TRMN:Parliament:RulesHoL

Rules of the House of Lords

Lord Speaker

The Lord Speaker shall be elected by the members of the House of Lords, and must therefore be a member of the Lords. This person shall serve for a term of one year, and may be re-elected twice.

The role of the Lord Speaker is as follows:

• Set the Agenda for Discussion
• Moderate Discussions in the House
• Share recommendations with the Royal Council

Forms of Address

Lords are not to refer to each other by name and instead always refer to “My Lord/My Lady”.

If you’re talking about someone from the same party they can be referred to as “my honourable friend”, while members of the Royal Council – and usually ministers –are “the right honourable” followed by Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> if applicable.

The exception to this is the Speaker, who can refer to anyone he likes by name.

Unlike the House of Commons, who are only allowed to speak to one person in the House of Commons, the Speaker, Peers may address other Peers. This, however, is suspended during Prime Ministers Questions, when all questions must be addressed to “My Lord Speaker”

Acceptable Language

Parliament has strict rules on “unparliamentary language”.

One banned word in particular stands out: ‘liar’.

Lords who who accuse each other of lying are usually asked to withdraw the remarks by the Speaker, or face a suspension.

You’re also not allowed to call a fellow Lord a ‘hypocrite’.

This may be related to the conventions of Cabinet government. Under cabinet collective responsibility, the Royal Council must publicly support every decision the government makes or face the sack.

In reality, not everyone always supports every decision the Royal Council makes and thus hypocrisy is practically built into the system.

Additionally, on the list Parliament’s banned words are the following archaic Sol expressions.

Pipsqueak

Swine

Rat

Tart

Fuck

Ass

Dick – Depends on Context

Pussy – Depends on Context

Tits

Boobs – Depends on Context

The following words are expressly permitted during the course of debate:

Fribble

Huckster

Fatuous

Nincompoop

Flapdoodle

Foozler

Hornswoggler

Meater

Vazey

Responsibilities of the House of Lords

The members will be responsible for reasonable requests and questions. These requests and questions can be added to the Agenda by the members submitting them to the Lord Speaker.

Unacceptable Topics

There are a few topics which the House of Commons may not bring up as requests or questions. These are as follows:

• Changes to the testing requirements for ranks, positions, and billets
• Punitive actions against other members
• Structural changes to the existing organization

Acceptable Topics

This list of acceptable topics which the House of Commons may bring up as requests or questions is not exclusive, and is more to be used as an example, than a definitive list. These topics include, but are not limited to:

Recommendations for New Peers and Peerage Elevations – Except to Grand Duke

• Recommendations for types of Civilian Chapters, and changes to existing ones, specifically relating to Peers
• Recommendations for New Civilian Billets within Peerage Lands
• Recommendations for Home Secretary (2/3 majority needed for recommendation)
• Confirmation for House of Commons recommended Admiralty House Events (50%+1 to confirm)
• Questions on why a policy was adopted by the Royal Council
• Recommendations for additional Acceptable Topics to the Royal Council

Additionally the House of Lords must review the recommendation for possible elevation to the peerage submitted by the House of Commons.

Finally, the House of Lords will vote on any nominations for the Parliamentary Medal of Valor. The vote must be a 2/3 vote of the Lords. If both the House of Commons and the House of Lords vote to award a PMV, the First Lord of the Admiralty, on behalf of the Monarch, will issue the award at their earliest convenience.

Prime Ministers Questions

The Second week of every other Month, beginning in February, the Chamber shall be opened to the public to come and view the Prime Ministers Questions. A special forum channel will be set up for this. The Royal Council will be acting on behalf of the Government and will be in attendance. The MPs will have an opportunity to ask questions of the Royal Council, on behalf of their constituents, which the Royal Council must answer. The topic of these questions must be submitted two weeks in advance so that the appropriate members of the Royal Council, their staffs, or Space Lords can be made to appear.

The only acceptable responses to not answer questions are the following:

“My Lord Speaker, please inform the right honourable Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> that I do not know the answer to that question and will defer to the __________________.”;

or,

“My Lord Speaker, I am unable to answer the question from the right honourable Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> as it would compromise information covered under a non-disclosure agreement.”

or,

“My Lord Speaker, I am unable to answer the question from the right honourable Lord/Lady <Peerage Land> as it would be a violation of the Official Secrets Act.”

Return to Previous Page