Reform Act

Reform Act may refer to:

  • Reform Act 1832 (England and Wales), which gave representation to previously underrepresented urban areas and extended the qualifications for voting
  • Scottish Reform Act 1832, a similar reform applying to Scotland
  • Irish Reform Act 1832, a similar reform applying to Ireland
  • Reform Act 1867, which widened the franchise and adjusted representation to be more equitable
  • Ballot Act 1872 (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1872"), which introduced the secret ballot
  • Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883 (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1883"), which introduced campaign spending limits
  • Reform Act 1884, which allowed people in counties to vote on the same basis as those in towns. Home ownership was the only qualification
  • Reform Act 1885, which split most multi-member constituencies into multiple single-member ones
  • Reform Act 1918, which abolished property qualifications for men and introduced limited female suffrage
  • Reform Act 1928, which widened suffrage by giving women electoral equality with men

Famous quotes containing the words reform and/or act:

    “He reckoned a body could reform the old man with a shot-gun, maybe, but he didn’t know no other way.”
    —Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)

    “Predictions of the future are never anything but projections of present automatic processes and procedures, that is, of occurrences that are likely to come to pass if men do not act and if nothing unexpected happens; every action, for better or worse, and every accident necessarily destroys the whole pattern in whose frame the prediction moves and where it finds its evidence.”
    —Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)