Constitution (March 2009) (Text)

Chapter 1- The nation and its people

Section 1- The Nation

Article 1: The nation shall be called "The Democratic Duchy of Francisville"

Article 2: The nation is a Duchy and constitutional monarchy and has a head of state known as the Grand Duke or the Grand Duchess.

Article 3: The Duchy reserves its national symbols as set by the administration. No person may claim them and they belong to the head of state, government and people of the nation.

Article 4- The nation uses the gregorian callender

Section 2- The right of the people

Article 5: Religion

    1. All citizens have the right to believe any religion they choose
    2. All citizens have the right to practise their religion as long as it does not attempt to destroy the religious freedom of another
    3. No person may be forced to worship any religion or contribute to any religious acts or ceremonies.

Article 6: Freedom of speech

    1. No person may be denied from expressing their opinions or views in public or parliament
    2. All citizens have the right to petition to any public authority
    3. No person may be force to say or support something which they do not wisht to.

Article 7: Equality

    1. All people are equal under the law
    2. No person with a title of nobility may be granted any special public or political privileges.
    3. No person may be discriminated against in any way or banned from any right because of race, nationality, sex, sexuality, creed, heritage, culture, religion, faith, morals, politics, ethnicity or any other reason decided by government unless otherwise mentioned in this constitution.

Article 8: Property

    1. All citizens have the right to own, keep and trade items which are legal within the nation.
    2. All items are legal except for alchohol; firearms, expolisives or any other such objects; and pornographic material
    3. Drugs are illegal unless granted for medical purposes.
    4. Other items may be outlawed by the legislation

Article 9: Political Parties

    1. Any citizen may join a legal political party
    2. Any citizen may form an illegal political party
    3. No legal politic party may be forcefully disbanded
    4. A legal part is one that corresponds to Article 39 of this constitution.

Article 10: Privacy

    1. All citizens have the right to bodily privacy.
    2. All citizens have the right to secrecy of private correspdance during its transition.
    3. All citizens have the right to privacy of personal information.

Article 11: No citizens may be denied from executing any of the rights mentioned in this constitution unless otherwise mentioned in this constitution.

Article 12: No citizen may ever be kept as a slave

Article 13: Organisation, assembly and association

    1. All citizens have the right to form any legal organisation
    2. All citizens have the right to join a legal organisation
    3. All citizens have the right to meet and assemble for legal means
    4. No person is bound to join any organisation
    5. No organisation is legally bound to take in any person and does not have to disclose any reason for their desicion.

Article 14: Illegal organisations

    1. An organisation or meeting for the purpose of destroying or damaging this constitution is illegal
    2. An organisation or meeting for the trade of illegal articles is illegal
    3. An organisation or meeting to plan or discuss the carrying out of an illegal act is illegal

Article 15: Freedom of activities

    1. All citizens have the right to perform the profession they chose
    2. Forced labour, other than community serivce, is classed as a form as slavery and in hence abolieshed.
    3. Community service is where a person selects work they wish to help the community to help the nation as a form of punishment.
    4. All citizens have the right to perform any legal activities with an hinderance.
    5. All citizens have to right to conduct research and experiments except for those decided to be illegal by law.

Article 16: Crime and Justice

    1. Every person has the right to a fair trial
    2. Every person has the right to have a judge appointed to them
    3. Every person has the right to protection in a court of law be that by themselves or by another.
    4. Every person has the right to trial by a jury of at least four persons, a constant number to be decided by law.
    5. Every person is to treated as innocent until proven to be guilty.
    6. Every person has the right to appeal against conviction
    7. Every person has the right to remain silent
    8. All witnesses have the right to keep their ideantities secret.
    9. All persons have the right to use legally obtained evidence in court.

Article 17: The act of abortion is illegal unless stated otherwise by law.

Article 18: The act of suicide by one's own hand cannot be declared illegal.

Article 19: Citizenship of the duchy does not protect a person from facing arrest or punishment for crimes committed in another country.

