h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How are these members selected? If one has gained certain titles in the Anglican church, is one in the House of Lords, whether it pleases the government or not? Is a law lord a barrister or a solicitor? Does the government identify which lawyer has what rank in some way?

In America, lawyers (like medical doctors) self-rank and self-regulate by state; most states' Bar Associations honoring the rulings of other states. Judgeship was strictly by political favor for awhile, but now almost always also requires a lawyer-type educational degree. Would this kind of distinction apply to a law lord vs a judge lord?

How does it profit any particular government to have the House of Lords? Is it merely a tool to retain a voice in government after a party loses it's plurality?

The Bishops of the Church of England are automatically in whether the government like it or not.

The Law Lords are the most senior judges in the country all have got there by starting as a barrister (expensive lawyer) and then moving up to become a judge and so on.

in both cases being in the house of lords goes with the job.

There is no such thing as a judge lord, if you are refering to people titled Lord Justice "whoever" in relation to a court case, it means the judge hearing the case was one of the law lords.

How you get to be in those jobs involves a lot of political malarky, however unlike the US there is no open party political patronage and they don't get thrown out if there is a change of government.

Now that the Heriditry Peerages are being abolished most of the house of lords is made up of ex MP's who have been "booted upstairs" and people who hold or have held "eminent" positions in society.

Most goverments have battles with the house of lords over some legislation ( a bit like the two houses in the US system)

Thank you for your comments! I had wondered about Lord Justice.

We are taught in america that the monarch of your coutry is the head of your state church. Does the Queen have any (real) power over who is named Bishop, or has history removed her from this, also?

If one finds oneself no longer able to do the qualifying job, do you lose the corresponding House of Lords seat, or is another created?

I appreciate your information. All this juicy stuff about how things really work appears to be unwritten!

William Gladstone the great Liberal Party Prime Minister of the 19th Centurary fought all of his long political life to disenfranchise the Church of Englan d and therefore bring about the seperation of Church and State and thus do away with the Lord's Clerical thus ridding the Upper House of the Archbishop's and Bishop's this was particualrly surprising as Gladstone was very much a High Church Anglican and the Bishop's in the House of Lord's should have fitted into the theology he followed.

As for lawyers in the Lords, judging by the number of lawyers in the current cabinet (including the Prime Minister) expect a few more to join the upper house in years to come no matter what changes they try to bring about, as they are not appearing to move towards an elected second chamber.

There's one of the misconseptions about the British Constitution - that it isn't written down. It is, starting with the Magna Carta and going on through all the various Acts of Parliment, Treaties and Agreements that have been passed since.

The only difference is that its not all consolidated into a single document like the US Constitution is.

This is what makes the British Constitution unique. It all started when the idea of a written constitution was unheard of, mainly because the only people that coule read or write where the clergy and sometimes the monarch. To turn nearly 1000 years of evolution into a single document would be an horrendous task without scrapping everything then went before and starting all over again.

Stuart

Ah but unlike the US France and other nations who have had revolution it is not contained in one document that can be studied and ammended. Yes there are various laws and Acts of Parliament relating to constituional issues but there is no out nad out constitution. Indeed some of these Acts of parliament do raise some grey areas if studied closely as to what is the nature of the Constitution.

Do political scientists have a reference work that either contains or lists the documents in question? It'd be worth money.

There is no consolidated reference work that I know off. Thats way barristers and soliciters get paid exorbitant amounts of money to find out information when it is required.

There are lawyers that specialise in constitutional matters and hopefully they know there way around the system when it matters. But you can be sure that if they make a mistake, there will be no shortage of people ready to jump up and point out the error, just like happens here on h2g2.

Stuart