View Full Version : Constitution Ratification


DaveShack
Dec 09, 2005, 01:47 AM
This poll is to initially ratify the Constitution, as edited via citizen input.

The Constitution does not contain specifics about an individual DemoGame this time around. It defines a general framework around which all DemoGames can be constructed.

According to its own internal rules, the Constitution will be ratified and take effect if a majority of people vote yes. (more yes votes than no votes, abstains not counted) The poll must be open at least 4 days, I'm giving it 6 days. We will proceed with drafting the Code of Laws under the assumption that the vote is yes, for ratification.

Question: Do you approve the following as the Constitution for CFC's Civ 4 Demogame.
Yes / No / Abstain

Relevant discussion is in this thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141203) and in topic specific threads in the same forum.
This and prior versions can be found in this thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141064), and in other places.

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Preamble

Some text to be inserted here, as determined by Nobody's preamble poll.

Article A - Forms of Law
Governing rules shall consist of this Constitution, such amendments that shall follow and lower forms of law that may be implemented.
No rule shall be valid that contradicts the Constitution.
Rules which are more specific on a given point may clarify more general points without being contradictory.
These rules may not contradict the rules and regulations of the Civfanatics Forums. Moderators may veto any such rules.
Article B - Citizens
A citizen is any member of the civFanatics forums that participates in the Democracy Game in any way. Citizens are encouraged, but not required, to post in the Citizen Registry.
A rule may use non-registration in the Citizen Registry as a criteria for an action to be invalid.
Before any action can be thus invalidated, the citizen(s) impacted by such a rule must be provided an opportunity to register, the time period of which must be no less than 48 hours after verifiable receipt by the citizen of notification that registration is required.
All citizens share the same fundamental rights, including but not limited to:
The Right to Assemble
The Right to Vote
The Right to be Eligible to hold Public Office
The Right to Free Speech
The Right to Free Movement
The Right to a Fair and Speedy Trial
The Right to Presumption of Innocense unless proven guilty
The Right of Representation
These rights may be limited by CivFanatics Center Forum Rules, which take precedence at all times.
Article C - Decision Making
Power of the People
All decision making power within the Democracy Game is derived from the collective rights of all the citizens.
The Power of the People can be delegated to officials of the game in one or more of the following ways, or in other ways which may subsequently be discovered.
By Mandate as evidenced in a citizen's selection to hold office via the elective process.
By Constituency as evidenced by citizen comments in favor of a decision, in a public discussion.
By Opinion Poll in the form of the results of a non-binding poll
By Referendum in the form of an official, binding poll which has force over the current decision only.
By Initiative in the form of a binding poll initiated by the citizenry, which has force over a current decision and future decisions of the same type
By Recall of an official and selection of a replacement via election or appointment
In the event that two or more such delegations of the Power of the People are in conflict, the following hierarchy shall determine which decision has precedence.
An initiative has force of law and supercedes any other decision type (including an earlier initiative on the same subject) except another later initiative which repeals it.
Binding polls of any type have precedence over any other decision type.
Non-binding polls have precedence over non-polling decision types.
Citizen input has precedence over mandate.
If two or more polls or discussions occur on a matter, the last one to complete shall prevail.
Lower forms of law may modify parts of this hierarchy, except for the provision regarding initiative which may not be modified.
A lower form of law may specify procedures and restrictions on implementing decision types, except
Initiative must always be allowed
No decision shall require more support than an amendment to the Constitution.
Article D - Elections
Terms of service of all elected and appointed offices shall be determined in advance of the beginning of such term, as further defined by law.
All Election and other polls in which specific individuals are chosen by name shall be private polls, and not public polls.
The candidate with the highest vote total is the winner of an election poll, regardless of whether such vote total is a majority of votes cast or not.
Should two or more candidates tie for the most votes, as many runoff elections shall be held as needed to resolve the election, as further defined by law.
Article E - Playing the Save
No person may play the save other than a Designated Player specifically tasked to do so, or an official who is required to attempt certain actions to get information about what is possible in the game.
If any action must be performed outside a scheduled play session, to obtain information about possible options, the game must then be immediately closed without saving, and without performing further actions.
Obtaining information which would not be visible to someone playing the game, at the current point in time reflected by the current saved game or a previous saved game, by any mechanism, is prohibited. As noted in Section 1.a of this Article, actions performed by an official, where performing the action is the only way to determine options, are permitted as long as the game is immediately closed following such investigation.
Inadvertent discovery of information shall not result in any penalty, provided no attempt is made to further disseminate the information or use it to advantage within the game.
Use of any exploits is prohibited. No person may manipulate the game in any way other than by normal play mechanisms, unless expressly permitted by law.
Lower forms of law are free to (and expected to) further define what actions are allowed and disallowed by this rule.
Article F - Judiciary
The Judicial Branch will consist of the Chief Justice, Public Defender, and Judge Advocate.
These three justices are tasked with upholding, clarifying and reviewing all changes to the Constitution and its supporting laws through Judicial Reviews, and upholding the rights of all citizens through Investigations.
The Judiciary will carry out all its tasks in a fair, impartial, public and speedy manner.
Any poll by the judiciary for which the primary subject is an individual or impacts upon an individual must be private.
Justices are responsible for at least the following tasks.
The Chief Justice shall have the additional responsibility to organize and conduct the affairs of the Judicial Branch.
The Public Defender will act as council to an accused citizen, if the accused citizen wishes.
The Judge Advocate will act as the prosecution.
A lower form of law may specify judicial procedures and standards for the conduct of Judicial Reviews and Citizen Complaints. If the law does not define such procedures, then the responsibility for setting procedures is granted to the Judiciary.

