Black Dawn Lore Compendium: Political Wizarding Institutions
Added 2024-12-06 12:36:08 +0000 UTCHey everyone. So, in the coming chapters, we'll delve further into the Wizengamot, and even glimpse into the ministry of magic. So, I wished for you all to have a nice clear idea of how I am creating this 'Black Dawn' Universe, as far as Political structures go in wizarding Britain.
To read the clean version (with proper formatting) click: Political Wizarding Institutions
Or you can read it here. Feel free to ask any questions about it, as this is created for me as much as it is for you all.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Political Wizarding Institutions
As we delve into the magical world, it is vital to understand the political structure and political institutions that run Magical Britannia— which includes England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The Political institutions can be divided broadly into two categories: The Ministry of Magic, and the Wizengamot.
Each institution has its own sub-institutions, which we’ll look at in detail.
WIZENGAMOT:
The Wizengamot is the direct magical equivalent of the parliament in the muggle world, mirroring its function and power in multiple ways. It predated the Ministry of Magic and directly worked to form the ministry, back in the early 18th century.
The modern Wizengamot functioned as a combination of court and parliament, serving both as the main legislative body of the Ministry of Magic, as well as its highest tribunal.
There are no fixed amount of seats on the council, but each seat carries one vote, when the Wizengamot votes on a motion
The Wizengamot is further divided into two:
House of Lords:
The House of Lords is the higher house of the Wizengamot, which consists of the Lords(or Ladies) of the most prominent twenty-eight families that reside in Magical Britannia. Together, they’re also referred to as the Sacred Twenty-Eight.
Becoming a part of the House of Lord is a mark of honor for any family. But not every seat can be replaced. The House of Lords is further partitioned into two: Permanent seats, and temporary seats.
There are seven Permanent Seats, headed by the seven oldest and wealthiest families in Britain. They’ve been on the Wizengamot since the foundation and can only be replaced in the case of a line completely dying out. They are also known as the Most Ancient and Noble Houses. When the House of Lords is in session— an extremely rare case, these seats hold twice the weight on their votes.
On the other hand, there are Twenty-one Temporary seats, which are subject to being changed every thirteen years and also subject to impeachment in the middle of their term by the House of Lords in certain cases. These lords are elected by the Permanent seats and the House of commons voting, where once again, the permanent seats carry twice the weight of votes as compared to the House of Commons.
Currently, as of 1981:
Permanent seats: Black, Bones, Goldstein, Longbottom, Macmillan, Nott, Selwyn
Temporary seats: Abbott, Avery, Brown, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Diggory, Fawley, Flint, Greengrass, Lestrange, Ogden, Ollivander, Prewett, Rosier, Rowle, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Travers, Yaxley.
The last Wizengamot election took place in 1978, until which point, the Potters held a temporary seat, being voted out due to a lack of representation as James was still at Hogwarts, grieving his parents, and also wasn’t of Twenty-one years of age or above, which a lord has to be to gain a temporary seat. [For permanent seats, the lord must be of age as per wizarding law–17 in order to take the seat. If no one fulfils the criteria yet, the seat can be held by either a regent or left empty until the minor is of age].
In the past, the Weasleys too were a part of the council, as were the Gaunts, both families being impeached from the Council. In the very beginning, Peverells were a part of the permanent seats, until the family died out.
Also, no single lord can hold two seats in the House of Lords, and the seats must be held by a blood member of the family.
House of Commons:
The House of commons has no fixed number of seats, and accommodates people elected/selected in different ways. The House of Commons is led by the Minister of Magic and consists of:
All Heads of Ministerial Departments (DMLE, External affairs, DoM, etc.)
Winners of Order of Merlin
Seven citizen chosen by the Minister of Magic and voted by the House of Commons
Other Ministry personnel like Head Auror, Head Hitwizard, Undersecretary, etc.
Representatives like Youth representative, Gringotts representative, etc.
The tenure of the House of Commons is the same as the Minister of Magic’s: 7 years. A member of the house of commons can also be a member of the House of Lords and vice versa.
The Wizengamot as a whole is led by the Chief Warlock, who is a neutral entity, with no votes. The Chief Warlock also presides over the House of Lords, in case it meets.
It also works closely with the International Confederation of Wizards, in terms of policies, and international laws, including governing the most vital law of all: The Statute of Secrecy.
The Wizengamot, in addition to rule making, has an additional function. To serve as the Council of Magical Law.
The Council of Magical Law:
The Council is a sub-part of the Wizengamot, and hierarchically inferior. The Council mostly comprises of the members of the Wizengamot council, and serves as a magical version of Jury for trials of dark wizards.
The Council has:
Chief Warlock/ Minister of Magic/ Head of DMLE as the presiding member
The seven permanent members of the House of Lords
Three Members who hold the Temporary seat in the House of Lords.
Seven Members from the House of commons, called upon on rotational basis
Seven members from the general public, who can either volunteer for a period or be called upon.
A representative member, a Ministry member (who is not part of the house of commons), and an Order of Merlin winner.
