After much labor, I have completed our first complete copy of the constitution, with the various grammer and spelling fixes and changed one line grammaticly(article V section 1 subsection (c)), it said "An election process must be initiated by the court eight days before the end of a government position term" i changed it to "Eight days before the end of a government position term, the court must initiate an election process" this occured becouse msword doesnt like our grammer. o well here it is.![thumbs-up](https://apolyton.net/core/images/smilies/thumbs-up.gif)
Constitution of Atlantis
Article I: Bill of Rights
1. Any person who has registered to participate in this Democracy Game in the CtP Democracy Game CivGroup is considered a Citizen. No person shall be denied the right to become a Citizen.
2. No Citizen shall ever be in any poll denied the right to vote and to keep this vote private. No Citizen shall ever be forced to vote in any poll.
3. Freedom of speech and the right to associate into any form of organization shall not be denied unless it violates Apolyton rules.
4. No citizen may be punished in any way without the consent of the Court. Still no one shall be banned permanently from participating in the Democracy Game, excluding those who are permanently banned from Apolyton. Note that people may still be banned for any amount of time, as long as it is not permanent.
5. The government may not knowingly hide information or give false information to the people. Therefore all citizens shall have access to the saved games. However, no Citizen shall ever 'play ahead'.
6. No citizen may be compelled to undertake any activity without consent.
Article II: Government Positions
I. The President
(a) The President shall physically play the game on a regular and scheduled basis whenever possible and post the save and a complete report of the game events to the forum.
(b)The President is encouraged to use turn chats, turn threads, or any other similar method while playing the game.
(c) The President must follow the instructions of the Court, the Ministers and their delegates while playing the game and doesn't hold any veto powers unless specifically named in the constitution. If an instruction is clearly erroneous, or by changed circumstances made impossible or harmful the President may decide in the best interest of the game.
(d) In case of missing orders for a whole turn from a minister and all his delegates the President may only play on if at least two cabinet members and 3 other citizens are present in a turn chat.
(e) The President is in charge of naming all new cities of the empire regardless of how the cities were created or assimilated. A name has to be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II) before a city is named.
(f) The President has the power over the money reserve. Therefore every money spending decision must have the approval of the President in order to be act.
(g) The President controls what government type is used in the game, but may only change this after this has been evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
II. The Minister of Domestic Affairs
(a) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is responsible for managing all cities. Including their distribution of specialist citizens and production queues, rushed production requests and disbanding of cities.
(b) The Minister of Domestic Affairs can only disband a city after this action be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
(c) The action of Rush buy build queue items can only be perfomed with the President's approval.
(d) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is ultimately responsible for settlers, choosing site for new cities and moving these units to this site.
(e) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is in charge of all the Empire settings and sliders, including Rations, Workday, Wages, Public Works rate and Science rate.
(f) The Minister of Domestic Affairs controls research.
III. The Minister of Infrastruture and Foreign Affairs
(a) The Minister of Infrastruture and Foreign Affairs is ultimately responsible for the placement of tile improvements, choosing the best tile and the best improvement, with the current reserve of public workers.
(b) The Minister of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs is responsible for gifts, requests, exchanges and agreements with other nations. Any paying of gold has to be approved by the President.
(c) The Minister of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs can only propose a gift to another civilization or give in to a demand of tribute with the approval of the president. Disarmament treaties need the approval of the Minister of Defence.
(d) The Minister of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs controls all internal and foreign trade.
V. The Minister of Defence
(a) The Minister of Defence controls all units and their orders including the disband order, except settlers.
(b) Spending gold with the unconventional units orders has to be approved by President. Any action which would result in a declaration of war has to be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
(c) Any action which would result in a declaration of war has to be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
Article III: Judicial Branch
1. Purpose:
The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls and elections, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game.
2. Construct of the Court:
(a) The Court is composed of 3 Judges who will serve a three-month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(b) Each Judge has to be elected by the people in a separate election poll. Every month one of the Judge positions shall be open for election. This position shall be the one of the Judge who has reached the end of his term.
(c) The moment the election of a Judge position starts, shall be the moment on which the Judge who enters the last month of his term becomes the Senior Justice.
(d) Section 2(c) only applies to regular elections at the end of a Judge's term. It does not apply to elections that take place to replace impeached Judges. The replacement for an impeached Judge shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor was serving. If the Senior Justice was impeached, the new Judge shall become the Senior Justice. If another Judge was impeached, the Senior Justice shall keep his position.
(e) A Judge may not serve in other governmental posts.
3. Cases:
(a) The Court can only rule on cases filed. Any citizen, who is not a Judge, by publically notifying the Senior Justice, may file a case. This case must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Senior Justice will either accept or deny the case. If the case is denied, the Senior Justice will publicly inform the filer of the case, explaining the reason for the denial.
b.2) A denial may be appealed by the filer of the case by posting a Resolution poll. The poll must provide only two options a) "overturn case denial", b) "uphold case denial." The court must accept cases if the overturn case denial option wins by a simple majority. The court must deny the case if the "uphold case denial" option wins by a simple majority. In the event of a tie, the Senior Judge must decide whether to accept the case. No further appeal is allowed after the completion of the Resolution Poll.
