Lords:Inheritance and Heirs

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Peerage Inheritance

1. All inherited titles and positions in TRMN pass, unless otherwise designated by the holder, on the principle of absolute primogeniture. That is to say that unless the Peer has made a designation otherwise their eldest child will inherit their titles, regardless of the child’s gender. Child in this case means eldest biological or adopted child. This being the intent of the Peerages from the beginning and representing the canonical status in the books, it overrides any wording to the contrary in any Patent of Arms.
2. Unless the Peer designates otherwise, during the Peer’s life their eldest child will be treated as their heir. This includes being addressed as Lord or Lady (as opposed to ‘the Honorable’) for a Peerage, or ‘the Honorable’ for a Knight of the Star Kingdom. If the Peer does designate otherwise, as laid out elsewhere in this Act, that will change along with the designation.
3. The current Peer is the sole and absolute authority for whom their title passes to, if anyone, and may choose to have it not pass to anyone.
4. When a Peer dies and their heir is a member of TRMN, they will automatically become the next numbered peer of those lands unless they declaim the Peerage within three hundred and sixty-five (365) days as per the procedures established by the House of Lords.
5. When a Peer dies and their heir is not a member of TRMN, they will be contacted by the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords or a designated officer and given one hundred and eighty (180) days from contact to join the organization. If they join within that time they will be treated as if they had become the next numbered peer of those lands at the death of the previous Peer. If they do not join within that time, they will have been assumed to have declaimed the Peerage.
   1. In no case will attempt be made to contact the Heir of a Peer sooner than thirty (30) calendar days after the passing of the Peer, and in all cases will assess the circumstances to see if further time is appropriate for mourning and respect, up to one calendar year.
   2. Nothing in the above stops an Heir from contacting the Lord Speaker or the Judge Advocate General about the peerage before that time.
6. In general, TRMN will make reasonable attempts to preserve the existence of a Peerage.

   Example: When Countess Harrington was believed to be dead, her cousin Devon was made the second Earl Harrington. This could also be true in TRMN, as Honor was the initial Countess Harrington.

7. If a title is descending through inheritance rather than designation, the title will pass to their eldest biological or adoptive child, regardless of gender.

   Example: Devon Harrington’s daughter Sarah inherits his title. If she declaimed it, any other heir must be a sibling, spouse, niece/nephew, cousin, grandchild, or grandniece/nephew of his. In the absence of these, it could revert to another heir of the original Countess Harrington.

8. If a Peer is removed from TRMN and stripped of their ranks and titles by the Royal Council, their Peerage is dissolved as well.
9. If a Peer resigns TRMN membership, their Peerage is dissolved (the eponymous ‘New Cornwall Rule’).
10. In the event that the Royal Council believes that a removed or membership resigned Peer’s heir has earned a Peerage in their own right they may refer the matter to a Peerage Court. The Peerage Court will approve or disapprove of granting the lands to the heir on their own merit. This shall be a special court outside of the normal timing, since it will not result in a new peerage.

Seated and Non-Seated Peers

Sitting in the House of Lords

One of the privileges of Peers is the option to sit in the House of Lords. This comes with an expectation that the Peer will engage in debates and vote on motions before the House. The House recognizes that for various reasons Peers may not be able to or be willing to participate in this way, but this makes them no less worthy of their peerage, awarded for service to TRMN.

The House has implemented the below procedures to allow Peers to select whether they wish to sit in the House (be “Seated”), or not sit in the House (be “Non-Seated”). Neither status is better or worse than the other, but this allows Peers who wish to be involved in the business of the House to do so, and others to enjoy the other privileges of the peerage without the expectation of extra duties.

