A Cooperative Constitutional Proposal

Library of Gnidrah The East Pacific Archive Kelssek Legislative Records
1

Just an idea that I had once… think of the People’s Republic of the Pacific’s legislature with the South Pacific’s delegate selection system.

Additions are in red, abbrogations are stricken

— Begin quote from ____

Constitution of the East Pacifican Confederation

Preamble
Whereas the East Pacific is founded upon principles that recognise the importance of freedom and the rule of law:

Title I: On Sovereignty and the Rights of Citizens

Article 1

§1 The East Pacifican Confederation shall be the sole sovereign government of the East Pacific (hereafter referred to as ‘the region’) and the full successor government to all former regimes in the East Pacific.

§2 The East Pacifican Confederation (hereafter referred to as ‘the Confederation) shall be a democratic republic.  It shall base itself on the principle of government of, for, and by the people.

§3 The Confederation shall remain neutral in affairs outside of its sovereign space and shall take part in no alliance that might threaten this neutrality.

Article 2
The Confederation shall award full citizenship to any nation expressing a desire to do so, having been a Resident of the region for a week three days, having posted the forum in which the entities of the Confederation reside, and having declared their allegiance to this Constitution and East Pacifican Law.  Citizens of the Confederation shall be East Pacificans before any other allegiance.

Article 3
Honorary citizenship may also be awarded from time to time unto foreign citizens having done great works in or having contributed to the life of the East Pacific.  Such honorary citizenship, which shall be awarded at the discretion of the UN Delegate and confirmed by the majority of the legislature, carries all the rights and responsibilities of regular citizenship.

Article 3

§1 Sovereignty and the right of self-determination of all Nations shall be respected.  This shall include, but shall not be limited to the freedom of expression , the freedom of association, the freedom of conscience, and the freedom of equal protection under law and a Nation’s control over their Endorsement power.

§2 No Nation being tried under East Pacifican Law shall be punished for a crime in a manner not prescribed by this Constitution or East Pacifican Law, be twice tried for the same offence, or be made to in any criminal case be a witness against itself.  The accused shall have a public trial before a neutral and impartial court of judicial officers and presumed innocent unless reasonably certain evidence proves guilt. Any counsel may represent the accused.

§3 Each Citizen of the Confederation shall be entitled to a vote elect representatives and participate in referendums according to as provided for by East Pacifican Law and this Constitution.  Each Citizen shall be entitled to equal treatment and protection of his or her right to vote.

§4 No entity of the Confederation shall have the power to suspend or disregard this Constitution or East Pacifican Law.  At the will of the citizens of this region, stated in a petition of a absolute simple majority of their number, the legislature, executive, or judiciary shall be dissolved, a measure in the legislature shall be called to a referendum, or this constitution shall be amended.  These decisions shall be as legally binding as if they had been voted in as legislature.

Title II: The United Nations Delegacy

Article 4
The United Nations Delegate shall be required to abide by this Constitution and East Pacifican Law.  In return, he or she will act as the head of state and government of the Confederation.  As such, the Delegate should represent the whole of the region and shall not act in any other capacity within the region or elsewhere whilst United Nations Delegate.

Article 5

§1 Residents of the East Pacific that are members of the United Nations shall select the United Nations Delegate via in-game endorsement.

§2 A clear formula shall be established for whomever has been a citizen of the Region for 30 days to declare his or her desire to become the United Nations Delegate and an official time period for the candidate to attain the necessary endorsements.

§3 The judiciary shall act as the arbiter of succession.  Any candidate who has met the minimum criteria set forth in this constitution and garnered the necessary endorsements shall be recognised by the judiciary as a successor to the incumbent.

Article 7
The actions of the Delegate regarding ejections and banning shall be subject to review by the judiciary, who may compel the Delegate to change a ruling by suspending his Forum powers.  However, the responsibility shall ultimately be that of the Residents of the East Pacific, by the power vested in them in aforementioned articles of this Constitution, to take electoral action against a Delegate that has committed an infraction.

