Local government of the Byzantine Empire (Byzatium)

The local government system of the Byzantine Empire reflects the Imperial principles and the diverse nature of the empire, while also incorporating the principles of Orthodox Christianity and Enlightenment ideas.

Provinces

The Empire is subdivided into 15 Provinces (sing. Περιφέρεια, Periféreia; pl. Περιφέρειες, Periféreies; lit. "Regions"). for administrative purposes.

The Provinces exercise their right to self-government within the limits set forth in the constitution and organic laws, which broadly define the powers that they assume.

Each statute sets out the devolved powers for each community; typically those communities with stronger historical loyalties have more powers, and this type of attribution of powers has been called asymmetrical.

Since 1965, the Empire is subdivided into 15 provinces:

• Byzantium Special Region;
• Obsikon
• Serbia
• Dalmatia
• Epirus
• Acaia and Morea
• Macedonia
• Moesia
• Western Anatolia
• Paphlagonia and Pontus
• Central Anatolia
• Crete
• Cyprus
• Eastern Anatolia
• Western Armenia

Province	Area	Population	Eparchies	Capital	Notes
Byzantium Special Region	5,343 km2	15,907,951	1	Costantinople	The Metropolitan, the Eparchy and the Provincial governments coincide and are managed by the Roman Senate
Crete	8,450 km2	624,408	1	Herakleion	The Eparchy and the Provincial governments coincide
Cyprus	9,251 km2	1,244,188	5	Nicosia
Obsikon	83,510 km2	11,555,026	12	Prusa
Serbia	82,261 km2	7,368,745	37	Singidonon
Moesia	110,993 km2	6,447,710	28	Serdica
Macedonia	61,463 km2	4,781,278	15	Skópia	The civil Eparchy of Mount Athos is entrusted to the Monastic community of Mount Athos
Acaia-Morea	26,840 km2	1,186,586	3	Patras
Attica-Thessalia	38,680 km2	5,331,402	4	Athens
Epirus	31,936 km2	2,677,392	10	Tirana
Dalmatia	18,010 km2	1,516,526	16	Dyrratio
Paphlagonia-Pontus	122,016 km2	7,486,845	18	Trebizond
Central Anatolia	175,693 km2	14,563,906	14	Ánkyra
Eastern Anatolia	81,029 km2	11,363,201	9	Adana
Western Anatolia	102,675 km2	13,101,051	9	Smirne
Western Armenia	192,680 km2	11,485,149	19	Amida
Total	1,052,656 km2	117,139,970	201	Costantinople

System of government

The Provincial government consists of the Executive Council, the Governor and the Parliament. With few exceptions, most of the justice system is administered by imperial judicial institutions. The legal system is uniform throughout the Spanish state, with the exception of some parts of civil law – especially family, inheritance, and real estate law – that have traditionally been ruled by local laws. The fields of civil law that are subject to autonomous legislation have been codified in the Provincial Civil Code.

Each Province has a Governor (Περιφερειάρχης, Perifereiárches) appointed by the Emperor. The Governor is assisted by a provincial parliament known as Provincial Council (Περιφερειακό Συμβούλιο, Perifereiakó Symvoúlio).

The Provincial Councils are responsible for discussing and passing legislation related to regional matters, such as cultural preservation and language policies. All Provinces have chosen unicameralism. While these parliaments have legislative powers, they also serve as advisory bodies to the Eparchs and the Roman Senate. All such governments have legislative and executive branches of government but not judicial.

Provincial Council

The Provincial Council is the unicameral legislative body of the Provincial government and represents the people of the Province. Each Provincial Council has a member every 100,000 inhabitants. Members are elected by universal suffrage to serve for a four-year period. According to the relevant Statute, the Provincial Coincil has powers to legislate over devolved matters.

Governor

The Governor is the highest provincial authority, and is also responsible of leading the provincial government's action, presiding the Provincial Executive Council. The Governor is directly elected. Once the election is ratified by the Senate, he is formally appointed by the Emperor. If serious violations occurr, he or she is dismissed by the Emperor upon proposal of the Prime Minister of the Empire after hearing the Senate. In carrying out his or her duties, the Governor is formally responsible only to the Emperor, while existing in a complex web of political obbligations.

The Governor serves until removed by the Emperor. He is chancellor of public sector universities of province, Governor appoints Secretaries of the Provincial Executive and takes oath from them. He also took oath from judges of the province.

The Governor is responsible for implementing provincial laws and leading the operation of the provincial executive branch. Governors advance and pursue new and revised policies and programs. The Governor signs bills and budget passed by the Provincial Council. He signs notificiations promulgated by the Provincial Executive Council. He may also promulgate executive decress motu proprio.

