Representative peer

In the United Kingdom, representative peers were individuals elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to represent them in the British House of Lords. Members of the Peerage of England, Peerage of Great Britain, and Peerage of the United Kingdom all had the right to sit in the House of Lords; they did not elect a limited group of representatives.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - Peerage of Scotland - Peerage of Ireland - House of Lords - Peerage of England - Peerage of Great Britain - Peerage of the United Kingdom

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Representative peers were introduced in 1707, when England and Scotland were united into the Kingdom of Great Britain. At the time, there were 168 English and 154 Scottish peers, though the English population was significantly higher than the Scottish population. The English peers feared that the House of Lords would be swamped by the Scottish element, and consequently arranged for the election of a small number of representative peers to represent Scotland. A similar arrangement was adopted when Great Britain and Ireland merged into the United Kingdom in 1801.

Related Topics:
1707 - 1801

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Scotland was allowed to elect sixteen representative peers, whilst Ireland could elect twenty-eight. Those chosen by Scotland sat only for one Parliament; after each dissolution, new Scottish representative peers were elected. Irish representative peers, on the other hand, sat for life. Elections for Irish representative peers ceased when the Irish Free State left the Kingdom in 1922. Elections for Scottish representative peers ended in 1963, when all Scottish peers obtained the right to sit in the House of Lords, whether representative peers or not.

Related Topics:
Irish Free State - 1922 - 1963

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