The House of Lords

The House of Lords is the non-elected chamber of the UK Parliament. It has existed as a separate chamber of Parliament since the 14^th century and is part of the oldest parliamentary democracy in the world.

The House of Lords consists of Lords Spiritual (senior bishops) and Lords Temporal (lay peers). The latter include Life Peers appointed for life by the Queen for various services to the nation (their children cannot inherit the peerage), Hereditary Peers who inherit their titles and Law Lords (senior judges).

The Life Peerages Act 1958 was a significant reform that affected the House of Lords. The Act allowed both men and, for the first time, women to sit and vote in the House of Lords for their lifetime only. The Life Peerages Act altered the composition of the House of Lords because it introduced more people from different professions. Before this Act the House of Lords had been made up exclusively of Hereditary Peers, who were usually men from a narrow section of the population.

The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the right of most of the 750 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords: presently there are only 92 peers who sit by virtue of hereditary peerage. However hereditary peers keep their titles and will continue to pass them on to their heirs. The majority of members are now Life Peers and the Government has been consulting on proposals for further reform of the Lords. In May 2003 there were 689 peers in total.

The speakership of the House of Lords has traditionally been performed by the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor’s powers as Speaker are very limited compared with those of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Lord’s business is expected to be conducted in an orderly and polite fashion without the need for an active Speaker. The Lord Chancellor sits on a special seat called “the Woolsack”. He does not give the floor to members and has no powers to call the House to order. Before the reforms announced on the 12^th June 2003, the Lord Chancellor was simultaneously a Cabinet minister with departmental responsibilities, the Speaker of the House of Lords and the Head of the Judiciary in England and Wales. The Labour government intend to separate these powers and to abolish the office of Lord Chancellor.

Other office holders in the House of Lords include government ministers and whips, the Leader and Chief Whip of the main opposition party, and two Chairmen of Committees. The Leader of the House occupies a special position in the House of Lords: as well as leading the party in government he has a responsibility to the House as a whole. It is to him, and not the Lord Chancellor, that members have turned for advice and leadership on points of order and procedure. These office holders and officers, together with the Law Lords, receive salaries. All other members of the House of Lords are unpaid.

A major task of the House of Lords is to examine and pass legislation. In general, its functions are similar to those of the House of Commons. There are two important exceptions: members of the Lords do not represent constituencies, and are not involved in matters of taxation and finance. Although the House plays a key role in revising legislation sent from the Commons, it also initiates legislation, and so shares the burden of the legislation load.

Another important function is to act as a check on government by scrutinizing its activities. The House does this by asking questions, debating policy, and through its Select Committees, taking evidence from Ministers and others. The House still has an important judicial role as the highest Court of Appeal in the land.

Members of the House, collectively, have an enormous breadth of expertise and, individually, are characterized by independence of thought. They complement the work of the elected House of Commons, which reflects political and constituency interests and which, unlike the Lords, must spend a substantial amount of time on functional and public expenditure issues.

TASK 8. Translate the following terms into Russian:

• Lords Spiritual
• Lords Temporal / lay peers
• Life peers
• Hereditary Peers
• Law Lords
• Lord Chancellor
• the Head of the judiciary
• Chief Whip

TASK 9. Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

1. должностное лицо
2. расходы
3. наследник
4. передавать титул по наследству
5. призывать к порядку
6. упразднить пост
7. предоставлять слово
8. занимать особую должность
9. по праву наследования (титула)

TASK 10. Study the following meanings of the word LEGISLATION:

1) The process of enacting a law in written form by a branch of government constituted to perform this process.

2) The law so enacted.

3) The whole body of enacted laws.

Match the English expressions with their Russian equivalents:

1) draft legislation	a) внести законопроект
2) proposed legislation	b) выступить с законодательной инициативой
3) to adopt / pass legislation	c) законопроект
4) to examine legislation	d) обнародовать законопроект
5) to frame legislation	e) пересматривать законопроект
6) to initiate legislation	f) предложенный законопроект
7) to introduce legislation	g) принять законодательство
8) to promulgate legislation	h) разрабатывать законопроект
9) to revise legislation	i) рассматривать законопроект

TASK 11. Speak on the following topics, using the vocabulary and the facts from the text and provide more information on the subject with the help of additional sources.

• The composition of the House of Lords
• The role and the functions of the Lord Chancellor
• The Lords’ role in law-making process

TASK 12. Comment on the role of each of the following officials in Parliamentary procedure. Use these titles to complete the text below:

Bishops; Hereditary Peers; Life Peers; the Queen; the Lord Chancellor; Crossbenchers; the Prime Minister

The Members of the House of Lords consist of Hereditary Peers, Life Peers and _________. The public does not elect Members of the Lords - ________ _________ inherit their titles and _______ _______ ________ are appointed by __________ on the advice of _________ _________ to serve for their life; the title is not transferable. Until 1999 the House included over 700 hereditary peers who had inherited their titles. The House of Lords Act 1999 ended their membership except for 92 of them.

The Lords use their specialist knowledge in examining legislation, questioning Government ministers – at question time and in debates – and in the work of committees. Members are not paid, receiving only reimbursement of expenses, but even so over half the members are present on an average sitting day.

The role of the House of Lords Speaker - ___________ _________ - is almost entirely ceremonial. In June 2003 the Government announced a proposal to abolish the Lord Chancellor’s role, and the House has appointed a committee to consider how its Speaker should be chosen in future.

Like in the House of Commons, most members of the House of Lords belong to political parties. But there are also well over 150 “__________” who belong to no political party. No party has a majority in the House of Lords and the Government has no control over the time of the House.

TASK 13. Render the following text into English:

Говоря о структуре верхней палаты Британского парламента – Палате Лордов, до недавнего времени можно было констатировать, что Палата состоит из потомственных аристократов и представителей Британского истеблишмента, которые получили свой титул (барона, виконта, графа, маркиза и даже герцога) из рук Ее Величества Королевы по согласованию с действующим правительством за особые заслуги перед нацией.

Сегодня, в отличие от Палаты Общин, члены верхней палаты парламента не избираются. Потомственные лорды (пэры) наследуют свой титул от целого поколения предков и передают его далее. Те же, кто получил пэрство по королевскому указу («пожизненные пэры»), правом передачи титула по наследству не обладают. Численность членов Палаты Лордов на протяжении времени менялась в пределах 650 – 1000 человек. Однако активное участие в работе Палаты принимают около 250 ее членов. На протяжении многих веков Верхнюю Палату возглавлял лорд Канцлер, также исполняя роль спикера.

В основе деятельности Палаты лордов – дебаты по законопроектам, принятым Палатой Общин. Процедура прохождения законопроектов аналогична той, которая используется и в нижней палате парламента. Лорды имеют право отложить на некоторое время тот или иной закон, однако правом вето они не обладают. Право законодательной инициативы Палаты Лордов весьма ограничено.

CREATIVE WRITING   Using the information from the Unit, explain why the House of Commons is more important in the work of Parliament than the House of Lords.

UNIT 2. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM – A MASSIVE “SHAKE-UP”