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New Charter; work in progress
Topic Started: Feb 18 2012, 09:53 PM (67 Views)
Haxstree

Changed:
Preamble



Article 1 – Citizenship

Citizenship may be granted only to nations resident in the South Pacific

All citizens serve as legislators in the Assembly

All registered citizens may vote in elections

Article 2 – Regulations of Citizenship

Citizenship is voluntary. All residents of the South Pacific must accept the following regulations in order to become citizens:



  1. Fulfill the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter and Code of Laws.



  2. Defend and protect the Coalition of The South Pacific and her elected delegate from all enemies.


  3. Publicly accept the Charter and declare the name of their NationStates nation resident in The South Pacific region in the designated area of the forums.


Article 3 – Legislature and Legislative Power



  1. The legislature shall be the sole body responsible for the creation, amendment, debate, and repeal of laws.

  2. Any legislator may propose and vote on a bill

  3. The legislature will be led and administered by the Chair of the Assembly.

  4. The procedures of the legislature are to be self-determined in law, with all procedures enforced by the Chair.

  5. Law of Procedures Link

  6. The links to the prevailing procedures of the legislature as defined in such law will be continuously updated and provided for in the preceding section.

Article 4 - Executive

The executive shall be led by the Delegate of The South Pacific and include the heads of all Ministries and the Chair of The Assembly.

The executive shall be provided a venue for private discussion.

A Delegate that comes to power outside the provisions of the Charter shall not be recognized.

The Ministries of the South Pacific are:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Security
The Ministry of Regional Affairs
Ministry of Justice Comprising of elected Atty. General and 3 appointed justices

All executive positions must be attained by election, unless there are no candidates. If such is the case, the delegate shall appoint a citizen to executive position. The Delegacy may never be appointed, an absence of candidates shall see power transferred to the Vice-Delegate.

Article 5 - Judiciary

The Judiciary shall be led by three justices that are appointed by the Executive and Confirmed by the Assembly after a public hearing lasting one week and a confirmation vote lasting the same.

Any nation may bring a case or judicial inquiry to the Judiciary

The Judiciary is obligated to address all queries, and if a trial is merited, to organize a jury pool.

The Judiciary will try nations for violating any crimes as defined by the Assembly.

The specific procedures of the Judiciary are to be defined in law by the Assembly.

Law of Procedures Link

The links to the prevailing procedures of the judiciary as defined in such law will be continuously updated and provided for in the preceding section.



Not Yet Changed/Old Charter:

Article 8 - Duties of Elected Officials



  1. The delegate and all elected officials shall strive to promote activity in the region and shall remain cognizant of the well-being of all nations in The South Pacific.





  2. The delegate and all elected officials may appoint other citizens of The South Pacific to assist them with their duties. The delegate and elected officials shall retain the final responsibility of all tasks carried out by their assistants.





  3. Even without the approval of the specific ministry tasked with overseeing this policy, official executive policy can be established by the assembly.





  4. Ministries must uphold executive policy passed by the assembly.





  5. The delegate and all elected officials may create executive policy within their area of responsibility as laid out in the charter, which shall have the same effect as law.


    • Any executive policy must comply with the charter and the code of laws of The South Pacific.




    • No executive policy may result in the banning or expulsion from any nation residing in The South Pacific.




    • Any executive policy may be overturned by a motion of the assembly.



Article 9 - Terms of Office

The terms of service for elected officials of the South Pacific, save the delegate, shall be three months.

Article 10 - Elections Timing

Elections shall be held on the first Saturday, of every March, June, September, and December. During elections, providing there is no one interested in any of the positions, the Delegate shall appoint someone for that particular term.

Article 11 - Special Elections

When a new Delegate takes office, the Delegate may call for new elections. Providing this is the case, the elections will occur on the first Saturday of the next month.

Article 12 - Impeachment



  1. Any government member can be impeached for gross violation of the Charter or for gross misconduct.






  2. When a call for impeachment has been received it will be processed under Article 7 of the Charter.






  3. If a guilty verdict is reached, the Cabinet, excluding the subject of the impeachment proceedings, must decide on a sentence.


    • The sentence must at minimum result in the subject of the impeachment proceedings being relieved of their responsibilities.





    • The sentence may include, in addition to the above, a temporary or permanent ban on standing for office or a temporary or permanent expulsion from The South Pacific . The sentencing must be determined within a three-day period, or Article 12.3a shall be applied automatically.