Seated and Non-Seated Status

1. All Peers have the right to be Seated if they so wish, by following the process to become Seated in this manual.
2. By default, new Peers will have a Non-Seated status. Once they have been appointed as a Peer, the Lord Speaker or their staff will contact the new Peer and explain the options, and the responsibilities of a Seated Peer. The new Peer is then given the option to opt into Seated status, or to remain as Non-Seated.
3. For someone who is already a Peer, the number of other Seated Peers does not affect whether they can return to Seated status or not. The check for limits is only made for appointing new Peers.
4. A Peer’s status as either Seated or Non-Seated does not affect their order of precedence, rights to inheritance, rights to a peerage land, or any other rights or privileges of the Peerage defined elsewhere. The only difference between the two statuses is the ability to vote and participate in debates in the House of Lords. Both Seated and Non-Seated Peers can receive promotions in the Peerage when there are higher levels available.
5. The Lord Speaker may choose to maintain social areas in House of Lords communication platforms that are unconnected to official business, like debates and voting. At their discretion, they may grant Non-Seated Peers access to these social areas.
6. In terms of the calculations requested by the Steering Committee under PD-SC-1009 only Seated Peers will be accounted as Active Peers for this policy.

Changing status between Seated and Non-Seated

1. A Peer who is Non-Seated is able to at any point email the Lord Speaker to request to be Seated. The Lord Speaker will then arrange for their status to be changed to Seated and granted access to the areas of communication platforms for House business.
2. A Peer who is Seated is able to at any point email the Lord Speaker to request to be Non-Seated. The Lord Speaker will then arrange for their status to be changed to Non-Seated and access to the areas of communication platforms for House business to be removed.
3. The Lord Speaker or their staff will monitor the activity of Seated Peers for the duration of the Sitting year.
4. The Sitting year runs from 1st November of one calendar year, to 31st October of the next calendar year.
5. At the end of a Sitting year, the Lord Speaker will conduct a review to verify if all Seated Peers have met the minimum activity levels to remain Seated (as defined in the next section).
6. Any Peers that have not met the minimum activity levels for that Sitting year will be moved to Non-Seated status, and will be contacted to inform them of that change.
7. If there is not at least one vote and one debate in two calendar quarters of the Sitting year, then it will be assumed that there has not been enough activity to judge Peers on, so no Peers will be moved to Non-Seated status.
8. If a Peer gained Seated status during a Sitting year (either due to being a new peer, or changing from Non-Seated status), they will not be checked for activity during that year’s annual review.
9. Regardless of whether a Peer becomes Non-Seated voluntarily or due to the annual review, they can still follow the process above to contact the Lord Speaker to regain Seated status.

Activity Levels for Remaining Seated

1. To remain Seated and not be moved to Non-Seated in the annual review defined above, a Peer must reach a minimum level of activity.
2. This level of activity is defined as two of the approved forms of activity in a given Sitting year.
3. The approved activities are:
   • • Voting on a bill before the House.
     • Substantive and meaningful participation in a debate in the House.
     • Substantive and meaningful participation in a Committee of the House, or a Joint Committee with the House of Common.
     • Substantive and meaningful participation as an Officer of the House of Lords working for the Lord Speaker.
     • Substantive and meaningful participation as a volunteer directed by the Lord Speaker (e.g., serving as a Mentor, or serving on a Peerage Court or Peerage Board).
4. It is left to the Lord Speaker to judge “substantive and meaningful”, but the guidelines are the contribution has to add something. For example, volunteering for a committee but not commenting at all would not count, or participating in a debate by saying “I am here” would not count.
5. In terms of voting, any vote of Aye, Nay, or Abstain would count as making a vote.
6. Peers may reach their two minimum activities for a Sitting year by doing the same activity twice, or two different activities. For example, voting on two different bills would count, equally participating in two debates would count, and equally participating in one debate and then voting on one bill would count.
7. In addition to remaining Seated by participating, a Peer may email the Lord Speaker to request to remain Seated. This will count them as hitting the minimum levels of activity for that Sitting year, regardless of actual activity. This option is available if a Peer knows they will be offline for a long time, for example during a deployment.

Designation of Heirs

1. Notwithstanding Life Peers, every Peer in TRMN has the right to designate their heir. This heir can be any other person, related or unrelated to them, of any age.
2. A Peer does not have to choose an Heir, and may instead choose one of the following:
   1. That their Peerage be dissolved upon their death, and the title not pass to any other person; or
   2. That their Peerage be returned to the pool of possible names to be awarded to a future Peer, who will be the next ordinal peer in the line (i.e. 2nd Baron, 3rd Countess, etc.)
3. When designated, an Heir is treated as the heir the same as if they were the Peer’s eldest child.
4. An Heir is designated by informing the Judge Advocate General through a Heraldic Will.
5. No presumptive or prospective heir has a right to be named heir to a Peerage, nor to intervene in the passing of a Peerage title upon the death of a Peer.
6. If a Peer has multiple inheritable titles they may designate different individuals to be heir for those titles.

