1.
European Union law
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European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union. Since the founding of the Coal and Steel Community after World War II, the EU has political institutions, social and economic policies, which transcend nation-states for the purpose of cooperation and human development. According to its Court of Justice the EU represents a new order of international law. The EUs legal foundations are the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, New members may join, if they agree to play by the rules of the organisation, and old members may leave according to their own constitutional requirements. People are entitled to participate through the Parliament, and their governments in shaping the legislation the EU makes. Democratic ideals of integration for international and European nations are as old as the modern nation-state, in the Renaissance, medieval trade flourished in organisations like the Hanseatic League, stretching from English towns like Boston and London, to Frankfurt, Stockholm and Riga. These traders developed the lex mercatoria, spreading basic norms of good faith, in 1517, the Protestant Reformation triggered a hundred years of crisis and instability. This unstable settlement unravelled in the Thirty Years War, killing around a quarter of the population in central Europe. The Treaty of Westphalia 1648, which brought peace according to a system of law inspired by Hugo Grotius, is generally acknowledged as the beginning of the nation-state system. In 1693 William Penn, a Quaker from London who founded Pennsylvania in North America, argued that to prevent ongoing wars in Europe a European dyet, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice. Brought untold sorrow to mankind, the United Nations Charter was passed in 1945, also, the Council of Europe, formed by the Treaty of London 1949, adopted a European Convention on Human Rights, overseen by a new transnational court in Strasbourg in 1950. The Treaty of Paris 1951 created the first European Coal and Steel Community, signed by France, West Germany, Belgium and its theory was simply that war would be impossibly costly if ownership and production of every countrys economy was mixed together. It established an Assembly to represent the people, a Council of Ministers for the states, a Commission as the executive. In the East, the Soviet Union had installed dictatorial governments, controlling East Germany, in the West, the decision was made through Treaty of Rome 1957 to launch the first European Economic Community. It shared the Assembly and Court with the Coal and Steel Community, a separate treaty was signed for a European Atomic Energy Community to manage nuclear production. In 1961 the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland and Norway applied for only to be vetoed in 1963 by Frances Charles de Gaulle. Spain also applied and was rejected as it was led by the Franco dictatorship. The same year, the Court of Justice proclaimed that the Community constituted a new order of international law
2.
Lord Chancellor
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The Lord Chancellor, formally the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. They are appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, the Lord Chancellor is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking after only the Lord High Steward. Prior to the Union there were separate Lords Chancellor for England and Wales, the Lord Chancellor is a member of the Cabinet and, by law, is responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts. In 2007 there were a number of changes to the legal system, the current Lord Chancellor is Elizabeth Truss, who is also Secretary of State for Justice. One of the Lord Chancellors responsibilities is to act as the custodian of the Great Seal of the Realm, a Lord Keeper of the Great Seal may be appointed instead of a Lord Chancellor. The two offices entail exactly the same duties, the distinction is in the mode of appointment. The seal is then said to be in commission, since the 19th century, however, only Lord Chancellors have been appointed, the other offices having fallen into disuse. The office of Lord Chancellor of England may trace its origins to the Carolingian monarchy, in England, the office dates at least as far back as the Norman Conquest, and possibly earlier. Some give the first Chancellor of England as Angmendus, in 605, other sources suggest that the first to appoint a Chancellor was Edward the Confessor, who is said to have adopted the practice of sealing documents instead of personally signing them. A clerk of Edwards, Regenbald, was named chancellor in some documents from Edwards reign, in any event, the office has been continuously occupied since the Norman Conquest. The chancellor headed the office or chancery. Formerly, the Lord Chancellor was almost always a churchman, as during the Middle Ages the clergy were amongst the few men of the realm. The Lord Chancellor performed multiple functions—he was the Keeper of the Great Seal, the royal chaplain. Thus, the position emerged as one of the most important ones in government and he was only outranked in government by the Justiciar. As one of the Kings ministers, the Lord Chancellor attended the curia regis or Royal Court, if a bishop, the Lord Chancellor received a writ of summons, if an ecclesiastic of a lower degree or, if a layman, he attended without any summons. The curia regis would later evolve into Parliament, the Lord Chancellor becoming the prolocutor of its upper house, as was confirmed by a statute passed during the reign of Henry VIII, a Lord Chancellor could preside over the House of Lords even if not a Lord himself. The Lord Chancellors judicial duties also evolved through his role in the curia regis, petitions for justice were normally addressed to the King and the curia, but in 1280, Edward I instructed his justices to examine and deal with petitions themselves as the Court of Kings Bench. Important petitions were to be sent to the Lord Chancellor for his decision, by the reign of Edward III, this chancellery function developed into a separate tribunal for the Lord Chancellor
3.