Section 3- A state of emergency

Article 20: A state of emergency is declared in the following situations:

    1. The citizenship of the Duchy falls below fourty citizens.
    2. At least three other nations declare war on the duchy

Article 21: During a state of emergency, power is divided as such:

    1. The power of the adminstration in vested in the Prime Minister
    2. The articles on the changing of the constitution remain the same
    3. All power not concerning or conflicting with that mentioned in the other sections of article 21, is vested in the head of state.

Chapter 2- The Head of State

Article 22: The head of state is referred to as the Grand- Duke or Grand- Dutchess.

Article 23: The head of state is the head of diplomatic relations and no international treaty comes into place without their approval.

Article 24: The head of state must approve any decleration of war made by the government but does not have the power to declare it themself.

Article 25: The head of state remains in power until their death or abdication.

Article 26: Replacement of the head of state

    1. Once the head of state leaves their position, an inviolable majority public vote is held for their replacement.
    2. The head of state must be a citizen
    3. All candidates must be a citizen of the duchy for at least four years.
    4. All candidates must never have committed a crime.

Article 27: The head of state has the power over honours and titles in the Duchy and may appoint and remove them as they please.

Article 28: The supreme power of the printing of currency and the national store of value rests with the head of state.

Article 29: Military

    1. The head of state is head of the Royal Marine Corps
    2. The head of state is head of the Ducal Naval component
    3. The head of state is able to divolve or power to another within these organisations but still remain supreme head of the organisation.

Article 30: The oath of the Grand Duke/ Duchess is as follows at the time of there coronation "I swear by the nation of Francisville, to obey and respect this constitution, my rights and responsibilities in my possition, the power of government, and the rights and freedom of the citizens."

Article 31: The power of the store of value and printing of currency can be rested with the head of state if decided by law

Article 32: The head of state has no more power than is granted by this constitution.

Chapter 3- The Power of the Legislation

Section 1- Parliament

Article 33: The parliament

    1. The passing and removal of all laws in vested in the legislation
    2. The legislative in unicameral
    3. The legislative consists of the national chamber of assembly
    4. The national chamber of assembly consists of 18 seats

Article 34: The parliament will meet a minimum of four times per year

Article 35: The parliament will only be in session with a minimum of fifty percent or above of the members of parliament present

Section 2- Elections

Article 36: Election regulations

    1. Elections for the national chamber of assembly take place every two years
    2. Elections will take place over a period of at least 24 hours
    3. Elections will be secret
    4. All those eligable to vote will have one vote each
    5. A person may not change their election decision after it has been made
    6. Elections must be secret

Article 37: Eligibility to vote

    1. Only citizens may vote
    2. A person under criminal punishment does not have the right to vote

Article 38: Voting system

    1. The voting system operates according to the principals of proportional representation
    2. The percentage of public votes a party gets in a public election equates to percentage of seats the party controls in the nation chamber of assembly.

Article 39: Eligibility to stand

    1. All legal parties may stand in an election
    2. A party which attempts to use violance to achieve its aims is illegal
    3. A party which attempts to use intimidation to achieve its aims is illegal
    4. A party which supports racist values if illegal
    5. A party which aims to destroy this constitution is illegal

Article 40: Party's seats

    1. A party may only take as many seats in parliament as they can fill with deputies.
    2. A party must fill all of their seats within two weeks after the election.
    3. A party may only fill their seats with people who were members of the party at the time of the election, and not after.
    4. A member of parliament will vacate their seat if found guilty of a crime

Section 3- Passing and removal of legislation

Article 41- The passing and removal of all legislation is done by the power of legislation

Article 42- The changing or addition to this constitution is not an act of legislation

Article 43- All members of parliament have one vote

Article 44- Proposals of legislation

    1. Proposals of legislation will consist of a simple for and against policy decision and not have various options
    2. If the vote is equal, the bill is automatically rejected
    3. Two bills on the same motion will not happen within one month of each other.
    4. Upon the passing or removal of legislation, the winning motion will be carried out immediately

Article 45- Restricted legislation

    1. Capital Punishment is hence abolished
    2. Civil death is hence abolished
    3. The legalisation of private firearms ownership is hence abolished

Chapter 4- The power of the administrative

Article 46- Appointment of the administration

    1. The administration is vested in the highest voted party in an election
    2. The administration must consist of at least fifty percent of the parliament
    3. It the highest voted party does not consist of at least fifty percent of the parliament, they must form a coalition with another with another party within the parliament to reach this number.

