Demystifying the Peerage Process

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Dymystifying the Peerage Process

by Mistress Astra Christiana Benedict, 1988 (Edited to update, Aliskye Rosel and Maria Theresa Ipeñarrieta, 2022)

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. Recommendations come from the populace, the Crown and from the Order. All letters are discussed. The Order earnestly desires members of the populace to send recommendations. 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 or on the Kingdom website). For ideas on how to write a letter of recommendation, see "Nice Touches - VII. Letters of Recommendation ."

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 July or August. The Crown is invited to attend. At our meetings, each candidate is discussed individually. A moderator is chosen to direct the discussion and keep the meeting in order. Recent meetings have been on Zoom or hybrid with both in person and Zoom discussion at the same time. A candidate's art and peerage qualities (per Corpora) are discussed separately. When there is a consensus, a vote is taken to determine if a recommendation to the Crown will be made. Voting is done via 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 2 weeks 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." If the Crown is in favor of the recommendation, they will schedule a time to invite the candidate. The candidate may say yes (or no) at the time of the invitation or ask for time to consider the offer. If the candidate accepts the offer, they may decide to proceed with the elevation that day, or schedule it for a future event.

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 60 active 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.