House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (31 page)

The original structure of the court system was specified by the articles of incorporation of the Manticore Colony, Ltd. This structure was local courts, then planetary courts, then district courts with the Board of Directors as the
de facto
supreme court. When the Constitution altered the corporate structure into a constitutional monarchy, the form and rules were retained but the names of the courts were changed. In addition, the highest court, the Queen’s Bench Court, was vested with the power of final review of judicial decisions from below.

The Shareholders’ Court (an ancient term carried over from the original articles of incorporation) is the first level of the Star Empire’s court system and is organized on a duchy level. Misdemeanor criminal cases are heard in this court, as are most civil actions. The rule in civil actions for damages is that the loser is required to pay court costs as a way of reducing frivolous lawsuits. Judges for the Shareholders’ Courts in any county are nominated by the County Magister, but final approval is given by the County Parliament. Local law and procedures govern the Shareholders’ Courts as long as the law in question does not conflict with or is not superseded by national law. Within the duchy or county, the local lord has the power of commutation and pardon.

Parallel to the Shareholders’ Courts is the Magister’s Bench in each county. These, like the Shareholders’ Courts, are courts of general and original jurisdiction. The difference is that in criminal cases, felonies are heard by these courts while in civil actions, these courts hear only cases where the amount in controversy exceeds a certain figure (which varies depending on the local jurisdiction).

The Duke’s Bench is the second level of the Star Empire’s court system. It is organized the same as the Magister’s Bench but on a planetary level. Judges to the Duke’s Bench are nominated by the planetary grand duke or duchess and confirmed by the Planetary Parliament.

The Crown District Court is the third level of Star Empire’s court system. All serious felony criminal cases that fall under Crown law, as opposed to County or Planetary law, are heard in this court, as are all cases that have been appealed from the lower courts. These courts may also, on motion from a party, accept jurisdiction where there is a conflict between which local law should be applied to a case. They may, however, decline jurisdiction in any such case. A county will usually, depending on size, have four district courts. The senior judge in the Crown District Court is called the Chief Judge and her headquarters is in the capital of the county her district serves. Crown District courts are also organized on a county level, but judges are selected by the Monarch, with advice from the Prime Minister, rather than the County Magister.

The fourth level of the Star Empire’s courts consists of the Crown Appellate Courts. In the Manticore Binary System, they are organized on a planetary level. These courts are purely appellate in nature and accept cases appealed from the Crown District Courts. They do not accept cases appealed from the Duke’s Bench except in matters touching upon the constitutionality of planetary statutes. The number of circuits within each appellate court depend on the volume of cases handled. Judges are selected by the Monarch, with advice from the Prime Minister, and these courts sit en banc with three judges hearing each case.

The Queen’s Bench refers to both the most senior court in the Star Empire and to the overall court system, depending upon context. The Queen’s Bench Court, however, is the final level of appeal. The one and only Queen’s Bench Court is seated in Landing City on Manticore. The Queen’s Bench Court hears all cases that have been appealed by all courts below and is also the court of original jurisdiction for questions from the Monarch. The Bench consists of the eleven most senior judges in the Star Empire, known as the “Law Lords.” They are selected by the Monarch and confirmed by the House of Lords. As members of the Queen’s Bench Court, they are organized by seniority on the bench as Lords of Law and any hereditary peers are barred from the House of Lords during their tenure on the bench in order to prevent conflicts of interest when laws come before the Bench for review. The Second Lord of law (sometimes also referred to as the Lord Chief Justice) is the head of the Bench and the senior judge in the Star Empire. The First Lord of Law is a member of the Royal Council and serves as the Star Kingdom’s minister of justice.

The Admiralty Court is a special court for the merchant shipping of the Star Empire. The Admiralty Court deals with shipping disputes such as collisions, salvage, carriage of cargo and limitation of tonnage of cargo. It also handles letters of marque and the awarding of prize money to warships and privateers.

The more recently added territories (Trevor’s Star, Lynx, Talbott Cluster and Silesia) retain their own legal systems until they can be incorporated into the Queen’s Bench system. While plans have not been finalized, it is likely that the local courts will retain their original jurisdiction as the first level of the system with the addition of Crown District Courts and Crown Appellate Courts. The only requirement imposed on the local courts is that their rulings cannot conflict with the law of the Star Empire once the systems have been formally incorporated.

Lawyers in the Star Empire are authorized to appear in any of the courts in the Star Empire with the exception of the Queen’s Bench Court, which requires a separate certification. There is no division among lawyers who are authorized to perform any legal work, including litigation. The entry-level degree is a Bachelor of Laws (LLB). Academically-minded attorneys can achieve two more degrees, a Master of Laws (LLM) and a Juris Doctor (JD).

Imperial Government

Over the fifty-five T-years between the Basilisk Act of Annexation in 1867 and the addition of the Talbott Quadrant in 1921 PD, the Star Kingdom of Manticore has grown from a single system polity to a sprawling star empire. The governmental structure that had sufficed for a kingdom with a limited area was clearly inadequate for a widely dispersed empire, and Queen Elizabeth III and the Grantville Government were determined from the beginning not to repeat the mistakes of the Solarian League. They believed that empire needed to be “governed,” rather than maintained by a bureaucracy that simply regulated, and they have set up a new, imperial constitution to do just that.

The Basilisk System, Trevor’s Star, and the Lynx System were added directly to the original “Old Star Kingdom” which had previously consisted solely of the Manticore Binary System, because each of them is a single star system with or directly associated with a terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction. All of them were already members of the Star Kingdom when the Talbott Quadrant requested membership, even though Lynx predated the request by only a few months. The fact that each lies only a single Junction transit from Manticore makes their inclusion into a single unit of government feasible.

The Imperial Parliament is to be permanently seated on Manticore. At present, each member system will be permitted to send five peers to the House of Lords, with each federal unit (Old Star Kingdom, Talbott Quadrant, and any subsequently added units) choosing the criteria for selection. All members of the Imperial House of Lords will hold lifetime peerages. Membership in the Imperial House of Commons must be elective, by all taxpayers of the planet for which he or she is seated, and seats will be apportioned on the basis of population. The total number of seats to be apportioned will be equal to twenty per star system, and each system, regardless of population, is guaranteed at least one seat. For the first fifteen years, seventy-five percent of the seats will be elected by the Old Star Kingdom. This will decrease to sixty percent after another fifteen years and then twenty-five percent after another twenty-five years. Thereafter, population will be the sole determinant.

When the Talbott Quadrant’s draft constitution was ratified by the Old Kingdom’s Parliament, the Quadrant’s member systems were officially incorporated into the Star Empire of Manticore. Each system may retain its original form of government, so long as it enacts no laws that conflict with the law of the Star Empire; it may at its discretion create laws that afford greater citizen protections, but it may not infringe upon those set forth in the imperial constitution. A Quadrant Parliament has likewise been created to address Quadrantwide concerns on a “local” level, with the Imperial Governor permanently seated in the Quadrant Cabinet as the Empress’ direct representative. Any individual member system of the Quadrant may grant the franchise on whatever basis it chooses, but all citizens are accorded the franchise for Quadrant elections if they can show that they have been citizens of the territory for at least five T-years. The exercise of the imperial franchise is dependent upon the payment of taxes, as per the original Manticoran constitution. The Manticoran dollar is the official currency and there are to be no internal trade restrictions or barriers. Member star systems’ local court systems have been left intact, although they are required to amend local law as necessary to meet the requirements of imperial law. Quadrantwide courts are in the process of establishment, with Crown appointment of judges nominated by the Quadrant Parliament. Imperial judges will be appointed by the Crown from candidates nominated by the Imperial Parliament.

It is anticipated that the Silesian territories will officially join the Star Empire on a similar basis and will remain administered provinces until officially incorporated. Sentiment among the general population is highly favorable to inclusion in the Star Empire, due in no small part to the Silesian Confederacy’s chaotic and bloody history and its people’s familiarity with the Royal Manticoran Navy’s longstanding peacekeeping role in Silesia.

House of Winton

The House of Winton can trace an unbroken line to the founder and CEO of the original Manticore colony expedition, and the first ruler of the Star Kingdom, Roger Winton I. Winton was the principal financier of the colony expedition and indisputably held the largest share of the initial land entitlements. However, quite intentionally, he took a large proportion of the least desirable real estate when the aristocracy was formed, in order to provide better lands for the other new aristocrats and additional lands for the new immigrants. From all accounts, this act was in keeping with his general conduct and has set the tone of the relationship between the Winton family and the Star Kingdom ever since.

Although not all monarchs have been equally capable or equally beloved (during the middle years of Roger II’s reign, for example, the Crown’s popularity was extraordinarily low), the Winton dynasty has always taken the long view, and this attitude has been, for the most part successfully, passed down through the generations. They have enshrined the adage that “privilege demands responsibility,” and that philosophy has earned them the deep trust of their subjects. Combined with a deliberate policy of partnering with the House of Commons to balance the power of the Lords (in whose favor the Constitution was originally slanted) and the Constitutional requirement that the heir to the throne wed a commoner, it is a significant reason for the success of the Monarchy over the years.

LINE OF SUCCESSION

The Crown passes with each generation to the eldest child of the monarch upon death. The line of succession goes through the monarch’s children before moving up to any of the monarch’s living siblings.

Perhaps one of the most farsighted provisions of the Star Kingdom’s Constitution was the requirement that the heir marry a commoner rather than a member of the aristocracy. The fact that in every generation “the Crown marries the Commons” is seen as a renewal of the social contract between monarch and subjects and insures that the commoners’ perspective is always represented at the very head of this aristocratic form of government. In addition, this strengthens the Star Kingdom as a whole by the fashion in which it underscores the “open” nature of the Manticoran aristocracy.

The line of Wintons and their reign dates has progressed as follows (note: the symbol to the left of some names indicates those members of the House of Winton who have been adopted by a treecat):

The introduction of prolong into the Star Kingdom in 1829 PD has had—or ought to have had—a profound effect on the royal family, giving them not only longer reigns, but also a greater amount of time to prepare their heirs. In the case of Roger III, the first monarch to have received prolong, however, untimely death prevented him from taking full advantage of those benefits. Fortunately, he had been careful to involve Elizabeth in affairs of state from a remarkably young age despite the fact that he anticipated a far longer reign, and his preparation was strongly tested after her youthful ascension to the throne upon his death. She has now reigned in her own right for thirty-seven T-years, with the expectancy of at least another century on the throne, and she has been training her own heir since his fourteenth birthday.

ROYAL FAMILY

1921 PD

The Winton dynasty has a strong tradition of its young scions going into public service. The normal career choice is military, usually with the RMN, or foreign office. Those with the inclination have joined the clergy. Public service among the young family members is seen as a way of preventing the next generation from becoming royal loafers, instilling in them a sense of duty, and giving them a satisfying personal career rather than condemning them to live solely in the shadow of the throne.