The Parliament is the supreme legislative body in Britain.

The British Parliament consists of

the King and two houses. The Upper House is known as the ‘House of Lords’ and the Lower
House is called as the ‘House of Commons’. It is supreme in its exercise of law making power.
The law made by it cannot be amended or overruled by any institution. There is no provision
for judicial review in Britain i.e. judiciary cannot declare any law made by the Parliament as
unconstitutional.

The House of Lords is the Upper House of the British Parliament. It is the oldest second
chamber in the world. It is basically a hereditary institution representing the royal and
aristocratic segments of the population.

Composition of the House of Lords

The membership of the House of Lords is not fixed. It has more than 1100 members and this
number varies through deaths and creation of new peers (Members of the House of Lords are
sometimes referred to as peers). It is a permanent chamber and most of the peers hold office
for the whole life. All these members are grouped in the following seven distinct categories-

1. Princes of the Royal Blood: Now-a-days they do not take part in the proceedings of the
House. This category of peers includes all such male members of the Royal family who have
attained maturity and are within the specified degrees of relationship and are conferred the
title of Duke.

2. Hereditary Peers: Hereditary peers constitute the majority of the members of the House
of Lords. About 90% of the members of the House of Lords are from this category. The Crown
can create unlimited numbers of peers from this category. But certain classes of people like-
persons below 18 years of age, aliens, bankrupts, persons serving a sentence on conviction of
felony or treason and women are excluded from its membership. Since 1963 women have
been included in this category. Under the Peerage Act of 1963, anyone succeeding to Peerage,
may within twelve months of succession, disclaim that peerage and in that case they are
eligible for contesting election to the House of Commons.

3. Representative Peers of Scotland: All the Scottish peers have been admitted on
hereditary basis since 1963. Originally their number was 16 and were elected by the Scottish
peers in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Union, 1707. But Peerage Act of
1963 abolished the election system.

4. Representative Peers of Ireland: Originally there were 28 Irish representatives but since
1922, when Ireland was declared a free state, no new peers have been created. Now not a
single Irish peer remains the members of the House of Lords.
5. Law Lords: There are altogether 21 law lords who are appointed by the Crown from
distinguished jurists.

6. Spiritual Lords: There are altogether 26 Spiritual lords. 2 are Archbishops of York and
Canterbury and 24 are senior bishops of the Church of England

7. Life Peers: They are created under the provisions of the Life Peerage Act 1958. They are
the persons who have held high offices in the state and have since retired like ministers and
the like.

Lord Chancellor is the presiding officer of the House of Lords. He is the member of Cabinet and
he is appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

Powers and Functions of the House of Lords

The British Parliament started to work as an advisory body of the Monarch without any
legislative power. But gradually Parliament started to claim its power and authority.

The powers of House of Lords :

Executive Powers: The members of the House of Lords have the power to put questions, to
elicit information from the administration and can also have debates on governmental
policies. This debate influences the public. Some of the members of the House of Lords are
included in the cabinet but the cabinet ministers are neither individually nor collectively
responsible to the House of Lords. The House of Lords cannot pass a no confidence motion
against the government and remove the ministry from power.

Legislative powers: The legislative power of the House of Lords is also limited. A non money
bill may be introduced in the House of Lords but still 90% of the bills are introduced in the
House of Commons. A non money bill passed by the House of Commons in two successive
sessions with an interval of at least one year between its first reading in the first session and
the last reading in the second session becomes a law having received the royal assent even if
it is rejected by the House of Lords.

Financial Powers: In financial matter the House of Lords is very ineffective. The money bill
cannot be introduced here. If a money bill passed by the House of Commons is sent to the
House of Lords and the latter disapproves it and withholds its assent to the bill for more than
a month, the bill is presented to the Queen for approval and becomes a law afterwards.

Judicial Powers: The House of Lords is the highest court of appeal in the country but all
members do not participate as a court. Only the Law Lords participate when the house sits as
a court. Earlier it used to make trial of impeachment cases on charges preferred by the House
of Commons.
 But with the acceptance of the principle of ministerial responsibility this power of the House
of Lords has become obsolete. Because of this limited role many scholars either want to
abolish or reform it. That is the reason why it has drawn criticism in Britain. The following
are some of the criticisms levelled against the House of Lords–

 The existence of the institution of the House of Lords very clearly depicts the existence of
anachronism in the midst of democracy. The members of the House of Lords are basically
from the royal family who are not the representatives of the people.

 The marginal attendance of the Lords shows their indifference to the political happenings of
the country. Generally eighty to ninety peers participate in the decisions of the House of
Lords. One half of its members have never spoken a single word.

 The House of Lords is always more inclined to one party i.e. the Conservative party. It is this
party that wants to keep the House of Lords unaltered and it is the House of Lords that wants
to pass all the bills proposed by the Conservative party. As Laski says “It has always
supported the interest of one party. The Conservative party may be in power or not but in the
House of Lords it has always been in majority

 It represents the interest of the landed aristocracy. Property is the basis of the membership
in the House of Lords. Some of them are related with the main industries of the country, some
of them with real estate and many of them get membership through marriage or business
relation with the conservative members in the House of Commons. It basically looks after the
interest of the rich people, not the common people.