(c)If the case filed deals with the constitutionality of a poll, the judges may make an immediate ruling without the use of a public hearing if all the judges agree with the ruling. The ruling may be challenged by either the owner of the thread or the person who filed the case. A public hearing will then be commenced to hear the case.
(d) Upon acceptance the Senior Justice is to open a thread with the description of the case. A public hearing will be held in that thread lasting three days unless Section 3(c) applies.
(e) After three days, the thread will be closed and the Senior Justice will organize the Court's ruling. At least two Judges must vote on any ruling that is made. All rulings are immediately official and final as soon as two Judges have voted in favour of it.
(f) The only possibility of an appeal is a Resolution poll put up by the citizen that filed the case, the respondent or by a Minister or the President. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal is voted upon. The ruling of the Court can be declared void by means of a Resolution poll.
(g) If a ruling is declared void by appeal, a new public hearing will be held in accordance with sections 3(d), 3(e) and 3(f), with the exception that the public hearing may be closed in less than three days if the Court deems this appropriate.
4. Rights and responsibilities:
(a) The Court may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon citizens who are before it, so long as such rules are in accordance with the constitution.
(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. The Court may appoint any willing citizen to be the Clerk of the Court to keep these records.
(c) If the Court rules that the actions of certain Citizens are in violation with the Constitution or other rules of Atlantis, it may hand out punishments to these Citizens if it deems this appropriate. The Court will determine for itself what kind of punishment is applied, the punishment must fit the crime. However, no punishments may permanently affect a Citizens participation in the Democracy Game, the Court may not dismiss active members of government (although it is allowed to start up impeachment procedures as described in Article V) and the Court may not alter the Constitution (although it is allowed to start an Amendment poll, as described in Article IV).
(d) Punishments the Court hands out must include but are not limited to: warnings, impeachment procedures, barring Citizens from specific or any government offices in future elections, banning Citizens from the Democracy Game, declaring resolutions void, closing threads or polls, deleting or editing posts or threads, declaring polls invalid. Punishments which require action from the CtP-Democracy Game forum moderator must be approved by this moderator, who shall offer an explanation to the Court if approval is not given.
(e) The Court may issue an injunction to halt any aspect of the game for up to 72 hours if at least two Judges agree to do so. Injunctions may only be issued for good cause. An injunction may only be continued beyond 72 hours if all three Judges agrees to do so. An injunction may be overturned at any time by a majority of the Court.
(f) The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall post election polls and nomination threads whenever they are needed, as defined in article II and article IV.
![thumbs-up](https://apolyton.net/core/images/smilies/thumbs-up.gif)
Constitution of Atlantis
Article I: Bill of Rights
1. Any person who has registered to participate in this Democracy Game in the CtP Democracy Game CivGroup is considered a Citizen. No person shall be denied the right to become a Citizen.
2. No Citizen shall ever be in any poll denied the right to vote and to keep this vote private. No Citizen shall ever be forced to vote in any poll.
3. Freedom of speech and the right to associate into any form of organization shall not be denied unless it violates Apolyton rules.
4. No citizen may be punished in any way without the consent of the Court. Still no one shall be banned permanently from participating in the Democracy Game, excluding those who are permanently banned from Apolyton. Note that people may still be banned for any amount of time, as long as it is not permanent.
5. The government may not knowingly hide information or give false information to the people. Therefore all citizens shall have access to the saved games. However, no Citizen shall ever 'play ahead'.
6. No citizen may be compelled to undertake any activity without consent.
Article II: Government Positions
I. The President
(a) The President shall physically play the game on a regular and scheduled basis whenever possible and post the save and a complete report of the game events to the forum.
(b)The President is encouraged to use turn chats, turn threads, or any other similar method while playing the game.
(c) The President must follow the instructions of the Court, the Ministers and their delegates while playing the game and doesn't hold any veto powers unless specifically named in the constitution. If an instruction is clearly erroneous, or by changed circumstances made impossible or harmful the President may decide in the best interest of the game.
(d) In case of missing orders for a whole turn from a minister and all his delegates the President may only play on if at least two cabinet members and 3 other citizens are present in a turn chat.
(e) The President is in charge of naming all new cities of the empire regardless of how the cities were created or assimilated. A name has to be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II) before a city is named.
(f) The President has the power over the money reserve. Therefore every money spending decision must have the approval of the President in order to be act.
(g) The President controls what government type is used in the game, but may only change this after this has been evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
II. The Minister of Domestic Affairs
(a) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is responsible for managing all cities. Including their distribution of specialist citizens and production queues, rushed production requests and disbanding of cities.
(b) The Minister of Domestic Affairs can only disband a city after this action be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
(c) The action of Rush buy build queue items can only be perfomed with the President's approval.
(d) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is ultimately responsible for settlers, choosing site for new cities and moving these units to this site.
