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House Of Lords

House of Lords

:This article is about the British House of Lords. For the historical Irish body, see Irish House of Lords. The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Parliament also includes the Sovereign and the lower house, the House of Commons. The House of Lords has 730 members. The House of Lords is an unelected body, consisting of two archbishops and 24 bishops of the established Church of England ("Lords Spiritual") and 706 members of the Peerage ("Lords Temporal"). Lords Spiritual serve as long as they continue to occupy their ecclesiastical positions, whereas Lords Temporal serve for life. Members of the House of Lords are known as "Lords of Parliament". The House of Lords originated in the 14th century and has been in almost continuous existence since. The name 'House of Lords' was not used as a name for the Upper House until 1544. 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 19th century, however, the powers of the House of Lords have been steadily declining; now, the Upper House is far weaker than its elected counterpart. Under the Parliament Acts (passed in 1911 and 1949) all legislation excluding "money bills" (including the Budget) passed by the House of Commons can be delayed for twelve months, but cannot be rejected. This power is called a suspensive veto in political science. Reforms were enacted under the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the automatic hereditary right of peers to sit in the Upper House. A small number retain seats because they hold office as Great Officers of State, and an additional 92 are elected as representative peers. Additional reforms are contemplated by the current Labour 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 Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will transfer the judicial functions of the Lords to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when it comes into effect. 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 representatives 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. The power of Parliament grew slowly, changing as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined. For example, during much of the reign of Edward II (1307–1327), the nobility was supreme, the Crown weak, and the shire and borough representatives entirely powerless. In 1322, the authority of Parliament was for the first time recognised not simply by custom or royal charter, but by an authoritative statute, passed by Parliament itself. Further developments occurred during the reign of Edward II's successor, Edward III. Most importantly, it was during this King's reign that Parliament clearly 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 authority of Parliament continued to grow, and, during the early fifteenth century, both Houses exercised powers to an extent not seen before. The Lords were far more powerful than the Commons, due to the great influence of the aristocrats and prelates of the realm. The power of the nobility suffered a relapse due to the civil wars of the late fifteenth century, known as the Wars of the Roses. Much of the nobility was either decimated on the battlefield or executed for participation in the war, and many aristocratic estates were lost to the Crown. Moreover, feudalism was dying, and the feudal armies controlled by the barons became obsolete. Hence, the Crown easily re-established its absolute supremacy in the realm. The domination of the Sovereign continued to grow during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs in the 16th century. The Crown was at the height of its power during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547). The House of Lords remained more powerful than the House of Commons, but the Lower House did continue to grow in influence, reaching its zenith in relation to the House of Lords during the middle 17th century. Conflicts between the King and the Parliament (for the most part, the House of Commons) 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, but the nation was truly a dictatorship under Oliver Cromwell. The House of Lords relapsed into a largely powerless body, with Cromwell and his supporters in the Commons dominating the Government. 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 chamber of Parliament—a position it would occupy until the 19th century. The 19th century was marked by several changes to the House of Lords. The House, once a body of only about 50 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 antediluvian: 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 11 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 80 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. William IV (above), precipitated a political crisis in 1909.]] The status of the House of Lords returned to the forefront after the election of a Liberal Government in 1906. In 1908, the Government under Herbert Henry Asquith 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. Proceedings on the bill were briefly interrupted by the death of King Edward VII, but were soon recommenced under the new monarch, George V. After a General Election in December 1910, the Asquith Government secured the passage of a bill to curtail the powers of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister proposed, and the King agreed, that the House of Lords could be flooded by the creation of 500 new Liberal peers if it failed to pass the bill. (This was the same device used earlier to force the Upper House to consent to the passage of the Reform Act 1832.) The Parliament Act 1911 soon came into effect, destroying the House of Lords' power to reject most bills. Money Bills (bills that dealt solely with matters related to revenue and public expenditures, such as the Budget) could be delayed by the House of Lords for no more than one month, and most other bills for no more than three parliamentary sessions or two calendar years. The Parliament Act 1911 was not meant to be a permanent solution; rather, more comprehensive reforms were planned. Neither party, however, pursued the matter with much enthusiasm, and the House of Lords remained primarily hereditary. In 1949, the Parliament Act was slightly modified, so that the delaying power of the House of Lords with respect to most bills was reduced from three sessions or two years to two sessions or one year. In 1958, the predominantly hereditary nature of the House of Lords was changed by the Life Peerages Act 1958, which authorised the creation of life baronies, with no numerical limits. In 1968, the Labour Government of Harold Wilson attempted to reform the House of Lords by introducing a system under which hereditary peers would be allowed to remain in the House and take part in debate, but would be unable to vote. This plan, however, was defeated in the House of Commons by a combination of traditionalist Conservatives (such as Enoch Powell) and Labour members who advocated the outright abolition of the Upper House (such as Michael Foot). When Michael Foot attained the leadership of the Labour Party, abolition of the House of Lords became a part of the party's agenda; under Neil Kinnock, however, a reformed Upper House was instead proposed. In the meantime, the creation of hereditary peerages (except for members of the Royal Family) has been arrested, with the exception of three creations during the administration of the Conservative Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

Reform

The Labour Party's return to power in 1997 under Tony Blair finally heralded the reform of the House of Lords. The Blair Government introduced legislation to remove all hereditary peers from the Upper House as the first step in Lords reform. As a part of a compromise, however, it agreed to permit 92 hereditary peers to remain until the reforms are complete. The hereditary peers were removed under the House of Lords Act 1999 (see below for its provisions). Since then however, reform has stalled. The Wakeham Commission proposed introducing a 20% elected element to the Lords, but this plan was widely criticised. A Joint Committee was established in 2001 to resolve the issue, but it reached no conclusion and instead gave Parliament seven options to choose from (fully appointed, 20% elected, 40% elected, 50% elected, 60% elected, 80%, and fully elected). In a confusing series of votes in February 2003 all of these options were defeated although the 80% elected option fell by just three votes. MPs favouring outright abolition voted against all the options. Another proposal was put forward by a group of MPs, proposing a 70% elected house, with most of the remainder appointed by a Commission to ensure a mix of skills, knowledge and experience. This proposal also did not reach the statute book. New peers, therefore, are only created by appointment to the house. The Labour Party now intends to introduce reform early in the next Parliament, although they are yet to state exactly what system they will be proposing. It is understood, however, that they may be inclined to support Billy Bragg's Secondary Mandate system. The Conservative Party favour an eighty per cent elected Second Chamber, while the Liberal Democrats are calling for a fully elected Senate. Elect the Lords is a cross-party campaign initiative that was set up to make the case for a predominantly elected Second Chamber in the run up to the 2005 general election. The post-election Queen's Speech saw an announcement that the government "will bring forward proposals to continue the reform of the House of Lords" in the 2005/2006 legislative session. The Times reported on July 19 2005 that Labour Party proposals would see the House of Lords 80% elected and renamed the "Second Chamber."

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 26 Lords Spiritual, always including the five most important prelates 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 21 longest-serving other 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. The same is true for the Church in Wales which was disestablished in 1920. The current Lords Spiritual, therefore, only represent the Church of England.

Lords Temporal

Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Lords Temporal have been the most numerous group in the House of Lords. Unlike the Lords Spiritual, they may be publicly partisan. Publicly non-partisan Lords are called cross-benchers. 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 (see above) caused several hundred hereditary peers to lose their seats in the House of Lords. The House of Lords Act 1999 provides that only 92 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 90 hereditary peers in the House of Lords, 15 are elected by the whole House. Seventy-five hereditary peers are chosen by fellow hereditaries in the House of Lords, grouped by party. The number of peers to be chosen by a party reflects the proportion of hereditary peers that belongs to that party (see current composition below). When an elected hereditary peer dies, a by-election is held, with a variant of the Alternative Vote system being used. If the recently deceased hereditary peer was elected by the whole House, then so is his or her replacement; a hereditary peer elected by a specific party is replaced by a vote of elected hereditary peers belonging to that party (whether elected as part of that party group or by the whole house). 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 70, or, if his or her term is extended by the Government, at the age of 75; 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 70 or 75. Former Lord Chancellors and holders of other high judicial office may also sit as Law Lords under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, although in practice this right is infrequently exercised. After the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will become judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and will be barred from sitting or voting until they retire as judges. 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 2000, the government announced it would set up an Independent Appointments Commission, under Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, to select fifteen so-called "People's Peers" for life peerages. However, when the choices were announced in April 2001, from a list of 3,000 applicants, the choices were treated with criticism in the media, as all were distinguished in their field, and none were "ordinary people" as some had originally hoped. 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 16 representative peers to sit in the House of Lords; the term of a representative was to extend until the next general election. 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 28 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 ended with the passage of the Peerage Act 1963, under which all Scottish peers obtained seats in the Upper House.

Qualifications

Peerage Act 1963 Several different qualifications apply for membership of the House of Lords. No person may sit in the House of Lords if under the age of 21. Furthermore, only Commonwealth citizens and citizens of the Republic of Ireland may sit in the House of Lords. The nationality restrictions were previously more stringent: under the Act of Settlement 1701, and prior to the British Nationality Act 1948, 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 presently permit the consecration of female bishops, though this issue is currently under consideration, with many observers expecting female bishops in the near future.

Officers

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 (as of 2005, The Rt Hon. The Lord Falconer of Thoroton). The Lord Chancellor is not only the Speaker of the House of Lords, but also a member of the Cabinet; his or her department, formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department, is now called the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, the Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales, serving as the President of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Thus, the Lord Chancellor is a part of all three branches of Government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. In June 2003, the Blair Government announced its intention to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor, due to the office's mixed executive and judicial responsibilities. However, the abolition of the office was rejected by the House of Lords, and the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 preserves the office of Lord Chancellor, though ammended. The Act no longer guarantees that the office holder of Lord Chancellor is the presiding officer of the House of Lords and allows for the House of Lords to elect a Speaker of their own. For the time being however, the Lord Chancellor will continue to act as the presiding officer, until at least the new rules of speakership are created. Speaker The Lord Chancellor may be replaced as presiding officer by one of his or her deputies. The Chairman of Committees, the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, and several Deputy Chairmen of Committees are all deputies to the Lord Chancellor, and are all appointed by the House of Lords itself. By custom, the Crown appoints each Chairman, Principal Deputy Chairman, or Deputy Chairman to the additional office of Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords. There is no legal requirement that the Lord Chancellor or a Deputy Speaker be a member of the House of Lords, though the same has long been customary. Whilst presiding over the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor wears ceremonial black and gold robes. The Lord Chancellor or Deputy Speaker sits on the Woolsack, a large red seat stuffed with wool, at the front of the Lords Chamber. When the House of Lords resolves itself into committee (see below), the Chairman or a Deputy Chairman presides, not from the Woolsack, but from a chair at the Table of the House. The presiding officer has little power compared to the Speaker of the House of Commons. He or she only acts as the mouthpiece of the House, performing duties such as announcing the results of votes. The Lord Chancellor or Deputy Speaker cannot determine which members may speak, or discipline members for violating the rules of the House; these measures may be taken only by the House itself. Unlike the politically neutral Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chancellor and Deputy Speakers remain members of their respective parties, and may participate in debate. Another officer of the body is the Leader of the House of Lords, a peer selected by the Prime Minister. The Leader of the House is responsible for steering Government bills through the House of Lords, and is a member of the Cabinet. The Leader also advises the House on proper procedure when necessary, but such advice is merely informal, rather than official and binding. A Deputy Leader is also appointed by the Prime Minister, and takes the place of an absent or unavailable Leader. The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk and officer of the House of Lords (but is not a member of the House itself). The Clerk, who is appointed by the Crown, advises the presiding officer on the rules of the House, signs orders and official communications, endorses bills, and is the keeper of the official records of both Houses of Parliament. Moreover, the Clerk of the Parliaments is responsible for arranging by-elections of hereditary peers when necessary. The deputies of the Clerk of the Parliaments (the Clerk Assistant and the Reading Clerk) are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, subject to the House's approval. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is also an officer of the House; he takes his title from the symbol of his office, a black rod. Black Rod (as the Gentleman Usher is normally known) is responsible for ceremonial arrangements, is in charge of the House's doorkeepers, and may (upon the order of the House) take action to end disorder or disturbance in the Chamber. Black Rod also holds the office of Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Lords, and in this capacity attends upon the Lord Chancellor. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod's duties may be delegated to the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod or to the Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms.

Procedure

Serjeant-at-Arms The House of Lords and the House of Commons assemble in the Palace of Westminster. The Lords Chamber is lavishly decorated, in contrast with the more modestly furnished Commons Chamber. Benches in the Lords Chamber are coloured red; thus, the House of Lords is sometimes referred to as the "Red Chamber". The Woolsack is at the front of the Chamber; supporters of the Government sit on benches on the right of the Woolsack, whilst members of the Opposition sit on the left. Neutral members, known as Cross-benchers, sit on the benches immediately opposite the Woolsack. The Lords Chamber is the site of many formal ceremonies, the most famous of which is the State Opening of Parliament, held at the beginning of each new parliamentary session. During the State Opening, the Sovereign, seated on the Throne in the Lords Chamber and in the presence of both Houses of Parliament, delivers a speech outlining the Government's agenda for the upcoming parliamentary session. In the House of Lords, members need not seek the recognition of the presiding officer before speaking, as is done in the House of Commons. If two or more Lords simultaneously rise to speak, the House decides which one is to be heard by acclamation, or, if necessary, by voting on a motion. Often, however, the Leader of the House will suggest an order, which is thereafter generally followed. Speeches in the House of Lords are addressed to the House as a whole ("My Lords") rather than to the presiding officer alone (as is the custom in the Lower House). Members may not refer to each other in the second person (as "you"), but rather use third person forms such as "the noble Duke", "the noble Earl", "the noble Lord", "my noble friend", etc. Each member may make no more than one speech on a motion, except that the mover of the motion may make one speech at the beginning of the debate and another at the end. Speeches are not subject to any time limits in the House; however, the House may put an end to a speech by approving a motion "that the noble Lord be no longer heard". It is also possible for the House to end the debate entirely, by approving a motion "that the Question be now put". This procedure is known as Closure, and is extremely rare. Once all speeches on a motion have concluded, or Closure invoked, the motion may be put to a vote. The House first votes by voice vote; the Lord Chancellor or Deputy Speaker puts the question, and the Lords respond either "Content" (in favour of the motion) or "Not-Content" (against the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote, but if his assessment is challenged by any Lord, a recorded vote known as a division follows. Members of the House enter one of two lobbies (the "Content" lobby or the "Not-Content" lobby) on either side of the Chamber, where their names are recorded by clerks. At each lobby are two Tellers (themselves members of the House) who count the votes of the Lords. The Lord Chancellor or Deputy Speaker may vote from the Woolsack. Once the division concludes, the Tellers provide the results thereof to the presiding officer, who then announces them to the House. If there is an equality of votes, the motion is decided according to the following principles: legislation may proceed in its present form, unless there is a majority in favour of amending or rejecting it; any other motions are rejected, unless there is a majority in favour of approving it. The quorum of the House of Lords is just three members for a general or procedural vote, and 30 members for a vote on legislation. If fewer than three or 30 members (as appropriate) are present, the division is invalid.

