Book 3 - The Towns

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Book 3 - The Towns

I. The Mayor
i) Each town is governed by a mayor elected by an absolute majority vote of the citizens of the town. In case of a tied vote the older candidate shall win
ii) The mayor has the responsibility of the management and development of the economy and social life of the town
iii) In the case a mayor resigns or is unable to administer the office of mayor properly, the County Council can appoint a replacement administrator, through a sanctioned revolt if needed, who will have the same rights of an elected mayor, and administer the town till the next mayoral elections
iv) The mayor shall ensure that the laws of the County and Ducal decrees are followed in the town
v) The mayor can file and prosecute a case in the County court in the name of the town
vi) The mayor has legislative power over the town. He can make municipal decrees that will have the force of laws for a limited time as long as such decrees don't contradict County and King laws and they receive the approbation of the County Council. This approbation is given when the Count ratifies it
vii) The mayor has the right to collect taxes on fields and shops. He may only levy taxes every 15 days. The delay of the payment is 7 days. Failure to pay taxes is a misdemeanor
viii) The mayor can fix the maximum price of some goods that are essential or strategic on the town's markets after receiving approval from the County Council

II. The Citizens
i) Citizens of the towns of the county, are also citizens of the County
ii) The Citizens of a town have the right to oppose a municipal decree if they feel that the decree is contradictory to existing County or King laws. Citizens may accomplish this by contacting a member of the County Council in a public place, where it will be determined legal or null by the Council

III. The Capital (Law added September 6th, 1457)
i) Dumfries' shall have one Marshall pre-paid every two weeks for their services upon the Marshall's request or they can be paid as is regular through the Constable mentioned in Book 5. II.i.
ii) Dumfries shall receive £150 pounds every two weeks to be used for Militia. To get these funds, the Dumfries Mayor shall post up a piece of wood on the County Fair at £154.05 pounds every two weeks. This wood will be bought by the Trade Minister and the date noted and reported in the Trade Minister report.

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I. The Mayor
i) Each town is governed by a Mayor elected by an absolute majority vote of the citizens of the town. In case of a tied vote the older candidate shall win The Mayor is obligated to take the appropriate oath of office no more then five (5) days after being elected. Failure to do so can result in lawsuit or removal.
ii) The Mayor has the responsibility of the management and development of the economy and social life of the town. In addition all Mayors are responsible to implement County initiatives.
iii) In the case a Mayor resigns, is found to be damaging the economic and social life of the town, or refuses to cooperate with County initiatives; the Burgh Commissioner can appoint a replacement administrator, through a sanctioned revolt if needed, who will have the same rights of an elected Mayor, and administer the town till the next mayoral elections
iv) The mayor shall ensure that the laws of the County and Ducal decrees are followed in the town.
v) The mayor can file and prosecute a case in the County Court in the name of the town.
vi) The mayor has legislative power over the town. He can make municipal decrees, with the approval of the Burgh Commissioner , that will have the force of laws until the end of their term as Mayor. for a limited time as long as such decrees don't contradict County and King laws and they receive the approbation of the County Council. This approbation is given when the Count ratifies it
vii) The mayor has the right to collect taxes on fields and shops. He may only levy taxes every 15 days. The delay of the payment is 7 days. Failure to pay taxes is a misdemeanor
viii) The mayor can fix the maximum price of some goods that are essential or strategic on the town's markets after receiving approval from the County Council

i) - This is a basic IG function, no reason it has to be outlined in the law. I'm going to change that to requirements for taking an oath . . . which I'll write up later, but every public servant is going to be taking an oath now as a condition of serving. That they shall not harm the Galloway, militarily, economically, or socially. That they will do their best to comply with all Ducal Edicts and CC initiatives.

ii) - Added: In addition all Mayors are responsible to implement County initiatives. This will serve important when we have the labor laws and periodic decrees that will need followed.

iii) - Here is where it gets iffy. This basically grants CC the ability to remove mayors that do not follow through with the economic decrees as well as allows CC to replace a mayor that is being detrimental to the economic health of the town and the county on the whole. This makes Mayors accountable for how they act . . . If the Mayors are doing their job they shouldn't have anything to worry about with this law.

iv) - Striked for being redundant to iii)

vi) - Changed this to give the Duke/Duchess more power. This will 1) make sure the Mayors constantly keep CC abreast of what's going on, since the Duke has to approve all new legislation. 2) Once again, CC is there to manage the County, not the individual Civil Servants. The Duke should be in charge of appointing people like HM, Rector, Chancellor, Marshals, and pass town level legislation.

vii) - Took out extraneous wording. It's a basic IG function that you can only levy taxes every 15 days, no need for it to be in the lawbooks.

viii) - Strike this s it will be added to the labor laws sections of this document.

