Parliament of the Harrowlands
Parliament House
The Harrovian Parliament is the central legislative body of government. The Harrovian Parliament is said to be divided into three “arms”: the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Sovereign. The Harrovian Parliament is also called the “Althung”, the traditional name for the medieval Viking institution that Parliament originates from. Parliament sits in Roedean, at the Court of Highmede, otherwise known as Parliament House, on the southern bank of the River Hayes, which has been the site of the Althung since the 10th Century.
Parliament as an institution, has evolved over centuries, with its beginnings in as an advisory assembly to the Folstag kings of earls - the clan chiefs - and bishops of the realm. Parliament developed the humble beginnings of Highmede democracy, being in the representation of the people of shires and towns by knights and burgesses as "the Commons" in the 13th Century.
The House of Commons and the House of Lords, or what is usually referred to as ‘Parliament’ (excluding the Sovereign), control the legislative process and the levying of taxes and money for use of the Crown, while all the executive authority of the realm is held and exercised by the Sovereign. Parliament is summoned by the Sovereign, but the Triennial Act 1698 provided that Parliament can only be dissolved with its own consent. The Act further provided that Parliament must meet for a fifty day session at least once every three years .
Parliament as an institution, has evolved over centuries, with its beginnings in as an advisory assembly to the Folstag kings of earls - the clan chiefs - and bishops of the realm. Parliament developed the humble beginnings of Highmede democracy, being in the representation of the people of shires and towns by knights and burgesses as "the Commons" in the 13th Century.
The House of Commons and the House of Lords, or what is usually referred to as ‘Parliament’ (excluding the Sovereign), control the legislative process and the levying of taxes and money for use of the Crown, while all the executive authority of the realm is held and exercised by the Sovereign. Parliament is summoned by the Sovereign, but the Triennial Act 1698 provided that Parliament can only be dissolved with its own consent. The Act further provided that Parliament must meet for a fifty day session at least once every three years .
House of Commons
The House of Commons (formally The Right Honourable The Commons of Harrow) is the lower house of parliament, a democratically elected body consisting of 402 Members of Parliament: 322 burgesses and 80 Knights of the Shire. Members of Parliament each represent their local constituency from which they have been elected to Parliament: the 161 enfranchised boroughs return each two burgesses to the House of Commons, the 24 shires of Harrow return each two Knights of the Shire and the 16 shires-corporate return each two Knights of the Shire. The House of Commons controls the supply of money (levying of taxes and appropriating of public money) to the Crown, and it is often that the Commons will insist on redress of grievances before granting supply of money. The House of Commons may introduce bills which must be passed by both houses before being presented to the monarch for royal assent. The House of Commons has come to be recognised as the supreme house of parliament over the last half century, although it does not dominate the entire legislative process as the upper chamber still holds considerable authority to review and even block legislation. By constitutional convention, the leader of the political party or coalition which has the majority of seats in the Commons (has the confidence of the Commons) - that is, at least 117 seats - is appointed by the Sovereign as the Prime Minister, who then advises the Sovereign to swear in other parliamentarians of his party to serve in the Privy Council alongside the Prime Minister as the Sovereign's ministers. The Commons is overseen by a Speaker, elected by secret ballot from among the Members of Parliament, whose duty is to remain a non-partisan presiding officer for maintaining order within the chamber. The Commons may deny entry to anyone save for the Sovereign’s messengers.
There is no party 'whipping' in the House of Commons as in other legislatures as the nature of Harrow's monarch-led executive means the political groupings found in the legislature are not so much 'political parties' but loose, informal alliances of interests and individuals who answer to no formal party authority and thus to no whip. Individual MPs vote in the interests of their constituents and ultimately, according to their own conscience, before any party interest. In this way, every vote taken in the House of Commons is a free vote. These arrangements act as an important check on the influence of the Crown in Parliament, keeping Parliament defiantly independant from the influence of the Crown.
There is no party 'whipping' in the House of Commons as in other legislatures as the nature of Harrow's monarch-led executive means the political groupings found in the legislature are not so much 'political parties' but loose, informal alliances of interests and individuals who answer to no formal party authority and thus to no whip. Individual MPs vote in the interests of their constituents and ultimately, according to their own conscience, before any party interest. In this way, every vote taken in the House of Commons is a free vote. These arrangements act as an important check on the influence of the Crown in Parliament, keeping Parliament defiantly independant from the influence of the Crown.