Committees

The Parliament of the United Kingdom uses committees for a variety of purposes; one common use is for the review of bills. Committees of both Houses consider bills in detail, and may make amendments. In the House of Lords, the committee most commonly used for the consideration of bills is the Committee of the Whole House, which, as its name suggests, includes all members of the House. The Committee meets in the Lords Chamber, and is presided over not by the Lord Chancellor, but by the Chairman of Committees or a Deputy Chairman. Different procedural rules apply in the Committee of the Whole House than in normal sessions of the Lords; in particular, members are allowed to make more than one speech each on a motion. Similar to the Committee of the Whole House are the Grand Committees, bodies in which any member of the House may participate. A Grand Committee does not meet in the Lords Chamber, but in a separate committee room. No divisions are held in Grand Committees, and any amendments to the bill require the unanimous consent of the body. Hence, the Grand Committee procedure is used only for uncontroversial bills. Bills may also be committed to Public Bill Committees, which consist of between twelve and sixteen members each. A Public Bill Committee is specifically constituted for a particular bill. A bill may also be referred to a Special Public Bill Committee, which, unlike the Public Bill Committee, has the power to hold hearings and collect evidence. These committees are used much less frequently than the Committee of the Whole House and Grand Committees. The House of Lords also has several Select Committees. The members of these committees are appointed by the House at the beginning of each session, and continue to serve until the next parliamentary session begins. The House of Lords may appoint a chairman for a committee; if it does not do so, the Chairman of Committees or a Deputy Chairman of Committees may preside instead. Most Select Committees are permanent, but the House may also establish ad hoc committees, which cease to exist upon the completion of a particular task (for instance, investigating the reform of the House of Lords). The primary function of Select Committees is to scrutinise and investigate Government activities; to fulfil these aims, they are permitted to hold hearings and collect evidence. Bills may be referred to Select Committees, but are more often sent to the Committee of the Whole House and Grand Committees. The committee system of the House of Lords also includes several Domestic Committees, which supervise or consider the House's procedures and administration. One of the Domestic Committees is the Committee of Selection, which is responsible for assigning members to many of the House's other committees.

Legislative functions

quorumMost legislation may be introduced in either House, but, most commonly, is introduced in the House of Commons. The power of the Lords to reject a bill passed by the House of Commons is severely restricted by the Parliament Acts. Under those Acts, certain types of bills may be presented for the Royal Assent without the consent of the House of Lords. The House of Lords cannot delay a money bill (a bill that, in the view of the Speaker of the House of Commons, solely concerns national taxation or public funds) for more than one month. Other public bills cannot be delayed by the House of Lords for more than two parliamentary sessions, or one calendar year. These provisions, however, only apply to public bills that originate in the House of Commons, and do not have the effect of extending a parliamentary term beyond five years. A further restriction is a constitutional convention known as the Salisbury Convention, which means that the House of Lords does not seek to oppose legislation promised in the Government's election manifesto. By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the House of Lords is further restrained insofar as financial bills are concerned. The House of Lords may neither originate a bill concerning taxation or Supply, nor amend a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-related provision. (The House of Commons, however, often waives its privileges and allows the Upper House to make amendments with financial implications.) Moreover, the Upper House may not amend any Supply Bill. The House of Lords formerly maintained the absolute power to reject a bill relating to revenue or Supply, but this power was curtailed by the Parliament Acts, as aforementioned. Hence, as the power of the House of Lords has been severely curtailed by statute and by practice, the House of Commons is clearly the more powerful chamber of Parliament.

Judicial functions

The judicial functions of the House of Lords originate from the ancient role of the Curia Regis as a body that addressed the petitions of the King's subjects. The judicial functions of the House of Lords are exercised not by the whole House, but by a group of "Law Lords". The bulk of the House's judicial business is conducted by the twelve Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, who are specifically appointed for this purpose under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act. The judicial functions may also be exercised by Lords of Appeal (other members of the House who happen to have held high judicial office). No Lord of Appeal in Ordinary or Lord of Appeal may sit judicially beyond the age of seventy-five. The judicial business of the Lords is supervised by the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and his or her deputy, the Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. The jurisdiction of the House of Lords extends, in civil and in criminal cases, to appeals from the courts of England and Wales, and of Northern Ireland. From Scotland, appeals are possible only in civil cases; Scotland's High Court of Justiciary is the highest court in criminal matters. The House of Lords is not the United Kingdom's only court of last resort; in some cases, the Privy Council performs such a function. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, however, is narrower than that of the House of Lords; it encompasses appeals from ecclesiastical courts, issues related to devolution, disputes under the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, and a few other minor matters. Not all Law Lords sit to hear cases; rather, since World War Two cases have been heard by panels known as Appellate Committees, each of which normally consists of five members (selected by the Senior Lord). An Appellate Committee hearing an important case may consist of even more members. Though Appellate Committees meet in separate committee rooms, judgement is given in the Lords Chamber itself. No further appeal lies from the House of Lords. A distinct judicial function—one in which the whole House, rather than just the Law Lords, may participate—is that of trying impeachments. Impeachments are brought by the House of Commons, and are tried in the House of Lords; a conviction requires only a majority of the Lords voting. Impeachments, however, are essentially obsolete; the last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806. Similarly, the House of Lords was once the court that tried peers charged with high treason or felony. The House would be presided over not by the Lord Chancellor, but by the Lord High Steward, an official especially appointed for the occasion of the trial. If Parliament was not in session, then peers could be tried in a separate court, known as the Lord High Steward's Court. Only peers, their wives, and their unremarried widows were entitled to trials in the House of Lords or the Lord High Steward's Court; the Lords Spiritual were tried in Ecclesiastical Courts. In 1948, the right of peers and peeresses to be tried in such special courts was abolished; now, they may be tried in the same courts as others. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will lead to the creation of a separate Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, to which the judicial function of the House of Lords, and some of the judicial functions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, would be transferred. In addition, the office of Lord Chancellor will be reformed, to remove his ability to act as both a government minister and a judge. This is motivated in part by concerns that the historical admixture of legislative, judicial, and executive power, may not be in conformance with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (a judicial officer having legislative or executive power not being likely to be considered sufficiently impartial to provide a fair trial), and in any case are considered undesirable according to modern constitutional theory concerning the separation of powers. The new Supreme Court will be located in Middlesex Guildhall.

Relationship with the Government

Unlike the House of Commons, the House of Lords does not control the term of the Prime Minister or of the Government. Only the Lower House may force the Prime Minister to resign or call elections by passing a motion of no-confidence or by withdrawing supply. Thus, the House of Lords' oversight of the government is limited. Most Cabinet ministers are from the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords. In particular, all Prime Ministers since 1902 have been members of the Lower House. (Alec Douglas-Home, who became Prime Minister in 1963 whilst still an Earl, disclaimed his peerage and was elected to the Commons soon after his term began.) No major cabinet position (except Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords) has been filled by a peer since 1982. However, the House of Lords does remain a source for junior ministers.

