I love your wizarding politics meta! I'm a LLB student in New Zealand, so I found it incredibly interesting to read. I did have a thought though regarding the drafting of bills/legislation (such as the one Arthur Weasley wrote) when we're making UK govt comparisons: the Ministry departments are probably analogous to the UK govt departments, which are ministerial. Could it then make sense that the Wizengamot (our House of Lords) is comprised of both Lords and heads of department?
It would make sense, to me, that a Dept Head wouldn't be considered/called a member of the Wizengamot itself per se, because the Wizengamot = Lords, but that each department would have a representative seat at the Wizengamot, and that perhaps they were only invited/able to be involved in decisions relevant to their area of oversight. Arthur would have been involved in the law due to its relevancy to muggle artifacts and their potential misuse. Perhaps, if all Lords + Heads of Dept can propose laws, it stands that the actual voting on any laws is done solely by the primary Wizengamot (the Lords), because of its history + social superiority complex.
Hi, thank you so much! 💛
Great to hear it made sense since I'm not a law student, I'm just a woman who loves reading on the Internet.
Like, the thing is, Arthur isn't really a department head but an office head. Like, how the ministry is built, it seems to me at least, is that you have the departments, that are similar to the UK ministries. I believe these heads of department are all part of the House of Lords/Wizengamont/Confederation of Warlocks because of how the ministers used to be chosen in the UK in the past and even today.
Like, ministers in the House of Lords are usually required to be members of the parliament and legislature — which means they are from the House of Lords (or the House of Commons, but that doesn't seem to exist in the Wizarding World):
Most ministers in the House of Lords have been, and continue to be, selected from existing members of the House.
(lordslibrary.parliament.uk)
In Commonwealth realm jurisdictions which use the Westminster system of government, ministers are usually required to be members of one of the houses of Parliament or legislature, and are usually from the political party that controls a majority in the lower house of the legislature.
(Wikipedia)
So, I'm under the impression the wizarding world is similar, as in the big department heads (DMLE, DoM, and so forth) that act as ministries are chosen from within members of the Wizengamot except for unique exceptions on occasion. They are likely appointed by the current Minister of Magic and perhaps the Wizengamot can veto the decision, but it's also possible they can't.
Arthur Weasley is the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, which is a division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, meaning he likely works directly under Amalia Bones, who is the head of the DMLE and likely appointed by her or other subordinates of her and not the full Wizengamot/Minister of Magic.
I do agree with you it's possible that the Wizengamot brings in office/division heads to discussions in their area of expertise but that said office heads aren't part of the voting process for said laws, while the department heads above them are. I'd also assume, if it worked like this, Amalia would've had to look over Arthur's bill and approve it before it went into discussion before the whole Wizengamot and the later vote. You're definitely right that I don't see the Wizengamot allowing a non-noble member who isn't a lord to vote on laws (except the minister, but it's only cause they have too. Like, from the list of past Ministers of Magic, it seems like it might be common enough even for the Minister to be chosen from the Wizengamot, or at least, be a relative of a Wizengamot family, but you get more non-lords in that position).
Honestly, I'd love to hear if you have more insights about this.