   Example: Lord Sir William Lochen, KSK, Baron La Mancha, has two titles to pass on: The Barony of La Mancha, and Lochen Keep as a Knight of the Star Kingdom. His heir may be the same individual for both titles, or he may designate two individuals as his heir.

7. If two peers are married, they do not have to designate the same individual or individuals as their heir or heirs.

   Example: His Grace Duke Sir Robert Bulkeley, KSK, Duke of Mountain View, Lord New Essex, and Her Grace Duchess Dame Diane Bulkeley, Duchess of Mountain View, Baroness New Essex, have three titles to pass on: The Duchy of Mountain View, the Barony of New Essex, and Bulkeley Keep from His Grace as a Knight of the Star Kingdom. His Grace may select one or two individuals to inherit his two titles, and Her Grace an individual for hers; they may designate the same people, or they may designate up to three different individuals for the three titles.

8. While a spouse may be designated as heir by the peer, absent that designation a Peerage will not be inherited by a spouse due to how Peerages function in TRMN, the Honorverse books, and the Real World.
9. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as infringing the right of the Royal Council or the House of Lords in limiting or regulating the authority of inheriting Peers in future Orders or Acts.

Preservation of Peerages

1. TRMN will attempt to contact up to three (3) individuals in an attempt to preserve a Peerage, in the event that an heir does not wish to join TRMN or declaims a Peerage. They will do so in the following order, based on the information available to the House of Lords and the Judge Advocate General:
   • Children
   • Grandchildren
   • Siblings
   • Nieces/Nephews
   • Great Nieces/Nephews
   • Cousins
2. A Peerage may be declared Dormant if either there are no heirs that can be found by the House of Lords or the Judge Advocate General, or the three individuals contacted after a Peerage is declaimed all refuse to join TRMN and take the Peerage.
3. A dormant Peerage ceases to accrue precedence, and must be designated as such in the Wall of Peerage.
4. A dormant Peerage may be revived by any member who can show they have a relation to the last living Peer, and who applies in writing to the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords and the Judge Advocate General for the purpose of taking up the Peerage.
5. In the event that a member applies to revive a Peerage, notice must be given by posting in the general communication areas (Forums, Facebook, etc.) that the application has been made. If after 30 calendar days no competing claim has been raised and the Lord Speaker and Judge Advocate General have no other reason why the claim should be denied, the Peerage shall be revived and the applying member recognized as the next numbered Peer of that rank.
6. A Peerage will only stay dormant for a maximum of 24 months. After that time, it will be considered dissolved, and the lands may be assigned to a new Peer.

Heraldic Wills

1. The Judge Advocate General’s office shall serve as the depository of Heraldic Wills for all Peers and Knights of the Order of the Star Kingdom.
2. A Heraldic Will must include all of the following information to be valid:
   1. Name of the Peer
   2. Name of the Peerage Land or Lands
   3. Date
   4. Wishes for the Peerage after the passing of the Peer.
   5. A signature, whether actually signed or electronic in any form.
3. Heraldic Wills must be submitted by the current holder of the Peerage or KSK, not any other party to be valid.
4. Heraldic Wills will be kept in limited access storage by the Judge Advocate General. In addition to any members of the JAG Office designated for the task, the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords shall have access to the folder as the responsible party for notifying inheriting Peers.

Transfer of Honors

This is the process for a Peer to voluntarily transfer their peerage from that of one star nation to another. This process may only be used once, and once granted is irreversible.

Prerequisites

Before being able to trigger the transfer process, a Peer must meet the following criteria:

1. The Peer must hold a hereditary peerage.
2. The peerage must not have been placed in Abeyance by any method.
3. The Peer must be a member of the component branch commensurate with the star nation they wish to transfer their peerage to for at least one (1) Year.
4. The Peer must acknowledge that their request, should it be granted, is irreversible.