Current composition

Source: [http://www.parliament.uk/directories/house_of_lords_information_office/analysis_by_composition.cfm House of Lord official figures] The House of Lords, as of July 1, 2005: Note: These figures exclude eight peers who are on leave of absence. †The number of hereditary peers 'allocated' to each party, which is based on the proportion of hereditary peers that belongs to that party, is:
- Conservative Party: 42 peers
- Labour Party: 2 peers
- Liberal Democrats: 3 peers
- Cross-benchers: 28 peers Of the initial 42 hereditary peers elected as Conservatives, one (The Lord Brabazon of Tara) now sits as a Cross-bencher, having become the House of Lords' Chairman of Committees, and another (The Lord Willoughby de Broke) now sits as a non-affiliated member.

References

- Carmichael, Paul, Brice Dickson, and Guy Peters. (1999). The House of Lords: Its Parliamentary and Judicial Role. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
- [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/ldcomp/compso.htm Davies, Michael. (2003). Companion to the Standing Orders and guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords, 19th ed. London: HMSO.]
- Farnborough, T. E. May, 1st Baron. (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
- Longford, Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of. (1999). A History of the House of Lords. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing.
- "Parliament" (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
- Raphael, D. D., Donald Limon, and W. R. McKay. (2004). Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice, 23rd ed. London: Butterworths Tolley.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/a-z_of_parliament/ The British Broadcasting Corporation. (2005). "A–Z of Parliament."]
- [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/lords/ The Guardian. (2005). "Special Report: House of Lords."]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The Parliament of the United Kingdom. Official website.]
- [http://www.parliamentlive.tv/ The Parliament of the United Kingdom. Parliament Live TV.] United Kingdom Category:National upper houses Category:Westminster Category:Government of the United Kingdom Category:Politics of the United Kingdom Category:United Kingdom constitution ja:貴族院

Irish House of Lords

The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from mediæval times until 1800. It was abolished along with the Irish House of Commons by the Act of Union. The House of Lords was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, who sat on the woolsack, a large seat stuffed with wool from each of the three lands of England, Ireland and Scotland. At the state opening of the Irish parliament Members of Parliament were summoned to the House of Lords from the House of Commons chamber by Black Rod, a royal official who would "command the members on behalf of His Excellency to attend him in the chamber of peers" Sessions were formally opened by the Speech from the Throne by the Lord Lieutenant, who sat on the throne beneath a canopy of crimson velvet. Following the Act of Union, the peerage of Ireland elected 28 of their number to sit in the United Kingdom House of Lords. This practice ended in 1922 with the establishment of the Irish Free State. Other Irish peers were able to stand for election to the UK House of Commons. Today the 18th century Irish Parliament building on College Green in Dublin is an office of the commercial Bank of Ireland and visitors can view the Irish House of Lords chamber within the building. See also: List of Irish Representative Peers Category:History of Ireland Category:Historical upper houses

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). At its head is the Sovereign; it is bicameral, including an Upper House, called the House of Lords, and a Lower House, called the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes two different types of members—the Lords Spiritual (the senior clergy of the Church of England) and the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage); it is a wholly unelected body. The House of Commons, on the other hand, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament"), in the British capital, London (more precisely, in the borough (and city) known as the City of Westminster). By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister are drawn exclusively from the House of Commons or House of Lords. Parliament evolved from the ancient council which advised the Sovereign. In theory, power is vested not in Parliament, but in the "Queen-in-Parliament" (or "King-in-Parliament"). The Queen-in-Parliament is often said to be a completely sovereign authority, though such a position is debatable. In modern times, real power is vested in the democratically elected House of Commons; the Sovereign acts only as a figurehead, and the powers of the House of Lords are greatly limited. The British Parliament is often called the "Mother of Parliaments," as the legislative bodies of many nations—most notably, those of the members of the Commonwealth—are modelled on it. However, it is a misquotation of John Bright, who had actually remarked on 18 January 1865 that "England is the Mother of Parliaments", in the context of supporting demands for expanded voting rights in a country which had pioneered Parliamentary government.

History

In the medieval period there were three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, and these developed separate parliaments. The 1707 Act of Union brought England and Scotland together under the Parliament of Great Britain, and the 1800 Act of Union included Ireland under the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Parliament of England

The English Parliament can trace its origins to the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066 William of Normandy brought a feudal system where he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws. In 1215 the tenants-in-chief secured from John the Magna Carta, which established that the King may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of his royal council which slowly developed into a Parliament. In 1265, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester summoned the first elected Parliament. The franchise in parliamentary elections for county constituencies was uniform throughout the country, extending to all those who owned the freehold of land to an annual rent of 40 shillings (Forty-shilling Freeholders). In the boroughs, the franchise varied across the country; individual boroughs had varying arrangements. This set the scene for the so-called "Model Parliament" of 1295 adopted by Edward I. By the reign of Edward III Parliament had been separated into two Houses: one, including the nobility and higher clergy, the other, including the knights and burgesses, and no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses as well as of the Sovereign. When Elizabeth I was succeeded in 1603 by the Scottish King James VI who also became James I of England the countries both came under his personal rule but each retained its own Parliament. James I's successor, Charles I, quarrelled with Parliament and after he provoked the Wars of the Three Kingdoms their dispute developed into the English Civil War. Charles was executed in 1649 and under Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of England the House of Lords was abolished, and the House of Commons remained subordinate to Cromwell. After Cromwell's death the Restoration of 1660 restored the monarchy and the House of Lords. Amidst fears of a Roman Catholic succession, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James II in favour of the joint rule of Mary II and William III whose agreement to the English Bill of Rights introduced a constitutional monarchy, though the supremacy of the Crown still remained clear.

Parliament of Scotland

From the time of Kenneth mac Alpin the Scottish kingdom of Alba was ruled by chieftains and petty kings under the suzerainty of a High King, all offices being filled through election by an assembly under a system known as tanistry which combined a hereditary element with the consent of those ruled. After Macbeth was overthrown by Malcolm III in 1057 the feudal system of primogeniture was introduced as Scotland came under the influence of the Norman Conquest. In the Middle Ages the King's Council of Bishops and Earls evolved into a parliament, becoming the "colloquium" of 1235 which already had a political and judicial role. From 1326 the "three estates" had clerics, lay tenants-in-chief and the burgh commissioners sitting in a single chamber, with powers over taxation and a strong influence over justice, foreign policy, war, and legislation. The three estates chose a committee called the Lords of the Articles to draft legislation which was then presented to the full assembly to be confirmed. Following the Reformation and pressure from the Kirk, Catholic clergy were excluded from 1567, and after protestant bishops were abolished in 1638 Parliament became an entirely lay assembly. During the reign of James VI, the Lords of the Articles came more under the influence of the crown, and following his accession to the throne of England in 1603 he used them to run Scotland from London. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the Covenanting period (1638–1651) the Scottish Parliament took control of the executive, effectively wresting sovereignty from King Charles I. After Scotland was invaded by Oliver Cromwell his Commonwealth government imposed a brief Anglo-Scottish parliamentary union in 1657. The Scottish Parliament returned after the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660. After the Glorious Revolution formally changed England's monarch in February 1689 William summoned a Convention of the Estates which considered letters from himself and from James VII, set out its terms and duly proclaimed William and Mary II at Edinburgh on April 11 1689.

