Office of State

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Office of State
Agency overview
Formed1 September 2013
JurisdictionEmpire of Adammia
HeadquartersLagentia
Employees1
Agency executive
Parent departmentImperial Civil Service
Website[1]

The Office of State is a combined administrative and judicial body in the Empire of Adammia. Its purpose is to act as the Empire's non-political adjudicator, with the primary responsibility of enforcing the Empire's constitution, the Supreme Directive. To this end, the Office of State has the power to act as both the Empire's constitutional court and its electoral commission. It handles roles such as organising elections and keeping records of Ruling Council meetings. It is led by a Lord Chancellor, currently Emperor Adam I.

History

The Office of State was first created as part of the Government Ministries Act 2013 on 1 September 2013 along with the original eight government ministries. Immediately afterwards, Emperor Adam I was made the first Lord Chancellor by the Ruling Council.

The First Amendment to the Supreme Directive was enacted on 16 November 2013, which established the Office of State as a constitutional body.

On 7 November 2015, the Imperial Government Act 2015 made the Office of State a component of the Imperial Civil Service. It is a special part of the Civil Service which is not accountable to any government minister, instead reporting directly to the Ruling Council and the Monarch. Intended to keep the Office of State completely independent and free from the influence of the political Cabinet, this means that the Office of State is one of two entities in Adammia which could be considered a quango, alongside the Ruling Council Events Committee.

Chancellor

The Lord/Lady Chancellor of State is the head of the Office of State. They must be a Ruling Council member, and they are nominated by the Monarch and must then be accepted by a vote in the Council. They hold the position indefinitely, unless they are removed from office by the Monarch or the Council. The Chancellor is one of three Vice-Chairs of the Council, and they have the legal right to use the title of Lord/Lady Chancellor of State in their official style.

Roles

According to the Supreme Directive, the Office of State is responsible for ensuring that democracy and the rules of the Supreme Directive are upheld properly. The body is given the role of organising all elections and referendums, keeping records of Ruling Council meetings, recording all legislation passed in the state, and maintaining the Line of Succession. The Office of State maintains the Political Parties Register.

Between September 2013 and June 2019, the Chancellor could appoint candidates for the two miscellaneous Ruling Council seats: the Delegate of Abroad Citizens and the Delegate of the Colonies. These candidates could then be approved by the relevant Colonial governors and citizens. The position of Delegate of Abroad Citizens was abolished by the Sixth Amendment, and the Delegate of the Colonies is now elected in the same manner as provincial Councilors.

When acting as the Empire's constitutional court, the Office of State is officially known as the Court of Chancery.

Miscellaneous Council delegates

Historically, the Office of State had oversight over the two miscellaneous Ruling Council positions - the Delegate of Abroad Citizens (originally the Foreign Citizens Liaison Secretary) and the Delegate of the Colonies (originally the Colonial Liaison Secretary). The Lord Chancellor had the authority to name candidates for each of these positions, according to their ability to attend in-person Ruling Council meetings. The Delegate of Abroad Citizens was elected largely in the same manner as local elections, with all full citizens living outside of Adammia, but within the range of Adammia's capital that they were eligible to pay Contributions, having a vote. The Delegate of the Colonies was elected by the governors of the colonies, as well as the leaders of any group of full citizens recognised by the Office of State that lived outside of Adammia and beyond the range of Adammia's capital such that they were not eligible to pay Contributions. The only such recognised group was the Ordo Vladius, so in effect the electorate for the Delegate of the Colonies was the governors of all colonies, plus the Grand Master of the Ordo Vladius, Patrick Vladek. These positions were originally created by the Foreign Citizen and Colony Liaison Act 2013 in August of that year, and were given their modern names, and the conditions of their election, by the First Amendment to the Supreme Directive, passed in November 2013.

In April 2019, the Sixth Amendment to the Supreme Directive was passed, abolishing the role of Delegate of Abroad Citizens, with its responsibilities being superseded by the new House of Citizens. The Delegate of the Colonies remained, but its means of election was changed to being all residents of the colonies, rather than just the colonial governors, and the role of groups such as the Ordo Vladius in those elections was also removed.

Regular elections to each of these offices, in line with local elections in the rest of the Empire, were only held from 2017 onwards. The Supreme Directive did not technically specify a term limit for these offices, and as such the officeholders remained as Lord Andrew Hall and Emperor Adam I respectively, with both having been appointed by the Office of the Emperor when the offices were established in August 2013. The Adammic National Party challenged the Emperor for the seat of Delegate of the Colonies in November 2016, which the Emperor narrowly held in a by-election; the first election for the Delegate of Abroad Citizens, however, was held in 2017, over four years after the office was first established.

Delegate of Abroad Citizens (2013 - 2019)

Year Delegate Party Notes
2013 Lord Andrew Hall Independent Minister of Culture (2013 - 2017)
2016 Moderate Party
2017 Sir Asher Bond Independent
2018 Lord Juliano Saunders Storm Party Prime Minister (2018 - 2019)
2019 Sir Ned Hilton Liberal-Moderate Party

Delegate of the Colonies (2013 - 2022)

Year Delegate Party Notes
2013 Emperor Adam I LIST Party Minister of Defence (2013 - 2016)

Minister of Foreign Affairs (2013 - 2018)
Minister of Citizenship (2013 - 2016)
Minister of Infrastructure (2014 - 2014, 2016 - 2017)

2014 Liberal Party
2017 Sir Owain Davies Independent Minister of Finance (2017 - 2018)
2019 Colonel Sir Sam Boardman Independent
2019 Lord Charles Michael Liberal-Moderate Party Prime Minister (2019 - 2020)
2020 Sir Ned Hilton Liberal-Moderate Party
2021 Sir Joseph Norris Liberal-Moderate Party

See also

Empire of Adammia
Supreme Directive
Ruling Council
Monarchy of Adammia