The Codified Constitutional Act of Nasphilitae
CONTENTS:
- The Preamble
- Guiding Principles of this document
- Chapter I: Status of the document
- Chapter II: The Judiciary
- Chapter III: The “Elective Collective Liberal Monarchy” of Nasphilitae
- Chapter IV: The Ordinance on Electoral Law of 2023. with revisions
- Chapter V: The Primary Tri-Executive Bodies & Their Responsibilities
- Chapter VI: The Independent Executive Agencies
- Chapter VII: The Regional Devolution Provisions (NOTE: Not included due to word limit)
- Chapter VIII: The Locality Decentralisationn Provisions (NOTE: Not included due to word limit)
The Preamble
The Collective and its formative constituents Will of Nasphilitae, bestows upon themselves means of guaranteeing that the fundamental values of freedom, equality, justice, opportunity and unity, are ensured by codification of fundamental laws and rules in this document.
Guiding Principles of this document
This document hereby terms itself in its full form as “The Codified Constitutional Act of Nasphilitae”.
All legislation must refer to this document by its full form.
The document declares its content to be speech act utterances, mandating its own performativity on itself.
All scalar implicatures derived from this documents contents are null and void.
Chapter I: Status of the document
(1) This document is a primary legislation and first among equals with prior constitutional acts.
a. All prior constitutional acts are obligated to be subordinate to this document.
b. This document has precedential jurisprudence, as also an interventive reference, in all conflict of laws.
c. If all existing rules and conventions are silent in a case, the Supreme Court is obligated to resolve such a case by full discretion of its decision, after which that decision must be amended into this document.
e. This document explicitly nullifies the prohibitive clause (17) of the Home Rule Act 1661/1662, absolving the obligation to presume absolute illegality unless legislated otherwise.
f. The document is prohibited to retroactively nullify other constitutional acts and their contents from hereon.
(2) The interpretation of this document and all other constitutional acts in Nasphilitae must follow the living tree doctrine.
a. All constitutional statutes may be re-interpretated in tongue, as set by principle of plain language.
b. All constitutional statute may be re-contextualised in spirit, as set by principle of social change.
c. All subsequent changes set by court decisions must rectify the respective constitutional statutes as to avoid contradicton.
d. All court decisions must adhere to existing constitutional statutes so long as they are adequate in tongue and in spirit.
(3) Judicial decisions must ensure justice by judgement of outcome and sanction by redemptive means.
a. This document solidifies the principle of consequential justice as ultimate in Nasphilitae, derived from prior traditions set by court practice, statutes and judicial decisions.
b. All judicial decisions must only account for mens rea in estimating intent of parties in court cases.
c. All judicial decisions must prescribe sanctions only in accordance to redemptive justice, as means of enuring justice free from punitive or rehabilitative constraints.
(4) This document mandates that all lex specialis be subordinate to lex generalis.
a. Lex generalis or the whole is greater than lex specialis of the particular matter.
b. This document nullifies all attempts of retroacive incorporation a lex specialis when rectified.
c. All laws, rules and regulations in Nasphilitae must follow the principle of least intervention into individual lives.
d. All laws, rules and regulations in Nasphilitae must follow the principle of highest remedy into the communities social lives.
e. The Collective interest of Nasphilitae is the supreme absolute sovereign of Nasphilitae as a whole.
f. All Constituents of the Collective and their particular interests must be subordinate to the Collective interests.
Chapter II: The Judiciary
(1) The Judiciary branch of Nasphilitae is independent from its Executive and Legislature branches.
a. The Judiciary branch must safeguard Collective values and interests through adequate procedures.
b. Operational, organisational, doctrinal and decisions enacted by Judicial bodies in Nasphilitae are separated from the Legislature and Executive branches.
c. Enactments described in II-1-b are decided upon independently by justices of Nasphilitae.
