Revision as of 15:00, 22 October 2006

[All periods are given in Xanthalian time.]

We the people of Xanthal, in order to establish social equality, ensure justice, provide for the common defense, and secure liberty and representation for ourselves and those who follow us, do ordain and establish this Constitution for Xanthal.

Article I.

Section 1.

Clause 1: The legislative power shall be vested in a representative Council of Xanthal, which shall be composed of six hundred Councilors, each chosen by direct election every third year by the resident citizens of Xanthal residing in its district.

Clause 2: Any citizen may be a Councilor who has attained the age of eight years, been a citizen of Xanthal for at least five years, and is a resident of the district in which chosen.

Clause 3: Districts shall be apportioned among each vicinage by resident citizen population. Each Xanthalian planet that exceeds two percent of the country’s total citizen population and the rest of Xanthalian territory shall be a vicinage. Each vicinage shall create districts with resident citizen populations as equal as may be. Enumeration of citizens throughout Xanthal shall be conducted, and district borders adjusted accordingly, every three years as directed by law. Every district shall have one seat on the Council.

Clause 4: When a vacancy happens in the Council, the executive authority of the district concerned shall appoint a qualified citizen to fill it until the next election.

Clause 5: The Council shall choose its own officers, including the Speaker, who shall preside over Council proceedings.

Clause 6: Councilors shall be divided equally into three classes, each of which shall be elected on a different year.

Section 2.

Clause 1: All citizens of Xanthal shall vote for their district’s Councilor as prescribed by law.

Clause 2: The Council shall be in session for no less than one fourth of each year, the exact hours and dates which shall be prescribed by law.

Section 3.

Clause 1: Five hundred voting Councilors shall constitute a quorum for making decisions; but a smaller number may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members.

Clause 2: The Council may determine the rules of its proceedings, which shall be enforced by the High Court.

Clause 3: The Council shall keep an official record of its proceedings, and publish that record on a yearly basis, excepting such parts that two thirds judge require secrecy. The votes of Councilors will be included in this record.

Section 4.

Clause 1: Councilors shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law and paid out of the Treasury of Xanthal. No law varying compensation for the services of the Councilors shall take effect until a full election cycle shall have intervened.

Clause 2: No Councilor shall accept any compensation beyond that which is allotted equally to all Councilors by law.

Clause 3: Councilors shall in all cases be privileged from arrest and prosecution for any speech or debate in a Council session.

Clause 4: The Council shall have the privilege of barring any outside oversight of a proceeding with the consent of two thirds of its members.

Section 5.

Each Councilor shall have one vote in the Council. Unless otherwise herein noted, no bill shall be passed in the Council if two thirds in its favor cannot be obtained in voting except for bills with the sole effect of repealing a past decision of the Triumvirate or the Council, which may pass with a majority vote.

Section 6.

Clause 1: The Council shall have the sole power to impose and collect any taxes deemed necessary to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of Xanthal.

Clause 2: The Council shall have the sole power to regulate commerce conducted within Xanthal.

Clause 3: The Council shall have the sole power to set requirements for citizenship.

Clause 4: The Council shall have the sole power to coin money and regulate the value of domestic and foreign currency, and fix the standard of weights and measures.

Clause 5: The Council shall have the sole power to determine actions that may be taken on those convicted by the judiciary.

Clause 6: The Council shall have the power to establish public organizations for the promotion of the general welfare.

Clause 7: The Council shall have the sole power to set rules securing for limited times to developers the exclusive right to their respective works and discoveries.

Clause 8: The Council shall have the power to make rules for government institutions.

Clause 9: The Council shall have the sole power to authorize the construction and maintenance of armed forces.

Clause 10: The Council shall have the sole power to authorize offensive military action, and the power to make any rules of warfare it deems necessary.

Clause 11: The Council shall have the power to create and pass legislation for the protection of people and property and the maintenance of order within the territorial boundaries of Xanthal.

Clause 12: The Council shall have the sole power to confirm all nominations made by the Triumvirate.

Clause 13: The Council shall have the power to bring charges against government officials.

Clause 14: The Council shall have the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and maintaining the authority of this Constitution.

Section 7.

Clause 1: No legislation providing for judgment without trial or retroactive enforcement of laws shall be passed.

Clause 2: No law shall be passed giving unfair preference.

Clause 3: No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and an account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be annually published.

Article II.

Section 1.

Clause 1: The executive power shall be vested in three Triumvirs of Xanthal, which shall be elected every three years, each on a different year, by a popular vote open to all citizens of Xanthal.

Clause 2: The Council may determine the times and days on which the elections for Triumvirs are held, which shall be the same throughout Xanthal.

Clause 3: Any citizen may be a Triumvir who has attained the age of ten years and been a citizen of Xanthal for at least five years.

Clause 4: No political party shall be allowed more than one member in the position of Triumvir at any point in time.

