I.  Europa.  606  35.  Großbritannien  und  Irland.

But  amongst  the  above  figures  there  are  13  minors  who  cannot  vote.  No  Peer  can  take
hie  seat  if  (34  and  35  Vict.,  c.  50,  $  4)  he  be  under  age,  of  unsound  mind,  or  bankrupt.  ‘'Peers
of  the  Realm  enjoy  rights  and  exercise  functions  in  five  distinet  characters:  First  they  possess,
individually,  title  of  honour  which  gave  them  rank  and  precedence;  secondly,  they  are  individually
councellors  of  the  Crown;  thirdly,  they  are  collectively,  together  with  the  Lords  Spiritual,  when
not  assembled  in  Parliament,  the  permanent  council  of  the  Crown;  fourthly,  they  are  collectively,
together  with  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  the  Commons,  in  Parliament.  assembled  the  legislative
essembly  of  the  Kingdom  by  whose  advice,  consent  and  authority,  with  the  sanction  of  the
Crown,  all  laws  are  made.

The  most  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  Lords  is  their  judicature,  of  which  they
exercise  several  kinds.  They  have  a  judicature  in  the  trial  ol  Peers;  and  another  in  claims  of  peerage
and  offices  of  honour,  under  references  from  the  Crown,  but  not  otherwise.  Since  the  union  with
Scotland,  they  have  also  had  a  judicature  for  controverted  elections  of  the  16  representative
peers  of  Scotland;  and  since  the  union  with  Ireland  all  questions  touching  the  rotation  or  election
of  lords  spiritual  or  temporal  of  Ireland  are  to  be  decided  by  the  House  of  Lords:  but,  in  addition
to  these  special  cases,  they  have  a  general  judicature  as  a  supreme  court  of  appeal  from  other
courts  of  justice.  This  high  judicial  office  has  been  retained  by  them  as  the  ancient  consilium
regis,  which,  assisted  by  the  judges,  and  with  the  assent  of  the  King  adıninistered  justice  in  the
early  periods  of  English  law’’!.  Just  as  “'Peers  of  the  Realm  enjoy  rights  and  excercise  functions
in  five  distinct  characters''?,  so  there  are  “five  kinds  of  qualification  for  membership  of  the  House
of  Lords,  and  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  consist  of:

(1)  Hereditary  Peers  of  the  United  Kingdom.

(2)  Hereditary  Peers  who  are  not  hereditary  Lords  of  Parliament:

(a)  The  16  representative  Peers  of  Scotland  elected  for  each  Parliament,
(b)  The  28  representative  Peers  of  Ireland  elected  for  life.

(3)  Life  Peers  who  are  Lords  of  Parliament  conditionally  on  the  discharge  of  certain
functions:

(a)  The  26  Spiritual  Peers,
(Tb)  he  4  Lords  of  Appeal’”®

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords  is  the  Lord  Chancellor.  Anson  says  of  him:  “His  place
in  Parliament,  as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords,  is  as  much  a  matter  for  a  treatise  on  Parliament,
as  his  place  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature  is  a  matter  for  a  chapter  on  the  Courts’’®.  He
is  seldom  a  peer  by  birth,  but  is  usually  created  one.  Technically  his  seat  is  known  as  the
*woolsack”®.  He  is  more  closely  connected  with  the  Crown  than  any  other  officer  in  the  state*®.

The  powers  of  the  House  of  Lords  are  much  about  the  same  as  those  of  the  House  of  Commons.
  But  they  cannot  amend  nıoney  bills;  they  may  either  accept  them  or  reject  them;  but
not  make  any  alterations.  Billse  which  concern  the  House  of  Lords  must  be  introduced  first  into
that  house,  other  bills  may  be  introduced  into  either,  with  the  exception  of  constitutional  or
eleotional  bille,  which  must  begin  in  the  Commons’.  :

The  House  usually  meets  on  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thursday  at  a  quarter
past  4  o’clock;  usually  it  does  not  sit  on  Friday  and  Saturday.  Three  peers  constitute  a  quorum.
Questions  decided  on  division  require  thirty  peers  to  be  present.

ı  Sir  T.  Erskine  May  “Parliamentary  Practice‘,  Book  I,  C.  II  pp.  52/53(1897  3  rd  ed).

®  Vide  ut  supra.

sCf.  Anson,  V.  I  p.  170  (1892  ed).

*  Vol.  I  p.  155.

&amp;  «When,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  to  prevent  the  exportation
  of  wool,  to  keep  in  mind  this  source  of  our  national  wealth  woolsacks  were  placed  in
the  House  of  Lords,  whereon  the  judges  sat.“  Wharton's  Law  Lexicon.

°May,  Book  1,  C.  II  p.  47.

”  Vide  Peakoer’'s  British  Citizenship  (Lond.  1906)  pp.  23—28,