(2) The collective, central Judicial institutions of Nasphilitae are the Royal Court, the High Courts of Justice, and the Supreme Court of Justice.
a. The Royal Court is comprised of 10 justices, 10 public defenders and 20 attorneys of the Court whose term lasts for 5, 2.5, and 3, years respectively.
b. The Royal Court jurisdiction are issues relating to the High and Low Nobility in Nasphilitae, with exemption of The Grand Duke and Head of State.
c. The High Courts of Nasphilitae include The High Court for Financial Crime, The High Court for International Crime, The High Court for Criminal Justice, The High Court for Family Law, and the High Court for Tort law.
d. Comprising each of the High Courts are 25 justices, 20 public defenders and 20 attorneys of the Court whose terms last for 4, 3, and 3.5, years respectively.
e. The High Courts serve as first line of Appeal, sequenced by the Supreme Court of Justice, whose judgement is final.
f. The Supreme Court is comprised of 3 High justices and 150 attorneys of law, wherein each 50 are sortitioned per 1 of the 3 High Justices.
g. Term for the Supreme Court justices and attorneys is limited to 10 years, wherein each of the High Justices are rotated every 3.5 years, the term for each Supreme Court attorney is limited to 7 years and are rotated every 2.5 years.
(3) The staff of Central Judicial institutions must be selected following rules of merit and prior experience in Regional and Locality Judicial institutions.
a. The individual citizen must finish adequate education and training in law as to practice justice.
b. The training in law must be conducted as to progress from apprentice-attorney, attorney-at-law, to justice-apprentice.
c. The attorneys-at-law represent the Judicial branch justices in Localities.
d. The apprentice-attorney represent the Judicial branch public defenders and attorneys in Localities.
e. The justice-apprentice represent the Judicial branch on a Regional level.
f. All justice must be conducted following vertical procedures, from Localities to the Central Judicial institutions, through lines of appeal.
(4) The Judiciary of Nasphilitae is adversarial in nature and is therefore separate from prosecution.
a. Public prosecution and Judicial justice is separated.
b. Under no circumstances may any individual on Nasphilitae be subject to procedures or treatment characteristic to the Inquisitorial justice system.
Chapter III: The “Elective Collective Liberal Monarchy” of Nasphilitae
(1) The Grand Duchy of Nasphilitae is formally declared as an Elective Collective Liberal Monarchy from hereon.
a. The Grand Duke and Head of State is elected among the Heads of Sixteen High Noble families (hereby referred to as The Peerage), by the 75 Earls whose votes result in a minimum 3 candidates, which proceed to national elections.
b. The Grand Duke and Head of State candidates are subject to national elections of an exhaustive ballot, in which the winning requirement is receiving 50+1% votes of the total population.
c. If no candidate receives the winning requirement in III-1-b, the candidate with the least percent votes is eliminated, this process is repeated until the winning requirement is met by a single candidate.
d. The Grand Duke and Head of State serves for life and represents the will of Nasphilitae as a Collective entity.
(2) Nasphilitae's core principles of liberalism in political rights are to be exercised by procedural democracy.
a. Nasphilitae guarantees fundamental political rights, freedoms and duties as a Collective entity to all of its Constituent particular entities.
b. Every Constituent particular entity of Nasphilitae must defend all other Constituent entities' of Nasphilitae fundamental political rights, freedoms and duties.
c. Fundamental political rights, freedoms and duties are to be enjoyed, conducted and implemented using the means of democracy which must be limited by the instruments of procedures, including the rule of law and regulations.
d. Entities which have been granted positions of Collective interest are obligated to initiate, fulfill and absolve themselves of such positions in accordance to previously established procedures, of temporal limitations.
(3) Public offices are operational means by which Collective interests are manifested.
a. Internal Collective interests must be subject to vertical and horizontal divisions of power and responsibility, by specialisation of public offices.
b. External Collective interests must be exercised by all Constituent particular entities of Nasphilitae, with primacy of The Grand Duke and Head of State, which is the sole public office representing Nasphilitae in all external matters.
c. All public officials enjoy limited privileges, comprised of immunity from investigation, prosecution, or court procedures.
d. Limitation of privileges enjoyed by all public officials must be clearly regulated in accordance to their respective powers and responsibilities.
e. Limitation of privileges enjoyed by all public officials must be clearly regulated in time of holding the respective public office and in space of the respective public office, at minimum.
