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Constitutional Draft
Topic Started: Apr 18 2015, 01:26 AM (1,202 Views)
Lazarus
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Mod Edit: Please note that this constitution is not meant to be the draft, necessarily. This is one proposal that was drafted during the NLO occupation, but the purpose of this convention is to find out where our region's values lie. Feel free to discuss this draft, or create your own entirely different drafts.


Preamble
The nations, resident in the region formerly called the Peoples' Republic of Lazarus, hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state by the name of "The [Pretitle] of Lazarus".

Article 1: Citizenship

  1. Any person may apply for citizenship by providing the names of a resident nation in Lazarus and a World Assembly nation, and swearing an oath of citizenship established by law.
  2. The High Councillor will approve or reject applications for citizenship. If they reject an application, they will report the reasons for doing so to the Convocation. The Convocation may overturn such rejections by a two-thirds majority vote.
  3. Citizens whose nation leaves Lazarus voluntarily or ceases to exist, do not log into the regional forums for twenty-eight days or voluntarily renounce it will forfeit their citizenship.
  4. The Tribunal may remove the citizenship of a person convicted of a criminal offense.
  5. Citizens may not lose their citizenship for any reason not enumerated here.


Article 2: The Rights of the People

  1. All persons are guaranteed equal protection under the law.
  2. All persons are guaranteed access to the Regional Forums to the extent necessary to exercise their other rights.
  3. No person may be charged with a crime retroactively or declared guilty of a crime by law.
  4. All citizens will be guaranteed the freedoms of speech, conscience, petition and association so long as their exercise does not violate the rules of NationStates or the Regional Forums’ terms of use.
  5. No citizen may be ejected, banned or have their access to the Regional Forums restricted beyond necessary moderation without being publicly charged with a criminal offense and informed of the charges against them and their right to a trial.
  6. All citizens charged with a criminal offense will be guaranteed a swift, fair trial. They will be guaranteed the right to fair representation in such a trial and may not be forced to incriminate themselves.
  7. All nations will be guaranteed the right to hold up to fifty less endorsements than the greater of the current Councillor of Security's endorsement count and the previous Councillor of Security's endorsement count at the end of their term of office.
  8. All nations of Lazarus will be guaranteed sovereignty in their domestic policies and if a member of the World Assembly may not be compelled to endorse another nation.
  9. Citizens will not be considered necessarily deprived of any rights not enumerated here.


Article 3: The Convocation of Souls

  1. The Convocation of Souls will consist of all citizens and will be the supreme organ of government.
  2. The Convocation may adopt, amend or repeal laws by a majority vote.
  3. The Convocation may ratify or repeal treaties with foreign powers by a majority vote.
  4. The Convocation may amend this constitution by a two-thirds majority vote.
  5. The Convocation may adopt, amend or repeal procedural rules by a majority vote.
  6. The Convocation may recall any officer of the government for which a higher threshold is not established by a majority vote.
  7. The Convocation will elect a Speaker of the Convocation to administer its business and procedural rules.
  8. The Speaker may appoint any number of deputies to assist them in their duties. These deputies may be regulated by the procedural rules of the Convocation.
  9. A vote of the Convocation will be valid only if at least a quarter of its membership or five citizens participate, whichever number is lower.


Article 4: The High Councillor

  1. The High Councillor will serve as head of state and government.
  2. The High Councillor may negotiate treaties with foreign powers. No such treaty will come into force unless ratified by the Convocation
  3. The High Councillor will control the onsite delegacy of the region and will exercise its powers only as permitted or required by law.
  4. The High Councillor may appoint a Council of ministers to assist them in their duties. The Convocation may regulate the ministries of the Council by law.
  5. The High Councillor may veto a proposal of the Convocation to adopt, amend or repeal a law within a week of its passage. The Convocation may override such a veto by two-thirds majority vote.
  6. No person may serve more than four consecutive three month terms as High Councillor.
  7. The Councillor of Security will seek to hold the second most endorsements in the region.
  8. If the office of High Councillor is vacant or the High Councillor High Councillor is absent, the Councillor of Security will assume the duties of the High Councillor.


