House of Lords

In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords is the upper house of Parliament, the nation's supreme legislative authority. The House of Lords is also called the House of Peers and the second chamber.

Members of the House of Lords are appointed by the monarchy based on the prime minister's recommendation. The House of Lords works with the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament, to make laws, examine public policy, and hold the government accountable. Until 2009, the chamber was the country's highest court.

As of 2025, the House of Lords had 807 members. Its membership is divided into the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal. Members can be hereditary peers or life peers.

The House of Lords has undergone sweeping reforms to challenge its membership, undemocratic nature, extent of its powers, and large size.

Background

The history of the House of Lords stretches back to the beginnings of Parliament. After William the Conqueror took the English throne in 1066, he created an assembly of land-owning magnates, the precursors to nobility, and religious leaders. The assembly was based on the Witan, a political body of wise men that advised Saxon kings.

In the thirteenth century, the word parliament was first used to describe the large meeting of the king's council, who advised him on legislative, administrative, and judicial matters. Elected representatives and knights from cities and counties also started attending.

During the 1300s, the assembly began to split into the two distinct houses of Parliament. The representatives and knights came together as the House of Commons. Those summoned by the king, such as nobility and religious leaders, met as the House of Lords.

The members of the House of Lords formed two groups. The religious leaders consisted of bishops, archbishops, and abbots, forming the Lords Spiritual. The Lords Spiritual made up half of the House of Lords. Nobility was divided into the titles of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron, becoming the Lords Temporal.

During the 1400s, the Lords Temporal became known as peers of the realm. It became common practice that a titled member who was summoned to one assembly was expected to attend the next. This invitation was extended to the member's heir upon death as the title was inherited, establishing the tradition of hereditary peers.

The House of Lords underwent a major shift in 1539. When King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church, he dissolved the monasteries. Only bishops could attend the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual. For the first time, the House of Lords became a primarily secular authority.

Following growing discord between Parliament and the monarchy, the English Civil War brought upheaval to the House of Lords. In 1642, bishops were excluded from the chamber. After King Charles I was executed in 1649, the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, leaving only the House of Commons.

Upon the restoration of Charles II as monarch in 1660, the House of Lords was also restored. Bishops were reinstated as members in 1661.

In the eighteenth century, acts of union with Scotland and Ireland allowed the two countries to elect peers to the House of Lords. Today, the Lords Temporal are made up of peers from England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Overview

The House of Lords meets at Parliament in the Palace of Westminster in London. All legislation in Parliament must pass the House of Lords and the House of Commons before receiving the monarchy's approval. Members of the House of Lords spend most of their time weighing legislation.

Members also investigate public policy through committees. They question experts, organizations, and affected individuals. The committees then produce reports, which may be debated in the House of Lords and make recommendations to the government.

The House of Lords keeps the government in check. Members examine the government's actions by asking questions and holding debates in the chamber. In 2022, the House of Lords held 586 committee meetings, heard testimony from 959 witnesses, received 1,829 written statements, and published 70 reports.

The top positions in the House of Lords are Leader of the House of Lords, the chamber's most senior member responsible for its business, and Lord Speaker, who presides over the chamber's workings.

In modern times, the House of Lords is made up of eight hundred part-time members across several professions, including scholars, politicians, and public servants. Increasingly, former members of Parliament, or MPs, have joined its ranks. Members can belong to the country's political parties, or they may not belong at all.

Membership is still divided among the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. However, the House of Lords has been subject to major reforms since the nineteenth century.

During the mid-1800s, bishops were enticed to support the monarchy in return for promotions. To limit bias, the number of bishops in the House of Lords was reduced to twenty-six. The Lords Spiritual includes the archbishops of Canterbury and York; the bishops of Durham, London, and Winchester; and twenty-one senior bishops.

In the twentieth century, the House of Lords faced criticism for being undemocratic. Its members, except for bishops, were hereditary peers and thus not elected. However, the House of Lords Act in 1999 significantly altered the chamber's makeup. The law whittled down the number of hereditary peers to ninety-two.

In the twenty-first century, most of the House of Lords' members are life peers who hold their titles for life but cannot hand them down to their heirs. The Appellate Jurisdiction Act of 1876 created the first life peers: Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, or Law Lords. Law Lords are judges who focus on the chamber's judicial proceedings. In 1958, the Life Peerages Act created life peers, men and women who are bestowed with peerages for life. As of May 2023, 664 of the House of Lords members were life peers.

The House of Lords attracted scrutiny over its judicial function. The chamber exercised both legislative and judicial powers, causing concern that the people who interpreted the laws sat alongside those who wrote them. The chamber's judicial power was taken away with the creation of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court in 2009.

In 2014, the House of Lords Reform Act allowed chamber members to retire. Previously, members held their positions for life. The law was passed to trim the chamber's number to a more manageable level.

As the House of Lords continues to draw controversy over its membership, powers, and size, the upper house of the UK Parliament will likely be the target of more reform in the future.

Bibliography

Baldwin, Nicholas. "The Membership and Work of the House of Lords." The House of Lords: Its Parliamentary and Judicial Roles. Edited by Brice Dickson and Paul Carmichael, Hart Publishing, 1999, pp. 29–52.

Barkham, Patrick. "Lords Reform." Guardian, 20 Jan. 2000, www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/jan/20/lordreform.constitution5. Accessed 29 May 2017.

Bell, Dan. "A Potted History of the Law Lords." BBC, 30 July 2009, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk‗news/8176958.stm. Accessed 29 May 2017.

Hope, Christopher, and Luke Heighton. "Retiring from the House of Lords Is 'A Public Duty,' Peers Told." Telegraph, 23 Feb. 2015, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11430364/Retiring-from-the-House-of-Lords-is-a-public-duty-peers-told.html. Accessed 29 May 2017.

"House of Lords." UK Parliament, 2011, www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/HoLwhat-the-lords-and-its-members-do-v2.pdf. Accessed 29 May 2017.

"Overview of House of Lords Committee Activity in 2022-23." UK Parliament, 23 June 2023, committees.parliament.uk/committee/187/liaison-committee-lords/news/195943/overview-of-house-of-lords-committee-activity-in-202223/. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

Rogers, Robert, and Rhodri Walters. How Parliament Works. Routledge 2015.

Russell, Meg. The Contemporary House of Lords: Westminster Bicameralism Revived. Oxford UP, 2013.

The UK Parliament – The House of Lords. www.parliament.uk/business/lords/. Accessed 29 May 2017.