(4) The vertical division of power and responsibility among public offices in Nasphilitae exist on four levels of governance.
a. The Elective Collective Liberal Monarchy is the absolute sovereign of Nasphilitae, comprised of all integral territories, which must be subordinate to it.
b. Regions of Nasphilitae are granted limited self-governance within the absolute sovereign of Nasphilitae, further detailed in Chapter VII of this document.
c. Localities of Nasphilitae are granted limited self-governance within the absolute sovereign of Nasphilitae and the respective Region in which they are located, further detailed in Chapter VIII of this document.
d. Urban Localities of Nasphilitae are granted limited self-governance within the absolute sovereign of Nasphilitae so long as they adhere to the Statute of the respective City which they comprise and are represented at in the Urban Council and Urban Assembly of the respective City.
(5) The horizontal divisions of power and responsibility among public offices in Nasphilitae exist between and within the Executive branch and Legislative Bi-Cameral Parliament.
a. Nasphilitae must be governed in adherence to fusion of powers of the Executive and Legislative Branches, which exist on all vertical levels.
b. The Bi-Cameral Parliament is the Central body of the Legislative branch with power of initiation.
c. The power of initiation of the Legislative branch may be delegated and conducted to and by its Executive branch bodies.
d. A public official may be exempt from conflict of interests so long as they act in accordance to the powers and responsibilities of the respective Executive and Legisltive branch public office.
e. Public officials are prohibited from abuse of powers and responsibilities, granted to them by whichever respective public office, as means of pursuing their private interests.
Chapter IV: The Ordinance on Electoral Law of 2023. with revisions
(1) Electoral rights and rules of procedures for all elections.
a. Active electoral rights are granted to all citizens of Nasphilitae of and as from the age of 21 years old.
b. Passive electoral rights are granted to all citizens of Nasphilitae as from the age of 21 years old until the age of 60 years old.
c. All elections in Nasphilitae must be conducted under the principles of privacy and integrity, manifested as obligation of keeping ones own votes secret and as prohibition of any electoral fraud including the misuse of mass media and slander, respectively.
d. All elections in Nasphilitae, conducted nationally and universally on all four vertical levels, for the sake of electing public officials in the Executive and Legislative branches, must contain a ballot comprised solely of political parties.
e. All elections in Nasphilitae must adhere to protocolar integrity, through means of timely and precisely informing all citizens of their results.
(2) Elections of the Bi-Cameral Parliaments Lower House of the Collective.
a. Lower House of the Collective is structurally comprised of 225 seats, allocated to political parties in two-round national elections, term which belongs to the respective political party.
b. Lower House of the Collective is functionally representative of the collective will within Nasphilitae and therefore enjoys the greatest extent in power of initiation from all public offices.
c. Seats within the Lower House of the Collective are limited to a term of 5 years, after which elections must be announced on March 20., with the first round held on May 20., and the second round held on May 27., whose official inauguration into this public office begins on May 30. of the year election is held.
d. Threshold for passing elections for the Lower House of the Collective is 7.5% of total turn-out in the first round which follows the Webster method of allocating 124 out of 225 seats by results of the political parties, including second-round political parties which reserve their minimum seats in the first round.
e. The second round in the Lower House of the Collective is held between the top two winning political parties with the most percentages gained in the first round and the corresponding seats secured, following the adjusted D'Hondt method of allocating the remaining 101 seats, adjusted by granting the winning political party additional 34 seats.
(3) Elections of the Bi-Cameral Parliaments Upper House of the Localities.
a. Upper House of the Localities is structurally equal to the sum of the fixed number of electoral constituencies within Nasphilitae and the fixed number of Urban Localities within Nasphilitae, totalling 631.
b. Upper House of the Localities is functionally representative of the Locality and therefore is held accountable for furthering local interests in power of initiation as a national public official.
c. Seats withinn the Upper House of the Localities are limited to a term of 7 years, after which elections must be announced on August 30., and held on October 20., whose official inauguration into this public office begins on November 1. of the year election is held.
d. Elections for the Upper House of the Localities are comprised of political party ballots, wherein the winning seat is secured by whichever political party achieves a relative majority in the Locality, represented by the Locality's respective winning Delegate, all potential Delegates from all political parties in each Locality are selected prior to the election.
e. Elections of the Upper House of Localities are simultaneously local elections, Urban Council elections wherein the Urban Council of a City is comprised of all winning Urban Delegates in their constituent Urban Localities, and Regional Assembly elections wherein the Regional Assembly is comprised of all winning Regional Delegates in their constituent Localities.
