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The popular name for the planetary gentry, those landowners, politicians, entrepreneurs and performers who were confined by economic circumstance to one planet or planetary system.
The Houses Minor were far more numerous (some estimates have reached as high as one million; other commentators limited the number of Houses Minor to about 100,000, using economic and political factors to decrease the possibilities) and far more diverse than the Houses Major; they cannot be described except in the broadest of terms. In general, however, they consisted of those persons or families who had reached an economic status of relative luxury compared to those around them, or who had entrenched themselves as a persistent political power in the lives of the citizens of at least a planetary continent, but who had not yet transcended planetary status.
Many of the Houses Minor were employed by the Houses Major; none of the Houses Major served others except in transitory political alliances. The Houses Minor were represented in the Landsraad through forty "Circles," blocks of votes representing forty arbitrarily defined sectors of Imperial space; each Circle was allocated a certain number of votes, ranging from five to twenty, based upon population, relative wealth, political status, and growth potential; votes given each Circle were apportioned a year before each Landsraad session by the Spacing Guild, presumably neutral upon such matters (but who were rumored to accept extracurricular emoluments). Representatives to the Circles were elected by the Houses Minor in each sector through an elaborate system of proportional voting; each Circle determined which Houses were eligible to vote, and each circle sent to the Landsraad three representatives, who consulted among themselves before casting that sector's vote in the Landsraad sessions; two of the three determined the Circle's vote in a dispute. Although the Circles never organized their votes into a bloc, they tended to support the policies of the anti-Imperial faction of the Great Houses, except in those instances where their own aspirations might be jeopardized. They supported, for example, reduced qualifications for Great House status, thereby backing Imperial moves to dilute the power of the Great Houses. Hence, in a roll call vote on admittance of a new House to Great-House status, the Houses Minor would vote aye virtually unanimously. Similarly, the Houses Minor generally voted against a blatant attempt to increase Imperial power at the expense of the high middle class, but supported moves against the Houses Major, many of whom have exploited the bourgeois. Since issues of this kind required lengthy examination, and passage of laws affecting the Great Houses or the Imperial power required consideration and approval in three successive Landsraads, few passed muster. The Landsraad did provide a forum, however, for the airing of grievances of all kinds, and many of the Houses Minor gained a wider audience for their views through Landsraad speeches or publications.
The Houses Minor possessed certain legal rights under Imperial law not granted to ordinary citizens, although their privileges did not approach those of the Houses Major. The Head of a Minor House and his immediate family could not be jailed, exiled, or executed without a dial conducted by their peers; when capital charges were brought against a House Minor or its official members, three Landsraad representatives from Circles other than that of the House being tried were selected by lot, and sat in judgment as a court of last resort, subject to the final veto of the emperor. The latter could summarily convict a House Minor when he had proof of treason, but in no other circumstances; he could also overturn a conviction of a Landsraad court or suspend its findings, in each case malting a report to the next session of the Landsraad concerning his rationale. Houses Minor could be convicted of misdemeanors by local courts, and fined; these fines had to be paid before the next Landsraad session, or charges might be brought by the planetary administrators to strip the errant House of its status.
As with the Great Houses, under Imperial law the Head of the House was the House under certain circumstances, and might be forced to suffer the ultimate penalty of death or exile if members of his House transgressed. The numbers of the Houses Minor fluctuated greatly throughout history, depending primarily on economic conditions and political gamesmanship. During the reign of Leto II, many of the Great Houses were demoted to Minor House status, and most of the existing Minor Houses lost their economic bases, becoming ordinary citizenry. Only under the strongly feudalized conditions of the Corrino Empire could this highly artificial structure maintain itself; as that structure disintegrated, so did the props supporting it. Business entrepreneurs will continue to exist as long as there is business to conduct, but the Houses Minor had virtually disappeared as a unit of society by 13000.