Council of State

The “government,” as defined by Article 22 of the constitution, is comprised of both The Crown and the Council of State, an appointed body of senior ministers that functions as a royal privy council, an executive cabinet, a judicial tribunal, and — together with The Sovereign — a legislative entity known as the Crown-in-Council. Independent of the grand duke, the Council of State maintains no political power or governing authority of its own, but all Eniarkian laws are issued by the grand duke “in consultation with” the Council of State pursuant to Article 26 of the constitution. Similarly, Articles 30 and 31 provide the basis for the Council’s judicial functions as the Crown Council of Appeal.

Members of the Council of State are known as councillors of state and are appointedby and serve at the pleasure of The Sovereign. While there are no legal prerequisites for these positions, the monarch has traditionally appointed members of the royal family and nobility to serve as councillors. In addition to their primary role as privy councillors, some members of the Council are named as Great Officers of the Crown, which double as ceremonial positions within the royal household and ministerial positions within the government. The current Great Officers of the Crown, in descending order of precedence, are the Lord High Steward (the head of the royal household), the Lord High Chancellor (the chief legal officer of the state), and the Lord High Treasurer (the administrator of the Crown Treasury).

Legislative Process

All Eniarkian laws are technically issued by the grand duke “in consultation with” the Council of State. However, Article 28 of the constitution reserves to the Council of State the right to propose laws to The Sovereign and to have them enacted, subject to certain conditions. In practice, the Council of State routinely initiates legislation through the use of Council Resolutions, which can be enacted by a majority vote during a session chaired by the grand duke (whose vote counts equally for these purposes). While The Sovereign may refuse to grant royal assent to a resolution passed by the Council of State, this has not occurred in the history of the grand duchy, in part due to the general understanding that Article 28(d) favors revisions to initiated resolutions over outright vetoes.

Resolutions are only used for proposed acts of state or orders-in-council, which are expressions of the will of the full Government — The Sovereign and the Council of State acting together under Article 22 — to either create new statutory authority or to exercise existing statutory powers. In contrast, letters patent and sovereign proclamations are routinely promulgated by the grand duke without passing through the Council of State, as these instruments are issued under the royal prerogative. The process by which resolutions are introduced, debated, and enacted is governed by the Internal Procedures Act and rules established by the Council itself.

The rolling index of resolutions is available here. (Note that the index is sorted in descending order from the most recent action.)

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