House of Lords

This article is about the British House of Lords. See also the historical Irish House of Lords.

The House of Lords is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the British House of Commons. The House of Lords is an unelected body, consisting of senior clerics of the Church of England (the "Lords Spiritual"), as well as certain members of the Peerage (the "Lords Temporal"). Lords Spiritual serve as long as they continue to occupy their ecclesiastical positions, but Lords Temporal serve for life. Members of the House of Lords are known as "Lords of Parliament."

The House of Lords evolved at some point during the thirteenth century, and has been in almost continuous existence since. It was abolished in 1649 by the revolutionary government that came to power during the English Civil War, but was restored in 1660. The House of Lords (the "Upper House") was once more powerful than the elected House of Commons (the "Lower House"). Since the nineteenth century, however, the powers of the House of Lords have been steadily declining; now, the Upper House is far weaker than its parliamentary counterpart. Under the Parliament Act 1911, most legislation passed by the House of Commons can be delayed, but cannot be rejected, by the House of Lords. Reforms were enacted under the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the automatic hereditary right of many peers to sit in the Upper House. Additional reforms are contemplated by Tony Blair's Government, but have not been passed into law.

In addition to performing legislative functions, the House of Lords also holds judicial powers: it constitutes the highest court of appeal for most cases in the United Kingdom. The judicial functions of the House of Lords are not performed by the whole Chamber, but rather by a group of members with legal experience, who are known as "Law Lords." The House of Lords is not the only court of last resort in the United Kingdom; in some cases, that role is fulfilled by the Privy Council.

The full, formal style of the House of Lords is: The Right Honourable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament Assembled. The House of Lords, like the House of Commons, meets in the Palace of Westminster.

History

Parliament developed from the council that advised the King during mediæval times. This royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, and represenatives of the counties (afterwards, representatives of the boroughs as well). The first Parliament is often considered to be the "Model Parliament" (held in 1295), which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and representatives of the shires and boroughs. By the reign of Edward III, Parliament had separated into two distinct chambers: the House of Commons (consisting of the shire and borough representatives) and the House of Lords (consisting of the senior clergy and the nobility). The power of the two Houses grew slowly, but was restrained by the numerous civil wars that plagued the country during the mediæval era. The Crown was at the height of its power during the reign of Henry VIII (which lasted from 1509 to 1547). Henry VIII pursued the Dissolution of the Monasteries, thereby excluding abbots and priors from the Upper House.

The House of Lords, being composed of the aristocracy, was more powerful than the House of Commons. The Lower House, however, did possess the important power of control over taxation. Conflicts over the King's rights to levy taxes without the consent of the Commons, as well as over the power of Parliament in general, ultimately led to the English Civil War during the 1640s. In 1649, after the defeat and execution of King Charles I, a republic (the Commonwealth of England) was declared, even though the nation was truly a dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell. On 19 March 1649, the House of Lords was abolished by an Act of Parliament, which declared that "The Commons of England [find] by too long experience that the House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the people of England." The House of Lords did not assemble again until the Convention Parliament met in 1660 and the monarchy was restored. It returned to its former position as the more powerful branch of Parliament—a position it would occupy until the nineteenth century.

Changes were made to the composition of the House of Lords in 1707, when Scotland and England were united into Great Britain. Prior to the Union, the English peers, fearing that their numerous Scottish counterparts would overwhelm them in the House of Lords, had secured a provision denying Scottish peers the automatic right to seats in the Upper House. Rather, Scotland was permitted to elect sixteen representative peers, who would hold office until the next ensuing dissolution of Parliament. A similar arrangement was made with respect to Ireland when that kingdom united with Great Britain in 1801. Irish peers were allowed to elect twenty-eight representative peers, who were to sit in the House of Lords for life.

The nineteenth century was marked by several changes to the House of Lords. The House, once a body that included only about fifty members, had been greatly enlarged by the liberality of George III and his successors in creating peerages. The individual influence of a Lord of Parliament was thus diminished. Moreover, the power of the House as a whole experienced a decrease, whilst that of the House of Commons grew. Particularly notable in the development of the Lower House's superiority was the Reform Bill Crisis of 1832. The electoral system of the House of Commons was not, at the time, democratic but antedeluvian: property qualifications greatly restricted the size of the electorate, and the boundaries of many of the constituencies had not been changed for centuries. Entire cities such as Manchester were not represented by a single individual in the House of Commons, but the eleven voters of Old Sarum retained their ancient right to elect two Members of Parliament. 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.