House of Lords
Membership of the House of Lords is made up of lords spiritual and temporal, that is, senior clerics of the Church of Harrow (lords spiritual), and Peers of the Realm and Highland Clan Chiefs (lords temporal). All Lords Temporal in the House are receive their places in the House of Lords by hereditary right. The Queen may also make anyone a Peer of the Realm, granting that person the right to sit in the House of Lords. The 23 bishops of the Church of Harrow may sit in the House of Lords as lords spiritual.
The Lords are not necessarily affiliated with any political party, but many choose to openly “align” themselves with one of the two main political interests, or for or against the government, while others do not align themselves and choose to sit independently. The lords temporal do not align themselves with any party as the Church deems it inappropriate. The House of Lords is not legally or functionally subordinate to the House of Commons, as Cabinet Ministers and Prime Ministers may come from the Lords, however as the Commons are the elected, and the representative, house of Parliament it has come to be recognised as the pre-eminent house and thus the Lords do not overzealously block or delay.
The Lords’ main function is to amend, to debate and/or reject bills, as a check or a counterbalance on the Commons. Bills may be introduced in the Lords, as the Lords may also initiate legislation, although legislation is normally introduced in the Commons. Bills introduced in the Lords are almost always in the form of private member's bills of Lords who are unalligned with the government or the Official Opposition, as any Government or Oppposition bills are usually introduced in the Commons. The House of Lords cannot propose or amend money bills (taxation and appropriation bills) as the responsibility for supply is in the hands of the House of Commons, but may send a money bill back to the Commons to request amendments. The House of Lords is presided over by the Lord Chancellor, although, unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chancellor does not actively participate in the regulation of the House as the House of Lords has traditionally been self-regulating, i.e. the Lord Chancellor does not call the House to order, rule on points of order, discipline members who break House rules, or select amendments to bills - all these functions are carried out by the House of Lords as a whole.
The House of Lords has a supplementary function of being the highest court of appeal in the Harrovian court hierarchy. Only those lords holding judicial office ("Law Lords") rule on cases, although the House of Lords at large, apart from the Law Lords presiding over a case, still functions as a jury for Peers of the Realm charged with criminal offences who have invoked the peers' privilege of being tried at the House of Lords as a court of first instance; sometimes esteemed judges or barristers are admitted to the House of Lords as life peers in order to shore up the number of the Law Lords as there is no way of regulating how many peers hold judicial office.
The Lords are not necessarily affiliated with any political party, but many choose to openly “align” themselves with one of the two main political interests, or for or against the government, while others do not align themselves and choose to sit independently. The lords temporal do not align themselves with any party as the Church deems it inappropriate. The House of Lords is not legally or functionally subordinate to the House of Commons, as Cabinet Ministers and Prime Ministers may come from the Lords, however as the Commons are the elected, and the representative, house of Parliament it has come to be recognised as the pre-eminent house and thus the Lords do not overzealously block or delay.
The Lords’ main function is to amend, to debate and/or reject bills, as a check or a counterbalance on the Commons. Bills may be introduced in the Lords, as the Lords may also initiate legislation, although legislation is normally introduced in the Commons. Bills introduced in the Lords are almost always in the form of private member's bills of Lords who are unalligned with the government or the Official Opposition, as any Government or Oppposition bills are usually introduced in the Commons. The House of Lords cannot propose or amend money bills (taxation and appropriation bills) as the responsibility for supply is in the hands of the House of Commons, but may send a money bill back to the Commons to request amendments. The House of Lords is presided over by the Lord Chancellor, although, unlike the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chancellor does not actively participate in the regulation of the House as the House of Lords has traditionally been self-regulating, i.e. the Lord Chancellor does not call the House to order, rule on points of order, discipline members who break House rules, or select amendments to bills - all these functions are carried out by the House of Lords as a whole.
The House of Lords has a supplementary function of being the highest court of appeal in the Harrovian court hierarchy. Only those lords holding judicial office ("Law Lords") rule on cases, although the House of Lords at large, apart from the Law Lords presiding over a case, still functions as a jury for Peers of the Realm charged with criminal offences who have invoked the peers' privilege of being tried at the House of Lords as a court of first instance; sometimes esteemed judges or barristers are admitted to the House of Lords as life peers in order to shore up the number of the Law Lords as there is no way of regulating how many peers hold judicial office.