Editing House of Lords (section)

== Functions ==
[[File:Take_a_tour_of_the_House_of_Lords.webm|thumb|Brief introduction of the House of Lords]]

===Legislative functions===
{{Further|Act of Parliament (UK)}}
All [[legislation]], with the exception of [[money bills]], may be introduced in either the House of Lords or House of Commons.

The House of Lords debates legislation, and has the power to amend or reject bills. However, the power of the Lords to reject a bill passed by the House of Commons is severely restricted by the Parliament Acts. Under those Acts, certain types of bills may be presented for [[Royal Assent]] without the consent of the House of Lords (i.e. the Commons can override the Lords' veto). The House of Lords cannot delay a money bill (a bill that, in the view of the Speaker of the House of Commons, solely concerns national taxation or public funds) for more than one month.

Other public bills cannot be delayed by the House of Lords for more than two parliamentary sessions, or one calendar year. These provisions, however, only apply to public bills that originate in the House of Commons, and cannot have the effect of extending a parliamentary term beyond five years. A further restriction is a [[constitutional convention (political custom)|constitutional convention]] known as the [[Salisbury Convention]], which means that the House of Lords does not oppose legislation promised in the Government's election manifesto.

By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the House of Lords is further restrained insofar as financial bills are concerned. The House of Lords may neither originate a bill concerning taxation or Supply (supply of treasury or exchequer funds), nor amend a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-related provision. (The House of Commons, however, often waives its privileges and allows the Upper House to make amendments with financial implications.) Moreover, the Upper House may not amend any Supply Bill. The House of Lords formerly maintained the absolute power to reject a bill relating to revenue or Supply, but this power was curtailed by the Parliament Acts.

===Relationship with the government===
The House of Lords does not control the term of the prime minister or of the government.<ref name="Parliament of the United Kingdom-2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/parliament-government/|title=Parliament and government|date=21 April 2010|work=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]|access-date=25 March 2013}}</ref> Only the lower house may force the prime minister to resign or call elections by [[Motions of no confidence in the United Kingdom|passing a motion of no-confidence]] or by [[Loss of supply|withdrawing supply]]. Therefore, the House of Lords' oversight of the government is limited.

Most Cabinet ministers are from the House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. In particular, all prime ministers since 1902 have been members of the lower house<ref name="wasson">{{cite book|title=A History of Modern Britain: 1714 to the Present|last=Wasson|first=Ellis|date=31 August 2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781405139359}}</ref> ([[Alec Douglas-Home]], who became prime minister in 1963 whilst still an earl, disclaimed his peerage and was elected to the Commons soon after his term began). In recent history, it has been very rare for major cabinet positions (except Lord Chancellor and [[Leader of the House of Lords]]) to have been filled by peers.

Exceptions include:
*[[Lord Carrington]], who was the [[Secretary of State for Defence]] from 1970 to 1974, [[Department of Energy (United Kingdom)|Secretary of State for Energy]] briefly for two months in early 1974 and [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]] between 1979 and 1982
*[[Lord Cockfield]], who served as [[Secretary of State for Trade]] and [[President of the Board of Trade]]
*[[Lord Young of Graffham]], who was [[Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)|Minister without Portfolio]], then [[Secretary of State for Employment]] and then [[Secretary of State for Trade and Industry]] and [[President of the Board of Trade]] from 1984 to 1989
*[[Baroness Amos]], who served as [[Secretary of State for International Development]]
*[[Lord Adonis]], who served as [[Secretary of State for Transport]]
*[[Lord Mandelson]], who served as [[First Secretary of State]], [[Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills]] and [[President of the Board of Trade]]
*[[George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen|George Robertson]] was briefly a peer whilst serving as [[Secretary of State for Defence]] before resigning to take up the post of [[Secretary General of NATO]].
*[[Baroness Morgan of Cotes]] was appointed as [[Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport]] as an MP, but retained the office when she was appointed to the House of Lords.
*[[David Cameron]], Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and a former Prime Minister, was appointed [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]] and a member of the House of Lords in 2023.<ref name="CameronLord">{{Cite news |last=Stacey |first=Kiran |date=2023-11-13 |title=David Cameron returns to UK government as foreign secretary |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/13/david-cameron-returns-to-uk-government-as-foreign-secretary |archive-date=15 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115081301/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/13/david-cameron-returns-to-uk-government-as-foreign-secretary |url-status=live |access-date=2023-11-13 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Rt Hon David Cameron |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/david-cameron |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref>

From 1999 to 2010 the [[Attorney General for England and Wales]] was a member of the House of Lords; {{As of|July 2024|lc=y}}, the Attorney General is once again a peer.

