sentences:  In practice, this meant that the power to choose the MPs was in the hands of the local landowner or "proprietor", making West Looe (like East Looe) one of the most notorious of the rotten boroughs.For many years at the time of the Reform Act, West Looe had been controlled by the local gentry family of Buller of nearby Morval (which also controlled East Looe and Saltash), and many members of the Buller family sat for the borough in the House of Commons; nevertheless, they generally assuaged local feelings by allowing other local families some influence over one of the two seats.Elections at West Looe were almost always uncontested.