When, in 1831, the House of Commons passed a Reform Bill to correct some of these anomalies, 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 the Lords in 1832. The Prime Minister, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, then advised the King to overwhelm the opposition to the bill in the House of Lords by creating about eighty new pro-Reform peers. William IV originally baulked at the proposal, which effectively threatened the opposition of the House of Lords, but at length relented. 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. Over the course of the century, however, the power of the Upper House experienced further erosion, and the Commons gradually became the stronger branch of Parliament.

The political superiority of the House of Commons was definitively settled during the early twentieth century. Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, of the Liberal Party, had in 1908 introduced a number of social welfare programmes, which, together with an expensive arms race with Germany, had forced the Government to seek more funding in the form of tax increases. In 1909, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, introduced the "People's Budget," which proposed a new tax targeting wealthy landowners. The unpopular measure, however, failed in the heavily Conservative House of Lords. Having made the powers of the House of Lords a primary campaign issue, the Liberals were re-elected in January 1910. Asquith then proposed that the powers of the House of Lords be severely curtailed.

Edward VII's attitude toward the removal of the legislative equality of the House of Lords was hesitant, but the monarch died in May 1910, to be succeeded by George V. The new King agreed to intervene to secure the passage of the proposal, but only if the Liberal Party fought and won a fresh election on the basis

King Edward VII was troubled enough by this to insert qualifying phrases in his speech at the State Opening, but died in May, and was succeeded by George V, who said he would intervene if the Government fought a new election specifically on this issue. The election of December 1910 saw the Liberals again successfully re-elected. Threatened with the appointment of 500 new peers if they refused, the Lords passed the Parliament Act. Under it, the House of Lords could only reject a proposal for up to two years, after which the Commons would automatically prevail. On August 10 1911, the Parliament Act 1911 came into effect, removing the equal status of the House of Lords and its effective power of veto.

The Parliament Act 1949 reduced the delaying power of the 1911 Act in respect of Public Bills other than Money Bills to two sessions and one year respectively, the exception being bills to extend the life of Parliament to beyond five years, in which case the Lords would have full power to defeat the bill.

The Life Peerages Act 1958

The Life Peerages Act 1958 permitted the creation of peerages for life, with no limit on numbers, to persons of either sex. There is no provision which allows a life peer to renounce his title.

The Peerage Act 1963

The Peerage Act 1963 allowed hereditary peeresses and all Scottish peers to be members of the House, and allowed hereditary peerages to be disclaimed for life. The politician best known for disclaiming his inherited peerage is Tony Benn.

The House of Lords Act 1999

The House of Lords Act 1999, which became law on 11 November 1999 changed the right to sit as a member of the House of Lords.

On 1st November 1999, the House of Lords was composed of 759 hereditary peers, 26 Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England, and the 545 life peers created by either the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 or the Life Peerages Act 1958. The Bishops and Life Peers were unaffected by the act; however:

Section 1 of the Act removed the right of all hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House, but

Section 2 "excepted" 90 hereditary peers, to be elected by other peers and two officers of state, (the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Earl Marshal) and allowed them to continue to sit.

The Royal Dukes (the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke of Kent as well as the Earl of Wessex) and peers who themselves were created hereditary peers were not exempted. Thus, the anomaly that allowed the Duke of Cornwall a seat, even if a baby, ended.

The House of Lords adopted standing orders to govern the election of the 90 peers:

15 to be elected by the whole house, to serve as office holders (speaker etc)
75 elected by their respective party group
- 2 Labour Party representatives
- 3 Liberal Democrats
- 42 Conservative Party and
- 28 Cross Benchers

On November 2, 1999 10 hereditary peers were given life peerages (six former Leaders of the House and four holders of peerages of the first creation). Then in March 2000 seven hereditary peers who had not been elected were included in a list of 33 new life peers and allowed to retake their seat in the Lords.

The 90 peers who continue as members of the House of Lords will not be able to disclaim their peerage. The other peers will be able to disclaim, but do not need to even if elected to the House of Commons.

The Labour Party and the House of Lords

For many years the Labour Party in the United Kingdom advocated reform of the House of Lords, but this was obstructed by the House of Lords itself, whose members were mostly of the Conservative party. Most notorious were the so-called 'backwoodsmen', who never attended Parliament except to defeat important Labour legislation opposed by the Conservatives. Later the Labour party managed to extract another reform, the Parliament Act of 1949, which limited the power of the House of Lords to defeat House of Commons legislation.

