The Parliament Act 1782 ( 22 Geo. 3. c. 41), also known as Crewe's Act, was an act of Parliament of the

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

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 letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

from voting in parliamentary elections. The purpose of this

disfranchisement Disfranchisement, also disenfranchisement (which has become more common since 1982) or voter disqualification, is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing someo ...

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 Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

s such as

Bossiney Bossiney (, meaning ''Kyni'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 the village, ...

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 It was repealed by the Revenue Officers' Disabilities Act 1868 ( 31 & 32 Vict.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 Repealed Great Britain Acts of Parliament Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1782 Elections in the Kingdom of Great Britain Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham Voter suppression {{statute-stub

See also

References