Form
The High Council is presided over by the Chancellor, and is composed of a loosely faction-based, informal cabinet. Prominent members are generally leaders of one of the various Houses of the Empire – most of the seats are hereditary and some are conferred on distinguished figures, as with the House of Lords, the exact number of council members is not known. The Chancellor sits in an elevated chair at the front of the room, and the other council members surround him in a semicircle. A large Klingon insignia hangs on the wall at the front of the room, which is located behind the council members.
The council directs the political, diplomatic, military, and internal matters of state. The Chancellor is empowered to enter into treaties on behalf of the council and the people, and has general executive power, although he is considered a primus inter pares subordinate to the Emperor. They also provide overall strategic direction on military matters, but in practice tactical and logistical matters are left to the battlefield commanders.
The council is also the final Court of Appeal, deciding matters pertaining to the various Klingon Houses. One example would be granting dispensation to allow a woman to rule over a house if her husband died in unusual circumstances and they had no sons (The House of Quark, DS9). If one of the Houses falls and another makes a claim to the lands and property of the House, the council will judge the validity of the claim.
The council acts as all three branches of government - executive, legislative, and judicial. For crimes committed against the Empire, the council can judge the guilt of an individual Klingon and his entire family. If the Klingon is found guilty of a crime, he and his entire family will suffer the consequences of the crime. For example, treason causes the family to lose their honor for seven generations.
It appears that the members of the council serve at the pleasure of the Chancellor. This is the reason that Worf's brother Kurn was granted a seat on the council after the 2367 civil war, and was later taken from Kurn when Worf refused Gowron's orders to turn against the Federation in 2372.
The Chancellor has, at various times, been informally referred to as "leader" of the High Council (TNG's "Unification I"). Formally, however, the role also carries the title of "Klingon supreme commander" (TNG's "Reunion"), which presumably means commander-in-chief of the military.
The means of choosing the Chancellor vary. One way would be challenging the Chancellor to a fight to the death. If the challenger was victorious, the old Chancellor would be dead, and the challenger would usually take the role of Chancellor for himself, or in rare cases bestow the role to another. If a Chancellor died of natural causes or not as a result of direct combat, an Arbiter of Succession would be named. The Arbiter would designate the strongest challengers, who would then fight each other to the death for the office. There is one known time when a Chancellor named his own successor - shortly after the Praxis explosion Chancellor Gorkon named his daughter Azetbur as Chancellor in the event of his death.
Read more about this topic: Klingon High Council
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