(4) Financial regulation of electoral campaigns, political parties and Legislative public offices.
a. Electoral campaigns are financed through private means including but not necessarily, political party membership fees, publicly documented donations from non-public office entities operating residing or registered in Nasphilitae, and publicly documented accumulated wealth of all running political parties.
b. Political parties which hold any public office are financed through the state budget, allocated by number of public offices held and vertical position of those public offices, whose documentation is collected and audited by Executive Agencies under the Lord Chancellory.
c. Legislative public offices include the Governing public offices in the Bi-Cameral Parliament, HM Shadow Cabinet public offices in the Bi-Cameral Parliament, whose central resource cabinets are limited to 12, mirrored by resource in the opposition resource cabinets, totalling to 24.
d. Legislative public offices include the governing and opposition central resource cabinet public offices in each Regional Assembly, Locality, and Urban Council, whose total numbers are limited to 6+6, 4+4, and 5+5 respectively.
e. Resource allocation from the state budget is allocated to political parties as means of financing their held public offices and wages of their public officials.
f. Wages of public officials mentioned in Chapter IV-(4)-c and Chapter IV-(4)-d of this document must not exceed x2.5 the median wage in Nasphilitae, per each official.
(5) Committee structure of the Bi-Cameral Parliamet and Legislative public offices of The Speaker, Head of HM's Shadow Cabinet, and Lead Representative of The Plenary Commmittee.
a. The Speaker is the leader of whichever political party holds the most seats in the Lower House of the Collective, which is the Head of Government of Nasphilitae, whose term lasts 7 years, limited to a total number of 2 non-consecutive terms per lifetime.
b. The Head of HM's Shadow Cabinet is the leader of whichever political party has the second most seats in the Lower House of the Collective, whose term is tied to the Houses' term of 5 years, limited to a total number of 3 non-consecutive terms per lifetime.
c. The Lead Representative of The Plenary Committee is elected by members of the Upper House of Localities among political party leaders in the Lower House of the Collective, which have not been chosen in central resource cabinets of either the Government of Nasphilitae nor the HM Shadow Cabinet of Nasphilitae.
d. The Bi-Cameral Parliament of Nasphilitae is a Committee-oriented Legislative body, whose members are obligated to participate in Parliamentary Committees, which may be mirrors of central resource cabinets, single issue based, or ad hoc based.
(6) Legislative calendar, legislative procedure, and The Agenda
a. The Lower House of Collective assembles every Thursday and Friday, presided by The Lead Representative of The Plenary Committee.
b. The Upper House of the Localities assembles every Monday and Tuesday, presided by The Speaker and Head of Government.
c. All members of the Bi-Cameral Parliament, including members of the Government and HM's Shadow Cabinet, are obligated to inform the Lead Representative of The Plenary Committee a minimum of two weeks ahead of each assembly on topics they wish to be presented.
d. The Lead Representative of The Plenary Committee is obligated to formulate and inform all members of the Bi-Cameral Parliament on upcoming Agenda of Topics a minimum of one week before they are presented during assembly.
e. The Plenary Committee is delegated powers of investigation, scrutiny and prosecution against members of the Government and HM's Shadow Cabinet, whose findings and reports it must share with the HM Cabinet of The Grand Duke and Head of State.
f. Bills are presented every Thursday, after which they are passed to The Lower House of Collective's Parliamentary Committees, which present an amended Bill on Friday, the same procedure occurs in The Upper House of Localities on Monday and Tuesday, after which The Lower House of the Collective votes on the amended Bill with 50+1 requirement for enactment; Extraordinarily, The Plenary Committee is granted power to draft an alternative version of the Bill, in cases where the first voting fails to pass.
(7) The Plenary Committee
a. The Lead Representative of The Plenary Committee has a term of 3 years, with an unlimited number of re-elections per lifetime.
b. The Plenary Committee must contain 6 additional members, selected by discretion of the Lead Representative, from among members of The Upper House of the Localities.
c. The Plenary Committee serves as both a negotiating procedural Committee and as an auditing body vested with powers of investigation, scrutiny, prosecution, litigation, amnesty, and budgetary revision.
