We, the people of Japanatica, in order to create an atmosphere of
friendship, cooperation, and pride, establish this Constitution of our
beloved country. We uphold the beliefs that each citizen must
have an equal voice in the government and ruling of our country,
that government itself is a construct of and servant to the people,
that rules, regulations, and laws should be established to
facilitate the active participation of the people and to make
possible the dreams and desires of the citizens.

Article A. All Civfanatics Forum users who register in the Citizen
Registry are citizens of our country. Citizens have the
right to assemble, the right to free movement, the right
to free speech, the right to a fair trial, the right to
representation, the right to seek to redress grievances
and the right to vote.

Article B. Governing rules shall consist of these Articles of the
Constitution, such amendments that shall follow and lower
forms of law that may be implemented. No rule shall be
valid that contradicts these Articles. The Constitution
amendments can be added/modified/removed when the
need arises.

Article C. The government will consist of the Executive Branch,
Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch.

Article D. The Executive branch is responsible for determining
and implementing the will of the People. It is headed
by the President who shall be the primary Designated
Player. The President shall take direction from a
council of leaders and from other elected and appointed
officials via the turnchat instruction thread. The President
shall be tasked with control of worker actions.
1. The Minister of Domestic Affairs shall be
responsible for all domestic initiatives, worker allocation,
as well as the distribution of funds, as prescribed by law.
2. The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall be responsible
for matters involving treaties with foreign nations as all
espionage and embassy missions as prescribed by law.
3. The Minister of Defense shall be responsible for all
military strategy and troop activities, as
prescribed by law.
4. The Minister of Trade shall be responsible for all
trade, domestic and foreign, and the use of resources,
as perscibed by law.
5. The Minister of Science shall be responsible for all tech
acquisition, as prescribed by law.
6. The Minister of Culture shall be responsible for the construction
of wonders, as well as the analysis and maintenance of cultural
borders. This official shall also be responsible for monitoring
Japanatica's cultural level against that of all rival nations.

Article E. Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch will be formed of one House of the People and an Advisory
Council.

1.The House of the People will be formed of the entirety of the
citizenry and is responsible for the drafting of new Laws and
Amendments to the Constitution.
a.The House will present all proposed Articles, Amendments
and Laws to the Judicial Branch for review.
2.The Advisory Council will be formed of the Provincial Governors.
They will advise the citizens of the state of their individual
provinces, any concerns there may be for said provinces,
and enumerate any goals they envision for their provinces.
a.Each Governor shall determine any policies and procedures
needed to carry out their duties.
b.Governors are responsible for the care, management,
use of the cities, and use of lands of a province through the
setting of build queues, allocation of laborers on tiles,
population rushes and drafting of citizen soldiers.

Article F. The Judicial Branch will consist of one Chief Justice, one Public
Defender and a Judge Advocate. These three justices
are tasked with upholding the Constitution and its supporting
laws (if any) in a fair and impartial manner as prescribed
by law. 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 individual. The Judge Advocate will act as the prosecution.

Article G
1. All elected positions shall have a fixed term of one
month. Each position will be granted to the candidate
receiving the largest number of votes in that election.
In the event of a tie between two or more front
runners, a runoff poll shall be opened between those
candidates only. This poll shall run for 2 days, and be
repeated as often as needed to resolve the tie.

2. All Executive and Legislative positions shall have a
deputy. The Deputy will be permitted to conduct the
affairs of the office as directed, or during a planned
Absence of the elected official. If no instructions have
been posted for an office within 24 hours of the upcoming
Turn Chat, the deputy for that office may post the official
instructions for the office.

3. The Judiciary does not use deputies. In the event of an
Absence, a pro-tem justice(s) may be appointed by the
Chief Justice (or Judge Advocate if the Chief Justice if
absent) and confirmed by the President and the
remaining justice if not also absent. If both the Chief
Justice and the Judge Advocate are absent, the Public
Defender may appoint pro-tems to the other seats,
with Presidential approval.

4. The President will appoint a citizen to any Vacant
office. If a deputy exists for that office, the President
must appoint that citizen. This appointment may be
challenged by any citizen by that citizen posting a
confirmation poll within 24 hours of the appointment.