Role and powers

Provinces are self-governing republican polities, and possess a number of powers under the Constitution of the Empire, such as regulating intrastate commerce, holding elections, and creating local (i.e. sub-eparchial) governments. Each Province has its own constitution, grounded in republican principles, and government, consisting of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.[2] Also, due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the federal government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside.[3]

The Governor heads the Province's executive branch and has considerable control over government budgeting, the power of appointment of many officials, and a considerable role in legislation. The Governor also has partial or absolute power to commute or pardon a criminal sentence.

Governors can veto provincial bills, and has the power of the line-item veto on appropriations bills. The Provincial Council can override a gubernatorial veto by a two-thirds vote. The Governor has right to address in Provincial Council. He can summon and prorogue the sessions of Provincial Council. He may dissolve the Provincial Council and the Provincial Executive Council, ruling by decree when mandated by the Prime Minister of the Empire or by the Emperor.

Deputy Governor

All Provinces, with the exception of the Byzantium Special Region, have a Deputy Governor (Greek: Antiperifereiárches). The Deputy Governor succeeds to the gubernatorial office if vacated by impeachment, death, or resignation of the previous Governor. Deputy Governors also serve as unofficial acting Governors in case the incumbent Governors are unable to fulfill their duties.

Provincial Executive Council

The Provincial Executive Council is the body responsible of the government of the province, it holds executive and regulatory power, being accountable to the Provincial Council and to the Emperor. It comprises the Governor and the Secretaries appointed by the Governor, as well as the the Secretary of Government.

Secretary of Government

The Secretary of Government is the bureaucratic chief and highest-ranking career official of the provincial government. The appointment of the Secretary of Government is appointed directly by the Prime Minister of the Empire.

The Secretary of Government is the province's administrative leader. All Eparchs of the relevant province report to him. The Secretary of Government in turn reports to the Governor. However, the Secretary of Government is not under the charge of the Governor. The Secretary of Government also serves as the main0 Advisor to the Governor and as Secretary to the Provincial Executive Council.

Civil Eparchy

The Civil Eparchy (Πολιτική Επαρχία Politikí Eparchía, usually simply Επαρχία Eparchía when there is no confusion with its religious counterpart) is the second of the four levels of government under the national level, between the Provinces and the Archontates. They serve as the foundation of local governance and as significant hubs of central government's actions.

Eparchies are the last remanants of the ancient territorial organisation known as thematic system. In late 18th Century, Constantine XIII swept away all older subdivisions, completed the scaling down of remaining Themes and renamed them Eparchies. These subidivisions, while remaining the territorial reference point for the imperial government, lost all military defence duties save for the local support militias.

Each Eparchy is led by an Eparch (Πολιτικός Επαρχ Politikós Eparch, usually simply Επαρχ Eparch when there is no confusion with his religious counterpart), appointed by the Emperor. The Eparch is responsible for overseeing local administration and ensuring that imperial policies and values are upheld within the Eparchy. Below the Eparch, elected local councils would manage local affairs, including infrastructure, education, and public services.

Each Eparchy is administered by the Eparch, assisted by an elected body called Eparchial Council (Επαρχιακό συμβούλιο Eparchiakó symvoúlio). The chief executive of the department is the Eparch, who represents the Government of the Empire in each Eparchy and is appointed by the Emperor upon proposal of the Ministry of Interior. The Eparch is assisted by one or more sub-Eparchs and by Archons.

Each of the Eparchies features a governing body called a Eparchial Government, concerned mostly with administrative decisions on a local level for districts within its jurisdiction.

The Eparchial Council is an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage. Eparchial Council main areas of responsibility, as distinct from the Eparchial Government services organised at Eparchial level, include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school buildings and technical staff, and local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at Eparchial level, where the Eparch represents the government.

The Eparchial seat of government is generally a town of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the Eparchy. Eparchies are divided into Archontates and into Subdistricts, while grouping Municipalities. Byzantine Eparchies are assigned a three-digit number, the Official Geographical Code, allocated by the Imperial Statistics Agency.

