The New Constitution, Final Draft

[Togas]

Please Do not vote in this poll until you have read and considered this document. You have one week to think about it, as this poll will be open for 7 days. You are voting to ratify this Consitution and entirely replace the old CoL during our next election.

This is an official poll for ratification.

There is no abstain option. You may abstain by not voting. We hope that you will abstain from voting for a short time while considering this New Constitution.

This poll requires a 2/3 majority to pass.

Please do not post discussion on this thread. Please create a new thread for discussion.

A copy of this document has been attached in Word format.

--Togas, Secretary for the C.C.

[Togas]

Preamble: We the members of the Constitutional Convention, having been called upon by the People of Apolytonia to create a new Constitution, have created this grand document to be the supreme law of the land and, upon its ratification, to replace the Code of Laws and Amendments before it. This new Constitution meets the needs and concerns of our great nation: it grants the people more powers and more rights, and gives our leaders flexibility and control to handle whatever hardships may present themselves in our future. This Constitution both retains everything that was right with our previous code of laws and adds creative new ideas, principles, and tools that will allow our great nation’s leaders to control our growing civilization, and to be a model democracy to others.

We hereby support this new Constitution, in its entirety, and urge the citizenry to support its rapid adoption.

/signed/ Togas, adaMada, Apocalypse, NotYouEither

[Togas]

Article I. The Executive Branch

1 The President
(a) The President shall physically play the game and post the save and a report of the game to the forum.
(b) The game shall be played on a regular and scheduled basis whenever possible,
(i) In the event of a national emergency, the President shall halt play so that the crisis can be resolved.
(ii) If the President is unable to play the game on a regular and scheduled basis, the Vice President shall play it.
(c) The President may use turnchats, turnthreads, or any other method approved by the Senate to play the game.
(d) The President must follow the instructions of the Senate and Ministers while playing the game unless the instruction is clearly erroneous, or made impossible and/or harmful by changed circumstances. If the President makes changes to the instructions due to these problems, he must abide by the intent of the Senate or Minister in making the changes.
(e) The President appoints and reappoints Judges to the Court whenever there is a vacancy. Such appointments must be approved by a majority of the Senate as prescribed in Art. II Section 2e.
(f) The President appoints temporary Ministers should any resign or be impeached. The appointment must be approved by a majority of the Senate as prescribed in Art. II Section 2e.
(i) No current Minister or Judge may be appointed to serve in a vacant post.
(g) The President has control over the economy/science/luxury slider and may make changes when he feels they are appropriate.
(h) The President decides what technology to research next.
(i) The President approves all spending requests in the absence of a direct spending law or motion by the Senate.
(j) The President, with the approval of the Supreme Military Commander or Domestic Minister, has the power to draft citizens.
(k) The President must appoint a Vice President and may appoint any other deputy ministers, such as for science and the economy, as he or she feels necessary.
(i) The Vice President must be appointed in accordance with Article VII, Section 6.
(ii) The Vice President assumes all powers and responsibilities of the President should the President be unable to perform.
(iii) The Vice President shall assist the President in the duties of his or her office whenever possible.
(iv) The President may not dismiss the Vice President. The Vice President may only be removed via impeachment.

2 The Supreme Military Commander
(a) The Supreme Military Commander controls all units except settlers and workers.
(b) The Supreme Military Commander controls only the movement of Great Leaders, however he or she shall move the Great Leader to the city of choosing of the Senate when instructed to do so.
(c) The Supreme Military Commander may disband units under his or her control. A Great Leader may never be disbanded.
(d) The Supreme Military Commander may appoint deputy ministers.

3 The Foreign Affairs Minister
(a) The Foreign Affairs Minister has sole power over exchanges and trade agreements with other nations.
(b) The Foreign Affairs Minister may spend gold to establish embassies, but only after the approval of either the President or Senate.
(c) The Foreign Affairs Minister may spend gold on Espionage, but only after the approval of either the President or Senate.
(d) The Foreign Affairs Minister may enter into Right of Passage Agreements, but only after the approval of either the President or Supreme Military Commander.
(e) The Foreign Affairs Minister negotiates peace agreements, but only after the approval of either the President or Supreme Military Commander.
(f) Any trade, exchange, or gift that involves giving away gold must be approved by either the Senate or the President.
(g) Any trade, exchange, or gift that involves giving away workers must be approved by either the Domestic Minister or the President.
(h) Any trade, exchange, or gift that involves giving away cities must be approved by either the Senate or the President.
(i) The Foreign Affairs Minister may enter into any Military Alliance, Trade Embargo, or Mutual Protection Pact, but only with prior approval by the Senate.
(j) The Foreign Affairs Minister may appoint deputy ministers.