(e) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is in charge of all the Empire settings and sliders, including Rations, Workday, Wages, Public Works rate and Science rate.
(f) The Minister of Domestic Affairs controls research.
III. The Minister of Infrastruture and Foreign Affairs
(a) The Minister of Infrastruture and Foreign Affairs is ultimately responsible for the placement of tile improvements, choosing the best tile and the best improvement, with the current reserve of public workers.
(b) The Minister of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs is responsible for gifts, requests, exchanges and agreements with other nations. Any paying of gold has to be approved by the President.
(c) The Minister of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs can only propose a gift to another civilization or give in to a demand of tribute with the approval of the president. Disarmament treaties need the approval of the Minister of Defence.
(d) The Minister of Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs controls all internal and foreign trade.
V. The Minister of Defence
(a) The Minister of Defence controls all units and their orders including the disband order, except settlers.
(b) Spending gold with the unconventional units orders has to be approved by President. Any action which would result in a declaration of war has to be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
(c) Any action which would result in a declaration of war has to be evaluated by the citizens through an Official Poll (article IV, section 3-II).
Article III: Judicial Branch
1. Purpose:
The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls and elections, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game.
2. Construct of the Court:
(a) The Court is composed of 3 Judges who will serve a three-month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(b) Each Judge has to be elected by the people in a separate election poll. Every month one of the Judge positions shall be open for election. This position shall be the one of the Judge who has reached the end of his term.
(c) The moment the election of a Judge position starts, shall be the moment on which the Judge who enters the last month of his term becomes the Senior Justice.
(d) Section 2(c) only applies to regular elections at the end of a Judge's term. It does not apply to elections that take place to replace impeached Judges. The replacement for an impeached Judge shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor was serving. If the Senior Justice was impeached, the new Judge shall become the Senior Justice. If another Judge was impeached, the Senior Justice shall keep his position.
(e) A Judge may not serve in other governmental posts.
3. Cases:
(a) The Court can only rule on cases filed. Any citizen, who is not a Judge, by publically notifying the Senior Justice, may file a case. This case must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Senior Justice will either accept or deny the case. If the case is denied, the Senior Justice will publicly inform the filer of the case, explaining the reason for the denial.
b.2) A denial may be appealed by the filer of the case by posting a Resolution poll. The poll must provide only two options a) "overturn case denial", b) "uphold case denial." The court must accept cases if the overturn case denial option wins by a simple majority. The court must deny the case if the "uphold case denial" option wins by a simple majority. In the event of a tie, the Senior Judge must decide whether to accept the case. No further appeal is allowed after the completion of the Resolution Poll.
(c)If the case filed deals with the constitutionality of a poll, the judges may make an immediate ruling without the use of a public hearing if all the judges agree with the ruling. The ruling may be challenged by either the owner of the thread or the person who filed the case. A public hearing will then be commenced to hear the case.
(d) Upon acceptance the Senior Justice is to open a thread with the description of the case. A public hearing will be held in that thread lasting three days unless Section 3(c) applies.
(e) After three days, the thread will be closed and the Senior Justice will organize the Court's ruling. At least two Judges must vote on any ruling that is made. All rulings are immediately official and final as soon as two Judges have voted in favour of it.
(f) The only possibility of an appeal is a Resolution poll put up by the citizen that filed the case, the respondent or by a Minister or the President. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal is voted upon. The ruling of the Court can be declared void by means of a Resolution poll.
(g) If a ruling is declared void by appeal, a new public hearing will be held in accordance with sections 3(d), 3(e) and 3(f), with the exception that the public hearing may be closed in less than three days if the Court deems this appropriate.
4. Rights and responsibilities:
(a) The Court may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon citizens who are before it, so long as such rules are in accordance with the constitution.
(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. The Court may appoint any willing citizen to be the Clerk of the Court to keep these records.
(c) If the Court rules that the actions of certain Citizens are in violation with the Constitution or other rules of Atlantis, it may hand out punishments to these Citizens if it deems this appropriate. The Court will determine for itself what kind of punishment is applied, the punishment must fit the crime. However, no punishments may permanently affect a Citizens participation in the Democracy Game, the Court may not dismiss active members of government (although it is allowed to start up impeachment procedures as described in Article V) and the Court may not alter the Constitution (although it is allowed to start an Amendment poll, as described in Article IV).
(d) Punishments the Court hands out must include but are not limited to: warnings, impeachment procedures, barring Citizens from specific or any government offices in future elections, banning Citizens from the Democracy Game, declaring resolutions void, closing threads or polls, deleting or editing posts or threads, declaring polls invalid. Punishments which require action from the CtP-Democracy Game forum moderator must be approved by this moderator, who shall offer an explanation to the Court if approval is not given.
(e) The Court may issue an injunction to halt any aspect of the game for up to 72 hours if at least two Judges agree to do so. Injunctions may only be issued for good cause. An injunction may only be continued beyond 72 hours if all three Judges agrees to do so. An injunction may be overturned at any time by a majority of the Court.
(f) The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall post election polls and nomination threads whenever they are needed, as defined in article II and article IV.
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