Rotten Boroughs Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Rotten boroughs is primarily an English term used to describe electoral districts with very small populations. Initially the phrase applied to English districts in the late seventeenth century, but today, the term typically refers to the dominant political party within a district, which likely remains uncontested due to their popular constituency support. Prior to nineteenth century electoral reforms, the aristocracy in England used these constituencies to maintain influence in the House of Commons where the less-populated rural districts balanced the growing urban areas. With small populations, the local aristocracy manipulated electoral processes by generally choosing the given candidate(s). Consequently, these boroughs were said to be in the pocket of the local gentry, and were also referred to as pocket boroughs.

By the 1830s, there were at least 140 rotten boroughs among the 658 electoral members in the British House of Commons, including some fifty boroughs with less than fifty eligible voters. One borough, Gatton, had two voters, while Old Sarum had no eligible voters, but regularly sent two members to the House. In 1832, The Great Reform Acts eliminated the most egregious of the rotten boroughs, and the 1867 Reform Act consolidated many of the remaining boroughs with small populations, but it was not until 1884 that district lines were adjusted so that British populations were roughly equal and given proportionate representation. The rotten boroughs in England inspired other democratic systems to enact legislation to ensure roughly equal voting populations in electoral wards.

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