Hereditary Peer
Hereditary peers form part of the Peerage in the United Kingdom. There are over seven hundred peers who hold titles that may be inherited. Formerly, most of them were entitled to sit in the House of Lords, but since the House of Lords Act 1999 only ninety-two are permitted to do so. Peers are called to the House of Lords with a writ of summons.
A hereditary title is not necessarily a title of the peerage. For instance, baronets and baronetesses may pass on their titles, but they are not peers. Conversely, the holder of a non-hereditary title may belong to the peerage, as with life peers. Peerages may be created by means of letters patent, but the granting of new hereditary peerages has dwindled, with only six having been created since 1965.
Read more about Hereditary Peer: Origins, Modern Laws, Ranks and Titles, Inheritance of Titles, Writs of Summons, Letters Patent, The Number of Hereditary Peers
Famous quotes containing the words hereditary and/or peer:
“People think they have taken quite an extraordinarily bold step forward when they have rid themselves of belief in hereditary monarchy and swear by the democratic republic. In reality, however, the state is nothing but a machine for the oppression of one class by another, and indeed in the democratic republic no less than in the monarchy.”
—Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
“I peer eagerly into every gap in a fence of a zipper.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)