House of Commons (Themiclesia)
House of Commons 羣姓之省 gjun-sjêngh-st′ja-srêng′ | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | unlimited |
| History | |
| Founded | January 2, 1845 |
| 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 | |
| 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
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.[1]
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.
Early 20th century
Late 20th century
Current composition
Role
Traditions
Premises
Inner Court
The Inner Court (上省), or formally the Inner Court of Protonotaries, is the heart of the House of Commons, containing its main chamber, three large committee chambers, members' office wings, and certain administrative offices. The Inner Court is a walled compound on the inside of the second layer of walls of the Sk'ên'-ljang Palace and west of the Front Hall; it measures around 140 metres on each side, opening into the Commons Corridor, which divides it from the Front Hall. A peristyle is built around the inside of the compound.
The main chamber (堂, ntang) of the House is centre-north within the Inner Court. First built in the 800s, the current building dates to 1400 and encompasses around 1,528 m², eight bays in width and four in depth. There are no structural walls within the chamber itself, the mass of the roof completely supported by its 45 timber pillars. The current meeting chamber is around 18 meters wide and 26 metres long. Benches are laid along the long axis in four rows on each side thereof. The Speaker's chair is located on the west end, and the addressing podium is opposite on the east. Before the speaker's chair, there is a long table where the officials of the house sit. Customarily, the governing party and its supporters sit on the left of the speaker, and the opposition on the right. This convention is opposite that of most Hadaway-style legislatures.
East of the far end of the main chamber lies the addressing podium. This space measures spans the width of the chamber but is only around nine metres long. Those summoned by the House of Commons to deliver reports to the plenary house or the Committee of the Whole speak from this position. When Parliament accepted direct petitions from the public, petitions were also read here. Neither measure is common in modern practice, but 19th-century reports were frequently addressed to the House of Commons from members of the House of Lords serving as ministers, who could not speak from within the house.
Flanking the main chamber are the visitors' galleries. A scaffolding for visitors originally existed over the benches, imitating Anglia and Lerchernt and Camia, but in 1898 the scaffoldings collapsed, killing four MPs and at least five visitors; the standing ones were torn down and not replaced, with some space originally part of the corridor around the chamber sectioned off as visitors' galleries. There are two annexes to the east and west end of the chamber, being the aye and nay lobbies respectively for when the house is divided. These two rooms are notoriously stuffy since they were originally storage space and could barely contain legislators if the motion resulted in a landslide.[2]
South of the aye-lobby is the Hall of Clerks, which was used as an office space before major additions appeared in the late 1800s. Today, the Hall is cleared and used as meeting space for various public groups or in promptu addresses. North of the Hall are two large committee rooms, labelled Room 1 and 3 respectively. South of the nay-lobby is the Hall of Visitors and committee room Room 2. The Hall of Visitors had been the place where those summoned by the house usually stayed before being called to the podium. Today, this space has also been cleared as legislators frequently pass through it to Room 2. North of the chamber is the Grand Gallery, which is a space where MPs can dine or socialize but remain proximal to the voting lobbies and debating floor.
The Inner Court is rich in political symbols and architectural language. The Speaker of the House sits in the west end, the tradition place of honour in an interior setting. The House of Commons bench sits six to eight MPs under normal circumstances, while each member of the House of Lords has a personal bench; the latter reflects the privilege of peers during royal audiences.