pocket borough

A parliamentary constituency, particularly in Britain before the Reform Act 1832, whose small electorate was effectively controlled by an individual patron, landowner, or influential family, enabling them to determine its Member of Parliament. Unlike a rotten borough, which had become disproportionately small or virtually unpopulated, a pocket borough could have a functioning electorate but remained subject to powerful local influence. Pocket boroughs were a major target of nineteenth-century parliamentary reform.