In addition, any member of the Wizengamot can attend a trial and sit to vote.
Cases which are very high profile are at times conducted with a full Wizengamot hearing, if the Chief Warlock or the Minister of Magic decrees so. (Eg. Harry Potter’s trial had the full Wizengamot because Fudge made it so.)
The council, in cases of minor misdemeanours, or minor law breaking, only does a panel hearing, which consists of 1 member from each sector of the Council of Magical Law (as listed above).
Also, an appeal can be made for a whole Wizengamot hearing, if either a permanent member of the House of Lords, the Minister of Magic, the Chief Warlock, or the Head of DMLE backs it up with a seal of approval. The Wizengamot will then rehear the entire case and pass the final verdict.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MINISTRY OF MAGIC:
The Ministry of Magic is the primary governing body of Magical Britannia (Muggle equivalent of the government).
It is headed by a Minister for Magic and is responsible for regulating and enforcing laws for the magical community, as well as keeping the magical world hidden from the Muggle world. It also undertook the function of overseeing the day-to-day running of the country.
The headquarters of the Ministry is under the HM Treasury building and Whitehall, in central London, deep underground. The Ministry of Magic was formed as a successor to the earlier Wizards' Council and came into being in 1707, through the decree of the Wizengamot.
The ministry has seven main departments:
Minister for Magic and Support Staff: Consists of the office of the Minister of Magic, finance office, the Undersecretaries, the scribes, record keepers, etc. This department watches the day to day running of the whole ministry and ensures smooth communication and activity across departments.
Department of Magical Law Enforcement: The DMLE is the most expansive department of the ministry, consisting of the Auror force, Hitwizards, magical accidents and catastrophes, Obliviator squad, Improper Use of Magic office, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, etc.
Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures: The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is a prominent department. It’s divided into three divisions named after the three categorisations of magical creatures: Being, Beast, and Spirit. It also houses the liaison offices for Goblins and Centaurs.
Department of International Magical Cooperation: Magical version of foreign services. The Department functions similarly to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in the Muggle world.
Department of Home Affairs and Public Welfare: The second most expansive department in the Ministry of magic, which resolves for issues and oversees the workings of the normal public and regulates internal affairs. It includes: Wizarding Examination Authority, Family lines and hierarchy department, Department of Portkeys and Floo, Apparition office, Broom Regulatory Control, etc.
Department of Magical Games and Sports: It is charged with the regulation of all sport-related events in the wizarding world ranging from Quidditch to Gobstones. Curiously, it also had a patents office, one it shared with the Department of Mysteries.
Department of Mysteries: The most autonomous and curious department, the DoM is a section of the Ministry of Magic that carries out confidential research. Due to the highly classified nature of this department, it has a great deal of independence, being the only one within the entire Ministry that does not need to answer to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Even the Minister for Magic has very little authority over the department's operations.
Current scenario:
Minister of Magic: Milicent Bagnold
Chief Warlock: Albus Dumbledore
Head of DMLE: Barty Crouch Snr.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Feel free to ask any questions and I hope I provided a clear view of the Wizengamot. (The temporary seats will soon be subject to change though, which, I will update when necessary).
The next update will be LoSP.
.
Stay Happy! Stay Safe! Keep Smiling! Keep Reading!
HPfanfictioner66
Comments
As in for re-emergence? Well, firstly, the family line has died out with no direct blood relations surviving. Re-emergence is not plausible or won't be recognized. Not unless great proof is brought and a lot of palms on the Wizengamot are greased. (This is in a scenario where some new heir comes out. An heir who is not Harry.) Now, for Potter and Peverell family. To put it simply, they are now merged. The Potters (when it came up with Iolanthe Peverell), didn't budge and refused to let their heir take up the Peverell name for more reasons than one. (Patriarchy, the stories around the Peverell family and their recent misfortunes, the people who were probing at the family's legends, lack of a Potter heir in case they gave it to the Peverells, family politics in Potter household, etc. --- Might do a detailed lore piece/discord message on it later.) This resulted in there being no heir for the Peverell family, and their last surviving member, Iolanthe taking it all in the end as the family died out. After her death, all her belongings passed onto her only son, the then Lord Potter and whatever the Peverells had, bar their seat, got merged into the Potter family. So, Harry cannot claim any right on the House of Peverell (at least as per Black Dawn). He is going to be Lord Potter, and at a later stage, Lord Black. And he'll have to hold the latter as it is a permanent seat, and the Potter seat elections would've to wait or never be plausible. The matters will only be further complicated by Daphne being unable to take another seat too, being the next Lady Greengrass, but she does have options. But all of it is stuff for the epilogue of the fic and can be left to imagination for the most part. Harry cannot take upon the Potter seat until he's at least 25 anyway, come what may.
HPfanfictioner66 HP66
2024-12-10 12:54:35 +0000 UTCI have a question. Say if the Peverell family were recognized as a house and still recognized as a separate house from House Potter, would they be considered a temporary seat or a permanent seat on the House of Lords?
Gabe Sarti
2024-12-10 12:37:01 +0000 UTC
