re: Waivers for Crown

[Julien de Montfort <julien@spiaggia.org>]

Poster: Julien de Montfort <julien@spiaggia.org>

On 11/3/98, Michael Ruttle spoke thusly:
>
> But could not the King publicly state that because a given fighter
>has blue
> eyes he's not permitted and still meet the letter of THAT law. It
>says he
> must "state cause"...not a GOOD cause.

Well, yeah, you don't *have* to give a reason.  That's why it's Good To
Be The King. ;-)

Seriously though, it's been mentioned before that the modern
'democratic' ideals we enjoy in the US today (ooh, nice segue to the
other ongoing thread) tends to grate against the monarchistic
principles inherent in the structure of the SCA.  My personal feelings
on the matter is that if you're the King, well, you can do what you
want (within the limits of Kingdom Law).  If you want to restrict
people from fighting who have blue eyes, well, that's your call.  But a
King should always keep in mind that there are always consequences to
any actions, and I for one wouldn't be surprised a bit to see him
blocked from a later Crown by his successor for an equally absurd
reason.  At the very least, some sort of social ostracism cerrtainly
occurs when such flippant decisions are made.  Knights are a good
example; they are sworn to fealty, but there's nothing that means they
*have* to agree with their King at all times.  i've heard plenty of
stories about Knights and others temporarily 'retiring' during the
reign of an unpopular King, and that can make a make a strong statement.

Julien,
who tends to classify SCAdian Kingdoms as feudalistic meritocracies

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