Clause 5: In cases where an office in the Triumvirate is vacated, the Speaker of the Council shall assume the vote of the vacated office until a new Triumvir is elected.

Clause 6: Triumvirs shall receive an annual compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law and paid out of the Treasury of Xanthal. No law varying compensation for the services of the Triumvirs shall take effect until a full election cycle shall have intervened.

Clause 7: No Triumvir shall accept any compensation beyond that which is allotted equally to all Triumvirs by law.

Section 2.

Each Triumvir shall have one vote in executive decisions. All executive decisions must be ratified by two Triumvirs to be legally binding. Certain exceptions can be made with the unanimous consent of the Triumvirate, but may be repealed at the order of any one Triumvir.

Section 3.

Clause 1: The Triumvirate shall have power to determine the rules of its proceedings.

Clause 2: The Triumvirate shall be the chief commanding body of Xanthal’s military forces.

Clause 3: The Triumvirate shall have power to make treaties, set tariffs, and nominate judges of the High Court.

Clause 4: The Triumvirate shall receive ambassadors and other foreign officials, and shall commission foreign representatives on behalf of Xanthal.

Section 4.

The Triumvirate shall introduce to the Council legislation it judges necessary to the effective execution of its duties. The Triumvirate may convene the Council in a special session, but cannot adjourn it.

Article III.

Section 1.

The judicial power of Xanthal shall be vested in one High Court, which shall have nine member judges, and in such inferior courts as it may ordain and establish. Judges, both of the High Court and inferior courts, shall hold their offices for life except in instances of resignation, impeachment, or inability to discharge official powers, and shall receive an equal annual compensation for their services, which shall be adjusted automatically to match fluctuations in the consumer price index.

Section 2.

Clause 1: The judicial power shall extend to all legal disputes arising under this Constitution, the laws of Xanthal and its entities, and treaties to which Xanthal is party occurring within the physical territory of Xanthal or involving a citizen or official representative of or to Xanthal.

Clause 2: In all cases affecting foreign representatives, and those in which a vicinage shall be party, the High Court shall have original jurisdiction; in all other cases the High Court shall have appellate jurisdiction. The High Court is responsible for the faithful execution of laws throughout Xanthal.

Clause 3: The trial of all crimes shall be decided by a panel of three or more judges. Such trials may be held only before the High Court and courts formally approved by the High Court, jurisdiction falling to the highest court able to bring charges or elsewhere as the High Court may by law direct.

Clause 4: All judicial rulings on guilt or innocence of an accused party must be made unanimously. If a unanimous verdict cannot be reached by the presiding judges, the accused must receive a new trial before different judges or be released.

Clause 5: The High Court shall have the power to nullify any law or policy of Xanthal that it judges to be in violation of this Constitution provided that six of its members concur.

Clause 6: The courts Xanthal shall have the sole power to issue warrants authorizing searches and seizures.

Clause 7: The courts of Xanthal shall have the power to order any evidence or testimony material to a case on trial delivered up in confidence to the trial court, regardless of circumstance.

Section 3.

Clause 1: The High Court shall have the sole power to preside over impeachment trials. In such trials, a government official may be removed from office with the concurrence of six of its Judges.

Clause 2: Impeachment can only take place when a rule of this Constitution has been violated by the accused official.

Clause 3: An official convicted of any offense by a Xanthalian court, once the appeals process has been concluded, shall be automatically removed from office in addition to the regular sentence.

Clause 4: The High Court may bar for one year votes to recall an official from office in the event that there are multiple, successive failed attempts at removing the official.

Section 4.

Treason against Xanthal shall consist only of a citizen or declared ally of Xanthal levying war against the nation or giving illegal aid to those it has declared enemies.

Article IV.

Section 1.

Clause 1: Three fourths of the Council may affirm a vote of no confidence in the Triumvirate, at which point the High Court will exercise all executive powers until three Triumvirs are elected and take office in the manner set forth in this Constitution.

Clause 2: When a vote of no confidence in the Triumvirate is affirmed, a new election must take place after four weeks and before six weeks have passed. The new executive panel, composed of the three candidates that received the greatest number of first-choice votes, must take office within one month of the original no confidence vote.

Section 2.

Clause 1: Three fourths of the Council may affirm a vote of no confidence in the High Court, at which point the legislature will exercise all judicial powers until nine judges are appointed and confirmed in the manner set forth in this Constitution to form the new panel of the High Court.

Clause 2: When a vote of no confidence in the High Court is affirmed, the new judicial panel must take office within one month. If after five weeks following the no confidence vote have passed one or more positions in the High Court remain unfilled, a majority of the Council may vote to suspend the Triumvirate’s power to nominate High Court judges and elect them within the Council with a two thirds vote. If there are still unfilled positions nine weeks after the original no confidence vote, the Speaker of the Council will appoint the remaining judges within one week.

Section 3.

Individual no confidence proceedings cannot be initiated within eleven weeks of each other.

Section 4.

