ABSTRACT
History Th e House of Lords is generally viewed by historians as having its origins in the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot and more especially its Norman successor, the Curia Regis (Court of the King). Two features of the King’s Curia of the twelft h and thirteenth centuries were to remain central characteristics of the House of Lords. One was the basic composition, comprising the lords spiritual and the lords temporal . At the time of the Magna Carta, the Curia comprised the leading prelates of the kingdom (archbishops, bishops and abbots) and the earls and chief barons. Th e main change, historically, was to be the shift in balance between the two: the churchmen – the lords spiritual – moved from being a dominant to being a small part of the House. Th e other signifi cant feature was the basis on which members were summoned. Th e King’s tenants-in-chief attended court because of their position. Various minor barons were summoned because the King wished them to attend. ‘From the beginning the will of the king was an element in determining its make up’ (White 1908: 299). If a baron regularly received a summons to court, the presumption grew that the summons would be issued to his heir. A body thus developed that peers attended on the basis of a strictly hereditary dignity without reference to tenure. Th e result was to be a House of Lords based on the principle of heredity, with writs of summons being personal to the recipients. Members were not summoned to speak on behalf of some other individuals or bodies. Any notion of representativeness was squeezed out. Even the lords spiritual – who served by reason of their position in the established Church – were summoned to take part in a personal capacity.