4 The Domestic Minister
(a) Is responsible for managing all cities, their production queues, their citizens, and all of the workers and settlers.
(b) The Domestic Minister is ultimately responsible for choosing sites for new cities, disbanding cities, and making rushed production requests.
(c) The Domestic Minister is strongly advised to appoint Deputies and Advisors to assist him or her in this job. A City Planner, Expansion Advisor, and Public Works Advisor are recommended.
(d) The Domestic Minister may draw boundaries and regions within the nation and appoint governors over those regions who can recommend to the Domestic Minister and his advisors how to best manage those regions.
(e) The Domestic Minister may rush any project, but only with the approval of the Senate or President.
(f) The Domestic Minister may also create or alter any system for naming all cities, provinces, geographic features, and so forth; however the Senate must approve that system or change.

5 Chain of Command
(a) In the event that the President is unable to perform his duties, they may be performed by the Vice President, Domestic Minister, Supreme Military Commander, or Foreign Affairs Minister, in that order. Vice Ministers do not substitute for their Minister in this instance.
(b) Should a Minister not be able to perform his duties, they may be performed by his Vice Minister, a Deputy Minister with specific authority, or the President, in that order. However, if a Minister has given specific written instructions, those instructions may not be ignored absent an incident as described in Art I, Sec 1D.
(c) If a Minister is removed from office by a Removal from Office Poll following impeachment, all of his or her orders and deputy appointments are nullified.

6 Deputy Ministers
(a) Any citizen may serve as a Deputy Minister to an elected Minister or President.
(b) One Deputy Minister per elected Minister may be given the title of Vice Minister. A Vice Minister has the full power and authority of the Minister should the Minister be unable to perform his duties.
(c) All Deputy Ministers may be given any power granted to the Elected Minister or President, however the Elected Official must explicitly state what power has been granted to the Deputy.
(d) A Deputy Minister may be removed from office at any time by the Minister or President who he or she serves under, or by agreement of 2/3rds of the Senate.
(e) A citizen may serve as a deputy minister for more than one Minister. However, a citizen may not be Vice Minister for more than one Elected Official.
(f) No Minister, President, or Judge may serve as Vice Minister.

7 Other Powers of the Executive Branch
(a) Any reference in this Constitution to a “Minister” refers to the Supreme Military Commander, Foreign Affairs Minister, and Domestic Minister.
(b) The President and all the Ministers may make Executive Orders, which have the authority of a law, over any matters within their control so long as those orders do not conflict with any current law or the Constitution. Executive Orders may be amended or removed at any time by the maker, a subsequent President or Minister, or as a result of a law passed by the Senate that makes an Executive Order in conflict.
(c) By agreement of 3 of the following: President, Vice President, Supreme Military Commander, Foreign Affairs Minister, and/or Domestic Minister; any law or decision by the Senate that does not receive a 2/3rd majority vote (as prescribed in Art. II Sec. 2e) for passage may be vetoed within 72 hours of being passed by the Senate. A vetoed law or decision is no longer valid. It may be proposed again, however, it will only become valid if it is passed by a 2/3rd majority vote.
(i) Should one of these Ministers be unable to perform his duties, his Vice Minister may cast a Veto vote in his place.
(ii) Should there be no Vice President, or should he be unable to perform his duties, no other citizen may cast his veto vote.

[Togas]

Article II. The Senate
1 All citizens who are not currently a Minister, President, Vice- President or Judge are Senators
2 Any Senator may propose a law.
(a) To propose a law, a senator must post a poll that is clear, unbiased, states the proposed law in its entirety, and gives three options: “yea”, “nay”, and “abstain”.
(b) The poll’s subject must begin with the text “SENATE BILL:”
(c) The first post of the poll must clarify the options if clarification is needed and state the expiration date.
(d) The poll must be open for at least 72 hours.
(e) To pass, the proposed law must receive more “yea” votes than “nay” votes. It must also meet the quorum.
(i) The quorum: The total number of votes cast in the poll for passage must be greater than or equal to 25% of the total number of votes cast in the most recent Presidential election.
(ii) Any “abstain” votes are considered solely for quorum purposes. “Abstain” votes may not be considered “yea” or “nay” votes.
(iii) The Senate has the power to modify the quorum requirements or to perform a census without amending the Constitution.
(f) All citizens, not just senators, are allowed to vote in any poll.
(g) Proposed laws may not violate or change the Constitution. Proposed laws may change any existing laws or Executive orders.
3 Senators may also propose motions, resolutions, orders, and decisions of the Senate. These are proposed in the same way as laws and follow the same rules. These carry the same authority as a law.
4 The Senate has the power to declare war.
5 The Senate must approve all Military Alliances, Trade Embargos, and Mutual Protection Pacts.
6 The Senate has the power to set Mobilization level to “War-Time”.
7 The Senate has the power to change the form of the government.
8 The Senate has the power to decide how Great Leaders are used
9 The Senate has the power to determine how money is spent. The Senate is not required to use this power. Should the Senate fail to act on any spending matter, or should a spending matter be vetoed, the President may decide.
10 The Senate may make its own laws regarding Senate procedure.
11 The Senate must keep records of all laws, motions, resolutions, and otherwise that are passed, amended, or removed. It should appoint a Clerk to do so.
12 All powers not specifically given to the other branches are hereby given to the Senate.

