This is an article related to Nouvelle Alexandrie. Click here for more information.

Crown Modernization Act, 1756

From MicrasWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Crown Modernization Act, 1756

13th Cortes Federales
Long title An Act to remove the remaining distinctions of male and female line in the styles and membership of the Royal Family; to provide that grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line hold the style of Royal Highness equally with those through the male line; to repeal the disqualification from the succession on grounds of religious practice; to make consequential amendments to the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 and the Succession to the Throne Act, 1700; and for other purposes.
Introduced by
Extent Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Royal Assent 6.XIV.1756 AN
Commencement 6.XV.1756 AN
Other legislation
Amendments None
Related legislation

The Crown Modernization Act, 1756 (Alexandrian: Loi sur la modernisation de la Couronne, 1756; Martino: Ley de Modernización de la Corona, 1756; Wechua: Qhapaq Musuqchay Kamachiy, 1756) is legislation of Nouvelle Alexandrie that removed the remaining distinctions between the male and the female line in the styles and membership of the Royal Family. It provided that grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line hold the style of Royal Highness on the same footing as grandchildren through the male line, and it repealed the disqualification from the succession on grounds of religious practice.

The Act was brought by the government of Premier José Manuel Montero in the 13th Cortes Federales and received Royal Assent from King Sinchi Roca II on 6.XIV.1756 AN. It amended the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 and the Succession to the Throne Act, 1700. The membership of the Royal House, which rested on a Royal Decree of 1686 AN issued under the Royal Prerogative, was amended in step with the Act by a companion Royal Decree on the Modernization of the Royal House, 1756. The reform left the order of succession itself unchanged, the succession having been equal between men and women since the Proclamation of Punta Santiago.

Background

The Proclamation of Punta Santiago, the founding constitutional document of the Federation, has provided since 1685 AN that "the Crown and its Powers are inherited by men and women in accordance with the provisions of the law" (Article 27(6)). The Succession to the Throne Act, 1700 gave effect to that principle by directing that the gender of a person does not give that person, or that person's descendants, precedence in the line of succession. The heir apparent in 1756 AN was the King's eldest child, Crown Princess Sayari, who on her accession would become the first Queen Regnant of the Federation.

Although the succession had been equal for two generations, three older rules in the law of the Royal House continued to prefer the male line. The Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 styled grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line as "Highness" rather than "Royal Highness," and described the distinction as reflecting "traditional patrilineal principles." The Royal Decree on the Establishment of the House of Inti-Carrillo, 1686 defined the membership of the Royal House as the children and grandchildren of the Sovereign "in the male line." The Succession to the Throne Act, 1700 disqualified from the throne any person who joined or practiced a list of named religions, a clause that sat uneasily beside the religious liberty of the constitutional order.

The Crown had already moved past the male-line preference in its own practice. In V.1754 AN King Sinchi Roca II created the Marquessate of Yucay for his daughter Princess Urpi and admitted her husband, Major Gerard Skuryov-Spooner, to the House of Inti-Carrillo with the style of His Royal Highness Prince Gerard. The decree creating the Marquessate provided that it would descend by "Wechua customary inheritance rules, which permit succession through male or female lines without preference." The reform of 1756 AN carried that gender-neutral practice into the general law of titles and membership.

Because the membership of the Royal House rested on a Royal Decree issued under the Royal Prerogative, which Article 27(5) of the Proclamation reserves to the Sovereign, the membership change could not be made by Act of the Cortes. The Montero government therefore paired the Act, which amended the two statutes, with a companion Royal Decree by which the King amended the 1686 AN Decree. The two instruments were prepared together and took effect together.

Key provisions

The Act establishes as its governing principle that no distinction is to be drawn between descent through the male line and descent through the female line in the styles, titles, and membership of the Royal Family, save where the Sovereign provides otherwise by Letters Patent in an individual case.

To that end the Act amends the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750. Grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line are given the style of "Royal Highness" in the same manner as grandchildren through the male line, and the passage describing the former distinction as resting on patrilineal principles is removed. The provisions on the acquisition of titles by birth, on the styles of the nieces and nephews of the Sovereign, and on the use of the styles "Royal Highness" and "Highness" are brought into line with that change, so that the style "Highness" is retained only for persons on whom the Sovereign confers it by Letters Patent. The special provision for the children of a Queen Regnant is reconciled with the new rule, the basis of their style passing from their standing as grandchildren to their standing as children of the Sovereign upon their mother's accession, without any change in the style itself.

The Act also amends the Succession to the Throne Act, 1700 by repealing the disqualification from the succession on grounds of religious practice. The two remaining grounds of disqualification, the holding of citizenship or residence in a nation hostile to the Federation and the commission of treason, are retained.

The membership of the Royal House is dealt with by the companion Royal Decree on the Modernization of the Royal House, 1756, which amends the 1686 AN Decree so that the Royal House comprises the children and grandchildren of the Sovereign without distinction of line. The Act does not alter the order of succession, which remains governed by absolute primogeniture under the Succession to the Throne Act, 1700.

Legislative history

Legislative history of the Crown Modernization Act, 1756
Stage Date Chamber Action Votes (Y-N-A) Details
1 8.VIII.1756 AN Federal Assembly Introduction - Brought by Astrid Thorsen, Secretary of the Interior
2 24.IX.1756 AN Federal Assembly Committee Review 9-2-1 Reported by the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs
3 10.X.1756 AN Federal Assembly First Reading - Debate opened
4 26.XI.1756 AN Federal Assembly Final Reading 702-20-20 Passed
5 8.XII.1756 AN Chamber of Peers First Reading - Debate opened
6 22.XIII.1756 AN Chamber of Peers Final Reading 191-16-10 Passed
7 6.XIV.1756 AN - Royal Assent - Signed into law by King Sinchi Roca II

The reform drew support across the parties of the 13th Cortes Federales. The governing Federal Humanist Party carried it as a measure of legal modernization, and the parties of the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, which sat in opposition to the Montero government on questions of economic policy, supported the removal of the male-line preference and the repeal of the religious disqualification as matters of equality and religious liberty. The opposition the bill met came chiefly from members uneasy at the repeal of the religious bar or at any alteration of the styles of the Royal House, and it was expressed more in abstention than in votes against. The bill passed the Federal Assembly and the Chamber of Peers by wide margins.