Nice
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Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. The urban area of Nice extends beyond the city limits. Nice is about 13 kilometres from the principality of Monaco, the city is nicknamed Nice la Belle, which means Nice the Beautiful, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912. The area of todays Nice contains Terra Amata, a site which displays evidence of a very early use of fire. Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength, for centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was then part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860. The citys main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais owes its name to visitors to the resort, for decades now, the picturesque Nicean surroundings have attracted not only those in search of relaxation, but also those seeking inspiration. The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to some of Western cultures most outstanding painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities and it also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the capital city of the County of Nice. Nice was probably founded around 350 BC by the Greeks of Massalia, the ruins of Cemenelum are in Cimiez, now a district of Nice. In the 7th century, Nice joined the Genoese League formed by the towns of Liguria. In 729 the city repulsed the Saracens, but in 859 and again in 880 the Saracens pillaged and burned it, during the Middle Ages, Nice participated in the wars and history of Italy. As an ally of Pisa it was the enemy of Genoa, during the 13th and 14th centuries the city fell more than once into the hands of the Counts of Provence, but it regained its independence even though related to Genoa. The medieval city walls surrounded the Old Town, the landward side was protected by the River Paillon, which was later covered over and is now the tram route towards the Acropolis. The east side of the town was protected by fortifications on Castle Hill, another river flowed into the port on the east side of Castle Hill. Engravings suggest that the area was also defended by walls
4.
Agriculture
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Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
5.
Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
6.
Auction
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An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then buying the item to the highest bidder. The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction in use today, participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid required to be higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, bidders may call out their bids themselves, in economic theory, an auction may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange. The word auction is derived from the Latin augeō which means I increase or I augment, for most of history, auctions have been a relatively uncommon way to negotiate the exchange of goods and commodities. In practice, both haggling and sale by set-price have been more common. Indeed, before the century the few auctions that were held were sporadic. Nonetheless, auctions have a history, having been recorded as early as 500 B. C. According to Herodotus, in Babylon auctions of women for marriage were held annually, the auctions began with the woman the auctioneer considered to be the most beautiful and progressed to the least. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside of the auction method, during the Roman Empire, following military victory, Roman soldiers would often drive a spear into the ground around which the spoils of war were left, to be auctioned off. Later slaves, often captured as the spoils of war, were auctioned in the forum under the sign of the spear, the Romans also used auctions to liquidate the assets of debtors whose property had been confiscated. For example, Marcus Aurelius sold household furniture to pay off debts, One of the most significant historical auctions occurred in the year 193 A. D. when the entire Roman Empire was put on the auction block by the Praetorian Guard. On March 23 The Praetorian Guard first killed emperor Pertinax, then offered the empire to the highest bidder, didius Julianus outbid everyone else for the price of 6,250 drachmas per guard, an act that initiated a brief civil war. Didius was then beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome, from the end of the Roman Empire to the eighteenth century auctions lost favor in Europe, while they had never been widespread in Asia. In some parts of England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries auction by candle began to be used for the sale of goods and leaseholds, sometimes, other unpredictable processes, such as a footrace, were used in place of the expiration of a candle. This type of auction was first mentioned in 1641 in the records of the House of Lords, the practice rapidly became popular, and in 1660 Samuel Pepyss diary recorded two occasions when the Admiralty sold surplus ships by an inch of candle. The London Gazette began reporting on the auctioning of artwork at the coffeehouses, the first known auction house in the world was Stockholm Auction House, Sweden, founded by Baron Claes Rålamb in 1674. Other early auction houses that are still in operation include Dorotheum, Mallams, Bonhams, Phillips de Pury & Company, Freemans, by the end of the 18th century, auctions of art works were commonly held in taverns and coffeehouses. These auctions were held daily, and auction catalogs were printed to announce available items, in some cases these catalogs were elaborate works of art themselves, containing considerable detail about the items being auctioned
7.