Article 47- Power of the administration

    1. To administrate policies and laws in the running of the nation in accordance with the legislation and constitution
    2. To run defence and policing
    3. To organise the military in accordance with the head of state's powers
    4. To run national finances
    5. To organise foreign affairs and war in accordance with the constitution, legislation and power of the head of state

Article 48- Responsibilities of the administration

    1. To organise the running of the government
    2. To keep justice
    3. To keep the constitution
    4. To organise elections, in accordance with the constitution.

Article 49- The administration is removed and a new election called if they damage of break this constitution

Articles 50- The administration is removed and a new election called if the administration are unable to sustain a majority in parliament.

Chapter 5- The Power of the Executive

Article 51- The power of the executive is known as the Prime Minister

Article 52- Appointment of the executive

    1. The executive must be a citizen
    2. The executive must never have been found guilty of a crime
    3. The executive is a member of the administration
    4. The members of the administration elect another member of the administration to act as Prime
    5. Minister.

Article 53- Removal of the executive

    1. The executive may be removed with the approval of at least fifteen members of parliament
    2. The executive may be removed by a majority public vote
    3. The executive may be removed by the head of state if they are found guilt of a crime.

Article 54- The Prime Minister will take an oath as follows; "I swear by the nation of Francisville and the Grand Duke (Grand Duchess), to obey and respect this constitution, my rights and responsibilities in my possition, the power of government, and the rights and freedom of the citizens."

Chapter 6- The Power of the Judiciary

Article 55- The judiciary consist of the civil court and the high court

Article 56- The high court deals with the following:

    1. crimes within government or legislation
    2. constitutional matters and crimes
    3. actions taken by citizens against the administration
    4. military crimes

Article 57: All cases not mentioned in article 56 are automatically brought before the civil courts

Article 58- A magistrate in the civil court may transfer a case to the high court

Article 59- Judges of the high court and magistrates of the civil court are appointed or removed by the administration.

Article 60- Eligability

    1. A Judge or magistrate must be a citizen
    2. A judge or magistrate must never have committed a crime
    3. A judge or magistrate must no support any racist beliefs

Article 61- A judge or magistrate may not lead a court case in which the acused is known to them persoanlly.

Chapter 7- The power of local authority

Section 1- Local areas

Article 62- Local area require at least 15 citizens to be formed

Article 63- For the power of local authorities to be active, a minimum of four local areas is needed

Article 64- The administration is obliged to allow the power of local authority if the criterion in article 62 and article 63 is met.

Article 65- One citizen may only be a member of one local area

Article 66- Any group of citizens may form a local area, provided that it coincides with the criterion of articles 62 to 65 of this constitution.

Section 2- Local power

Article 67- Local areas are run by local authorities

Article 68- local authorities consist of five majority elected deputies

Article 69- Local elections

    1. Local deputies serve a term or five years
    2. Local deputies are elected in a non- partisan environment
    3. A candidate which aims to use violence or intimidation, or has racist value may not stand be a local deputy
    4. A person who has committed a rime may not stand as a local deputy
    5. Any person may stand as a local deputy unless otherwise mentioned in article 69.
    6. A local authority may only run for a maximum of four months without full five deputies and may not be formed with less than five deputies
    7. If a local authority runs for more than four months without the full five deputies, a deputy may be appointed to them by the administration.

Article 70- Local authorities have the power to administrate the following:

    1. Healthcare in accordance with legislation
    2. Education in accordance with legislation
    3. social welfare and housing in accordance with legislation
    4. local crime prevention in accordance with legislation and the administration
    5. decision on members of the local areas in accordance with the administration and constitution.