Article 6
The Delegate shall have the power of ejection and banningfor the purpose of retaining control of the region outside of a campaign for the United Nations Delegacy and enforcing the rulings of the judiciary, as well as the power to issue executive orders to carry out the collective will of the Confederation, that are subject to the approval of the legislature.

Article 7
At the beginning of his or her term of office and at least once per year, the Delegate shall give a address to the Region as to the state of the Confederation and outline the government’s plans of action in various areas.  This address will be given to the Congress and posted in the Regional Message Board.

— End quote

Title III: The Legislature

Article 8
The legislature shall be known as the East Pacifican Congress (hereafter referred to as ‘the Congress’).

Article 9
The Congress shall be comprised of 1 congressperson for every 200 residents of the region.  They shall be elected by a majority vote of citizens from constituencies based on letter.  The minimum number of congresspersons shall be 5 persons; the maximum shall be 15 persons.  The Congress shall sit for 75 days, and then it will be dissolved for new elections.  The first five constituencies shall be defined as representing letters #-C, D-G, H-L, M-R, and S-Z.  The number and definition of these constituencies may only adjusted by subsequent law 5 citizen-elected congresspersons.  These 5 persons shall be elected on a preferential ballot of interested parties every 75 days.

Article 10
The minimum number of votes to pass a measure in the Congress shall be an absolute majority of yeas over noes.

Article 11
The Congress shall elect a Speaker to oversee the voting and ensure that the Congress runs as closely as possible to Rules of Order.

Article 12
Before becoming law, a measure must be approved by the judiciary as constitutionally valid.  A 3/5 majority may overturn the judiciary’s decision that a law is not constitutionally valid.

Article 13
The Congress shall maintain an organised list of acting statutes that shall constitute the entirety of East Pacifican Law.  New legislation shall automatically override previous legislation.

Article 14
The Congress shall give notice of all new laws in the Regional Message Board and in the appropriate news section of the offsite forum.

Title IV: The Directorate

Article 15
The Directorate shall be an entity charged with the administration of the region, its forum, its security, and its cultural projects.

Article 16
The Departments comprising the Directorate shall be created by legislation in the Congress. The Directors shall be nominated by the Delegate and approved by the Congress be comprised of Congresspersons selected to perform said duties or Congressionally-approved individuals.  The Directorate shall, as such, dissolve with the Congress.

Title V: The Judiciary

Article 17
The judiciary of the East Pacifican Confederation shall be the East Pacifican Supreme Court of Justice (hereafter referred to as ‘the Supreme Court’).

Article 18
The Supreme Court shall be comprised of three Justices, who shall, by majority vote, decide on infractions of East Pacifican Law and rule on the constitutionality of laws , executive decress, and government policy.

Article 19
The Congress United Nations Delegate shall electappoint Justices for a term of 150 days.    This appointment shall be confirmed by a 3/5 majority of the Congress.  Their decision may be vetoed by the Delegate, but may be overridden by a 3/5 majority of the Congress voting in favour  For the duration of this appointment, Justices may not serve as a Congressperson or as the United Nations Delegate

[s]Title VI: Forum Affairs

Article 20
The entities of the Confederation shall choose a forum in which to reside.  The Forum Administrator shall be a citizen of the Confederation chosen by and answerable to the Congress.  All of the Forum Administrator’s actions shall be subject to the Congress’ review.

Article 21
The Forums Administrator shall be answerable for the actions of his or her Moderators whom he or she shall choose from among the citizens of the Confederation to serve at his or her pleasure.

Article 21
As long as any one person should remain the Forum Administrator, he or she shall not act in any other capacity within the Confederation.[/s]

[s]Title VII: Amending this Constitution

Article 22
This Constitution may be amended by a majority of 4/5 of the Congress voting in favour, as well as an absolute majority approval of the measure by a referendum of citizens.[/s]

2

I was hoping that others would respond to this first because I am afraid that legal matters are my weakest point, but in the absence of anyone else I will try.

— Begin quote from ____

2 The East Pacifican Confederation (hereafter referred to as ‘the Confederation) shall be a democratic, secular, and social republic.  It shall base itself on the principle of government of, for, and by the people.

— End quote

Is this neccessary? I support it being democratic, but why secular or social?

