Historical Documents: Fourth Constitution

[Nathan]

The Constitution of the Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia

We, the learned and common peoples of Natopia, hereby establish and ordain this Constitution so that we may prosper and live in peace, so that we may protect our ideals and dreams, so that we may provide stability for posterity. It is by public opinion that our personal sovereignty is to be entrusted to the government of this Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia.

Article One: The Imperial Government

Section One: The Imperial Executive Branch

Clause One: The Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia’s Head of State and Head of Government shall be the Grand Chancellor. The Grand Chancellor shall have total executive control of the government. The executive shall have total control of foreign affairs. Verbal decrees made by the Grand Chancellor shall have the force of law.

Clause Two: The Grand Chancellor shall create a cabinet to aid him in executive matters. This Cabinet will be the Ministry of Natopian Affairs, and a Prime Minister will lead it. The Grand Chancellor and Prime Minister shall decide upon the structure and other positions of this cabinet.

Clause Three: The Grand Chancellor will serve for life. At any time the Grand Chancellor may call for national elections of a Natopian citizen of good standing to the office of Vice Chancellor. Upon the evacuation of the Grand Chancellor’s office the Vice Chancellor will assume the role and title of Grand Chancellor. While the Grand Chancellor is in office they may delegate any number of powers to the Vice Chancellor.

Section Two: The Imperial Legislative Branch

Clause One: The legislative branch will be embodied in the Grand Natopian Senate. The Grand Chancellor will be Speaker of the Senate and lead discussion. Senate laws must be passed by a simple majority vote. A three-fourths majority vote is needed for the Senate to overturn a decree.

Clause Two: The Grand Chancellor has one vote in the Senate. Also the Grand Chancellor may vote in ties. The Grand Chancellor may not vote when overturning decrees.

Clause Three: Senators will serve for life. The Regional Chancellors appoint Senators to represent their Regions. The Grand Judge may veto these appointments but a majority vote by the Senate may override the Grand Judge’s veto. A Regional Chancellor may appoint up to 5 citizens to represent their Region.

Clause Four: The Senate will be responsible for establishing its own parliamentary procedures. Only the Senate may remove a serving Senator from their seat with a vote of two-thirds majority.

Clause Five: A secret vote with three-fourths of Senators in favor of the removal of the Grand Chancellor will be needed for an Imperial Recall to be upheld.

Section Three: The Imperial Judicial Branch

Clause One: The Grand Judge of All Laws and Rights heads the judicial branch. The Grand Judge is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Grand Chancellor. They may remove the Grand Chancellor from office at any time by using an Imperial Recall.

Clause Two: It is the Grand Judge’s responsibility to declare laws, decrees, or policies unconstitutional with Judicial Reviews. The Grand Judge may also establish a system of lower courts to process common matters of law.

Clause Three: The Grand Judge is appointed by the Grand Chancellor and will serve for life. A vote by the Senate with three-fourths majority may remove the Grand Judge from office.

Section Four: The Imperial Military Branch

Clause One: The Natopian Defense Force, commanded by the Supreme Commander, is the military branch. The Natopian Defense Force may operate a standing military for defensive purposes.

Clause Two: The ranks that shall be permanently established will be Grand Commander, to be filled by the Grand Chancellor in office and the Supreme Commander, to be appointed by the Grand Commander.

Clause Three: The Grand Commander or Supreme Commander shall establish further military protocols.

Article Two: The Regional Governments

Section One: The Establishment of Regions

Clause One: The Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia shall be divided into Regions. Only the Grand Chancellor may divide land into Regions of the Republic.

Clause Two: Once established as a Region, the Grand Chancellor will appoint an inhabitant of the Region to act as Regional Chancellor.

Section Two: The Establishment of Protectorates

Clause One: A Protectorate of Natopia shall be a local administrative district within Regions. The Grand Chancellor will appoint a Protector to administer the Protectorate on a local level. Protectors will be able to enact any law that does not contradict a higher law or this constitution.

Section Three: The Regional Executive Branch

Clause One: The Regional Chancellor shall head the executive branch. Any verbal command may be made into law that is only enforceable in the Regional Chancellor’s Region.

Clause Two: The Regional Chancellor will serve for life. If the Regional Chancellor were to resign or evacuate their office suddenly, the Grand Chancellor will appoint a permanent replacement.