Parliament of Ireland

The Irish Parliament was founded to represent the English community in the Lordship of Ireland while the native or Gaelic Irish were ineligible to vote or stand for office, the first known meeting being in 1264. The English presence shrank to an enclave around Dublin known as the Pale. In 1541 Henry VIII declared the Kingdom of Ireland and emabarked on the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland. The Gaelic Irish lords were now entitled to attend the Irish Parliament as equals to the majority of English descent. Disputes followed the introduction of Protestantism as the state religion when most of the population remained Roman Catholic, and in 1613–1615 constituencies were fixed so that Protestant settlers held the majority in the Irish Parliament. After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Irish Catholics were barred from voting or attending the Parliament altogether in the Cromwellian Act of Settlement 1652. Under James II & VII the Catholics regained ground and during the Jacobite war in Ireland he agreed to the Irish Parliament's demands for autonomy and restitution of lands, but after the victory of William III of England these gains were reversed with the Penal Laws making things worse. Poyning's Law made the Irish legislature subordinate to the Parliament of Great Britain, but the Constitution of 1782 removed these restrictions and about a decade later Catholics gained the right to vote, though they were still debarred from membership.

Parliament of Great Britain

Following the Treaty of Union in 1707 twin Acts of Union were passed in both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland which created a new Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts dissolved both parliaments, replacing them with a new Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain based in the former home of the English parliament. While Scots law and Scottish legislation remained separate, the legislation was now dealt with by the new parliament. After the Hanoverian George I ascended the Throne in 1714 power began to shift from the Sovereign, and by the end of his reign the position of the ministers—who would in turn have to rely on Parliament for support—was cemented. Towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over Parliament which itself was dominated by the English aristocracy and by patronage. At general elections the vote was restricted to landed gentry, in constituencies which were out of date so that in many rotten boroughs seats could be bought while major cities remained unrepresented. Reformers and Radicals sought parliamentary reform, but as the Napoleonic Wars developed the government became repressive and progress toward reform was stalled. Napoleonic Wars

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801 by the merger of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. The principle of ministerial responsibility to the Lower House did not develop until the nineteenth century. The House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an antiquated electoral system, under which constituencies of vastly different sizes existed. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with seven voters, could elect two members, as could the borough of Dunwich, which had completely disappeared into the sea due to land erosion. In many cases, members of the Upper House controlled tiny constituencies, known as pocket boroughs or rotten boroughs, and could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. Many seats in the House of Commons were "owned" by the Lords. After the reforms of the nineteenth century (beginning in 1832), the electoral system in the Lower House was much more regularised. No longer dependent on the Upper House for their seats, members of the House of Commons began to grow more assertive.

Modern era

The supremacy of the House of Commons was clearly established during the early twentieth century. In 1909, the Commons passed the so-called "People's Budget," which made numerous changes to the taxation system in a manner detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which mostly consisted of powerful landowning aristocrats, rejected the Budget. On the basis of the Budget's popularity and the Lords' consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party won a general election in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the Parliament Bill, which sought to restrict the powers of the House of Lords. (He did not reintroduce the land tax provision of the People's Budget.) When the Lords refused to pass the bill, Asquith approached the King and requested the creation of several hundred Liberal peers so as to erase the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. In the face of such a threat, the House of Lords reluctantly passed the bill. The Parliament Act 1911, as it became known, allowed the Lords to delay a bill for a maximum of three sessions (reduced to two sessions in 1949), after which it could become law over their objections. The Irish Free State became independent in 1922 and in 1927 the UK was renamed as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Further reforms to the House of Lords have been made during the twentieth century. In 1958, the Life Peerages Act authorised the regular creation of life peerage dignities. By the 1960s, the regular creation of hereditary peerage dignities had ceased; thereafter, almost all new peers were life peers only. More recently, the House of Lords Act 1999 has removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the Upper House (although it made an exception for ninety-two of them on a temporary basis). The House of Lords is now a chamber that is, in practice, subordinate to the House of Commons. The Scottish Parliament was established as the national unicameral legislature of Scotland by the Scotland Act 1998, and held its first meeting as a devolved legislature on 12 May 1999.

Composition

At the head of Parliament is the British Sovereign. The Sovereign's role, however, is merely ceremonial; in practice, he or she always acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and other ministers, who are in turn accountable to the two Houses of Parliament. The Upper House, the House of Lords, is mostly made up of appointed members ("Lords of Parliament"). The whole House is formally styled The Right Honourable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled, the Lords Spiritual being clergymen of the Church of England and the Lords Temporal being Peers of the Realm. The Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal are considered separate "estates," but they sit, debate and vote together. The Lords Spiritual formerly included all of the senior clergymen of the Church of England—archbishops, bishops, abbots and priors. Upon the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, however, the abbots and priors lost their positions in Parliament. All diocesan bishops continued to sit in Parliament, but the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847 and later acts provide that only the twenty-six most senior are Lords Spiritual. These twenty-six always include the incumbents of the "five great sees," namely, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Winchester. The remaining twenty-one Lords Spiritual are the most senior diocesan bishops, ranked in order of consecration. The Lords Temporal are all members of the Peerage. Formerly, they included hereditary peers, of the ranks of Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. The right of some hereditary peers to sit in Parliament was not automatic: after Scotland and England united into Great Britain in 1707, it was provided that all peers whose dignities had been created by English Kings could sit in Parliament, but those whose dignities had been created by Scottish Kings were to elect a limited number of "representative peers." A similar arrangement was made in respect of Ireland when that nation merged with Great Britain in 1801. But when Southern Ireland left the United Kingdom in 1922, the election of Irish representative peers ceased. By the Peerage Act 1963, the election of Scottish representative peers also ended, but all Scottish peers were granted the right to sit in Parliament. Under the House of Lords Act 1999, only life peerage dignities (that is to say, peerage dignities which cannot be inherited) automatically entitle their holders to seats in the House of Lords. Of the hereditary peers, only ninety-two—the individuals exercising the offices of Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain, in addition to ninety hereditary peers elected by other peers—retain their seats in the House. The Commons, the last of the "estates" of the Kingdom, are represented in the House of Commons, which is formally styled The Honourable The Commons in Parliament Assembled. The House consists of 646 members. Previously, the House consisted of 659 members, but the number of Scottish MPs was reduced by the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004. Each "Member of Parliament" or "MP" is chosen by a single constituency according to the First-Past-the-Post electoral system. Universal adult suffrage exists for those 18 and over; citizens of the United Kingdom, as well as citizens of the Republic of Ireland and of Commonwealth nations resident in the United Kingdom, are qualified to vote. The term of members of the House of Commons depends on the term of Parliament; a general election, during which all the seats are contested, occurs after each dissolution (see below). The three components of Parliament are supposed to be kept separate from each other; no individual may form a part of more than one component of Parliament. Lords of Parliament are legally barred from voting in elections for members of the House of Commons; furthermore, the Sovereign by convention does not vote, although there is no statutory impediment.