— Begin quote from ____

§3 The Confederation shall remain neutral in affairs outside of its sovereign space and shall take part in no alliance that might threaten this neutrality.

— End quote

I understand the no alliances, but I think that always being neutral is just dull and weakens our international standing.

— Begin quote from ____

Article 2
The Confederation shall award full citizenship to any nation expressing a desire to do so, having been a Resident of the region for a week three days, having posted the forum in which the entities of the Confederation reside, and having declared their allegiance to this Constitution and East Pacifican Law.  Citizens of the Confederation shall be East Pacificans before any other allegiance.

Article 3
Honorary citizenship may also be awarded from time to time unto foreign citizens having done great works in or having contributed to the life of the East Pacific.  Such honorary citizenship, which shall be awarded at the discretion of the UN Delegate and confirmed by the majority of the legislature, carries all the rights and responsibilities of regular citizenship.

— End quote

Is Article 3 really significant to warrant a full paragraph?

— Begin quote from ____

Article 3

§1 Sovereignty and the right of self-determination of all Nations shall be respected.  This shall include, but shall not be limited to the freedom of expression and a Nation’s control over their Endorsement power.

§2 No Nation being tried under East Pacifican Law shall be punished for a crime in a manner not prescribed by this Constitution or East Pacifican Law, be twice tried for the same offence, or be made to in any criminal case be a witness against itself.  The accused shall have a public trial before a neutral and impartial court of judicial officers and presumed innocent unless reasonably certain evidence proves guilt. Any counsel may represent the accused.

§3 Each Citizen of the Confederation shall be entitled to a vote elect representatives and participate in referendums according to as provided for by East Pacifican Law and this Constitution.  Each Citizen shall be entitled to equal treatment and protection of his or her right to vote.

§4 No entity of the Confederation shall have the power to suspend or disregard this Constitution or East Pacifican Law.  At the will of the citizens of this region, stated in a petition of a absolute simple majority of their number, the legislature, executive, or judiciary shall be dissolved, a measure in the legislature shall be called to a referendum, or this constitution shall be amended.  These decisions shall be as legally binding as if they had been voted in as legislature.

— End quote

I basically agree with this, although the wording does get rather awkward.

— Begin quote from ____

Title II: The United Nations Delegacy

Article 4
The United Nations Delegate shall be required to abide by this Constitution and East Pacifican Law.  In return, he or she will act as the head of state and government of the Confederation.  As such, the Delegate should represent the whole of the region and shall not act in any other capacity within the region or elsewhere whilst United Nations Delegate.

Article 5

§1 Residents of the East Pacific that are members of the United Nations shall select the United Nations Delegate via in-game endorsement.

§2 A clear formula shall be established for a candidate to declare his or her desire to become the United Nations Delegate and an official time period for the candidate to attain the necessary endorsements.

§3 Any candidate who has met the minimum criteria set forth in this constitution and garnered the necessary endorsements shall be recognised by the legislature as a successor to the incumbent.

Article 7
The actions of the Delegate regarding ejections and banning shall be subject to review by the judiciary, who may compel the Delegate to change a ruling by suspending his Forum powers.  However, the responsibility shall ultimately be that of the Residents of the East Pacific, by the power vested in them in aforementioned articles of this Constitution, to take electoral action against a Delegate that has committed an infraction.

Article 6
The Delegate shall have the power of ejection and banning, as well as the power to issue executive orders to carry out the collective will of the Confederation, that are subject to the approval of the legislature.

Article 7
At the beginning of his or her term of office and at least once per year, the Delegate shall give a address to the Region as to the state of the Confederation and outline the government’s plans of action in various areas.  This address will be given to the Congress and posted in the Regional Message Board.

— End quote

No real objections here, but it isn’t really all that different than what we have here.

— Begin quote from ____

Title III: The Legislature

Article 8
The legislature shall be known as the East Pacifican Congress (hereafter referred to as ‘the Congress’).

