9. The House of Lords

The House of Lords is one of two “Houses of Parliament”. It is made up of the Peers of the Realm. There are two main groups of Peers. These are called the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal.

• The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of Canterbury and York/ and a number of other leading Bishops. They are all representatives of the Established Church, the Church of England. There are 26 in total.

• The Lords Temporal are made up of two types of peer, Hereditary Peers and Life Peers.

Hereditary peers are those whose titles are passed down from generation to generation. They include Dukes, Earls, and Viscounts. They are known as ‘peers by succession’, because they have ‘succeeded’ to the titles of their ancestors. Until 1999 there were 775 peers by succession, but then the House of Lords was reformed and under a compromise 92 hereditary peers were allowed to remain in the House.

Life peers are, as their name implies, made peers for their lifetime only. They have got their title for the contribution to the prosperity of the country. They have distinguished careers in such fields as politics, education, business, medicine, and the law. Leading figures in the arts, and a variety of other walks of life, have also been made peers. They cannot pass their titles on to their children. There are now approximately 560 Life peers.

Membership of the House of Lords will always include a wide range of highly talented men and women. They have a duty to examine the laws proposed by the House of Commons, and to suggest amendments if they think they are necessary. They also have the power to block and delay a new law of which they disapprove; but this power is very limited:

• The lords are not able to change or delay any laws( known as ‘Money Bills’) which relate to finance and taxation

• The Lords only have the power to hold up legislation of which they disapprove for a certain period of time

The power of the House of Lords to check and in some cases influence or even alter, legislation may be limited but it is still a very real one, and the Lords have scored some notable successes.

The House of Lords has its own Speaker, the Lord Chancellor. He too occupies a residence in the Palace of Westminster. The Lord Chancellor still holds a unique position in the constitution, because in addition to presiding over debates in the House of Lords (legislature) he is a senior member of the Cabinet (executive), and as Head of the Judiciary, has the power to recommend to the Queen the appointment of new judges. Until very recently he was also entitled to sit as a judge in the Court of the House of Lords (judiciary).

The Lord Chancellor has custody of the Great Seal, which is literally a large seal with a unique design, used for sealing and authenticating variety of state documents.

It’s interesting that when he was in office the last Lord Chancellor still wore his elaborate costume – of wig, gown, silk tights, cotton breeches, and buckled shoes – while presiding over debates in the Lords.