Jump to content
  • entry
    1
  • comments
    6
  • views
    1,082

Constitution, want feedback


KCahill

753 views

I was sitting down and I wanted to create a Constitution that could help alliances. Anyone can use this or leave feedback to make it better. If you use it though, I'd like if you tell me and give some credit :). Please leave some feedback.

EDITED CODE THANKS TO FEEDBACK! POST WHAT YOU THINK, THANKS FOR READING!

The Civilian Code of 2013

1: The Civil Code is the Supreme law of the land and thus rules the alliance.

1.1: Law may derive from legislative act or executive order. If there is a conflict of laws, the Code outweighs all matters of law.

1.2: In order for an addition to the Code, it requires a 60% vote from the Legislature and signature by the Patriarch. In order to amend any article of the Code, it requires 2/3rds vote of the Legislature and the Judiciary, without the approval of the Patriarch.

2: There shall be a executive, legislative and judicial division within the alliance.

3: The executive shall be ruled by one Patriarch. He shall be able to release any official that he can appoint.

3.1: All departments heads, Associates and Vice-Patriarch are appointed by the Patriarch. The departments may be created or destroyed by the will of the Patriarch. He is the commander-in-chief of the alliance's military.

3.2: The Patriarch may establish executive orders that have the same authority as any legislative act. However, the Patriarch's executive orders are disbanded when a new Patriarch is elected. The subsequent Patriarch may renew any disbanded executive order at his will.

3.3: The Patriarch is elected by the Legislative with a 51% majority vote. Voting for a Patriarch shall only last 96 hours; afterwards, the voting is considered closed. If an election results with less than 51%, there shall be a runoff between the two highest percentage persons.

4: The Patriarch shall hold office until resignation or removal. Removal may be by laude impeachment.

4.1: Laude Impeachment requires a 60% majority vote from the Legislative and 2/3rds vote from the Judiciary.

5: All full members are members of the Legislative, hereby called the Congress. The Congress may only be able to create legislative acts.

5.1: Legislative acts shall be established by a 51% majority and the Patriarch signature.

5.2: A vote on a legislative act may only last 72 hours; afterwards, voting is considered closed.

5.3: A legislative act may be up for a vote when the proposal has been motioned and seconded. A motion is the first Congressman to call for a vote, the second Congressman to call for a vote is the seconded.

5.4: Declaration of war and subsequent peace is a Congressional war power.

5.5: Treaties, such as a MADPs, ToA, NAP and the alike are approved by 51% vote of Congress and Patriarch's signature. In the absence of the Patriarch's signature, a 2/3rds vote from the Congress shall suffice.

5.6: Declaration of war is done by 51% vote of Congress and Patriarch's signature. In the absence of the Partiarch's signature, a 2/3rds vote from the Congress shall suffice.

6: The Judiciary shall be called the Council of Consent. It shall be composed of three full members, two associates and one Chief Justice.

6.1: When legislative act and executive conflict each order, the Council shall decide which is lesser. Only the Chief Justice may decide to hear any case of legislative act or executive order he may consider a violation of the Code. A judgment for the violation requires a majority vote of the Council.

6.2: The Chief Justice is elected by the Congress. The Chief Justice shall hold office for 3 months, resignation or removal by laude impeachment.

6.3 Once a Codal article has been added, the Council may not hear, declare or render a judgment considering it a violation of the Code.

7: All issues and instances not found within the Code shall be decided by legislative act or executive order.

8: The Civilian Code may be disbanded when 2/3rds vote from Congress and the Judiciary along with the Patriarch's signature.

9: The Patriarch may ask the Council to hear a legislative act that he considers a violation of the Code or his powers. The Congress may ask the Council to hear an executive order that they consider a violation of the Code or their powers. However, it is up to the Chief Justice's discretion as stated in 6.1.

10: Neither members of the Council, the Patriarch or Vice Patriarch hold more than one office at one time. Neither the Council or Patriarch are able to vote for a legislative act.

