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<center>The Diplomatic Immunity Bill

A Bill to afford foreign diplomats immunity to prosecution under the law.</center>
Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1. This Act may be cited as the Diplomatic Immunity Act 2007.

2. For the purposes of this Act,

( a ) a “foreign state” is any entity publicly recognized as a sovereign nation by the Kingdom of Hanover;
( b ) a “diplomat” is any person formally and lawfully accredited by the Kingdom of Hanover as the official representative and plenipotentiary of a foreign state; and
( c ) “diplomatic immunity” is the privilege of immunity from prosecution for any offence under the laws of Hanover, and the protection of internal diplomatic documents from search or seizure by the Kingdom of Hanover.

3. A diplomat shall enjoy diplomatic immunity until such a time as he is

( a ) recalled by the foreign state he represents; or
( b ) expelled from the Kingdom of Hanover.

4. Diplomats shall, upon request, be granted a permanent public forum on the national discussion fora, and shall be given the administration of the same forum.

5. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as preventing a foreign state from waiving the diplomatic immunity of the diplomat or diplomats thereof.

6. His Majesty may, by an Order given in his Privy Council, withdraw the privileges granted by this Act from the diplomat or diplomats of a foreign state, if the same does not accord equal privileges to the diplomats of Hanover.

My Lords and Gentlemen, I beg to move that the Bill be now passed.

The above Bill is presented out of necessity, for the resolution of a diplomatic situation which has arisen this week. It has been found that neither the Empire of Ascalon nor our own Kingdom legally affords diplomats the immunity which is theirs by universal custom. In order to resolve this discrepancy, the Government of Ascalon has introduced a Bill in tenor similar to this one, and (I am given to understand) proposes to pass it in an expedited manner, so that it will most likely come into force this very evening.

It is self-evident that we are obliged to extend the same privilege to His Excellency, Mr. Loughton, as Ascalon is now extending to my Noble Friend, the Prince of Emden. It would be gravely detrimental to our future diplomatic relations if we did not do so.

Furthermore, it would be an insult to His Majesty the Emperor, and to the entire nation of Ascalon, if we did not extend the same privilege with equal alacrity. Therefore, I have elected to suspend the Rules of Order to allow the passage of this Bill tonight.

If no objection is heard, this Bill will pass and be presented for the Royal Assent as of Midnight tonight, Hanoverian Standard Time. I can only ask that, out of respect for Ascalon, no Lord or Member raise an objection to this Bill.

My Lords and Gentlemen, there being no objection, the Bill passes and has been presented for the Royal Assent.

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Nos Volumus

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