My recent little rant about political philosophers and their ignorance of the basic practical principles of historical constitutional theory put me in mind of a fictional constitution that I had been thinking through for a while, during a period in which I was thinking about constitutional theory, and that I had written up. I put up fictional short stories and fictional poems, so why not a fictional constitution for something different? If I were to do a fictional constitution for a republic, it would probably end up rather like the US Constitution, differently organized with various modifications and expansions. So for more of challenge in thinking through constitutional principles, I came up with the following in an attempt to combine several principles of constitutional monarchy that are out of political fashion while getting a result that, if even very roughly doing what it should do (since you should never design a constitution for ideal situations only), would nonetheless give a society that would likely be much more free than many societies we think of free societies, and that would have a chance at being reasonably prosperous. Whether I succeeded I don't know, and probably never will, unless there is some country in the world that wants to call on me to be its Lycurgus. But I think the result is very interesting to think through theoretically, at least, in its fractal character, in the way it is built on principles of superrepresentationality and pluralism of societies, in the way it uses sortition, in the way it uses juridical entities, in its attempt to capture a notion of militia that might work something like Scottish Enlightenment philosophers wanted it to work. Of course, I also partly cheat: it's a two-layer constitution, one of which would be the following and the other would be a 'General Code' basically worked out by the old compromise and horse-trading of committee, so I don't need to cover everything. And it's easy to fictionalize a constitution for a country so malleable that it doesn't even have a name except 'N.', 'insert name here'. But what do you think? What would definitely need to be in the General Code? Do you think there are any definite problems with the formulations (unintended consequences of formulations are the doom of many a constitutional scheme)? What conditions of society do you think would be required to make it work in the intended way? Are there any things that would doom it? Thinking through questions like this is why someone might be interested in this very strange fictional genre.
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Instrument of Governance
Title I
1. Under God and for
the common good of the People of N., the Sovereignty of N. is vested
in the union of Crown and Council.
2. The
Constitution. The Constitution shall consist of the Instrument of
Governance for N., the General Code of N., and the General Codes of
the Provinces. All actions of government must be according to the
Constitution.
2.1 The Instrument
of Governance, and amendments thereto, must originate with the Prince
and be ratified by at least three-quarters of the Council of N., or
else by at least two-thirds of the Council and fifty-five percent of
a popular referendum called by the Crown for that purpose during a
time of election.
2.2. The national
General Code, and amendments thereto, shall have effect when passed
by at least three-quarters of the Council of N. and ratified by the
signatures and seals of both the Prince and the Steward, or else by
at least two-thirds of the Council and fifty-one percent of a popular
referendum called by the President of Council for that purpose during
a time of election.
3. Interpretation
of the Constitution. The ultimate authority for all
interpretation of the Constitution is the explicit agreement of Crown
and Council on the relevant point of interpretation.
4. Constitutional
Oath. No one shall hold any office of the state or appointed by
Crown and Council without taking an oath to act in accordance with
the Constitution, to respect the dignity of Crown and Council, and to
work for the common good of the People of N.
Title II
1. The Rights and
Freedoms of the People. The People of N., both individually and
as families and churches, have rights and freedoms in inexhaustible
abundance deriving both directly and indirectly from God and
therefore the failure of the Constitution explicitly to attribute to
them some specific right or freedom does not thereby imply that they
lack such a right or freedom, nor that such a right or freedom is
unimportant.
1.1 The Council may
pass such laws as are required to preserve the freedoms of natural
persons, and the People as a whole, from unreasonable encroachment by
anyone, and has the responsibility to do so in order to preserve
those freedoms that are required for the pursuit of virtue.
1.2 The Council
shall have the authority to pass laws determining the requirements of
juridical persons and their rights and privileges under law.
2.
Self-Governance Powers. The People shall not be
restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common
good, nor from voluntarily forming corporate bodies and associations
to develop, maintain, and protect their goods and customs in a
peaceable manner, nor from applying to Council or Crown by petitions
or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.
2.1 The freedom of
citizens to express their views by speech or by press shall not be
restricted by law except to prevent the harms of obscenity,
defamation, fraud, or incitement to violence, and any such
restrictions shall be only according to law and apply only so far as
is required to prevent actual harm arising directly from the act of
expression itself.
3. Search
and Seizure Protections. The right of the People to be
secure, both individually and as families, in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall
not be infringed by any act of the state.
3.1 No warrants for
search or for seizure shall issue save upon probable cause supported
by oath and particularly describing what is to be searched or seized,
and all such warrants must be obtained and implemented in a manner
consistent with law.
3.2 Property seized
under warrant shall remain the property of the owner, and shall be
returned intact when the process of law is completed, or in
perishable cases replaced with an equivalent in kind or money as
determined in court of law, except where the owner has been convicted
of a crime specifically involving the relevant property or where it
has been established according to law that the relevant property is
dangerous to the public.
3.3 No property
shall be taken for public use without just compensation.
4. Due Process
Protections. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or
property without due process of law.
4.1 In criminal
prosecutions, all people have a right to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation, and to have a speedy and public trial by
an impartial jury chosen from a vicinage determined by prior law.
4.2 In any trial,
all people have a right to confront any witnesses against them, to
have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in their favor, and
to have the assistance of counsel for their defense.
4.2 No person shall
be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on
a presentment or indictment of a grand jury except in militia cases
in times of war or emergency.
4.3 No person for
the same offense shall be twice put in jeopardy for life, limb, or
liberty.
5. Restrictions
on Punishments. Punishments and penalties ordered or administered
by the state must be public, definite, necessary, and determined by
law, and no punishment shall be given without an explicit and public
justification of the punishment as meeting these requirements.
5.1 No punishment
may be inflicted save by virtue of a law in force at the time the
offense was committed.
5.2 Laws may not
inflict severe punishments on actions that prior to the law were part
of a longstanding or widespread custom.
5.3 Citizens may not
be subject to extradition without their consent.
5.4 The Crown shall
from time to time audit and review the state of punishments in N. and
its Provinces and provide a report on it to Council and to the
People.
6. The Rights of
the Family. The state shall in all actions recognize the natural
family, formed by bonds of marriage between man and woman and of
generation between parent and child, as a natural, moral, and
religious unit of society pre-existing itself and having the right to
be preserved; it shall also recognize in its actions that members of
families have responsibilities to their families, independent of any
obligation to the state, which the state must respect and for which
it must make allowance.
