The Legislative Process of Tamriel
The Lore of Law, Vol. 1
Introduction
Yesterday, Tyondai asked whether there was an “official” explanation for the absence of levitation spells after the events of Morrowind. Many users pointed towards two NPC conversations in Oblivion that reference The Levitation Act of 421. Of course, in reality this was simply a lore-friendly explanation by the developers — Levitation spells were cut from Oblivion due to some exterior areas occupying different cells for performance reasons (E.g. cities, Pale Pass, etc), allowing players to levitate over the walls would prevent such a system from working as intended.
However, I started to wonder why such a law would be enacted, which eventually lead to me wondering how such a law would be passed. Was it decreed by the Emperor? Agreed upon by the Elder Council with or without his blessing? Was it lobbied for by the provinces, or decided upon purely from experiences within Cyrodill? Furthermore, say a person was caught levitating: Who will decide how he or she will be punished or the type/length of sentence they would receive? Does the judicial system in Tamriel operate similarly to modern courts in our world, with juries and firm precedent influencing the outcome? Or is an accused judged and sentenced directly by a count, jarl, king or guard? How would this differ between provinces, or even territories within them?
At first I was simply going to ask /r/teslore but instead thought I would do some research of my own. I was surprised by how very little we know and how many texts within the games only allude to the legal processes within Tamriel. Stuck at home sick with nothing better to do I decided to knuckle down, dig into the deepest pages of the UESP and Imperial Library and share my findings with the fine people of /r/teslore who may have the same questions as I do.
LEGISLATIVE PROCESS WITHIN TAMRIEL
Before we delve in to what laws exist and where, it’s important to understand where they originate from and how they are enacted. We’ll also dip our toes in to the political structure of different provinces and the capital. For the sake of simplicity I’ll focus mostly on the legal and political climate during the events of Oblivion and Morrowind at the end of the 3rd Era — By the time Skyrim takes place a lot has changed: The Empire’s influence on outer provinces has waned, a new dynasty of Emperors has taken the throne, the Red Year has decimated the political structure of Morrowind and the White Gold Concordat requires what remains of the Empire to uphold certain legal obligations. Focusing solely on a united Empire rather than the effects of a politically fractured continent will help keep us on topic. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we won’t explore Skyrim or ignore relevant texts from the game.
Firstly, lets look at the capital of both Cyrodiil and the Empire as a whole - The Imperial City, and more specifically, the Elder Council. Surprisingly little is known of the Council — It’s origins are unclear as is the extent of it’s legislative power and structure. Volume III of Rising Threat mentions that (emphasis is mine):
“High Chancellor Ocato convened the full Elder Council in an unsuccessful bid to select a new Emperor. Without an Emperor, the Empire beyond the reach of Cyrodiil began to splinter. Ocato reluctantly agreed to become the Potentate under the terms of the Elder Council Charter until Imperial rule could be reestablished, but a reluctant leader is rarely a strong leader.”
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only mention in any of the texts of the “Elder Council Charter”, and I can’t recall any dialogue within Oblivion that makes mention of it either. Given the nature of the document I think it’s safe to assume that the Charter acts in a similar way to a constitution in our world, and that after the death of Emperor Uriel Septim VII the charter outlined the responsibilities of the Council in the event of no heir to take the throne. This would make the Empire a constitutional monarchy with the Emperor acting as its head of state.
If this is the case, then it hints at the origin of the Elder Council itself: One can assume that — similar to many modern constitutional monarchies in our world — the Emperor (that is the crown, not Uriel Septim himself) once had full or near-full autocratic power over the empire. At some point in time the council was established to act as a sort of unelected parliament/congress with a High Chancellor acting as it’s Prime Minister — perhaps as a result of social pressure under a ruthless emperor, or as a compromise after a failed coup d’état.
The Elder Council Chambers as seen in Oblivion also give hints about its structure and operation. This image of the chamber shows us 30 seats, suggesting 30 chancellors make up the Elder Council at any one time. We know that there is only one “house” of the council unlike many western parliaments/congresses that have both a lower and upper house (AUS/US: House of Representatives/Senate, UK: House of Commons/House of Lords). This means after a successful vote a bill would go directly from the Council to royal ascent/veto from the Emperor.
The layout of the seating suggests that all chancellors are equal — save of course for the High Chancellor. It’s unclear whether certain Chancellors have specific roles or represent different parts of the Empire, but we do know that the Emperor has a power of Veto (again, emphasis mine):
Though it theoretically merely helps the Emperor govern by dealing with various details, the Council has proven capable of wrestling a substantial amount of authority away from the Imperial throne, and there is often a power struggle between the two. The Council has legislative authority, and may vote on and enact new laws they deem proper. However, the reigning Emperor retains the power of veto, a right famously exploited by Uriel Septim VI to restore the power of the Emperor when faced with an unruly Council.
—Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages, Lore: Elder Council
Although it may seem obvious and somewhat redundant to mention, the passage above mentions that chancellors vote to pass laws. What’s more important is what we don’t know- Would a majority vote allow legislation to pass directly to royal ascent, or is a 75%/90% majority or even unanimous decision required? While we’re on the subject, the “unruly council” mentioned above is an interesting example of Emperor-Council relations and the uneasy power struggle between the two:
“Emperor Uriel Septim VI was crowned in 3E 290, but he was still a boy at the time. Though his mother was given a restricted Regency of the Empire, the Elder Council retained the real power, and its members enjoyed unrestricted, unlimited freedom to promulgate laws and profit from said laws. Uriel VI found it very difficult to retake the authority of the Emperor. He was given greater responsibility over the course of several years, but wasn’t allowed full license to rule until he was already twenty-two years old, and by that time, the Council had stripped the office of the Emperor of almost all its real power, save the Emperor’s right to veto. After six years of vetoing, bullying, and generally strong-arming the Council, Uriel VI could finally claim to truly rule Tamriel, and a sage soon coined the saying “Uriel V conquered Esroniet, but Uriel VI conquered the Elder Council”. When Uriel VI died, he left behind a strong Imperial throne for his sister Morihatha. It’s known that the Council frequently became frustrated with the slow pace of Morihatha’s military campaigns despite their remarkable success, and it’s commonly believed that a summarily tried and executed Councilman was the person who hired assassins to kill her in 3E 339. The succeeding Emperors of the Third Era maintained the dominance Uriel VI had established over the Council.”
—Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages, Lore: Elder Council