NationStates Jolt Archive

Drafted on this fifteenth day of September, 1481, by the Temporary Congress of the Reformed Alcardian States, and chaired by Nicholas Everdale, President of Reformed Alcardia, this Constitution shall set forth the rules, freedoms, and regional bans that have been developed to maintain structure and order in our most loved of societies. Henceforth the following shall be set into law to govern all nations equally:

The Freedoms of State

I. Freedom shall be granted to question leaders of any member nation, and to question the regional U.N. Delegate of the RAS without fear of consequence.


Peaceful gathering and petitioning against a national leader is defended by international and RAS law so long as no property or persons are injured.
Detainment of peaceful protesters or activists willresult in financial penalties inflicted upon the nation in question.
If a protester is arrested or otherwise detained, valid, conclusive reason must be given as to the nature of the detainment as unrelated to protests.


II. Freedom shall be granted to operate conglomerates of business both intra- and internationally without oppressive taxes being levied.


In times of war, by popular majority petition of RAS members, small taxes may be levied on corporations for the welfare of all nations.
Any wartime taxation is to be dissolved following a signed declaration of peace or other non-war conditions.


III. Freedom of international travel and migration without taxes levied upon the moving parties or discouragement from moving.


A citizen may be barred from travel if he/she is standing trial for an offense or is scheduled to appear in defense before a government committee.
Individual nations reserve the right to accept or decline petitions of asylum from any member of any world nation.


IV. Freedom to maintain national neutrality in times of war involving a member nation of the RAS.


If more than one RAS member nation becomes involved in the same conflict, the Article V is waived and RAS member nations must join in an alliance against the common enemy.
Article V, Title A is declared void if the RAS member nation at war initiated the war on false grounds or for reasons violating the RAS Constitution.


V. Freedom of nations to plead national or international legal issues to the International Incidents Nationstates Forum (henceforth referred to as the World Courts), where these pleadings shall be heard justly by an unbiased panel of diplomatically neutral world leaders.


If the world courts decide against the nation in question, the issue will no longer be up for debate.


VI. Freedom to hold monthly elections for Regional U.N. Delegate, or as needed by petition of the majority of the RAS member nations, to replace the current U.N. Delegate.


Elections for U.N. Delegate will be held on the 15th of every month. Campaigning will officially begin one week before election day, on the 8th of every month.
A strict term limit of two consecutive months is to be enforced upon all U.N. Delegates
U.N. Delegates must discuss with the entirety of RAS members before voting for or against any U.N. Resolution.
A U.N. Delegate may be recalled from office by a majority vote of RAS members. The recall must first be certified by the world courts.


VII. Freedom of all citizens to trial by federal inquisition by a panel of judges, and of one appeal to the world courts referenced in Article VII.


Individual nations may set forth in their repsective Constitutions to admit other forms of trial law, so long as it is unbiased and not in violation of human rights or the standards of common law.
Trial judges are to be appointed by the leaders of each nation to serve only within their nation.
Cases of international criminal or civil law are directly sent to the world courts.


VIII. Freedom of individual nations to enter into treaties and international alliance and trade pacts without interference of other member nations.


Any treaties entered into by member nations must not violate the RAS Constitution. Any treaties found unconstitutional will be dissolved.
At any time, a petition of the majority of RAS members may take place to review and/or remove a treaty or alliance from effect.


IX. Freedom of all nations to create and ratify national Constitutions, and to amend by petition of the majority of RAS member nations the regional Constitution.


At no time will a national Constitution take jurisdiction over the RAS Constitution.
National Constitutions must be verified against the RAS Constitution as to their validity and legality.


X. Freedom shall be granted to every individual to worship as they please without interference from the nation or region in matters of the Church.


Intermingling of Church and State in any matters of government will be declared unconstitutional and the executors of these acts or laws punished.
At no time will any emblem of religion, or of the Church, be present in a state or national building, or upon the grounds thereof.


XI. Freedom of a citizen to marry another citizen of any gender, and of a citizen to legally give consent to relations at the age of fourteen.


Individual RAS member nations reserve the right to declare individual consent ages in their respective national Constitutions.
Individual RAS member nations reserve the right to declare, through decision of their respective legislatures and executive bodies, gender requirements for marriage.


XII. Freedom for RAS member nations to reject United Nations proposals based on a majority judgement of their independent national legislatures.

If all nations wish to reject the passed United Nations resolution, a unanimous vote must be obtained of all member nations to reject this resolution. It will then be nullified by the RAS as a whole.
U.N. resolutions found to be in direct opposition of the RAS Constitution are to be nullified automatically without petition vote of the RAS member nations.


Bans of the State

I. Banning all materials or relics, insignias or party logos of the Alcardian Revolutionary Party or of Arden Rana or the Rana Empire from public display except in national historic archives.
II. Banning the use, trading, sale, or otherwise dealing of the following:


HM-class weaponry
Biological and Chemical weaponry
Weapons of torture


Under circumstance of war or necessary use, Article II may be overridden by a 3/4ths majority of the nations to use the weapons banned. A vote must be held for each requested use of a banned weapon.
If 3/4 of the nations agree to suspend voting-per-use, the nation which requested use of said weapons may use them for a specified period of time, to be decided by the member nations.


