Constitution: Working Draft version

[DaveShack]

This thread will ultimately contain the working draft version of the Constitution, based on citizen input in the discussion threads.

This is not a discussion thread!
If substantial discussion on a point is needed please have that discussion in the existing thread, or we can open a separate thread for discussing the draft.

Framework

• Two layers of law, Constitution and Code of Laws
• Constitution will contain basic, generic rules which would apply to all democracy games from this point forward
  • Important: Do not put definitions of the actual offices in the Constitution.
• This is the Constitution. The Code of Laws will follow in a separate thread.

Overview
These bullets can be turned into links as sections are completed.

• Preamble
• Forms of Law
• Citizen Rights
• Decision Making
• Elections
• Playing the Save
• Judiciary
• Initial Ratification
• Amendments

 

[DaveShack]

Reserved for preamble text

 

[DaveShack]

1. Governing rules shall consist of this Constitution, such amendments that shall follow and lower forms of law that may be implemented.
2. 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.
3. These rules may not contradict the rules and regulations of the Civfanatics Forums. Moderators may veto any such rules.

 

[DaveShack]

1. 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.
2. 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
3. These rights may be limited by CivFanatics Center Forum Rules, which take precedence at all times.

 

[DaveShack]

1. Power of the People
   1. All decision making power within the Democracy Game is derived from the collective rights of the citizens.
   2. 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
   3. 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.
   4. 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.

 

[DaveShack]

1. 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.
2. All Election and other polls in which specific individuals are chosen by name shall be private polls, and not public polls.
3. 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.

 

[DaveShack]

1. 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.
2. Obtaining information about the game outside normal game play is prohibited.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Lower forms of law are free to (and expected to) further define what actions are allowed and disallowed by this rule.

 

[DaveShack]

# Judiciary

1. The Judicial Branch will consist of the Chief Justice, Public Defender, and Judge Advocate.
2. 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.
3. The Judiciary will carry out all its tasks in a fair, impartial, public and speedy manner.
4. Justices are responsible for at least the following tasks.
1. The Chief Justice shall have the additional responsibility to organize and conduct the affairs of the Judicial Branch.
2. The Public Defender will act as council to an accused citizen, if the accused citizen wishes.
3. The Judge Advocate will act as the prosecution.
5. 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, with the consent of the people.

 

[DaveShack]

1. 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.
2. 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.

 

[DaveShack]

Notice: The Citizen Rights section has been updated to reflect the sense of the people that registration in the Citizen Registry can be required by law provided a grace period for registration is allowed.

 

[DaveShack]

Power of the People has been added to the draft. We're down to Judiciary and Preamble, and I've already received preamble text in a PM, so if we can nail down the judiciary soon then we can proceed to constitutional ratification.

 

[DaveShack]

The Judicial branch has been added to the draft. Final comments are now requested in the discussion thread.

 

[DaveShack]

Preamble

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

Article A - Forms of Law

1. Governing rules shall consist of this Constitution, such amendments that shall follow and lower forms of law that may be implemented.
2. 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.
3. These rules may not contradict the rules and regulations of the Civfanatics Forums. Moderators may veto any such rules.

Article B - Citizens

1. 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.
2. 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
3. These rights may be limited by CivFanatics Center Forum Rules, which take precedence at all times.

Article C - Decision Making

1. Power of the People
   1. All decision making power within the Democracy Game is derived from the collective rights of all the citizens.
   2. 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
   3. 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.
   4. 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

1. 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.
2. All Election and other polls in which specific individuals are chosen by name shall be private polls, and not public polls.
3. 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Lower forms of law are free to (and expected to) further define what actions are allowed and disallowed by this rule.

Article F - Judiciary

1. The Judicial Branch will consist of the Chief Justice, Public Defender, and Judge Advocate.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.