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The House of Lords
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 currently has around 740 Members.
Members of the House of Lords (known as 'peers') consist of Lords Spiritual (senior bishops) and Lords Temporal (lay peers). Law Lords (senior judges) also sit as Lords Temporal. Members of the House of Lords are not elected. They are paid but not out of House of Lords funds. Members holding the following posts are paid from Government funds.
1- Cabinet Minister: £103,701
2- Minister of State: £80,970
3- Parliamentary Under Secretary: £70,521
4- Government Chief Whip: £80,970
5- Government Deputy Chief Whip: £70,521
6- Government Whip: £65,212
7- Attorney General: £108,485
The Law Lords are paid as full-time salaried judges as follows.
· Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lord): £200,800
· Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords): £194,000
Law Lords' salaries are paid from the Consolidated Fund, not out of the House of Lords budget.
Composition
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The house of Lords consists of:
I - The Lords Spiritual (Лорды Духовенства).
They are 26 in number. They include the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of Durham, London and Winchester, and the 21 next most senior Church of England Bishops.
Lords Spiritual rarely attend Parliament or vote in the Lords. By custom, however, at least one of the Bishops reads prayers in each legislative day (a role taken by the chaplain in the Commons), ensuring that at least one Lord Spiritual is present for at least part of the day.
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.
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, represent only the Church of England.
II - The Lords Temporal (Светские Лорды).
Ø Hereditary Peers - who inherit their seats
Originally several hundred Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons* were eligible to sit.
Following the House of Lords Act 1999, there are only 92 elected hereditary peers. Currently these 92 consist of:
- 15 “office-holders ” who are elected by the House;
- 75 party or crossbench** members, elected by their party or group
They are chosen by fellow hereditary 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.
- 2 who hold royal appointments: the Lord Great Chamberlain (principal official of British royal household – Лорд-Камергер, Лорд-Гофмейстер) and the Earl Marshal (The Marshal, as eighth Great Officer of State, has to organise coronations and the State Opening of Parliament). The last two preserve their hereditary rights even after the act of 1999.
The Lord Great Chamberlain has charge over the Palace of Westminster, and especially of the House of Lords, and technically bears the Sword of State at state openings and closings of Parliament, though this duty is usually delegated to a Lord of Parliament who is also a Field Marshal. The Lord Great Chamberlain also has a major part to play in royal coronations, having the right to dress the monarch on coronation day and to serve the monarch water before and after the coronation banquet, and also being involved in investing the monarch with the insignia of rule.
Duke – Dutchesss - герцог - герцогиня
Marquis / Marquess [`ma:kwis]- Marchioness [ma:Sə`nes]
Earl – Countess – граф (английский) Count (Europe)
Viscount [‘vaikaunt] – Viscontess [,vaIkaUn`tes] – виконт – виконтесса
Baron – Baroness
crossbench** members – neutral members not belonging to any party
Ø Life Peers
The majority of members are now life peers, appointed for life by the Queen (in practice, the Queen seeks the advice of the Prime Minister, who is the real appointer). Life Peers hold the title of Baron or Baroness.
Ø The Lords of Appeal
the Law Lords – Судебные Лорды – life peers appointed to serve the House of Lords as Britain’s Supreme Court of appeal. They hear legal cases and together act the UK’s highest court
They are appointed for a term of years concluding during the year in which the Lord of Appeal turns 70; at the end of which they no longer hear legal cases on a regular basis but remain members of the House of Lords. They are 12 in number (2007: 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, plus 13 Lords of Appeal).
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary hold the rank of Baron and seats in the House for life. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are joined by a number of Lords of Appeal.The Lords of Appeal are individuals who are already members of the House of Lords under other Acts (including the Life Peerages Act 1958 and the House of Lords Act 1999) who hold or have held high judicial office.