Clause Three: A Protectorate may send a representative to serve on the Protectoral Council. The Protectoral Council is the voice of the Protectorates and may advise the Regional Protector on matters that would benefit Protectorates in that Region.

Clause Four: A secret vote with three-fourths of the members of the Protectoral Council in favor of the removal of the Regional Chancellor will be needed for a Regional Recall to be upheld. If no Protectoral Council exists the Senate will decide this matter.

Clause Five: The Regional Chancellor shall create a cabinet to aid him in executive matters. This Cabinet will be the Ministry of Regional Affairs, and a Regional Prime Minister will lead it. The Regional Chancellor and Regional Prime Minister shall decide upon the structure and other positions of this cabinet.


Section Four: The Regional Judicial Branch

Clause One: The Regional Judge heads the judicial branch. The Regional Judge is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Regional Chancellor. They may remove the Regional Chancellor from office at any time by using a Regional Recall.

Clause Two: It is the Regional Judge’s responsibility to declare laws, decrees, or policies unconstitutional with Regional Reviews. The Regional Judge may also establish a system of lower courts to process common matters of law.

Clause Three: The Regional Judge is appointed by the Regional Protector and will serve for life. A unanimous vote by the Protectoral Council may remove the Regional Judge from office. If no Protectoral Council exists the Senate will decide this matter.

Section Five: The Regional Legislative Branch

Clause One: The Regional legislative branch will be embodied in the Regional Assembly. The Regional Chancellor will be Speaker of the Assembly and lead discussion. Assembly laws must be passed by a simple majority vote. A three-fourths majority vote is needed for the Assembly to overturn a Regional decree.

Clause Two: The Regional Chancellor has one vote in the Assembly. Also the Regional Chancellor may vote in ties. The Regional Chancellor may not vote when overturning decrees.

Clause Three: Assembly Members will serve for life. The Regional Chancellor may appoint Assembly Members to represent the Protectorate in which they reside. The Regional Judge may overturn these appointments.

Clause Four: The Assembly will be responsible for establishing its own parliamentary procedures. Only the Assembly may remove an existing Assembly Member from service.

Clause Five: A secret vote with three-fourths of Assembly Members in favor of the removal of the Regional Chancellor will be needed for an Regional Recall to be upheld.

[Nathan]

Article Three: The Citizens’ Bill of Rights

Section One: Freedoms and Their Applications

Clause One: No law or decree will be made to limit or withhold the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, press, life, property, residence and petition.

Clause Two: Religious organizations may have access to public institutions; they may not interfere with the normal operation of that institution or impose their religion on any person in the area.

Clause Three: The freedom of speech is expanded to include the freedom of action. These public expressions shall not cause physical harm to anyone.

Clause Four: The freedom of assembly shall be defined as allowing groups of Citizens to meet to exercise any of their freedoms.

Clause Five: The freedom of life shall be defined as the government taking no actions to actively deprive any Citizen of life. The freedom of life shall be limited when the Citizen is incarcerated and a jury of six peers in the Region of their incarceration deems them unable to be rehabilitated.

Clause Six: The government shall never enforce the eviction of any Citizens for any reason excluding for reasons of explicit national security and natural disasters.

Section Two: Natopian Citizenship

Clause One: No Citizen shall be withheld any rights, freedoms, or liberties on account of race, creed, sex, or any other reason. All Citizens hold the right to vote, no Citizen will be denied the right to vote. A Citizen must be fourteen years of age to be eligible to vote.

Clause Two: Citizenship will not be denied on account of race, creed, or sex. Citizenship may be requested after 2 months of residence within national borders. A Citizen of the Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia is automatically a Citizen of the Region and Protectorate in which they reside, and therefore bound to the laws of their Region and Protectorate. The Grand Chancellor must approve all special Citizenship requests and reserves the power to immediately grant or revoke citizenship to individuals.


Section Three: Legal Rights of the Citizens

Clause One: All Citizens are entitled to competent legal counsel. The Imperial and Regional Judicial Branches shall be responsible for providing competent counselors to Defendants.

Clause Two: A four-person jury of peers must convict Citizens.

Clause Three: Citizens must be given a trial that is to be completed as quickly as possible. Trials must be open to the general public.

Clause Four: Citizens found guilty of their accusations must not be subjected to cruel punishments or humiliated or injured by unusual sentences.

Clause Five: While waiting for trial, the Citizens must not be asked to pay bail that is considered excessive in regard to their income.

Clause Six: A Citizen may not be brought to trial twice for the same crime if found guilty on the first accusation.

