Supreme Laws of CivitasOberste Gesetze von Civitas

Before and during the formation of the Government of Civitas, there shall exist a Triumvirate, initially consisting of startark (878821465850531880), and two other members chosen by him. The Triumvirate shall serve as the highest administrators of the Guild and its infrastructure, exercising powers necessary to establish, secure, and maintain the State.

The Triumvirate shall exercise such temporary governmental authorities as are strictly necessary to organize the first elections of the Chancellor, the Prime Minister, and the Curia, and to constitute the Judiciary. Upon the Curia’s public declaration that a Government is duly formed, all governmental powers of the Triumvirate shall lapse without further act; thereafter they remain administrators of the Guild only, subject to these Laws.

Moderation conducted upon Discord, and any activities committed therein, shall conform to Discord’s Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and any other such binding platform policy. Nothing in these Laws shall be taken to alter the constitutional supremacy herein, or to abridge the Judiciary’s power of review; yet within the domain of platform operations, such policies shall govern the means by which moderation is executed.

In order to vindicate platform compliance, the Triumvirate or their delegates may impose extrajudicial sanctions upon any user whose conduct materially contravenes Discord policy or threatens the security or operability of the Guild. Such measures are purely administrative, not penal, and are subject to later judicial review for conformity with these Laws where civil effects are alleged within the State of Civitas.

Powers granted to the Triumvirate are not to be used for partisan, personal, or pecuniary advantage, nor for the disposition of domestic disputes save where platform policy or the security and integrity of the Guild such require.

The rights declared herein shall be respected by all authorities. Any law or act that such burdens a fundamental right is to be subject to strict scrutiny, and must be narrowly created to achieve a compelling interest by the least restrictive means.

Every person may speak, write, publish, depict, or otherwise express freely, and the press may report, without prior restraint or undue interference. Restrictions may be enacted against direct and imminent incitement to unlawful violence; targeted harassment and true threats; doxxing and the exposure of private identifying information, malicious impersonation; pervasive spam and platform abuse; and other material violations of platform policy or of human morality.

The citizenry may peacefully assemble, petition the Government, and associate amongst themselves. Assemblies shall be orderly and may be regulated by a neutral time, place, and manner in Laws narrowly construed to significant interests, leaving open ample alternative channels.

Thought, belief, philosophy, and religion shall remain free. No person is to be compelled to profess any belief, nor restrained from changing belief, nor be disfavored or preferred on account thereof. The State must remain secular and impartial.

All citizens within Civitas are equal before the law and its institutions, and are afforded such equality in all proceedings. No citizen shall be granted privilege or suffer burden by reason of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, birth, religion, thought, disability, or any other protected class as may be defined by law.

The accused are to be presumed innocent, informed promptly and in plain language of their accusations, afforded counsel, reasonable time to prepare and deliver a defense, to confront adverse evidence, to summon witnesses, and to a competent and impartial tribunal. No person shall be twice jeopardized for the same offense, nor be compelled to provide testimony against oneself, nor subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment, nor arbitrarily detained. Evidence obtained by coercion, deception, or unlawful means shall not be admitted.

In the event of an Emergency, as lawfully declared according to §VI, the rights that follows are inviolable: equality before the laws; the freedom of belief and of conscience, the prohibitions on torture or cruel punishment, guarantees of due-process notices, and of an impartial decision-maker.

All powers of legislation shall be vested in a single entity, the Curia. The number of seats shall be fixed by law, having regard to the population and of fit administration.

Elections must be called at least once every six weeks by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister or, failing action by the executive, the President of the Curia, shall call elections sooner if at least thirty-three percent of eligible voters sign a certified recall petition of the Curia.

Seats shall be allotted by an open-list proportional representation using any method as may be prescribed by law. A legal threshold for obtaining a seat shall apply and may be set by law.

Seats that become vacant in the middle of a session, or in between elections, shall be filled in a manner prescribed by party charters or by law. Shall no such exist, the member next in-line in a party’s list shall fill the vacancy.

The Curia may enact laws, ratify or withdraw from treaties, conduct inquiries and perform oversight, and delegate limited rulemaking to the Executive for the administration and enforcement of laws. Delegations must be construed strictly and shall not authorize amendment of these Laws, the creation or dissolution of constitutional or legal organs, the suspension of fundamental rights, or the establishment of crimes not otherwise prescribed for by law.

The Curia may adopt rules of proceeding, and elect or remove its own officers, by simple majority of those present and voting, unless these Laws require otherwise.

By two-thirds vote, the Curia may suspend the privileges of a Curiate for gross disorder for not more than twenty-four hours; by three-fourths it may expel a member for grave misconduct or crimes against the State.

Bills duly passed by a majority of votes cast shall be presented to the Chancellor. The Chancellor may assent or return the bill with stated objections within seventy-two hours; failing action, the bill becomes law. The Curia may enact a returned bill by two-thirds of all seated members notwithstanding the objections.

Internal resolutions, votes of confidence or no-confidence, declarations and extensions of emergency, impeachments, and constitutional amendments do not require the assent of the Chancellor.

The Prime Minister and Ministers may hold office only so long as they command the confidence of the Curia. A successful vote of no-confidence in the Prime Minister or their Government shall either (a) mandate that the Chancellor appoint a new Prime Minister who can seek and maintain confidence, or (b) permit the Chancellor to dissolve the Curia and call for immediate elections; in either case, the office of the Prime Minister must not remain dissolved.

The power to regulate the economy by means of taxation, appropriation, public credit, and the general regulation of commerce and trade resides with the Curia. The forms of a budget, of audits, and of accounts shall be set by law.

The Executive is to consist of the Chancellor who shall serve as the Head of State, the Prime Minister who shall serve as the Head of Government, and other such Ministers who serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister and with the confidence of the Curia.