Chapter V: The Primary Tri-Executive Bodies & Their Responsibilities
(1) Three Central bodies of the Executive branch are accoutable for manifestig The Collective interests, which are hereby termed as Primary Tri-Executive Bodies.
a. The HM Cabinet of The Grand Duke and Head of State of Nasphilitae, whose Head members must be titular Nobility, and which structure must include the resource matters of External Affairs, of the Royal Armed Forces, and of the Agency for Identification and Documentation.
b. The HM Cabinet is presided by The Grand Duke and Head of State of Nasphilitae; Extraordinarily, the Deputy Head of the HM Cabinet concerned with The Royal Armed Forces may preside in their stead, unless chosen otherwise prior by the Grand Duke and Head of State.
c. The Government of Nasphilitae is presided by the Speaker and Head of Government of Nasphilitae, whose central resource cabinets are limited to 12, which must be headed by members of the ruling political party or the ruling coalition of political parties.
d. The HM Shadow Cabinet of Nasphilitae is presided by the Head of the HM Shadow Cabinet of Nasphilitae, whose central resource cabinets are limited to 12, with matters and head members mirroring that of the Government Cabinet.
(2) Indiviudal and collective authorities and responsibilities in the Primary Tri-Executive Bodies.
a. The Heads of HM Cabinet and Head members of The HM's Shadow Cabinet are individually responsible for their central resource cabinet matters.
b. The Government of Nasphilitae is collectively responsible for all head members, with primary responsibility held by the Head of Government.
c. The Head of State and Grand Duke, together with The Deputy Head of the HM Cabinet for the Royal Armed Forces, are limited in extent of power over other Heads of the HM Cabinet.
d. The Head of HM's Shadow Cabinet is limited in extent of power over other Heads in the HM's Shadow Cabinet.
e. The Head of Government of Nasphilitae coordinates and instructs Heads of his central resource cabinet matters.
f. Each Head of any central resource cabinets mentioned in Chapter V-(2) is individually responsible for internal functionality and structure of other bodies and institutions within their allocated resource.
(3) Royal Primogenitures.
a. The Head of State and Grand Duke of Nasphilitae, as well as his Heads of HM Cabinets, enjoy the privilege of royal primogeniture in implementing and manifesting legislation of The Bi-Cameral Parliament.
b. The Head of State and Grand Duke of Nasphilitae, as well as his Heads of HM Cabinets, are obligated to urgently act on any notice received by The Plenary Committee.
c. Heads of HM Cabinets, are subject to investigation by The Plenary Committee of Nasphilitae, to prosecution by the Police and Militia Forces of Nasphilitae, to scrutiny and auditing by the Lord Chancellory of Nasphilitae, and are obligated to appear in whichever Court by request of any body in the Judiciary branch of Nasphilitae.
d. The Head of State and Grand Duke of Nasphilitae, may on their own discretion and in the name of the collective interests, enact Ordinance legislations without prior consultation to any other Executive nor Legislative body in Nasphilitae.
e. Ordinances enacted by The Head of State and Grand Duke of Nasphilitae may only be overruled and nullified by the Supreme Court of Nasphilitae.
Chapter VI: The Independent Executive Agencies
(1) Independent Executive Agencies of Nasphilitae are independent institutions with particular powers vested in them for the sake of auditing ordinary state institutions and or objectively pursuing violations of collective interests.
a. Formation of these institutions require a wide consensus among existing entities with Executive, Legislative, investigatory or revisory powers.
b. Formation of these institutions includes a Statute, which upon initialisation of its' activity, serves to guide the purpose-driven functioning of itself and as legal protection of rights vested to fulfill its duty.
c. Upon initialisation of an Independent Executive Agency's activity, they represent the means of enforcing collective interests by other entities of Nasphilitae, and are held responsible only by the High Courts of Nasphilitae and the Supreme Court of Nasphilitae.
d. Strict conflict of interests exists in all employees of an Independent Executive Agency, which cannot hold any other public office simultaneously.
e. No other central Executive nor Legislative body of Nasphilitae is granted the right to exert any form of pressure on any employee within an Independent Executive Agency.
(2) The Lord Chancellory.
a. The Lord Chancellory is the supreme auditing and revisory Executive Agency within Nasphilitae, primarily tasked with revision of public budgeting and sanctioning suspicions of corruption by other state entities, with additional power of scrutinising and auditing the functioning of all other public offices.
b. The Lord Chancellory is headed by the Lord Chancellor State Secretary, whose primary task is overseeing proper and lawful functioning of other Independent Executive Agencies, through the formation of State Departments on own discretion.
c. Lord Chancellor State Secretary is selected by the Joint Board of State Secretary Departments and Lord Chancellory Secretariats (hereby known as the Joint Board) on rules of merit, for a term of 11 years, with no chance of re-election in lifetime.
d. Rules of merit for all lead members in The Lord Chancellory, which are members of the Joint Board, include specialised education, training, qualification, work and recommendation in public administration.
e. The Lord Chancellor State Secretary presides over the Joint Board meetings at minimum once a week.
(3) Public Administration Corpus.
a. All public administration employees in Nasphilitae form the Public Administration Corpus, which serves as an apprentice institution for filtering future members of the Lord Chancellory institutions, by rules of merit.
b. Employment in public administration requires rules of merit qualifications in education and training.
c. Public Administration Corpus is the only Independent Executive Agency exempt from the clause regarding conflict of interest in Chapter VI-(1)-d. of this document.
(4) The Agency for Identification and Documentation Departments.
a. The AID Departments are operational Independent Executive Agencies, tasked with manifesting decisions of The AID Central within the HM Cabinet, by means of own choice so long as they are required to fulfill tasks necessary of the respective Department.
b. AID Department Eight is specialised to manifest decisions by means chosen, which are necessary for protecting the Royal Armed Forces and the Diplomatic Corpus of Nasphilitae.
c. AID Department Ten is specialised to manifest decisions by means chosen, which are necessary for protecting internal order within Nasphilitae, together with the Police and Militia Forces of Nasphilitae.
d. AID Department Nine is tasked and specialised to conduct operational misions it deems necessary or of collective interest, upon receiving allowance from The Lord Chancellor State Secretary and from The Grand Duke and Head of State of Nasphilitae, for such operations.
e. Employment in The AID Departments is considered a collective strictly classified information which no Agent may disclose to any entity publicly, domestically or abroad.
g. The AID Departments are held collectively responsible only for endangering collective interests of Nasphilitae by the Judiciary branch, legal proceedings which are disclosed from the public.
(5) The Central Association of Unions and Employees and the Central Association of Employers and Investors:
a. Central bodies of the Association of Unions and Employees and of the Associationn of Employers and Investors (hereby known as The Two Associations) are Independent Executive Agencies, tasked with auditing and supervising delegated Associations at lower vertical levels.
b. The Two Associations may intervene in cases of labour rights abuses or labour rights exploitations if their subsidiary bodies are inactive.
c. The Two Associations must intervene in cases of conflict between their subsidiary bodies at any other lower level.
d. The Two Associations are prohibited from inciting their subsidiary bodies into acting against one anothers interests.
(6) The Royal Treasury, The Central Bank, The Joint Service and The Agorport Stock Exchange.
a. The Royal Treasury is an Independent Executive Agency tasked with maintaining collective reserve funds, hedgefunds and collective investment funds of Nasphilitae, as well as reporting suspicions of financial corruption in the crediting, insurance and credit rating markets to the Lord Chancellory.
b. The Central Bank is an Independent Executive Agency tasked with constructing, suggesting, implementing and supervising central interest rates of the domestic currency, as well as overseeing and reporting on commercial banks adherence to its monetary policy.
c. The Agorport Stock Exchange is an Independet Executive Agency Department of The Joint Service Independent Executive Agency, tasked with following domestic stock markets, investment flows, balance sheets, and Foreign Exchange rates.
(7) The RDEFI.
a. The RDEFI is an Independent Executive Agency tasked with creating, publishing, updating, supervising and overseeing implementation of, ecological standards by lucrative private entities and worker cooperatives operating in Nasphilitae.
b. The RDEFI staff must be comprised of 50% academic and 50% industry expertise in ecologically relevant fields, whose publications must be made available to the general public.