Article 5: Elected Officers

  1. The Speaker of the Convocation, High Councillor, and Councillor of Security will be considered elected officers.
  2. An election for an elected officer will be held if three months have passed since the previous one began, the office is vacant or the Convocation votes to hold one by a majority vote.
  3. Any person who is a citizen at the beginning of nominations for an election may stand as a candidate and vote in it.
  4. Voters will cast their ballots for a single candidate. If a candidate has a majority of votes, they will be elected to the office.
  5. If no candidate has a majority of votes, a runoff will be held between the two candidates with the most votes. The candidate with the most votes in the runoff will be elected to the office.
  6. All ties will be broken in favor of the candidate who has been a citizen for the longest continuous period up until the election.
  7. No person may simultaneously hold multiple elected offices.


Article 6: The Tribunal

  1. The Tribunal will consist of a number of at least three Tribunes, but a greater number may be established by law.
  2. If there is a current or impending vacancy on the Tribunal, the High Councillor will nominate a candidate to fill the vacancy.
  3. The Convocation may approve a candidate for Tribune by a two-thirds majority vote.
  4. An approved candidate for Tribune will serve a term of three months.
  5. The Tribunal will try all criminal and civil cases and determine the constitutionality of laws, treaties and government policies.
  6. The Tribunal will make its rulings by a majority vote of its membership.
  7. The procedural rules of the Tribunal will be established by law.
  8. The Tribunal will elect a Chief Tribune from among its membership by a majority vote to administer its business and procedural rules.
  9. The Convocation may remove any tribune by a two-thirds majority vote.
  10. No person serving as tribune may hold another other government office.


Article 7: The Gatekeepers [of the Dead]

  1. Any citizen who meets the endorsement and influence requirements determined by law may apply to become a member of the Gatekeepers.
  2. The Convocation may approve an applicant to the Gatekeepers by a two-thirds majority vote.
  3. The Gatekeepers will monitor regional security and report on it to the Convocation.
  4. The Gatekeepers will enforce decisions of the Convocation to remove the delegate.
  5. A line of succession beyond the Councillor of Security among the members of the Gatekeepers may be established by law.
  6. Gatekeepers who willingly cease to meet the endorsement and influence requirements determined by law will forfeit their membership.
  7. The Convocation may remove a member of the Gatekeepers by a two-thirds majority vote.
  8. The Councillor of Security will administer the business of the Gatekeepers.


Article 8: The Regional Forum

  1. The Regional Forums will be located at [URL].
  2. Violation of forum Terms Of Service and moderation policies will be the responsibility of forum administration.
Edited by Kazmr, Apr 23 2015, 05:02 AM.
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Replies:
Loftegen
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Supreme Autocrat
Regarding citizenship, I don't like the requirement to log into the regional forum as a condition of keeping citizenship. Also, remembering how things were before the recent wholesale ejections, while recognizing that it probably isn't feasible at this moment, I'd like to see this clause added to Article 1.

6. Not withstanding clauses 1 and 2, any nation that shall have reached page 100 of the Length of Residency list shall be considered a citizen of Lazarus, with all the rights, priviliges, duties and responsibilities thereof, including the right to campaign for and hold the delegacy. This clause shall take effect one year after the adoption of this constitution.

Basically I want to insure that old hands who aren't gameplayers or roleplayers aren't/don't feel frozen out because they don't play the game the 'right' way.
Edited by Loftegen, Apr 23 2015, 06:45 AM.
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Funkadelia
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That.... is actually not that bad of an idea. I'd like more discussion on it though.
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Kazmr
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Lazarene
Loftegen
Apr 23 2015, 05:03 AM
Regarding citizenship, I don't like the requirement to log into the regional forum as a condition of keeping citizenship. Also, remembering how things were before the recent wholesale ejections, while recognizing that it probably isn't feasible at this moment, I'd like to see this cause added to Article 1.

6. Not withstanding causes 1 and 2, any nation that shall have reached page 100 of the Length of Residency list shall be considered a citizen of Lazarus, with all the rights, priviliges, duties and responsibilities thereof, including the right to campaign for and hold the delegacy. This clause shall take effect one year after the adoption of this constitution.