6.1 No spouse shall
be required to report or testify against the other in any criminal or
civil violation, nor shall parents be required to report or testify
against their children, nor shall children be required to report or
testify against their parents.
6.2 Parents have the
right to protect, support, raise, and educate their children, and
children have the right to be protected, supported, raised, and
educated by their parents.
6.3 Families shall
have the right to receive income, own property, and engage in such
actions as are appropriate under law, distinctly from the income,
property, or actions of their individual members, in such a manner as
shall be established by law.
6.4 The Council,
whether provincial or natural, shall have the right and
responsibility to establish laws concerning the determination of
paternity, the protection of inheritances, and the formation and
rights of juridical families, in accordance with the Constitution.
7. The Rights of
the Church. The civil rights of no person or family shall be
abridged on account of their religious belief or worship.
7.1 Churches and
very similar bodies shall themselves be recognized as being juridical
families, with rights and privileges arising therefrom, and the state
shall recognize in its actions that members of churches have
responsibilities to the churches of which they are voluntary members,
independent of any obligation to the state, which the state must
respect and for which it must make allowance.
7.2 Hospitals,
schools, charitable foundations, and other entities formed by
churches for their eleemosynary work shall not be subject to any
restrictions that are not required of all other entities of a similar
kind, nor shall they be in any way restricted from operating
according to their religious principles, as long as clear
communication of those religious principles are given to the public.
7.3 The right of the
Catholic Church to exist shall be recognized, its sees as juridical
persons, and the freedom of the Catholic Church to perform its
ecclesial functions through property, speech, press, and assembly in
accordance with its own canon law shall not be infringed.
8. The Rights of
Labor. Workers shall have the right to form, in accordance with
law, trade unions, guilds, livery companies, and professional
associations for protection, for encouragement of quality of work,
and for assistance in matters related to their work, and no employer
may terminate a worker’s employment on grounds of their membership
in any such union, guild, company, or association.
8.1 No employer may
terminate a worker’s employment on grounds of their political or
religious opinions, or on any grounds not directly connected to the
performance of their work, nor may they do so ever without prior
notice providing the explicit grounds for termination in a manner
determined by law.
8.2 No employment
contract may explicitly interfere in any way with people fulfilling
their legally or customarily recognized civil, familial, or ecclesial
obligations, and all employers must provide reasonable accommodation
for the fulfilling of such obligations.
8.3 All employers
must make reasonable accommodation to the known disability of any
qualified applicant or employee, if by doing so the work could be
done effectively and competently.
8.4 The life and
time of each employee remains their own even in employment, and no
employer may make demands on them other than what is required to
perform the duties of the work.
8.5 Neither slavery
nor any other involuntary servitude shall exist in the realm.
9. Citizenship.
All those residing in the territory or jurisdiction of N. at the
ratification of this Instrument shall be natural citizens of N.
unless they formally declare otherwise in a manner provided by law,
as shall their descendants born within the jurisdiction of N. or to
parents who are citizens who are traveling or temporarily arising
abroad, as well as all those who shall be naturalized as citizens
according to the laws of N. No one may be naturalized as a citizen of
N. without being sponsored by someone who is already a citizen of N.
9.1 All natural
citizens shall be either major citizens or minor citizens. Major
citizens shall be citizens sixteen years of age or older who can
exercise their civil functions as determined by law. Minor citizens
shall be citizens younger than sixteen years of age or who otherwise
cannot exercise their civil functions in their own right and shall
require a guardian who is a citizen.
9.2 The Council of
N. shall have the authority to make all laws governing juridical,
that is to say, honorary, citizens.
9.3 No one who is
not either a natural citizen or a juridical citizen may hold any
state office, whether national or provincial, whether active or
advisory, except where treaty with the state of which the person is a
citizen makes explicit provision otherwise.
9.4 Citizens of N.
may not be deprived of their citizenship unless they came to have it
through their own fraud or through their own violation of the laws
governing naturalization.
10. Members
of the Militia. All major citizens who are younger than sixty
years of age are members of the Militia, as well as non-citizens who
would otherwise meet this requirement and have made explicit
declaration of their intention to become citizens; all members of the
Militia are responsible for providing reasonable service in times of
insurrection, invasion, natural disaster, or declared emeregency as
called to do so in accordance with the legal order of the
Commander-in-Chief, Militia Command, or the relevant provincial
Commander.
10.1 Every member of
the Militia who is physically and mentally able must from time to
time receive training with regard to basic matters of survival, first
aid, defense, weaponry, and the like as shall be deemed appropriate
to the general population by Militia Command. Every member of the
Militia shall receive training in the safe handling and storage of
weaponry. Militia Command shall provide opportunities for further
training for those members who wish to train further.
10.2 No member of
the Militia shall be required to engage in service specifically
contrary to his or her civil, familial, or ecclesial obligations, and
all members of the Militia have the right of conscientious objection
with respect to any service where lives are not endangered from their
refusal; but any such members may be required to provide some other
form of reasonable service to fulfill their Militia responsibilities.
10.3 Any member of
the Militia may volunteer at any time for services which are needed
for the proper functioning of the Militia and for which they have the
relevant skills. No member of the Militia shall be required to serve
without compensation for service as determined by law, and no such
service shall extend for more than a few hours a week over the course
of a few weeks except by direct order of the Commander-in-Chief or
Commander in accordance with laws established by the national
Council. No law shall create a standing military force separate from
the Militia.
10.4 No law shall
infringe the right of any member of the Militia to keep and bear arms
for legal hunting, for self-defense, for training, or for performance
of Militia duties, although the Council may require that the manner
in which the arms are kept and borne shall be consistent with the
same purposes, and members of the Militia using them in a manner
inconsistent with such purposes may be charged with violating their
Militia duties.
11. Elections
and Sortitions. Without exception, every major citizen who
has completed at least some form of Militia training prescribed by
law and who has not been convicted of treason, espionage, sedition,
insurrection, murder, or rape shall have the right to vote in all
elections and to hold office if chosen or drawn for it.
