Options for Lords reform - Essay Example

this initiative there would be only a mere ninety-two hereditary Peers in the House of Lords and that too by election from within the large number of old Hereditary Lords. The House of Lords would then be dominated by appointed Peers and the hereditary Peers a mere rump of their size in days gone by. This situation would only last till the contemplated second phase of reforms of the House of Lords was finalised. It is this second phase of the reform of the House of Lords that becomes significant, for it means choosing from one of the many options that are present for the reform of the House of Lords.

The Saxon Kings in the eleventh century consulted a council called the Witans on important issues. Religious leaders, magnates and ministers of the King attended the Witans. By the thirteenth century the attendance in these councils grew to include representatives of counties, cities and boroughs. However, in a true sense the House of Lords finds in origins in the fourteenth century, when these royal advisers were divided into commoners and lords. (History: How the Lords evolved). Shire and borough representatives were termed as commoners and made up the Commons, while the religious leaders termed Lords Spiritual and the magnates termed Lords Temporal came to be known as the Upper House.

Thus two clearly distinct houses came into existence. By the fifteenth century the membership of Lords Temporal started becoming a male domain and hereditary by nature and the role of the monarch in the choice of the members diminishing, as they were summoned by writ. The term peers started being applied to the Lords Temporal and though equal there emerged five ranks namely Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron. The sixteenth century brought changes to the attendance of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords.

Till 1539 when the suppression of the monasteries took place the Lords Spiritual were made up of bishops, abbots and priors. Subsequent to 1539 only bishops made up the