[Togas]

Article III. The Court
1 The Court has the power to rule upon contested disputes involving legal interpretations; validity of polls and elections; violations of the Constitution, law, or Executive orders; and any other dispute of national importance.
2 The Court is composed of Five Judges.
(a) Upon the ratification of this Constitution, The Court will maintain its previous Judges, who will continue serving their terms of office.
(b) Each Judge serves a three month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(c) The Court shall select a “Senior Justice” who will be responsible for ensuring that a timely report is published for each decision made by the Court.
(i) The Senior Justice shall ensure that a timely report is published and make sure that the decision is archived.
(ii) The report shall communicate the rationale behind the decision.
(iii) Failure to publish the report is grounds for an appeal.
(iv) A Senior Justice will also preside over any hearing before the Court.
3 The Court shall come together to rule on any issue that is lawfully before it.
(a) The Court cannot act on any issue until a non-judicial citizen brings forth an Issue to the Court. Issues to the Court should be posted publicly and must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Court shall decide on its own what type of hearing it will have. It may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon citizens who are before the Court.
(c) A Quorum of at least 3 Judges must be involved in any ruling that is made. Should the Court be tied about how to rule on an issue, any non-voting Judge is to then review the case and vote.
(d) All rulings are immediately official and final until overturned by a subsequent appeal.
(e) Appeals may be granted if there are grounds to believe that an error in the application of the law has been made. Any citizen may make an application for an appeal. If at least 3 Judges agree to hear the appeal, a new hearing will be created to examine the issue.
4 The Court may issue an injunction to halt any aspect of the game for up to 72 hours if at least 2 Judges agree to do so. Injunctions may only be issued for good cause. An injunction may only be continued beyond 72 hours if a majority of the Court agrees to do so. An injunction may be overturned at any time by a majority of the Court.
5 The Court has the authority to view the poll results and/or votes cast of a contested poll for the passage of a law, decision, motion, or other Senate act; or any amendment’s ratification poll. This may be done to ensure that non-citizens did not cast votes in the poll. If it is found that a non-citizen cast a vote, that vote shall be removed from the final total.
(a) The Court may view the votes cast in a contested election upon the agreement of a majority of the Senate.
(b) In the event that the Court does view the record of who cast which votes, the Court is mandated to keep the individual identities and votes of all lawful voters private.
6 The Court shall keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court shall also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form, listing all amendments and prior laws. The Court may appoint a Clerk of the Court to keep these records.

[Togas]

Article IV. Citizens
1 Any person who has registered to participate in this Democracy Game is considered a citizen.
2 No person shall be denied the right to become a citizen.
3 No citizen shall be denied the right to vote in a poll.
4 A citizen’s vote in a poll is to remain private. No individual with admin powers shall reveal the way a citizen voted.
5 Freedom of speech shall not be denied to any citizen unless it violates Apolyton rules.
6 No one shall be banned permanently from participating in this Democracy Game, excluding those who are permanently banned from Apolyton. Temporary banning is permitted.
7 The right of association into any form of organization shall not be denied.
8 No citizen may be punished in any way without due process of law.
9 A member of the government shall not knowingly hide information or give false information to the citizens.
10 All citizens shall have access to the save.
11 No citizen shall “play ahead” or make any irreversible changes to any of the saved games.

