Demogame Constitution

[Chieftess]

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.

 

[Rik Meleet]

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.
[INDENT]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.[/INDENT]
[INDENT][INDENT]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.[/INDENT][/INDENT]
[INDENT][INDENT]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.[/INDENT][/INDENT] 

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