Representative peer
Encyclopedia
In the United Kingdom
, representative peers were those peers
elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland
and the Peerage of Ireland
to sit in the British House of Lords
. Members of the Peerage of England
, Peerage of Great Britain
and Peerage of the United Kingdom
held the right to sit in the House of Lords; they did not elect a limited group of representatives.
Representative peers were introduced in 1707, when England and Scotland were united into the Kingdom of Great Britain
. At the time, there were 168 English and 154 Scottish peers, though the English population was significantly higher than the Scottish population (estimated at roughly five times greater). The English peers feared that the House of Lords would be swamped by the Scottish element, and consequently arranged for the election of a small number of representative peers to represent Scotland. A similar arrangement was adopted when the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland
merged into the United Kingdom in 1801.
Scotland was allowed to elect sixteen representative peers, while Ireland could elect twenty-eight. Those chosen by Scotland sat for a single term, and following each dissolution new Scottish peers were elected. In contrast Irish representative peers sat for life. Elections for Irish peers ceased when the Irish Free State
gained independence in 1922, however already-elected Irish peers continued to be entitled to sit until their death. Elections for Scottish peers ended in 1963, when all Scottish peers obtained the right to sit in the House of Lords.
Under the 1999 House of Lords Act, a new form of representative peer was introduced to allow some hereditary peers to stay in the House of Lords.
Under the Act of Union of 1707, the peers of Scotland were entitled to elect sixteen representative peers to the House of Lords. Each representative served for the duration of one Parliament, or a maximum of seven years, but could be re-elected during future Parliaments. Upon the summons of a new Parliament following the dissolution of a previous one, the Sovereign would issue a proclamation summoning Scottish peers to the Palace of Holyroodhouse
. The elections were held in the Great Gallery, the large room that was decorated by eighty-nine of Jacob de Wet's portraits of Scottish monarchs, from Fergus Mór
to Charles II
. The Lord Clerk Register
would read aloud the Peerage Roll, and each would indicate his presence when called. The Roll was then re-read, with each peer responding by publicly announcing his votes. The same procedure was used whenever a vacancy arose.
The block voting
system was used, with each peer casting as many votes as there were seats to be filled. The system, however, permitted the party with the greatest number of peers, normally the Conservatives
, to procure a disproportionate number of seats, with opposing parties sometimes being left entirely unrepresented. The Lord Clerk Register was responsible for tallying the votes. The return issued by the Lord Clerk Register was sufficient evidence to admit the representative peers to Parliament; however, unlike other peers, Scottish representatives did not receive writs of summons.
The position and rights of Scottish peers in relation to the House of Lords remained unclear during most of the eighteenth century. In 1711, James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton
, a peer of Scotland, was appointed Duke of Brandon in the Peerage of Great Britain. When he sought to sit in the House of Lords, he was denied admittance, the Lords ruling that a peer of Scotland could not sit in the House of Lords unless he was a representative peer, even if he also held a British peerage dignity. They reasoned that the Act of Union 1707 had established the number of Scots peers in the House of Lords at no more and no less than sixteen. In 1782, however, the House of Lords reversed the decision, holding that the Crown could admit anyone it pleases to the House of Lords, whether a Scottish peer or not, subject only to qualifications such as age and citizenship.
Under the Peerage Act 1963
, all Scottish peers procured the right to sit in the House of Lords, and the system of electing representative peers was abolished. Scottish as well as British and English hereditary peer
s lost their automatic right to sit in the Upper House with the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999
. During the debate on the House of Lords Bill, a question arose as to whether the proposal would violate the Treaty of Union. In suggesting that the Bill did indeed violate the Articles of Union, it was submitted that, prior to Union, the Parliament of Scotland was entitled to impose conditions, and that one fundamental condition was a guarantee of representation of Scotland in both Houses of Parliament. It was implied, furthermore, that the Peerage Act of 1963 did not violate the requirement of Scottish representation, set out in the Article XXII of the Treaty of Union, by allowing all Scottish peers to sit in the House of Lords: as long as a minimum of sixteen seats were reserved for Scotland, the principles of the Article would be upheld. It was further argued that the only way to rescind the requirement of Article XXII would be to dissolve the Union between England and Scotland, which the House of Lords Bill did not seek to do.