[Togas]

Article V. Impeachment
1 Any citizen may bring the case of impeachment of an elected Minister, President, or Judge to a member of the Court.
(a) The Court shall review the allegations made, allow an answer by the accused, and by a vote of at least 3 Judges, determine if there are proper and legal grounds to hold a Removal From Office hearing. If so, the accusation will be deemed “with merit,” the accused shall be impeached (indicted), and the Court shall proceed as directed in Section 2 of this Article. If the accusations are found to be without legal merit, or if at least 3 Judges cannot find that there is merit to continue, the allegations shall be dismissed.
(b) Should a member of the Court be the subject of impeachment, he shall not take part in the decision by The Court. The Vice President shall sit in his place for the sole determination of whether the impeachment has merit, and shall be considered a “Judge” for that vote only.
2 Once Impeachment has been approved by the Court, the matter then goes to a hearing for Removal from Office of the accused.
(a) The Court shall start a thread for this purpose. The thread shall have an outline of the facts presented by the complainant and the response by the accused.
(b) The party who started the impeachment process will have a chance to elaborate on the summary and present the facts and evidence against the accused including all specific allegations.
(c) The accused shall have a chance to answer these allegations and elaborate on his defense. The accused shall have 3 days to respond once the allegations are posted by the complainant.
(d) Both parties must post their arguments for the people to see in the thread that was started by the Court for this specific purpose.
(e) After arguments are presented, the people may then debate the topic in the thread, and may request that the Court hold a public forum for arguments.
(i) This public forum will be a chat that shall be moderated by at least one member of the Court.
(ii) A public forum, if one is requested, must occur within 3 days after the impeached posts his answer to the Impeachment thread.
(f) The people shall review the case and vote for or against removal from office of the accused in a poll that shall be started by the Court at the conclusion of the thread.
(i) Should a forum chat be requested, the poll shall be started at the conclusion of the chat
(ii) The accused is not removed unless 2/3rds of those who vote in the removal poll vote to have him or her removed.
(iii) The total number of votes cast in this poll must exceed 20, or the poll shall be invalid. This matter may not be re-polled.
(iv) Abstain votes are not counted for or against impeachment.
(v) This poll shall last for 3 days.
(g) If for a valid reason the accused did not file his answer in a timely fashion, he or she will be able to make a case for filing a late answer to the Court.
(i) The Court may excuse a late filing by finding that it was with good reason.
(ii) This is the only means by which an impeachment may be reopened and re-presented to the public.
(h) No appeals of this vote can be made, except as stated in Section 2(g)
3 Impeachable offenses
(a) An official may be impeached only if he or she has violated the Constitution or a law that was in place prior to the alleged violation.
(b) The Constitution may not be amended, nor a law be passed that makes an action retroactively illegal.
4 While going through the impeachment process, the accused shall remain in control of his or her office, unless the Court has issued an injunction.
5 If the President is removed from office, the Vice President shall immediately assume his or her duties, and then appoint a replacement Vice President to serve out the remainder of the term.
6 If a Judge is removed from office, the President shall appoint a replacement who will serve out the remainder of the vacant Judge’s term. If that term is for more than 1 month, the Senate must confirm the nomination of the Judge by a majority.
7 The Court is empowered to create its own rules and procedures for impeachment hearings as necessary.
8 If the people feel that the Court has failed to lawfully impeach or find that a case is With Merit, a citizen may post a poll calling for impeachment proceedings to begin. If 2/3rd of the people vote for impeachment, the initial hearing is bypassed and the Court must proceed with an Impeachment Hearing as per Section 2.

[Togas]

Article VI. Conflict of Laws
1 This Constitution is the supreme law of Apolytonia. All citizens must follow these laws.
2 No law may be created that violates or changes the Constitution.
(a) This does not preclude Amendments, which must be passed in accordance with Article IX.
3 No Executive may make an Order that violates or changes the Constitution, or any other existing law or Judicial decision.
4 The Court shall resolve all conflicts of law. The Court’s ruling on an interpretation of law is of the same power and authority as that law.
5 If there is insufficient time for the Court to resolve a dispute of law the President may temporarily resolve the dispute so long as the Court has not already agreed to hear the issue, or has not issued an injunction.
(a) The Court may take the issue upon themselves at a later time to officially resolve any legal issue decided by the President.
6 If the dispute is between the President and a Minister, and there is insufficient time to allow the Court to resolve the dispute, the matter may be resolved by a quick poll of the citizens, then the matter may be taken up at a later time by the Court to officially resolve it.

