SR - SCA Laws

Timothy A. McDaniel tmcd at crl.com
Sat Jul 18 16:36:03 PDT 1998


Lyonel at <amazing at mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
> Daniel de Lincolia--regarding the Midrealm's laws--says:
> >The provisions I recall are that the Curia, the Great Officers of
> >State, must approve all law changes, and a warranted seneschal and a
> >warranted herald must be at all courts where anything official is
> >done.
> 
> I've always wondered about this and about the so-called Republic of the
> East.  How can their laws require this when Corpora specifically invests
> within the Crown the right to legislate at the kingdom level?

Um, because I'm a doofus and misremembered / misheard?  Sorry about
that!  My bad.

http://www.midrealm.org/midrealm_law.html works from the office.

    II-101 The Crown shall have power to change these laws only after
    obtaining sage counsel from the Curia Regis as herein defined
    ... These changes must be publicly proclaimed at Court and published
    in the Pale [the kingdom newsletter] before becoming law.

    II-102 The Crown shall have the power to declare proclamations as they
    so choose. Such proclamations shall have the force of law and shall be
    in effect only for the duration of their reign. These proclamations
    must be publicly proclaimed at Court and published in the Pale before
    taking effect.

So they just have to *consult* Curia for statutory changes.  Edict /
proclamation is a little more limited than in Ansteorra: in Ansteorra,
if it's <= 30 days' duration, it doesn't have to be published.  The
"do it in Court and publish" is an echo from Corpora; like
Kwossisname, I think it should be omitted from kingdom / p-word law.

    II-400 A member of the College of Seneschals and of the College of
    Heralds shall be at the side of the Throne at all times when Court and
    other public Kingdom business is being conducted.

Interesting wording.  Is it a command or a requirement?  Can the Crown
shout "Yo!  Joe Seneschal outside there!  C'mere!  Kingdom Law
requires you!" (command)?  Or does it give the duty seneschal or duty
herald the power to "veto with their feet" (requirement)?  I'm not
sure, but maybe the latter.  I remember ex-Queen Garlanda writing that
heraldic warranting was not being done well in her reign, and that
several court would have been invalidated if she herself had not been
a warranted herald.

    V-100 The Curia Regis of the Middle Kingdom shall consist of the Royal
    Family, The Great Lords and Ladies of State of the Middle Kingdom, the
    seneschal(s) of territorial principalities within the Middle Kingdom,
    and such other persons as are appointed by the Crown for the duration
    of the reign.

The "Royal Family" is defined above as being the Crown, the Heirs, the
Coronets, and the Coronets' heirs (II-500).  A quorum of the Curia
Regis is the Crown, the Kingdom Seneschal, and three other Great
Officers (V-102).  A quorum must meet at least three times per reign
(V-400).  They apparently can't meet on their own motion.

The provisions regarding the Curia Regis:
- must be consulted before changes in law, as above
- III-103: must be consulted before appointing new Great Lords and
  Ladies of State
- III-106: any member, with cause, may require seeing any Great L/L's
  office correspondence
- III-602: "The Kingdom Chronicler shall make quarterly financial
  reports concerning his or her office to the Curia Regis."
- III-701: ditto the treasurer.
* III-702: Monies exceeding the amount of $100 shall not be disbursed
* from Middle Kingdom funds without the assent of a quorum of the
* Curia Regis.  [I assume they mean "a majority of a curia meeting at
* which a quorum is present".]
- IV-300, 301: The kingdom seneschal appoints the Curia Secretary.
  The CS must take the minutes and disseminate them to all the members
  within 3 weeks of any meeting.
- IV-1204: some supervision of the Minister of Regalia.  "Any regalia
  leaving the possession of the Minister of Regalia permanently for
  whatever reason can only do so with the permission of the Crown and
v  approval of the Curia."
- VI-101: There's a coronation and crown tourney rotation schedule
  written into kingdom law, saying the region that can bid.  Curia
  must approve the event plan.
- VIII: Curia must approve all contracts regarding the Middle Kingdom
  itself.
- I *like* this one: X-500: "Any group which disbands or is dissolved
  by the Board of Directors shall have two options regarding any funds
  held by said group: ...
  Failure to do one of the two above will result in the last known funds
  being reported to the IRS as personal income for the last reported
  exchequer or seneschal."   *** ZOT! ***  YOW!
- XVI-500: No Great Officer or deputy "shall produce any official
  publications without approval of the Curia Regis."
- XVI-600: consulted about Royal University by-laws.

*whew*  Almost 2000 lines of law in HTML.

I suspect that Tradition and the power of the purse keep the Middle's
Curia Regis strong.  From the list of functions, they look like a
general kingdom management committee (like Steppes Business Meeting,
and prossibly Bryn Bwlad Officer's Meeting).

About Aten:

> (2) The law will take effect during the current reign.  This statute must
> be approved by a majority vote of the barons and baronesses of the Kingdom.

Landed or landed+court?  -- Now THERE would be a function and purpose
for the court baron/esses!

Parliaments, estates, diets, synods, councils, et cetera are all
period, though with different powers, traditions, and such.  I think
that few areas lacked them.

Anyone for a Commons (anyone can attend) / Lords (peers, GOofS,
baronry, ex-royals) bicameral model?  I think Ealdormere provided for
that in their laws, but they're not on the web.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel.   Reply to tmcd at crl.com;
    if that fail, tmcd at austin.ibm.com is my work account.
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.



More information about the Southern mailing list