House of Commons (Themiclesia)

House of Commons 羣姓之省 gjun-sjêngh-st′ja-srêng′
Type
Type	lower house
Term limits	unlimited
History
Founded	January 2, 1845 (1845-01-02)
Preceded by	Council of Protonotaries
Leadership
Speaker	Kaw Rjem MP, Conservative since Mar. 15, 2009
Deputy Speaker	Lord P.rjang MP, Liberal since Jan. 4, 2017
Structure
Seats	225
Political groups	Government   Liberals: 132 seats Opposition   Conservatives: 82 seats   Progressives: 14 seats   Independents: 7 seats
Committees	Whole Appropriations Foreign Affairs Defence Industry & Commerce Transport Education Administration Rural Human Rights Minorities
Length of term	Up to 5 years
Elections
Voting system	first-past-the-post
Last election	Dec. 27, 2019
Next election	Dec. 27, 2024 latest
Redistricting	itself; super-majority required per convention
Meeting place
House of Commons Chamber

The House of Commons is the elected chamber of Themiclesia's bicameral legislature, the other being the House of Lords. This house is the one to which the executive branch is responsible and where most government legislation is tabled; in political practice, it is the dominant chamber of the two.

Originally a writing office for drafting decrees and proclamations, historians have emphasized its representative character as the place where those elected by the gentry worked. This character has been exploited by both the crown and court potentates to bolster their political clout. In the Great Settlement of 1801, it was reformed as a representative chamber, with limited legislative powers, to check the crown and its ministers, in conjunction with the Council of Peers. The growing demand for public participation culminated in the Revolution of 1845 that transformed it as the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature.

Name

The House of Commons has several names reflecting the evolution of the organization which is notionally connected with the royal secretariat that first appeared in the historical record in the 5th century. The term "house of the lineages" (群姓之省) is often used in the media and members of the public when it is contrasted with the House of Lords.

History

Predecessor

Main article: Council of Protonotaries

The House of Commons was understood as a evolution of the Council of Protonotaries (or Prothonoraries in some works) by many writers contemporary to its creation. The Council of Protonotaries was an ancient institution, emerging in the historical record in the 4th century, that originally served as the royal secretariat. This function entailed oversight or at least awareness of the political agenda of the wider royal court, which was composed of bureaucrats and hereditary nobles, but the civic election system was ultimately the source of its political character, whereby the gentry voiced its opinions and entered the bureaucracy.

While the Council was not a legislative body in any sense, most policies being made by the crown with peers and leading ministers, the Council was seen as a porthole of the gentry's opinions, who provided virtually all civil and military officers in the metropole. In the Great Settlement of 1801, a strong concurrence of opinions motivated additional checks on the crown by empowering institutions that represented the gentry and peerage. Under Casaterran influence, regular elections and the majority rule were established in the Council, so as to reduce the crown's ability to manipulate it. To this institution, around 10,000 land-owning families, all entrenched local elites and serving the royal bureaucracy, triennially elected representatives.

Through the Council's enhanced powers were primarily designed to check the crown, the rapid spread of Casaterran political philosophies engendered the mercantile class to support further political reforms that would provide them with political influence. Social liberalization also encouraged traditional gentry families to take advantage of their assets and participate in the developing economy. By 1830, the alliance that instituted the anti-crown reforms had split between hardline conservatives and reformists, the latter of which would join the (then unenfranchised) mercantile lobby and remnants of the Imperialists, who supported a more active monarchy. Merchants and junior administrators staged two important strikes the paralyzed the government in 1841 and 1844. Combined with fear of revolution, the Council of Protonotaries was reformed into the House of Commons.

Establishment

It has been noted that the House of Commons was not envisoned as the Council of Protonotaries with an enlarged electorate. Themiclesian leaders did not consciously incorporate any significant separation of powers; the Council of Protonotaries and the Council of Peers jointly exercised the sovereign power. Their powers were limited only by the unity and political inclinations of the political class, which comprised of less than 0.1% of the country by population. Criticism for this form of govenrment, however, waxed after the ascension of Emperor K.rjang, who touted the argument that restrictions on royal power established due to his father's incompetence should not apply to himself. K.rjang's machinations, however, did nothing except inspire renewed resistance against royal authority, which many Conservatives believed should be permanently limited.

During the fora between the crown and the two councils, several schemes for the future constitution were tabled. Emperor Ng′jarh sided with the Reformists, hoping that some authority might be restored to the throne through a constitutional monarchy; however, the hardline conservatives were against any "independent power" vested in the crown. The government sent a mission to Anglia and Lerchernt and Sieuxerr to study their respective governments, and the former, characterized by the mission as moderate and anti-revolution, dominated the Reformist cause. Ultimately, their primary demand of a "public franchise" was achieved in exchange for not establishing a written constitution and implicitly acknowledging the sovereighty of the future legislature. The reforms came into effect on Nov. 10, 1844, when the Protonotaries were dissolved for the last time.

19th century

While the House of Commons is so translated in Tyrannian, its Shinasthana name, "House of Many Lineages", reflects its original position as a deliberative assembly of recognized elites, many of whom possessed hereditary titles but were not peers (who sat in the House of Lords). In the first election for the new Commons, held in December 1844, 108 out of 125 members held titles, recognizing their or their relatives' public services. The granting of these titles, though now honourary, still possessed a singificant impact on the democratic process. Amongst candidates of similar views or qualifications, the titled are more likely to be selected and elected. This is particularly true for holders of the highest non-peerage title, the titular lords (倫侯), who could pass down their titles indefinitely.

See also

• National Assembly (Menghe)