Sylean Grand Senate
The Sylean Grand Senate was the noble-dominated legislative body of the Sylean Federation, located on the planet Capital (Sylea).
Description (Specifications)[edit]
No single body in the Sylean Federation was responsible for law generation. The President was able to establish temporary laws (called Declarations) by decree in times of crisis. The President was authorized to establish these Declarations for a period of up to one year, while the Grand Senate was given power to cancel the extension of such laws by simple majority after the expiration.
The President had another very specific power which limited the effectiveness of the Grand Senate. He could quietly refuse to enforce acts of legislation passed by the Senate. There was no set of enabling laws that forced the President to act on laws that he felt not in the best interest of the Federation, and there was no judicial oversight regarding acts of either the President or the Grand Senate itself. The President also had the ability to dissolve the Grand Senate and call for new elections. This power could be utilized repeatedly during a particular administration, though not more than once per year.
The main check on the power of the President by the Grand Senate was its simple ability to paralyze the President's administration. With control over appropriations, as well as the ability to approve Presidential appointments, the Grand Senate could curb the excesses of a President perceived as having overstepped his bounds. However, the Grand Senate had no power to actually remove a sitting President.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
When the Federation became the Third Imperium in the Year 0, the Grand Senate became the Imperial Moot. The Senate was also similar to the Council of Noble Officers under the earlier Rule of Man.
The Senate was originally a technically democratically elected body, but in practice the local nobility on Sylea dominated it. Sometime before the transformation of the Federation into the Imperium, the Grand Senate was changed into an officially hereditary body, and eventually the Sylean aristocratic senators became the first members of the Imperial nobility.
In the early years of the Imperium, the terms Grand Senate and Moot were often used interchangeably.