Posted by The Mysterious H.C. on July 09, 1997 at 09:31:24:
In reply to Titles and Parlaiment posted by Mary on July 09, 1997 at 08:23:42
] How was it determined who would have a seat in the House of Lords? How low on the title hierarchy could one's title be and still have a seat in the House? Also were new seats in the House created when a person was given a newly-created title of Lord or Viscount etc.?
Mary, there wasn't a fixed number of "seats" in the house of Lords, and in fact many members didn't attend very often.
Basically, anyone who was a Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquis, or Duke in the peerage of England (i.e. an English noble title created before 1707) or in the peerage of Great Britain (English/Scottish noble title created after1707) was eligible to sit in the House of Lords. Scottish peers and, after the act of union with Ireland in 1801, Irish peers weren't all eligible to sit in the House of Lords -- I believe thatthe Scottish and Irish peers elected members of their group to represent them.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.