The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is a U.S. federal law that was enacted in 1996. Congress enacted PLRA in response to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal courts; the PLRA was designed to decrease the incidence of litigation within the court system.
For the preceding 20 – 30 years, many prisons and jails in the United States had been enjoined to make certain changes based on findings that the conditions of these institutions violated the constitutional rights of inmates (in particular, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or the right to due process). Many of these injunctions came as a result of consent decrees entered into between inmates and prison officials and endorsed by federal courts, so that relief was not necessarily tied to violations found. Many state officials and members of Congress had complained of the breadth of relief granted by federal judges, as these injunctions often required expensive remedial actions.
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 (known informally as the Reform Act of 1867 or the Second Reform Act) was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first time.
Before the Act, only one million of the seven million adult males in England and Wales could vote; the Act immediately doubled that number. Moreover, by the end of 1868 all male heads of household were enfranchised as a result of the end of compounding of rents. However, the Act introduced only a negligible redistribution of seats. The overall intent was to help the Conservative Party, yet it resulted in their loss of the 1868 general election.
Background
For the decades after the Great Reform Act of 1832, cabinets, in that era leading from both Houses, had resisted attempts to push through further reform, and in particular left unfulfilled the
six demands of the Chartist movement. After 1848, this movement declined rapidly, and elite opinion began to change . It was thus only 28 years after the initial, quite modest, Great Reform Act that leading politicians thought it prudent to introduce further electoral reform. John Russell attempted this in 1860, but the Prime Minister, a fellow Liberal, Lord Palmerston was against any further electoral reform. When Palmerston died in 1865, however, the floodgates for reform were opened.
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (known informally as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act to distinguish it from subsequent Reform Acts) was an Act of Parliament (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) which introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. According to its preamble, the Act was designed to "take effectual Measures for correcting diverse Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament". Before the reform, most members nominally represented boroughs. The number of electors in a borough varied widely, from a dozen or so up to 12,000. Frequently the selection of MPs was effectively controlled by one powerful patron: for example Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk controlled eleven boroughs. Criteria for qualification for the franchise varied greatly between boroughs, from the requirement to own land, to merely living in a house with a hearth sufficient to boil a pot.
In the United Kingdom, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known informally as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which further extended the suffrage in Britain after the Derby Government's Reform Act 1867. Taken together, these measures extended the same voting qualifications as existed in the towns to the countryside, and essentially established the modern one member constituency as the normal pattern for Parliamentary representation.
The act extended the 1867 concessions from the boroughs to the countryside. All men paying an annual rental of £10 or all those holding land valued at £10 now had the vote. The British electorate now totalled over 5,500,000. An Act a year later redistributed constituencies, giving more representation to urban areas (especially London).
The 1884 Reform Act did not establish universal suffrage: although the size of the electorate was widened considerably, all women and 40% of adult males were still without the vote at the time. Male suffrage varied throughout the kingdom, too: in England and Wales, 2 in 3 adult males had the vote; in Scotland, 3 in 5 did; and in Ireland, the figure was only 1 in 2.
The Great Reform Act 1832: Origins and Opposition | Made with the UK Parliamentary Archives
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter discusses the difficult passage of the Great Reform Bill, which took multiple attempts and 15 months to become law.
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published: 18 Jun 2021
The Reform Act of 1832 (Political Reform in 19th Century Britain - Part 1)
http://www.tomrichey.net
At the beginning of the 19th century, Parliament was tightly controlled by wealthy landowners, many of whom represented "rotten boroughs" that were sparsely populated after workers flocked to cities during the Industrial Revolution. Election laws in place at the time only allowed about 8% of the adult male population to vote and even less to hold office due to property requirements.
The landowners who controlled Parliament passed the Corn Laws in 1815, which placed a protective tariff on foreign wheat in order to keep prices artificially high (benefiting the landowning class). The urban middle class agitated for the vote and finally got it when the Reform Act of 1832 (also referred to as the Reform Bill of 1832) passed. The Reform Act of 1832 changed the pro...
published: 23 Jan 2016
What was the Great Reform Act 1832? | Parliamentary Archives
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter introduces the Great Reform Act and discusses some of the winners and losers of the changes it brought about.