Article H.
No person shall hold multiple positions of leadership
(President, Vice-President, Department Leader,
Judiciary, Provincial Governor, Deputy) simultaneously,
nor shall have more than one accepted nomination at the
commencement of the general election.

Article I. Census, and Amending the Constitution

1. The census shall be defined as the average number
of votes cast, dropping fractions, in each of the
contested elections in the most recent general
election.
2. Ratification of Amendments to the Constitution
shall require each of the following:
a. A poll which is open for at least 96 hours, which
states the text of the proposed new section(s),
the text of the section(s) being replaced, and
posing the question in the form of yes / no /
abstain.
b. A 67% majority of Yes votes over No votes, Abstain
notwithstanding.
c. A total number of votes greater than or equal to
2/3 the census current at the start of voting on
the amendment, dropping any fraction therein.
d. The Amendment poll must first be posted as a
"proposed poll" in the discussion thread created
for the Amendment. The proposed poll must exist
in the discussion thread for 24 hours prior to the
Amendment poll being created. This gives adequate
time for review and changes.

Article J. Elected officials must plan and act according to the will
of the people. The will of the people will be determined
through discussion and polls, formal or informal. If pertinent
discussion is done outside the scope of the DG forums, then it must
be documented in the Turnchat Instruction Thread 6 hours
prior to the commencement of the turnchat by the appropriate
leader.

Article K. All irreversible game actions must progress during a public turnchat,
while reversible game actions (i.e. build queues) that adhere to
legal instructions can be prepared offline.
1. A turnchat instruction thread must be created at least 3 days
before the chat.
a. All official instructions must be posted in the current
turnchat instruction thread. Instructions must be clear
and defined.
b. Officials must post their instructions at least one hour
before the Turnchat. However, offcials may make changes
to their instructions up to an hour before the chat, so long
as those changes are noted.
2. The Designated Player shall be charged with the creation
of a date and time for all public turnchats.

Article L. The constitution, laws and standards of Japanatica can never
be contrary to the rules and regulations of the
Civfanatics forums. Moderators may veto any such
constitutional amendments, laws or standards.

Article M. Commission of any game action by any person other than
the Designated Player while carrying out their duties
that is not instantly reversible without reloading the
save is strictly forbidden.
1. Exception: Determining options in the renegotiation
of Peace agreements requires an action of acceptance
or war to exit the bargain screen. This may be done
but the game must be immediately closed without
saving.

Article N: Rights reserved to the people
As provided by Article A of this constitution, all actions not
forbidden by forum rules, or by this Constitution, are presumed to
be within the right of every citizen. Actions prescribed by this
Constitution may be substituted by other similar actions, provided
such substitution lies within the spirit of these rules.

Article O
The area contained within the national boundaries of Japanatica
shall be divided into areas called provinces, each of which
is under the control of a Governor as stated in Article E. of the
Constitution. These boundries must be defined and approved by
the House well ahead of expansion, and may extend beyond the
cultural boundaries. City locations shall be determined by the
Will of the People.

CoL G.1 - Deputies
A. For all positions using deputies, a deputy must be
selected in the following manner: If the election was
not contested, any citizen may be appointed. If the
election was contested, the deputy position must be
offered to the runner-up in the election. Should that
citizen decline, the office holder may seek any citizen
for the position. If there is a tie for runner-up, the
deputy may be chosen from all those citizens that
are tied. However, all of the tied citizens must decline
before any other citizen may be appointed deputy for
that office.

CoL G.2 - Confirmation Polls
A. Confirmation polls are used to challenge the appointment
of a citizen to an elected office. Any citizen may
create a confirmation poll, should one not already exist.
This poll must be created within 24 hours of the
appointment, and ask the question "Do you approve of the
appointment of <citizen name> to the office of <office
name>?", with Yes, No and Abstain option. This poll is
to be private, as it is a form of an election. The poll
will run for 2 days. At the end of the time, if a
majority of the citizens vote "No", the appointment is
overturned. Any other result approves the appointment.

CoL G.3 - Vacancies
A. An official or Justice may declare themselves to be
Absent for a period of time. During this time, the deputy
or pro-tem will act with all power and duties of that office,
surrendering them to the official or Justice when they
return or at the end of the planned absence, whichever
comes first.

B. Should an official fail to post instructions for 2
consecutive turn chats without prior notice, the
Judiciary may declare that office Vacant.