III. Banning the creation and use of internment camps which violate, knowingly or unknowingly, the basic human rights and dignities of any human being.
IV. Banning the formation or preservation of a single party represented in national and regional congress.
V. Banning selling of weapons to known terrorist states or states in knowing violation of human rights and dignities.
VI. Banning the conquest, destruction, or conversion of member nations by other member nations.
VII. Banning false or flagrantly propagandist media from public presentation for any purpose, private or public.
VIII. Banning the removal of member nations without a majority petition of RAS member nations and probable cause for action.
IX. Banning the entry into regional war by the U.N. Delegate without a majority petition by RAS member nations.

RAS member nations, please post on this thread, highlighting any sections you wish to strike, amend, or portions which you wish to add. Please specify which action to take at the beginning of the message, and make sure that your message is understandable and to the point. After all member nations have come to agreement, or to a time when a majority ofmember nations of the RAS have agreed on the Constitution as it stands after amendment, it will be adopted and reposted.

II. Banning of the use of HM-class weapons of mass destruction in production, research, development, detonation, or sale henceforth.

I move to keep the HM-class weapons available to use in the direst of situations, with the right to use voted on by the original 5 members of the RAS.

II. Banning of the use of HM-class weapons of mass destruction in production, research, development, detonation, or sale henceforth.

I move to keep the HM-class weapons available to use in the direst of situations, with the right to use voted on by the original 5 members of the RAS.

Ban Article II has been noted in the regional file and will be amended ASAP.

Hello. Sorry for being late. I had to do some other things and then when I was done, I had a problem with the NationStates forum. It didn't remember my cookies or whatever. The login system to NS is screwed up, or my computer just may not be able to accept cookies. O well.

Reformed Alcardia.. With this new constitution, you are giving member nations a whole lot of sovereignity powers. I like that. I feel safe knowing that the founder can't control what is going on internally inside the Commonwealth of the Bakshiveck Union. It also makes my citizens feel that we as a nation are very unique, and we do the decisions that affect trading to other members of the international community.

The only thing I would've disagreed with was the banning of heavy weapons. But you amended that, thank you. :wink:

The Constitution has been amended to adapt the 2nd Article of the Bans of the State list to better suit the RAS.

I agree with the terms proposed in this Constitution.

As a suggestion, I believe that there should be a power limit placed on the regional delegate. Proposals in the UN should be debated by the entire RAS and the delegate's vote should reflect the majority of the member nations' requests (say, if the majority of the people are for an issue, the delegate should have to vote for the issue).

erm... I'm not an orginal member.
Am I still expected to ratify this?
If I am, I accept the Constitution, and I vote against the banning of heavy weapons in the interest of our region's defense.

That sounds like an interesting idea. I think we should all discuss what we vote on in the UN before giving an issue a final vote by the delegate.

erm... I'm not an orginal member.
Am I still expected to ratify this?
If I am, I accept the Constitution, and I vote against the banning of heavy weapons in the interest of our region's defense.

Any member of the RAS is welcome to take part in the amendment and ratification process of this Constitution. I have just enhanced greatly the Freedoms section, and may or may not start on the Bans, depending on how much time I have left in the end of this all. We would love to have all members of the RAS be active in the establishment of our governments.

My amandment would be that no law may pass suppressing artistic expression for reasons of contrary ideals, opioins or morality.

My amandment would be that no law may pass suppressing artistic expression for reasons of contrary ideals, opioins or morality.

While I personally agree that artistic expression is a very important tenet of Democracy, leaving it supreme over the Constitution of the Reformed Alcardian States would leave far too much room for abuse within the system. We will see what the other nations within have to say about it. For now, my vote must be against this particular amendment.

I like the changes made to the war and delegate clauses. The Constitution looks as if it's ready for ratification, unless other amendments are suggested.

Fair enough. I look forward to seeing the veiws of my fellow members.

I like the changes made to the war and delegate clauses. The Constitution looks as if it's ready for ratification, unless other amendments are suggested.

Should we expand the Bans of the State section, or is it self explanatory as it is? I mainly wanted to expand freedoms because, without clarification like was done, people could have been building massive loopholes around any sort of taxation or governance in the system.

As long as the constitution preserves as much sovreign rights as possible, I'm fine with it.

Please note Article VII, Title A of the Constitution has been amended to include the following:


Election Day is the 15th Of Every Month
Campaigns Begin the 8th Of Every Month

Anyone who is a member of the United Nations can campaign for U.N. Delegate. We will use the International Incidents board as well as the regional billboard to campaign. Let's keep it clean, folks.