Law Lords can speak and vote in the House, but rarely do so because as judges they must be seen to be impartial and avoid party politics. They could disqualify themselves from sitting on appeals if they expressed an opinion on a matter that then became the subject of an appeal.
From October 2009, the Law Lords will no longer sit in the House of Lords and a separate, independent supreme court will be established.
The final appeal hearings and judgments of the House of Lords took place on 30 July 2009. The judicial role of the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the UK has ended.
From 1 October 2009, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom assumes jurisdiction on points of law for all civil law cases in the UK and all criminal cases in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
The 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the Law Lords) are the first justices of the 12-member Supreme Court and are disqualified from sitting or voting in the House of Lords. When they retire from the Supreme Court they can return to the House of Lords as full Members but newly-appointed Justices of the Supreme Court will not have seats in the House of Lords.
Chairperson
Now the House is presided by the Lord Speaker.
The Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial. It was announced on 4 July 2006 that Baroness Hayman had won the first election for the position.
Until July 2006, the role of presiding officer in the House of Lords was undertaken by the Lord Chancellor. Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the position of the Speaker of the House of Lordsbecame a separate office, allowing the position to be held by someone other than the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor continued to act as speaker of the House of Lords in an interim period after the Act was passed, while the House of Lords considered new arrangements about their speakership.
The separation of the Lord Chancellor's various roles is in line with Labour's manifesto commitments to reform the House of Lords. This changing role is also designed to avoid challenges under the Human Rights Act, which might arise from his roles as head of the judiciary and also a Cabinet Minister.
The Lord Speaker is elected for a maximum term of 5 years, and may serve a maximum of two terms. Like the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Speaker will wear court dress with a plain black silk gown while presiding over the House, and a black silk damask and gold lace ceremonial gown on state occasions, but unlike the Lord Chancellor will not wear a wig. When presiding over debates, the Lord Speaker sits on the Woolsack.
The functions of the Lord Speaker are:
Ø to take the chair in debates held in the chamber of the House of Lords;
Ø to advise the House of Lords on procedural rules;
Ø to take formal responsibility for security in the areas of the Palace of Westminster occupied by the House of Lords and its members;
Ø to speak for the House of Lords on ceremonial occasions;
Ø to represent the House of Lords as its ambassador, in the UK and overseas
The role is similar to "Mister/Madam Speaker" of the House of Commons. However, the House of Lords is largely self-governing, and the presiding officer in the House of Lords has traditionally taken a less active role in debates than the speaker in the House of Commons.
Unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Speaker does not:
Ø call the House to order,
Ø determine who is to speak when two individuals rise at the same time,
Ø rule on points of order
Ø discipline members who violate the rules of the House
Ø select amendments to bills—all these functions are performed by the House of Lords as a whole.
The Lord Speaker has assumed most of the duties that the Lord Chancellor used to have in relation to his Parliamentary role, including ceremonial duties such as the State Opening of Parliament.
The Lord Chancellor
The Lord Chancellor is a Cabinet Minister and is appointed by the government.
Whenever the Sovereign appoints Lords Commissioners to perform certain actions on his or her behalf (for example, to formally declare in Parliament that the Royal Assent has been granted), the Lord Chancellor serves as the principal or senior Lord Commissioner. In this role the Lord Chancellor wears Parliamentary Robes—a full-length scarlet wool gown decorated with miniver fur
Functions of the Chancellor:
· is the Secretary of State for Justice
On 9 May 2007, the Ministry of Justice was created. It is responsible for courts, prisons, probation and constitutional affairs. The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor is the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP.
· He is also a member of the Privy Council* and the Cabinet. Thus, the Lord Chancellor is a part of all three branches of Government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.
the Privy Council* = formally “Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council”, consists of all the members of the Cabinet, former Cabinet ministers, and other distinguished persons appointed by the Sovereign.
· nominate judges in the courts of England and Wales, although they are officially appointed by the Sovereign.
· to act as the custodian of the Great Seal
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