Article 9
The Congress shall be comprised of 1 congressperson for every 200 residents of the region.  They shall be elected by a majority vote of citizens from constituencies based on letter.  The minimum number of congresspersons shall be 5 persons; the maximum shall be 15 persons.  The Congress shall sit for 75 days, and then it will be dissolved for new elections.  The first five constituencies shall be defined as representing letters #-C, D-G, H-L, M-R, and S-Z.  The number and definition of these constituencies may only adjusted by subsequent law 5 citizen-elected congresspersons.  These 5 persons shall be elected on a preferential ballot of interested parties every 75 days.

— End quote

This seems unneccessary, and I really doubt whether we really have enough people to do this or whether it is even at all practical.

— Begin quote from ____

Article 10
The minimum number of votes to pass a measure in the Congress shall be an absolute majority of yeas over noes.

Article 11
The Congress shall elect a Speaker to oversee the voting and ensure that the Congress runs as closely as possible to Rules of Order.

Article 12
Before becoming law, a measure must be approved by the judiciary as constitutionally valid.  A 3/5 majority may overturn the judiciary’s decision that a law is not constitutionally valid.

Article 13
The Congress shall maintain an organised list of acting statutes that shall constitute the entirety of East Pacifican Law.  New legislation shall automatically override previous legislation.

Article 14
The Congress shall give notice of all new laws in the Regional Message Board and in the appropriate news section of the offsite forum.

— End quote

Fine.

— Begin quote from ____

Title IV: The Directorate

Article 15
The Directorate shall be an entity charged with the administration of the region, its security, and its cultural projects.

Article 16
The Departments comprising the Directorate shall be created by legislation in the Congress. The Directors shall be nominated by the Delegate and approved by the Congress be comprised of Congresspersons selected to perform said duties.  The Directorate shall, as such, dissolve with the Congress.

— End quote

A cabinet! Wow. An organized central government, something I never thought I would see here. But do we really have enough people to do all these? Our Congress would effectively double as our Directorate.

— Begin quote from ____

Title V: The Judiciary

Article 17
The judiciary of the East Pacifican Confederation shall be the East Pacifican Supreme Court of Justice (hereafter referred to as ‘the Supreme Court’).

Article 18
The Supreme Court shall be comprised of three Justices, who shall, by majority vote, decide on infractions of East Pacifican Law and rule on the constitutionality of laws.

Article 19
The Congress United Nations Delegate shall electappoint Justices for a term of 150 days.    This appointment shall be confirmed by a 3/5 majority of the Congress.  Their decision may be vetoed by the Delegate, but may be overridden by a 3/5 majority of the Congress voting in favour.

— End quote

Basically the same lack of wo/manpower.

— Begin quote from ____

Title VI: Forum Affairs

Article 19
The entities of the Confederation shall choose a forum in which to reside.  The Forum Administrator shall be a citizen of the Confederation chosen by and answerable to the Congress.  All of the Forum Administrator’s actions shall be subject to the Congress’ review.

Article 20
The Forums Administrator shall be answerable for the actions of his or her Moderators whom he or she shall choose from among the citizens of the Confederation to serve at his or her pleasure.

Article 21
As long as any one person should remain the Forum Administrator, he or she shall not act in any other capacity within the Confederation.

— End quote

I’m not sure about Article 21, does this stop forum admins being in the government? If it does, then it shouldn’t.

— Begin quote from ____

[s]Title VII: Amending this Constitution

Article 22
This Constitution may be amended by a majority of 4/5 of the Congress voting in favour, as well as an absolute majority approval of the measure by a referendum of citizens.[/s]

— End quote

Fine.

Well, the main problems seem to be that it is not radically different, or really all that different at all. Also, I doubt we have enough wo/manpower to fill even half these positions.

Please reply.

3

Under my proposal, we should have nine separate people (5 congressmen/ministers, 3 justices, and a delegate), but only technically 6, since I forgot to put that justices can only be justices… (oops)

Also, please take note that the struck-through stuff are no longer a part of the constitution and are there so you can see what we had before. Red, conversely, is stuff that I added based on recommendations.

TITLE I, ARTICLE 1, §2

About secular and social…ist, that was mostly a joke to see if anyone was paying attention. :smiley:

TITLE I, ARTICLE 1, §3

Neutrality has been the order of the day in the East Pacific for a long time, so I thought it should be duly codified.

TITLE I, ARTICLE 3

This article provides some pretty heavy-duty rights. On a side note, §1 needs to have the rights to assembly and some other things added to it. :smiley:

TITLE II, ARTICLES 4-7

The Delegate selection process, in my opinion, is fundamentaly different under my proposed government. Under this new system, anyone that promises to abide by the constitution can run for the delegacy and endo-tart to their hearts content.

TITLE V, ARTICLE 19

— Begin quote from ____

The United Nations Delegate shall appoint Justices for a term of 150 days.    This appointment shall be confirmed by a 3/5 majority of the Congress.  Their decision may be vetoed by the Delegate, but may be overridden by a 3/5 majority of the Congress voting in favour.

— End quote

I just noticed that is is redundant, by the way. So, strike the last sentance

OLD ARITCLES 21 and 22

No longer exist. :smiley: On a side note, the constitution can be amended by a citizen’s-initiative referendum as prescribed in TITLE I, ARTICLE 3, §4.

4

Sorry for the double post, but I noticed a way to cut out the forum affairs section. The judiciary has the right to rule on the constitutionality of government policy. So, if I put the forum administrator firmly within the Directorate, the bit about the responsibility of the administrator is redundant.

What do you think?

EDIT: I went ahead and did it. :smiley:

5

The long history of unknown delegates abusing their powers, while dampened by Influence, suggests that absolute freedom of delegate elections is dangerous. Remember, a delegate wields absolute control over the in-game region. Such power is not to be taken lightly. Some manner of citizenship, or even government experience, should be required before one can seek the Delegacy.

That said, Gnid’s experience of late has demonstrated how easily a single person, however dedicated or competant, can be crippled by real-life issues, illness, or simple disconnectedness. Internet things are always a secondary priority. Therefore, there needs to be some means of lawfully replacing a Delegate.

6

Would it be sufficent to simply require that a Delegate be a citizen or should it be a longer period of residency/citizenship?

Also, what’s the best way to avoid influence issues? Should I add a clause discussing endo-caps? Something like this perhaps to add to Article 6

— Begin quote from ____

The United Nations Delegate shall have the power of ejection and banning for the purpose of retaining control of the region outside of a campaign for the United Nations Delegacy and enforcing the rulings of the judiciary, as well as the power to issue executive orders to carry out the collective will of the Confederation, that are subject to the approval of the legislature.

— End quote

7

— Begin quote from ____

Would it be sufficent to simply require that a Delegate be a citizen or should it be a longer period of residency/citizenship?

— End quote

The latter. The Delegate seeks absolute control over the state. He/she should be at least moderately familiar with it.

Non-qualified Delegate candidates should be clamped down on in the strongest way possible. The Delegacy should not be something that nations can automatically expect to attain.

8

See Articles 5 and 6 for modifications.

9

I’m not particularly digging the sections 1&2 in Article 1.

1, because it infringes upon the independence of the member governments, and further still infringes upon the definition ‘confederation’. A confederation is a group of sovereign (Or at least ‘semi-sovereign’ states, with a central government where each state has an equal say, and wherein there is no such absolute power as the Delegate wields herein.

2, this infringes upon the member states, as it would be better written as a representative democracy, or more truthfully, a member-state democracy, meaning that the sovereign governments of the member states would send their own representative, decided by their own methods.

3, the Confederation’s ability to ally outside of its ‘sovereign space’ should not exist at all, as that is something that the member states should be able to ally as they see fit.

In closing, we don’t need a federalized, regional over-government which functions as a federalized United Nations, and which has heavy potential to infringe upon its member’s national rights.

Realistically, and ICly, it would not work. It’d also have the potential to create a cold war between member states and non-member states within the region, further still, it would threaten the sovereignty of the member nations if they don’t -all- have a representative within the legislative body.

10

Functionally, the Charter/Constitution, the regional government, and offices thereof are OOC entities. It is assumed that the player is represented as a Citizen of the region, not the (IC) citizens of the nations involved.

11

It’s good to see at least a few of you are discussing this.