11.1 Every voter who
is drawn for office by sortition is required to serve in that office
unless they are otherwise ineligible for that office under the
Constitution or receive a special exemption from the Council in which
they have been drawn to serve; but the Council shall be the plenary
and final authority on whether the person drawn has adequate grounds
to receive an exemption, and those who are denied exemptions must
serve, notwithstanding any other obligations.
11.2 The Council may
impose an exemption for official service even against the consent of
a person drawn or elected if the person is guilty of public acts
indicative of moral turpitude or gross violations of the generally
recognized duties of citizens and members of the Militia, but only if
these acts have not been pardoned.
11.3 Persons
undergoing punishment for crimes or misdemeanors who are drawn for
office but not exempted from service by the Council shall not be
exempted from punishment without receiving such an exemption from the
Crown, but any form of punishment that would be inconsistent with
their serving in office may be delayed or restructured by the Council
such that they may receive their punishment consistently with
service.
11.4 No voter may be
threatened, penalized, or punished for voting or for their choice in
voting in a manner affecting their property, livelihood, or survival
by the state or by any entity constituted by the laws of the state,
and laws shall be made to prevent voters from being threatened,
penalized, or punished on the basis of their votes. Any non-citizen
resident in the jurisdiction of N. who is convicted of any crime or
misdemeanor that involves threatening, penalizing, or punishing
voters in this way shall be deported. For any citizen to commit such
an act has grossly violated their duties as a citizen; multiple such
attempts shall be conclusive evidence, unless there is clear evidence
otherwise, of an inability to exercise their civil functions in their
own right.
12. Restrictions
on Taxation. Councils, national or provincial, shall have
the power to levy and assess taxes on any income, wealth, property,
sale, or activity of any entity engaging in financial or economic
transactions within its jurisdiction, except that it may not tax
actions required for fulfilling civil, familial, or ecclesial
obligations, and it may not tax the income of either individual
citizens or families of citizens.
12.1 No tax may be
levied on citizens at all except on the grounds of general
maintenance of the state in fulfilling its constitutional obligation,
of providing specific services for the People of N., of alleviating
specific risks to the People, or of ameliorating specific harms that
have been incurred by the People, and no laws imposing taxes shall go
into effect, nor any taxes collected, without an explicit declaration
of these grounds.
12.2 Every citizen
shall loan at no interest a portion of his or her income, as
determined by law, to the state, in a manner determined by law, which
loan shall be repaid in full no later than five years after the state
collected the loan.
12.3 Laws imposing
taxation shall be concerned only with the imposition of taxation, and
any provision therein concerned with any other matter shall be of no
effect whatsoever.
13 Enforcement of
Laws. Laws shall be enforced in accordance with the requirements
of the Crown and the Council.
13.1 All local
enforcement of laws, whether national or provincial, shall be
reviewed by a reeve resident in the vicinage, as determined by the
laws of the relevant Council, who is appointed by the Crown with the
consent of the relevant Council and who shall assess and report to
Crown and Council on whether the enforcement is consistent with the
Constitution and the rights and freedoms of the People. The reeve
shall have power to enforce penalties under law on those responsible
for enforcement of the law for violation of law, and for any other
abuses or failings of law enforcement that he or she is given power
to assess by laws of the relevant Council.
13.2 All citizens
shall have the right to file complaints with respect to how a law was
enforced against them with the reeve designated by law, and to have
an investigation opened by the reeve into the matter.
13.3 Officials
subject to investigation by the reeve shall have all rights of due
process under the law and the assistance of counsel, and shall have
the right to appeal the conclusion of the decision in a Court of
Justice.
14. Allodial
Right. When a farm or other form
of productive agricultural land, as defined by law of Council, which
is of sufficient size, which shall be determined by law of Council,
and which has been in the
possession of its owner, whether individual or family, for at least
thirty
years, is sold, members of the family shall by
an allodial title be
guaranteed first option to buy it, with
priority determined according
to the principles governing inheritance under law.
14.1
If such productive land is sold to someone
outside the family of ownership who has allodial right under
inheritance law, family
members shall have the right
to redeem the land, at an appropriate market price determined by an
assessment to be paid by those exercise the right to redeem, as long
as the new owner has not owned the land for more than seven years.
Priority in the exercise of this right shall be determined according
to the principles governing inheritance under law.
14.2
Those who exercise allodial right must be resident in N., and by
exercising it legally commit to maintaining the land as productive
for at least ten years, during which entire time they will be
resident in N.
14.3
The Council may extend this right to other productive forms of
property by law.
Title III
1. The Crown. The
Crown, which is whole and entire throughout N., has the
responsibility to uphold and preserve the unity and dignity of N., to
advocate for the rights, freedoms, and customs of its people, to
maintain the continuity of essential functions of government, and to
uphold the Constitution.
1.1 Every citizen or
member of the Militia is a subject of the Crown and entitled to the
reasonable protection of its authority.
2. The Prince and
the Steward. The immediate authority of the Crown shall reside in
the Prince of N., who shall appoint with the advice and consent of
Council a Steward of N. in whom the mediate authority of the Crown
shall reside; the Prince may remove the Steward from office at any
time for any reason.
2.1 The Steward may
exercise any powers of the Crown that the Prince shall delegate to
him or her, except where this is forbidden by the Constitution; these
acts shall be regarded as genuine acts of the Crown, but the Prince
shall have the authority to provide guidelines for, to review, and at
any time to nullify the acts of the Steward.
2.2 When the Prince
is absent or otherwise incapable of performing the functions of his
or her office, the Steward shall continue to exercise the mediate
authority of the Crown and may when necessary exercise the immediate
authority of the Crown; when the Prince is again able to perform the
functions of his or her office, all acts of the Steward during the
period of absence shall be explicitly confirmed or nullified.
2.3 When Prince and
Steward are both incapable of performing the functions of his or her
office, the President of Council shall, in his or her role of High
Minister of N., serve as Acting Steward.
2.4 Rules of
Succession for the Prince will be determined by law.
3. General
Reserve and Privilege Powers. All
powers of state not expressly reserved elsewhere by the Constitution,
or by such a statute of Council as is consistent with the
Constitution, are reserved to the Crown, and may be exercised by the
Crown in any manner appropriate to its responsibilities.
