An act to provide for the establishment of Administrative Areas, Palatine Duchies, and Governors-General for His August Majestie’s Realms.

BE IT ENACTED IN THE NAME OF HIS AUGUST MAJESTIE with the consent of the Lord Great Steward by the Privy Council of Gondor and Arnor and by the authority of the same:

ARTICLE ONE

THAT UNTIL THE KING RETURN the following Administrative Areas are to be established in the territories otherwise known as the United States and Canada, to wit,

The First Administrative Area shall include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Rhode Island, and Vermont;

The Second Administrative Area shall include Delaware, the District of' Columbia, Garrett and Allegheny Counties of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, except Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and West Virginia;

The Third Administrative Area shall include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin;

The Fifth Administrative Area shall consist of Norfolk and Suffolk Counties of New York State <1>;

The Fourth Administrative Area shall include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, and all of Maryland except Garrett and Allegheny Counties;

The Sixth Administrative Area shall include Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas;

The Seventh Administrative Area shall include Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming;

The Eighth Administrative Area shall include Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington;

The Ninth Administrative Area shall include Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

Furthermore, the Royal Preserve, as established by His August Majestie's Privy Council, shall not be part of any Administrative Area.

ARTICLE TWO

AND FURTHER THAT subjects of His August Majestie shall, unless His August Majestie’s Privy Council provide otherwise, be considered resident in that Administrative Area which includes the state of the United States or portion of Canada in which they are considered by the aforementioned nations to be legally resident.

ARTICLE THREE

AND FURTHER THAT inasmuch as it is desirable to provide for the conduct of affairs in the said Administrative Areas by persons of unquestionable probity and justice, so many Administrative Areas shall be placed under the jurisdiction of a Duke of the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor with Palatine Authority as the number of Dukes willing to assume such powers may permit, & the Palatine Authority granted to such Dukes shall consist of certain stated powers, which shall, in all places not subject to a Duke so empowered, remain the exclusive prerogatives of the officers, councils, or commissions elsewhere vested with the said powers. The appointment of a Duke to have Palatine Authority in an Administrative Area shall not operate to restrict in any way the authority of His August Majestie’s Government in the said Administrative Area. The powers granted to a Duke with Palatine Authority shall be as follows:
· The Dukes shall have at their discretion the authority to confer the rights, styles, titles, and dignities of Baron and Baronet on those of His August Majesty’s subjects resident within their Administrative Areas;
· The Dukes may summon advisory Councils from those of His August Majestie’s subjects resident within their Administrative Areas;
· The Dukes may issue charters to subjects of His August Majestie resident within their Administrative Areas, provided, that the privileges granted to business corporations under such charters shall not obtain outside the Administrative Areas concerned and that no municipality or other corporation created under such a charter shall be granted the privilege of electing representatives to the Council-General: The possession of such a charter shall not prevent the participants from later seeking the more extensive privileges of a Charter Royal;
· The Dukes may establish ordinances and laws for the specific needs of their Administrative Areas, provided that no such law or ordinance shall serve to contravene the implied or expressed will or law of’ the Privy Council or the Council-General nor any of the duly ratified treaties made by His August Majestie’s Government, which laws and treaties together constitute the supreme law of the land, and further provided that a copy of' all such laws and ordinances shall be deposited with the Lord Chancellor of the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor within three months of the time of proclamation of such law or ordinance, unless the Privy Council provide for some other system of deposit of such records;
· The Dukes shall also have all the powers of Governors-General as hereinafter enumerated, including any and all those which may be granted in subsequent legislation.
The following Dukes are hereby appointed to have Palatine Authority in the Administrative Areas specified, to wit: the Duke of Anorien, the First Administrative Area; the Duke of Ithilien, the Second Administrative Area; the Duke of Numenor, the Third Administrative Area.
Further appointments of Dukes to have Palatine Authority shall be made by the Council-General and only the Council-General shall have the power to rescind the appointment of any Duke to have such powers. <2>
When an Administrative Area has been placed under the jurisdiction of a Duke as hereinbefore provided the said Administrative Area shall be for all official purposes designated "The Palatine Duchy of" followed by the name of the Dukedom involved, so that the First Administrative Area shall be designated the Palatine Duchy of Anorien, and so forth.