Transfer Process

Requesting a transfer

Given that the prerequisites have been met, the Peer must contact the Lord Speaker to request a “Transfer of Honors.” This may be communicated by any method acceptable to the Peer and Lord Speaker. An example format is given below, but any words suitable to communicate the Peers’ intention can be used. A reason for the request may be included, however it is not required.

Example wording:

Transfer of Honors

My Lord Speaker,

I wish to request a Transfer of Honors regarding my peerage, the County of Example. Pursuant to the rules of the House, and with full understanding that a granting of this transfer request is irreversible, I wish to request the County of Example be dissolved, and the Example Tower be created in its place.

In Service,

Earl Example

Speaker Response

The Lord Speaker will review the request within 7 days of receipt and ensure that the prerequisites are met. If any are not met, they will contact the Peer and work with them to resolve any outstanding prerequisites before proceeding with the request.

Ordinarily, the Speaker would accept the request for a Transfer of Honors, but there are several situations where they may reject it.

1. If they believe that the communication may not be from the Peer in question, in which case they would attempt to contact the Peer by a known method of real-time communication to confirm their intentions.
2. If the Peer is before a Peerage Court, or currently under investigation by the Disciplinary Committee, the request will be delayed until after those proceedings are complete in case the peerage title is placed in abeyance or Removed.
3. The Peer has previously exercised their option to transfer their peerage.

Once accepted, the Lord Speaker will have 7 days to publish the Transfer of Honors to the House of Lords via normal communication methods. At that point, the peerage has officially been transferred and the Peer is free to request a new, or modified, heraldic shield and Patent of Arms from the College of Arms.

The transferred peerage shall get a date of creation of the date of the transfer, so will typically become the most junior peerage of that service. The previous creation date will be kept in the records (much like when a Peer is promoted from Baron to Earl) but in terms of seniority, the new creation date will be used.

Transferring between tiered and non-tiered peerages

The Manticoran and Andermani peerages have a tier system of levels of peerage, so if a Peer was to transfer as a Manticoran Earl to the Andermani they would become a Graf in the Andermani peerage.

The Havenite and Grayson peerages do not have a normal tired system and apart from the Grand Duchy level all Peers sit at a single level (Steadholders or Senators). If a peer is transferring from a tiered system to a non-tiered system they will be created as a Peer of that single rank. For example if a Manticoran Baron transferred to the Grayson Peerage they would be created as a Steadholder.

If a non tiered Peer transfers to a tiered system there is a slightly more complicated process. We equate Steadholders and Senators to Duchys for canon reasons but in TRMN no additional scrutiny is given to elevating members to these peerages, the selection is just a choice based on the member's branch. It would thus be unfair to move a Steadholder or Senator to a Duchy, when normally a Manticoran or Andermani Peer would have had to pass two peerage elevations to get to that level. However, it may equally seem unfair to require that non-tiered peers enter at the lowest level, when if their system had tiers they may have been eligible to be elevated previously.

As such when a non-tiered peer wishes to transfer to a tiered peerage the Lord Speaker will form an extraordinary peerage board, in exactly the same way they would for a tiered peer being nominated for elevation. This board will begin with the default position that a peer will transfer at the lowest level, but can also review the peer's behavior, actions and duties since becoming a peer and decide if these would have gained the peer an elevation if they were in a tiered system. A unanimous vote must be sought to elevate a peer to County / Grafschaft level or Duchy / Herzogtum level.

Transfer of Grand Duke Level titles

In the unlikely event that a holder of a Grand Duke level title wishes to transfer to a new service, this will not require a peerage board. Given the rarity of Grand Duke level titles for extreme and lengthy service to the organization, it is assumed that any peer holding such a title would be worthy of it in whatever service they chose to represent. They would follow the normal rules for transfer detailed above but will transfer to the equivalent Grand Duke level title in the new service.

The Grand Duke level tiles are: Grand Duchy (Manticoran), Fürstentum (Andermani), Councilor (Grayson), and Planetary Governor (Havenite).

Peerage Abdication

This is the process for a peer to voluntarily abdicate from their peerage and pass it on to their heir.

