In the United Kingdom, what is "Peerage Law"?

Peerage Law - The House of Lords

The House of Lords is very restricted in power and does does not perform the first function. It does perform the second and third functions but only in a weak and restricted way. Its legal powers are set out in two Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949. The House of Lords (through its judges) is the highest court of appeal for Britain. The Lords actually becomes a court and 12 Lords of Appeal do the work (The Law Lords).

Before labour reform there were four groups of Lords or Peers

HEREDITARY PEERS
Peers (Lords) who had inherited noble titles and who sat in the Lords as of right because of their possession of the title. There were approx 636 of these although most hardly ever turned up and a small minority (approx. 150) were regular attenders. Today as a result of Tony Blair's reforms there are only 92.

SPIRITUAL PEERS
26 Anglican Churchmen have the right to sit in the Lords like the Archbishop of Canterbury and York, Bishops of London, Durham, Winchester etc.

THE LAW LORDS
The top 29 judges in the country sit in the Lords so that it can perform its judicial function (it doubles up as the highest court in the land).

LIFE PEERS
In 1958 the Life Peerages Act created Life Peers men and women who have no hereditary title and are made Lords for their lifetime only. When they die their title dies with them.

In theory the Monarch creates new titles and creates new Lords.
ceremonial.

The Prime Minister can create new hereditary Peers or new Life Peers. In fact since the Life Peerages Act of 1958 the Conservatives created more hereditary Peers than Life Peers. When Labour came to power in 1964 they abandoned the idea of creating hereditary Peers and other followed this then surprisingly in 1983 Mrs. Thatcher revived this idea and made two new hereditary Peers (William Whitelaw, her deputy, and also George Thomas the Speaker of the House of Commons (even though neither of them had children to inherit the title). Since then both Major and Blair have again abandoned the practice of making hereditary Peers they have only created Life Peers.

After the Peerages Act of 1963 it was possible for hereditary Peers to renounce their title so that they could become eligible to be elected to the House of Commons. This was done by Lord Stansgate who was then elected as plain Tony Benn? (Labour) and also Lord Hailsham who became Quintin Hogg (Tory).

In creating new Peers the PM will consult with the leaders of the other parties before drawing up the list. He then selects them but all PM's tend to choose the majority from those who support their own party, some will be allowed to be chosen by Hague and Kennedy. This is accepted but it does mean that if a party is in power for a long time they can pack the Lord with their own supporters. This can have a big effect on how the Lords operates.