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published: 09 Oct 2020
Who could vote before the Great Reform Act 1832? | What was the Great Reform Act?
In this video Steven Franklin explores who could vote before the Great Reform Act of 1832. It is a more complex story than we might think!
published: 26 Jun 2020
Great Reform Act 1832
Animated Video created using Animaker - https://www.animaker.com A brief overview of the Great Reform Act 1832
published: 19 Sep 2019
'The Bill was never intended to do you good' | The Great Reform Act 1832
An attack on the Reform Bill, that would become the Great Reform Act 1832, by the Poor Man's Guardian.
Performed by Tom Ward-Thomas
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published: 16 Oct 2020
Working Class opposition to the Great Reform Act 1832 | The Poor Man's Guardian
In this video Richard Dadd reads excerpts from an article setting out a working class argument against the Great Reform Act 1832.
Music by SersalStudio
Music License Code: DXMBAW4KLC
published: 01 May 2023
What did the Great Reform Act 1832 mean for the working class? | People's History Museum
How did working class people greet the passage of the Reform Act of 1832? In this video, Jenny Mabbott from the People's History Museum explains how it was a moment of celebration for the shoemakers of Duns, as illustrated in a banner in the museum's collection, but for many working class people also a moment of disappointment.
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published: 12 Feb 2021
What was wrong with Parliament before the Great Reform Act? | Why were radicals calling for reform?
In this video Steven Franklin examines how elections worked before the Great Reform Act of 1832 and asks 'what was wrong with Parliament'?
published: 06 Feb 2020
Lord Grey and the Great Reform Act 1832
In this video made with and for the History of Parliament Trust, we explore the story of the man behind the Great Reform Act 1832.
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter discusses the difficult passage of the Great Reform Bill, which took multiple attempts and 15 months to become law.
MB01CB69H...
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter discusses the difficult passage of the Great Reform Bill, which took multiple attempts and 15 months to become law.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter discusses the difficult passage of the Great Reform Bill, which took multiple attempts and 15 months to become law.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW
http://www.tomrichey.net
At the beginning of the 19th century, Parliament was tightly controlled by wealthy landowners, many of whom represented "rotten boroug...
http://www.tomrichey.net
At the beginning of the 19th century, Parliament was tightly controlled by wealthy landowners, many of whom represented "rotten boroughs" that were sparsely populated after workers flocked to cities during the Industrial Revolution. Election laws in place at the time only allowed about 8% of the adult male population to vote and even less to hold office due to property requirements.
The landowners who controlled Parliament passed the Corn Laws in 1815, which placed a protective tariff on foreign wheat in order to keep prices artificially high (benefiting the landowning class). The urban middle class agitated for the vote and finally got it when the Reform Act of 1832 (also referred to as the Reform Bill of 1832) passed. The Reform Act of 1832 changed the property requirements so that someone didn't have to own land in order to vote, paving the way for twice as many people to vote. However, the working class still did not meet the new law's property requirements and were still not able to vote.
After the Reform Act of 1832, the Chartists advocated for voting rights for all adult men over 21. In the next segment of this lecture, I will focus on the Chartist movement.
http://www.tomrichey.net
At the beginning of the 19th century, Parliament was tightly controlled by wealthy landowners, many of whom represented "rotten boroughs" that were sparsely populated after workers flocked to cities during the Industrial Revolution. Election laws in place at the time only allowed about 8% of the adult male population to vote and even less to hold office due to property requirements.
The landowners who controlled Parliament passed the Corn Laws in 1815, which placed a protective tariff on foreign wheat in order to keep prices artificially high (benefiting the landowning class). The urban middle class agitated for the vote and finally got it when the Reform Act of 1832 (also referred to as the Reform Bill of 1832) passed. The Reform Act of 1832 changed the property requirements so that someone didn't have to own land in order to vote, paving the way for twice as many people to vote. However, the working class still did not meet the new law's property requirements and were still not able to vote.