Procedure

Each of the two Houses of Parliament is presided over by a Speaker. In the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor, a member of the Cabinet, is the ex officio Speaker. Where there is a vacancy in the office, a Speaker may be appointed by the Crown. Deputy Speakers, who take the place of an absent Lord Chancellor, are also chosen by the Crown. The House of Commons has the right to elect its own Speaker. Theoretically, the approval of the Sovereign is required before the election becomes valid, but it is, by modern conventions, always granted. The Speaker's place may be taken by three deputies, known as the Chairman, First Deputy Chairman and Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means. (They take their name from the Committee of Ways and Means, of which they were once presiding officers, but which no longer exists.) In general, the Lord Chancellor's influence as Speaker is very limited, whilst the powers belonging to the Speaker of the House of Commons are vast. Decisions on points of order and on the disciplining of unruly members are made by the whole body in the Upper House, but by the Speaker alone in the Lower House. Speeches in the House of Lords are addressed to the House as a whole (using the words "My Lords"), but those in the House of Commons are addressed to the Speaker alone (using the words "Mr Speaker" or "Madam Speaker"). Both Houses may decide questions with voice voting; members shout out "Aye" and "No" (in the House of Commons), or "Content" and "Not-Content" (in the House of Lords), and the presiding officer declares the result. The pronouncement of the Lord Chancellor or Speaker may be challenged, and a recorded vote (known as a division) demanded. (The Speaker of the House of Commons may choose to overrule a frivolous request for a division, but the Lord Chancellor does not possess an equivalent power.) In each House, a division requires members to file into one of the two lobbies alongside the Chamber; their names are recorded by clerks, and their votes are counted as they exit the lobbies to re-enter the Chamber. The Speaker of the House of Commons, who is expected to remain non-partisan, does not cast a vote except in the case of a tie; the Lord Chancellor, however, votes along with the other Lords. (For further details on procedure, see the separate articles on the House of Lords and the House of Commons.)

Term

Following a general election, a new Parliamentary session begins. Parliament is formally summoned forty days in advance by the Sovereign, who is considered the source of parliamentary authority. On the day indicated by the Sovereign's proclamation, the two Houses assemble in their respective chambers. The Commons are then summoned to the House of Lords, where Lords Commissioners (representatives of the Sovereign) instruct them to elect a Speaker. The Commons perform the election; on the next day, they return to the House of Lords, where the Lords Commissioners confirm the election and grant the new Speaker the royal approval in the Sovereign's name. The business of Parliament for the next few days of its session involves the taking of the oaths of allegiance. Once a majority of the members have taken the oath in each House, the State Opening of Parliament may occur. The Lords take their seats in the House of Lords Chamber, the Commons appear at the Bar (immediately outside the Chamber), and the Sovereign takes his or her seat on a throne. The Sovereign then reads the Speech from the Throne—the content of which is determined by the Ministers of the Crown—outlining the Government's legislative agenda for the upcoming year. Thereafter, each House proceeds to the transaction of legislative business. By custom, before considering the Government's legislative agenda, a bill is introduced pro forma in each House—the Select Vestries Bill in the House of Lords and the Outlawries Bill in the House of Commons. These bills do not actually become laws; they are merely ceremonial indications of the power of each House to debate independently of the Crown. After the pro forma bill is introduced, each House debates the content of the Speech from the Throne for several days. Once each House formally sends its reply to the Speech, the proper legislative business of the House may commence. At once, each House becomes fully active in appointing committees, electing officers, passing resolutions and considering legislation. A session of Parliament is brought to an end by a prorogation. There is a ceremony similar to the State Opening, but it is much less well-known. Normally, the Sovereign does not personally attend the prorogation ceremony in the House of Lords; rather, he or she is represented by Lords Commissioners. The next session of Parliament begins under the procedures described above, but it is not necessary to conduct another election of a Speaker or take the oaths of allegiance afresh at the beginning of such subsequent sessions. Instead, the State Opening of Parliament is proceeded to directly. Each Parliament, after a number of sessions, comes to an end, either by the command of the Sovereign or by effluxion of time, the former being more common in modern times. The dissolution of Parliament is effected by the Sovereign, but always on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may seek a dissolution because the time is politically advantageous to his or her party. Furthermore, if the Prime Minister loses the support of the House of Commons, he must either resign or seek a dissolution of Parliament to renew his or her mandate. Originally, there was no fixed limit on the length of a Parliament, but the Triennial Act 1694 set the maximum duration at three years. As the frequent elections were deemed inconvenient, the Septennial Act 1716 extended the maximum duration to seven years, but the Parliament Act 1911 reduced it to five years. During the Second World War, the term was temporarily extended to ten years by Acts of Parliament. Since the end of the war in 1945, however, the maximum term has remained five years. Modern Parliaments, however, rarely continue for the maximum duration; normally, they are dissolved earlier. For instance, the Fifty-Second Parliament assembled in 1997, but was dissolved after only four years. Formerly, the demise of the Sovereign automatically brought a Parliament to an end, for the Crown was seen as the caput, principium, et finis (beginning, basis and end) of the body. It was, however, deemed inconvenient to have no Parliament at a time when succession to the Crown could be disputed. Thus, a statute passed during the reign of William III and Mary II provided that a Parliament was to continue for six months after the death of a Sovereign, unless dissolved earlier. The Representation of the People Act 1867 brought this arrangement to an end; now, a demise in the Crown does not affect the duration of a Parliament. After each Parliament concludes, a general election is held, and new members of the House of Commons elected. The membership of the House of Lords, however, does not change due to a dissolution. Each Parliament which assembles following a general election is deemed to be distinct from the one which just concluded. Thus, each Parliament is separately numbered, the present Parliament being the Fifty-Fourth Parliament of the United Kingdom (that is to say, the fifty-fourth Parliament summoned since the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801). Previous Parliaments were "of Great Britain" or "of England."

