House of Lords

The House of Lords ( House off Lords ) represents the Upper House Parlement of the United Kingdom. Like the Lower House, the House of Commons, it is located at the Palais of Westminster. Its composition, rather complex, was deeply modified by the House off Lords Act of 1999. The room is composed today of 713 members, the majority are appointed for lives by the monarch on proposal of the Prime Minister. The hereditary temporal Lords are nothing any more but 92, elected among the members of different the Pairie S from the United Kingdom. Twenty-six members of the Church Anglican are also members of right.

Since the 19th century, the capacities of the House of Lords decreased considerably and its role is today definitely lower than that of the House of Commons.

History

14th century - the Lords start to sit in a separate room of that of the Communes.
15th century - the temporal Lords, named by the king, take the title of Pair S .
1649 - Abolition of the House of Lords under the protectorate of Cromwell
1660 - Restoration of the House of Lords
18th century - the acts of Union with the Scotland (1707) and the Ireland (1800) give the right to the pars Scottish and Irish to elect representatives with the House of Lords.
1834 - the palate of Westminster, sheltering the House of Lords in particular, is destroyed by a fire.
1847 - the House of Lords sits for the first time in its new buildings.
1876 - Law on the legal call . The Lords of call and ordinary ( Law Lords ) are set up. The room then becomes the supreme Court of Appeal.
1911 - a first law on the Parliament allows that certain bills are adopted without the assent of the Lords.
1949 - the capacity of Veto of the Lords is limited to one year.
1958 - Law on peerage with life . The rank of baron with life is created for the men and the women.
1963 - Law on peerage . The hereditary pars can give up their peerage, the pars Scot can sit at the room as well as the hereditary pairesses.
1999 - Law on the House of Lords . The hereditary pars do not have any more the right to sit and vote with the House of Lords except 92 of them.

Composition

601 Even S with life.
92 Even S hereditary, including two Even S named ex officio
26 Archbishop S and bishop S.

The hereditary pars - approximately 750 - were removed by the reform of November 1999. However, on a purely provisional basis, 91 of them (chosen by their colleagues and groups of the House of Lords) is maintained in their functions.

The report of a royal commission was published the January 20th 2000. He proposes a room of approximately 550 members whose majority would be named by an independent commission for a 15 years mandate; some members of the room would be also elected for a 15 years mandate.

The preliminary draft of law announced the November 7th 2001 by the government removes for the hereditary pars the right to sit at the Upper House, limits the number of the members of this one to 600: 30% of them should be women; 120 members would be elected with the Scrutin proportional; the same number would be named by a commission indicated by the room itself; 332 members would be directly designated by the political parties.

Mode of nomination

Minimum age: 21 years.

Temporal Lords

Pars with life

The queen still creates peerages with life, under the title of baron or baroness, who allow their holder to sit and vote with the room. However to died from the holders these peerages do not pass to their heir.

The legal pars (which play the part of Court of Appeal ruling in last authority) are appointed for lives but give up their legal functions at the 75 years age (20 of them are with the retirement). They are 12.

Pars ex officio

Two pars have offices hereditary, necessary to the course of the ceremonial of the grand opening of the House of Lords. These offices ensure their holders of the seats to the room. The first is the Duc of Norfolk, which holds the office of count-marshal of England, and the Marquis de Cholmondeley, Great chamberlain of Great Britain.

Hereditary pars elected officials

Within the framework of the House off Lords Act , 92 pars hereditary were elected within the members of the Pairie S of England, of Scotland, Great Britain and the the United Kingdom. With the pars ex officio , they are the last to be sat at the room on a hereditary principle.

Spiritual Lords

Bishops of the Church Anglican

The archbishops of Canterbury and York and the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester are members of right as well as the 21 oldest bishops in their load for the other dioceses. To note that the bishops are not even but Lords off Parliament .

Mode of the sessions

An annual single session, solemnly open at the beginning of November by a speech of the queen who, only, can convene the new session and close the preceding one.

In practice, the House of Lords is deferred, in general, on several occasions.