Counsel for the Government held a different view. It was noted that the Peerage Act 1963 explicitly repealed the portions of the Articles of Union relating to elections of representative peers, and that no parliamentary commentators had raised doubts as to the validity of those repeals. As Article XXII had been, or at least purportedly, repealed, there was nothing specific in the Treaty that the bill transgressed. It was further asserted by the Government that Article XXII could be repealed because it had not been "entrenched". Examples of "entrenched" provisions are numerous: England and Scotland were united "forever", the Court of Session
was to remain "in all time coming within Scotland as it is now constituted", and the establishment of the Church of Scotland
was "effectually and unalterably secured". Article XXII, however, did not include any words of entrenchment, making it "fundamental or unalterable in all time coming".
Further, the Government pointed out that, even if the election of Scottish peers were entrenched, Parliament could amend the provision under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty
. Though the position of the Church of Scotland was "unalterably" secured, the Universities (Scotland) Act 1853 repealed the requirement that professors declare their faith before assuming a position. In Ireland, the Church of Ireland
was entirely disestablished in 1869, though the Articles of Union with Ireland had clearly "entrenched" the establishment of that body. In 1922, the Union with Ireland was dissolved, though Great Britain and Ireland were united "forever." It was therefore suggested that Parliament could, if it pleased, repeal an Article of Union as well amend as any underlying principle.
The Privileges Committee unanimously found that the Articles of Union would not be breached by the House of Lords Bill if it were enacted. The bill did receive Royal Assent
, and from 2000, hereditary peers have not had the automatic right to sit in Parliament.
Under the Acts of Union 1800, Irish peers elected twenty-eight representative peers, who served for life. The Chamber of the Irish House of Lords
housed the first election, with the peers or their proxies attending. The Clerk of the Crown in Ireland was responsible for electoral arrangements; each peer voted by an open and public ballot. The results of the first election were announced by the Clerk of the Crown. After the Union, new elections were held whenever vacancies occurred due to the death of any peer. The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain
—the presiding officer of the House of Lords— certified the vacancy, while the Lord Chancellor of Ireland
directed the Clerk of the Crown to issue ballots to Irish peers. The ballots were returned to the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland, who was responsible for determining the victor.
Ireland was further represented in the House of Lords by four Lords Spiritual
, who sat in rotation for terms lasting one session each. At any one time, an Archbishop and three Bishops represented Ireland, with the seat passing according to a fixed rotation, except that those Lords Spiritual who were also elected to serve as representative peers would be omitted. The rotation was changed by the Church Temporalities Act of 1833, which merged many dioceses and degraded the archbishoprics of Tuam
and Cashel
to bishoprics. Following its disestablishment in 1871 by the Irish Church Act 1869, the Church of Ireland
ceased to appoint spiritual representatives.
With the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Irish peers ceased to elect representatives, however those already elected continued to serve for life. The last of the temporal peers, Francis Charles Adelbert Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey
, died in 1961. Disputes then arose as to whether representative peers could still be elected. The Act establishing the Irish Free State was silent on the matter, although the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922
had abolished the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland
, whose involvement was required in the election process; the office of Clerk of the Crown had also been abolished in Ireland. Various Irish peers petitioned the House of Lords for a restoration of their right to elect representatives. In 1962, the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform rejected such plans. In the next year, when the Peerage Bill
(which among other things gave all Scottish peers the right to sit in the House of Lords) was being considered, an amendment to similarly allow Irish peers to attend was defeated, ninety to eight. Instead, the new Act gave all Irish peers the right to sit in the House of Commons
, and to vote at parliamentary elections.
In 1965, Randall John Somerled McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim and other Irish peers petitioned the House of Lords, arguing that the right to elect representative peers had never been formally abolished. The House of Lords ruled against the Irish peers. The Lord Reid
, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
, based his ruling on the Act of Union, which stated that representative peers sat "on the part of Ireland." He reasoned that, since the island had been divided into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
, there was no such political entity called "Ireland" which the representative peers could be said to represent. Lord Reid wrote, "A statutory provision is impliedly repealed if a later enactment brings to an end a state of things the continuance of which is essential for its operation." In contrast, Lord Wilberforce
, another Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, disagreed that a major enactment such as the Act of Union could be repealed by implication. He argued instead on the basis that the Irish Free State Act 1921
—which was silent on the election of representative peers— abolished the posts of Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Clerk of the Crown in Ireland. The Lord Chancellor of Ireland was responsible for calling elections of representative peers, and the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland was responsible for sending peers their ballots. Since these offices had been abolished, Lord Wilberforce argued, there was no mechanism by which Irish peers could be elected. Here too, the petitioners lost.