[Togas]

Article VII. Elections
1 Elections for the President, Supreme Military Commander, Foreign Affairs Minister, and Domestic Minister shall begin on the 12th of every month.
(a) Elections shall end 72 hours later on the 15th of every month.
2 The Court shall choose one of its members to post election polls for every office.
3 The Court is empowered to oversee all elections and is empowered to resolve any election disputes.
4 All candidates for office must publicly express their candidacy before elections begin.
5 No one may be a candidate for more than one elected office.
6 If no candidate for office receives more than 50% of the vote, there shall be a run-off election held from the 15th to the 18th.
(a) The Court shall create a run-off poll with the two candidates who received the most votes.
7 Ties shall be resolved by the Court in any manner of their choosing.
8 Immediately after winning the election, the President-elect must appoint a Vice President.
(a) Any citizen who is not a Minister-elect or Judge may be appointed.
(b) The Vice Presidential Nominee must be confirmed by a majority of the Senate in a poll that shall last 3 days.
(c) The President-elect shall make all reasonable attempts to post the confirmation poll on the 15th, so that the appointed Vice President, if confirmed, can take office shortly after the start of the term. If the President-elect is subject to a run-off election, he or she shall make all reasonable attempts to post the confirmation poll on the 18th.
(d) If the Vice Presidential nominee is not confirmed by the Senate, the game shall continue without a Vice President until a Nominee can be confirmed.
9 All newly elected Ministers, the President, and Vice President (if confirmed) begin their term of office on the 18th of the month. The previous Ministers remain in control of their offices until the same date.
10 If there is no candidate for an office, the President, upon being elected must appoint someone to serve as the unelected minister. The appointed minister must be confirmed by a majority of the Senate in a poll that shall last three days.
11 In the event that there is no candidate for President, the Senate must immediately elect a President.
(a) A President so elected must immediately appoint a Vice President. The Vice President must then be confirmed by a majority of the Senate.
12 The Senate is empowered to make laws regarding elections so long as they do not conflict with the Constitution.

[Togas]

Article VIII. Enactment of this Constitution
1 This Constitution must be ratified by a 2/3rd majority of the voters in a ratification poll before taking effect.
(a) The ratification poll must be open for at least 7 days.
(b) Abstain votes are not counted for or against ratification.
2 Upon being ratified, this Constitution takes effect in part on November 12, 2002; and in full on November 18, 2002.
(a) Any portion of this constitution that addresses the election or selection of a new government takes effect on November 12.
(b) All previously elected Ministers remain in power until November 18th, when the full Constitution takes effect.
(c) All previously appointed Judges retain their positions and continue their terms uninterrupted.
3 If this new Constitution is ratified, the previous Code of Laws and all amendments and laws are hereby removed and replaced in their entirety by this Constitution on November 18th, 2002.

Article IX. Amendments
1 Amendments to this Constitution can be proposed by any citizen. An amendment is passed and made official when 2/3rds or more of the citizens who vote approve of the change to the Constitution.
(a) A poll to pass an amendment must be clear, unbiased, state the full text of the change proposed, and be open for at least 7 days.
(b) Abstain votes are not counted for or against passage.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Glad I happened to have about an hour here with the company server down to actually read through this.

Have to say: Would have been nice to have changes bolded, Italicized, or something of that sort to stand out.


I still take issue with the use of abstains as is. I feel that we could have polled on that issue alone, or something of that nature to decide what the majority would like. Perhaps that would have taken far too long, though? Is there some reason that specific issues were not polled upon, even during the initial composing?

That being stated, having a clear cut definintion of abstains will help the court, and the public in general know what they are looking at. Basically, any definition is better than none, I suppose, even if it is not to my liking.

Section VII.11 seems a bit redundant to me. Don't know if I just missed it in the first one or something, but if there is no candidate for President, how can the Senate elect one? The candidates would come out of the Senate to begin with, so obviously no one wants to do it? How can they force someone?

Still, I vote Yea, get this thing running, it is better than what we have.

[adaMada]

Unofficial Graphical Aid

This chart is not part of the New Constitution. It was created by myself, with the help of Togas and the other members of the Constitutional Convention, to help others fully understand the New Constitution. We understand that the new constitution creates a very intricate system of checks and balances, and we hope that this helps to clarify. If there are any comments, please PM them to me.

*Thank you to Locutus for putting this up so it could be displayed directly on the forums. I can't put my gratitude into words, but thank you all the same . *




-- adaMada

[Togas]

THIS POLL IS OPEN AGAIN.

Sorry for the short closure that accidentally happened. I'm posting this notice so that this poll will be topped.

Please review the New Con and vote once you have read it and (hopefully) agree that it should be ratified.

--Togas

[jdjdjd]

I decided to vote for it....all for one and one for all...kind of thing. We shouldn't have bothered, but since we did...what the h

[Kloreep]

With runoffs in, I'm definitely voting for it.