No general law decided the borough franchise.

Local custom and various political and personal considerations settled who should vote for members of Parliament.

Places like Westminster and Preston had practically manhood suffrage.

In most of the "corporation boroughs" the franchise was restricted exclusively to freemen of the borough, and to the self-elected non-resident persons who composed the governing body before the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835.

A small number of rich and powerful men really worked nearly all the elections.