2019

Composition And Legislative Powers of House of Lords

MALIK JALAL ASGHAR AWAN

F-18 1881 LLB(HONS)
 Compositions of House of Lords
This article is about the United Kingdom House of Lords. For other uses, see House of
Lords (disambiguation).
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers and domestically usually referred
to simply as the Lords, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Membership is granted by appointment or else by heredity or official function. Like
the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster.[2] Officially, the full name
of the house is the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. Unlike the
elected House of Commons, members of the House of Lords (excluding 90 hereditary
peers elected among themselves and two peers who are ex officio members) are
appointed.[3] The membership of the House of Lords is drawn from the peerage and is
made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual are 26 bishops in
the established Church of England.[4] Of the Lords Temporal, the majority are life
peers who are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, or on the
advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

Membership was once an entitlement of all hereditary peers, other than those in
the peerage of Ireland, but under the House of Lords Act 1999, the right to membership
was restricted to 92 hereditary peers.[6] Since 2008, only one of them is female (Countess
of Mar); most hereditary peerages can be inherited only by men. [7]

While the House of Commons has a defined number of seats membership, the number of
members in the House of Lords is not fixed. The House of Lords is the only upper house
of any bicameral parliament in the world to be larger than its lower house.[8]

The House of Lords scrutinises bills that have been approved by the House of Commons.
[9]
It regularly reviews and amends Bills from the Commons. [10] While it is unable to
prevent Bills passing into law, except in certain limited circumstances, [11] it can delay Bills
and force the Commons to reconsider their decisions. [12] In this capacity, the House of
Lords acts as a check on the House of Commons that is independent from the electoral
process.[13][14][15] Bills can be introduced into either the House of Lords or the House of
Commons. While members of the Lords may also take on roles as government ministers,
high-ranking officials such as cabinet ministers are usually drawn from the Commons.

 Legislative Functions.
Legislation, with the exception of money bills, may be introduced in either House.

The House of Lords debates legislation, and has power to amend or reject bills. However,
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.

 Relationship with the Government

The House of Lords does not control the term of the Prime Minister or of the
Government.[53] 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,
[54]

disclaimed his peerage and was elected to the Commons soon after his term began.) In
recent history, it has been very rare for major cabinet positions (except Lord Chancellor
and Leader of the House of Lords) to have been filled by peers.

 Former judicial role

The jurisdiction of the House of Lords extended, in civil and in criminal cases, to appeals
from the courts of England and Wales, and of Northern Ireland. From Scotland, appeals
were possible only in civil cases; Scotland's High Court of Justiciary is the highest court
in criminal matters. The House of Lords was not the United Kingdom's only court of last
resort; in some cases, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council performs such a
function. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, however, is
relatively restricted; it encompasses appeals from ecclesiastical courts, disputes under
the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, and a few other minor matters. Issues
related to devolution were transferred from the Privy Council to the Supreme Court in
2009.
 Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Until 2009, the Lords Temporal also included the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, more
commonly known as Law Lords, a group of individuals appointed to the House of Lords
so that they could exercise its judicial functions. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary were first
appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. They were selected by the Prime
Minister of the day, but were formally appointed by the Sovereign. A Lord of Appeal in
Ordinary had to retire at the age of 70, or, if his or her term was extended by the
government, at the age of 75; after reaching such an age, the Law Lord could not hear
any further cases in the House of Lords.
 Life Peers
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.
 Qualification
1 Insane.
2 Minor.
3 Bankrupt.
 Protocol of Members
1 Freedom of speech.
2 Access to crown.
3 Freedom 0f arrest.
 Disciplinary Power
Recent changes have expanded the disciplinary powers of the House. Section 3 of the
House of Lords Reform Act 2014 now provides that any member of the House of Lords
convicted of a crime and sentenced to imprisonment for more than one year loses their
seat. The House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015 allows the House to set
up procedures to suspend, and to expel, its members.
 Legislation Power
The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 define the powers of the House of Lords in
relation to Public Bills (including Private Members' Bills).The general rule is that all
 Bills have to be passed by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords except
in certain circumstances.

Money Bills: certified by the Speaker and deal with taxation of public
expenditure.
Money Bills start in the Commons and must receive Royal Assent no more than a
month after being introduced in the Lords even if the Lords has not passed them.

Most other Commons Bills: the Lords can hold up a Bill it disagrees with for
about a year but ultimately the elected House of Commons can reintroduce it in the
following session and pass it without the Lords' consent.
Bills which are not subject to the Parliament Acts are:

1 Bills prolonging the length of a parliament beyond 5 years

Private Bills
2 Bills sent up to the Lords less than a month before the end of a session
3 Bills which start in the Lords.
 Administrative power
They called cabinet or prime minister and ask how to use this power.

 References
https://www.parliament.uk/about/faqs/house-of-lords-faqs/lords-
legislation/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords#Legislative_functions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords