Internal Procedures Act 2013
Ruling Council
Act 1
This Act of Council codifies the internal procedures of the Ruling Council of the Empire of Adammia, expanding on that which is set out in the Supreme Directive.
Clarifying Article VIII, Section 2 of the Supreme Directive, extra provisions for the appointing of a noble as the Minister of a province are created. A noble automatically becomes the Minister of a province if has no permanent population, and no Local Elections shall ever take place there. The noble becomes Minister if the elected Minister dies or resigns, and holds office until the next Local Election, which is held at the nearest opportunity; if there are no candidates available at the time of a Local Election; if no Local Election has yet been held; if the elected Minister is not available for a period of time longer than one month.
It is henceforth declared that a person cannot be Minister of multiple provinces; if their positions in nobility require them to become a Minister of a province in addition to one they are already Minister of, they must temporarily resign from office of the original province and become Minister of the province they hold nobility of, until that province is ready to elect a new Minister; if their resident province has not yet held Local Elections by the time their noble position no longer requires them elsewhere, they can resume their original position. To prevent possible clashes under this system, this Act hereby amends Imperial Decree IV so that a person may only be Duke/Duchess of one province at a time (though they may simultaneously be an Archduke/Archduchess on top of this). If there are any other problems under this system that cannot be resolved, the Monarch should intervene and appoint new nobles to rectify the error.
An eligible resident of a province may nominate themselves as a candidate for Minister at any time, regardless of the time of the next election. They do this by adding their name to the Candidate List for that province; they may also remove their name from the List to withdraw their nomination. There may be no more than 10 nominees on the list at a time. At the time of Local Election, all candidates on the List are put onto the ballot forms.
This Act re-affirms that only elected Ministers can become Prime Minister. Nobles or the Chief Advisor cannot take this position unless they are also an elected Minister.
The Chair of the Ruling Council opens meetings with the following statement: “As Monarch / Prime Minister / Deputy Prime Minister of the Empire of Adammia, I, Emperor/Empress Forename Ordinal / Full name, hereby call this, the nth meeting of the Ruling Council of Adammia, into effect, on today the Date, nth day of my/Monarch's shortened title's reign, in the Location. I ask that all members make their presence known when asked.” Minor deviations from this are permitted. The Chair must then take a register of all Council members; present members can affirm their presence however they wish. At the end of the meeting, the Chair states, “I declare this meeting adjourned.” At any point, the Chair may declare that a meeting is on hold, and at a later time on the same day declare it resumed. If the meeting has not been resumed by the time the Chair retires to bed, the meeting is automatically over. If the number of members present drops below three, the meeting is automatically placed on hold, and resumes when the number of members present returns to three.
In the Council, members are encouraged to address each other by their styles or surnames, but this is not compulsory. “Imperial” can be removed from royal styles to aid the flow of discussion; “Sire” can also be used as a style for the Monarch. The course of discussion is recommended to proceed as follows: The Chair begins a point from the Agenda – the list of items of discussion prepared before the meeting. Prior to the meeting, the Chair should add to the Agenda anything that members of the Council wish to discuss, as long as it is relevant and reasonable; this is determined by the Chair. The first item on the Agenda is automatically forced to be reports from each province, to be provided by the nobles or Ministers for them, along with a report from the Monarch regarding their executive office, and a report from the Prime Minister regarding the rest of the executive national government. When raising a point on the Agenda, the Chair should introduce and explain it, then allow others to speak and debate. Members can stand and give a formal speech on the matter during this time. Once the Chair determines that the debate has run its course, he may either move on to the next point, or make a motion if neccesary. A motion is needed to enforce the system that the Supreme Directive requires for voting on certain matters; when doing this, the Chair says, “I hereby motion that...” followed by the motion. The Chair then says, “All in favour?” and those in favour raise their hands; the Chair counts these. The Chair then says “All oppose?” and those who oppose the motion raise their hands; the Chair counts these, and determines the outcome of the vote and whether it allows the motion to pass; this depends on the requirements behind each motion. For example, a motion to overturn an Imperial Decree would require 75% of the vote in favour of the motion, whereas a motion to pass an Act of Council requires only more than 50%. If the vote for a motion is inconclusive for whatever reason, it can be extended to the next meeting, and members may place their vote at any point in between. Votes can be obtained from council members not present by phone, email or other such forms of communication if necessary.
Written by HIM Emperor Adam I,
Passed by Council
4 in favour
3 not present
Signed,
Imperator Adammiae I
21st July 2013, IC day of Our reign