<P> Moreover, the power of the House as a whole decreased, whilst that of the House of Commons grew . Particularly notable in the development of the Lower House's superiority was the Reform Bill of 1832 . The electoral system of the House of Commons was far from democratic: property qualifications greatly restricted the size of the electorate, and the boundaries of many constituencies had not been changed for centuries . </P> <P> Entire cities such as Manchester were not represented by a single individual in the House of Commons, but the 11 voters of Old Sarum retained their ancient right to elect two MPs . A small borough was susceptible to bribery, and was often under the control of a patron, whose nominee was guaranteed to win an election . Some aristocrats were patrons of numerous "pocket boroughs", and therefore controlled a considerable part of the membership of the House of Commons . </P> <P> When the House of Commons passed a Reform Bill to correct some of these anomalies in 1831, the House of Lords rejected the proposal . The popular cause of reform, however, was not abandoned by the ministry, despite a second rejection of the bill in 1832 . Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey advised the King to overwhelm opposition to the bill in the House of Lords by creating about 80 new pro-Reform peers . William IV originally balked at the proposal, which effectively threatened the opposition of the House of Lords, but at length relented . </P> <P> Before the new peers were created, however, the Lords who opposed the bill admitted defeat and abstained from the vote, allowing the passage of the bill . The crisis damaged the political influence of the House of Lords but did not altogether end it . A vital reform was effected by the Lords themselves in 1868, when they changed their standing orders to abolish proxy voting, preventing Lords from voting without taking the trouble to attend . Over the course of the century the power of the Upper House were further eroded, and the Commons gradually became the stronger House of Parliament . </P>

Hereditary peers are members of the house of lords who are elected by the general population