Central Coronial Government (Kouralia)

The Central Coronial Government is the Executive branch of national government in the Crown Union of Kouralia. As the executive branch, it is responsible for governance of the union through legitimate use of authority and enforcing laws passed by the senate in line with judgements of the courts. Much of the decision-making in running the Crown Union is carried out exclusively by the Executive branch of government, with only certain decisions such as appointment of Officers of the Crown requiring the advice and consent of the Senate. The power of the Coronial Government is further constrained through audits of its efficiency and effectiveness by Senate Committees, and through binding judgements on the lawfulness of its activity by the courts. It is an important constitutional point that the Office of the Crownbearer does not usurp the role of the Coronial Government, so most interactions between them are to fulfil a function at the request of a member of another government branch.

The Central Coronial Government consists of a large number of distinct organisations that work together, but which generally maintain some degree of operational independence from one another. Governmental Departments come in three categories:

• Justiciable Departments, or Justiciaries are the most high profile government departments, and are headed directly by one or a number Justiciars of the Crown. Examples of Justiciable Departments include the Justiciary of Public Safety, and the Crown Captain's Office.
• Non-Justiciable Departments usually fulfil a regulatory, inspection or investigative function but nonetheless still have some authority to make policy. Due to the importance that their work remains independent from the political process they are not headed by a Justiciar - though they may be indirectly accountable to one in some fashion. Examples of Non-Justiciable Departments include the Coronial Statistician's Office and the Coronial Advocate's Office.
• Independent Executive Departments are budgetarily and managerially separate from their associated Justiciable Department, and carry out services and functions on its behalf with a significant degree of independence in decision-making as opposed to fomulating national policy. Examples of Independent Executive Departments include the Coronial Intelligencery and the Hydrography Office.

In general, these Governmental Departments are staffed by personnel divided into a number of classes for the purposes of legislation:

• Justiciars of the Crown are members of the Senate or Noble Assembly selected by the Crown Captain of Justiciars to make and implement policy decisions as heads of Government Departments. They are politicians appointed by the Crownbearer on the advice of the Crown Captain of Justiciars to ensure the policy direction of the Government matches that of the politics elected to the Senate by the people.
• Justicial Clerks Counsel are politically appointed, temporary special advisors to Governmental Departments. They are appointed by the Justiciar responsible for that department and work in areas where political and government policy overlap and it may be seen as inappropriate for an independent Clerk-Coronial to work.
• Clerks Coronial are independent career employees of the central coronial governmental departments, in an employment category distinct from regional government employees and other staff such as military servicepersons or Watch Constables.
• Ancillary Coronial Employees are generally permanent employees of the Coronial Government who do not full i

Government in Senate

In Kouralia, the Justiciars of the Crown must be Senators or Executive Noble Elector to ensure they remain democratically accountable to the people of Kouralia by way of electoral recall, and to give them a right of audience to the Senate. Prior to the passing of the Statutes-Principal it was possible for any person to be either a Justiciar or a Republican Minister. Due to significant abuse in the Autumn Monarchy and Republican period to stack the government with cronies of the Monarch or President this was explicitly outlawed, as was the practice of appointing ex-officio Lords such as appointing the Chief of General Staff to the Justiciary of War. Should a Government wish to appoint a non-Senator or non-Elector as a Justiciar then they must use one of their five annual Executive Lordships to ennoble that person, and if that person is already an ex-officio Lord then they must resign that post before being so-appointed.

In order to function, the Government must have the confidence of the Senate. This is because the Senate is responsible for nominating a candidate for the position of Crown Captain of Justiciars following a General Election or By-Election in the Crown Captain's constituency, for passing budgets, and also for scrutinising and passing proposed Statutes. By convention the head of the largest party (or largest coalition) is nominated to be the Crown Captain as they will have a majority of Senators voting for them. The Senate can subsequently indicate a loss of confidence in the Government through choosing to reject a budgetary Statute of Supply, or through passing a motion of no confidence. If this happens then the Crown Captain must immediately attend the Senate and resign by explicit constitutional instruction. Subsequent to this the Senate will hold a vote within 48 hours of that time to nominate a new Crown Captain of Justiciars. If they are able to do so then that person attends the Palace and is appointed by the Crownbearer. The assumption is generally internal dissatisfaction with the person of the Crown Captain of Justiciars, as a majority of the Senate was then able to select someone who had their confidence. If the Senate is not able to select someone to nominate, then the Speaker-President of the Senate must attend the Palace and advise the Crown to dissolve the government and call a General Election.

As the Noble Assembly does not have the power to permanently refuse bills - only propose amendments and question Justiciars on their contents, failure to maintain its confidence is not a fatal blow to a Government's ability to govern.

Further to this, the Senate and Noble Assembly have an explicit role in scrutinising Government policy. On a weekly basis the Crown Captain of Justiciars and a selection of Justiciars are required to participate in the Justicial Inquisition of the House, wherein Senators and Noble Electors are entitled to put questions to them according to various rules ensuring a fair allocation of questions. This is relatively informal, though the Speakers-President have the power to sanction questioners who deviate from their approved question or refuse to yield the floor to the next person, and they can also sanction and compel answers if the relevant Justiciar is not deemed to have answered the question. Senators of all parties also sit on various 'Select' Committees that inspect specific aspects of the Government's work and have the power to summons witnesses and require documents and information to be presented before them for consideration. While these committees cannot compel the Government to act in a particular way, they produce reports on their inspections which can be highly damaging to confidence in and legitimacy of the government if not acted on.