3.1 All eleemosynary
functions of the state, such as subsidy, welfare, and services of
education, health, and culture, as well as all diplomatic functions,
are reserved to the Crown, except where the Constitution requires
otherwise.
3.2 The Crown shall
have sole and plenary authority to declare days of thanksgiving,
commemoration, or fasting, including holiday closures of banks and
agencies of the state, as long as these do not interfere with
responsibilities required by the Constitution.
3.3 The Crown shall
be the sole font of honors and awards of merit, although such honors
and awards of merit may be regulated or restricted by law of Council.
3.4 The Crown is a
juridical person and has the rights, privileges, and powers of a
juridical person under law.
4. Emergency
Authority. When any agency of the state (of any
kind) performing constitutionally required functions (of any kind) is
determined by the relevant Council or according to law to be unable
to perform those functions, for any reasons, the Crown shall have the
authority to do whatever is necessary and consistent with the rights
of the People to reestablish the relevant constitutional functions,
notwithstanding any other law or norm.
4.1 The relevant
Council may at any point terminate this emergency authority by a
resolution stating that the relevant constitutional functions have
been adequately restored.
5. Prerogative of
Clemency. The Crown shall have the power to grant clemency,
conditional or unconditional, for offenses or their punishments,
whether releases, reprieves, respites, remissions, commutations,
pardons, amnesties, or of any other kind, except in cases of
impeachment.
5.1 The prerogative
of clemency may be exercised in a direct and extraordinary manner by
the Crown itself, or in an ordinary manner through the Courts of
Mercy as representing the Crown.
6. Crown
Agencies. The Crown may exercise its authority either in a direct
and extraordinary manner in itself, or in an ordinary manner through
a Crown Agency, either national or provincial; and it may exercise in
the extraordinary manner any power given by Constitution or law to
any Crown Agency, except where explicitly forbidden by the
Constitution.
6.1 Every Crown
Agency must be consistent in all of its acts with the Constitution
and the responsibilities of the Crown.
6.2 The Crown must
establish, and the Council of N. must provide support for, the
following national Crown Agencies. Except in the case of the Royal
Household and the Diplomatic Court, the Director and Assistant
Director of each Crown Agency shall be appointed by the Crown with
the advice and consent of Council.
(a) The Crown
Agency of the Royal Household.
The Director of the Royal
Household shall be the Prince, and its Assistant Director shall be
the Steward; the High Minister of the Crown shall be a member of the
Royal Household and shall serve as Acting Assistant Director or
Acting Director when necessary and appropriate. The Royal Household
shall be the instrument for
all supporting
functions relating to the maintenance and responsibility of the
Crown, and shall include the Office of the Prince, the Office of the
Steward, the Office of the High Minister, the Private Purse of the
Crown, the Royal Chapel,
the Crown Counsel, the Royal Almonry, the
Crown Equerry, and the Royal Guard,
as well as
any
other such offices as the Crown and
the Council shall deem
appropriate and necessary for fulfilling its responsibilities. The
Crown shall be the ultimate authority for all matters internal to the
Royal Household, except where the Constitution requires otherwise,
but the Council of N. may by
law govern the interrelations between the Royal Household and other
Crown Agencies. The Royal
Household is a juridical family, and shall have the rights,
privileges, and powers of a juridical family under law. The
Royal Household shall be officially Catholic, and its Chapel and
Almonry shall
operate under Catholic principles.
(b)
The Crown Agency of the Diplomatic Court.
The Crown shall have the authority to send, receive, and
refuse Ambassadors and other
public ministers, to recognize or
reject the credentials of such ministers
and the legitimacy of the states and
bodies they represent, to
establish embassies, consulates, and missions, and
to negotiate treaties, the instrument for which functions
shall be the Diplomatic
Court. The Steward of N. shall be the Director of the Diplomatic
Court; the Assistant Director shall be appointed by the Steward with
the advice and consent of the President of Council. Every
subject of the Crown traveling abroad who faces some legal difficulty
shall receive such help as the Diplomatic Court is able to provide in
such a situation.
(c)
The Crown Agency of the Public Purse. The
Public Purse shall be the instrument for all eleemosynary functions
of the Crown in such a manner as shall be provided for and determined
by law of Council.
(d)
The Crown Agency for Elections and Sortitions.
The Crown shall oversee all
national and provincial
elections and sortitions, all audits and recounts of such elections
and sortitions, and the Crown Agency for Elections and Sortitions
shall be the instrument of this. The
Director of the Crown Agency for Elections and Sortitions shall,
after every election and sortition report to Crown and Council on the
legality, integrity, security, and accessibility of the means and
procedures of that election or sortition.
(e)
The Crown Agency for Audits and Inquiries. The
Crown shall have the power to require or
to perform financial, legal,
and ethical audits
for any part or agency of the state whatsoever,
except the internal functioning of the Council, the
instrument for which shall be the
Crown Agency for Audits and Inquiries. In addition, the Crown Agency
for Audits and Inquiries shall perform and
provide such research and
investigation into any matters that the Crown or the President of
Council deems necessary or useful to legislation or governance. The
Crown Agency for Audits and Inquiries shall also organize and oversee
any census or enumeration of the population for purposes of taxation
or apportionment of seats on Council.
(f)
The Crown Agency for the National Archives.
All official public documents of any national
state agency, and all records of elections and sortitions, and
any laws, shall have a copy
deposited in the National Archives according to procedures determined
by law. Any subject of the
Crown may access any document
in the National Archives in a manner appropriate to the preservation
of the documents,
and may receive, for a fee
determined by procedures established by law, a copy of any such
document; and the Crown and
any Member of Council, whether national or provincial, may receive
such a copy without a fee.
(g)
The Crown Agency of the Royal Post.
The Crown shall have the
power to create and maintain a postal service, including creating and
designating post offices and post roads, and to regulate the mail,
public or private, in a manner consistent with the good of the
People; it shall likewise have the power to create, maintain, and
regulate similar services of communication and delivery, public or
private, such as telephone lines and access to other communication
and delivery technologies. The instruments for these functions shall
be the Royal Post. The Royal Post shall also establish and maintain
emergency communications and delivery for the Militia.
(h)
The Crown Agency for Legal Marks.
