-Bacon: Works , ii. 39. B. In trans.: To get into order again; to resume order. re-form', s . [REFORM (1), v.] The amendment or reformation of that which is corrupt, vicious, defective, or the like; a change from worse to better; a return from a bad to a former good state; amend ment, corruption; specifically, a change or amendment in the regulations of parliamentary represen tation. "A variety of schemes, founded in visionary and impracticable ideas of reform , were suddenly produced." Pitt : Parliamentary Reform , May, 7, 1783. Reform Acts, s. pl . A term applied to certain acts of the British parliament by which the regulations as to the parliamentary representation of the people were altered, and especially to those of 1832, 1867, and 1884-85. The first two Acts provided both for an extension of the franchise [FRANCHISE] and for a redistribution of seats. The Reform Act of 1832 disfranchised fifty-six rotten boroughs with le than 2,000 inhabitants each, and returning 111 members; thirty boroughs with le than 4,000 inhabitants, and two above that number, lost each a member, and thus 143 seats were obtained for distribution. Forty-three new boroughs were created, twenty-two of which received two members each, and twenty-one one member each. The county members for England and Wales were increased from ninety-five to 159, twenty-six of the large counties being divided, and a third member given to seven important county constituencies. Scotch and Irish Acts followed; the Scotch representation, fixed by the Act of Union at forty-five, was raised to fifty-three (thirty of them given to counties and twenty-three to cities and boroughs), and the Irish members, fixed by the Act of Union at 100, were increased to 105. The Reform Act of 1867 disfranchised eleven small English boroughs, took a member from thirty-five more, and two from Scotch counties, which, with four seats obtained from boroughs disfranchised for corruption, gave fifty-two seats for redistribution. Five of these were given to as many large English and Scotch boroughs on pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, põt, the three-cornered system (q. v.), and three to Universities, the others to old or new county or borough divisions. Seven members were added to Scotland. There was no redistribution in Ireland. In the third succe ful effort for Parliamentary Reform, that of 1884-85, the franchise and redistribution of seats constituted two distinct Acts. The Franchise Bill received the royal a ent on December 6, 1884, and came into operation on January 1, 1885. It established household and lodger franchise in the counties, introduced a service-franchise (q. v.), diminished, though it did not destroy, fagot voting, and made a uniform occupation franchise of £10 rent both in counties and in boroughs in place of the three formerly existing. It left untouched the forty-shilling freeholders of inheritance, and conferred votes on copyholders po e ing land of greater value than £5 annually. By the Redistribu tion Act of 1885, eighty-one English, two Scotch, and twenty-two Irish boroughs were totally disfranchised; thirty-six English and three Irish boroughs each lost a member, as did two English counties; the City of London was reduced from four to two: six seats were obtained from places disfranchised for corruption, and the members of the House of Commons were increased by twelve. The seats thus obtained for redistribution were 180. The great feature of the scheme which followed (agreed to after a conference between the two great political parties) was the separation of populous boroughs and counties into divisions, each returning a single member. Only a few places hitherto with two members were left with the old arrangement. England has now (1894) 461 members, Wales 34, Scotland 72, and Ireland 103, the reduction from 105 occurring through the disfranchisement of Sligo and Cashel some years ago for corruption. ( W .. Holds worth: The New Reform Act.) IMG:content-0358.png:[blocks in formation]