Article 71: Decision of members

    1. Local members may be decided by geographical location
    2. Local members may be decided by particular work skills

Article 72- Local area membership restrictions

    1. A local area may not have its members decided by race
    2. A local area may not have its members decided by gender
    3. A local area may not have its members decided by age

Article 73- A local authority decides by vote on the way they wish their local area to be run

Article 74- Citizens may only be removed from a local area by the power of judiciary

Section 3- Local Legislative

Article 75- The assembly for the members of various local authorities is the chamber of local deputies

Article 76- The chamber of local deputies will meet at least twice a year

Articles 77- The camber of local deputies is presided over by the executive

Article 78- Objective of the chamber of local deputies

    1. The chamber observes the actions of local authorities
    2. The chamber ensures the actions of local authorities are in accordance with the law
    3. The chamber ensures the actions of local authorities are in accordance with the constitution
    4. The chamber allows the members of all local authorities to debate and talk to each other about major issues

Article 79- The chamber of local deputies has the power to vote on proposed legislation they wish to put forth to the National Assembly

Article 80- The National assembly is obliged to carry out a vote on legislation the chamber of local deputies wish to be passed, at least once.

Article 81- Each local authority is obliged to disclose all information to the administration or legislative if asked

Article 82- Local authorities may only issue taxes through legislation.

Chapter 8- Military

Article 83- The head of state is the supreme head of the military

Article 84- The military consists of the Royal Marine Corps and the Ducal Naval component at minimum

Article 85- Royal Marine Corps

    1. The head of state is the commander of state of the Royal Marine Corps
    2. The head of state appoints/ removes a Commander general to professionally run the Royal Marine Corps
    3. The Royal Marine Corps may not opperate without the commander of state and the commander general

Article 86- Ducal Naval Component

    1. The head of state is the grand admiral of the Ducal Marine Component
    2. The head of state may run the naval component themselve or appoint another to do so

Article 87- The role of the military

    1. Defense of the nation and people
    2. Defense and security of the government
    3. Defense and security of the head of state
    4. Ceremonial and patriotic duties
    5. Military exploration
    6. Conflict for reasons of defense of the nation or an allied nation

Article 88- The head of state has the full power to select and promote the various ranks of the military associations

Article 89- The administration control the national spending of the military

Article 90- The head of state may put their own funding into the military if they wish

Article 91: Restrictions

    1. The military may not be used against citizens
    2. The military may not be used against the legislation or administration
    3. The head of state has no power to declare war, but must approve declarations made by the administration
    4. The administration may stop any unconstitutional action of the military
    5. The judiciary may stop any unconstitutional act against the military by the administration

Article 92- The head of state may use their power as head of the military to declare peace or widthdraw the military from conflict whenever they wish.

Article 93- New military organisations

    1. The administration have the power to form new military organisations
    2. The head of state must approve the formation of new military organisations

Article 94- Joining the military

    1. No person who has been convicted of a crime may join the military
    2. No person with support for an illegal political party of organisation may join the military
    3. You must be a citizen to join the military
    4. The head of state has supreme control of military members

Article 95- The military may not launch any secret opperations against any person within the nation

Article 96- The actions of the military must not damage any treaty unless that treaty has already been broken by another

Chapter 9- Alteration to constitution

Article 97- The changing of chapter one

    1. The changing of chapter one takes place in two stages
    2. Stage one invovles a majority vote in the National assembly regarding whether the members wish the constitution to be changed
    3. Stage two involves an inviolable majority public vote whether the change takes place or not

Article 98- Changing of the rest of the constitution

    1. The changing of chapters two to nine takes place by the power of the legislation
    2. Two votes are required to change chapters two to nine
    3. The first vote must pass with a minimum of three quarters of the legislation in agreement
    4. The second vote is a majority vote

Article 99- In the case of a tie-break in the vote, the motion is rejected

Article 100- Public votes are secret

Article 101- Cases of the illegal changing of this constitution are dealt with by the high court

Article 102- The administration is removed and a new election called if they attempt to change the constitution illegally

Article 103- The head of state must stand down and an election recalled for their replacement called if they attempt to change this constitution illegally.

Article 104- An attempt to overthrough or removed this constitution is also considered an attempt to illegally change it.

See Also

Constitution (March 2009)

Constitution of Francisville