Addendum IV
Political structure of the United Kingdoms since 1458
This political structure has been created by King Edward IV in 1458, and still is the rule at this stage of the game
The United Kingdoms' King was the heart of the political power despite a weaker power than other kings in Europe
I) The different institutions
In the United Kingdoms, there are four Kingdoms united under the Lancaster family. The power is not in the hands of the King, as a totally centralized (absolute) power from London would create instability and tensions in the entire Union.
To keep a balanced power, Kind Edward IV gave to each kingdom member of the union a real power on its territories. The King is here to symbolize the Union while each kingdom keeps its own power, laws and decisions into itw own hands.
1) The King
The King is the official ruler of the UKs and the common point that keep the Union as one. His powers are real, but limited on a lot of issues.
The King is of course not elected. He is the son or the designated Heir of the former/last King.
Only the Lancaster family can rightfully have Kings of the UKs.
In theory, the King is supposed to chair every Kingdom's parliament sessions. Most of the time, especially in Scotland and Ireland, the King is represented by a close noble or family member.
2) The parliaments
Each Kingdom has its own parliament. The parliaments are the political power and the only
Each parliament is designated through particular laws. Each Kingdom has its own law. (
This wil be more developped in a future addendum. To give an example, let's take France. In France, each Region has its own parliament. each parliament is designated locally by different laws, established by those local parliaments. For example, the Parliament of Normandy is composed of all the lords of the region. In Ile de France, which lack a proper number of lords because of the former Valois rule on it for centuries, the parliament is elected by the population based on a tax qualification vote.
All those parliaments elect four representatives by province, and those representatives will represent their provinces in the "national" Parliament.
Let's note that in all the Kingdoms, only Lords can be national representatives, unlike some Region's Parliaments in France.)
Each parliament is composed of four representatives per province. So, the French Parliament is composed of 156 representatives. The English Parliament has 60 representatives. The Irish Parliament is composed of 20 representatives and the Scotish parliament has 24 representatives.
Those different parliaments are not united together. They work for their own Kingdoms only.
II) The powers
1) The King's powers
Let's remember that there is no conception of a centralized government in the United Kingdoms. As such, the laws are only for the Kingdoms that voted them. that's why most of the time laws are different between, for example, France and Ireland.
The King has no power on the national laws. He only has the executive power, and as such is here to make sure the laws voted by the parliaments are executed.
On the international matters, the king has the power. However, sometimes, laws can go on "international matters". For example, when France was not entirely united, with several lords keeping their independance (exemple : Guyenne) or other countries having territories (for example : Aragon), the French Parliament voted several decisions to recover quicker those territories, sometimes against the King's will. When those crisis happened, the King and the French Parliament had to negociate to take a decision.
Otherwise, for all the international or colonial matters, the King has the power. This actually created colonial crisis has the English and French settlers began to call themselves "Taxpayers without representation" has they had no parliament nor political power in the United Kingdoms.
2) The parliaments' powers
The national parliaments only had power on voting laws for their Kingdom only. Their power was still enormous for this period, but both the King's and the parliaments' powers were really weak compared to modern day political institutions in Europe. It was even more true in France where each region had a local parliament based on the national one. Those local parliaments also had important powers on laws locally. For example, a huge crisis happened in 1491 between the Parliament of Ile de France and national Parliament when the traders' Party in Ile de France wanted to impose for this region a lower amont of national taxes.
III) Relations between the different institutions
1) The King and the parliaments
The King is not supposed to have some power on "national" laws. When he chairs a session, he do not have a power to vote. However, as he has the executive power, his opinion and influence are very important during the votes.
If the King feels like a great danger or an absolute necessity impose to the different parliaments to take together an important decision, he can call the four Parliaments in London to have them debating and voting together on a decision that will be then imposed to the four Kingdoms. Ths is called a United Congress. This event happened in
1494.
When a political crisis happen between two Kingdoms or two parliaments, the King has the power to negociate with both parties, and if no solution is found between the two parties, the King then overpower the parliaments and becomes the only lawmaker on this particular issue. A classical example on that would be between Scotland and England, when they both take a decision that will touch the border between the twos that are antagonists.
2) Relations between the Kingdoms Parliaments
The relations between parliaments are not supposed to be, as the King is the only instution that brings the kingdoms together. However, tensions or crisis would happen all the time without any relations. To help negociations when they are needed, every parliament send 2 representatives in the three other parliaments. Those representatives are here to negociation if needed, but do not have any power to vote.
As seen above, when a political crisis happen between two parliaments, the King is the only one who can decide if both parties can't have a deal.
Resumé (click on the picture to see it)