Bankruptcy
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Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or other entity that cannot repay the debts it owes to creditors. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, Bankruptcy is not the only legal status that an insolvent person may have, and the term bankruptcy is therefore not a synonym for insolvency. In some countries, including the United Kingdom, bankruptcy is limited to individuals, in the United States, bankruptcy is applied more broadly to formal insolvency proceedings. In France, the cognate French word banqueroute is used solely for cases of fraudulent bankruptcy, in Ancient Greece, bankruptcy did not exist. If a man owed and he could not pay, he and his wife, children or servants were forced into debt slavery, until the creditor recouped losses through their physical labour. Many city-states in ancient Greece limited debt slavery to a period of five years, debt slaves had protection of life and limb, which regular slaves did not enjoy. However, servants of the debtor could be retained beyond that deadline by the creditor and were forced to serve their new lord for a lifetime. An exception to rule was Athens, which by the laws of Solon forbade enslavement for debt, as a consequence. The Statute of Bankrupts of 1542 was the first statute under English law dealing with bankruptcy or insolvency, Bankruptcy is also documented in East Asia. According to al-Maqrizi, the Yassa of Genghis Khan contained a provision that mandated the death penalty for anyone who became bankrupt three times, a failure of a nation to meet bond repayments has been seen on many occasions. Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557,1560,1575 and 1596, at the edge of Europe, Egypt, Russia, and Turkey have histories of chronic default as well. For private households, it is argued to be insufficient to merely dismiss debts after a certain period and it is important to assess the underlying problems and to minimize the risk of financial distress to re-occur. In most EU Member States, debt discharge is conditioned by a partial payment obligation, in the United States, discharge is conditioned to a lesser extent. The spectrum is broad in the EU, with the UK coming closest to the US system, the Other Member States do not provide the option of a debt discharge. It is almost impossible to discharge student loan debt by filing bankruptcy, unlike most other debtors, the individual with student debt must give a series of reasons and tests to prove that the debtor could not pay the debt. If the person were to file bankruptcy, he or she is encouraged to do so under Chapter 13. In order to avoid bankruptcy, one could negotiate with the lender to lower monthly payments, student loan bankruptcy is considered a last resort. However, some find themselves being forced to file bankruptcy, as the lender refused to lower payments
8.
Negotiable instrument
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A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, with the payer named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a contract, which promises the payment of money without condition, which may be paid either on demand or at a future date. The term can have different meanings, depending on what law is being applied and what country it is used in, examples of negotiable instruments include promissory notes, bills of exchange, banknotes, demand draft and cheques. Because money is promised to be paid, the instrument itself can be used by the holder in due course as a store of value. The instrument may be transferred to a party, it is the holder of the instrument who will ultimately get paid by the payer on the instrument. Transfers can happen at less than the value of the instrument. In the Commonwealth of Nations almost all jurisdictions have codified the law relating to negotiable instruments in a Bills of Exchange Act, the collapse was caused by the court accepting the cha only at progressive discount. Later such document for money used by Middle Eastern merchants. Such prototypes came to be used later by the Iberian and Italian merchants in the 12th century, in Italy in the 13–15th centuries, bills of exchange and promissory notes obtain their main features, while further phases of their development have been associated with France and Germany. English exchange law was different than continental European law because of different legal systems, the modern emphasis on negotiability may also be traced to Lord Mansfield. Germanic Lombards documents may also have elements of negotiability. Certain exceptions exist, such as instances of loss or theft of the instrument, wherein the possessor of the note may be a holder, negotiation requires a valid endorsement of the negotiable instrument. In some instances, the instrument can serve as the writing memorializing a contract. Negotiation can be effected by endorsement and delivery, or by delivery alone, promissory notes and bills of exchange are two primary types of negotiable instruments. The law applicable to the instrument will determine whether it is a negotiable instrument or a non-negotiable instrument. Bank notes are referred to as promissory notes, a promissory note made by a bank. A negotiable instrument or draft is an order by the drawer to the drawee to pay money to the payee. A common type of bill of exchange is the cheque, defined as a bill of exchange drawn on a banker and payable on demand
9.
