a title of honour given to those who are noble either by birth or creation. In this sense, it amounts to much the same as peer of the realm, or lord of parliament. The title is by courtesy also given to all the sons of dukes and marquises, and to the eldest sons of earls: and it is also a title of honour bestowed on those who are honourable by their employments; as lord advocate, lord chamberlain, lord chancellor, &c. The word is Saxon, but abbreviated from two syllables into one; for it was originally Hlaford, which by dropping the aspiration became Laford, and afterwards by contraction Lord. "The etymology of the word (says J. Coates) is well worth observing; for it was composed of hlaf "a loaf of bread," and ford, "to give or afford;" so that Hlaford, now Lord, implies "a giver of bread;" because, in those ages, such great men kept extraordinary houses, and fed all the poor; for which reason they were called givers of bread, a thing now much out of date, great men being fond of retaining the title, but few regarding the practice for which it was first given. See Lady.

House of LORDS, one of the three estates of parliament, and composed of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal.

1. The Spiritual Lords consist of two archbishops and 24 bishops; and, at the dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII. consisted likewise of 26 mitred abbots and two priors; a very considerable body, and in those times equal in number to the temporal nobility. All these hold, or are supposed to hold, certain ancient baronies under the king: for William the Conqueror thought proper to change the spiritual tenor of frank-almonry or free alms, under which the bishops held their lands during the Saxon government, into the feudal or Norman tenure by barony; which subjected their estates to all civil charges and assessments, from which they were before exempt; and in right of succession to those baronies, which were unalienable from their respective dignities, the bishops and abbots were allowed their seats in the house of lords. But though these lords spiritual are in the eye of the law a distinct estate from the lords temporal, and are so distinguished in most of our acts of parliament; yet in practice they are usually blended together under the name of the lords: they intermix in their votes, and the majority of such intermixture joins both estates. And from this want of a separate assembly, and separate negative of the prelates, some writers have argued very cogently, that the lords spiritual and temporal are now in reality only one estate: which is unquestionably true in every effectual sense, though the ancient distinction between them still nominally continues. For if a bill should pass their house, there is no doubt of its validity, though every lord spiritual should vote against it; of which Selden and Sir Edward Coke give many instances; as, on the other hand, doubtless it would be equally good, if the lords temporal present were inferior to the bishops in number, and every one of those temporal lords gave his vote to reject the bill; though this Sir Edward Coke seems to doubt of.

2. The Temporal Lords consist of all the peers of the realm (the bishops not being in strictness held to be such, but merely lords of parliament), by whatever title of nobility distinguished; dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts or barons*. Some of these fit by descent,* See N9 as do all ancient peers; some by creation, as do all new new made ones; others, since the union with Scotland, by election, which is the case of the 16 peers who represent the body of the Scots nobility. Their number is indefinite, and may be increased at will by the power of the crown: and once, in the reign of Queen Anne, there was an instance of creating no less than 12 together; in contemplation of which, in the reign of King George I. a bill passed the house of lords, and was countenanced by the then ministry, for limiting the number of the peerage. This was thought by some to promise a great acquisition to the constitution, by restraining the prerogative from gaining the ascendant in that august assembly, by pouring in at pleasure an unlimited number of new-created lords. But the bill was ill relished, and miscarried in the house of commons, whose leading members were then desirous to keep the avenues to the other house as open and easy as possible.

The distinction of ranks and honours is necessary in every well governed state: in order to reward such as are eminent for their services to the public, in a manner the most desirable to individuals, and yet without burden to the community; exciting thereby an ambitious yet laudable ardour and generous emulation in others. And emulation, or virtuous ambition, is a spring of action which, however dangerous or invidious in a mere republic or under a despotic sway, will certainly be attended with good effects under a free monarchy; where, without destroying its existence, its excesses may be continually restrained by that superior power from which all honour is derived. Such a spirit, when nationally diffused, gives life and vigour to the community; it sets all the wheels of government in motion, which, under a wise regulator, may be directed to any beneficial purpose; and thereby every individual may be made subservient to the public good, while he principally means to promote his own particular views. A body of nobility is also more particularly necessary in our mixed and compounded constitution, in order to support the rights of both the crown and the people, by forming a barrier to withstand the encroachments of both. It creates and preserves that gradual scale of dignity which proceeds from the peasant to the prince; rising like a pyramid from a broad foundation, and diminishing to a point as it rises. It is this ascending and contracting proportion that adds stability to any government; for when the departure is sudden from one extreme to another, we may pronounce that state to be precarious. The nobility therefore are the pillars, which are reared from among the people, more immediately to support the throne; and, if that falls, they must also be buried under its ruins. Accordingly, when in the last century the commons had determined to extirpate monarchy, they also voted the house of lords to be useless and dangerous. And since titles of nobility are thus expedient in the state, it is also expedient that their owners should form an independent and separate branch of the legislature. If they were confounded with the mass of the people, and like them had only a vote in electing representatives, their privileges would soon be borne down and overwhelmed by the popular torrent, which would effectually level all distinctions. It is therefore highly necessary that the body of nobles should have a distinct assembly, distinct deliberations, and distinct powers from the commons. See also KING, NOBILITY, PARLIAMENT, COMMONS, and COMMONALITY.

As to the peculiar laws and customs relating to the house of lords: One very ancient privilege is that declared by the charter of the forest, confirmed in parliament 9 Hen. III.; viz. that every lord spiritual or temporal summoned to parliament, and passing through the king's forests, may, both in going and returning, kill one or two of the king's deer without warrant; in view of the forest if he be present, or on blowing a horn if he be absent; that he may not seem to take the king's venison by stealth.

In the next place, they have a right to be attended, and constantly are, by the judges of the court of king's bench and common pleas, and such of the barons of the exchequer as are of the degree of the coif, or have been made serjeants at law; as likewise by the king's learned council, being serjeants, and by the masters of the court of chancery; for their advice in point of law, and for the greater dignity of their proceedings. The secretaries of state, with the attorney and solicitor general, were also used to attend the house of peers, and have to this day (together with the judges, &c.) their regular writs of summons issued out at the beginning of every parliament, ad trandum et confluim impendendum, though not ad conuentium, but, whenever of late years they have been members of the house of commons, their attendance here hath fallen into disuse.

Another privilege is, that every peer, 'by license obtained from the king, may make another lord of parliament his proxy, to vote for him in his absence: A privilege, which a member of the other house can by no means have, as he is himself but a proxy for a multitude of other people.

Each peer has also a right, by leave of the house, when a vote passes contrary to his sentiments, to enter his dissent on the journals of the house, with the reasons for such dissent; which is usually styled his protest.

All bills likewise, that may in their consequences any way affect the rights of the peerage, are by the custom of parliament to have their first rise and beginning in the house of peers, and to suffer no changes or amendments in the house of commons.

There is also one statute peculiarly relative to the house of lords; 6 Ann. c. 23. which regulates the election of the 16 representative peers of North Britain, in consequence of the 22d and 23d articles of the Union: and for that purpose prescribes the oaths, &c. to be taken by the electors; directs the mode of balloting; prohibits the peers electing from being attended in an unusual manner; and expressly provides, that no other matter shall be treated of in that assembly, save only the election, on pain of incurring a praemunire. See also the articles NOBILITY and PEERS.