The House of Lords

The House of Lords appeared first as King's coun­cil consisting of lords and barons. The House is deco­rated with coats of arms of peers, with 6 large frescos and 18 bronze statues of the barons who forced King John to sign Magna Carta (Great Charter) in 1215.

Now the House is a partly hereditary upper cham­ber. It comprises 26 Lords Spiritual (2 of which are archbishops of Canterbury and York, the rest senior bishops of Church of England), 92 hereditary peers, all life peers and peeresses created under the Life Peerages Act of 1958 rewarded for specially good ser­vice. Their title is not inherited by their children. One fourth part of life peers are women, Margaret Thatcher among them. The total number of persons thus qualified to sit in the House of Lords is in excess of 670.including the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature (the Court Appeal and the High Court of Justice) which act as Britain's final court of appeal.

Queen (Monarch) belongs to the House of Lords so there is a throne in the Lords' Chamber which is a joint present of Canada and Australia and from where the Queen makes her State Opening Speech.

There is also a woolsack — the seat of the Lord Chancellor who presides in the House of Lords

Unlike the Speaker in the House of Commons the Lord Chancellor is not impartial, as he is a govern­ment officer, responsible for the administration of justice and an automatic member of the Cabinet. Al­though he presides over the House he is not con­cerned with order. Any peer has the power to rise in his place and move thus demonstrating his disap­proval to a fellow peer having the floor. No one calls to order.

Woolsack was introduced at the beginning of the 14^th century by Edward III as a symbol of prosperity and commodity, it is packed with wool from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Almost a century ago the Lords had the power of absolute veto over any legislation passed by the House of Commons. After a great struggle this was finally abolished by the Parliament Act of 1911. But it left the Lords with the power to delay a bill for 2 years and since 1949 the period reduced to one year. After one year the bill is passed even without the Lords agreement.

The House of Lords was usually of Tory majority composed largely of company directors, landlords, bankers, steel and oil magnates, newspaper propri­etors and so on. Its main function was to defend the interests of the propertied people, to criticize the La­bour Government, to delay, amend or bury altogether the bills which go contrary to their interests. For its utterly conservative character it is often called the House of obstruction or a hangover from a past age. That's why Labour Governments and working people demand abolition of the House of Lords as an undem­ocratic anachronism.

But the power of delaying a bill for a year is still a great privilege of the Lords. During a year the political situation may change in favour of the Con­servatives, the propaganda work may divert the at­tention from the uneasy bill, it may be forgotten or amended unrecognizably leaving nothing of its es­sence. So this privilege may play into the hands of the ruling class.

In 1958 the idea of elevating to the peerage certain people who have rendered political or public service to the nation was launched. Such people are awarded the title of life peer and elevated to the House of Lords. At some periods the idea was effectively used to get rid of dangerous, revolutionary-minded peo­ple, rebels within the House of Commons. Their stren­uous efforts in fighting against social injustice were appreciated and rewarded by the title of life peer. Many former trade-union leaders have thus become Lords of the House and lost their revolutionary spirit.

Of all the parliaments in the world, the lowest quo­rum needed to adopt a decision is the British House of Lords. Three Lords present will make a quorum and will be capable to take any decision.

Lords are far freer to vote according to their own convictions rather than party policy than are Mem­bers of the Commons.

A peer who attends a debate receives salary in ad­dition to traveling expenses. Average daily attendance is only about 300 and most of these are life peers, who retain interest in the affairs of state.

In 1998 the government as part of its reform of the House of Lords, introduced legislation to deprive hereditary peers (by then numbering 750) of their 700-year-old right to sit and vote in the upper cham­ber. A compromise, however allowed 92 of them — who were elected by their fellow peers — to remain as temporary members. The legislation went into effect in late 1999.

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