Reform Bill

American  

noun

English History.

1. any of the bills passed by Parliament (1832, 1867, 1884) providing for an increase in the number of voters in elections for the House of Commons, especially the bill of 1832 by which many rotten boroughs were disfranchised.

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Reform Bill British  

noun

1. history any of several bills or acts extending the franchise or redistributing parliamentary seats, esp the acts of 1832 and 1867

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Example Sentences

The draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill will now be scrutinised by MPs on the Housing Committee before making its way through Parliament, with the cap potentially coming into force in late 2028.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

A draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill - including the detail of how the new system would work - will be published later this year, the government has said.

From BBC • Mar. 2, 2025

So the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill could become law on Friday.

From BBC • May 23, 2024

The Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill sets out some of the biggest changes to the criminal justice system in Scotland in recent times.

From BBC • Apr. 23, 2024

The social composition of the Whig, or Liberal, party was finally and entirely altered about the period of the first Reform Bill.

From Social Transformations of the Victorian Age A Survey of Court and Country by Escott, T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet)