The Royal Guardianship Act

[Hooligan]

Simply because, at the moment, with the Cosâ dissolved, there are only seven people in the whole Kingdom who can put something into the Hopper (the King through his Regent, the Seneschál, and the members of the Senäts, a group that happens to include the Seneschál), I just can't resist doing so.

And so here, having been reviewed by a number of people already, is this one:

The Royal Guardianship Act

WHEREAS there exist in Talossan law some gray areas regarding the monarchy of a minor sovereign, and

WHEREAS the Regent can act for the King in official matters, but there's no person or body under Talossan law qualified to act for him in personal decisions, and

WHEREAS in cases when a minor sovereign might be considered to be under guardianship of any person or persons who are not citizens of the Kingdom of Talossa, such guardianship is perhaps not most appropriate for the case of a powerful constitutional officer like a monarch, since a foreign citizen should not be able to make personal decisions for the King or Queen of Talossa which might affect the well-being of what is -- to such persons -- a foreign nation, now

THEREFORE the Ziu hereby enacts that:

• Clause 1. The legal guardian of a minor sovereign shall be one or both of the biological or adopted parents of the said sovereign, providing that at least one of the said parents is a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa.
  
• Clause 2. If a minor sovereign is not the biological or adopted child of a Talossan citizen, the minor sovereign shall be a ward of the State. The wardship of the minor monarch shall be executed jointly by the Ziu and the Cort Pü Înalt, through a unanimous vote of the Cort and a two-thirds vote of each house of the Ziu.
  

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

mha said:

The Royal Guard Act

WHEREAS there exists in Talossan law some gray areas regarding the monarchy of a minor sovereign, and

WHEREAS the Regent can act for the King in official matters, but there's no person or body under Talossan law qualified to act for him in personal decisions, and

WHEREAS in cases when a minor sovereign might be considered to be under guardianship of any person or persons who are not citizens of the Kingdom of Talossa, such guardianship is perhaps not most appropriate for the case of a powerful constitutional officer like a monarch, since a foreign citizen should not be able to make personal decisions for the King or Queen of Talossa which might affect the well-being of what is -- to such persons -- a foreign nation, now

THEREFORE the Ziu hereby enacts that:

• Clause 1. The legal guardian of a minor sovereign shall be one or both of the biological or adopted parents of the said sovereign, providing that at least one of the said parents is a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa.
  
• Clause 2. If a minor sovereign is not the biological or adopted child of a Talossan citizen, the minor sovereign shall be a ward of the State. The wardship of the minor monarch shall be executed jointly by the Ziu and the Cort Pü Înalt, through a unanimous vote of the Cort and a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Ziu.
  

Two little suggestions:

1. Maybe make this the "Royal Guardianship Act" instead of the "Royal Guard Act"? Every time I read the title my first thought is "I wonder who is going to be captain of the King's guard?"

2. In clause 2, consider making the state wardship concurrent with the authority of the monarch's actual parents, when there are parents who aren't Talossan citizens. In actual practice, we should defer to decisions of a minor child's parents regarding his or her participation in Talossa. We don't want a law that prohibits us from doing so without mustering a unanimous Cort and 2/3 vote in the legislature.

[Hooligan]

Yeah, I thought "The Royal Guard" was a nice play on words. It was kind of an intentional tongue-in-cheek allusion to a true, as you said, "King's Guard" (a regiment of finely attired military). You're right that it proved to be more confusing than amusing, though, so I wll change it.

As for your number 2, I will leave that open for now, hoping that the rest of the nation will comment on this point here in the Hopper.

Hooligan

[King John]

In the first WHEREAS, "exists" should be "exist". (Or else "areas" should be "area".)

In Clause 2, "both houses" should be "each House".

— John Woolley, UrN

[Chris Collins]

I dont know that if I was Ben and a former citizen that I would want my child being a 'ward of the state' without my permission.
IS he even ok with louis being king?

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

King Louis is not Ben's child. Ben had adopted him under Talossan law, but that adoption was repeal by an act of the Ziu a couple of months ago. We have no idea whether His Majesty's parents are aware of his status in Talossa, or, if so, what they think of it.

[Hooligan]

Sir John's grammatical corrections have been made, with the gratitude of the author, who signs himself

Hooligan

[Lord Q]

palm9999 said:

I dont know that if I was Ben and a former citizen that I would want my child being a 'ward of the state' without my permission.
IS he even ok with louis being king?

He should be, since he named Louis his successor before he abdicated and left the country. But, I'm sure he did so just to have one more thing to complain about.

I don't think under US law that Ben has any authority of Louis. In that case, it's Amy we have to deal with.