The House of Lords

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 currently an unelected chamber which has judicial, legislative, scrutinising and debating functions. Applying that argument to the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, it was argued that the 1911 Act delegated power to the Crown and Commons to enact legislation, under specified circumstances and subject to stated exceptions, without the consent of the House of Lords. The House of Lords ruled that the purpose of the Parliament Act 1911 was not to enlarge the powers of the House of Commons or to delegate powers to it, but to restrict the powers of the House of Lords to defeat measures supported by the House of Commons. The Coalition government formed in 2010 proposed to introduce a wholly or mainly elected Upper House on the basis of proportional representation.