Article G - Ratification and Amendments


The Constitution shall be initially ratified by a majority (more yes votes than no votes) of votes cast in a public poll which shall be open for no fewer than 4 days.
The Constitution may be amended by a 60% majority of votes cast in a public poll which shall be open for no fewer than 4 days.

A lower form of law may specify a procedure which must be followed to amend the Constitution.

Minor changes to the Constitution, such as correcting typographical and clerical errors, reorganization and reformatting for better readibility, and addition of text which does not impact legal definitions (such as a preamble) may be made at any time.

If 5 or more citizens object to a minor change within the 48 hour period commencing when the minor change is proposed, the change shall be considered an amendment and must undergo ratification as such.

Nobody
Dec 09, 2005, 03:11 AM
I vote Yes for the constitution.

Stilgar08
Dec 09, 2005, 05:58 AM
I will support this constitution! Very good! but I have 1 question:

Article F 5) - Can we add that this has to be done by polling??

DaveShack
Dec 09, 2005, 08:59 AM
F 5 - any time you see "the citizens can do xxxxx by law" or similar wording, it means the law has to be approved by a poll.

Alphawolf
Dec 09, 2005, 01:58 PM
I think you got a winner and the only unanimous vote I've seen (at the moment 10 votes all Yes).

-the Wolf

ravensfire
Dec 09, 2005, 02:01 PM
*sigh* Far, far too easy to change the Constitution.

Positives more than outweigh that one drawback - so yes.

-- Ravensfire

DaveShack
Dec 09, 2005, 04:39 PM
*sigh* Far, far too easy to change the Constitution.

Positives more than outweigh that one drawback - so yes.

-- Ravensfire

Look at it this way -- get 60% of the people to agree that changing it is too easy, and you can change it. :D

Thanks for your support. I sincerely hope that this part will hold up to the test of time.

akots
Dec 09, 2005, 05:07 PM
Sorry, I wanted to click on yes but voted on no because my mouse slipped. Good luck with your games, guys! I'll be lurking with great interest!

DaveShack
Dec 09, 2005, 11:47 PM
Sorry, I wanted to click on yes but voted on no because my mouse slipped. Good luck with your games, guys! I'll be lurking with great interest!

Do we have your permission to have a mod change the count then? And I for one will be hoping you decide to delurk once in a while. :D

Mike Lemmer
Dec 10, 2005, 12:27 AM
As long as they clarify E1a, I vote yes.

Alphawolf
Dec 10, 2005, 12:38 AM
I have a question about playing the save: is it okay for someone to open the save and look around, not move anything or change anything, but like look at the map and such? Because screen shots are not always good enough.

-the Wolf

Nobody
Dec 10, 2005, 03:00 AM
yeah it is ok alphawolf, and do any cant instantly reversable

DaveShack
Dec 10, 2005, 12:39 PM
Any citizen can open the save and look around as long as no non-reversable actions are taken. You can't move a unit, because even moving the unit back doesn't "reverse" the move, your movement points are gone.

Some officials may need to actually try to do the action to find out what is possible -- for example trades. The only way to know for certain if a trade will be accepted is to press the "will you accept this", since the advisor isn't there saying they will take it. :( If an official does something to the save, they must close without saving, or equivalently reload the save to look at the next option. They can't try one trade and then see what is available after that.

Nobody
Dec 11, 2005, 02:37 PM
You can add

We, the sovereign citizens of [nation name], united by a common interest in our Civilization, guided by our desire for equality and justice, strengthened by our mutual respect, and reminded of our universal rights and responsibilities, do establish and promulgate this Constitution for our beloved nation.

this to the text

RoboPig
Dec 11, 2005, 02:53 PM
wow, a totally unanimous constitution!

Blkbird
Dec 15, 2005, 12:22 AM
60% majority for Constitutional Amendments is too low. I object.

DaveShack
Dec 15, 2005, 02:31 PM
Time has expired, and the Constitution is ratified.

Blkbird
Dec 15, 2005, 03:50 PM
Excuse me? Where was the "expire time" specified, other than "no shorter than 4 days", which is not a valid specification of expire time at all?

I thought the ratification poll were open until a closing time is accounced (a few days in advance). I certainly didn't expect it to be suddenly and randomly closed out of nowhere.

ravensfire
Dec 15, 2005, 04:48 PM
From the first post:
The poll must be open at least 4 days, I'm giving it 6 days.
Also, the poll itself will tell you when it closes, just under the poll results.

-- Ravensfire

Blkbird
Dec 16, 2005, 01:34 AM
From the first post: [...]

Obviously I missed that. To my defense, it wasn't placed very prominently, being in the middle of a paragraph.

DaveShack
Dec 16, 2005, 01:56 AM
Obviously I missed that. To my defense, it wasn't placed very prominently, being in the middle of a paragraph.

Sorry, like Ravensfire I thought the closing time being shown by the forum would be sufficient. Thanks for your feedback, I'll try to be more explicit in future polls. :D