Two Triumvirs and six judges of the High Court may delay action on a vote of no confidence by registering official protest of the decision within one day of the vote. If this occurs, a referendum shall be held throughout Xanthal after four weeks and before six weeks have passed in which citizens shall be asked to confirm or deny the no confidence vote. A majority of voters are needed to confirm.

Section 5.

Any official may be recalled with a majority vote by its electorate. Such votes may be initiated by petition of one fourth of that electorate or any other method provided for by law.

Article V.

Section 1.

Full faith and credit shall be given in each district to the records of every other district. The concerned court may prescribe the manner in which the veracity of such records shall be assessed.

Section 2.

Clause 1: The citizens of all districts shall be entitled to equal treatment and protection under the law.

Clause 2: A party fleeing from judicial authority in one court’s jurisdiction, if found in another’s, shall be delivered to the original jurisdiction to stand trial.

Section 3.

New territory may be inducted by three fourths of the Council into the nation of Xanthal.

Section 4.

Xanthal shall guarantee to every vicinage and district an executive and legislature subordinate to this Constitution and all laws of the entities in which they are incorporated, and shall protect them against invasion and domestic violence.

Article VI.

Section 1.

In all elections ordained by this Constitution voting shall be carried out by providing a ballot on which each voter shall write in the names of its most-preferred candidate for each position to be filled. All valid ballots shall be counted, and if any candidate receives more than half of the popular vote, it shall be the winner of the election and fill the position for which it was selected.

Section 2.

If no winner for a position is established by the process in Section 1, all candidates that received no votes and the forty percent of the remaining candidates for that position, rounded up, that received the fewest number of votes shall be eliminated from the election. A new vote shall then be held, one week from the previous election, with the remaining candidates listed as the only choices to fill the position. All valid ballots shall be counted, and if any candidate receives more than half of the popular vote, it shall be the winner of the election and fill the position for which it was selected.

Section 3.

If no winner for a position is established by the process in Section 2, the fifty percent of the remaining candidates for that position, rounded up, that received the fewest number of votes shall be eliminated from the election. A new vote shall then be held, one week from the previous election, with the remaining candidates listed as the only choices to fill the position. This process shall be repeated up to four times until a candidate wins the election by receiving more than half of the popular vote.

Section 4.

If no winner for a position is established by the process in Section 3, a new vote shall be held, as soon as possible, with the two candidates that received the greatest number of votes in the previous round listed as the only choices to fill the position. The candidate that receives the most votes shall be the winner.

Section 5.

Voters shall in all elections be provided with a complete list of all candidates and their political affiliations to aid in the voting process, but no candidates or parties may be represented on the first ballot and all candidates must be represented equally on subsequent ballots.

Article VII.

Section 1.

This Constitution shall be the supreme law of the land; and all other constitutions, doctrines, laws, and treaties shall be subordinate to it.

Section 2.

No test shall be required as a qualification to any public or private position not directly relevant to the performance of the duties associated with that position.

Section 3.

The government of Xanthal shall not respect or restrict any establishment of religion over other religions or lack thereof, abridge freedom of speech or of the media, or infringe upon the right of the people to assemble peaceably or otherwise petition the government.

Section 4.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons and property, both tangible and intangible, from unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and warrants shall only be issued in the presence of probable cause.

Section 5.

No person shall be tried more than once for the same offense; nor have judgment or sentence passed on them without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

Section 6.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by impartial judges, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the prosecution's witnesses and evidence, and to the assistance of qualified legal counsel.

Section 7.

The right of any person to a judicial review of any judgment passed or sentence imposed on them by a public or private authority shall not be suspended.

Section 8.

All disputes heard before the courts of Xanthal shall be subject to the same rules and regulations, and no bias shall be accepted on the part of ruling judges.

Section 9.

In all cases sentencing must seek to rehabilitate the criminal and give restitution to victims. Restitution is justifiable only when measurable financial damage to one or more parties is shown to be a direct result of the actions of the convicted party, in which case the convicted party must pay restitution equal to the damage caused, as determined by the court. Torture, both physical and psychological, shall be in all cases forbidden.

Section 10.

In the case of repeated convictions and failed attempts at rehabilitation, a convicted criminal may be sentenced to die as determined by law.

Section 11.

The right to vote shall not be denied to any citizen, and no individual vote shall be counted or valued differently than any other.

Section 12.

The migration of persons into, out of, or within Xanthal shall not be prohibited.

Section 13.

Every sentient individual is a person, and entitled to equal protection and rights under the law.

Section 14.

All citizens shall receive, free of charge, a complete general education and further education as determined by law to prepare them for employment.

Article VIII.

The Council, whenever two thirds of its members shall deem it necessary, may propose amendments to this Constitution, or, by majority request of the legislatures of two thirds of districts, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be inducted as part of this Constitution when ratified by three fourths of the Council and by the legislatures of two thirds of the districts of Xanthal; provided that no citizen shall be deprived of equal suffrage.