Louisian Decree

(WIP) The Louisian Decree (Cibolan-Saxon: Louisenerlass), officially titled as the Erlass zur Behebung der Rechtsstatus der Louisen und Louisesprachig Volk in den Vereinigte Fürstentümer (Common Tongue: Decree to Remedy the Legal Status of the Louisians and Louisian-Speaking People in the United Principalities) is a royal decree passed by Kaiser Ludwig I in order to grant citizenship and citizenship rights to the Louisian population of the United Principalities. It was passed at the height of the Louisian crisis, where the Imperial Senate found itself at odds with itself over whether or not to grant citizenship to the several thousand Louisian people residing in the UPC. Although unpopular among the Imperial Senators, Ludwig made it clear that any criticisms of the edict should be kept private unless the offending members be outed as disobeying royal orders.

Provisions

The Decree was made up of 6 provisions, which included:

• 1. Granting of citizenship and associated rights to all Louisians and Louisian-speaking people.
• 2. Abolition of discriminatory language and culture laws targeted towards Louisians nationwide.
• 3. Abolition of language tests in Universities.
• 4. Louisian language granted status as special status in Bezirk Neudemmin.
• 5. Bilingual town names recognized.
• 6. Special funding allocated by the Royal Treasury to open Louisian Cultural Association centers within the United Principalities.

The decree however did not dismiss the charges of blasphemy against author Wolfgang Arnholtz, author of The Plight of the Louisians., due to anti-royal statements espoused in the book.

Reception

Within a few weeks of the decree's promulgation, most District Governors quickly implemented the decree into law in their respective jurisdictions. However the District Governor of Neudemmin (where the majority of the Louisian population of the UPC resided), Theodor von Ertling, lambasted the decree and stated his refusal for its implementation in the district, citing the measure of granting the Louisian language a special status in his district as an "infraction of [his] authority." Upon an offhanded comment of Ertling potentially blocking the decree's implementation, Ludwig stated to Chancellor Konstantin Tiedemann, "It is not his decision whether or not the decree is implemented. I authorize you to use whatever means necessary to ensure his compliance."