23. Representation in the Lords

Author(s):  
Peter Dorey ◽  
Matthew Purvis

This chapter examines the issue of representation in the House of Lords. The existence of the unelected House of Lords has long been the subject of criticism, particularly from the Left. This is because the House of Lords today remains an almost wholly nominated, unelected, parliamentary institution, with most peers formally appointed by the Queen. However, some peers are also appointed by a House of Lords Appointments Commission, primarily those of a non-political nature. Such appointments have sparked accusations that the House of Lords is not representative, which runs counter to Britain's status as a parliamentary democracy. The chapter considers four discrete modes of representation and representativeness vis-à-vis the House of Lords: political representativeness, social representativeness, individual representation, and sectional representation.

1896 ◽  
Vol 42 (176) ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
A. Wood Renton ◽  
D. Yellowlees

Mr. Wood Renton.Viewed from the Legal Standpoint.Within the last two years no less than three Parliamentary Reports, dealing with the problems presented by the familiar phenomena of inebriety and recidivism, have been published,∗ and a measure † designed, and, to a large extent, calculated to carry the main recommendations embodied in these documents into effect, has been read a second time in the House of Lords, under the pilotage of the then head of English legal administration. These facts show that public opinion has at length been thoroughly aroused as to the necessity for fresh legislation on the subject of habitual drunkenness and crime, and render any preliminary historical sketch of the growth of the movement, which is apparently at last on the eve of attaining its objects, superfluous. If there is any member of the medical or legal profession who is still in ignorance of the process by which the problems in question have been brought to the stage of perfect ripeness for legislative solution, he may be referred with confidence to an admirable summary of the Parliamentary history of legislation affecting inebriates by Mr. Legge, the Secretary to the Inebriates Committee, 1891, which forms the 6th appendix to the minutes of evidence taken by that body, and is reproduced, with some additions and alterations, as Appendix M in the evidence taken by the Scottish Committee of 1894, and to the three Parliamentary Reports which have suggested the present review (see note, sup.).


2020 ◽  
pp. 255-269
Author(s):  
Pablo Ferrando-García

We present an analysis of the filmic representation of Funny Games to highlight its playful structure as a game of games. Through a series of narrative efforts, a double operation is carried out, aimed at a specular relationship with the viewer. On the one hand, Michael Haneke’s film offers a series of expressive mechanisms that are aimed at shifting the objective gaze to subjective in order to transfer the perception of the subject presented to the viewer. On the other, it presents a brutal clash between the registers of comedy and tragedy through the young psychopaths, Peter and Paul, who emerge as contemporary clowns, in the figures of Pierrot and Harlequin, whose negative resonances lead to the incarnation of absolute EVil. In turn, the family are the victims, and this is presented as the prototype of the family institution while Peter and Paul are mere archetypes. In this way, the cinematographic screen is turned into a device for interrogating its modes of representation and, in turn, offers a solid moral dimension. The ultimate objective of the Hanekian story is to cover it with “a pedagogical function: to familiarize the cinema, to bring it closer to a daily life so that it speaks from you to you to the experience –to the conscience– of the viewer” (Font, 2002, p. 16). Resumen Nuestra propuesta trata de desarrollar un análisis de la representación fílmica con el propósito de poner de relieve la estructura lúdica de Funny Games como juego de juegos. A través de toda una serie de gestiones narrativas se efectúa una doble operación dirigidas a una relación especular con el espectador. Por un lado, la película de Michael Haneke ofrece una serie de mecanismos expresivos que van encaminados al desplazamiento de la mirada objetiva en subjetiva con el fin de trasladar la percepción del sujeto de la enunciación al narratario/espectador. Por otro, presenta un brutal choque entre el registro de la comedia con la tragedia a través de los jóvenes psicópatas, Peter y Paul, que se erigen en los payasos contemporáneos, en las figuras de Pierrot y Arlequín, cuyas resonancias negativas conducen a la encarnación del Mal absoluto. A su vez, George y Anne Schöber son las víctimas y estos son expuestos como el prototipo de la institución familiar mientras Peter y Paul son meros arquetipos narrativos. De este modo, la pantalla cinematográfica se convierte en un dispositivo de interrogación sobre sus modos de representación y, a su vez, ofrece una sólida dimensión moral. El objetivo último del relato hanekiano es revestirlo de “una función pedagógica: familiarizar el cine, acercarlo a una cotidianidad para que hable de tú a tú a la experiencia –a la conciencia– del espectador” (Font, 2002: 16).


1970 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Coote

It was perhaps never very likely that the proponents of fundamental breach would allow their doctrine to die just because of some obiter dicta on the subject from the House of Lords. In that respect, therefore, the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Harbutt's “Plasticine” Ltd. v. Wayne Tank and Pump Co. Ltd. need cause no surprise. What had happened in that case, essentially, was that the defendants had agreed to manufacture some equipment and to instal it in the plaintiffs' factory under a contract, clause 15 of which limited the defendants' liability to the amount of the contract price (£2, 330). A small and easily corrected defect in the equipment caused a fire which destroyed the factory and resulted in a loss to the plaintiffs of some £150,000. The Court of Appeal held (Lord Denning M.R. dubitante) that on its true construction clause 15 covered the loss in the events which had occurred. The whole court nevertheless joined in holding that the destruction of the factory and consequent discharge by breach of the contract had the effect of making clause 15 inapplicable. Judgment was given for the full amount of the loss.