The Council
shall establish laws, to be administered by the Crown, governing
patents, copyrights, trademarks, seals, coats of arms, heraldic
badges, and similar legal
devices and instruments for
furthering the business of
the state and the progress of
the sciences and the arts or of social interactions, and the ordinary
means for this shall be the
Crown Agency for Legal Marks,
which shall approve, regulate, and record all such devices as are
recognized by law. In addition, it shall provide royal warrants of
appointment in a manner determined by the Crown and
shall license and regulate notaries and legal scriveners according
to the laws of Council.
6.3
The Council of N., and only the Council of N., has the power to
create by law any other national Crown Agencies, whether permanent or
temporary, but no such Crown Agency shall be formed except by consent
of the Crown. The Council of N. may also give to already existing
Crown Agencies new statutory powers, but only with the consent of the
Crown.
6.4
The Crown has full executive authority to regulate by Crown decree
the manner in which any constitutional and statutory functions of any
Crown Agency are performed, whether to guarantee the faithful
execution of laws, or to bring these functions into more closely in
line with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, or to fulfill
the responsibilities of the Crown.
Title
IV
1.
The Council of N. The Council of N. shall have the authority
to make laws in order to establish justice, to guarantee domestic
tranquillity, to provide for the common defense, to promote the
general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to the People
of N., in a manner appropriate to the peace, order, and good
government of the realm.
1.1
No proposal shall become law before it has come before the Crown to
be signed into law or vetoed. The Crown may veto any proposal; the
Council of N. may override this veto by two-thirds vote.
1.2
Laws that have been signed by both Prince and Steward take precedence
over laws that have been signed only by the Prince; laws that have
been signed only by the Prince take precedence over laws that have
been signed only by the Steward; laws that have been signed by the
Crown take precedence over laws passed against veto.
1.3
Treaties shall be made by the Crown, but no treaty shall have the
force of law unless ratified by a two-thirds vote in Council and
signed and sealed by the Crown.
1.4
Unless the Council provides otherwise, the presence of at least
one-third of the whole number of Members of Council, including the
President of Council, shall be necessary for a meeting of the Council
for the exercise of its powers.
1.5
The Council shall have exclusive power to determine the
seat of government where it
shall meet and do business, and
it shall have plenary power over all matters in this location.
2.
Membership in the Council. The Council of N. shall consist of
the President of Council and Members from every natural Province.
2.1
The President of Council
shall be elected; half of the Members of the Council of N. shall be
elected from each Province; the other half of the Members of the
Council of N. shall be drawn by sortition of
actual voters in that election,
from each Province; and all
in a manner consistent with the Constitution. All
elections and sortitions shall be in accordance with laws of Council. Each Member of Council other than the President of Council shall serve for a term of five years, which terms shall be staggered in a manner determined by law, and the President of Council shall serve for a term of seven years.
2.2
On the occasion of death or incapacity of a Member of Council, the
Steward shall with consent of Council appoint an Acting Member of
Council to serve until the next election, regardless of whether the election is for that seat. This shall also be true of the death
or incapacity of the President of Council, but the person appointed
must be a sitting Member of Council who is not Acting Member of
Council and who is a Minister in the Cabinet.
2.3
The number of Members of Council shall be set by natural Province
according to law in
proportion to a census to be taken every ten years, but there must
always be an even number of Members, not counting the President of
Council, and no natural Province shall have less than two Members by
election and two Members by sortition, regardless of population. No
law varying the number of
seats on Council or changing
the formula for
apportionment of seats on Council shall take effect until the first
election after the next census has intervened.
3.
The President of Council. The
Council shall have the authority to make, revise, and enforce all
rules governing its own proceedings, as
long as these are consistent with the Constitution.
3.1.
The President of Council shall set the agenda of Council, aid new
Members of Council in fulfilling their office, and appoint Ministers
to Cabinet.
3.2
The Council may override the President of Council’s agenda by
two-thirds vote, except that they may not prevent the Prince,
Steward, or President from having a reasonable amount of time to
address the Council.
3.3.
The President of Council shall ensure, and shall have the authority,
means, and resources to ensure, that all Members of Council have what
they require to engage in their legislative responsibilities, and
that Members of Council who have their seats by sortition are treated
equally in courtesies, rights, and privileges with Members of Council
who have their seats by election.
3.4
Every national
Civil Agency shall be
headed by either the President of Council or someone appointed as
Minister in the Cabinet of the President of Council; in addition, the
President of Council may appoint as Minister in the Cabinet, with or
without portfolio, advisors to facilitate the work of the President
of Council or the legislation of the Council.
3.5
The President of Council may appoint directly as Minister in the
Cabinet any Member of Council or anyone who has served as Member of
Council within the previous five years. Other non-Members may be
appointed as Ministers by the President of Council, but only with
consent of a simple majority of the Council, and those who are not
Members of Council but are directly appointed may not serve as
Ministers beyond the limit of that five years except when granted an
extension by a simple majority of the Council.
3.6
At least one-third of all Ministers in the Cabinet must hold or have
held their seats by sortition.
4.
Additional Powers of the President of Council. The President
of Council shall by virtue of his or her office also be High Minister
of the Crown and Commander-in-Chief of the Militia of N.
4.1
As High Minister of the Crown, the President of Council shall be
chief of every Civil Agency, so that every Civil Agency is headed
either by himself or herself or by some delegate that he or she has
constitutionally appointed.
4.2
As High Minister of the Crown, the President of Council shall from
time to time consult with the Prince and the Steward on matters
relevant to the governance of N. and shall serve as liaison between
the Crown and the Council of N.
4.3
All acts of the President of
Council as Commander-in-Chief of the Militia of N. must pass through
a chain of command that includes a Militia Command composed of the
Governors of every Province, natural or juridical, who shall advise,
interpret, and
execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief in a manner consistent
with the Constitution.
4.3
When the Council of N. has declared a state of emergency involving
public danger, the President of Council, as Commander-in-Chief of the
Militia of N., shall have the authority to issue emergency orders of
raising the militia, of posse comitatus, of draft, of quarantine, of
search, of seizure, of court martial, or of any actions specifically
authorized in the declaration, which orders shall be regarded as
having the full force of law for
the duration of the emergency;
but any such orders may be vetoed and nullified by the Prince, or, in
the absence of the Prince, the Steward, or, when the President of
Council is also Acting Steward, by a two-thirds vote of the Council
of N., if it is deemed that the order is inconsistent with the good
of N. or the nature of the emergency.
