Reform Acts

In the United Kingdom, the Reform Act could refer to various statutes.

It is a generic term, used for legislation (none of which included the word reform in its formal short title) concerning electoral matters. It is most commonly used for laws passed to enfranchise new groups of voters and (1832-1918) to redistribute seats in the UK House of Commons.

The periodic redrawing of constituency boundaries is now dealt with by a permanent Boundary Commission in each part of the United Kingdom, rather than by a Reform Act.

Some people in Britain, mostly associated with the Liberal Democrats, have called for a new "Great Reform Act" to introduce electoral changes they favour. These would include lowering the minimum voting age to 16 and introducing proportional representation to complete the democratic project of one person, one vote, one value.

The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (which does include the word reform in its short title is, confusingly, not a Reform Act in the above mentioned sense). That act deals with the office of Lord Chancellor and makes provision for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to replace the House of Lords as the highest court of the United Kingdom.

Examples of Reform Acts

• The Reform Act 1832 gave representation to previously underrepresented urban areas and extended the qualifications for voting.
• The Reform Act 1867 widened the franchise and adjusted representation to be more equitable.
• The Ballot Act 1872 (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1872"), introduced the secret ballot.
• The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883 (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1883"), introduced campaign spending limits.
• The Reform Act 1884 and the Reform Act 1885, (also known collectively as the "Third Reform Act"), allowed people in counties to vote on the same basis as those in towns and split most multi-member constituencies into multiple single-member ones.