Eparch

In each Civil Eparchy, the local Eparch is the official responsible for the implementation of legislation, constitutional and government decisions; he is also the government political agent, and is in charge of a Eparchial Government: Civil Eparchs take all the initiatives that they return to the glory of the Regime and hence increase its power and prestige in the social order as much as in the intellectual field. The problems that beset the population at a given time must be dealt with by the Eparchs. As political agents and representatives of the Emperor's government, the Eparch and the Civil Eparchial Government are passive administration bodies against local authorities, i.e. they merely control and authorise active measures in fields reseved by the law to the local authorities. The Eparch hierarchically depends on the Minister of the Interior, but both the Prime Minister of the Empire and the Emperor of the Romans may issue appropriate directives to the Civil Eparchs.
There are 201 Civil Eparchs, one for each Civil Eparchy, appointed and revoked by the Emperor of the Romans on the recommendation of the Interior Minister. Eparchs have power over public offices within their Eparchy, including the Eparchial police and gendarmerie commands. They also have a certain role in local government, though Podestà and councillors are elected to these roles in local elections.

Appointment

The Eparch is officially appointed to his role by the Emperor of the Romans. The Ministry of the Interior first presents their candidates for evaluation to the Emperor, who then appoints and revokes the Eparch after a final period of evaluation. There are no set term limits for Eparchs, though they can be removed from their position at the will of the Interior Minister. Eparchs can also be moved from Eparchy to Eparchy, meaning that it is not unusual for Eparchs to be appointed to a Eparchy in which they have no prior experience or personal connection.

General functions

In the Eparchies, Eparchs are mainly tasked with the implementation of government legislation and decisions, meaning that they are senior members of the Civil Service. During ceremonies or formal national holiday celebrations, the Eparch of a Eparchy serves as the most senior state official during provincial events unless a national state official is in attendance. The Eparch presides over the celebrations and formally accepts any awards presented during a ceremony.
Eparchs are also tasked with the implementation of any demands of government ministries. In the event that legislation cannot be directly or practically implemented, the Eparch is responsible for bringing about the conditions in which new legislation is compatible with their province.

Public Security and public safety duties

As Authority Provincial of Public Security, the Eparch is responsible for public order and security in the province, and directs the implementation of directives adopted in the field, ensuring unity of direction and coordination of tasks and activities of the officers and agents of public security. Finally, he manages the police force and other forces may be placed at its disposal; the Eparchial police and gendarmerie commanders functionally depend on the Eparch.
The Eparch also has responsibilities in the field of civil protection. He prepares the plan to deal with the emergency on the whole territory of the Eparchy, and ensures the implementation, assuming the unified management of the emergency services to be activated at the Eparchial level, directing the activities of the Prokathemenos of the municipalities concerned, and takes all necessary measures to ensure first aid.
The Eparch has the power to adopt urgent measures in order to prevent and eliminate serious threats to public safety, public security or public order. Although the vast majority of the activities related to public security are carried out by the eparchial police command, the Eparch still retains some specific tasks.

Local authorities surveillance

Along with his ordinary surveillance functions carried out by the Eparchial Administrative Board, the Eparch under serious circumstance can intervene against Municipalities. The Eparch has the right to inspect the proceedings of local administrations as well as conduct any reorganisations that may be deemed necessary. Any legislative changes to local government are also implemented by the Eparch.
With regard to the powers of control of the local authorities, the Eparch may suspend from office Eparchial councillors, Prokathemenoi and Municipal councillors, when they do acts contrary to the Constitution or for serious and persistent violations of law or reasons of public order, waiting for the Minister of the Interior for their removal. The Eparch may initiate the procedure for the dissolution of the municipal or eparchial council and sending a commissioner and suspend the Council.
The Eparch may require for inspections to ascertain the proper functioning of the services exercised in any capacity by the Prokathemenoi and the chairman of the eparchial council. If the Prokathemenos or those who perform its functions do not perform his duties, the Eparch may exercise substitutive power or appoint a commissioner for the fulfillment of the functions and duties. The functions of the Special Commissioner are carried out by officials of the civil service and interior ministry career.
The grounds of public order or political reasons occur when the local authority encroaches on its powers and changes the care of the interests of local territory into seditious acts, thus impeding or prejudicing the State action.
The reasons of administrative nature occur when the local authority infringes, repeatedly and systematically, the obligations imposed by law, in order to become a government body that does not work or which works illegally.

Eparchial Government

The Eparchial Government is a peripheral organ of the Ministry of the Interior, but performs general functions through five Divisions and some other offices and bodies. Each Eparchial Government is assigned Vice-Eparchs and Additional Vice-Eparchs, in charge of the organizational units (Cabinet Office, Divisions, etc.), as well as several officials of lower rank. The Vice-Eparch Vicar is assigned the vicar functions to the Eparch: he ensures the coordinated operation of the administrative offices of the State and guarantees the sincere cooperation of local authorities. The Eparch may order the adoption of measures to prevent serious harm to the citizens. In addition, if they are not taken within the time specified, the Eparch, with the approval of the Minister responsible for the matter, can provide directly, having notified the Prime Minister of the Empire.