Text

Bill as submitted to the "Hopper" of the Federal Assembly, 1756 AN

Crown Modernization Act, 1756

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
Remove the remaining distinctions of male and female line in the styles and membership of the Royal Family; to provide that grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line hold the style of Royal Highness equally with those through the male line; to repeal the disqualification from the succession on grounds of religious practice; to make consequential amendments to the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 and the Succession to the Throne Act, 1700; among other purposes.

Crown Modernization Act, 1756

Presented by Astrid Thorsen, Secretary of the Interior
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 8.VIII.1756 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-


PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: Citation.

  1. This Act may be cited as the "Crown Modernization Act, 1756".

Article 2: Principle of equality between the lines.

  1. In accordance with Article 27(6) of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, no distinction shall be drawn between descent through the male line and descent through the female line in the styles, titles, and membership of the Royal Family, except where the Sovereign provides otherwise by Letters Patent in a particular case.

PART II
AMENDMENTS TO THE ROYAL TITLES, STYLES, AND PRECEDENCE ACT, 1750

Article 3: Grandchildren through the female line.

  1. Section 13 of the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 is amended so that grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line are entitled to the style "His Royal Highness" or "Her Royal Highness" and to the title "Prince" or "Princess," and are styled in the same manner as children of the Sovereign.
  2. The provision describing grandchildren through the female line as one step further removed from the direct line of succession under traditional patrilineal principles is repealed, together with the provision for their elevation to "Royal Highness" by Letters Patent, that style being now held by them as of right.

Article 4: Children of a Queen Regnant.

  1. Section 14 of the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 is amended so that, the children of an heir apparent who is a daughter of the Sovereign already holding the style "Royal Highness" as grandchildren through the female line, their style is unchanged upon their mother's accession to the Throne, the basis of that style passing by operation of law from Section 13 to Section 8.

Article 5: Nieces and nephews of the Sovereign.

  1. Section 17 of the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 is amended so that the children of a sister of the Sovereign hold the style "Royal Highness" as grandchildren through the female line, in the same manner as the children of a brother of the Sovereign.

Article 6: Acquisition of titles by birth.

  1. Section 20 of the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 is amended so that grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line acquire the style "Royal Highness" and the title "Prince" or "Princess" automatically at birth.

Article 7: Use of the styles "Royal Highness" and "Highness."

  1. Section 32 of the Royal Titles, Styles, and Precedence Act, 1750 is amended so that the style "Royal Highness" is held by the grandchildren of the Sovereign without distinction of line.
  2. Section 33 of that Act is amended so that the style "Highness" is held only by persons on whom the Sovereign confers it by Letters Patent.

PART III
AMENDMENT TO THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE ACT, 1700

Article 8: Repeal of the religious disqualification.

  1. Section 4(7) of the Succession to the Throne Act, 1700 is amended by repealing its third sub-paragraph, which disqualified from succeeding to or possessing the Throne any person joining or practicing a named religion.
  2. The remaining grounds of disqualification under Section 4(7), namely the holding of citizenship or residence in a nation hostile to the Federation and the commission of treason against the Federation, are retained.

PART IV
THE ROYAL HOUSE

Article 9: Membership of the Royal House.

  1. The membership of the Royal House is governed by Royal Decree issued under the Royal Prerogative, in accordance with Article 27(5) of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago.
  2. It is the intent of the Cortes Federales that the membership of the Royal House be brought into conformity with the principle stated in Article 2 of this Act, and the Cortes notes the issuance of the Royal Decree on the Modernization of the Royal House, 1756 to that end.

PART V
CLOSING PROVISIONS

Article 10: Commencement and application.

  1. This Act shall apply to all of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
  2. This Act shall not become law unless it has been given Royal Assent by H.M. the King.
  3. This Act shall be published in the Federal Gazette and made publicly available within seven (7) days of Royal Assent.
  4. This Act shall come into force on 6.XV.1756 AN.
  5. In the event any provision or part of this Act is found to be invalid or unenforceable, only that particular provision or part so found, and not the entire Act, shall be inoperative.

Voting record

The Crown Modernization Act passed with support from both the government and the opposition, the division falling less along party lines than between those who favored the reform and those who hesitated over the repeal of the religious disqualification.

Federal Assembly final reading (26.XI.1756)

Federal Assembly final reading, 26.XI.1756 AN
Party or bloc Yes No Abstain Absent Total
FHP (government) 368 0 2 2 372
Independents (confidence and supply) 12 0 0 0 12
FCP 92 14 11 2 119
CGA 8 1 1 0 10
DSP (AJNA) 188 2 4 2 196
WPP (AJNA) 19 0 1 0 20
Independents (crossbench) 15 3 1 1 20
Total 702 20 20 7 749

Chamber of Peers final reading (22.XIII.1756)

The Chamber of Peers passed the Act on 22.XIII.1756 AN by 191 votes to 16, with 10 abstentions.

See also

References

Retrieved from "https://micras.org/wiki/index.php?title=Crown_Modernization_Act,_1756&oldid=407249"