C. If a Justice has not posted on any active Judicial
matter for three days, the remaining Justices may declare
the Justice Absent. If a Justice has not posted on any
active Judicial matter for seven days, the remaining
Justices may declare the office Vacant. If all three
Justices fail to post on any active Judicial matter for
7 days, the President may declare all Judicial offices
Vacant, and immediately appoint a Chief Justice.

Col H:
1. Nominations
a. Nomination threads shall be normally be opened 8 days
before the end of the month at approximately 00:00 GMT
(this is 7 or 8 PM Eastern time of the 23rd.) in the main DG
forum by a representative of the Election Office though
any citizen may open a pre-nomination thread in the main
forum to post a self-nomination and acceptance for any
office up to one week ahead of the normal nomination
threads."
b. The initial post for each office will describe the office and
the relevant dates for the election process.
c. A citizen may nominate any citizen(s), including themself,
for each election.
d. A nomination is considered Declined until the nominated
citizen posts that they accept the nomination. All self-
nomination are considered accepted unless posted otherwise.
e. Nomination threads are open until the first election poll is
posted.

2. Debates
a. Debate threads shall be opened at the same time the
nomination threads are opened, and be placed in the Citizens
forum by a representative of the Election Office.
b. Any citizen may post a question for the candidates to
answer.
c. Debate threads are open until the election polls close.
3. Elections
a. Election polls shall be opened approximately 3 days after
the nomination threads are opened, and be placed in the
main forum by a representative of the Election Office.
b. Election polls shall set as "private" polls, and set to close
after 3 days (72 hours).
4. Election Office
a. The Election Office shall be comprised of those citizens
willing to assist the election process. These citizens are
nominated by the President, and are subject to a confirmation
poll.
b. The Election Office shall determine before each election
who will post the threads for that election.
c. The Election Office shall maintain on the initial post of
their thread the dates for the current and next election
cycle.
d. The Election Office shall solicit and maintain a common
list of debate questions for each office. This list shall be
posted as soon as possible in each debate thread.
e. Any non-trivial differences in the dates/times threads
are posted from the scheduled time should be noted by
the Election Office
official posting the thread.

CoL I. Code of Laws Amendments

1. Altering the Code of Laws requires the proposed change to be presented in a
discussion thread. When discussion dies down, a proposed poll must be posted
at the bottom of the discussion thread and remain there for at least 24
hours for review. During this period, some form of a "Second" and a "Third"
must be obtained from at least two citizens other than the bill's author.
During this period of review, if any changes are made, the 24 hour review
period starts over at that time and all "Seconds" and "Thirds" are lost.

2. Once the review period ends, and a "Second" and a "Third" obtained, the
author of the proposed change may request a Judicial Review, by posting
in the Judicial thread. Having passed Judicial Review, the proposed poll
may be posted in the Poll sub-subforum. The poll must remain open for 72
hours.

3. A quorum of 37% of the active census is required for the poll results to be
valid. 55% (dropping fractions) of those voting must approve of the proposed
change for it to be admitted to the Code of Laws.

Col O.1 - Formation of new Provinces

A: All land that is not within or surrounded by the Cultural Boundaries
of another nation may be considered as part of the Japanatican Nation.

B: In the beginning of the game, a default Province shall be established and
a Governor installed by election therein. This First Province shall contain
all lands that are part of the Japanatican Nation until other Provinces are
formed, and has at its Capital the First Established City.

C: Territories shall be formed by the House devising "Boundary Lines" within
established Provinces. Ratification by the People is required before these
boundaries have effect. The minimum size of these Territories should be a
space large enough to fit 3 cities at full Temple Radius.
1: Once a Territory has at least three (3) towns or has at least 50% of
the land within the entire territory under Japatanica's Cultural
Borders, then it becomes a Full Province with its own Governor.
a: Until this happens, administration of towns within the territory
are retained by the Governors of their respective former
Provinces. Administration of New Towns formed before the limit
is achieved will be under the control of the Domestic Minister.
b: Governors of new Provinces will be appointed by the President,
under recommendations from the Domestic Minister. These
appointments will last only until the end of the current term,
and be subject to Section G of the Code of Laws.

D: Provincial Boundaries may be readjusted with consent of the affected
Governors and the House.






The CoL is still being written and updated. All finished articles will be added here