ABSTRACT
The majority of liberal democracies have bicameral legislatures, or legislatures with two ‘chambers’ or ‘houses’. In the United Kingdom, the second chamber, the Upper House – or House of Lords – is an unelected chamber which has judicial, legislative, scrutinising and debating functions. The House of Lords is unelected. While this situation is anomalous, undemocratic and anachronistic in an otherwise democratic society, there are some advantages in the arrangement which is too often overlooked. In essence, the value of an unelected chamber paradoxically lies in its lack of accountability to either the government of the day or the electorate, giving it an independence without which the value of its work would be diminished. Prior to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the office of Speaker of the House of Lords was fulfilled by the Lord Chancellor, appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister.