Cabinet and Divisions

The bulk of the Eparchial government consists of the seven hearth offices: the Cabinet and the Divisions (1st to 6th). They deal with the vast majority of the affairs the Eparchial government has to deal with and provide support to the other main offices, such as the the Eparchial Administrative Board.
The Cabinet of the Eparch is the Eparch's staff, coordinated by a Chief of Cabinet; it is in direct collaboration with the Eparch and assists him in the exercise of his own functions, too detailed and complex to be carried out without high level assistance. The Cabinet is responsible for handling confidential affairs, secretarial issues, economic affairs, labour disputes and control of local authorities. The Chief of Cabinet is generally a Vice-Eparch; sometimes is a Vice-Eparch Inspector or, in very small Eparchies, an Additional Vice-Eparch Inspector.
The first division, as well as dealing with affairs not allocated to other divisions, is responsible for administrative matters (such as acts of citizenship and personal), order services (related, usually, to the Archive, the library and to the Copy Office), consumption tax of the municipalities and support to the Eparchial Administrative Board.
The second division has jurisdiction in matters of local government (protection and supervision) and control of the affairs of charities and assistance institutions. These duties involve the responsibility of overseeing the work of the local Party leaders and local administrators, who are often the emanation of the early ones. Therefore, the Second Division is entrusted to officials often more determined and less prone to having fear of political backlash.
The third division is responsible for hygiene and health, while the fourth division collects and deals with all matters relating to public works, the roads, the railways, the post office, the telegraphs and telephones and land reclamation. In these areas, the Eparchial Government is flanked, from the technical point of view, by the offices of Civil Engineering Corps. Money flows that are affected by the fourth division make this Division the second most important one, after the second division.
The fifth division is dedicated to manage organically peripheral services in the field of both health care and social assistance; finally, the 6th Division deals with public security affairs which are not carried out by the Questura. This Division is subdivided into ten offices: private investigators; private security guards (licenses and authorizations) and MVSN Legionnaires (licenses and authorizations); firearms licenses (other than those issued by the police) and appeals against police decisions; other authorizations and ship traffic management; fires and explosives; bouncers (authorizations); elevator operators (authorizations); counsel support.

Eparchial Administrative Board

The Eparchial Administrative Board is a collegial body of the state. It has some very important functions, which include:

• Review of legality and merit (the so-called "administrative tutelage") on the acts of the Eparchial Council, municipalities, municipality associations and institutions of public welfare and charities;
• Functions of administrative judge for complaints against administrative decisions of these bodies.

The Board consists of:

• The Eparch, who presides;
• Two subordinate officials of the Ministry of the Interior, designated by the Eparch at the beginning of each year;
• The Intendant of Finance;
• The Chief Accountant of the Eparchial Government
• The Provincial Inspector
• Four full members and two reserve members elected by the Eparchial Council; of these, usually two are members known to have knowledge of the Eparchy's general condition.

Judicial functions

Decisions of the Eparchial Administrative Board possess a judicial nature. It has the power to decide on complaints that are not of jurisdiction of the ordinary court and do not belong to the jurisdiction or powers of contentious special bodies or colleges.
In addition, the Board has exclusive jurisdiction over certain disputes, expressly and exhaustively listed in matters concerning individual rights and legitimate interests. Among these responsibilities, those, the most important subject is the relationship of the public sector, with limited jurisdiction generally to errors of law, extended the merits in cases of dismissal, removal and suspension from the role of seniority.

Administrative functions

The function of the supervision exercised by the Eparchial Government administration is to control the acts of the institutions subject to supervision, a control form which consists of a penetrating examination of the act under investigation, both in terms of the legitimacy and of merit.
The Eparchial Administrative Board is the surveillance and monitoring body for the administrative acts of municipalities, provinces and municipal and eparchial associations, and acts subject to control are the resolutions of the governing bodies of local authorities. The control of the Eparchial Government is special: i.e., it concerns only the resolutions expressly provided by law. In particular, resolutions subject to Board control are those concerning:

• Building, hygiene, local police, use of municipal assets regulations;
• Organic Regulations containing establishment of offices and services (as well as the legal and economic status of the personnel);
• Land use plans;
• Direct taking of public services and the opening of community pharmacies;
• Changes in the classification of roads and projects for the reconstruction and the opening of the same;
• Application of taxes and the related regulations;
• Budget and appropriations from one category to another when the appropriation refers to optional expenses;
• Mandatory expenditure budget for over five years;
• Authorisation of associations of international nature within the Province.

Eparchial Council

The Eparchial Council (Επαρχιακό Συμβούλιο Eparchiakó Symvoúlio) is the deliberative assembly of an Eparchy, elected by universal suffrage within the Subdistricts.

In 2021, there are 201 Eparchial Councils: one for each Eparchy, except Costantinople. To these Eparchial Councils, it should be added the Consultative Council of Costantinople (which combines the advisory functions of municipal council, eparchial council and provincial assembly).

Composition

Eparchial councilors are elected by direct universal suffrage for six years as part of a two-round binomial majority vote: two councilors, one woman and one man, are elected together in each Subdistrict. In addition to elected members, the Governor of the relevant Province appoints up to two prominent members of the local landed gentry or of the local titled nobility. Usually, Archons and Megaspatharioi are selected for this posts.

Chairman of the Eparchial Council

During its first meeting following its renewal, the Eparchial Council elects its Chairman (or Chairwoman) from among its members. The election takes place by an absolute majority of council members in the first two rounds of voting, and by a relative majority in the third round. The Chairman (or Chairwoman) of the Eparchial Council is the executive body of the Eparchial Council:

• He or she orders expenditure and allocates revenue;
• He or she is responsible for administration;
• He or she has prerogatives linked to the code of social action and families;
• He or she brings legal actions on behalf of the department (with the agreement of the Eparchial Council) and defends the Eparchy against actions brought against it (with the agreement of the standing commission);
• He or she can receive certain delegations from the departmental council.

After the election of the Chairman, the Eparchial Council elects the five members of the permanent commission (of which the Chairman is a rightful part).

Powers

The main powers of the departmental council are:

• Social assistance (legal form of assistance):
• Roads: management of departmental roads, transport of disabled students;
• Education: material management of colleges;
• Culture: departmental archives, departmental lending library, architectural and museum heritage;
• Local development: aid to associations and municipalities;
• Tourism.

Archontate

The Archontate (Greek: Αρχοντιά Archontiá, lit. Lordship) is an administrative district of the Byzantine Empire, namely an area resulting from a division of the national territory for local management purposes. The Archontate constitutes an intermediate subdivision between the Eparchy and the subdistrict. An Archontate generally bears the name of its capital and its Eparchial delegation is administered by a Civil Archon, usually ranking Vice-Eparch.

Civil Archon

The Civil Archon (Greek: Πολιτικός Άρχων Politikós Árchon) is the Eparch's delegate in the district. In this capacity, he assists the Eparch in the territorial representation of the State and, under his authority:

• He ensures compliance with laws and regulations and contributes to the maintenance of security and public order and the protection of populations;
• He leads and coordinates the action of State services for the implementation of national and community policies, particularly in terms of land use planning and local development;
• He participates in the exercise of administrative control and in advising local authorities.

The Eparch may entrust the Civil Archon with specific, temporary or permanent missions, where applicable outside the limits of the Archontate and, with the agreement of the other Eparchs concerned, outside the limits of the Eparchy. Independently of the powers thus delegated to him, the Archontate has his own responsibilities, exhaustively listed, by legislative and regulatory texts.

Archontate Council

The Archontate Council is formed by Councilors elected from the territories of the Subdistricts, by single-member majority vote in two rounds.The Councilors are elected for 6 years, with half renewable every three years. The functions of district councilor are not paid and may be combined with a parliamentary mandate. Their attributions are limited and they mainly intervene in the distribution of direct contributions. Alongside elected member, all Titled Nobles are ex officio entitled to attend meetings and landed gentry elect a delegation.

Municipality

The Municipality is the lowest administrative body with inherent autonomy. It provides many of the basic civil functions: registry of births and deaths, registry of deeds, and contracting for local roads and public works. The density of comuni varies widely by Province. While Provinces and Eparchies are creations of the imperial government, the natural community is indeed the town.

Both Municipalities and Eparchies have, as peripheral articulations of the Government, to provide for mandatory services and related expenses; on the other hand, they have a limited degree of administrative autonomy, being also in charge of facultative services and related expenses and taxes. As "delegated power", the Municipality may be supported from the central State in expenses and funding.

All municipalities, except the city of Costantinople, are administered by a Prokathemenos (Greek: Προκαθήμενος, lit. 'the presiding one') , assisted by a Municipal Council. With the establishment of the Prokathemenos the Municipality, while retaining the administrative capacity and autonomy, and maintaining its legal personality, lives and works in harmony with the general interests of the nation and with the directives of the Government. The concept of Prokathemenos respects the municipal autonomy: the Municipality - lower intermediate body - in this way can not claim a willingness different from the higher body, which is the State.