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HOUSE OF LORDS: - A HISTORY OF REFORM The following paper will direct the reader through centuries of reform within the House of Lords. In order to understand the importance of the latest reform proposals, which were presented in a Government White Paper on the 7th November 2001(House of Lords, 2002). It is necessary to have an understanding of why and how this Labour Government intends to complete the reform. The House of Lords can trace its origins back to the 11th Century, where the kings of England, before the Norman Conquest, called councils of nobles. At this time, its origins were in the Witans. The king would summon Barons, Lords and Bishops to attend what is now known as Parliament, to discuss the kings need to raise money in order to carry out his duty as peacekeeper and defender of the state (Longford, 1988). English monarchs continued to assemble the Barons at intervals until Edward 1 called the first meeting of modern Parliament in 1265. In 1265 Simon De Moutford (the first Lord in the House of Lords) summoned Parliament, which for the first time, had representatives from the cities and boroughs, this introducing the commons element (Longford, 1988). The House of Lords and House of Commons would sometimes sit together, but usually met separately from 1265 onwards. At this time, members of the House of Lords were drawn from the religious sector, these were known as the Lords Spiritual, and also from magnates chosen by the monarch, these were known as the Lords Temporal (Wells, 1998). By the 15th Century, membership of the Lords Temporal had now become almost entirely hereditary and male; members were summoned by writ rather than chosen by the monarch. The Lords Temporal became known as ‘ Peers’, which means, “equal among themselves but holding one of five ranks (Duke, Marquees, Earl, Viscount and Baron)(Wells, 1998). Until the suppression of the monasteries in 1539, the Lords Spiritual consisted of Bishops, Abbots and Priors; after this date, only Bishops attended and the Lords Temporal formed the majority for the first time. During the Civil War, which started in 1642, Bishops were excluded from the House of Lords. On 30th January 1649 King Charles 1 was executed, the Commons then issued the Act of Parliament prohibiting the proclamation of a successor to Charles 1, they then introduced an Act of Parliament abolishing the office of king. In addition to this, the Parliament abolished the House of Lords (19 March 1649), thus the political power resided in Parliament. From 1649 until 1660 the British Government changed its structure several times, in 1653 it was known as ‘the Barebones’ Parliament, between 1654 and 1659 it was made up by two ‘Protectorate’ Parliaments. Finally in 1660 the House of Lords was set up again and all the members that were sitting in 1949 were reinstated. One year later the Government introduced the Clergy Act1661, which saw the return of the Bishops (House of Lords, 1991). In the 18th Century the Acts of Union with Scotland (1707) and Ireland (1800) admitted Scottish and Irish Peers to elect representatives to sit in the House. In the 19th Century the number of Bishops entitled to sit in the House was limited by the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847. In 1876 The Appellate Jurisdiction Act created Lords of Appeal in Ordinary to carry out judicial work of the House of Lords as the final court of appeal (Wells, 1998).
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