The petitioners did not bring up the point that Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom. Lord Reid's objections would then be rebutted, as representative peers would sit on the part of Northern Ireland. Similarly, Lord Wilberforce's arguments relating to the removal of the mechanism for the election could be answered, as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland did have replacements in Northern Ireland. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage suggests that the reason for which the arguments relating to Northern Ireland "was that leading counsel for the petitioning Irish peers was convinced that the members of the Committee for Privileges were with him on what he considered was his best argument and did not want to alienate them by introducing another point." In order to prevent further appeals on the matter, Parliament repealed, as a part of the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971, the sections of the Acts of Union relating to the election of Irish representative peers.
.
Irish peers were not subjected to the same disability after 1801 as their Scottish counterparts. Irish peers who were not representative peers could serve as a Member of Parliament for a constituency in Great Britain (but not in Ireland), provided they gave up their privileges as a peer.
The Peerage Act 1963 allowed all Scottish peers to sit in the House of Lords; it also permitted all Irish peers to sit in the House of Commons for any constituency in the United Kingdom, as well as to vote in parliamentary elections, without being deprived of the remaining privileges of peerage.
— provided for a small number of Hereditary Peers to remain as members of the House of Lords, during the first stage of Lords reform. It could then be reviewed during the next stage of the reform, when the system of appointed Life Peerages came under examination. In exchange for the House not delaying the passage of the Bill into law, the Government agreed to this amendment, and it then became part of the House of Lords Act 1999
, and 92 hereditary peers were allowed to remain.
The ninety-two peers are made up of three separate groups. Fifteen ‘office-holders’ comprise Deputy Speakers and Deputy Chairmen, and are elected by the House, while seventy-five party and Crossbench members are elected by their own party or group. In addition, there are two royal appointments: the Lord Great Chamberlain
, currently the Marquess of Cholmondeley
, is appointed as the Queen’s representative in Parliament, while the Earl Marshal
, an office held since 1672 by the Dukes of Norfolk
, is responsible for ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, representative peers were those peers
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland
Peerage of Scotland
The Peerage of Scotland is the division of the British Peerage for those peers created in the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707. With that year's Act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England were combined into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and a new Peerage of Great Britain was...
and the Peerage of Ireland
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...
to sit in the British House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Members of the Peerage of England
Peerage of England
The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain....
, Peerage of Great Britain
Peerage of Great Britain
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain after the Act of Union 1707 but before the Act of Union 1800...
and Peerage of the United Kingdom
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
held the right to sit in the House of Lords; they did not elect a limited group of representatives.
Representative peers were introduced in 1707, when England and Scotland were united into the Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
. At the time, there were 168 English and 154 Scottish peers, though the English population was significantly higher than the Scottish population (estimated at roughly five times greater). The English peers feared that the House of Lords would be swamped by the Scottish element, and consequently arranged for the election of a small number of representative peers to represent Scotland. A similar arrangement was adopted when the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland refers to the country of Ireland in the period between the proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 and the Act of Union in 1800. It replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171...
merged into the United Kingdom in 1801.
Scotland was allowed to elect sixteen representative peers, while Ireland could elect twenty-eight. Those chosen by Scotland sat for a single term, and following each dissolution new Scottish peers were elected. In contrast Irish representative peers sat for life. Elections for Irish peers ceased when the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
gained independence in 1922, however already-elected Irish peers continued to be entitled to sit until their death. Elections for Scottish peers ended in 1963, when all Scottish peers obtained the right to sit in the House of Lords.
Under the 1999 House of Lords Act, a new form of representative peer was introduced to allow some hereditary peers to stay in the House of Lords.
Scotland
Holyrood Palace
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle...