In 1968, the Labour government of Harold Wilson attempted to remove hereditary peers from voting in the House of Lords. The Lords voted in favour of the plan but when it got to the House of Commons it was defeated by a combination of traditionalist Conservatives, such as Enoch Powell, and Labour MPs such as Michael Foot, who advocated outright abolition of the upper house. Abolition became Labour party policy under Foot's leadership, but was dropped under the leadership of Neil Kinnock in favour of a reformed second chamber.

Finally when Labour returned to power in 1997 under Tony Blair, legislation was introduced to remove hereditary peers, as the first step in the reform of the House. However, in order to get the law passed by the House of Lords, the Government had to compromise and allow 92 hereditary peers to remain until reform of the House was completed.

A free vote was held in the House of Commons in February 2003, in which MPs could vote for a fully elected second chamber, an entirely nominated one, a chamber with a mixture of elected and nominated members, or for outright abolition. However, the result proved inconclusive, as MPs proceeded to vote against each option in turn.

Lords Spiritual

Members of the House of Lords who sit by virtue of their ecclesiastical offices are known as Lords Spiritual. Formerly, the Lords Spiritual comprised a majority in the House of Lords, including the Church of England's archbishops, diocesan bishops, abbots, and priors. After 1539, however, only the archbishops and bishops continued to attend, for the Dissolution of the Monasteries suppressed the positions of abbot and prior. In 1642, during the English Civil War, the Lords Spiritual were excluded altogether, but they returned under the Clergy Act 1661. The number of Lords Spiritual was further restricted by the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847, and by later acts. Now, there can be no more than twenty-six Lords Spiritual, always including the five most important ecclesiastics of the Church: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham, and the Bishop of Winchester. Membership of the House of Lords also extends to the twenty-one next-most senior diocesan bishops of the Church of England.

The Church of Scotland is not represented by any Lords Spiritual; being a Presbyterian institution, it has no archbishops or bishops. The Church of Ireland did obtain representation in the House of Lords after the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. Of the Church of Ireland's ecclesiastics, four (one archbishop and three bishops) were to sit at any one time, with the members rotating at the end of every parliamentary session (which normally lasted approximately one year). The Church of Ireland, however, was disestablished in 1871, and ceased to be represented by Lords Spiritual. Hence, all Lords Spiritual in the present House are of the Church of England.

Lords Temporal

Since the Dissolution of the Monastaries, the Lords Temporal have been the most numerous group in the House of Lords. Originally, the Lords Temporal included several hereditary peers (that is, those whose peerages may be inherited), who ranked variously as dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, barons, and lords of Parliament. Such hereditary dignities are created by the Crown, in modern times on the advice of the Prime Minister of the day. Reforms enacted in 1999 caused several hundred hereditary peers to lose their seats in the House of Lords. The House of Lords Act 1999 provides that only ninety-two individuals may continue to sit in the Upper House by virtue of hereditary peerages. Two hereditary peers remain in the House of Lords because they hold hereditary offices connected with Parliament: the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain. Of the remaining ninety hereditary peers in the House of Lords, fifteen are elected by the whole House, and seventy-five are chosen by members of the House who belong to their respective political parties. The number of peers to be chosen by each party is fixed not by statute, but by the Standing Orders of the House of Lords; moreover, the number reflects the proportion of hereditary peers who belong to the party in question. When an elected hereditary peer dies, a by-election is held, with a variant of the Alternative Vote system being used.

The Lords Temporal also include the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, a group of individuals appointed to the House of Lords so that they may exercise its judicial functions. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, more commonly known as Law Lords, were first appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. They are selected by the Prime Minister, but are formally appointed by the Sovereign. A Lord of Appeal in Ordinary must retire at the age of seventy, or, if his or her term is extended by the Government, at the age of seventy-five; after reaching such an age, the Law Lord cannot hear any further legal cases. The number of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (excluding those who are no longer able to hear cases due to age restrictions) is limited to twelve, but may be changed by statutory instrument. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary traditionally do not participate in political debates, so as to maintain judicial independence. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary hold seats the House of Lords for life, remaining members even after reaching the retirement age of seventy or seventy-five.

The largest group of Lords Temporal, and indeed of the whole House, are life peers. Life peers with seats in the House of Lords rank only as barons or baronesses, and are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958. Like all other peers, life peers are created by the Sovereign, who acts on the advice of the Prime Minister. By convention, however, the Prime Minister allows leaders of other parties to select some life peers so as to maintain a political balance in the House of Lords. Moreover, some non-party life peers (the number being determined by the Prime Minister) are nominated by an independent House of Lords Appointments Commission. If an hereditary peer also holds a life peerage, he or she remains a member of the House of Lords without a need for an election.