ARTICLE FOUR

AND FURTHER THAT there shall be a Governor-General for each of those Administrative Areas not placed under the Palatine Authority of a Duke and that the said Governors-General shall be empowered as follows, to wit: The Governor-General shall be the immediate representative and agent of the King and his Councils in the Administrative Area and as such shall be responsible to the Lord President of the Councils for the execution of the laws of the realm within the Administrative Area and the maintenance of well-ordered business therein; and shall except when otherwise provided supervise and direct any activities conducted in his Administrative Area by agencies of His August Majestie’s Government;

That The Right Noble Peregrin XII Took, Thain of the Shire, shall hereby be appointed to be Governor-General of the Fourth [sic, for Fifth] Administrative Area which for official purposes shall henceforth be designated The Shire, and that this act be retroactive to the date of the Council-General of 7527. <3>

All Governors-General shall supervise the election of the Administrative Area’s representatives to the Council-General;
And, lest the subjects of His August Majestie resident in those Administrative Areas not subject to the Palatine Authority of a Duke suffer any disability as a result of the place of their residence, the Lord Great Steward is hereby empowered to grant special charters to subjects of His August Majestie resident in such Administrative Areas when the Governor-General of an Administrative Area may so recommend, provided that such special charters shall be subject to the same restrictions as those charters granted by Dukes having Palatine Authority and that the possession of a special charter shall not prevent the participants from later seeking the more extensive privileges of a Charter Royal.

ARTICLE FIVE

AND FURTHER that unless the Privy Council provide for some other number, one representative to the Council-General shall be elected at large by those subjects of His August Majestie resident in each of the Administrative Areas over fifteen years of age not peers of the realm and not disqualified for reason of insanity, imprisonment or other legal cause.
One representative, unless the Privy Council provide for some other number, shall be elected to the Council-General by all those subjects of His August Majestie over fifteen years of age not resident in any Administrative Area not peers of the realm and not disqualified for reason of insanity, imprisonment, or other legal cause.
The qualifications for such a representative shall be the same as those for voting for such a representative, provided that a representative must be resident in the area which he has been elected to represent.
The provision of such representatives shall not restrict the right of civic corporations so chartered to elect representatives to the Council-General, nor shall it restrict the franchise of persons eligible to vote for such representatives.

ARTICLE SIX

AND FURTHER THAT the Dukes having Palatine Authority may employ any or all of the officers of their households in the government of their Palatine Duchies provided that the employment of household officers in such a manner shall not operate to weaken or vacate the legal distinction between such a Duke’s Palatine Duchy and the actual Duchy to which he would be entitled if His August Majestie's realms were still located in Middle-earth. Especially the Dukes having Palatine Authority may employ their private Guards for the defense against invasion of and the maintenance of order in their Palatine Duchies, provided that Guards so employed shall not be recruited from any place other than the Palatine Duchy in which they are to be so employed and that no Duke having Palatine Authority shall wage war against another such Duke, or against any but treasonous subjects of His August Majestie, nor shall any such Duke aggressively engage in hostilities without a formal declaration of war by the Regent or the Council-General. No other subject of His August Majestie, except for those so empowered by the Disestablishment Act of 7526, shall, while the said act remains in force, raise or maintain any armed guard or troop of soldiery whatsoever.

GIVEN at the Capital of the High King, on the anniversary of the passing of King Elessar, on the second day of the month of Gwaeron, in the year seven thousand five hundred and twenty-eight.

May The King Soon Return!

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereunto subscribe my hand. /Eugene Pappas, LP/

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1. The Fifth Adminstrative Area was combined with the Second by resolution of the XXV Council-General, 7550. <return>
2. The M. N. the Duchess of Belfalas was appointed to enjoy Palatine Authority in the Sixth Administrative Area by a resolution of the XV Council-General, 7540; the M.N. the Duke of Minhiriath was appointed to enjoy Palatine Authority in the Fourth Administrative Area by the adoption of the Report of the Commission on Nominations for the Office of Lord Great Steward, at the XXV Council-General, in 7550.<return>
3. The R. N. the Thain was appointed to enjoy Palatine Authority in the Second Administrative Area by the resolution of the XXV Council-General cited in note 1, above, the area being known as The Thain’s Palatinate.<return>