The House of Lords

The House of Lords is the highest court in the United Kingdom. Judges who sit in the House of Lords are life peers.

Their official title is Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, however they are usually known as Law Lords. There are 12 Law Lords and their role is to hear cases from the lower courts, most often the Court of Appeal. As members of the House of Lords the Law Lords can participate in the debate and enactment of Government legislation, although, in practice, they rarely do so.

There have, in recent years, been mounting calls for the creation of a new free–standing Supreme Court separating the highest appeal court from the second house of Parliament, and removing the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary from the legislature. On 12 June 2003 the Government announced its intention to do so and the new Supreme Court is scheduled to be open for business in October 2009.

Because the House of Lords has a United Kingdom remit it does not fall within the remit of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.