The Parliament Act 1782 (22. Geo. III, c. 41), also known as Crewe's Act, was an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

passed in 1782. The Act, which was passed by Rockingham's government at the instance of John Crewe, disqualified all officers of Customs and Excise and the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

from voting in parliamentary elections. The purpose of this disfranchisement was to end the abuse by which government patronage was used to bribe the voters in

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

s such as

Bossiney Bossiney ( kw, Boskyny, meaning ''Cyni's dwelling'') is a village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is north-east of the larger village of Tintagel which it adjoins: further north-east are the Rocky Valley and Trethevy. Until 1832 t ...

and

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

. It failed in practice, however, since the patronage was quickly diverted from the voters themselves to their relatives. It was repealed by the Act 31 & 32 Vict. c.73.

References

*Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt. ''The Unreformed House of Commons''. Cambridge University Press, 1903. Repealed Great Britain Acts of Parliament Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1782 Elections in the Kingdom of Great Britain {{statute-stub

See also

References