After the Reform Act of 1832, the Chartists advocated for voting rights for all adult men over 21. In the next segment of this lecture, I will focus on the Chartist movement.
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter introduces the Great Reform Act and discusses some of the winners and losers of the changes it brought about.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW...
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter introduces the Great Reform Act and discusses some of the winners and losers of the changes it brought about.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter introduces the Great Reform Act and discusses some of the winners and losers of the changes it brought about.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW
In this video Richard Dadd reads excerpts from an article setting out a working class argument against the Great Reform Act 1832.
Music by SersalStudio
Musi...
In this video Richard Dadd reads excerpts from an article setting out a working class argument against the Great Reform Act 1832.
Music by SersalStudio
Music License Code: DXMBAW4KLC
In this video Richard Dadd reads excerpts from an article setting out a working class argument against the Great Reform Act 1832.
Music by SersalStudio
Music License Code: DXMBAW4KLC
How did working class people greet the passage of the Reform Act of 1832? In this video, Jenny Mabbott from the People's History Museum explains how it was a mo...
How did working class people greet the passage of the Reform Act of 1832? In this video, Jenny Mabbott from the People's History Museum explains how it was a moment of celebration for the shoemakers of Duns, as illustrated in a banner in the museum's collection, but for many working class people also a moment of disappointment.
MB01XL5F7QWMIP7
How did working class people greet the passage of the Reform Act of 1832? In this video, Jenny Mabbott from the People's History Museum explains how it was a moment of celebration for the shoemakers of Duns, as illustrated in a banner in the museum's collection, but for many working class people also a moment of disappointment.
MB01XL5F7QWMIP7
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter discusses the difficult passage of the Great Reform Bill, which took multiple attempts and 15 months to become law.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW
http://www.tomrichey.net
At the beginning of the 19th century, Parliament was tightly controlled by wealthy landowners, many of whom represented "rotten boroughs" that were sparsely populated after workers flocked to cities during the Industrial Revolution. Election laws in place at the time only allowed about 8% of the adult male population to vote and even less to hold office due to property requirements.
The landowners who controlled Parliament passed the Corn Laws in 1815, which placed a protective tariff on foreign wheat in order to keep prices artificially high (benefiting the landowning class). The urban middle class agitated for the vote and finally got it when the Reform Act of 1832 (also referred to as the Reform Bill of 1832) passed. The Reform Act of 1832 changed the property requirements so that someone didn't have to own land in order to vote, paving the way for twice as many people to vote. However, the working class still did not meet the new law's property requirements and were still not able to vote.
After the Reform Act of 1832, the Chartists advocated for voting rights for all adult men over 21. In the next segment of this lecture, I will focus on the Chartist movement.
In this video Dr Katie Carpenter introduces the Great Reform Act and discusses some of the winners and losers of the changes it brought about.
MB01CB69HQR7IIW
In this video Richard Dadd reads excerpts from an article setting out a working class argument against the Great Reform Act 1832.
Music by SersalStudio
Music License Code: DXMBAW4KLC
How did working class people greet the passage of the Reform Act of 1832? In this video, Jenny Mabbott from the People's History Museum explains how it was a moment of celebration for the shoemakers of Duns, as illustrated in a banner in the museum's collection, but for many working class people also a moment of disappointment.
MB01XL5F7QWMIP7
The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is a U.S. federal law that was enacted in 1996. Congress enacted PLRA in response to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal courts; the PLRA was designed to decrease the incidence of litigation within the court system.
For the preceding 20 – 30 years, many prisons and jails in the United States had been enjoined to make certain changes based on findings that the conditions of these institutions violated the constitutional rights of inmates (in particular, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or the right to due process). Many of these injunctions came as a result of consent decrees entered into between inmates and prison officials and endorsed by federal courts, so that relief was not necessarily tied to violations found. Many state officials and members of Congress had complained of the breadth of relief granted by federal judges, as these injunctions often required expensive remedial actions.