An Act to settle and describe the Divisions of Counties, and the Limits of Cities and Boroughs in England and Wales, in so far as respects the Election of Members to serve in Parliament.
Sections 1 to 25 of the Act defined the divisions of those larger counties of England which under the Reform Act were to be divided into two divisions. This did not include the seven counties which were to return three members each.[citation needed]
Sections 26 and 27 and Schedule M dealt with detached parts of counties. It provided that most detached parts (identified in Schedule M) were to form part of the parliamentary county and division in which they were geographically located, rather than of the county to which they otherwise formed a part. Section 28 provided that liberties and other places with a separate jurisdiction (but not the counties corporate of Bristol, Exeter, Lichfield, Norwich, or Nottingham) were to be included in the county and division in which they were geographically located.[citation needed]
Sections 29 to 34 prescribed polling districts and polling places within each constituency.[citation needed]
Sections 35 to 37 and Schedule O defined the boundaries of each parliamentary borough. In ancient boroughs these replaced boundaries established by charter or prescription, often centuries out of date. The commissioners favoured rational boundaries, encompassing an urban centre with some suburban room for growth. However, some of the smaller boroughs to escape disfranchisement were given large rural tracts to increase the represented population.[citation needed]
^Short title as conferred by s. 1 of the Short Titles Act 1896; the modern convention for the citation of short titles omits the comma after the word "Act".
Sources
Salmon, Philip (2009). "Surveys: IX. The English Reform Legislation". In Fisher, D.R. (ed.). The House of Commons 1820–1832. The History of Parliament. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 31 July 2019 – via History of Parliament Online.