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II. The Citizens
[i]i) Citizens are held responsible to both their towns and county. of the towns of the county, are also citizens of the County
ii) The Citizens of a town have the right to oppose a municipal decree if they feel that the decree is contradictory to existing County or King laws. Citizens may accomplish this by contacting The Burgh Commissioner a member of the County Council in a public place, where it will be determined legal or null by the Burgh Commissoner Council

i) - The part I deleted was redundant and didn't make much sense. I added that extra bit to reinforce that people do have a duty to the county and their towns. It is a reciprocal relationship.

ii) - Changed "Council" to "Burgh Commissoner" again to keep everything square. If he is the one approving Municipal Decrees, he can also overturn them. Though in the end, he wouldn't approve any that he would want overturned . . . oh the joy of being Duke

This section I actually have no issue with. Just keep in mind that it won't be too easy finding 5 capable people to take over the Mayors offices, should there be a need.

Aye, I understand that . . . but the goal isn't to constantly remove Mayors. The goal is to light a fire under these people. To let them know that if they aren't doing their job properly, there will be consequences. Think Madk would be more active if we sat a county army in Whithorn, with the the threat of removing him if he doesn't get things in order.

We can also point to the oath they took if they try to question this.

Yarp, just one thing though if your going to strike iv) - Striked for being redundant to iii) say in iii) laws and county initiatives not just initiatives. We have to be clear

Here's what we have for book three right now. Added that little change you wanted Ali.

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Book 3 - The Towns

I. The Mayor
i)The Mayor is obligated to take the appropriate oath of office no more then five (5) days after being elected. Failure to do so can result in legal action.
ii) The Mayor has the responsibility of the management and development of the economy and social life of the town.In addition all Mayors are responsible to implement County initiatives.
iii) In the case a Mayor resigns, is found to be damaging the economic and social life of the town, or refuses to cooperate with County laws and initiatives; the Count can appoint a replacement administrator, through a sanctioned revolt if needed, who will have the same rights of an elected Mayor, and administer the town till the next mayoral elections
iv) The mayor can file and prosecute a case in the County Court in the name of the town.
v) The mayor has legislative power over the town. He can make municipal decrees, with the approval of the Burgh Commissioner, that will have the force of laws until the end of their term as Mayor.
vi) The mayor has the right to collect taxes on fields and shops. The delay of the payment is 7 days. Failure to pay taxes is a misdemeanor

II. The Citizens
i) Citizens are held responsible to both their towns and county.
ii) The Citizens of a town have the right to oppose a municipal decree if they feel that the decree is contradictory to existing County or King laws. Citizens may accomplish this by contacting The Count in a public place, where it will be determined legal or null by the Count

i) Dumfries' shall have one Marshall pre-paid every two weeks for their services upon the Marshall's request or they can be paid as is regular through the Constable mentioned in Book 5. II.i.

I don't like the idea of paying that far in advance. Can I ask the reasoning for this?

It was done a long time ago, back last August? To help out Dumfries a bit. Really what happens is they just get a tax discount. They get 150.00 off their taxes every two weeks, which usually means they don't pay anything. That basically counts as CC giving them free defense, since it is the capital.

However, from the version of the laws I amended. I deleted the entire section on Dumfries. I'm sure Jethro and Ceana will want something new worked out, but I didn't like the way that section was written.

Yeah...

I don't see it very smart to remove that at all. This is a way to try to make sure our Capital stays safe. Remember, without a Capital safe, you have no seats to sit in in the County.


Protecting that town is more critical than any other town in Galloway. I am not saying that as home pride, because my home will always be Wig/Whit, but more as a point that if you don't have control in the capital, everything else is moot.

This is the one and only time I feel that having something in place is better than nothing. I have seen Laws get removed intending to be re-looked at and get shuffled into the back and forgotten. How many times have we seen laws debated, passed and never see get put into the law-books?


Case in point... We had changed the stature of limitations of filing lawsuits to 60 days, deeming 30 days too short under extreme circumstances. While I agree 60 days is a ridiculous amount of time, (But the reason for the extension was as we are seeing now... Deaths, in-actives, and all around multiple chairs on council..) basically because of these reasons, the 30 days slips away and the criminals are never charged. BUT.. this law that was discussed, hammered out, debated and voted on, was never put in place because we had 2 Dukes take their leave. And I know that there were other things that were missed.

I could probably take blame for that though, but.. heh, being my first term and getting hauled into the seat of Duchess, I was just holding things together until the end.. and didn't know what the hell I was doing.

Maybe that too is something that needs changing, because a Lord Protector should also have the right to edit laws in the absence of a Duke (Or incompetence, such as myself at the time).

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III. The Capital
i) Dumfries' shall have one Marshall pre-paid every two weeks for their services upon the Marshall's request or they can be paid as is regular through the Constable mentioned in Book 5. II.i.
ii) Dumfries shall receive £150 pounds every two weeks to be used for Militia. To get these funds, the Dumfries Mayor shall post up a piece of wood on the County Fair at £154.05 pounds every two weeks. This wood will be bought by the Trade Minister and the date noted and reported in the Trade Minister report.

I don't mind re-adding that. It basically just means that Dumfries doesn't pay taxes. On top of that I wasn't really intending to cut down on having a Marshal in Dumfries anyway. If you feel more comfortable with that in. I don't have a huge issue with it.