1925 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 38-55
Author(s):  
H. Relf

In searching through the Bodleian last April for debates in the House of Commons during the period of the sixteentwenties, I came across a volume of debates in the House of Lords. My attention was attracted by the subject-matter, for the volume was taken up almost entirely with the Lords' discussion of the Petition of Right during the month of May, 1628. The more I read, the more I was impressed with the amount of information on that important subject added by these notes. From the handwriting, the notes were easily identified as those of Henry Elsing, Clerk of the Parliaments. Then I remembered that earlier in the winter, in going over manuscript material in the Petyt Collection, I had there noted two volumes of debates in the House of Lords. Upon a comparison of handwriting, I found that those volumes were also the work of Henry Elsing. One of the volumes was for 1621, but the other covered the session of 1628 from the beginning to the point where the Bodleian volume begins. Here was more material on the Petition of Right. But for the time being my interest swerved from that particular subject to a more general consideration of the value of my discoveries, and to the possibility it opened up of carrying on a work of editing begun by Samuel Rawson Gardiner.


2021 ◽  
pp. 5-29
Author(s):  
Peter John

This chapter discusses what makes British politics distinctive and recognizable: its parliamentary democracy, uncodified constitution, and pattern of party government. It begins by outlining some recent events that have made British or UK politics so fascinating and controversial. The chapter then describes the political system, particularly the institutional rules that affect what happens and govern how politics takes place. Parliament, composed of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Crown, is the supreme legal authority in the UK. The chapter also provides a summary of the British constitution. It places the UK in a comparative context, to be studied alongside other nation states. Finally, the chapter sets out the information and concepts that help in understanding the nature of and limits to British democracy.


Author(s):  
Anna Backman Rogers

Anna Backman Rogers argues that American independent cinema is a cinema not merely in crisis, but also of crisis. As a cinema which often explores the rite of passage by explicitly drawing on American cinematic heritage, from the teen movie to the western, American independent films deal in images of crisis, transition and metamorphosis, offering a subversive engagement with more traditional modes of representation. Examining films by Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch and Sofia Coppola, this study sets forth that American indie films offer the viewer an ‘art experience’ within the confines of commercial, narrative cinema by engaging with cinematic time (as a mode of philosophical thought) and foregrounding the inherent ‘crisis’ of the cinematic image (as the mode of being as change). The subject of this book is how certain American independent films appropriate ritual as a kind of power of the false in order to throw into crisis images – such as the cliché – that pertain to truth via collective comprehension. In his study of genre, Steve Neale (2000) has outlined how certain images and sound tracks can function ritualistically and ideologically; cinema, according to Neale, both creates a horizon of expectations for an audience and also draws upon existing stratifications and categories in order to shore up established identities and modes of thought.


Legal Studies ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard McCormark

Reservations of title clauses have enjoyed mixed fortunes in recent times at the hands of the courts in Britain. On the one hand, the House of Lords has upheld the validity and effectiveness of an ‘all-liabilities’ reservation of title clause. On the other hand, claims on the part of a supplier to resale proceeds have been rejected in a string offirst instance decisions. Reservation of title has however been viewed more favourably as a phenomenon in New Zealand. In the leading New Zealand case Len Vidgen Ski and Leisure Ltd u Timam Marine Supplies Ltd. a tracing claim succeeded. Moreover in Coleman u Harvey the New Zealand Court of Appeal gave vent to the view that the title of the supplier is not necessarily lost when mixing of goods, which are the subject matter of a reservation of title clause, has occurred. There are now a series of more recent New Zealand decisions, some of them unreported, dealing with many aspects of reservation of title.


1972 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Pearl

The purpose of this article is to review some of the numerous problems facing the new Family Division of the High Court which arise out of the reception of large numbers of Muslim immigrants into this country. The appearance of the Law Commission's Report on Polygamous Marriages and the debate in the House of Lords on Lord Simon's proposed amendment to the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations Act highlight the importance of the subject for the profession.


1979 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Lowe

The role of party in the first half of George III's reign has proved a topic of constant interest to historians. The subject has been examined from a variety of angles, not the least important of which is the relationship between party development and public opinion. Much of the explanation of party development has centered on the House of Commons, and a few attempts have been made to integrate the House of Lords into the story. Less effort has been made, however, to ascertain what, if any, role the upper house played in partisan attempts at influencing public opinion. This essay is an attempt to show how the opposition peers of this period took advantage of one of the privileges of their house, the right of written dissent, in a conscious effort to influence a wider audience, and to demonstrate how this contributed to the growth of party.


1969 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon F. Snow

This is the third in a series of studies dealing with the history of the proxy system in the House of Lords. The first, after tracing the origin of proxies to the Roman law of agency, dealt with the emergence and spread of representation by proctors in the ecclesiastical and political assemblies of medieval England. The second study demonstrated how the proxy system was perfected in the upper house during the reign of Henry VIII and how the Crown benefited from that system. The ensuing article concerns proctorial representation during the crucial years of the Edwardian Reformation. Because of the brief period under consideration — only six years — it seemed best to cast the study in an analytical rather than a chronological framework. The first section deals with the general characteristics of proctorial representation in mid-Tudor times; the second and third sections cover the spiritual and temporal lords, respectively; and the fourth section treats the relationship between the proxy system and conciliar government.IKnowledge of the proxy system in the mid-sixteenth-century House of Lords remains somewhat fragmentary and limited in scope. A satisfactory treatment of the subject does not exist. Constitutional and legal historians have paid little attention to proxies and less to the procedure governing their use in the upper house. As one might expect, Bishop Stubbs dealt with proxies in medieval Parliaments and correctly associated them with parliamentary privileges, but at the same time he concluded that “its history has not yet been minutely traced.


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