10.1: A Vice Patriarch can only vote for a legislative act when there is a tie; he plays as the tie breaker.

6 Comments


Recommended Comments

You should clarify under what circumstances the legislative trumps the executive, and vice versa. You give the Judicial the ability to decide that, but don't give them anything to base their decision on.

Link to comment

The Council would base their decision on the Codal articles. Articles 3, 3.1 etc are examples were Executive power would triumph and Articles 7 and 7.1 also show expressed powers. I'd think when it comes to anything not exclusively expressed, the Council would determine it by looking at those expressed powers.

For example, if an order and act both conflicted on the matter of the military, the Council might consider the Executive to triumph. While there is no expressed article relating to the military, it can be implied by the expressive articles 3.1 (allows him to appoint all department heads) and 7 (giving him power over war).

Link to comment

Even then, it might be helpful to delineate what powers both have. Can the legislative mandate peacetime military standards, or does that fall under the Patriarch's authority over the military? Can the legislative mandate certain acceptance criteria, or does the interior/recruitment department head assume that power via the Patriarch? Is a peace agreement not a treaty between alliances, and therefore under Congress' control?

Also, 6.3 "The Council cannot give judgment on any amendment" seems to conflict with 1.2 where the Judicial arm must approve any amendment.

Link to comment

I'll have to be more specific with 6.3. 6.3 "Once a Codal article has been added, the Council may not hear, declare or render a judgment considering it a violation of the Code". The Partiarch has war powers as stated in 7 so peacetime standards would his. 3.1 ... "The Partiarch is the commander-in-chief of all the alliance's military". Appointment of department implies Partiarch has power over the department. In real circumstances, he'd delegate it to the department heads, just like other CN alliances. The treaties would be not related to a surrendering of war. 7.1 "Treaties, such as a MADPs, ToA, NAP are approved by..." Thanks for giving me feedback, I'm hoping to keep refining it. However, I don't want to extend its length because it would be too exhaustive and useless.

Link to comment

You should consolidate the congressional voting in one place, and then list its powers (7&5).

Generally, legislation should trump executive policy. The executive's ordinary purpose is to execute the law. That said, each branch should have the authority to create rules necessary to conduct its business.

Most charters would have the power of war invested in the legislature, requiring the executive to make a case for it. Also, the executive would need the authority to recognize an attack on the alliance and respond.

It may be better to assign the justices three month terms and elect one every month. In any case all issues should be simply refered to the court for ajudication and allow the court to determine how to answer. how are cases resolved? Majority of the justices, unanimous?

In general, basic law should be about authoriies and leave details of execution to legislation and policy. It is also important to keep the descriptions of the powers of each branch together rather than scattering them throughout the document.

Another issue that arises is who will manage the legislation process of the members. Probably a speaker should be nominated who is not a member of the executive.

Link to comment

I didn't want all laws to go into adjudication, because it can back up the judges to render a judgement on every action. In addition, it is meant for controversies because it requires the membership to bring it to the Court, seen in Article 10. It keeps things more smoothly.

The purpose of executive order is to allow the Patriarch to get things he wants done, such as Doctrines, when Congress fails to act. Also, executive orders are not permanent as they only last through the Patriarch's term. If he had unfavorable orders, when election time comes, the Congress would vote someone who opposes it. The check on this power is laude impeachment and the Chief Justice.

I suppose a term limit on the Chief Justice is a good idea. The associates already have term limits, because Article 3 allows the Partiarch to remove any offical he can appoint.

Article 6.1 requires a majority vote to render a judgement, so 2 out of 3, making deadlock nonexistent.

Mixing 5 and 7 is a good idea, giving Congress declaration of war.

Though there is some conflicts, I believe this charter is more comprehensive than most on CN. Most charters expand into the duties of the Recuirtment office. There's no need to explain procedure, let the membership pass rules on that. That way, if it needs to be fixed, it doesn't require an amendment to the Code, just another vote.

Thanks for the feedback!

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...