Prerequisites

Before being able to trigger the processes in this bill a Peer must meet the following criteria

1. They must hold a hereditary peerage or be a Knight of the Star Kingdom.
2. Their peerage must not have been placed in Abeyance by any method.
3. They must have an Heir appointed as per the rules laid down by this House.

Process

Requesting a Writ of Acceleration

Given that the prerequisites have been met the peer must contact the Lord Speaker to request a “Writ of Acceleration”. This may be communicated by any method acceptable to the peer and the Speaker. An example format is given below but any words suitable to clearly communicate the peers intention can be used.

Example wording:

Writ of Acceleration My Lord Speaker, I wish to request a Writ of Acceleration from you with regards to my peerage the Barony of Eboracum. As per the rules of the house my current Heir is the Baroness Emily Wagner and having spoken to her I wish for her to take over my peerage from the acceptance of this writ.

Yours in Service

Baron Eboracum

Speaker Response

The Speaker will review the request within a period of 7 days of receipt and ensure that the prerequisites are met, and that the heir named is the one logged currently under the process for Heirs defined by the house. If any of these things aren’t met they can work with the Peer to ensure any required paperwork is completed before this process is started.

Ordinarily the Speaker would accept the writ but there are several situations where they may reject it.

1. If they believe that the communication may not really be from the peer in question, in which case they would attempt to contact the peer by a known method of real time communication to confirm their intentions
2. If the peer is before a peerage court or under investigation by JAG currently, the writ will be delayed until after those proceedings are complete, in case the peerage is demoted or removed.

Once accepted the Speaker will have 7 days to publish the writ to the House of Lords via normal communication methods. At that point the heir has inherited the peerage and any process around ascension of a new heir begins

Styles and titles after abdication

Once the Writ is published the new peer adopts the titles and styles of the peerage in question, ordinarily incrementing the numeral by one (for most cases becoming the 2nd Baron Eboracum for example).

The previous holder of the peerage will no longer use the styles and titles of the peerage in question. As an honorific they will be referred to as follow:

Firstname Surname, Baron Emeritus Peerage Land

For example: Benjamin Wagner, Baron Emeritus Eboracum

They can be addressed as my Lord, but are no longer referred to just by the peerage name and no longer use it with uniform name badges and the like. It should only be used in full after their name. If they have retained any Knighthoods they may use Sir/Dame as appropriate.

In terms of a Knight of the Star Kingdom, once passed on no title is retained by the former holder, but if they hold another order of knighthood they can continue to use that. The post nominals of KSK should be removed from official correspondence after it has been passed on.

Multiple Titles

If one peer is the holder of multiple titles (for example two peerages, or a peerage and a KSK) they may issue a writ of acceleration for either of their titles or both simultaneously. It is entirely up to the peer which titles they accelerate and to which Heirs. They are not obligated to accelerate all their titles to the same Heir, they can be distributed to anyone eligible under the appointment of Heirs process defined by the house.

Cadet Seating in the House of Lords

Having been designated by the above process, when the heir to a Landed Peerage of the Royal Manticoran Navy, the Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, is of legal age, and is a Member in Good Standing of the organization, that person should be offered a Cadet Seat associated with the Peerage in the House of Lords with the following rights, privileges and limitations:

1. Said Heir is to have access to all discussions in the Forums, and other communication mediums, designated by the Lord Speaker, associated with the House of Lords.
2. Said Heir may comment and ask questions, with the approval of the Speaker of the House of Lords, or their designated representative.
3. Should the Holder of a Peerage find themselves unable to take part in communications due to non-TRMN related circumstances, and having communicated in writing with the Speaker of the House in advance of this situation, the Heir, with permission of the Speaker of the House, or their designated representative, will be entitled to vote on any motions before the House until such time as the Holder of the Peerage has returned and can rejoin the Business of the House.
4. Should the Holder of a Peerage be declared physically or mentally incapable of taking part in the Business of the House by competent authority, petition may be made by the Heir to the Speaker of the House to allow the Heir to assume the duties of the Peerage until such time as the Holder of the peerage is considered capable of resuming their duties, or the Peerage officially passes to the Heir by established policies and procedures.