Promissory note
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If the promissory note is unconditional and readily saleable, it is called a negotiable instrument. A banknote is frequently referred to as a note, a promissory note made by a bank. Mortgage notes are another prominent example, Promissory notes are a common financial instrument in many jurisdictions, employed principally for short time financing of companies. Often, the seller or provider of a service is not paid upfront by the buyer, but within a period of time, the length of which has been agreed upon by both the seller and the buyer. Depending on the jurisdiction, this deferred payment period can be regulated by law, in countries like France, Italy or Spain, it usually ranges between 30 and 90 days after the purchase. In those cases, the company has the option of asking the bank for a term loan. Once the promissory note reaches its maturity date, its current holder can execute it over the emitter of the note, if the maker fails to pay, however, the bank retains the right to go to the company that cashed the promissory note in, and demand payment. In the case of unsecured promissory notes, the lender accepts the promissory note based solely on the ability to repay, if the maker fails to pay. Thus, promissory notes can work as a form of private money, the terms of a note usually include the principal amount, the interest rate if any, the parties, the date, the terms of repayment and the maturity date. Sometimes, provisions are included concerning the rights in the event of a default. Demand promissory notes are notes that do not carry a specific maturity date, usually the lender will only give the borrower a few days notice before the payment is due. For loans between individuals, writing and signing a promissory note are often instrumental for tax and record keeping, a promissory note alone is typically unsecured, but these may be used in combination with security agreements such as mortgage, in which case they are called mortgage notes. Definition and usage of notes are internationally established by the Convention providing a uniform law for bills of exchange and promissory notes. In the United States, a note that meets certain conditions is a negotiable instrument regulated by article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Negotiable promissory notes called mortgage notes are used extensively in combination with mortgages in the financing of real estate transactions, one prominent example is the Fannie Mae model standard form contract Multistate Fixed-Rate Note 3200, which is publicly available. Promissory notes, or commercial papers, are issued to provide capital to businesses. However, Promissory Notes act as a source of Finance to the companys creditors, historically, promissory notes have acted as a form of privately issued currency. Flying cash or feiqian was a promissory note used during the Tang dynasty, flying cash was regularly used by Chinese tea merchants, and could be exchanged for hard currency at provincial capitals
10.
Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone
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He was considered for the leadership of his party in 1963, and held for more than a decade the office formerly held by his father, that of Lord Chancellor. He became a Prize Fellow of All Souls in 1931, although originally he read classics, he won his prize fellowship in law and was called to the bar in 1932. He spoke in opposition to the motion That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and his favourite hobby was mountain-climbing, and his ankles were broken so many times that in old age he was able to walk only with two canes. Hogg participated in his first election campaign in the 1924 general election, in 1938, Hogg was chosen as a candidate for Parliament in the Oxford by-election. Hogg narrowly defeated Lindsay, who was said to be horrified by the slogan of Hitler wants Hogg. Hogg voted against Neville Chamberlain in the Norway Debate of May 1940 and he served briefly in the desert campaign as a platoon commander with the Rifle Brigade during the Second World War. His commanding officer had been his contemporary at Eton, after him, in the run-up to the 1945 election, Hogg wrote a response to the book Guilty Men, called The Left was never Right. Hoggs father died in 1950 and Hogg entered the House of Lords as the 2nd Viscount Hailsham. Believing his political career to be over he concentrated on the bar for some years, becoming head of his chambers and he became First Lord of the Admiralty under Eden in 1956, and under Macmillan was chairman of the party and campaign organiser for the 1959 general election. Hogg appeared before the Wolfenden Committee to discuss homosexuality, the historian Patrick Higgins said that he used it as an opportunity to express his disgust. He stated The instinct of mankind to describe acts as unnatural is not based on mere prejudice and that homosexuals were corrupting. In June 1963 when his fellow Minister John Profumo had to resign after admitting telling lies to Parliament about his private life, Sir Reginald Paget called this a virtuoso performance of the art of kicking a friend in the guts. He added, When self-indulgence has reduced a man to the shape of Lord Hailsham and he was Leader of the House of Lords when Harold Macmillan, the Prime Minister, announced his sudden resignation for health reasons at the start of the 1963 Conservative Party conference. At that time there was no ballot for the Conservative Party leadership. Hailsham, who was at first Macmillans preferred successor, announced that he would use the newly enacted Peerage Act to disclaim his title and fight a by-election and return to the House of Commons. His publicity-seeking antics at the Party Conference were considered vulgar at the time, Hogg failed to win the leadership bid but did win his fathers old constituency of St Marylebone. Hogg as a campaigner was known for his robust rhetoric and theatrical gestures and he was renowned as one of the great Conservative speakers, his addresses to the party as chairman in 1958 and 1959 were remembered for decades afterwards. He was usually in form in dealing with hecklers, a valuable skill in the 1960s
11.
James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern
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James Peter Hymers Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, KT, PC, QC is a British advocate. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Lord Advocate and he is an active member of the House of Lords where he sits as a Conservative. Mackay was born in Edinburgh, the son of railway signalman James Mackay and he won a scholarship to George Heriots School, and then studied mathematics and physics at the University of Edinburgh, receiving a joint MA in 1948. He taught mathematics for two years at the University of St Andrews before moving to Trinity College, Cambridge on a scholarship and he then returned to Edinburgh University where he studied law, receiving an LLB in 1955. Mackay was elected to the Faculty of Advocates in 1955 and he was appointed a Queens Counsel in 1965. He was Sheriff Principal for Renfrew and Argyll from 1972 to 1974, in 1973 he became Vice-Dean of the Faculty on Advocates and from 1976 until 1979 served as its Dean, the leader of the Scots bar. Although an eminent lawyer in his own right, Mackay was not a member of the newly elected Conservative Party, convention was that governments appointed as Lord Advocate a QC of their own party. At the time the only eligible Conservative Scottish QC was Nicholas Fairbairn, Mackay joined the Conservative Party on taking up the office. In anticipation of the retirement of Lord Fraser of Tullybelton as one of the two Scots Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, Mackay took an appointment as a judge of the Court of Session in 1984. He served until he was promoted to the committee of the House of Lords in 1985 when Fraser stepped down. In 1987 Margaret Thatcher made Mackay Lord Chancellor, when she resigned in 1990, it was Mackay who read the Cabinets tribute to her at her last cabinet meeting. He was reappointed by Thatchers successor John Major, serving until the 1997 general election, on his retirement he was one of the longest serving Lord Chancellors. Since his retirement, Mackay has sat in the House of Lords and was Commissary to the University of Cambridge until 2016. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Halsburys Laws of England, the legal work which states the law of England, first published in 1907. He is also a Senior Fellow of The Trinity Forum, a Christian nonprofit that supports the renewal of society through the development of leaders, Mackay was raised a member of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, as an adult he was an elder of the church. The church forbids its members to attend Roman Catholic religious services, the church suspended Mackay as an elder and withdrew his right to take Holy Communion. The dispute precipitated a schism, leading to the formation of the Associated Presbyterian Church, Mackay did not, however, join the new communion, but worships at both its parishes and those of the Church of Scotland. As a Presbyterian, Mackay was a believer in moderation
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