 Statutes passed in 1430 and 1432 , during the reign of Henry VI , standardised property qualifications for county voters . Under these Acts , all owners of freehold property or land worth at least forty shillings in a particular county were entitled to vote in that county . This requirement , known as the forty shilling freehold , was never adjusted for inflation ; thus the amount of land one had to own in order to vote gradually diminished over time . The franchise was restricted to males by custom rather than statute ; on rare occasions women had been able to vote in parliamentary elections as a result of property ownership . Nevertheless , the vast majority of people were not entitled to vote ; the size of the English county electorate in 1831 has been estimated at only 200 @,@ 000 . Furthermore , the sizes of the individual county constituencies varied significantly . The smallest counties , Rutland and Anglesey , had fewer than 1 @,@ 000 voters each , while the largest county , Yorkshire , had more than 20 @,@ 000 . Those who owned property in multiple constituencies could vote multiple times ; there was usually no need to live in a constituency in order to vote there . 
