Post by Publius Valerius Argentum on Nov 27, 2012 19:21:24 GMT 2
Preamble
1. The People and Senate of the New Roman Republic (SPQR) establish this Constitution as the governing document and highest law of our nation.
2. The New Roman Republic is an attempt to re-establish the constitution of the ancient Roman Republic.
3. The home of the New Roman Republic shall be the NationStates region called New Roman Republic and the forum located at newromanrepublic.proboards.com.
Section I: Citizenship
1. Citizenship of the New Roman Republic shall be open to all, and shall not be denied on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, religion or political opinion.
2. Citizenship applications shall be approved by the censors once a person as acquired membership of the forum and been validated and as joined the New Roman Republic region or one of its provinces.
3. Citizens will be grouped into two social classes, patricians and plebeians. Patrician status is only an honorary status given to the first citizens who are citizens at the time of the first elections, and does not confer any extra power or authority.
4. Citizens may only have one account on the offsite forum, regardless of how many nations they control in-game.
5. In the offsite forum, citizens may choose whether to be known by their nation name or adopt a Roman name.
Section II: Century Assembly
1. The Century Assembly shall be one of the legislative assemblies. It shall have the power to pass legislation binding on the entire Republic, veto acts of the Tribal Assembly and hear legal appeals involving the loss of citizenship.
2. The Century Assembly shall consist of all citizens grouped into centuries, with each century having an equal vote.
3. The number of centuries shall be proportional to the number one tenth of the total number of citizens, but shall not be less than three or more than 193.
4. Each citizen will carry a number of denarii. This number shall be the number of forum posts, as recorded on the forum, plus or minus the forum karma, plus extra points earned by serving as magistrates, as follows;
• Quaestor – 10
• Aedile – 15
• Plebeian tribune – 20
• Praetor - 25
• Consul – 40
• Governor of a province – 30
• Master of the Horse – 20
• Dictator – 40
5. From these denarii, citizens will be grouped into three classes. Class I will be patricians, regardless of points. Class II will be the tenth of plebeians by points. Class III will be plebeians with 21 or more denarii. Class IV will be plebeians with 20 or less denarii. Class V will be any citizen – patrician or plebeian – with zero or less points or who has not logged into the forum for over one year.
6. Class I will receive 20 percent of the centuries. Class II will receive 30 percent. Class III will receive 30 percent. Class IV will receive 20 percent. Class V will receive 10 percent.
7. The censors shall be responsible for apportioning citizens into centuries as equally as possible.
8. Voting in the Century Assembly shall be sequential, starting with Class I.
9. The Century Assembly shall be responsible for its own rules and procedures. It may only be convened and chaired by a consul.
Section III: Tribal Assembly
1. The Tribal Assembly shall be one of the legislative assemblies. It shall have the power to pass legislation binding on the entire Republic, veto acts of the Century Assembly and hear legal appeals.
2. The Tribal Assembly will operate on the basis of one man one vote, with
5. The Tribal Assembly shall be responsible for its own rules and procedures. It may only be convened and chaired by a Consul.
Section IV: Executive
1. The executive of the New Roman Republic shall be the magistrates. There shall be varying levels of magistracies, with each magistrate having the power to veto any action by another magistrate that is of equal or lower rank.
2. With the exception of Censors, all magistrates shall be elected every three months. Any midterm vacancies shall be filled by appointment from the Senate.
3. No person can occupy the same magistracy for two consecutive terms, except to when there are no other candidates.
4. The heads of state and government shall be two Consuls. The Consuls may convene and chair the Senate and both legislative assemblies. Consuls are elected by the Century Assembly, and must have served as a Praetor.
5. The Consuls shall be assisted in the running of the state by the Praetors. The number and responsibilities of the praetors shall be decided by the Senate. Praetors are elected by the Century Assembly, and must have served as an Aedile.