5.
Civil Agencies. The
Council of N. shall have the authority to establish any and all
national Civil
Agencies required to execute its laws, and
the Councils of the Provinces shall
have the authority to
establish any and all provincial Civil Agencies required to execute
their laws.
5.1
All national Civil Agencies must be headed by either the President of
Council or a Minister in the Cabinet, as the President of Council
determines.
5.2
Where the jurisdiction of a Civil Agency, national or provincial,
overlaps with that of a Crown Agency, they shall both have
jurisdiction, but if there is a conflict, precedence shall go to the
Crown Agency except where the Constitution requires otherwise; and
likewise when the jurisdiction of a provincial Civil Agency overlaps
with that of a national Civil Agency, they shall both have
jurisdiction, but if there is a conflict, precedence shall go to the
national Civil Agency except where the Constitution requires
otherwise.
5.3
In a state of emergency, all Civil Agencies shall facilitate the work
of the Militia in addressing the emergency, when that
work is relevant to their
jurisdiction.
5.4
The head of every Civil Agency, whether
national or provincial, must
from time to time make reports to the Crown, the Council of N., the
Councils of the Provinces, and the Public, as appropriate, on the
activities of that Civil Agency that are relevant to each.
6.
Taxation Power. The
Council shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties,
imposts, and excises, in
order to pay the debts of the
state and to provide for the common defense and general welfare of
the People of N.
6.1
All duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform everywhere
in the realm.
6.2
No revenue may be used except in consequence of appropriations made
by law, and a regular
statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public
money shall be published from time to time. Any continuing
appropriation must be explicitly renewed from year to year, except
for programs by which Crown Agencies perform their constitutionally
recognized functions.
6.3
No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid except on
the basis of a prior census
or enumeration made for that purpose.
6.4
No tax or duty shall be laid on any articles exported from a
Province.
6.5
No law varying compensation of Members of Council shall take effect
before an election has intervened.
7.
Tribunal Power. The
Council shall have the power to impeach any official of the state
whatsoever except the Prince for high crimes and misdemeanors, to try
all such impeachments, and when the officials are convicted in such
trials to remove them from office, and, if it deems necessary, to ban
them from all future office.
7.1
When trying impeachments, the Council shall be presided over by the
Steward, unless the Steward is being tried, in which case it shall be
presided over by the Prince; the President of Council shall have no
role in the trial different
from any Member of Council.
7.2
While the Prince may not be
impeached, the national Council may rebuke and demand public apology
and correction for actions it deems inappropriate by nature to the
Crown, and if the Prince does not provide such an apology or
correction, the Council may by three-quarters vote remove him or her
from office, until such a time as he or she agrees to the apology and
correction required.
7.3
If there is a dispute about the incapacity, permanent or temporary,
of the Prince, the Steward, the President of Council, or any
provincial Governor, the national Council shall hold a trial to
determine the matter, presided over by one of these it has chosen
whose incapacity is not in question, and its determination shall be
final.
7.4
The national Council shall be the tribunal which shall hear all cases
concerning relations between Provinces.
8.
The Right to Address Council.
The Prince, the Steward, the
Governors of the Province, and Ministers in the Cabinet shall always
be granted reasonable time to address any
Council, provincial or national,
on any matter relating to the governance of the realm.
8.1
Citizens who are not Members
of Council may address the Council, whether provincial or national,
when put on the agenda by the President of Council or the relevant
provincial Governor; and citizens placed on the agenda may not be
removed except by the President of Council or relevant provincial
Governor, or else by majority vote of Council. From
time to time, the Council shall also
provide for citizens to be
able to register in the hope of addressing the Council on matters of
concern to the realm, and by lottery to be given guaranteed time to
address the Council; citizens
receiving such guaranteed time may not be refused it under any
circumstances, and if they are unable to address the Council at that
time due to accident or medical problem, they must be allowed to
address the Council at another time.
8.2
Non-citizens may not address the
Council, whether provincial or national, on any matter unless, at the
request of either the Prince or the President of Council, the Council
gives them permission to do so by simply majority vote, or unless
they are called to testify in some investigation by Council of a
matter relevant to specific legislation being considered or proposed.
8.3
Anyone addressing the Council, whether provincial or national, shall
be accorded the same courtesies, rights, and privileges as a Member
of Council would, for the entire duration of their address. No
citizen may be threatened, penalized, or punished for any opinion
expressed during such an address.
Title
V
1.
Miscellaneous Agencies of the State.
Agencies of the state that
are neither Crown Agencies nor Civil Agencies may
be formed and shall be
operated according to law of Council, and the Directors and
Assistant Directors thereof
appointed by the Steward with the consent of Council, unless
the Constitution requires differently.
1.1
Where the jurisdiction of such agencies of the state would otherwise
overlap with Crown Agencies or Civil Agencies, the authority of the
Crown Agency or Civil Agency supercedes
that of the other agency, unless the Constitution requires
differently.
1.2
Such agencies of the state shall be audited and reviewed regularly,
and the Directors thereof shall regularly provide reports to both
Crown and Council on the activities of that agency.
2.
The Tax Bank. The
Council shall provide for the formation of the Tax Bank. All entities
in the realm that engage in financial or economic transactions shall
have an account at the Tax Bank, into which they shall pay their
taxes or loans to the state and from which they shall receive any
subsidies under law.
2.1
The Tax Bank shall have the authority to invest, to loan, and to
engage in other financial transactions according to laws made by
Council governing it.
2.2
The Tax Bank may not charge interest on loans except on the grounds
of service, alleviating risk, or avoiding loss, and must declare such
grounds when it charges interest.
2.3
Any profit by the Tax Bank that is not required for operation will be
revenue for the state.
3.
Militia Command. The
Council shall make provision in law for the Militia Command,
providing it the resources and organization required to fulfill its
functions.
3.1
The Militia shall include not just its land forces but also the Coast
Guard, the Merchant Marine,
and the Civil Air Defense, and the Council shall make provision for
the good functioning of all the forces of the Militia.
