Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. Prior to the Union there were separate Lord Chancellors[1] of England and Scotland.

The Lord Chancellor is a member of the Cabinet and, by law, is responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts. Formerly he was also the presiding officer of the House of Lords, and the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, but the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 transferred these roles to the Lord Speaker and the Lord Chief Justice respectively. The current Lord Chancellor is Kenneth Clarke, who as with his predecessor Jack Straw is also Secretary of State for Justice. Clarke holds the position, as did Straw, while serving as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons; Jack Straw was the first Lord Chancellor since the seventeenth century not to be a peer. Straw's predecessor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton served as Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs before that post was superseded by the post of Secretary of State for Justice in 2007.

One of the Lord Chancellor's responsibilities is to act as the custodian of the Great Seal. A Lord Keeper of the Great Seal may be appointed instead of a Lord Chancellor. The two offices entail exactly the same duties; the only distinction is in the mode of appointment. Furthermore, the office of Lord Chancellor may be exercised by a committee of individuals known as "Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal". Since the 19th century, however, Lord Chancellors have been exclusively appointed, the other offices having fallen into disuse.

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