Samming
Samming of the Imperial Kingdom of Great Morstaybishlia | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Lord's Hall Folk's Hall |
| Leadership | |
Lambertus VII since 6 June 1991 | |
Speaker of the Folk's Hall | Baron Munchiro since 5 August 2019 |
Speaker of the Lord's Hall | Lord Crago of Ramston since 14 June 2024 |
Leader of the Opposition | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 800 Lordsparts (LPs) 1,794 Folksparts (FPs) |
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Lord's Hall political groups |
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Folk's Hall political groups |
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| Elections | |
Last Lord's Hall election | 2021 general election |
| Meeting place | |
 Kalmington Palace, Bursil | |
| Website | |
| www.parliament.mbe | |
The Samming is the supreme legislative body of Great Morstaybishlia, the Crown dependencies and the Morstaybishlian Overseas Territories. It alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in Great Morstaybishlia and the overseas territories. The Samming is bicameral but has three parts, consisting of the sovereign (Crown-in-Samming), the Lord's Hall, and the Folk's Hall.
The Samming was created in 1520 under the reign of Lambertus the Great and was the permanent opponent of royal power, replacing the Staynish Lordsmoot and Kaltariz Kuzul Aotrouez. It was the unicameral legislature where representatives of earls, aotrouenez and thanes deliberated, , and existed in this form until the end of the Great War, where Orson Klarass's revolution forced King Thadeus II to sign the Great Charter of the Liberties. The Charter introduced the Kalmington system, something that Lord Kalmington had attempted to introduce in Morstaybishlia in the 19th century: it split the Samming into two chambers, creating the Lord's Hall and Folk's Hall, the upper and lower chambers respectively.
Today's Lord's Hall largely descends, in practice, from the function of the old Samming, and its functions, though altered, are described as being a continuation of it. Today, the Lord's Hall comprises of 800 seats, its legally enshrined nonpartisan members are known as Lordsparts (LPs), of which 500 are hereditary earls, aotrouez and thanes, 250 members appointed for life, and 50 Thaerist representatives. The chamber elects a Lord Rubian after every general election to lead its meetings and be its representative to the Cabinet.
The Folk's Hall is an elected chamber, its members known as Folksparts (FPs), with elections to 1,794 single member constituencies held at least every seven years under the first-past-the-post system. The system in theory allows for parties to govern with large mandates, known as majority governments, though coalition governments have become more common since the Auroran Imperial War. The monarch appoints the high elderthane, their choice limited to the person who can command the confidence of the Hall. Progress Party leader Franklin Barvata is the incumbent since 2022; his party is in coalition with the Civic Party, therefore by constitutional convention their leader Osbourne Saudaran was appointed as the underling high elderthane. The high elderthane assembles a cabinet, known as a thaning, and has the power to dismiss and appoint elderthanes and thanes at will.
The two houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Kalmington. By constitutional convention, all government thanes, including the high elderthane, are members of the Folk's Hall or, less commonly, the Lord's Hall and are thereby accountable to the respective branches of the legislature. Most cabinet elderthanes are from the Folks, whilst thanes can be from either house. In theory, the MBE's supreme legislative power is officially vested in the Crown-in-Samming. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the high elderthane, and the powers of the Lord's Hall are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is de facto vested in the Folk's Hall.
In 2016 following the Acts of Union of Great Morstaybishlia and Jusdelva, the Samming of Jusdelva was abolished and 59 Jusdelvic LPs and 11 Lords were added to the Samming of Great Morstaybishlia.
Etymology
Samming comes from the Old Staynish word samnung, which was used to describe an assembly or council. The word itself came from the verb samnian, meaning "to congregate", "to come together", or "to assemble". The suffix |-ung (cognate with Old Ethalrian -ung) forms a noun from the verb and denotes verbal action or an instance of it.
Samnungs have been continually present in Staynes and even western Kaltariezh from the fall of Impelanza in the early 6th century. There is no record that regions were ever officially drawn, but samnungs belonged to different "regions", where various earldoms were arbitrarily apart of. The earl would appoint a representative, sometimes themselves but usually their heir or family member.
Notably the Staynish samnungs merged into the Lordsmoot in the 11th century, and the Kaltariezh samnungs merged into other meeting halls and chambers by the mid 12th to create the Kuzul Aotrouez.
History
The old Samming (noted as the period between 1520 and 1917) was the merger of the Lordsmoot (a council of earls and thanes of Staynes) and the Kuzul Aotrouez (a council of aotrouez (literally lords in Kaltariz) and yerls).