. The elections were held in the Great Gallery, the large room that was decorated by eighty-nine of Jacob de Wet's portraits of Scottish monarchs, from Fergus Mór
Fergus Mór
Fergus Mór mac Eirc was a legendary king of Dál Riata. He was the son of Erc.While his historicity may be debatable, his posthumous importance as the founder of Scotland in the national myth of Medieval and Renaissance Scotland is not in doubt...
to Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
. The Lord Clerk Register
Lord Clerk Register
The office of Lord Clerk Register is the oldest surviving Great Officer of State in Scotland, with origins in the 13th century.The Clerk-Register was from ancient times the principal Clerk in the kingdom, from whom all other clerks, whatever their government positions, and who were essentially his...
would read aloud the Peerage Roll, and each would indicate his presence when called. The Roll was then re-read, with each peer responding by publicly announcing his votes. The same procedure was used whenever a vacancy arose.
The block voting
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
system was used, with each peer casting as many votes as there were seats to be filled. The system, however, permitted the party with the greatest number of peers, normally the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, to procure a disproportionate number of seats, with opposing parties sometimes being left entirely unrepresented. The Lord Clerk Register was responsible for tallying the votes. The return issued by the Lord Clerk Register was sufficient evidence to admit the representative peers to Parliament; however, unlike other peers, Scottish representatives did not receive writs of summons.
James Douglas, 4th Duke of Hamilton
Lieutenant General Sir James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton and 1st Duke of Brandon KG KT was aScottish nobleman, the Premier Peer of Scotland and Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse...
, a peer of Scotland, was appointed Duke of Brandon in the Peerage of Great Britain. When he sought to sit in the House of Lords, he was denied admittance, the Lords ruling that a peer of Scotland could not sit in the House of Lords unless he was a representative peer, even if he also held a British peerage dignity. They reasoned that the Act of Union 1707 had established the number of Scots peers in the House of Lords at no more and no less than sixteen. In 1782, however, the House of Lords reversed the decision, holding that the Crown could admit anyone it pleases to the House of Lords, whether a Scottish peer or not, subject only to qualifications such as age and citizenship.
Under the Peerage Act 1963
Peerage Act 1963
The Peerage Act 1963 is the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permitted peeresses in their own right and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, and which allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be "disclaimed".-Background:The Act resulted largely from the...
, all Scottish peers procured the right to sit in the House of Lords, and the system of electing representative peers was abolished. Scottish as well as British and English hereditary peer
Hereditary peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so...
s lost their automatic right to sit in the Upper House with the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
. During the debate on the House of Lords Bill, a question arose as to whether the proposal would violate the Treaty of Union. In suggesting that the Bill did indeed violate the Articles of Union, it was submitted that, prior to Union, the Parliament of Scotland was entitled to impose conditions, and that one fundamental condition was a guarantee of representation of Scotland in both Houses of Parliament. It was implied, furthermore, that the Peerage Act of 1963 did not violate the requirement of Scottish representation, set out in the Article XXII of the Treaty of Union, by allowing all Scottish peers to sit in the House of Lords: as long as a minimum of sixteen seats were reserved for Scotland, the principles of the Article would be upheld. It was further argued that the only way to rescind the requirement of Article XXII would be to dissolve the Union between England and Scotland, which the House of Lords Bill did not seek to do.
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
was to remain "in all time coming within Scotland as it is now constituted", and the establishment of the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
was "effectually and unalterably secured". Article XXII, however, did not include any words of entrenchment, making it "fundamental or unalterable in all time coming".
Further, the Government pointed out that, even if the election of Scottish peers were entrenched, Parliament could amend the provision under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty
Parliamentary sovereignty is a concept in the constitutional law of some parliamentary democracies. In the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, a legislative body has absolute sovereignty, meaning it is supreme to all other government institutions—including any executive or judicial bodies...
. Though the position of the Church of Scotland was "unalterably" secured, the Universities (Scotland) Act 1853 repealed the requirement that professors declare their faith before assuming a position. In Ireland, the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
was entirely disestablished in 1869, though the Articles of Union with Ireland had clearly "entrenched" the establishment of that body. In 1922, the Union with Ireland was dissolved, though Great Britain and Ireland were united "forever." It was therefore suggested that Parliament could, if it pleased, repeal an Article of Union as well amend as any underlying principle.
The Privileges Committee unanimously found that the Articles of Union would not be breached by the House of Lords Bill if it were enacted. The bill did receive Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
, and from 2000, hereditary peers have not had the automatic right to sit in Parliament.
