Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to amend certain Acts of the Parliament of Ireland relative to the Election of Members to serve in Parliament, and to regulate the Qualification of Persons entitled to vote at the Election of Knights of the Shire in Ireland. |
---|---|
Citation | 10 Geo. 4. c. 8 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 13 April 1829 |
Commencement | 13 April 1829 |
Repealed | 5 August 1873 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1873 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act 1829, also known as the Irish Franchise Act 1829, [1] was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1829. It restricted the franchise to elect knights of the shire (Members of Parliament) in county constituencies in Ireland by raising the property threshold from the ownership or rent of a forty-shilling freehold to the British standard of a ten-pound freehold. It ruled that:
... no Person shall be admitted to vote at any Election of any Knight of the Shire to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom for any County in Ireland (save as hereinafter is provided), unless such Person shall have an Estate of Freehold, in Lands, Tenements, or Hereditaments in such County, of the clear Yearly Value of Ten Pounds at the least ... [2]
The legislation received the royal assent on the same day as the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 permitted Catholics to sit in parliament.
The impact of the fivefold increase in the property threshold has been estimated as a drop in the Irish electorate from 215,000 to 40,000. The Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1832, increased the Irish electorate to around 60,500. [3]
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced major changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. It reapportioned constituencies to address the unequal distribution of seats and expanded franchise by broadening and standardising the property qualifications to vote.
Armagh or County Armagh is a former county constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was a two-member constituency in Ireland from 1801 to 1885 and a single-member constituency in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1950. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983.
Knight of the shire was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 ended the practice of each county forming a single constituency. The corresponding titles for other MPs were burgess in a borough constituency and baron for a Cinque Ports constituency. Knights of the shire had more prestige than burgesses, and sitting burgesses often stood for election for the shire in the hope of increasing their standing in Parliament.
The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, removed the sacramental tests that barred Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom from Parliament and from higher offices of the judiciary and state. It was the culmination of a fifty-year process of Catholic emancipation which had offered Catholics successive measures of "relief" from the civil and political disabilities imposed by Penal Laws in both Great Britain and in Ireland in the seventeenth, and early eighteenth, centuries.
The "unreformed House of Commons" is a name given to the House of Commons of Great Britain before it was reformed by the Reform Act 1832, the Irish Reform Act 1832, and the Scottish Reform Act 1832.
County Tyrone is a former UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning two Members of Parliament (MPs).
Forty-shilling freeholders were those who had the parliamentary franchise to vote by virtue of possessing freehold property, or lands held directly of the king, of an annual rent of at least forty shillings, clear of all charges.
Wiltshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of England from 1290 to 1707, of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament (MPs), elected by the bloc vote system.
Sussex was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of the Shire, elected by the bloc vote system.
Derbyshire is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Knights of the Shire.
South Shropshire is a county constituency in Shropshire. It was first created in 1832 and was represented by two Knights of the Shire.
The total registered electorate in the United Kingdom grew from 5.7 million in 1885 to over 21 million in 1918. Much of the growth was result of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which expanded franchise by abolishing property qualifications for men and introduced female suffrage for some women over the age of 30.
West Riding of Yorkshire was a parliamentary constituency in England from 1832 to 1865. It returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
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 and Wales. The chief architects of the Act were Francis Jeffrey and Henry Cockburn. It was subsequently given the official short title of the Representation of the People (Scotland) Act 1832. Prior to the Act, Scotland's electorate was only 0.2% of the population compared to 4% in England. The Scottish electorate overnight soared from 5,000 to 65,000, or 13% of the adult men, and was no longer a private preserve for a few very rich families.
The Representation of the People (Ireland) Act 1832, commonly called the Irish Reform Act 1832, was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the election laws of Ireland. The act was passed at approximately the same time as the Reform Act 1832, which applied to England and Wales.
Durham or County Durham was a county constituency in northern England, which elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons from 1675 until 1832.
Hampshire was a county constituency of the Parliament of England, Great Britain and after 1801 Parliament of the United Kingdom, which returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832.
Staffordshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832.
Hertfordshire was a county constituency covering the county of Hertfordshire in England. It returned two Knights of the Shire to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain until 1800, and to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1832. The Reform Act 1832 gave the county a third seat with effect from the 1832 general election.
Ireland has had a franchise on an equal basis between men and women since the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Historically, there had also been discrimination from the franchise on the basis of religion and on the basis of property. In 1972, the age of qualification for the franchise was reduced from 21 years to 18 years.