  4. No appeals are possible to an impeachment verdict.

Article 13 - Responsibilities and Authority of the Delegate



  1. The Delegate’s power is only binding as long as they hold the Delegate position. All Ministries and official arms of the Coalition bow to the will of the office of Delegate, not the individual nations wielding the power.






  2. The Delegate cannot surrender the sovereignty of the region to any group or alliance without approval from the region in form of a Cabinet vote.






  3. The Delegate may act only in the interest of the region with the consent of the region. Expulsion may only take place as outlined above. The Delegate must follow the Charter completely.






  4. The Delegate shall be informed of all information concerning the region by the Cabinet immediately.

Article 14 - Responsibility and authority of the Chair of the Assembly



  1. The Chair of the Assembly shall uphold the procedures of the assembly as laid out in Article 6 of the Charter.






  2. The Chair of the Assembly may initiate and participate in assembly discussions, but shall keep to the highest debate standards.






  3. The Chair of the Assembly shall be responsible for upholding the rights within the assembly of all its members.






  4. The Chair of the Assembly shall verify that only recognized citizens can participate in the assembly.

Article 15 - Responsibilities and authority of the Ministry of Security



  1. The Ministry of Security shall be responsible for ensuring that no one obtains the delegate position except by legal means.






  2. The Ministry of Security shall assist the delegate in seeing that all nations are in compliance with the endorsement cap.






  3. The Ministry shall also have authority to take any of the following steps if it sees fit for the protection of the region or its allies:


    • The assembly of a militia for the defense of The South Pacific or a region The South Pacific is allied with.





    • The creation of an Intelligence effort to find critical information for the defense of the region.



Article 16 - Responsibilities and authority of the Ministry of Justice



  1. The Ministry of Justice shall be responsible for all judiciary activities in the region, as outlined in Article 7.






  2. If a nation feels it was wrongfully ejected from the region, they may file a claim with the Ministry of Justice. Providing the Justice finds in favor of the plaintiff, the Delegate will then un-ban the nation in order to allow them to return to the region.






  3. The Ministry shall be responsible for the maintenance of the Code of Laws (archiving, interpreting, etc.).






  4. The Ministry is responsible for following through with Judicial Review when necessary.

Article 17 - Responsibilities and authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs



  1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall be responsible for any formal relations between the region and any foreign regions.






  2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall be responsible for negotiating treaties, alliances, and other agreements with other regions and organizations external to The South Pacific.






  3. This Ministry cannot form alliances without the consent of the Assembly of The South Pacific by vote.  However, the Assembly may form alliances without the consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, see Article 8.3-4.

Article 18 - Responsibilities and authority of the Ministry of Regional Affairs



  1. The Ministry of Regional Affairs shall be responsible for directing and running regional roleplay and maintainance of the regional map


  2. The Ministry of Regional Affairs shall be responsible for maintaining RMB and IRC activity, and promoting the offsite regional forums to nations within the region



Article 19 - Amending the Charter

The Charter of The South Pacific may be amended as necessary.  Amendments may be proposed by any citizen of The South Pacific.



  1. Submissions of amendments must be made to the Assembly of The South Pacifc.






  2. Discussions on amendments shall last no more than a period of seven days unless a member state asks for an extension.






  3. Immediately following the discussion period the amendment will be submited to the Assembly for voting.






  4. Voting shall last for a period of seven days.  Amendments are approved by a 50% plus 1 (one) affirmative vote of all participating states.

Article 20 - Supremacy of the Charter



  1. This Charter shall carry supremacy over any other law of the South Pacific.






  2. If a law or agreement of the South Pacific shall be found to be completely or partially in conflict with the Charter, the Ministry of Justice shall have the duty of declaring such a law or agreement void, removing it from the record, and publicly disclosing such action along with the reasons thereof.






  3. Judicial Review may be initiated by any citizen nation, in which the Minister of Justice is charged with determining the need for review, with Charter backing, and providing a solution for the Assembly to discuss.






  4. After a one-week period of discussion, voting will commence. Voting will last one week, and must pass by a 60% majority.

[/quote]
Edited by Hileville, Feb 19 2012, 03:48 AM.
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Hileville
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I edited the judiciary section and added a not somewhere else. Edits are in bold and notes are bold and underlined.
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