6. There shall be two Censors, who shall be responsible undertaking a census every six months, and keeping a list of citizens and the composition of centuries and tribes. One censor shall be elected every six months. Censors are elected by the Century Assembly, and must have served as consul. The other censor will be the Founder.
7. There shall be two Aediles, who will be responsible for public entertainment. Aediles are elected by the Tribal Assembly, and must have served as Quaestor.
8. All Consuls, Praetors and Aediles will be assisted by a Quaestor. The number of Quaestors shall be equal to the number of Consuls, Praetors and Aediles combined. Quaestors are elected by the Tribal Assembly, and need only to be citizens.
9. For the very first elections, candidates for all positions need only to be citizens.
10. The body that elected a magistrate may vote to remove them from office at any time.
11. Members may only endorse one of the consuls to be WA Delegate, unless neither consul is a WA member, in which case any member may be WA Delegate.
Section V: Senate
1. Any person who has served as Quaestor will become a senator at the end of their term. Membership of the Senate will be held during good behaviour.
2. The Censors may propose the removal of a Senator for high crimes and misdemeanours or inactivity for over a year, which would then be voted on by the Senate, with three quarters approval needed. Any disposed Senator may appeal this decision in the legislative assemblies.
3. The Senate shall be responsible for foreign, militaty and citizenship policy and the acceptance of new provinces. The Senate must approve any declaration of war, construction and demolishion of embassies.
4. The Senate can enact a Senatus Consultum, which will have the power of law until repealed by a legislative assembly.
5. The Senate shall be responsible for its own rules and procedures, and all Senate proceedings and votes must be public. Consuls can convene and chair the Senate.
Section VI: Provinces
1. From time to time the New Roman Republic may establish province regions, either by the taking over of founderless regions or citizens establishing new regions.
2. Any NationStates region that wishes to become a province of the New Roman Republic must apply to the Senate, who will decide whether to incorporate.
3. All province regions must establish embassies with the New Roman Republic and must state their status as provinces on their factbook.
4. A province may leave the Republic if the majority of its voters wish to do so.
5. The governor of every province shall be elected by the electors within that province once every three months. There are no term limits or qualifications required.
6. The governor of a NationStates region shall be its World Assembly Delegate.
Section VII: Judicial Process
1. The provincial governor will hold original jurisdiction in all cases. The defendant then may appeal to the Tribal Assembly and then to the Century Assembly if the punishment includes a loss of citizenship.
2. Citizenship may only be lost in cases involving treason, attempted invasion, flaming, spamming, trolling or repeated law breaking.
Section VIII: Emergencies.
1. The Senate may vote to declare a state of emergency at times of crisis, threat to the Republic or adversely small numbers of active citizens. The state of emergency may only last two months, and another state of emergency cannot be declared for another two months.
2. After a declaration of a state of emergency, the Senate must elect a Dictator, using the Alternative Vote method.
3. The Dictator will appoint a Master of the Horse to be his deputy and nominated successor.
4. The Consuls will resign their positions for the duration of the emergency, with the Dictator acting as head of state and government.
5. The Dictator will have power to issue edicts that will have the power of law for the duration of the state of emergency. The Dictator’s actions may not be vetoed or counteracted by any body or person
6. The Dictator or Master of the Horse may he profit materially from his actions as Dictator.
7. The Dictator must resign his position and declare the state of emergency over once the crisis has been dealt with or two months has expired since the Senate’s original declaration, whichever is soonest.
Section IX: Amendments
1. This Constitution may be amended with the consent of both legislative bodies, the Plebeian Council, the Senate and both Consuls.
2. A Dictator may issue an edict that will effect an amendment to this Constitution, but this Amendment will only be in force for the duration of the dictatorship. The Dictator may not amend or change the provisions in this Constitution regarding the dictatorship.
Section X: Ratification
1. This Constitution shall be ratified and put into action once a majority of voters have voted for ratification in a direct one-man-one-vote referendum