What happened to all that momentum? Surely I wasn’t the only one that felt it?

stokes the coals to produce a flame about 3ft high
Do I need to light a fire under TEP’s collective butt? https://groups.tapatalk-cdn.com/smilies/52127/1536592180.5087-smiley.gif?ttinline=true

12

— Begin quote from ____

Functionally, the Charter/Constitution, the regional government, and offices thereof are OOC entities. It is assumed that the player is represented as a Citizen of the region, not the (IC) citizens of the nations involved.

— End quote

Needs to be specified, within writing, as such. Because in all seriousness, if it did have any IC functionality, it would be greatly venomized as it currently is, and as I said, possibly cause civil war.

13

Warr’s POV is extremely interesting for me. It’s never occurred to me that the regional government would be drawn in to any of the RP in the region. I suppose that’s because the Regional governments developed as a sort of separate, self-contained RP in and of themselves.

Because of TEP’s deep involvement in RP, Warr makes a very good point about being explicit in what “realm” a regional government exists and funcions. How one might go about doing that, I don’t know. It will be something unique to TEP AFAIK. Most feeders don’t face this problem because what little NS-National RP exists is a sort of extra-curricular activity outside the regional government which is the focus of the region. The reverse is true in TEP.

Watching this develop will be most interesting. I hope there is lots of input.

14

I think including RP in our government would be an excellent idea, it would make our government more unique and be an attraction to our region.

Any input from anyone else? Gnidrah?

15

Have a look at the way the Merit mixed RP with government.

16

I’m all for an RP component to Government as I’ve used the “Confederated East Pacific,” especially the Regional Court, as a quasi-UN/Int’l Court of Justice in my RP. How about we change some of the language (citizen -> member state) so that it’s valid for IC or OoC and so that it gives the new government the feel of a supranational organization rather than a government?

On that note, some of the language on the definition of the confederation and the rights of citizens needs to be changed to allow for IC national sovereignty.

17

IC governments are a good idea for RP-heavy regions because they have a lot more appeal to the sort of people who like RP, and there are no inconsistencies.

The downside of more widespread ICness is that the distinction between IC characters and OOC users gets blurred. The Meritocracy spectacularly collapsed because certain members couldn’t distinguish between their roleplayed characters (who were violently opposed to one another) and their actual selves (who were supposed to cooperate to uphold the Meritocracy). There still needs to be a clearly defined line between the two. What you’re proposing is to move that line.

18

We could make that the job of the RP Administrator to make sure that everyone knows! :stuck_out_tongue:

Seriously, though, we could put language in the charter that emphasizes unity before the NS global community and a thread that explains the difference between OoC and IC…

(I really don’t have a good answer)

19

Hell I am good with what ever Dov suggests so far it all seems pretty good to me.
but I am just the treasonous Cur lol.
We do need a major overhaul and a full on recruiting program to get folk in here and staying while not disillusioning the oldbies.

20

At risk of sounding cynical and resistant to change, we are all dead wrong if we think there’ll suddenly be a huge increase in activity by changing the constitution. In fact, I highly doubt it’ll have any effect on activity. Furthermore, I think rumours of the EP’s demise are exaggerated. I don’t know where the idea that the EP is “dying” come from, since to me the activity level has more or less been where it was since I first came here in 2004, and even if it was dropping off how can we possibly expect the excitement (don’t mind the sarcasm there) of a rewritten constitution to increase it? What about a constitutional change is going to attract new people if they aren’t flocking here already?

To me it’s all window dressing. If there’s a problem, this is not going to solve it. What I see is just change for the sake of it and I think it’s wholly unnecessary. Is it so impossible to recruit and encourage people to just come here under the current framework?

Alright now.

I have always seen the IC regional government as more of like the AU or ASEAN - a grouping of nations that happen to be in the same geographical area. It’s a vehicle for international cooperation, and little more. I am of the very strong view that it should stay that way, and not create a sort of EU, or even a regional UN.

To me, ICly it’s a bunch of diplomats from a bunch of countries in geographical proximity to each other, sent to an island to internationally cooperate. In my opinion that’s all it is and that’s all it should be. National sovereignty shouldn’t even need to be an issue in Rillanon.