::::::::::
-~- kelanthian message broadcast -~-
|to| {REFORMED ALCARDIAN STATES MEMBERS}
|re| {POSSIBLE CHANGES TO CONSTITUTION}
::::::::::
|begin message text|

I understand that I am in no position to make demands, but I would note that Kelanthia has been informally invited to return to its former allies from the Unified Alcardian States. However, as a condition to said return, we would request the following amendments to the Constitution:

1) Removal of the text "of any gender" from Article XI of the Freedoms of the State.

2) Addition of a new clause (hereafter named "Clause A") to Article XI of the Freedoms of the State, to contain the text: "Legislation concerning the rights and prohibitions of the legal genders of marriage partners will be enacted by each individual member in accordance with commonly held views and practices at the discretion of the government of said members."

3) Removal of Section B from Article V of the Bans of the State.

If this is acceptable, you will find Kelanthian entry into the RAS much more likely. Please respond with either negation or approval.

-- Gordon Grath, President of Kelanthia

|end message text|
::::::::::
-~- end broadcast -~-
::::::::::

The Reformed Alcardian States Constitution, in allowing nations to make independent Constitutions, believes that the amendments suggested by President Grath of Kelanthia could just as easily be integrated into a Kelanthian Constitution.

The Republic of Reformed Alcardia, in attempting to heal past wounds made by the former leader of this nation, would be very honored to invite Kelanthia to be a part of the new, free Reformed Alcardian States. However, if the entry of Kelanthia to the RAS would jeapordize the rights of nearly two billion people to live peacefully in their private lives, you can see our reservations at rewriting a principle tenet of our regional Constitution.

In following with Kelsey Phillipian code, the Republic of Reformed Alcardia is willing to compromise with Kelanthia in order to form a more perfect union between both nations, and to allow Kelanthia to rejoin the RAS. The member nations of the RAS have voted unanimously to allow Kelanthia back in with dignities, and we wish no bad blood between any of the RAS nations.

I'm sorry if I missed seeing this in your other topics, but who are the original 5 member nations? I know that I joined late, but am I considered one of the original nations?

A Suggestion for an Additional Article

WHEREAS the United Nations has a tendency to pass frivolous and silly resolutions, and
WHEREAS these resolutions have been known to come into conflict with the ideas and principles of the Alcardian States, and
WHEREAS United Nations membership is, though sometimes testing, still a necessary part of Alcardian diplomatic relations,

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the United Nations members of the Reformed Alcardian States shall reserve the right to ignore and nullify in their own nations any resolution by the United Nations that goes against the principles of the Reformed Alcardian States, and
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that this right shall be described in the Constitution of the Reformed Alcardian States and so made inviolable.

(Always the show-off, eh, Will, with your fancy Rules of Order.)

Reformed Alcardia finds itself in agreement with Unified Hands on this amendment.

I note that the ban on biochem weapons is still in place -- this represents a major barrier to Kelanthian entry to the RAS. Please advise on whether this may be changed to accomodate the storage of such weapons merely as a deterrent, if not as a viable first-strike option (not that Kelanthia would ever stoop to such despicable atrocities, of course). Please be advised that membership of Kelanthia is now dependant on this clause. Not to put any pressure on you.

-- Gordon Grath

SECRET ADDENDUM FOR REFORMED ALCARDIAN LEADERSHIP

If this ban cannot be removed, would there be any obstacles to renaming our biochems "organic weapons" and calling it even?

END OF SECRET ADDENDUM

The Republic of Reformed Alcardia will not remove the ban on BioChem weapons, a ban that protects the lives of millions, if not billions, from terroristic harm every day, simply for the personal benefit of a single nation that has not even, at this time, entered the Reformed Alcardian States. BioChem weapons are never needed in war. They are tools of terror, and the RAS will have no part in allowing these tools.

However, having reviewed RAS law, the amendment to the bans list can be initiated by a member nation of the RAS.

Kelanthia, if you wish to join the RAS, you can then make your one-chance petition to amend the current constitution as it stands. This is the only way the Constitution would be amended.

I vote to amend the constitution so that the same rules applying to HM technology are also applied to Bio/Chem weapons, only with 90% of the region agreeing for their use to be valid.

Eternal Flame has entered an amendment for the Constitution to read as such:


II. Banning the use, trading, sale, or otherwise dealing of the following:


HM-class weaponry
Biological and Chemical weaponry
Weapons of torture


--

The amendments also strikes Article V of the Bans of the State from the RAS Constitution.

Given the situation that now is presented by Article II, Sections A & B of the Bans of the State within the RAS Constitution, Kelanthia's needs have been met to allow use of weapons.

With all of our requests having been met, Kelanthia is proud to announce its intentions to move into the Reformed Alcardian States at the soonest opportunity. We welcome the chance to return to our allies of old for a new chance at cooperation and harmonious interaction.

-- Gordon Grath

The Republic of Reformed Alcardia, as well as the entire RAS region, is happy to welcome Kelanthia back. May peace and prosperity continue now that the old world leaders have stepped into the next generation.

BUMP