The Hyrulean Crown and Council

The limited monarchy of the Kingdom of Hyrule, lead by Princess Zelda and the Hyrulean High Court Council

Their main source of power comes in their technological (thanks to the Sheikah) and military prowess. The kingdom has the biggest and most powerful military in the world, and because of that, they are able to almost completely control the economy, thus lending to their power.

The Crown and the Council are able to put up laws and policy for vote, and they are able to validate or veto each other. If the Council puts forth a law that the Crown does not like, the Crown is able to veto it, however, if the Council might still be able to pass it if there is an unanimous vote behind it, forcing the Crown to review it. The Crown can still veto it again if it believes that the law still won't work, but the Council can leverage the passing of other laws in an attempt to force the Crown's hand.

There are laws that the Crown can put forth that can bypass the Council for up to 5 years, and such laws involve military policy, certain tax law, and certain economic changes. After the statute of limitation are up, the Council are allowed to review the law and renew it or cancel as they see fit. This statue of limitation allows some wiggle room for the Crown to prove the viability of unpopular policy in what is called the "theory clause".

All decisions that the Council makes must be unanimous.

The Crown and Council involves whomever is on the throne at the time, and the Hyrulean High Court Council. The Crown theoretically has most of the power, being able to create and end laws, and control the military and the economy. However, the Council has veto power, as well as the ability to introduce laws, and most of kingdom's money is tied into the Council, and the Crown can only do so much if it undercuts the economy for the Council.

Limited monarchy

There is a spilt between the Crown and Council known as Traditionalism and Progressivism. Traditionalism is the idea that social and economic policy should be shaped by the traditions held by Old Hyrule, such as top-down economics, whereas tax law should favor the owners of industry, the rights of the heads of household (usually men, but allows for single [widowed] women to head their own house), and stricter property rights. Progressivism has to do with making tax law more equal among all classes (or more top heavy in some cases), more equality for married women, and looser immigration law.

The Crown is currently lead by a moderate Progressivist, and there are more Traditionalists of various degrees in the Council than Progressivists, of which there are only a few whom don't always agree with one another.

The right to privacy is a 1st-class right for property owners. If you are 2nd-class, or the working poor whom doesn't own a certain amount of property, you can be subjected to search and seizure by the military if you're "suspected of a crime". 1st-class property owner require a subpoena.

Any other race is allowed to freely emigrate into the kingdom, but citizenship is tiered by 1st-class and 2nd-class. Any non-Hylian automatically becomes 2nd-class, and can only reach 1st-class if they can prove that they can pay the tax rate of the lowest tier of a middle class 1st-class citizen consistently for 5 years straight. While 2nd-class citizens enjoy the economic and social protection of living in the kingdom and pay less taxes, they lose out on certain rights, the main one being the right to appeal a trial if convicted of a crime.

Citizenry by birth is passed on through the mother; if the mother is a 1st-class citizen, then the child will be as well, and if the mother is 2nd-class, so will be the child.

Tax law:

"Goods" taxes that are placed on certain goods to raise money and ensure quality, as the good is not legally sellable if the business does not have the official tax seal, e.g. bread, rice, sugar, lumber, steel, gold, wax.

Taxes are taken from every citizen every year, known as the "annual" tax, that's calculated by how much property they own, property being defined as land. The poorest citizens pay the least annual taxes because they often either own no property, or only own enough for their homes. For wealthier people, personal and business property is counted.

Business taxes are taxes that business owners pay a portion of their profits every quarter (the 1st of the Goddess month) depending on the type of business, and the rates are 1%, 5%, 8%, and 10%. The types of businesses that pay the highest tax rates are "low-risk", also known as businesses that are profitable regardless of the economy because people will always need them, such as general stores, bakeries, and blacksmiths.

Industry taxes are at a fixed quarterly rate of .35% that goes up by .005% every 5 years.

Criminal law:

Crimes are either misdemeanors, medians, or capital offenses. Misdemeanors are generally petty theft, provoked assault without grave injury (such as fighting), and public indecency (drunkenness, nakedness, relieving oneself in public), and usually carry fines and/or a few nights in jail. Medians are vagrancy, tax evasion, street prostitution, unprovoked assault without grave injury, provoked assault with grave injury, sexual assault of unmarried people, and manslaughter (accidental murder, murder in self-defense, unauthorized revenge killing, etc.), and carries hefty fines and extensive jail time. Capital offenses are murder, sexual assault of a minor or married person, grand theft, and treason, and results in a life sentence, except for sexual assault of a minor, which always nets six years in prison.

Murder is generally a crime, however, revenge killing is legal outside of Central City, and only if it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person being killed actually harmed you, a family member, or your property.

There is no death penalty, but life sentences can come with a lifetime of hard, unpaid labor.

All misdemeanors become median crimes under the "three-strike" law, meaning that if you get tried and convicted of the same kind of misdemeanor three times, no matter how much time between acts, the third conviction turns into a median offense, and the punishment goes up accordingly. If one gets convicted of the same crime after the third crime became a median, the fourth offense becomes a capital offense. Median crimes work the same way, except when it comes to prostitution. For that median, a fine is increasingly imposed with a cap of 10,000R per offense.