Ireland
- See also List of Irish representative peers
Under the Acts of Union 1800, Irish peers elected twenty-eight representative peers, who served for life. The Chamber of the Irish House of Lords
Irish House of Lords
The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from mediaeval times until 1800. It was abolished along with the Irish House of Commons by the Act of Union.-Function:...
housed the first election, with the peers or their proxies attending. The Clerk of the Crown in Ireland was responsible for electoral arrangements; each peer voted by an open and public ballot. The results of the first election were announced by the Clerk of the Crown. After the Union, new elections were held whenever vacancies occurred due to the death of any peer. The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
—the presiding officer of the House of Lords— certified the vacancy, while the Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...
directed the Clerk of the Crown to issue ballots to Irish peers. The ballots were returned to the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland, who was responsible for determining the victor.
Lords Spiritual
The Lords Spiritual of the United Kingdom, also called Spiritual Peers, are the 26 bishops of the established Church of England who serve in the House of Lords along with the Lords Temporal. The Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, is not represented by spiritual peers...
, who sat in rotation for terms lasting one session each. At any one time, an Archbishop and three Bishops represented Ireland, with the seat passing according to a fixed rotation, except that those Lords Spiritual who were also elected to serve as representative peers would be omitted. The rotation was changed by the Church Temporalities Act of 1833, which merged many dioceses and degraded the archbishoprics of Tuam
Archdiocese of Tuam (Church of Ireland)
The Archbishopric of Tuam existed from the mid twelfth century until 1839, with its seat at Tuam.St Jarlath is considered to have founded Tuam as the seat of a bishop in about 501, and he stands first in the list of bishops of Tuam...
and Cashel
Archbishop of Cashel
The Archbishop of Cashel is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. The title is still in use in the Roman Catholic Church, but in the Church of Ireland it was downgraded to a bishopric in 1838....
to bishoprics. Following its disestablishment in 1871 by the Irish Church Act 1869, the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
ceased to appoint spiritual representatives.
With the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Irish peers ceased to elect representatives, however those already elected continued to serve for life. The last of the temporal peers, Francis Charles Adelbert Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey
Francis Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey
Francis Charles Adelbert Henry Needham, 4th Earl of Kilmorey PC OBE , styled Viscount Newry from 1883 to 1915, was an Anglo-Irish peer.-Background:...
, died in 1961. Disputes then arose as to whether representative peers could still be elected. The Act establishing the Irish Free State was silent on the matter, although the Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922
Irish Free State (Consequential Provisions) Act 1922
The Irish Free State Act 1922 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 5 December 1922...
had abolished the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...
, whose involvement was required in the election process; the office of Clerk of the Crown had also been abolished in Ireland. Various Irish peers petitioned the House of Lords for a restoration of their right to elect representatives. In 1962, the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform rejected such plans. In the next year, when the Peerage Bill
Peerage Act 1963
The Peerage Act 1963 is the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permitted peeresses in their own right and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, and which allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be "disclaimed".-Background:The Act resulted largely from the...
(which among other things gave all Scottish peers the right to sit in the House of Lords) was being considered, an amendment to similarly allow Irish peers to attend was defeated, ninety to eight. Instead, the new Act gave all Irish peers the right to sit in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, and to vote at parliamentary elections.
In 1965, Randall John Somerled McDonnell, 8th Earl of Antrim and other Irish peers petitioned the House of Lords, arguing that the right to elect representative peers had never been formally abolished. The House of Lords ruled against the Irish peers. The Lord Reid
James Reid, Baron Reid
James Scott Cumberland Reid, Baron Reid, CH, KC FRSE was a Scottish Unionist politician and judge. His reputation is as one of the most outstanding judges of the 20th century....
, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the House of Lords of the United Kingdom in order to exercise its judicial functions, which included acting as the highest court of appeal for most domestic matters...
, based his ruling on the Act of Union, which stated that representative peers sat "on the part of Ireland." He reasoned that, since the island had been divided into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, there was no such political entity called "Ireland" which the representative peers could be said to represent. Lord Reid wrote, "A statutory provision is impliedly repealed if a later enactment brings to an end a state of things the continuance of which is essential for its operation." In contrast, Lord Wilberforce
Richard Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce
Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce, PC was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the House of Lords from 1964 to 1982....
