Discussion Groups / English Usage / October 2007

Some CofE bishops are still there:
http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/members/lords_types.cfm

   Different types of Lords
   
   The Lords currently has around 750 Members, and there are
   four different types: life Peers, Law Lords, bishops and
   elected hereditary Peers. Unlike MPs, the public do not
   elect the Lords. The majority are appointed by the Queen on
   the recommendation of the Prime Minister or of the House of
   Lords Appointments Commission.
   
   Life Peers
   
   Appointed for their lifetime only, these Lords' titles are
   not passed on to their children. The Queen formally appoints
   life Peers on the advice and recommendation of the Prime
   Minister.

   Law Lords (or Lords of Appeal in Ordinary)
   
   The Law Lords are salaried, full-time judges who carry out
   the judicial work of the House of Lords.
   
   The Queen appoints Law Lords on the recommendation of the
   Prime Minister, who receives advice from the Lord
   Chancellor. (This method of appointment will change when the
   relevant provisions of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005
   come into force and selection is made by a selection
   commission whose choice is forwarded to the Lord
   Chancellor.)
   
   Candidates usually come from serving judges of the Court of
   Appeal in England and Wales, the Court of Session in
   Scotland, and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

   Archbishops and bishops
   
   A limited number of 26 Church of England archbishops and
   bishops sit in the House, passing their membership on to the
   next most senior bishop when they retire. The Archbishops of
   Canterbury and York traditionally get life peerages on
   retirement.

   Elected hereditary Peers
   
   The right of hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House
   of Lords was ended in 1999 by the House of Lords Act but 92
   Members were elected internally to remain until the next
   stage of the Lords reform process.

Additional life titles were offered to all hereditary peers of first
creation (ie those who had been made peers themselves, rather than
inheriting the title) except for peers of the blood royal, who
therefore no longer sit in the HoL. Since less than half a dozen
hereditary titles had been created since 1964, this affected only a
small number of mostly very elderly people, all except one of whom
have since died (the exception being Lord Snowdon, who was born in
1930, and was by far the youngest).

It addition, the holders of two hereditary office retained their seats
- the Eerl Marshal (Duke of Norfolk) and the Lord Great Chamberlain
(Marquess of Cholmondeley).

Nope. As Peter notes, 26 bishops and archbishops continue to sit. This
number has remained unchanged for several centuries. It is some of the
bishops, rather than all of them, because the total number of diocesan
bishops has increased substantially during that period.

These are the provisions of the Parliament Act 1911. The delay was
reduced from three sessions (not three *parliaments*, which might be
anything up to fifteen years) to two, and from two years to one, by
the Parliament Act 1949. This still leaves the Lords with substantial
power, especially since the Parliament Act does not apply to Statutory
Instruments, which still require approval by both Houses. Nor does it
apply to Bills which *start* in the Lords, as is common for
legislation of constitutional importance.