3.2
Militia Command shall from time to time make assessments of the
realm’s vulnerability to various potential threats and emergencies,
and shall make recommendation to the national and provincial Councils
on how these vulnerabilities may be addressed.
4.
Courts. The Council
shall pass laws establishing both Courts of Justice, for the trial of crimes and misdemeanors and suits at law, and Courts of Mercy, to assist the
Crown in its works of clemency.
4.1
Courts of Justice shall be organized and operated according to laws
of Council, but Courts of Mercy according to directives and decrees
of the Crown.
4.2
The President of Council shall with consent of Council appoint all
judges for Courts of Justice and the Crown shall appoint all judges
for Courts of Mercy.
4.3
Judges in the Courts of Justice shall serve for good behavior, but
judges in the Courts of Mercy shall serve at the pleasure of the
Crown.
4.4
No Court of Justice may overturn any decision of any Court of Mercy;
but the Crown may nullify any act or decision of any Court of Mercy.
4.5
Every judge shall take, in
addition to the oath that all officers must take, an oath to be
reasonable and impartial. Both
the Crown and the Council shall make provision for all judges to be
audited or reviewed from time to time on the overall legality and
reasonableness of their decisions.
4.6
Courts of Justice concerned with violation of Militia
responsibilities shall be distinct from other Courts of Justice, and
the laws governing them shall be distinct from the laws governing
other Courts of Justice.
4.7
The highest court of appeal in the Courts of Mercy shall be the
Crown. The highest court of appeal in the Courts of Justice shall be
the Constitutional Court, which shall only assess cases that have
come before the Courts of Justice in terms of the constitutionality
of court decisions, laws, or decrees applied to them. The
determination of the Constitutional Court that a decision in a Court
of Justice is unconstitutional shall overturn that decision. However,
the determination of the Constitutional Court that a law of Council
is unconstitutional shall only be advisory unless it is confirmed by
a decree of the Crown signed and sealed by both the Prince and the
Steward, in which case it shall overturn that specific law; and the
determination of the Constitutional Court that a decree of the Crown
is unconstitutional shall only be advisory unless it is confirmed by
a two-thirds vote of the Council, in which case it shall overturn
that specific decree. The
Constitutional Court shall be guided in its interpretations by all
explicit agreements between Crown and Council on the meaning of
provisions of the Constitution.
Title
VI
1.
Provinces. The
natural Provinces of N. are: (listed by name).
1.1
There shall in addition be a juridical Province, styled (name), which
shall have as its Governor the Steward and as its Council members
appointed with the consent of the Council of N. from each natural
Province. The purpose of this juridical Province shall be to assist
the Crown. The juridical Province of (name) shall be given by the
Council a token territory or territories which may be suitable for
offices and Crown Residences.
1.2
The Council of N. may provide by statute
other juridical Provinces for any purpose it deems appropriate; but
every juridical Province shall be made on the model of (name), with
the Steward as its Governor and its Council members appointed with
the consent of the Council of N. from each natural Province, and
every juridical Province shall have a token territory and every
juridical Province shall have the same powers and privileges as a
natural Province over its territory and officers.
1.3.
The Council shall provide support for the constitutional functions of
the juridical Provinces.
2.
The Crown in Province. The
Crown being whole and entire
throughout N., and the Council of each Province representing the
People, every Province, whether
natural or juridical, has a
sort of sovereign authority in its own right, but this authority
shall be exercised in a manner consistent with the higher authority
of the national Crown and Council.
2.1
The Crown in its immediate authority shall be the same for all
Provinces, whether natural or
juridical; the mediate
authority of the Crown shall be exercised in each Province by the
elected Governor of that Province, or
the Steward in his or her office as Governor in the case of juridical
Provinces. The Crown
is one and entire; it wields
the same inherent powers,
whether reserve, emergency, diplomatic, eleemosynary, or
otherwise in nation or Province, except where otherwise required by
the Constitution, but the exercise of its powers in their provincial
form shall in every respect be subordinate to and consistent with the
exercise of its powers in their national form.
2.2.
The Governor
of each Province may exercise
any powers of the Crown that the Prince shall delegate to him or her,
except where this is forbidden by the Constitution; these acts shall
be regarded as genuine acts of the Crown, but the Prince shall have
the authority to provide guidelines for, to review, and at any time
to nullify the acts of the Governor
on behalf of the Crown.
2.3.
When the Prince is absent or
otherwise incapable of performing the functions of his or her office,
the Governor
shall continue to exercise the mediate authority of the Crown and may
when necessary exercise the immediate authority of the Crown; when
the Prince is again able to perform the functions of his or her
office, all acts of the Governor
on behalf of the Crown during
the period of absence shall be explicitly confirmed or nullified.
2.4.
When Prince and Governor
are both incapable of performing the functions of their
offices, the
Steward of N. shall, with consent of the Provincial Council, appoint
an Acting Governor.
2.4
The Crown must establish and
each
Provincial Council
must provide support for the following Provincial
Crown Agencies in each
Province.
(a)
The Provincial Crown Agency of the Royal Household.The
Director of the Royal Household shall be the Prince, and its
Assistant Director shall be the
Governor. The Provincial
Royal Household shall oversee
supporting
functions relating to the maintenance and responsibility of the Crown
in its provincial acts,
and shall include the Provincial
Office of the Prince, the
Office of the Provincial
High Minister, the Provincial
Private Purse of the Crown,
the Chapel of the Provincial
Royal Household, the Crown
Counsel for the Province,
the Royal Almonry for the
Province, and other such
offices as the Crown shall deem appropriate and necessary for
fulfilling its responsibilities. The Crown shall be the plenary
and ultimate authority for
all matters internal to the Provincial
Royal Household and all
matters between provincial and national Royal Households,
except where the Constitution requires otherwise, but the
Provincial Council may by law govern the interrelations between the
Provincial Royal Household and other Provincial Crown Agencies.
(b)
The Provincial
Crown Agency of the Public Purse. The
Public Purse shall be the instrument for all eleemosynary functions
of the Crown in such a manner as shall be provided for and determined
by law of Provincial Council.
(c)
The Provincial Crown Agency for Audits and Inquiries. The
Crown shall have the power to require or
to perform financial, legal,
and ethical audits
for any part or agency of the state except the internal functioning
of the Council through the instrument of the Crown Agency for Audits
and Inquiries. In addition, the Crown Agency for Audits and Inquiries
shall perform such research and investigation into any matters that
the Crown deems necessary or useful to legislation or governance.
