Lords Spiritual Up to 26 bishops of the
Church of England sit in the House of Lords as
Lords Spiritual. Five bishops are members of the Lords
ex officio: the
archbishop of Canterbury, the
archbishop of York, the
bishop of London, the
bishop of Durham and the
bishop of Winchester. The remaining 21 seats are filled by the most senior
diocesan bishops by length of service (with the exception of the
bishop in Europe and the
bishop of Sodor and Man). Until May 2030, female bishops take precedence over men to become new Lords Spiritual for the 21 seats allocated by seniority, as provided for by the
Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015.
Lords Temporal Other members of the House of Lords are collectively known as Lords Temporal, in contrast to the Lords Spiritual. Since April 2026, all Lords Temporal have been
life peers, and all but six (discussed below) hold their peerages pursuant to the
Life Peerages Act 1958.
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, colloquially known as Law Lords, were judges appointed to the House of Lords to carry out the
House's judicial functions under the
Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 and were entitled to sit in House for life, including following active judicial service. The
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 replaced the law lords with the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009. No new law life peers have been created since 2009 but the six remaining law life peers from prior to 2009 (whose appointments are noted in the list below with a ) continue to sit in the Lords without having been created peers pursuant to the
Life Peerages Act 1958. In previous eras, the entirety, the majority or a defined minority of Lords Temporal were
hereditary peers. From 1999 to 2026, a group of
"excepted hereditary peers" sat pursuant to section 2 of the
House of Lords Act 1999. ==Current non-sitting members==