Rotten borough: Difference between revisions
Created page with 'Rotten borough, decayed borough or pocket borough: a borough or consituency with so small a number of voters that the result of any election could easily be controlled by a patro…' |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
Also known as: decayed borough or pocket borough. | |||
A borough or constituency with so small a number of voters that the result of any election could easily be controlled by a patron, e.g., a local aristocrat (who could "pocket" the borough). In addition to the possibility for corruption and patronage, a large number of rotten boroughs made elections unrepresentative because a Member of Parliament who represented ten voters from a rotten borough wielded the same influence as one who came from a borough with an electorate of, say, one thousand people. | |||
Revision as of 16:44, 27 January 2010
Also known as: decayed borough or pocket borough.
A borough or constituency with so small a number of voters that the result of any election could easily be controlled by a patron, e.g., a local aristocrat (who could "pocket" the borough). In addition to the possibility for corruption and patronage, a large number of rotten boroughs made elections unrepresentative because a Member of Parliament who represented ten voters from a rotten borough wielded the same influence as one who came from a borough with an electorate of, say, one thousand people.