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The Constitution of The Dirty South

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The Constitution of The Dirty South Empty The Constitution of The Dirty South

Post  Serenel Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:46 pm

The Constitution of The Dirty South

Preamble,
We the sovereign nations of the region The Dirty South (TDS) hereby stand assembled, and with one voice declare that we shall stand united under one government and one banner; to pursue the goals of mutual security, the continued pursuit of justice for ourselves and our neighbors, to vehemently protect and sustain the fragile ideals of Liberty for the enjoyment of our posterity, to enhance the bonds of friendship that shall endear us, and for the advancement of the common good. As such we the undersigned hereby grant this document the political power to imbue the institutions it justly creates with the powers it rightly delegates.



Section I-The General Assembly


Article A-Structure of The General Assembly

1. The Legislative power of the region shall be invested in The General Assembly of The Dirty South.

2. The General Assembly shall consist of every member nation of the Dirty South who is also a citizen.

3. Every member nation shall be entitled to one vote, and only one vote, on every matter before the General Assembly. However, voting shall not be compulsory.

4. Every member nation of The General Assembly shall be entitled to propose motions in The General Assembly and shall be entitled to participate in the debate of all motions. The nation who proposes the motion, shall hence forth be titled, the Sponsor of the motion.

5. All votes in The General Assembly pertaining to proposed motions are to be cast by secret ballot. However, this does not prevent any member of The General Assembly from expressing their opinion or revealing their vote.

6. The General Assembly shall be headed by the Office of The Speaker of the Assembly.


Article B- The Power of the General Assembly

1. The General Assembly may pass any motion that is not expressly forbidden by this Constitution, with special reference to Section VI.

2. The General Assembly shall have the power to either consent to a Premier’s appointee to a Secretarial Department, or prevent them from serving in the cabinet of The Dirty South.

3. The General Assembly shall have the power to either consent to a treaty with foreign Regions, or prevent the Dirty South from entering into such relations.

4. The General Assembly may over-ride a veto of the Premier.

5. Once a motion is passed, it becomes an Act of the General Assembly of the Dirty South, and is binding on all citizens and civilians of the Dirty South.


Article C-The Speaker of the Assembly

1. The Speaker of the Assembly shall be the citizen nation that has ascended to the Office of the Deputy Premier of The Dirty South.

2. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to open voting on motions.

3. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to close voting on motions.

4. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to present motions that have passed the Assembly to the Premier for signature.

5. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to present motions that are vetoed by the Premier to the General Assembly for further debate and possible over-ride.

6. The Speaker of the Assembly shall have the power to set the rules and regulations of the General Assembly in any area that is not already prescribed or prohibited by this Constitution.


Article D- Debate and Voting

1. The length of the debate on any particular piece of legislation is the decision of its Sponsor. At any time the Sponsor may request the Speaker take a draft of their motion to vote.

2. The Speaker of the General Assembly may encourage the Sponsor to wait longer in the spirit of debate, or if he thinks the motion is ill-written. However the final word on moving the motion to the vote is the Sponsors, and if the Sponsor, after due warning still requests the motion to be sent to voting, the Speaker of the Assembly is compelled by this constitution to comply.

3. The voting length on a motion shall last for a period of four days.

4. At the end of the scheduled voting period the motion must have attained the threshold of 50%+1 to have passed The General Assembly.

5. If the motion succeeds at attaining the threshold of 50%+1, the Speaker of the General Assembly shall present the motion for signature to the Premier of the Dirty South.

6. If the motion fails at attaining the threshold of 50%+1, the Sponsor may ask the Speaker of the General Assembly to resume debate of the motion on the floor of the Assembly.

7. It will then be the Speakers prerogative to allow further debate on the motion or to lay the motion to rest, at which point the motion may only be brought back for debate at a time the Speaker feels is appropriate.

8. If a new citizen nation ascends to the Office of the Speaker of the Assembly the sponsor, or a new sponsor may bring the motion back to the floor of the Assembly for further consideration.


Article E- Over-riding the Premiers veto

1. The General Assembly of The Dirty South is granted the power to over-ride a Premier’s veto by a 66% majority vote in favor of doing so.

2. When a Premier veto’s a motion of the General Assembly, the Speaker of the General Assembly shall present the motion, along with a Letter of Recommendations from the Premier, if their is one, to the General Assembly.

3. At such a time the General Assembly shall hold a debate to either include some or all of the Recommendations suggested by the Premier, or to ignore the letter entirely.

4. If the General Assembly includes the suggestions, the motion is considered a new and unique motion, and the process of passing the motion shall be the same as the process laid out in Section I, Article D.

5. If the General Assembly chooses to ignore the Recommendations made by the Premier, they may then move to over-ride the veto of the Premier.

6. The voting period shall last for the standard four day voting length.

7. The motion must attain a threshold of 66% to be considered successful, and at such a time the motion shall become an Act of The General Assembly of the Dirty South.


Article F- The Consent of the General Assembly

1. The General Assembly shall shows it consent in the way laied out in the Rules and Regulations of The General Assembly.

2. The consent of The General Assembly cannot be vetoed.


Article G-Speaker Pro Tempore

1. If there is a time, when the Speaker of the Assembly, in his capacity as the Deputy Premier of the Dirty South should acsend to the Office of the Premier of The Dirty South, they shall no longer hold the position of Speaker of the Assembly.

