Demystifying the Peerage Process

Dymystifying the Peerage Process

by Mistress Astra Christiana Benedict, 1988

Several people asked me to write an article explaining how the Order of the Laurel considers candidates and how they eventually become Peers. This discussion applies only to the Order of the Laurel in Caid (the Pelicans follow a similar procedure). The members of the Order in another Kingdom may have a vastly different system.

Consideration of candidates begins with a letter of recommendation. Most recommendations come from within the Order. Some come from the Crown or members of the populace. The Order earnestly desires members of the populace to send recommendations. In reality, we get very few. Do not think that chatting up your favorite Laurel will get your candidate discussed, we can't always remember who we've been told about, or your favorite Laurel may not share your enthusiasm. So put it in writing and send it to the Secretary of the Order (right now that is in the Kingdom Regnum in the CP). For ideas on how to write a letter of recommendation, see "Nice Touches - VII. Letters of Recommndation ."

When the secretary receives your letter, they put it on the agenda for discussion at the next meeting of the Order. The Order meets twice a year for formal meetings. Usually late January / early February and in late August / early September. The Crown is invited to attend. At our meetings, each candidate is discussed individually. Each letter of recommendation is read out loud; the members of the Order then discuss the candidate's qualifications; a moderator is chosen to direct the discussion and keep the meeting in order. When there is no more discussion, we vote on the candidate. Voting is done by secret ballot, and members of the Order may vote "yes", "no", or "abstain." The votes are tallied and announced. After the meeting the secretary produces minutes of the meeting summarizing the recommendations and discussions, and sends them to all of the members of the Order. The members who were unable to attend the meeting also receive an absentee ballot. They have 30 days to return their ballot to the secretary. When the ballots have all been returned, the secretary tallies the absentee ballots with the ballot results from the meeting, and sends the results to members of the Order and the Crown.

A formal recommendation is sent from the Order to the Crown if 60% of the Order votes "yes." The Crown virtually never turns down a recommendation from the Order, and usually decides to give the award at the next Kingdom event.

Some of you have noticed that some candidates have been informed in advance of their elevations to the Order. This practice has been followed by the Knights of this Kingdom for 10 years. The decision whether or not to inform a candidate is made by the Crown and is generally based on the candidate's preference, if known. The candidate is asked not to generally discuss this upcoming elevation. If during elevation ceremony you see members of the Order go out to escort the candidate forward, it is because these members of the Order have been chosen as sponsors by the candidate, who had been informed in advance.

If you have a written letter of recommendation and it has not been acted upon within a year of writing, write another one (the process outlined above can take 10 months). Please remember that the Order of the Laurel is large (currently over 30 members) and spread throughout the Kingdom. It may take some time for all the members to become acquainted with a candidate's work.

If you have any further questions about the working of the Order of the Laurel, our charter is a public document and copies of it can be obtained from the secretary.