In many historical instances, some peers were not permitted to sit in the Upper House. When Scotland united with England to form Great Britain in 1707, it was provided that the Scottish hereditary peers would only be able to elect sixteen representative peers to sit in the House of Lords; the term of a representative was to extend until the next general elections. A similar provision was enacted in respect of Ireland when that kingdom merged with Great Britain in 1801; the Irish peers were allowed to elect twenty-eight representatives, who were to retain office for life. Elections for Irish representatives ended in 1922, when most of Ireland became an independent state; elections for Scottish representatives terminated in 1963, when all Scottish peers obtained seats in the Upper House.

Qualifications

Several different qualifications apply for membership of the House of Lords. Firstly, no person may sit in the House of Lords if under the age of twenty-one. Furthermore, only citizens of the United Kingdom, of a British overseas territory, of a nation that belongs to the Commonwealth, or of the Republic of Ireland may sit in the House of Lords. These restrictions were introduced by the British Nationality Act 1981, but were previously far more stringent: under the Act of Settlement 1701, only natural-born subjects were qualified.

Additionally, some bankruptcy-related restrictions apply to members of the Upper House. A person may not sit in the House of Lords if he or she is the subject of a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (applicable in England and Wales only), or if he or she is adjudged bankrupt (in Northern Ireland), or if his or her estate is sequestered (in Scotland). A final restriction bars an individual convicted of high treason from sitting in the House of Lords until completing his or her full term of imprisonment. An exception applies, however, if the individual convicted of high treason receives a full pardon. Note that an individual serving a prison sentence for an offence other than high treason is not automatically disqualified.

Finally, some qualifications apply only in the case of the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. No person may be created a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary unless he or she has either held "high judicial office" for two years, or has been a practising barrister for fifteen years. The term "high judicial office" encompasses membership of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, of the Inner House of the Court of Session (Scotland), or of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

Women were formerly ineligible to sit in the House of Lords, even if they held peerages in their own right. It was only in 1958 that women were admitted to the House of Lords; the Life Peerages Act passed in that year granted seats to all life peeresses. Hereditary peeresses, however, continued to be excluded until the passage of the Peerage Act 1963. Since the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, hereditary peeresses remain eligible for election to the Upper House. All women in the House of Lords are amongst the Lords Temporal; the Church of England does not permit the consecration of female archbishops or bishops.

Current composition

The House of Lords, as of 1 November 2004:

Affiliation	Life Peers	Hereditary Peers			Lords Spiritual	Total
Affiliation	Life Peers	Elected by Party	Elected by Whole House	Royal Office-holders	Lords Spiritual	Total
Conservative	156	39	8	0	0	203
Labour	197	2	2	0	0	201
Liberal Democrat	64	2	2	0	0	68
Cross-bencher	154	29	2	2	0	187
Other party	8	2	0	0	0	10
Lords Spiritual	0	0	0	0	26	26
Total	579	74	14	2	26	695

Note: These figures exclude fourteen peers who are on leave of absence.

Procedure

The House of Lords meets in the Palace of Westminster, in the London borough of the City of Westminster. The Lords Chamber, a chamber dominated by the colour red, is very lavishly decorated, in contrast with the more modestly decorated green House of Commons Chamber. The Lords generally sits only on weekdays; sessions are not held on Fridays unless the House is unusually busy.

Unlike the House of Commons, the House of Lords does not elect its own Speaker; rather, the ex officio presiding officer is the Lord Chancellor. There is no legal requirement that the Lord Chancellor actually be a member of the House of Lords; by convention, however, a commoner appointed to such a post is almost always elevated to the Peerage.

In modern times, it is always the office of Lord Chancellor which is filled; the last Lord Keeper was appointed in 1757. As the Lord Chancellor is also a member of the Cabinet and the head of the judiciary, he or she is often unavailable to preside; a Deputy Speaker may take his or her place. Deputy Speakers are formally appointed by the Sovereign, but are selected by the Government.

The Lord Speaker is merely the House's mouthpiece; he has little power compared to the Speaker of the House of Commons. He does not have the authority to maintain order or discipline members; such measures may be taken only by the House as a whole.