Prostitution is legal as long as it's confined to a brothel, and the brothel is up to code, meaning it pays it's business taxes and submits itself for inspection twice a year.

Civil law:

Citizens are allowed to sue each other without limit for perceived torts. Suing businesses, however requires a court fee on the behalf of the accuser. The fee is usually covered by the office of the counselor if the accuser decides to hire one, and If one party hires a counselor, then the other party is required to in the interest of fairness.

If suing an industry or a governmental entity, or the government itself, a high-level counselor is required for all parties involved.

The government, like their citizenry, is largely ethnocentric, shaping policy that mainly benefits their Hylian citizens. They believe that they where created by Hylia to make the world a better place, and liberally use their power to try to fix problems that they believe are plaguing the other races that just so happen to benefit the kingdom in tandem.

As it stands, the Crown and Council pass policy that is mostly Traditionalist. Taxes are set up in a way that make it easier for owners of industry to do business for their benefit, which helps to facilitate competition and makes goods cheaper as a whole for the middle class. Those hit the hardest are the working poor, whom are saddled with the brunt of taxes when it comes to purchased goods, even though they pay the least annual tax.

All terms are for life until they either die, step down, or are ousted.

The throne is passed on by birth; the first born male of the current ruler becomes the next ruler when the fist gives up the throne. If no male is born, than the first female child gains the throne. If the current ruler dies without an heir, the next family member in line gains the throne.

In the Council, the next member is voted in by the other members based on the recommendation of the previous member.

See "Criminal law" in the "Laws" section of "Ideologies".

There are several kinds of punishments depending on the offense: fines/restitution, probation, house arrest, jail time, debtors' prison, and prison time.

Fines are compensation paid to the government for a criminal offense whereas restitution is paid to the victim of a tort in a civil case.

Probation is a non-confinement punishment that allows the offender to live a normal life, but will result in jail/prison time if caught in the act of a crime at any time of the duration, and offenders are usually not allowed to leave the kingdom, or even their district.

House arrest involves the offender being confined to their property for the duration, only being allowed to leave with escort for essential trips such as grocery shopping once a week, as well as having limited visitation.

Jail time has the offender spending an agreed upon duration in the jails of their town and can involve labor both paid and unpaid with visitation rights.

Debtors' prison is a specific type of jail time for those who are indebted to the government.

Prison time involves the offender being shipped off to the Kingdom's prison which comes with guaranteed unpaid labor and no guarantee of visitation, unless by a counselor for an appeal.

The prisons are dark and demoralizing, and involve backbreaking labor. Criminals lose all rights here, and many atrocities are committed against them by each other and the prison guards alike. Women are almost never sent to prison, but when they are, there is no official gender segregation, and they are separated at the whims of the guards.

Princess Zelda and her eventual Prince-Consort, Link, are immensely popular among the people, both by commoners and the wealthy alike, viewed at worst as a minor obstacle to overcome.

The Council, on the other hand, are almost universally hated by commoners, even among social Traditionalists, since they all but make it obvious that they care for themselves and their cronies first and foremost.

Middle class to wealthy citizens live well, enjoying the benefits of Hyrule being the most powerful kingdom in the land. The poor also enjoy some conveniences, but the poorest are endangered by extreme poverty that prevents them from consistently fulfilling even the most basic of needs.

Women have less right rights than their husbands on paper, but such things are felt heaviest by wealthier women. Poorer families have no choice but to work together equally to stay alive, although the lack of rights fully come into play when it comes to the property rights of single women and widows. Poor single women are easily victimized with little legal repercussion.

2nd-class citizens have the least rights of all. Those who are married to a citizen are protected by their spouses, but single 2nd-classers, especially women, and especially Gerudo, have a difficult time with exploitation and abuse by authorities.

Prostitutes have precarious lives that can be ended by gaining the attention of the wrong person, and they are often denied their given rights, even if they are 1st-classers.

The kingdom is allies with every other kingdom/country in the land, but they have varying degrees of popularity among the common folk. Hyrule's closest ally is the Zora and the most autonomous of their allies. While the Gerudo are personal friends of the Crown, increased military presence and mounting debt is straining the Gerudo's positive view of Hyrule. The most neutral are the Goron, whom are economically tied but enjoy isolation due to location, and the Rito, whom are far more controlled by C.A.P.S. for them to worry about Hyrule exploiting them.

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See "Royal Hyrulean Army".

When Ganon was defeated, Princess Zelda and Link realized that they would need funding in order to rebuild Hyrule, so they went to the surviving nobility to strike a deal with them. The nobility agreed to fund Hyrule in exchange for the creation of the Hyrulean High Court Council to give them immense political and economic power. After hammering out the final details, Princess Zelda ultimately agreed to this limiting of her power out of desperation, and the Hyrulean Crown and Council was established.

Half-Champion blue, half-royal purple flag with a golden Hylian crest in the middle