Legislative Functions
The Lord Chancellor used to be the presiding officer of the House of Lords by right of prescription. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 removed this function, leaving the choice of a presiding officer to the House of Lords itself. Ultimately, the Lords chose to elect a Lord Speaker, which title was already used in the Standing Orders.
Whenever the Sovereign appoints Lords Commissioners to perform certain actions on his or her behalf (for example, to formally declare in Parliament that the Royal Assent has been granted, or to prorogue or dissolve Parliament), the Lord Chancellor usually served as the principal or senior Lord Commissioner. The other Lords Commissioners, by convention, are members of the House of Lords who are Privy Counsellors (generally the leaders of the three main parties and the Convenor of the Crossbenches). In this role the Lord Chancellor wears Parliamentary Robes—a full-length scarlet wool gown decorated with miniver fur. The Lord Chancellor wears a tricorne hat, but the other Lords Commissioners wear bicorne hats. During the period that Jack Straw, an MP, was Lord Chancellor, he was officially named as one of the Lords Commissioners, but did not take part in the formal ceremonies of granting Royal Assent and proroguing Parliament. The Lord Speaker has been appointed a Lord Commissioner and does take part in the ceremonies. The role of principal Lord Commissioner during this period has been taken by the Leader of the House of Lords. (There was only one exception: when John Bercow was presented for Royal Approbation for the office of Speaker of the House of Commons in 2009, Straw was the principal Lord Commissioner, and the Lord Speaker was not in the Commission.) This precedent has continued under the current Lord Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke. It is unclear how these arrangements would change if a future Lord Chancellor were appointed from the House of Lords.
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