The House of Lords remains a source for junior ministers and members of government. Like the House of Commons, the Lords also has a [[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms|Government Chief Whip]] as well as several Junior Whips. Where a government department is not represented by a minister in the Lords or one is not available, government whips will act as spokesmen for them.<ref name="companion">{{cite book|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldcomp/compso2013/2013comp.pdf|title=Companion to the standing orders and guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords|author=House of Lords|publisher=The Stationery Office|year=2013|edition=23|location=London|access-date=25 March 2013}}</ref>

===Former judicial role===
{{Main|Judicial functions of the House of Lords}}
Historically, the House of Lords held several judicial functions. Most notably, until 2009 the House of Lords served as the [[court of last resort]] for most instances of UK law. Since 1 October 2009 this role is now held by the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]].

The Lords' judicial functions originated from the ancient role of the [[Curia Regis]] as a body that addressed the petitions of the King's subjects. The functions were exercised not by the whole House, but by a committee of "Law Lords". The bulk of the House's judicial business was conducted by the twelve [[Lords of Appeal in Ordinary]], who were specifically appointed for this purpose under the [[Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876]].

The judicial functions could also be exercised by Lords of Appeal (other members of the House who happened to have held high judicial office). No Lord of Appeal in Ordinary or Lord of Appeal could sit judicially beyond the age of seventy-five. The judicial business of the Lords was supervised by the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and their deputy, the Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

The jurisdiction of the House of Lords extended, in civil and in criminal cases, to appeals from the courts of England and Wales, and of Northern Ireland. From Scotland, appeals were possible only in civil cases; Scotland's [[High Court of Justiciary]] is the highest court in criminal matters. The House of Lords was not the United Kingdom's only court of last resort; in some cases, the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] performs such a function. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, however, is relatively restricted; it encompasses appeals from [[ecclesiastical]] courts, disputes under the [[House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975]], and a few other minor matters. Issues related to [[devolution]] were transferred from the Privy Council to the Supreme Court in 2009.

The twelve Law Lords did not all hear every case; rather, after World War II cases were heard by panels known as Appellate Committees, each of which normally consisted of five members (selected by the Senior Lord). An Appellate Committee hearing an important case could consist of more than five members. Though Appellate Committees met in separate committee rooms, judgement was given in the Lords Chamber itself. No further appeal lay from the House of Lords, although the House of Lords could refer a "preliminary question" to the [[European Court of Justice]] in cases involving an element of [[European Union law]], and a case could be brought at the [[European Court of Human Rights]] if the House of Lords did not provide a satisfactory remedy in cases where the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] was relevant.

A distinct judicial function—one in which the whole House used to participate—is that of [[Impeachment trial|trying impeachments]]. [[Impeachment in the United Kingdom|Impeachments]] were brought by the House of Commons, and tried in the House of Lords; a conviction required only a majority of the Lords voting. Impeachments, however, are to all intents and purposes obsolete; the last impeachment was that of [[Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville]], in 1806.

Similarly, the House of Lords was once the court that tried peers charged with high [[treason]] or [[felony]]. The House would be presided over not by the Lord Chancellor, but by the [[Lord High Steward]], an official especially appointed for the occasion of the trial. If Parliament was not in session, then peers could be tried in a separate court, known as the Lord High Steward's Court. Only peers, their wives, and their widows (unless remarried) were entitled to [[List of trials of peers in the House of Lords|such trials]]; the Lords Spiritual were tried in ecclesiastical courts. In 1948, the right of peers to be tried in such special courts was abolished; now, they are tried in the regular courts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/58/section/30/enacted/data.htm|title=Criminal Justice Act 1948|website=legislation.gov.uk}}</ref> The last such trial in the House was of [[Edward Russell, 26th Baron de Clifford]], in 1935. An illustrative dramatisation circa 1928 of a trial of a peer (the fictional [[Duke of Denver]]) on a charge of murder (a felony) is portrayed in the 1972 BBC Television adaption of [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] mystery ''[[Clouds of Witness]]''.

The [[Constitutional Reform Act 2005]] resulted in the creation of a separate Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, to which the judicial function of the House of Lords, and some of the judicial functions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, were transferred. In addition, the office of Lord Chancellor was reformed by the act, removing his ability to act as both a government minister and a judge. This was motivated in part by concerns about the historical admixture of legislative, judicial, and executive power. The new Supreme Court is located at [[Middlesex Guildhall]].