Article Four: Other Affairs

Section One: Concerning this Constitution

Clause One: This Constitution will go into effect once 10 Natopian Citizens sign this document.

Clause Two: In all matters of Regional, Protectoral, and Imperial Law, this Constitution shall be considered supreme law and any law or decree in conflict with this document will be deemed unconstitutional by the Grand Judge and therefore void.

Clause Three: All Citizens, Regions, Protectorates, and officials shall be forever bound by this document once ratified.

Clause Four: A two-thirds majority vote by the Senate is required to amend this constitution. Any Citizen may propose an amendment.

Clause Five: A simply majority of Regional Chancellors must approve of the amendment after the Senate approves of the amendment. If the majority of Regional Chancellors veto the amendment, it goes back to the Senate.

Clause Six: A four-fifths majority vote by the Senate is required to overturn the Regional Chancellors veto.

Section Two: Other Affairs

Clause One: To ensure further protection of our national sovereignty, Natopia shall be able to participate in all activities that outline statehood such as, but not limited to; foreign relations, taxation, land ownership, etc. As long as this document is in effect, the Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia shall remain sovereign in both name and practice. No foreign state or nation shall be able to interfere with Natopia's right of sovereignty.

Clause Two: The symbols of the Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia shall be protected and maintained by the Grand Chancellor. The Cross of Sovereignty shall represent the power of the government to protect the individual sovereignties of the Citizens and the sovereignty of the Republic itself. The Imperial Natopian Flag shall represent the physical Republic and all its Citizens. The Grand Chancellor can add further symbols at any time.

We, the Undersigned, hereby ordain this Constitution, support our secession from the United States of America, and sign accordingly:

Nathan L. Shepard

Ryan Grass

Ashley Grass

Tasneem Chowdhury

Sanda Smilovic

Jacob Scharer

Jana Shepard

Nicole Koh

Sherry Lochhaas

Aaron Pavletich

[Nathan]

Constitutional Amendments

Amendment One: Legislative Review of Foreign Policy

Clause One: When a formal Treaty with a foreign entity has been signed, by all involved parties, that, in some way, grants all or some of the foreign affairs of the foreign entity to the Republic of Natopia these foreign powers will be handled by the Grand Natopian Senate.

Clause Two: The Grand Natopian Senate will only have the power to exercise foreign policy over foreign entities bound by Treaties that expressly "harmonize" their foreign policy with Natopia. The executive branch will not have the power to override Senate laws that review foreign entities' foreign policies.

Clause Three: This amendment also gives the Senate the power to exercise control over Natopian foreign policy. The executive branch may still override Senate laws that establish or change Natopian foreign policy.


Amendment Two: Revisions

Revisions made directly to the text.

Amendment Three: Regional and Amendment Reforms

Clause One: The title of "Regional Protector" shall be changed to "Regional Chancellor." All instances of "Regional Protector" in the Constitution shall be replaced with "Regional Chancellor."

Clause Two: Add Article Two; Section Five.

Clause Three: Add Article Two; Section Three, Clause Five.

Clause Four: Add Article Four; Section One, Clause Four, Clause Five, and Clause Six.

Amendment Four: Convention Reforms

Section One

Clause One: Article One, Section 4, Clause One changed.

Clause Two: Article One, Section 3, Clause 3 changed.

Clause Three: Article One, Section 2, Clause 4 changed.

Clause Four: Article One, Section 2, Clause 3 changed.

Clause Five: Article One, Section 1, Clause 3 changed.

Clause Six: Article One, Section Four will be removed from the Constitution. Section Five is renumbered as Section Four.

Section Two

Clause One: To celebrate and encourage the friendship and alliance between the Sovereign Imperial Republic of Natopia and the Republic of Lavalon the Grand Natopian Senate and the Lavalonian General Assembly will meet twice a year.

Clause Two: The two legislative bodies will meet once on January 10 of each year in the Grand Natopian Senate chambers and meet once on June 10 of each year in the Lavalonian General Assembly.

Clause Three: The primary purpose of the joint session will be to strengthen Natopian/Lavalonian relations. Any laws passed during the joint assembly are only to be enforced if the governments enact legislation at a later time to enforce laws passed in joint sessions.

Clause Four: Before each joint session both governments must issue a law that outlines that government's intentions to participate in the upcoming meeting. If both sides issue no law, this section will have no ill effect on either government.