House of Lords

====Hereditary peers====
Since the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], the Lords Temporal have been the most numerous group in the House of Lords. Unlike the Lords Spiritual, they may be publicly partisan, aligning themselves with one or another of the political parties that dominate the House of Commons. Publicly non-partisan Lords are called [[crossbencher]]s. Originally, the Lords Temporal included several hundred hereditary peers (that is, those whose peerages may be inherited), who ranked variously as [[duke]]s, [[marquess]]es, [[earl]]s, [[viscount]]s, and [[baron]]s (as well as Scottish [[Lords of Parliament]]). Such hereditary dignities can be created by the Crown; in modern times this is done on the advice of the Prime Minister of the day (except in the case of members of the Royal Family).

Holders of [[peerage of Scotland|Scottish]] and Irish peerages were not always permitted to sit in the Lords. When Scotland united with England to form [[Great Britain]] in 1707, it was provided that the Scottish hereditary peers would only be able to elect 16 [[List of Scottish representative peers|Scottish representative peer]]s to sit in the House of Lords; the term of a representative was to extend until the next general election. A similar provision was enacted when Ireland merged with Great Britain in 1801 to form the [[United Kingdom]]; the Irish peers were allowed to elect 28 [[List of Irish representative peers|Irish representative peer]]s, who were to retain office for life. Elections for Irish representatives ended in 1922, when most of [[Ireland]] became an independent state known as the [[Irish Free State]]; elections for Scottish representatives ended with the passage of the [[Peerage Act 1963]], under which all Scottish peers obtained seats in the Upper House.

In 1999, the Labour government brought forward the House of Lords Act removing the right of several hundred hereditary peers to sit in the House. The Act provided, as a measure intended to be temporary, that 92 people would continue to sit in the Lords by virtue of hereditary peerages, and this is still in effect.

Of the 92, two remain in the House of Lords because they hold royal offices connected with Parliament: the [[Earl Marshal#England|Earl Marshal]] and the [[Lord Great Chamberlain]]. Of the [[List of hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999|remaining ninety peers sitting in the Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage]], 15 are elected by the whole House and 75 are chosen by fellow hereditary peers in the House of Lords, grouped by party. (A holder of a hereditary peerage who is given a life peerage becomes a member of the House of Lords without a need for a by-election.) The exclusion of other hereditary peers removed [[Charles III|Charles, then Prince of Wales]] (who was also [[Earl of Chester]]) and all other royal peers, including [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]]; [[Prince Andrew, Duke of York]]; [[Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Edward, then Earl of Wessex]]; [[Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester]]; and [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent]].

The number of hereditary peers to be chosen by a political group reflects the proportion of hereditary peers that belonged to that group (see [[#Current composition|current composition]] below) in 1999. When an elected hereditary peer dies, a [[By-elections to the House of Lords|by-election]] is held, with a variant of the [[Instant-runoff voting|Alternative Vote]] system being used. If the recently deceased hereditary peer had been elected by the whole House, then so are their replacement; a hereditary peer elected by a specific political group (including the non-aligned crossbenchers) is replaced by a vote of the hereditary peers already elected to the Lords belonging to that political group (whether elected by that group or by the whole house).