Legislative functions

1801 Laws can be set by Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament. While some Acts can apply to the whole of the UK including Scotland, due to the continuing separation of Scots law many Acts do not apply to Scotland and are either matched by equivalent Acts which apply to Scotland alone or, since 1999, by legislation set by the Scottish Parliament relating to devolved matters. Laws, in draft form known as bills, may be introduced by any member of either House. Usually, however, a bill is introduced by a Minister of the Crown. A bill introduced by a Minister is known as a "Government Bill"; one introduced by another member is called a "Private Member's Bill". A different way of categorising bills involves the subject. Most bills, involving the general public, are called "Public Bills". A bill that seeks to grant special rights to an individual or small group of individuals is called a "Private Bill." A Private Bill which has broader public implications is called a "Hybrid Bill". Private Members' Bills only make up about one in eight of bills, and are far less likely to be passed than government bills. There are three methods for an MP to introduce a Private Member's Bill. The Private Members' Ballots puts names into a ballot, and those who win are given time to propose a bill. The Ten Minute Rule is another method, where MPs are granted ten minutes to outline the case for a new piece of legislation. Standing Order 58 is the third method, which allows a bill to be introduced without debate if a day's notice is given to the Speaker. Filibustering is a danger, as an opponent to a bill can waste much of the limited time allotted to it. However, all Private Members' Bills have no chance of success if the current government opposes them, but they are on occasion used in moral issues. The bills to legalise homosexuality and abortion were Private Members' Bills, for example. Governments can sometimes attempt to use Private Members' Bills to pass things it would rather not be associated with. "Handout bills" are when a government hands proposed bills to MPs that win Private Members' Ballots. Each Bill goes through several stages in each House. The first stage, called the first reading, is a mere formality. At the next stage, the second reading, the general principles of the bill are debated. At the second reading, the House may vote to reject the bill (by refusing to pass the motion "That the Bill be now read a second time"), but defeats of Government Bills are extremely rare, the last being in 2005. Following the second reading, the bill is sent to a committee. In the House of Lords, the Committee of the Whole House or the Grand Committee is used. Each consists of all members of the House; the latter operates under special procedures, and is used only for uncontroversial bills. In the House of Commons, the bill is usually committed to a Standing Committee, consisting of between sixteen and fifty members, but the Committee of the Whole House is used for important legislation. Several other types of committees, including Select Committees, may be used, but are in practice only rarely employed. A committee considers the bill clause-by-clause, and reports its proposed amendments to the entire House, where further detailed consideration occurs. However a device known as the kangaroo (Standing Order 31) allows the speaker to select which amendments are debated. This device is commonly used under Standing Order 89 by the committee chairman on behalf of the government to restrict debate in committee. Once the House considers the bill, the third reading follows. In the House of Commons, no further amendments may be made, and the passage of the motion "That the Bill be now read a third time" amounts to passage of the whole bill. In the House of Lords, however, further amendments to the bill may be moved. After the passage of the third reading motion mentioned above, the House of Lords must vote on another motion "That the Bill do now pass." Following its passage in one House, the bill is sent to the other House. If passed in identical form by both Houses, it may be presented for the Sovereign's Assent. If, however, one House passes amendments that the other will not agree to, and the two Houses cannot resolve their disagreements, the bill fails. Since the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, however, the power of the House of Lords to reject bills passed by the House of Commons has been restricted. Further restrictions were placed by the Parliament Act 1949. Under the Parliament Act, if the House of Commons passes a public bill in two successive sessions, and the House of Lords rejects them both times, then the Commons may direct that the bill be presented to the Sovereign for his or her Assent, disregarding the rejection of the Bill in the House of Lords. In each case, the bill must be passed by the House of Commons at least one calendar month before the end of the session. The provision does not apply to bills originated in the House of Lords, to bills seeking to extend the duration of a Parliament beyond five years or to Private Bills. A special procedure applies in relation to bills classified by the Speaker of the House of Commons as "Money Bills". A Money Bill solely concerns national taxation or public funds; the Speaker's certificate is deemed conclusive under all circumstances. If the House of Lords fails to pass a Money Bill within one month of its passage in the House of Commons, the Lower House may direct that the Bill be submitted for the Sovereign's Assent immediately. Even before the passage of the Parliament Acts, the Commons possessed pre-eminence in cases of financial matters. By ancient custom, the House of Lords may neither introduce a bill relating to taxation or Supply, nor amend a bill so as to insert a provision relating to taxation or Supply, nor amend a Supply Bill in any way. The House of Commons, however, is free to waive this privilege, and sometimes does so to allow the House of Lords to pass amendments with financial implications. The House of Lords, however, remains free to reject bills relating to Supply and taxation, but may be easily overruled if the bills are Money Bills. (A bill relating to revenue and Supply may not be a Money Bill if, for example, it includes subjects other than national taxation and public funds). The last stage of a bill involves the granting of the Royal Assent. Theoretically, the Sovereign may grant the Royal Assent (that is, make the bill a law) or withhold the Royal Assent (that is, veto the bill). Under modern notions of a constitutional monarchy, however, the Sovereign always grants the Royal Assent. The last refusal to grant the Assent came in 1708, when Anne withheld her Assent from a bill "for the settling of Militia in Scotland". Every bill, thus, obtains the assent of all three components of Parliament before it becomes law (except as provided by the Parliament Acts where the House of Lords is over-ridden). All laws are in theory "enacted" by the Sovereign, with the consent of the Lords and Commons. The words "BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's [King's] most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-" form a part of each Act of Parliament (where the House of Lords' authority has been overridden through the usage of the Parliament Acts, the words "BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's [King's] most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-" are used instead). These words at the beginning of every Act is known as the enacting formula.

Judicial functions

In addition to its legislative functions, Parliament also performs several judicial functions. The Queen-in-Parliament constitutes the highest court in the realm for most purposes, but the Privy Council has jurisdiction in some cases (for instance, appeals from ecclesiastical courts). The jurisdiction of Parliament arises from the ancient custom of petitioning the Houses to redress grievances and to do justice. The House of Commons ceased considering petitions to reverse the judgements of lower courts in 1399, effectively leaving the House of Lords as the realm's court of last resort. In modern times, the judicial functions of the House of Lords are performed not by the whole House, but by a group of "Lords of Appeal in Ordinary" (judges granted life peerage dignities under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 by the Sovereign) and by "Lords of Appeal" (other peers with experience in the judiciary). The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary and Lords of Appeal (or "Law Lords") are Lords of Parliament, but normally do not vote or speak on political matters. In the late 19th century Acts allowed for the appointment of Scottish Lords of Appeal in Ordinary and ended appeal in Scottish criminal matters to the House of Lords so that the High Court of Justiciary became the highest criminal court in Scotland. Nowadays the House of Lords legislative committee usually has a minimum of two Scottish Judges to ensure that some experience of Scots law is brought to bear on Scottish appeals in civil cases, from the Court of Session. Certain other judicial functions have historically been performed by the House of Lords. Until 1948, it was the body in which peers of the Realm had to be tried for felonies or high treason; now, peers are tried by normal juries. Furthermore, when the House of Commons impeaches an individual, the trial takes place in the House of Lords. Impeachments, however, are now rare; the last impeachment occurred in 1806. There are currently a number of MPs attempting to revive the custom who have signed a motion for the impeachment of the Prime Minister, but this will definitely not succeed.

Relationship with the Government

The British Government is answerable to the House of Commons. However, neither the Prime Minister nor members of the Government are elected by the House of Commons. Instead, the Queen requests the person most likely to command the support of a majority in the House, normally the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, to form a government. So that they may be accountable to the Lower House, the Prime Minister and most members of the Cabinet are members of the House of Commons instead of the House of Lords. The last Prime Minister to be a Lord of Parliament was Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home, who became Prime Minister in 1963. Nevertheless, to adhere to the convention under which he was responsible to the Lower House, Lord Home disclaimed his peerage dignity and procured election to the House of Commons within days of becoming Prime Minister. Governments have a tendency to dominate the legislative functions of Parliament, by using their inbuilt majority in the House of Commons, and sometimes using their patronage power to appoint supportive peers in the Lords. In practice, governments can pass any legislation (within reason) in the Commons they wish, unless there is major dissent by MPs in the governing party. But even in these situations, it is highly unlikely a bill will be defeated, but dissenting MPs may be able to extract concessions from the government. In 1976, Lord Hailsham created a now widely used name for this behaviour, in an academic paper called "elective dictatorship". Parliament controls the executive by passing or rejecting its Bills and by forcing Ministers of the Crown to answer for their actions, either at "Question Time" or during meetings of the parliamentary committees. In both cases, the Ministers are asked questions by members of their Houses, and are obliged to answer. Although the House of Lords may scrutinise the executive through Question Time and through its committees, it cannot bring about the end of a Government. A ministry must, however, always retain the confidence and support of the House of Commons. The Lower House may indicate its lack of support by rejecting a Motion of Confidence or by passing a Motion of No Confidence. Confidence Motions are generally originated by the Government in order to reinforce its support in the House, whilst No Confidence Motions are introduced by the Opposition. The motions sometimes take the form "That this House has [no] confidence in Her Majesty's Government" but several other varieties, many referring to specific policies supported or opposed by Parliament, are often used. For instance, a Confidence Motion of 1992 used the form, "That this House expresses the support for the economic policy of Her Majesty's Government." Such a motion may theoretically be introduced in the House of Lords, but, as the Government need not enjoy the confidence of that House, would not be of the same effect as a similar motion in the House of Commons; the only modern instance of such an occurrence involves the No Confidence Motion that was introduced in 1993, and subsequently defeated. Many votes are considered votes of confidence, although not specifically involving the language mentioned above. Important bills that form part of the Government's agenda (as stated in the Speech from the Throne) are generally considered matters of confidence. The defeat of such a bill by the House of Commons indicates that a Government no longer has the confidence of that House. Furthermore, the same effect is achieved if the House of Commons "withdraws Supply", that is, rejects the budget. Where a Government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is obliged either to resign, or seek the dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. Where a Prime Minister has ceased to retain a majority in that vote and requests a dissolution, the Sovereign can in theory reject his request, forcing his resignation and allowing the Leader of the Opposition to be asked to form a new government. This power however is supposed to be used extremely rarely. The conditions that should be met to allow such a refusal are known as the Lascelles Principles. Note, however, that these conditions and principles are merely informal conventions; it is possible, though highly improbable, for the Sovereign to refuse a dissolution for no reason at all. In practice, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is very weak. Since the First-Past-the-Post electoral system is employed in elections, the governing party tends to enjoy a large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other parties. Modern British political parties are so tightly organised that they leave relatively little room for free action by their MPs. In many cases, MPs may be expelled from their parties for voting against the instructions of party leaders. During the twentieth century, the Government has lost confidence issues only thrice—twice in 1924, and once in 1979.