Basically I want to insure that old hands who aren't gameplayers or roleplayers aren't/don't feel frozen out because they don't play the game the 'right' way.
I really like the suggestion, and you raise a very important issue. I just started a thread related to matters of ensuring that those who do not actively participate on the forum feel included and have the opportunity to participate in the region in a real way. You may be interested in the discussion there: http://nslazarus.com/archive/NSLazarus/topic/7938627/1/

That specific idea is actually very intriguing though. We could certainly consider something like that. I would add, perhaps, that any proposal to allow automatic rights by length of citizenship also include a stipluation requiring that the nation have World Assembly. This is the only way to ensure, in game and without a person registering for the forum, that there is only one user behind the nation and not one person controlling multiple.
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Gulliver
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Lazarene
I think it's an interesting idea worth pursuing as well. One tweak I might make would be to limit the condition to World Assembly nations, because otherwise you might get a person who's double-citizened.
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Loftegen
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Supreme Autocrat
I have no problem with limiting automatic citizenship to WA nations. As a practical matter, they're the only one's whose 'votes' matter anyway. Also, the exact page number may need to be tweaked. I know Laz has a high turnover rate; and that it'll take a good while for the population trends to stabilize; but I always figured that if they hung around long enough to get to page 100, they were in it for the long haul.

Also, Kaz, I read your original proposal, and will now go to read your new post with great interest.
Edited by Loftegen, Apr 23 2015, 05:53 AM.
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Courlany
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Lazarene
At this original post, printing.
Edited by Courlany, Apr 23 2015, 02:19 PM.
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Kazmr
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Lazarene
I can think of one potential way to potentially implement your system Loft.

It would not be too difficult to write a script to identify the nations eligible for vote on a specific page as the NationStates API returns the list of nations in the region in order of their residency. Since there are 15 nations on each page of the residency, we could simply how ever many we plan to include. Check them for WA and maybe if they're endorsing the delegate (that one we could debate, but I think it may be fair to expect that if someone is granted the right to run for delegate, if they have their WA in the region they should be willing to endorse an elected one). I could try my hand at writing something, and opening the code of course so that it would always be usable.

We could have it be a duty of either the speaker of the legislature or of a dedicated outreach person (I would actually prefer the former for this particular task), to keep them 'informed' of votes in the constitution, while the specific implementation could be something along the lines of a regularly updated dispatch that has bills added to it whenever they go up for vote, a link to discussion on that bill, and a nation they could TG to vote if they have not joined the forum.

The same individuals could also be eligible for delegate elections if we so chose.

Additionally, I would support allowing the legislature to grant the same privileges of extended residency to individuals who would have that residency were it not for extreme circumstances. For instance, you and a number of other longtime natives were banned under Stujenske, and that shouldn't disqualify you from having a voice.
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Loftegen
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Kazmr
Apr 23 2015, 05:24 PM
Additionally, I would support allowing the legislature to grant the same privileges of extended residency to individuals who would have that residency were it not for extreme circumstances. For instance, you and a number of other longtime natives were banned under Stujenske, and that shouldn't disqualify you from having a voice.
Regarding returning exiles, I thought about suggesting a "by acclamation of the people" clause to the Citizenship section, but am a tiny bit leery of such a thing, even though it would obviously be beneficially to me. Maybe because it would obviously be beneficial to me.

Another route would be to say "any nation that held citizenship, by law or by custom, in the People's Republic of Lazarus, shall be considered a citizen of the (to be determined) of Lazarus, provided said nation is resident in Lazarus at the time this constitution takes effect."

I wonder if the Legislature should be recquired to vote to recognize claims, but that basically takes us back to "acclamation of the people", so that might be the easiest way to go.







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Kazmr
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Lazarene
I think the preamble of the constitution, which states "The nations, resident in the region formerly called the Peoples' Republic of Lazarus, hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign, and independent body politic, or state by the name of "The [Pretitle] of Lazarus"." would grandfather in PRL citizens, though I don't know if that would solve the problem of longtime residents being exiled, as, unless I'm mistaken, the PRL still required forum application to be considered a 'citizen'. Although that could be up for debate since it says 'nations, resident' rather than 'citizens'.
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Loftegen
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I suppose it's a matter of interpretation. Do we intend the preamble to make everybody currently resident in Lazarus a citizen when the new constitution enters into force? Or do we want to make a distinction between residents and citizens from the outset, i.e. everyone in Lazarus is a resident by virtue of being here. To be a citizen with the right to vote, you either have to apply in the forums, be a long term resident, or be recognized as a former citizen who was exiled under Stujenske.

Writing constitutions is hard...:P
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