House of Lords Reform Act 2014

A private members bill to introduce some reforms was introduced by Dan Byles in 2013. The House of Lords Reform Act 2014 received the Royal Assent in 2014. Under the new law:

· All peers can retire or resign from the chamber (prior to this only hereditary peers could disclaim their peerages).

· Peers can be disqualified for non-attendance.

· Peers can be removed for receiving prison sentences of a year or more.

 

House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015

The House of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015 authorised the House to expel or suspend members.

 

Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015

This act makes provision to preferentially admit bishops of the Church of England who are women to the Lords Spiritual in the 10 years following its commencement.

In 2015, Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester, became the first woman to sit as a Lord Spiritual in the House of Lords.

The composition of the House of Lords is different from that of the House of Commons. There was traditionally a large number of Conservative peers in the Lords but this is no longer the case since the majority of hereditary peers were excluded from membership of the House following the House of Lords Act 1999.

About two thirds of the Lords align themselves with a political party. A distinctive feature of the House of Lords is the presence of crossbench peers who are not affiliated to any party group. Even those who are aligned may not attend the House regularly. The overall numbers and membership of the House of Lords changes more frequently than they do in the House of Commons.

Some Lords are former Members of the House of Commons who have been elevated to the Lords in recognition of distinguished service in politics or because one of the political parties wishes to have them in the House. People who have especially distinguished themselves in other parts of public life, such as industry, the trade unions, education, science, the arts and local government, are often brought into the House of Lords.

Until the Reformation in the 16th century, the Lords Spiritual made up the majority of members of the House of Lords. They included archbishops, bishops and mitred abbots.

However, with the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, there were no abbots to attend, and with limitations being placed on the number of bishops entitled to sit in the Lords, the number of spiritual peers is now reduced to 26. 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.

Up to 1958, the Lords Temporal were all either hereditary peers (those who inherited their titles) or Law Lords (appointed for life to discharge the judicial functions of the House). In 1958 the Life Peerages Act was passed, which entitled the Queen to grant non-hereditary titles or life peerages to both men and women. The Queen exercises this prerogative on the advice of the Prime Minister. From May 2000 an Appointments Commission has operated a nominations system for cross-bench peers. The first of these nominated peers (sometimes referred to as 'People's Peers') were appointed in April 2001.

Since the House of Lords Act 1999, only 92 peers sit by virtue of hereditary peerage, 75 of whom were elected by their respective party groups. The remaining 17 are office holders or have ceremonial offices.

The most senior judges also sit in the House of Lords as Lords of Appeal ('Law Lords').

Exercises

Give definitions for the following.Translate the names of the titles marked with asterisk into Russian.

Lords Spiritual*

Lords Temporal

Royal Assent

 

Lord Chancellor

Chief Whip*

The Leader of the House

The Clerk of the Parliaments*

The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod*

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