Sovereignty

Several different views have been taken of Parliament's sovereignty. According to the jurist Sir William Blackstone, "It has sovereign and uncontrollable authority in making, confirming, enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal … It can, in short, do every thing that is not naturally impossible." A different view, however, has been taken by the Scottish judge Lord Cooper of Culross. When he decided the case of MacCormick v. Lord Advocate as Lord President of the Court of Session, he stated, "the principle of unlimited sovereignty of Parliament is a distinctively English principle and has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law." He continued, "Considering that the Union legislation extinguished the Parliaments of Scotland and England and replaced them by a new Parliament, I have difficulty in seeing why the new Parliament of Great Britain must inherit all the peculiar characteristics of the English Parliament but none of the Scottish." Nevertheless, he did not give a conclusive opinion on the subject. Thus, the question of Parliamentary sovereignty appears to remain unresolved. Parliament has not passed any Act defining its own sovereignty. Parliament's power has often been eroded by its own Acts. Acts passed in 1921 and 1925 grant the Church of Scotland complete independence in ecclesiastical matters. More recently, its power has been restricted by the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union, which has the power to make laws enforceable in each member state. In the Factortame case, the European Court of Justice ruled that UK courts could have powers to overturn legislation contravening EU law. This new power is a breach of parliamentary sovereignty, which is part of the UK constitution. Parliament has also created national devolved assemblies with legislative authority in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, Parliament still has the power over areas for which responsibility lies with the devolved institutions, but would usually ask permission of those institutions to act on its behalf. Similarly, it has granted the power to make regulations to Ministers of the Crown, and the power to enact religious legislation to the General Synod of the Church of England. (Measures of the General Synod and, in some cases, proposed statutory instruments made by ministers must be approved by both Houses before they become law.) In every case aforementioned, however, authority has been conceded by Act of Parliament, and may be taken back in the same manner. It is entirely within the authority of Parliament to, for example, abolish the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland or to leave the EU. However, especially in the case of withdrawing from EU membership, the political costs (the UK's economy and reputation in Europe would most likely be hugely damaged) of such a move would surely prevent it from occurring. Legally, Parliament's sovereignty has not been curtailed; however, in a political sense, its own Acts have reduced Parliament’s sovereignty, especially the European Communities Act 1972 (UK), which made the UK a member of the EU. One well-recognised exception to Parliament's power involves binding future Parliaments. No Act of Parliament may be made secure from amendment or repeal by a future Parliament. For example, although the Act of Union 1800 states that the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland are to be united "forever," Parliament permitted Southern Ireland to separate into a distinct nation, the Irish Free State, in 1922.

Privileges

Each House of Parliament possesses and guards various ancient privileges. The House of Lords relies on inherent right. In the case of the House of Commons, the Speaker goes to the Lords' Chamber at the beginning of each new Parliament and requests representatives of the Sovereign to confirm the Lower House's "undoubted" privileges and rights. The ceremony observed by the House of Commons dates to the reign of Henry VIII. Each House is the guardian of its privileges, and may punish breaches thereof. The extent of parliamentary privilege is based on law and custom. Sir William Blackstone states that these privileges are "very large and indefinite," and cannot be defined except by the Houses of Parliament themselves. The foremost privilege claimed by both Houses is that of freedom of speech in debate; nothing said in either House may be questioned in any court or other institution outside Parliament. Another privilege is that of freedom from arrest except for high treason, felony or breach of the peace; it applies from during a session of Parliament, as well as forty days before or after such a session. Members of both Houses are also privileged from service on juries. Both Houses possess the power to punish breaches of their privilege. Contempt of Parliament — for example, disobedience of a subpoena issued by a committee — may also be punished. The House of Lords may imprison an individual for any fixed period of time, but an individual imprisoned by the House of Commons is set free upon prorogation. The punishments imposed by either House may not be challenged in any court.

References

- Blackstone, Sir William. (1765). Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld/ldcomp/compso.htm Davies, M. (2003). Companion to the Standing Orders and guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords, 19th ed.]
- Farnborough, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron. (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
- "Parliament." (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.

External links

- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The Parliament of the United Kingdom. Official website.]
- [http://www.parliamentlive.tv/ The Parliament of the United Kingdom. Parliament Live TV.]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/a-z_of_parliament/ The British Broadcasting Corporation. (2005). "A–Z of Parliament."]
- [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/commons/ The Guardian. (2005). "Special Report: House of Commons."]
- [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/lords/ The Guardian. (2005). "Special Report: House of Lords."]
- [http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/statutor.htm Parliamentary procedure site at Leeds University]
- Category:National legislatures Category:Westminster Category:Politics of the United Kingdom Category:United Kingdom constitution United Kingdom United Kingdom

British monarchy

:This article describes the British monarchy from the perspective of the United Kingdom. In the other Commonwealth Realms, the constitutional role of the monarchy is identical, but the historical and cultural significance may differ. The British monarch or Sovereign is the head of state of the United Kingdom and in the British overseas territories. The current British monarchy can trace its line back to the Anglo-Saxon period. During the ninth century, Wessex came to dominate other kingdoms, and during the tenth, England was consolidated into a single realm. Most British monarchs in the Middle Ages ruled as absolute monarchs, as was standard across most of Europe. However, their power was often limited by the nobility and, later, by an increasingly democratic House of Commons. The powers of the monarchy, known as the Royal Prerogative, are still very extensive. Most prerogative powers are exercised directly by ministers, such as the power to regulate the civil service and the power to issue passports. A few major powers are exercised nominally by the monarch herself, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and according to constitutional convention. An example is the power to dissolve Parliament. According to a parliamentary report , "The Crown cannot invent new prerogative powers" and "It is long established law that Parliament can override and displace the prerogative by statute". It has long been established in the Constitution of the United Kingdom that political power is ultimately exercised by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, of which the Sovereign is a non-partisan, largely ceremonial component, along with the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and by the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Thus, as the modern British monarchy is a