Woolsack of Appeal and the Justices of the High Court only attend Parliament for the State Opening. Woolsack The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In the 14th century King Edward III (1327–1377) commanded that his Lord Chancellor whilst in council should sit on a wool bale, now known as "The Woolsack", in order to symbolise the central nature and huge importance of the wool trade to the economy of England in the Middle Ages. Indeed, it was largely to protect the vital English
Women in the House of Lords was the first woman leader of the House of Lords in 1981. Baroness Hale of Richmond became the first female Law Lord in 2004. Since the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, hereditary peeresses remain eligible for election to the Upper House; there is one (Countess of Mar) among the 90 hereditary peers who continue to sit. Following a change to the law in 2014 to allow women to be ordained bishops, the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 was passed, which provides that whenever a vacancy arises among the Lords Spiritual during the ten years following the Act