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 200 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

52 to 82, by dividing several counties into separate electoral divi- sions, and the- number of county members was augmented from 94 to 159. In Scotland and Ireland, the county representation remained the same as before. By the Reform Act, 56 English boroughs, con- taining a population, in 1831, of less than 2,000 each, and return- ing together 111 members, were totally disfranchised, while 30 other boroughs, containing a population of less than 4,000 each, were reduced to sending one representative instead of two. On the other hand, 22 new boroughs, containing each 25,000 inhabit- ants, received the franchise of returning two members, and 20 other new boroughs, containing each 12,000 inhabitants and upwards, that of returning one member. In Scotland, the town members were increased from fifteen to twenty-three, so that the number of representatives became eight more than the number assigned to Scotland at the union.

The next great change in the constituency of the House of Com- mons, after the Act of 1832, Avas made by the Reform Bill of 1867-68. The most important provisions of the new Act as regards England are clauses 3 and 4, the first establishing household suffrage in boroughs, and the second occupation franchise in counties. Clause 3 enacts that ' Every man shall be entitled to be registered as a voter, and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in Parliament tor a borough, who is qualified as follows : — (1) Is of full age, and not subject to any legal incapacity ; (2) Is on the last day of July in any year, and has during the whole of the preceding 12 calendar months, been an inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house within the borough ; (3) Has during the ticue^ of such occupation been rated as an ordinary occupier in respect of the premises so occupied by him within the borough to all rates made for the relief of the poor in respect of such premises ; (4) Has before the 20th day of July in the same year bona Jide paid an equal amount in the pound to that payable by other ordinary occupiers in respect of all poor-rates that have become payable by him in respect of the said premises up to the preceding 5th day of January, and which have been demanded of him in manner hereinafter mentioned ; or as a lodger has occupied in the same borough separately, and as sole tenant for the twelve months preceding the last day of July in any year the same lodgings, such lodgings being part of one and the same dwelling-house, and of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of Id/, or upwards, and has resided in such lodgings during the twelve months immediately preceding the last day of July, and has claimed to be registered as a voter at the next ensuing registration of voters : provided, that no man shall, under this section, be entitled to be registered as a voter by reason of his being a joint occupier of any dwelling-house.' Clause 1 enacts that ' Every man shall be entitled