On average, it sits 35 weeks per annum, that is to say approximately 140 days.

The days of meeting are: Monday to Wednesday as from 2 p.m. 30, Thursday as from 3 p.m. The room can also sit Friday as from 11 a.m.

Functions

Examination of the bills

The House of Lords has as a principal function the examination and the modification of bills. It devotes to it approximately two thirds of its time.

Control government

The members of the House of Lords challenge the Gouvernement through questions which they are charged to pose by oral examination or written. The way in which the government follows its policy can thus be discussed openly and regularly in the rooms.

Formation of independent Committees

The House of Lords forms Select Committees specialized composed members with necessary knowledge. There exist committees on subjects as various as the European Union, science and technologies.

Relationship with the other room and the executive power

Executive power

The House of Lords is each year the theater of the Speech from the throne , pronounced by the sovereign British at the time of the opening ceremony of the Parliament.

Legislative power

legislative Initiative

Yes, except as regards finance laws.

Right of amendment

Yes, except out of tax and budgetary matter.

legislative Procedure

* financial Projects (Money Bill) If a financial project, adopted beforehand by the House of Commons and transmitted to the House of Lords at least one month before the end of the session, is not voted without amendment by the House of Lords in the month which follows this transmission, this project - unless the House of Commons does not decide of it differently - will be presented to the queen for approval and will become a Act of the Parliament.

* Projects other than financial ( Public Bill )

If a Public Bill adopted by the House of Commons in two sessions successive and transmitted to the House of Lords during each one of these sessions at least one month before the end of the session, is pushed back by the House of Lords during each one of these sessions, this project will be presented to the queen for approval as of its second rejection by the House of Lords - unless the House of Commons decides of it differently - and will become a act Parliament, provided that one year were passed between the date of the second reading of this project to the House of Commons during the first of these sessions and the date on which this text will be voted by the room of Communes during the second of these sessions.

A project will be regarded as rejected by the House of Lords if it is not adopted by this one either without amendment, or with amendments accepted by the two rooms.

A project will be regarded as the same project as an old project transmitted to the House of Lords during the preceding session if it is identical for him or contains only modifications considered by the announcer of the House of Commons necessary because of the flow of time or as representative the amendments of the House of Lords.

However, the House of Commons will be able, during the examination of such a project during the second session, to propose other amendments without including those in the project: any amendment thus suggested will be examined by the House of Lords and, in the event of agreement of this one, will be regarded as an amendment of the House of Lords accepted by the House of Commons.

The proposed amendments with the House of Lords are examined by committees made up in its center.

Power to control

Organization of general debates

Moreover, one Wednesday per month, are organized two short one duration debates 2 hours 30 maximum.

Declarations ( statements )

The government can make statements on important or urgent problems, followed by a questioning for one limited time of the interested minister.

Oral questions and written:

4 oral questions can be posed at the beginning of each day of meeting lasting ½ hour when the presence rate is high;
4.000 written questions are raised annually;
can moreover be organized minidébats one duration one hour/one hour ½, at the conclusion which a member of the government expresses itself.

Examination of the decrees on enforcement of a law of the laws.

Specific measures

More the legal high authority of the country

The House of Lords constitutes more the legal high authority of the country.

Represented by its committee of call made up of 5 among the legal pars (the Law Lords , a score in all) and of the Lord chancellor, she exerts this function for the whole of the civil matter United Kingdom and for the England, the Northern Ireland and the Wales out of penal matter.

A law adopted in 2005 transfers these capacities from the House of Lords to the news Supreme court of the United Kingdom, in 2009.

To be able of expertise

the House of Lords exerts his power of expertise via boards of inquiry, mainly in two fields:

European questions,
sciences and technologies.

In 2001, the House of Lords established in his center a commission of the Constitution in particular charged to examine the constitutional consequences of any bill which is subjected to him. The Commission Reports relate to the texts raising of the questions of principle.

Sources

Site of the Senate
Composition of the House of Lords, on the site of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Pierre Lurbe, the United Kingdom today , collection the Fundamental ones, Hatchet superior.

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