The reform of the boroughs was treated as part of the question of parliamentary reform. In 1832 the exclusive privileges of the corporations in parliamentary elections having been abolished and male occupiers enfranchised, the question of the municipal franchise was next dealt with. In effect this made the borough parliamentary franchise the same as the county franchise. In 1833 a commission inquired into the administration of the municipal corporations, the commissioners found far more corporations than parliamentary Boroughs, many of which had fallen into desuetude or were purely nominal if not moribund. Those that were active were essentially oligarchies of a closed number of families, there were a few exceptions whereby the councils were elected by all the local residents or those born there. The majority were not representative of the inhabitants. The result of the inquiry was the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which gave the municipal franchise to the ratepayers, but also allowed the freemen to remain on the Roll. In all the municipal corporations dealt with by the act, the town council came to consist of a mayor, aldermen and councillors, and the councils were given like powers, being divided into those with and those without a commission of the peace. The Commissions of the Peace were also an instrument of reform. Many Boroughs had borough courts of the previous oligarchies of Mayor and Aldermen, advised by a Recorder, these were abolished with the magistrates being appointed as per in the counties – many indeed were supposedly 'county boroughs'. This reform was as crucial as that of the constitution of the council itself.