(d)
The Provincial Crown Agency for the Provincial Archives.
All official public documents
of any provincial state
agency, and all records of elections and sortitions, and
any laws, shall have a copy
deposited in the Provincial
Archives according to procedures determined by law. Any citizen may
access any document in the Provincial
Archives in a manner appropriate to the preservation of the
documents, and
may receive, for a fee determined by procedures established by law, a
copy of any such document; and
the Crown and any Member of Council, whether national or provincial,
may receive such a copy without a fee.
2.5
The
Provincial Council,
and only the Provincial
Council,
has the power to create by law any other Provincial
Crown Agencies, whether
permanent or temporary, but no such Crown Agency shall be formed
except by consent of the Crown.
3.
Provincial Councils. Each
Provincial Council shall have
the authority to make provincial
laws in order to establish
justice, to guarantee domestic tranquility, to provide for the common
defense, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings
of liberty to the People of
N. who are resident in that Province,
in a manner appropriate to
the peace, order, and good government of the Province.
3.1
No proposal shall become provincial
law before it has come before
the Crown to be signed into law or vetoed. The Crown may veto any
proposal; the Provincial
Council may override this
veto by two-thirds vote.
3.2
Provincial laws
that have been signed by both Prince and Governor
take precedence over provincial
laws that have been signed
only by the Prince; provincial
laws that have been signed
only by the Prince take precedence over provincial
laws that have been signed
only by the Governor;
provincial laws
that have been signed by the Crown take precedence over provincial
laws passed against veto.
4.
The Governor of the Province. Each
Provincial Council shall consist of the Governor of that Province,
who shall be the President of the Provincial Council as well as
Steward of the Province and Provincial High Minister of the Crown and
Commander of the Provincial Militia,
and Members of that Provincial Council.
4.1
The Governor
and the Members of the
Provincial Council shall be elected
in a manner consistent with the General
Code of that Province.
4.2
On the occasion of death or permanent
incapacity of a Member of
Council, the Governor
shall with consent of Council appoint an Acting Member of Council to
serve until the
next election; on the
occasion of death or permanent incapacity of the Governor, the Prince
shall with consent of Council appoint an Acting Governor to serve
until the next election.
4.3
The powers of the Governor as President of the Council shall be
determined by the General Code of that Province; the powers of the
Governor as Steward of the Province shall be determined by the Crown.
4.4
The Prince shall have the power to impeach the Governor for high
crimes and misdemeanors and remove the Governor if he or she is
convicted for said high crimes and misdemeanors by the Provincial
Council, or to
remove him or her with the
consent provided by a
three-quarters majority
of the Provincial Council,
or to remove him or her with
the consent provided a two-thirds majority of the Council of N.
5.
Additional Powers of the Governor. All
other powers the Governor shall be
exercised
in cooperation with the Crown.
5.1
As Provincial High Minister of the Crown, the Governor
shall be chief of every Provincial
Civil Agency, so that every
Provincial Civil
Agency is headed either by himself or herself or by some delegate
that he or she has constitutionally
appointed.
5.2
As Provincial High
Minister of the Crown, the Governor
shall from time to time consult with the Prince on matters relevant
to the governance of the
Province and shall serve as
liaison between the Crown and the Provincial
Council.
5.3
As Commander of the Provincial Militia, the Governor shall be part of
the national Militia Command, and shall be responsible for advising,
interpreting, and
executing
the orders of the Commander-in-Chief in a manner consistent with the
Constitution, especially the
General Code of that Province.
5.4
When the Provincial Council has declared a state of emergency
involving public danger, the Governor, as Commander of the Provincial
Militia, shall have the authority
to issue emergency orders of
raising the militia, of posse comitatus, of draft, of quarantine, of
search, of seizure, of court martial, or of any actions specifically
authorized in the declaration, which orders shall be regarded as
having the full force of law for
the duration of the emergency;
but any such orders may be vetoed and nullified by the Prince or
by two-thirds vote of the Provincial Council, if it is deemed that
the order is inconsistent with the good of the Province, or
the good of the People of N.,
or the nature of the emergency.
6.
Relation Between National and Provincial Council. The
authority of each Provincial Council to make laws derives from its
representation of the People and not from the national Council, but
in all matters where the latter or the Crown is fulfilling a function
that the Constitution explicitly
requires of it, the laws of
the national Council shall take precedence.
6.1
Every Province must have a Provincial General Code that will, with
this Instrument of Governance, be its Provincial Constitution; this
Provincial General Code, and
amendments thereto, shall
have effect when
passed by at least two-thirds of the Provincial
Council, approved
by a two-thirds vote of the Council of N.,
and ratified by the signature
and seal of the Crown.
6.2
As the Crown is one and entire, every Province has the power to make
interprovincial compacts, compacts with the national government, and
treaties with foreign powers according to its General Code; but no
such compacts and treaties shall be admitted or have force of law
without the approval of at
least a simple majority of
the national Council, and no such compacts and treaties shall be
interpreted or enforced
in a manner inconsistent with national treaties and compacts.
6.3
No Province shall mint its own coins, print its own monetary bills,
or create its own stamps for mail without the consent of at least a
simple majority of the national Council.
6.4
The Council of N. shall be the ultimate tribunal of authority in all
matters of dispute between provinces.
6.5
The Provincial Councils may form other Provinces, whether natural or
juridical, subordinate to themselves in the way the Provinces are
subordinate to N., but
only with the consent of the Council of N., and
the Crown shall be one and entire in all such Provinces.
6.6
With regard to matters falling entirely within the territorial
borders of the Province or
with regard to the offices of the Province,
and where the national Council or the Crown is not fulfilling a
function that the Constitution explicitly requires of it, the
Provincial Council may explicitly declare in an act of legislation
that a provision thereof will be operative notwithstanding its
inconsistency with a specific provision of national law or a specific
decision of national court, or may add such a provision by its own
authority to any law that has gone into effect; in which case it
shall in fact be operative in
that provincial jurisdiction
notwithstanding the national law or decision, which
it shall supersede within that province,
but this operative status must be renewed every year that the
inconsistency remains.