Editing Peerages in the United Kingdom (section)

=== Hereditary peers ===
{{Main|Hereditary peer}}
A hereditary peer is a peer of the realm whose dignity may be inherited; those able to inherit it are said to be "in remainder". Hereditary peerage dignities may be created with [[Hereditary peer#Writs of summons|writs of summons]] or by [[letters patent]]; the former method is now obsolete. Writs of summons summon an individual to Parliament, in the old [[feudal]] tradition, and merely ''implied'' the existence or creation of a hereditary peerage dignity, which is automatically inherited, presumably according to the traditional medieval rules (male-preference [[primogeniture]], like the succession of the British crown until 2011). Letters patent explicitly create a dignity and specify its course of inheritance (usually [[agnatic primogeniture|agnatic]] succession, like the [[Salic Law]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.debretts.com/people/essential-guide-peerage/creation-and-inheritance-peerage|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113163619/http://www.debretts.com/people/essential-guide-peerage/creation-and-inheritance-peerage|url-status=dead|title=www.debretts.com|archivedate=13 November 2015|accessdate=28 May 2024}}</ref> Some hereditary titles can pass through and vest in female heirs in a system called [[coparcenary]]. Following the ''[[Succession to the Crown Act 2013]]'', which replaced male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture in the line of succession to the throne, there were calls from some hereditary peers' daughters to change the rules for hereditary peerages to match. In 2018 five daughters of hereditary peers took the government to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the laws that stop them from inheriting their fathers titles and thereby being elected to the House of Lords.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-07-16 |title=Daughters in legal bid for House of Lords seat rights |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44844335 |access-date=2023-11-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-10-20 |title=Ministers bar hereditary peerages from passing to women |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8840016/Ministers-bar-hereditary-peerages-from-passing-to-women.html |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref>

Once created, a peerage dignity continues to exist as long as there are surviving legitimate descendants (or legitimate agnatic descendants) of the first holder, unless a contrary method of descent is specified in the letters patent. Once the heirs of the original peer die out, the peerage dignity becomes extinct. In former times, peerage dignities were often ''forfeit'' by Acts of Parliament, usually when peers were found guilty of [[treason]]. Often, however, the felonious peer's descendants successfully petitioned the sovereign to restore the dignity to the family. Some dignities, such as the [[Duke of Norfolk|Dukedom of Norfolk]], have been forfeit and restored several times. Under the ''[[Peerage Act 1963]]'' an individual can [[Disclaimer of interest|disclaim]] his peerage dignity for his own lifetime within one year of inheriting it.

When the holder of a peerage succeeds to the throne, the dignity "merges in the Crown" and ceases to exist.

All hereditary peers in the Peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, subject only to qualifications such as age and citizenship, but under section 1 of the ''[[House of Lords Act 1999]]'' they lost this right. The Act provided that 92 hereditary peers — the [[Lord Great Chamberlain]] and the [[Earl Marshal]], along with 90 others exempted through [[Rules of order|standing orders]] of the House — would remain in the House of Lords in the interim,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Legislation&title=house+of+lords&searchEnacted=0&extentMatchOnly=0&confersPower=0&blanketAmendment=0&sortAlpha=0&TYPE=QS&PageNumber=1&NavFrom=0&parentActiveTextDocId=1459027&ActiveTextDocId=1459031&filesize=2306 |title=House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) (s. 2) |work=House of Lords Act 1999 |publisher=[[Office of Public Sector Information]] |access-date=25 March 2009 |quote=2 — Section 1 shall not apply in relation to anyone excepted from it by or in accordance with Standing Orders of the House.}}</ref> pending any reform of the membership to the House. Standing Order 9 provides that those exempted are 75 hereditary peers elected by other peers from and by respective party groups in the House in proportion to their numbers, and fifteen chosen by the whole House to serve as officers of the House.<ref>{{cite web |title=House Of Lords – Standing Orders Of The House Of Lords Relating To Public Business |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldstords/147/14702.htm |access-date=25 March 2009 |year=2007 |publisher=[[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618232716/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldstords/147/14702.htm |archive-date=18 June 2009 }}</ref>