Lords:Granting of Peerage

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Granting of Peerage

Peerages are granted to deserving members through a process of nominations. To be eligible for nomination, a member must have reached the rank level of E-8 (or C-8 for civilians). The House of Commons may nominate one (1) member to be considered for peerage once a year. The House of Lords may nominate additional members based on the number to be elevated. After nominations are received, they are submitted to the Peerage Courts (see below), who then approve or deny the nomination.

Approval

All Peerages will be voted on by the Peerage Court. The Peerage Court consists of the First Lord of the Admiralty and a maximum of five and a minimum of three other landed peers. A vote on the peerage must be held and the result must be a majority in favor of approval before the title is bestowed upon the recipient. The First Lord of the Admiralty, as President of the Peerage Court may bestow non-landed peerages as needed.

Acceptance

Within 30 days of the granting of a peerage, the newly elevated must provide written notice to the Lord Speaker stating that they accept their peerage. Written notification includes email, Facebook Messenger, and any other similar method that both the Lord Speaker and newly elevated may use. If the newly elevated does not wish to accept their peerage, they may ask it to be held in abeyance, as defined below. If the Lord Speaker does not receive formal written notification from the newly elevated within 30 days of the grant, that lack of communication is considered prima facie evidence that they wish the peerage held in abeyance until such time as they are ready to accept it.

Peerage Abeyance Process (Alpha)

If the newly elevated does not wish to accept their peerage, within 30 days of the granting of a peerage, they must provide written notification to the Lord Speaker that they wish to have their peerage held in abeyance. The Written notification will typically by sent by email unless there are extenuating circumstances. Abeyance is defined below.

Peerage Abeyance (Alpha) may only be invoked upon initial peerage grant. Peerage Abeyance (Alpha) cannot be invoked once the newly elevated has accepted their peerage. When the newly elevated invoke abeyance of their peerage, while that abeyance is in effect, —

• The usage of the title is suspended.
• They are ineligible for further elevation.
• The peerage lands are considered dormant and shall not be developed.
• The peerage loses its place of seniority and seniority doesn’t begin until the abeyance is revoked.
• The peerage will be added to the Wall of Peerage with a blank device and the name of the peer replaced with “Title in Abeyance”.
• They shall not have access to or be involved in the House of Lords.
• They must confirm every 6 months to the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker that they wish their peerage to remain in abeyance.

The abeyance must last a minimum of 30 days to ensure the newly elevated have had time to consider the implications of accepting or rejecting their peerage and to have any questions answered and may last indefinitely.

When the newly elevated wish to revoke the peerage abeyance, they must provide written notice to the Lord Speaker that they either accept or resign their peerage. The Written notification will typically by sent by email unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Peerage Resignation

If a newly elevated does not wish to accept their peerage or have it held in abeyance, they may resign their peerage. As this step should not be taken lightly, the newly elevated may not resign their peerage until at least 15 days have elapsed from the granting of the peerage. It is recommended that before considering resignation of peerage, the newly elevated should invoke abeyance first to consider the implications of their actions.

A Peer may also resign their peerage any time after acceptance by following the process below:

1. To resign a peerage, a peer must contact the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker and inform them they wish to resign their peerage.
2. The Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker will speak to them to ensure they do not have any outstanding questions as to their peerage.
3. For the new peer, once assured they have no questions, the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker will temporarily add them to the House of Lords Forum.
4. Within 15 days of being added to the House of Lords Forum, they must then post a topic in the General Lords Discussion Forum stating they are resigning their peerage.
5. Once completed, the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker will remove them from the House of Lords Forum.
6. Upon peerage resignation, the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker will have their peerage removed from the Wall of Peerage.

Removal

There is both canon and real-life precedent for a practice such as this and it serves the best interests of the members and the organization to have this in place. Peerages are a recognition for a higher level of leadership and commitment to the organization. Should said Peer abuse their position in violation of an Admiralty Order (AO), or any of the Codes of Conduct, then measures must be taken to correct these situations. This process is covered by Peerage Boards and Courts.

Emergency Change of Title

• Under normal circumstances, a Peerage title may not be changed by the Peer. Titles are suggested by the original nominator, and approved by the Peerage Board.
• Notwithstanding the above, the House of Lords recognizes that there are Peerage titles which may be or become legitimately emotionally damaging or distasteful to a Peer; or if the title has an additional meaning which makes it difficult or awkward for the Peer to use the title.
• In the event a Peer’s title is or has become damaging or distasteful to the Peer, they may apply to the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords to change their title. This application should include a brief description of why the title has become such, although they do not have to go in to great detail.
• Upon receipt of said application, the Lord Speaker will convene a Board of 4 Peers to consider the application.
• The Board will determine if the request is valid. Absent evidence of fraud, misrepresentation, or malice, the Board should err on the side of believing the applying Peer.
  • On a finding in favor of changing the name, the Board will contact the Peer and ask them for two (2) preferred options for their new Peerage name. The Board will then select between those two options in deciding the new name.
• Such suggestions will be run by the Royal Manticoran College of Arms to ensure that they are not already on the list of Canon peerage names, which they have access to.
• When an acceptable name is found, it is confirmed by a majority vote of the Board (including the Lord Speaker).
• After confirmation, the Lord Speaker shall announce the new Peerage name through the regular methods of communicating orders, and inform authorities to update the Wiki and Wall of Peerage.