, another Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, disagreed that a major enactment such as the Act of Union could be repealed by implication. He argued instead on the basis that the Irish Free State Act 1921
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
—which was silent on the election of representative peers— abolished the posts of Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Clerk of the Crown in Ireland. The Lord Chancellor of Ireland was responsible for calling elections of representative peers, and the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland was responsible for sending peers their ballots. Since these offices had been abolished, Lord Wilberforce argued, there was no mechanism by which Irish peers could be elected. Here too, the petitioners lost.
The petitioners did not bring up the point that Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom. Lord Reid's objections would then be rebutted, as representative peers would sit on the part of Northern Ireland. Similarly, Lord Wilberforce's arguments relating to the removal of the mechanism for the election could be answered, as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland did have replacements in Northern Ireland. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage suggests that the reason for which the arguments relating to Northern Ireland "was that leading counsel for the petitioning Irish peers was convinced that the members of the Committee for Privileges were with him on what he considered was his best argument and did not want to alienate them by introducing another point." In order to prevent further appeals on the matter, Parliament repealed, as a part of the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1971, the sections of the Acts of Union relating to the election of Irish representative peers.
House of Commons
After the Union between England and Scotland in 1707, Scottish peers, even those who did not sit as representative peers, were barred from sitting in the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
.
Irish peers were not subjected to the same disability after 1801 as their Scottish counterparts. Irish peers who were not representative peers could serve as a Member of Parliament for a constituency in Great Britain (but not in Ireland), provided they gave up their privileges as a peer.
The Peerage Act 1963 allowed all Scottish peers to sit in the House of Lords; it also permitted all Irish peers to sit in the House of Commons for any constituency in the United Kingdom, as well as to vote in parliamentary elections, without being deprived of the remaining privileges of peerage.
Hereditary "representative peers"
During the passage of the House of Lords Bill in 1999, controversy surrounding House of Lords reform remained, and the Bill was conceived as a first stage of Lords reform. The "Weatherill" amendment —so called since it was proposed by former House of Commons Speaker Bernard WeatherillBernard Weatherill
Bruce Bernard Weatherill, Baron Weatherill, PC, DL, KStJ was a British Conservative Party politician who became Speaker of the House of Commons.-Tailor:...
— provided for a small number of Hereditary Peers to remain as members of the House of Lords, during the first stage of Lords reform. It could then be reviewed during the next stage of the reform, when the system of appointed Life Peerages came under examination. In exchange for the House not delaying the passage of the Bill into law, the Government agreed to this amendment, and it then became part of the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
, and 92 hereditary peers were allowed to remain.
The ninety-two peers are made up of three separate groups. Fifteen ‘office-holders’ comprise Deputy Speakers and Deputy Chairmen, and are elected by the House, while seventy-five party and Crossbench members are elected by their own party or group. In addition, there are two royal appointments: the Lord Great Chamberlain
Lord Great Chamberlain
The Lord Great Chamberlain of England is the sixth of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Privy Seal and above the Lord High Constable...
, currently the Marquess of Cholmondeley
David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley
David George Philip Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, KCVO, DL , was styled from birth Viscount Malpas until 1968, and subsequently Earl of Rocksavage until 1990...
, is appointed as the Queen’s representative in Parliament, while the Earl Marshal
Earl Marshal
Earl Marshal is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England...
, an office held since 1672 by the Dukes of Norfolk
Duke of Norfolk
The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, the Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the...
, is responsible for ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament.
Sources
- Farnborough, T. E. May, 1st Baron. (1896). "Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third. 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
- Lysaght, CharlesCharles LysaghtCharles Lysaght is an Irish lawyer, author and journalist. He is the foremost writer of obituaries in Ireland.-Legal career:Lysaght was educated at Cambridge University and qualified as a barrister at the King's Inns, Dublin, and then at Lincoln's Inn in London...
. (1999). "The Irish Peers and the House of Lords - The Final Chapter." Burke's Peerage & Baronetage. 106th ed. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. - Malcomson, A.P.W. "The Irish Peerage and the Act of Union, 1800-1971". Cambridge University Press, 9 April 2002.
- Documents on Irish Foreign Policy Series: Anglo-Irish Treaty: Text of. Anglo-Irish Treaty, 6 December 1921. The National Archives of Ireland. Retrieved on 2007-04-07
- Briefing Paper (PDF). House of Lords, November 2005. Retrieved on 2007-04-07
- Peerage (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
- Privileges - First Report. House of Lords, 18 October 1999. Retrieved on 2007-04-07