The
Chamber of the House of Lords is a very stately room decorated
in plush and distinctive red and gold. It consists of red
benches on three sides with a table in the middle, and a
throne and Woolsack at one end. The Woolsack is a large square
cushion of wool covered in red cloth with no arms and no
back. It is the traditional seat of the Lord Chancellor in
the House of Lords and, dating back to when the wool trade
was one of the most important parts of the UK economy, is
symbolic of the wealth of the country.
The Lord Chancellor himself is a very important figure.
He is speaker of the House of Lords and the most senior Judge
in England and Wales, in other words, he is Head of the Judiciary.
In the same way that MPs sit in the House of Commons, Peers
sit in the House of Lords. They are either Hereditary Peers,
Life Peers or Law Lords who are themselves Life Peers:
- Hereditary peers inherit their titles from their
parents eg Duke (Duchess), Marquess (Lady), Earl (Countess),
Viscount (Viscountess) or Baron (Baroness). If there
is no heir within the family, the title ends.
- The Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed both men and,
for the first time, women to sit and vote in the House
of Lords for their lifetime only. Before then, the House
of
Lords was comprised only of male hereditary peers.
- Law Lords (Lords of Appeal in Ordinary) are senior
judges who are given life peerages, in order to carry
out the judicial work of the House of Lords as the highest
Court
in the Land.
|