The Chancellor shall be elected by each eligible citizen through a means of ranked-choice voting for a fixed term of six weeks, renewable once consecutively. The Chancellor represents the State and its interests abroad, provide assent or objections to bills, may declare lawful emergencies under further provisions of these Laws, sign treaties and may host or establish embassies both domestically and foreign, subject to ratification and withdrawal of the Curia, and appoints the Prime Minister. The Chancellor may not sit in the Curia, hold judicial office, or maintain any other public or private conflicts of interest.

The Prime Minister, appointed by the Chancellor, shall ordinarily be selected from among those capable of commanding the confidence of the Curia. The Prime Minister shall set the legislative program, coordinate executive and domestic policy, and shall direct its Ministries.

Ministers are to be appointed by the Prime Minister and shall serve at their pleasure, subject to the maintenance of the Curia’s confidence.

The power of the judiciary shall be vested in the High Court of Civitas and also such inferior courts as may be established by law. The Judiciary must remain independent of the Legislative and the Executive and are only bound by these Laws and of the laws duly enacted.

The High Court shall be composed of always an odd number of Justices, never fewer than three, as may be decided in law. Vacancies within the Court shall be filled in an alternating order, first by nomination of the Chancellor, thereafter by nomination of the Prime Minister, and so forth in perpetual rotation. No Justice shall sit upon the court until they be confirmed by three-fifths of the seated Curiates. Justices shall hold their office during good behavior, and their tenure shall end only upon resignation, death, incapacity, or lawful removal through means of impeachment. Upon a vacancy in the chiefship, the Justices, convened in full, shall elect from among themselves a Chief Justice, to preside at the pleasure of the Court.

Until such inferior courts may be established, any single Justice may hear and determine a matter within the Court’s jurisdiction and issue binding orders and decisions. Any party aggrieved, asserting conflict with these Laws or with statute, may demand a panel review by the full Court, upon said the Court may then rehear de novo or as otherwise determined by its rules. The Court shall maintain quorum and recusal rules.

The High Court, and any such inferior courts, shall possess the power to establish their own means of proceeding, of practice, and of internal governance, provided that such rules remain consistent with these Laws and with statutes duly enacted. In the absence of law, the courts may proceed in accordance with their own order; yet where the law doth speak, the courts are thereby bound.

The High Court has original jurisdiction in all matters of constitutional interpretation, disputes between branches, challenges to emergency measures, and other such matters as assigned by law, as well as ultimate appellate jurisdiction.

The Courts may declare laws, acts, or amendments as in violation of these Laws, enjoin enforcement, and issue all writs and injunctions necessary to exercise such powers and of their jurisdiction. Proceeds are public save where sensitive matters require limited disclosure with recorded reasoning.

A Justice may be removed only for incapacity or serious misconduct, by impeachment and conviction by the Curia as inscribed within §VII, without any initiation or approval by the Executive.

In the event of widespread civil unrest, insurrection, rebellion, catastrophic disaster, or other grave peril to the existence or essential order of the State or its society, the Chancellor may, by public proclamation stating the reasons, powers to be invoked, and duration, declare a State of Emergency.

An emergency may not endure for longer than twenty-four hours absent the assent of two-thirds of the Curia, who may extend the State of Emergency for periods not exceeding seventy-two hours per vote. The Curia may, at any time, by simple majority, terminate the State of Emergency.

All emergency proclamations and measures shall be filed with the High Court forthwith. The Court shall conduct an expedited review within twenty-four hours, and may sustain, limit, or strike down such measures that remain inconsistent with these Laws.

During a lawful emergency, the Chancellor may dissolve Ministries singly or in number, or dissolve the Curia, but shall not dissolve the office of the Prime Minister. If the Curia or a majority of Ministries be dissolved, the Prime Minister must call elections for a new Curia within twenty-four hours of the dissolution order; the election shall be conducted with the ordinary guarantees of fairness and access prescribed by law.

The Curia, once elected, shall sit at once. Dissolution shall not impede the jurisdiction of the courts nor stay any judicial review.

Only the rights whose temporary suspension is strictly necessary to restore civic order or to preserve the state or its society may be derogated, using the least restrictive means and stated with particularity.

Emergency measures shall be narrowly framed, published, and reported in a daily fashion to the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice; all measures lapse upon their expiry or the termination of the emergency unless renewed in a lawful fashion.

All civil officers of the State may be impeached by the Curia, save for the Prime Ministers and other Ministers, who shall remain removable only by loss of confidence of the Curia, as outlined in §III.vi.

Impeachment lies for treason, corruption, gross abuse of power, incapacity, serious misconduct, or other grave offense of law.

The Curia may, by simple majority, adopt a Resolution of Indictment which shall state the charges against the officer. A trial must be conducted, overseen by the Chief Justice, or by another Justice as designated by the court. Conviction and removal require a two-thirds approval of all seated Curiates within forty-eight hours of the close of the trial.

The judgment shall also extend to removal and disqualification from offices of honor, trust, or profit under the State and the convicted shall remain liable to ordinary processes of law.

These Laws may be amended by two-thirds of the Curia and ratified by a national referendum held at the next regular election, passing by two-thirds of votes cast. No amendment shall abrogate the non-derogable rights enumerated in §II.vii or of the democratic and fair character of Civitas.

The Chancellor, or their delegate, may sign treaties and establish domestic or foreign embassies. No treaty shall bind Civitas absent of ratification by sixty percent of the Curia; withdrawal from any treaty shall likewise require sixty percent of the Curia’s vote.

These Laws are the supreme law of Civitas; they draw their power by consent of the People of Civitas. All institutions, officers, entities, and acts draw their authority and power from and by these Laws, and are subordinate hereto.