House of Lords

House of Lords: UK

We need to cast our minds back hundreds and hundreds of years to trace the origin of the House of Lords. When the Plantagenet kings ruled England, the nobility or lords began to provide an advisory council to the king.

After King John's barons forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, a new era of a merchant class emerged. Men became rich by selling commodities, most often wool, to European nations as free trade thrived.

During the 14th century, Edward III divided Parliament into two groups, the commons and the lords. The House of Commons was more powerful, with the zenith of this resulting in the regicide of Charles I in 1649.

Fig. 1 - Charles I print

In the twentieth century, a series of reforms left us with the House of Lords as we recognise it today.

House of Lords: members

There are four different types of members or peers that make up the 784-strong House of Lords. As in the commons, the Lord Speaker presides over the chamber. Sometimes, Lords also work as ministers to the legislative branch of the government but the ordinary members are as follows:

So what do all these members actually do? Let's read on to find out.

Fig. 2 - Thomas Rowlandson's nineteenth-century depiction of the House of Lords chamber

Roles of the House of Lords

As one of two chambers in the Houses of Parliament, the House of Lords has a key role in legislation in the United Kingdom. Its primary function is to question and challenge existing laws. They also work with the House of Commons to craft new acts. Finally, the House of Lords acts as an important soundboard for the revision of laws that are not in the immediate zeitgeist.

The Passage of a Bill

The billing process can start in either House and goes through a number of stages:

• First Reading (merely read the bill that has been put forward, no debate)
• Second Reading (debate upon the bill but no amendments made)
• Committee Stage (amendments made upon the bill after debates have been listened to)
• Report Stage (these changes are reported back to the House of Commons)
• Third Reading (final debates and changes are made)

Once the first House has agreed on the necessary amendments they pass the altered bill to the second to carry out the stages again. Until both the House of Lords and House of Commons agrees on any changes this back-and-forth process can be repeated quite often until a final decision has been made.

If a decision cannot be reached then the House of Commons has the most authority and therefore the supremacy to decide without the agreement of the House of Lords. Other limitations include limits on how long they can delay their decisions and they are also not allowed to amend bills in relation to financial issues as the House of Commons has the 'financial privilege'. The Houses work together to be able to provide a check and balance on one another when carrying out the process of passing a bill.

House of Commons vs House of Lords

Let's now place a magnifying glass over the differences between the two chambers in the British parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The Salisbury Convention had an important impact on how the House of Lords was run.

Obviously, this is only the House of Lords in its current iteration, so what changes have occurred over the years?

House of Lords: reform

The recent history of the House of Lords has brought some serious reforms. We will now examine a couple of these.

House of Lords Reform Act (1999)

In a bid to make the House of Lords more democratic, this reform brought a significant reduction in the number of hereditary peers in the chamber. Where there had been 650, there were now only 92. Life peers had a greater say as a result, and the size of the overall chamber also shrunk considerably.

As Worf posits, this was a huge step in revamping what many Brits consider an archaic relic of yesteryear.

House of Lords Reform Act (2014)

In 2014, further steps occurred to allow the House of Lords to have greater accountability. This new act meant that members of the House of Lords could be expelled if they commit serious offences. It also allowed life peers and hereditary peers to resign, meaning that there can be some introspection from members as to if the office is right for them.

Fig. 3 - House of Lords flag