Galactic Senate/Legends



The Galactic Senate, also referred to as the Republic Senate, Galactic Congress, or Old Senate (during the time of the New Republic), was the legislative and executive branch of the Galactic Republic that was located on Coruscant.

Purpose
The Galactic Senate was a place where all the Republic's elected and appointed Senators and representatives from the farthest reaches of the Galaxy would discuss major problems and come to decisions.

The Senate was the legislative and executive power of the Republic (although at various times by the end of the Republic's existence, the Office of the Supreme Chancellor held de-facto executive authority). It also had limited judicial authority, presumably for high-profile plaintiffs or cases too controversial for (or tied in) the Supreme Court. Such cases included trying Senators for treason (as wished by Vien'sai'Malloc); war crimes (the interrupted trial of Ulic Qel-Droma); and presumably corruption and treason of the Supreme Chancellor (as Anakin Skywalker wished for Palpatine).



The Galactic Constitution invested the Senate with the power to regulate trade, maintain maps of the Galaxy's hyperspace routes, and to maintain the Republic's military. It is not known what other duties the Senate held; it was still a relatively weak body at the end of the Old Sith Wars. Following the Ruusan Reformation, a large amount of power was removed from the Chancellor and granted to the Senate, which although resulting in greater regional involvement in galactic politics, also resulted in increased gridlock and corruption.

During the time of the Empire, the Galactic Senate was known as the Imperial Senate.

Composition

 * See Senators for a comprehensive listing.

The Galactic Senate was made up of 1,024 groups of Senators and representatives, representing sectors in the Republic. Some were elected directly, while others were appointed by a planet's ruler (or even were the planet's ruler). Major interest groups such as the Trade Federation and Techno Union also had their own Senators.

The Senate was divided into many committees and subcommittees, each to handle various issues of Galactic government and lawmaking. Some of them were:


 * Senate Action Subcommittee
 * Senate Action Subcommittee for Corellian Trade Spine Defense
 * Allocations Committee
 * Appropriations Committee
 * Budgetary Committee
 * Delegation of 2,000
 * Imperial Military Oversight Commission (in Imperial Senate)
 * Intelligence Oversight Committee
 * Internal Activities Committee
 * Interspecies Advisory Committee
 * Loyalist Committee
 * Senate Guard Committee
 * Trade Commission
 * Travel and Transport Bureau
 * Senate Bureau of Intelligence

In addition to the formal committees, there were informal political factions in the Senate, as well. In the years leading up to the Battle of Naboo, there were two main ones: the Core faction and the Rim faction.

Architecture


See main article.

Thousands of years before the fall of the Republic, the Senate was housed in a hall building. At some point after the end of the Great Sith War, the Senate was relocated to the more-famous Senate Building.

The exterior portion of the Senate Building consisted of a large courtyard in front of the structure itself, a huge mushroom-shaped building.

The interior portion was a multiple-story room with thousands of chairs for Senators from each world. In the center, the Supreme Chancellor would sit with his or her aides.

Behind the scenes


Although Episode I and Episode III refer to the Senate as 'the Congress', it is not actually one in the traditional sense of the word. A congress is usually an elected body that serves as the legislative branch (opposite a executive branch) in a presidential system. Because the Old Republic was a parliamentary system, the executive branch of the government was thusly derived from members of parliament in the legislative branch.

If anything, the direct threat to Senate sovereignty&mdash;Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS)&mdash;is more of a 'congress' than the Senate. The USA used the word 'Congress' harkening back to the British colonies when delegates representing the east coast colonies first met to protest at their treatment by the government of Great Brritain. They met as the 'Continental Congress' which is somewhat similar to way that the CIS met regarding the way the corruption of the Senate, government and Republic.

Moreover, unlike the traditional understanding of a parliament (or Congress, as it is referred), the Galactic Senate was a unicameral body (that is, it has one house), rather than the traditional bicameral body, which features both an upper house and a lower house.

Like many parliamentary systems, the executive branch (as aforementioned) would be elected by members within the Senate. The Supreme Chancellor serves as the prime minister, with the vice chair and speaker as deputies (though each have their own important functions within the structure of the Senate).

Furthermore, more evidence to suggest that the Galactic Senate is a parliamentary system (UK-style) as opposed to a congressional system (US-style), as that there is no evidence of a 'separtion of powers' in the Galactic Senate&mdash;the executive, legislative and judicial branches all seem to overlap like a parliamentary system, such as the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War
 * Star Wars Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith