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Unit 8: Constitutional Structure: Legislature

classified into five parts. First, as an upper chamber of the Parliament, it has legislative powers. It is Notes
required that a bill must be passed by both the Houses of the Parliament before going to the monarch
for his assent. The Parliament Act of 1949 has given it the delaying power over non-money bill for a
period of one year only in as much as if a bill is passed by the House of Commons in two successive
sessions with the interval of one year between its first introduction and third reading of its second
attempt, the bill shall be presented to the monarch without the concurrence of the Lords. The House
of Lords has the power of delaying the passage of a money bill for a period of not more than a month.
That is, the House of Lords is a quite powerless chamber in money matters.
In addition to these legislative and financial powers, the House of Lords has executive powers —
control over the ministers. Its members may ask questions from the ministers, put resolutions and
motions for discussion, appreciate or criticize the policy of the government and may go to the extent
of rejecting a statutory instrument. A very important constitutional crisis took place in June, 1968
when the Lords rejected an order-in-council issued by the Labour Government of Prime Minister
Wilson desiring imposition of sanctions against the illegal white government of South Rhodesia. The
Lords exercised the logic of the difference between a bill and an order-in-council. Thus, the Lords
manifested an attitude of hostility towards Labour Government’s Rhodesian policy and a Tory peer
(Lord Salisbury) went to the length of calling the government ‘a criminal in policeman’s uniform.’
The House of Lords has some judicial powers. It is still the highest court of appeal in civil and criminal
cases for England and Northern Ireland and in civil cases for Scotland. These cases are heard and
decided by the Lords of Appeal only. It is still a court for people impeached by the House of Commons.
Finally, it has constituent powers. For example, the duration of the House of Commons as determined
by the Parliament Act of 1911 cannot be changed without the concurrence of this chamber. In this
regard the provision of time-limit (as given in the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949) are not applicable.
Hence, the Lords can block a bill desiring any change in this direction by an adverse vote.
Reform Movement: The weak position of the House of Lords has been a matter of much discussion,
even merriment, and many attempts have been vainly made to make some reforms in its composition
and ways of functioning. The reform movement of the House of Lords dates back to the middle part
of a 19 century when democratisation of the
th
Composition of the House of Lords (2002)
Political Parties Lords Temporal Lords Spiritual Total
Hereditary Peers Life Peers

Conservative 50 173 - 223
Labour 4 191 - 195
Liberal-democrat 5 56 - 61
Cross-Bench 32 141 - 173
Others - 31 - 57
Total 91 592 26 709
* In June 2001, one hereditary peer was declared bankrupt and therefore he became ineligible to
attend the house.
Source: National Statistics of UK, (London: HMSO, 2002), p.45
House of Commons started. The first Reform Act of 1832 and the Chartist agitation thereafter added
to the growing importance of the lower house of the Parliament. This process had its definite impact
upon the issue of democratization of the House of Lords in some measure. In 1869 Lord Russell
proposed the creation of life-peers and in 1888 Lord Salisbury desired the gradual creation of 50
peers, but both these ideas were rejected. The Lansdowne Plan of 1909 proposed a House of Lords of
330 members — 100 chosen by the whole body of peers, 100 to be appointed by the Crown, 123 to be
elected by the House of Commons sitting in regional groups, 5 bishops to be chosen by the body of
clergymen and 2 from the princes of the royal blood. This scheme was also rejected.

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