ADDRESSING THE WINTER EDICT

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A letter carrying the personal seal of the Duke of Schattenburg is delivered to His Royal Majesty, Heinrik II, Lord Palatine Maric of Greyspine, and Lord Speaker Igor Kort. @Rudi @GMRO @erictafoya

 

ADDRESSING THE WINTER EDICT

 

“Dear nephew, cousin, and friend,

 

I am pleased to see the efforts made by the Kongzem to revitalize and improve the experience and culture of our Royal Duma. You all know that our Royal Duma is very dear to me, yet nevertheless I must point out some issues that I found with this Edict. As such, I seek to address these two primary issues in this letter to you.

 

Firstly, addressing the newly implemented Chapter 204.035 of the Haurul Caezk.

 

In the Winter Edict, the Crown implemented the following law into the Haurul Caezk: “204.035: The Speaker holds the authority to decide a vote if its conclusion is a tie;”, as part of the newly established prerogatives of the Speaker. There are, however, several problems with this part of the law, as it not only is antithetical to the duties of the Lord Speaker, but also breaks set precedents in regards to the functioning of the Royal Duma.

 

The Lord Speaker is, by nature, the moderator of the Royal Duma. Impartiality has always been key to the role of the Lord Speaker (past Speakers, such as Osvald Barclay, have been removed from the position due to claims of partiality and interfering in the process of the Duma). Hereby, precedent has been said that intervention and participation in the functioning of the Royal Duma itself by the Lord Speaker should be minimal, as their duty is to act as a moderator and overseer, not as a participator. Therefore, it is nonsensical for the Lord Speaker to be granted a vote when there is a tie, as it directly contradicts set precedents in regards to the duties of the role.

 

Additionally, the Duma is always meant to be properly balanced between the amount of Noble Seats and Elected Seats (the ratio here is currently 8 to 8), which means there are sixteen seats in total in the Royal Duma. This is, however, ignoring the presence of the Lord Palatine, which adds a seventeenth seat. The Lord Palatine does already serve in the capacity that this Edict determines the Lord Speaker to, it is the Lord Palatine that, as the representative of the Crown, is the primary source of tie-breaking votes, and this right should be exclusively given to the Lord Palatine. It is also noted that, with its current composition of seventeen seats, it is impossible for a genuine tie to occur, as the Lord Palatine would already have the deciding vote in such a scenario.

 

Secondly, Addressing the newly implemented Chapter 204.037 of the Haurul Caezk

 

In the Winter Edict, the Crown implemented the following law into the Haurul Caezk: “204.037: The Speaker holds the authority to create and enforce election rules;”, as a part of the newly established prerogatives of the Speaker. This, too, has its issues with it, mostly in regards to judicial precedent set by the Aulic Court.

 

It has always been set precedent by the Aulic Court, that for a law to be legally binding and applicable, it must be included in the Haurul Caezk. This has been the legal precedent since the inception of the Haurul Caezk, as has led to the Aulic Court disregarding older laws existing outside of the Haurul Caezk. It is this precedent, even, that had allowed myself to run for the Royal Duma.

 

The problem with this, however, is that it establishes that the Lord Speaker is capable of bypassing this precedent in his election rules, thus undermining the authority of the Haurul Caezk as the only legally applicable codex of Hanseti-Ruska, but also ignoring precedents set by the Aulic Court. This could, if not managed properly, lead us down a path where more positions have the capability of creating laws outside of the Haurul Caezk, resulting in us having the cluttered and incohesive legal system that we had in the past.

 

It is my intention to bring this before the Royal Duma, for debate and vote among my peers. Nevertheless, I saw it prudent that I send this letter so that you, regardless of how it fares in the Royal Duma, I request that we can meet to properly discuss my arguments, to grant both myself the possibility of substantiating them, but also yourselves the chance of refuting them.”

 

Tiz lifst ag wikleyz,

Franz Barbanov of Schattenburg.