XO's Model British Parliament Constitution

This is, essentially, a load of dry legalese explaining in detail how the server works. The New Members' Guide is meant to be a more accessible explanation of the server.

Section 1: The Speakership

  1. "The Speakership" is here defined as a vague term, which can, depending on the context, refer to either the Lord Great Chamberlain,Speaker of the House, or the Deputy Speakers as a group.
  2. Elections to the Speakership are to begin no more than ten days after a newly-elected House of Commons sits.
  3. The Lord Great Chamberlain is the head moderator and owner of the server.
    1. The Lord Great Chamberlain is the chief arbitrator of the server and if any dispute shall arise, the Lord Great Chamberlain shall arbitrate the dispute.
      1. The Lord Great Chamberlain shall make any such ruling with the best of the server in mind.
      2. The Lord Great Chamberlain may make rulings that are incompatible with provisions in this document if it, in the view of the Lord Great Chamberlain, is the best way of resolving the dispute.
      3. If the Speaker disagrees with any ruling made under subsection (3)(a)(ii), the Speaker may either call for a vote of confidence in the Lord Great Chamberlain or for the annulment of the ruling.
  4. The Speaker of the House (referred to hereafter as "the Speaker") is the head of the roleplaying part of the server.
    1. The Speaker is responsible for chairing sittings in the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
    2. The Speaker is publicly elected via score voting.
    3. If 50% of the Deputy Speakers vote to call a vote of confidence in the Speaker, such a vote will be held.
      1. If the vote of confidence fails a new Speaker election shall take place.
      2. The Speaker may run in that election if they so wish.
    4. The Speaker may call a vote of confidence in themself.
  5. The Clerk of the Parliaments (referred to hereafter as "the Clerk") is the person responsible for the administrative and documentation part of the server.
    1. The Clerk is elected in the same way as any other office following a General Election.
    2. If the office Clerk becomes vacant, the Deputy Speakers may-
      1. co-opt a Deputy Speaker, or
      2. call an election
    3. The Clerk may be dismissed by the Deputy Speakers following a vote to do so.
  6. The Deputy Speakers are essentially the equivalent to admins or moderators; they can kick and ban people, manage channels and roles, and may preside over sessions of the Commons and Lords.
    1. The Deputy Speakers consist of the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Speaker, the Clerk, and 3 other elected members.
    2. Anyone but the current Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, can sign up to become a Deputy Speaker.
    3. In the event that during the term a Deputy Speaker becomes either Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition, they will be removed from the speakership and a by-election will take place, unless the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Speaker acting jointly grants an exception.
    4. Deputy Speakers are publicly elected via score voting.
    5. The Lord Great Chamberlain may at a time of need coopt Deputy Speakers
      1. The Deputy Speakers may call a vote to disagree with the appointment, which, if passed, will annul the appointment.
      2. Such a vote needs to happen in the first week following the appointment.
  7. Independent Deputy Speakers are Deputy Speakers, including the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Speaker, and the Clerk, that are not members of any political party.
    1. Independent Deputy Speakers may be granted serverwide access to channels, including party chats, for the purpose of moderating and aiding users.
  8. If the Speaker or the Clerk resigns, the Lord Great Chamberlain might at their discretion decide that the Speaker and Clerk can remain a Deputy Speaker until the following election or until they resign.

Section 2: Political Parties

  1. A political party may be formed if:
    1. at least 2 users have confirmed that they will join said party, and
    2. a formal request have been submitted in #meta containing all the required information.
  2. The Speakership reserve the right to deny any party formation request, for example in cases where:
    1. the formation of the party would be detrimental to the server as a whole, or
    2. the political ideology of the party makes it, in the views of the Speakership, make it difficult for members of the party to stay within the code of conduct of the server.
  3. If, at any time, a political party falls below the required number of members, or fails to have at least 2 members who are reasonably active, they will have 1 week to attempt to get back above the limit. If they fail, the party will be disbanded.
  4. Any party member who does not send any messages in the server for a month, provided that they do not have a seat in either House of Parliament, will be expelled from their party and become an independent.
  5. By default, a party leader may be impeached via a majority vote among party members.
    1. The Party Leader may not expel members seaking to call a vote of no-confidence
  6. Parties may set their own rules on impeachment of their leaders, as long as those rules are compatible with subsection (5).
  7. Discord servers created to organise political parties or groupings must grant the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Speaker full admin privileges for the purposes of moderation.

Section 3: The House of Commons

  1. General elections to the House of Commons are simulated via the mixed-member proportional system.
    1. During the campaign period for a general election, no candidate running for election may switch parties, unless they wish to become an independent candidate.
    2. The dates of general elections are the provenance of the Speakership alone. Any motion to call a general election in Parliament must be passed with a 2/3 majority in the House of Commons.
  2. Newly-elected MPs must:
    1. Take either the oath or solemn affirmation of office in #house-of-commons (This also applies to MPs who have been reëlected), and
    2. if they were elected from a proportional seat, choose a constituency to represent.
  3. MPs may be removed from office in three ways:
    1. Failure to vote on four days of parliamentary business in a row.
    2. An explicit request to resign.
    3. If an MP who joined a party to get a seat leaves that party within 3 weeks, they automatically forfeit their seat.
    4. Section (c) does not apply if the MP leaves the party due to the party ceasing to exist.
    5. An MP also automatically forfeit their seat if they are granted a list seat following a General Election and leaves the party before the State Opening of Parliament.
  4. Ex-MPs' replacements are chosen by their political party, unless one of the following two criteria is met, in which case it will be decided by a by-election:
    1. The party has left the seat vacant for more than 21 days
    2. The ex-MP has a different party affiliation from the start of their term than at the end of it
    3. The seat is a constituency seat
  5. By-elections for list seats take the form of in-character debates between candidates, held in #the-strangers-bar; whoever the Speakership thinks debated best becomes MP.
    1. No person who is a constituency MP at the time of the by-election may run in it.
  6. By-elections for constituency seats take the form of a normal constituency race in a General Election.

Section 4: The House of Lords, and the Honours List

  1. Schedule 1 shall have effect.
  2. Peers may be appointed to the House of Lords via three methods:
    1. Users who have been appointed to an Order which grants the right to sit in the Lords, may retire to the House of Lords at any time.
    2. Life Peers may be appointed by either the Speakership or the Prime Minister.
      1. Life peerages last for as long as the user is a working member of the House of Lords
      2. Upon being granted a Leave of Absence, the user loses their peerage.
      3. The User might be reappointed to the same peerage
  3. Newly-appointed peers must:
    1. Take either the oath or solemn affirmation of office in #house-of-lords, and
    2. choose a noble title (for example: Dux of Berwick, Baron Duoro, Baron of Anchorage).
      1. Peers may not choose the primary title of a high-ranking member of the royal family. (for example: Duke of Sussex, Duke of Edinburgh, Duchess of Cambridge)
  4. If a Peer does not have any of the knighthoods that would entitle them to use the prefixes of "Sir", "Dame", or "Knight", they may only use the following titles:This does not apply to Peers sworn in before the 10th of September, 2019.
    1. Baron, Baroness, or an equivalent gender-neutral title (e.g. Baronx)
    2. Bishop
  5. Peers who have been granted Leave of Absence are stripped of their place in the House of Lords, and are no longer included in totals; however, they may return to the House of Lords at any time as long as they are entitled to do so.
  6. Peers can be granted Leave of Absence in three ways:
    1. Failure to vote on four days of parliamentary business in a row,
    2. Being elected as an MP, or
    3. an explicit request to be granted Leave of Absence.

Section 5: Parliamentary Procedure

  1. Bills and motions proceed through the legislative process largely as they do in real life, with the following exceptions:
    1. The Amendments Committee is skipped, and amendments to bills are instead brought forward by MPs up to one week after the second reading.
    2. Legislative motions only get one reading in each house, with no possibility for amendments.
    3. Motions where a House merely states its support for something only get one reading, in said house.
  2. If a set of amendments conflict, the Speaker and Clerk shall make such provisions so that the parts of the amendment that conflict is submitted as an amendment to the original.
    1. The amendment to amend the first amendment shall be voted on first, following a vote on the first amended as amended or not.
  3. Amendments passed by the first House during the report stage shall be integrated into the bill before it is sent to the other House.
    1. Amendments to the bill passed during the report stage in the second House shall be added to a list of amendments.
    2. During consideration of amendments, either House can edit the list of amendments by proposing:
      1. To remove an amendment from the list (disagree with an amendment)
      2. Amend the amendment
      3. Replace the amendment (propose an amendment in lieu), or
      4. Add a new amendment
    3. If no new amendments are proposed during consideration of amendments, the House shall have a vote on whether to agree to all amendments
      1. If the motion passes the bill gets sent for Royal Assent
      2. If not, the House disagrees with all the amendments and sends it back to the other place.
  4. For divsions in the House of Commons, Speaker Denisons' Rule is used to break ties.
    1. If the votes on whether to agree to all Lords' amendments results in a tie, the Speaker shall vote in favour of rejecting the Lords' amendments
  5. For divisions in the House of Lords, the Standing Orders of the House of Lords is used to break ties.
    1. If votes on whether to agree to all Commons' amendments results in a tie, the Speaker shall vote in favour of keeping the Commons' amendments
  6. Proper parliamentary conduct must be adhered to in in-character parliamentary channels. This means no addressing fellow MPs/Peers by name, no accusing someone of lying, et cetera.
  7. The Speaker is the final arbiter of any disputes and may-
    1. call upon the user to retract their statement or apologise,
    2. remove the user from the debate, or
    3. anything else they may consider appropriate to restore order/

SCHEDULE 1: Honours

The Honours List shall be reformed as follows, going from lowest level to highest.

Order of the Roulette

Order of the British Empire

Order of the Bath

Order Order of the Boothroyd Cross

Order of the Garter

Royal Victorian Order

Most Iridescent Order of the Thyrsus and Lyre

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