Assembly for Shieldcrest

The Assembly for Shieldcrest is the legislature of the Grand Duchy of Shieldcrest, a principality in the Resurgent Dream. The Assembly passes the laws of the Grand Duchy. It is a unicameral legislature with 100 members.

Members of the Assembly serve a fixed two year term except in cases of death or voluntary retirement. They are elected according to mixed member proportional representation.

The Assembly for Shieldcrest meets in Narich, the capital of Shieldcrest. It meets in the Senedd, a building used for that purpose since 1719. Every session of the Assembly is opened by the Grand Duchess of Shieldcrest.

History

During feudal times, when the rule of the monarch was limited by the will of powerful landholders, it was common for assemblies of the great nobles to be called to discuss issues of war and peace and of taxation. These assemblies had no formal place in the constitutional structure and were largely the means by which a theoretically absolute monarch insured that he had the support needed to actually enforce his policies.

In 1719, the Assembly for Shieldcrest became an official body consisting of all Peers of Shieldcrest. Over time, the body gradually became more and more democratic. In 1753, representatives of the urban middle-classes were admitted for the first time. The literate, propertied commoners of each city were allowed to elect one representative each to the Assembly. In 1807, the franchise within the cities was expanded to include all male heads of household, although the cities retained their limited representation. In 1855, the rural common people were included for the first time. The common people were given one third of the seats in the Assembly, although these seats were divided unevenly between different segments of the common population. Between 1855 and 1997, a long series of marginal reforms reduced the power of the Peerage in the Assembly and shifted the constituencies of the elected members until they were single-member districts with roughly equal populations. By 1997, only one third of the members held their seats because of a hereditary title and the remaining two thirds were elected in a manner consistent with the principles of modern parliamentary democracy. It was not until late 2005 that a new Constitution was approved for Shieldcrest, abolishing hereditary seats and replacing the single-member district system with a system of mixed member proportional representation.