In June 2003 the UK Government announced its intention to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor, and to allow for a speaker of the House who would not be a minister. In addition, it plans to create a new supreme court that will take over the judicial functions of the Lords of Appeal. The bill that was intended to achieve this faced enormous opposition in the House of Lords, and was in March 2004 committed to a Select Committee of the House for thorough review in defiance of the Government. This was viewed by the Government as a measure to mothball the bill.

Debate

The Speaker of the House of Commons may recognise MPs for speech in whatever order he pleases, but the Lord Chancellor has no such authority. Instead it is the House which decides, either by acclamation or by voting on a motion that a particular noble Lord "be now heard". Often, however, the Leader of the House of Lords or other senior Government minister will suggest an order, which is generally followed. A speech is always addressed to the House as a whole (My Lords), rather than, as is done in the House of Commons, to the Speaker.

If a member wishes to refer to an individual Lord, he or she must do so in the third person. The forms used are: for Dukes, the noble Duke, the Duke of..., for other Marquesses, Earls, and Viscounts, the noble Marquess (or Earl or Viscount), Lord..., for Barons, the noble Lord, Lord..., for Baronesses, the noble Baroness, Lady..., for Archbishops, the Most Reverend Primate, the Archbishop of..., and for Bishops, the Right Reverend Prelate, the Bishop of.... The words noble and gallant are used instead of noble if the Lord in question is a Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, or holder of the Victoria Cross or George Cross. Similarly, noble and learned is used for the present or former Lord Chancellor, Lords of Appeal, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, Lords Justices of Appeal, and Judges of the High Court. Lastly, a peer of the same party as the person speaking is referred to as noble friend rather than lord.

Voting

All motions are at first subject to a voice vote. The Lord Speaker then gives his opinion as to which side won the voice vote. If his assessment is challenged by any Lord, then a division occurs. On either side of the House Chamber is a division lobby. Those who wish to vote "Content" (for the motion) enter one lobby, while those who wish to vote "Not-Content" (against the motion) enter the other. As members then exit the lobby and reenter the Chamber, their votes and names are recorded by tellers and clerks. The tellers then announce the numbers of Contents and Not-Contents to the Lord Speaker, who then announces the result to the House. The House of Lords has the lowest quorum in the world. Only three members need to be present to decide on procedural issues, though one of them has to be the Lord Chancellor.

Committees

Unlike in the United States Congress, committees in the House of Lords are not very powerful. The entire house, rather than committees, conduct the review of bills. The standing committees used by the House of Commons are not present in the House of Lords.

House of Lords Select Committees scrutinise government activities and investigate specific areas of legislation. The Select Committees of the House of Lords are as follows:

Constitution Committee
Select Committee on Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform
Economic Affairs Committee
European Union Select Committee
House Committee
Liaison Committee
Committee for Privileges
Procedure Committee
Science and Technology Select Committee

These Committees are permanent. The House establishes only one ad hoc subject-specific Select Committee per session. The past three years have seen the following Committees: In 2003-4, the Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill; in 2002-3, Religious Offences, and in 2001-2 the Animals in Scientific Procedures Committee was established. In addition specific changes are sometimes referred to an ad hoc Select Committee, including the Speakership of the House and the Constitutional Reform Bill.

Legislative Functions

Limitations

There is a convention known as the Salisbury Convention according to which the House of Lords will not oppose Government legislation promised in its election manifesto. Furthermore, the Parliament Acts of 1911 and of 1949 apply to any bill other than a bill to extend the life of a Parliament. They limit the power of the House of Lords to delaying a bill for up to one year, after which it may receive Royal Assent, if the Commons passes it again, without the Lords' consent. In the case of money bills (the main purpose of which relates to taxation or expenditure), the bills are sent for Royal Assent automatically one month after they have been passed by the Commons.

Royal Approval

The monarch must assent to any legislation for it to enter into law, although it has been convention since the time of William and Mary that the monarch will usually assent to legislation passed by Parliament. Queen Anne was the last monarch to refuse Royal Assent to a bill; she refused her approval to the Scottish Militia Bill in 1708. This power, however, remains a reserve power, and could be used in an emergency necessitating such a refusal.

The hearing of bills affecting royal prerogative powers (e.g. making war, assenting to bills, dissolving Parliament, etc.) must be consented to by the monarch before they can be heard in either house of Parliament. In March of 1999, Queen Elizabeth II refused consent to the "Military Strikes Against Iraq (Parliamentary Approval) Bill," in the House of Commons, which sought to make parliamentary approval of any military strikes against Iraq mandatory before the monarch could order such action. The Queen could take the same action in the House of Lords.

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