Lords:House of Lords

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The House of Lords

Composition

The House of Lords is made up of all the Peers of the Realm. These are the people who have been granted a peerage. There is no cap on the maximum size of the House of Lords, although there is a cap on Peers at 1% of the total members of TRMN. Grayson Steadholders, Grayson Councilors, Andermani Peers, Havenite Senators, and Havenite Planetary Governors are permitted to sit and participate in the House of Lords as well.

If a person is elevated to the peerage while they are serving in the House of Commons, they will be permitted to serve out the remainder of their current term in the House of Commons before they are able to be seated in the House of Lords. If they quit their seat in the House of Commons before their Term is up, a Special Election will be held to fill their seat.

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 current (or outgoing) Lord Speaker will hold an election with nominations open for a month before the vote. A simple majority of voting peers will secure the appointment of a Lord Speaker. The Lord Speaker is not a hatted position.

The Lord Speaker must appoint a Deputy Lord Speaker, selection is at their own discretion and should be announced to the House. There is no limit to the selection of a Deputy Speaker.

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
• Manage the process of Prime Minister’s questions
• Announcing the process for new peer nominations
• Running the courts for peerage appointment or discipline
• Announcing new peers to the house
• Announcing new Knights of the Star Kingdom to the house
• Management around communication methods (e.g. Forums, Discord)
• Quarterly update to BuPers (PD-5sl-0001v1)
• Attending Royal Council meetings
• Management of bill process including tabling discussions, votes and submitting up to the RC after approval.
• Calling votes both connected to bills and any other matters (e.g. PMVs)
• Managing the inheritance process
• Arranging peerage emails
• Manage the process of selection of Admiralty House events in line with AO-1803-02

Any and all of these duties can be delegated to the Deputy Speaker at the Lord Speaker’s discretion.

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 accuse each other of lying are usually asked to withdraw the remarks by the Speaker or face a suspension. A member of the House is 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 Lords 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
• Changes to the rules on the number of peers (called the 1% rule)
• Changes to courtesy titles for spouses of Knights

Acceptable Topics

This list of acceptable topics which the House of Lords may bring up as requests or questions is not exclusive, and is more to be used as an example rather 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. To pass the aye vote must be a 2/3 vote of the Lords voting. 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.

Bills in the House of Lords

One of the most important duties of the House of Lords is passing bills. Given that this process is very in depth a separate page has been created for it: Progress of a Bill in the House of Lords

Political Parties in the Lords

As the parliamentary manual outlines peers are free to set up parliamentary parties. The three currently in existence are the Progressives, the Crown Loyalists and the Centrists. Peers can also choose to remain independent.

There is no obligation on peers to join parties, and we don’t regulate their activities. The idea behind them is to allow peers to work on bills with like minded peers and have them ready to bring to the house.

Most parties elect a whip to help organise their work between the members and plan tasks.