2. In such an event The General Assembly of The Dirty South shall transfer the powers of the Office of The Speaker of the Assembly to the Office of The Speaker Pro Tempore.

3. The method in which the Speaker Pro Tempore is selected, chosen, and or approved, shall be laid out by the General Assembly in codified statute in the usual manner in which a motion is passed.


Section II-The Executive

Article A-Structure of the Executive

1. The Executive Power of The Dirty South shall be invested in the Office of the Premier, as well as the Office of the Deputy Premier

2. The Premier and Deputy Premier shall be elected by their fellow citizens of the Dirty South

3. Upon ascending to the Office of the Premier the citizen nation shall give up his or her seat in the General Assembly. The nation will be able to regain their seat once their duration as the Dirty South’s Premier has reached its conclusion.


Article B-The Powers of the Premier

1. The Premier shall be the Commander -in- Chief of The Dirty South Military

2. The Premier shall have the ability to sign treaties and alliances with other Regions, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly

3. The Premier shall be allowed to establish and disband Executive Departments at his or her own discretion

4. The Premier shall have the ability to appoint Secretaries to head the Executive Departments s/he creates, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly

5. Secretaries of Executive Departments serve at the pleasure of the Premier and can be dismissed by the Premier at any time for any reason.

6. The Premier shall have the power of Executive Order, as long as those orders only affect the Executive Branch.

7. The Secretaries of Executive Departments shall have the power of Executive Order, as long as those orders only affect the Departments they head.

8. The Premier shall have the power to sign motions of the General Assembly, which have passed the General Assembly, into law. Transforming the motion into an Act of the General Assembly of the Dirty South.

9. The Permier shall have the power to Veto a motion of the General Assembly, and may attach a letter of recommendation, which could contain their thoughts, reservations, and disagreeability of the motion, among other things.


Article C- Election of the Premier

1. The elections shall be administered by the Admins of the forum

2. The Premier and the Deputy Premier are elected together on a single ticket

3. There shall be a three day nomination period where citizen nations may nominate themselves to run for the Office of the Premier. Within this timeframe the citizen nation must also announce who shall be running on their ticket for the position of Deputy Premier. The citizen nation, chosen to run with the nominee on the ticket as Deputy Premier, must also post their consent within the specified three day nomination period.

4. After the three day nomination period, all nominees who are in accordance with Section II, Article C, Clause 3 of this constitution shall then appear on the ballot in an election that shall last for 7 days.

5. At the conclusion of the 7 day voting period, the ticket that has received 50%+1 of the votes cast shall be declared the winner of the election, and shall ascend to the Office of the Premier, and the Office of Deputy Premier immediately after the conclusion of the current Executive term.

6. If, at the conclusion of the voting period no ticket has achieved 50%+1 of the votes cast, a runoff election will be held that will include the top two tickets that received the most votes.

7. The runoff election shall last for a period of 7 days, and at its conclusion the ticket that has received 50%+1 of the votes cast shall be declared the winner and shall ascend to the office of the Premier, and Deputy Premier immediately after the conclusion of the current Executive term.


Article D- Absence of the Premier

1. The Premier of the Dirty South, with notice to the General Assembly, may take a leave of absence for a stated period of time, and in such a case the Deputy Premier would undertake the role of the ‘Acting Premier’.

2. In the role of ‘Acting Premier’ the Deputy Premier has none of the power granted to the Office of the Premier as stated in Section II, Article B, however merely presides over the cabinet of The Dirty South and acts in a ceremonial role, and as a figurehead for the cabinet to go to if an emergency arises.

3. The Commander -in- Chief of the Military in such a time that the Premier takes a leave of absence shall be a position set forth by the Premier before his leave takes effect.

4. However if for any reason the Premier resigns, Ceases to be a citizen of The Dirty South as outlined by this Constitution, or is removed from office, The Deputy Premier shall ascend to the Office of the Premier and hold all the powers of the Premier that are laid out in Section II, Article B.


Article E- Impeachment and the Removal from office of the Premier

1. The Premier may be impeached by the General Assembly at anytime for reasons such as, treason to the region of the Dirty South, breaking the law of the Dirty South, failing to hold up the constitution of the Dirty South, or for whatever other reason the General Assembly in future sees fit to lay out in codified statute.

2. Any statute that lays out further reasons to impeach a Premier shall only take effect until after the next election cycle in which they were passed. As such a Premier cannot be impeached by the General Assembly for reasons laid out after he or she is elected to the Office of the Premier.

3. Furthermore, any statute passed by the General Assembly, which seeks to expand upon the reasons for impeachment, should be within reason and be justified to save for a democratic, and prosperous region.

4. The General Assembly can pass Articles of Impeachment against the Premier in the form of a motion that must gain 66% in favor of the votes cast.

5. If the Articles of Impeachment pass through the General Assembly, the Premier shall be prosecuted before the Supreme Court of The Dirty South, and if found guilty of the crimes mentioned in the Articles of Impeachment, shall be removed from office.


Article F- Executive Term Length

1. The Premier and Deputy Premier shall serve terms lasting for a period of 10 weeks.

2. the Admins of the forum are mandated to begin the process of the next election cycle (including time for nominations and runoff elections) in time to be able for the new administration to take its seat immediately after the 10 week term of the old administration.

3. This may end up in a short period of time, when a new Premier has been elected, and the old Premier is coming to the end of their term. In such an event the new Premier shall be titled ‘Premier-elect’ until such a time that the 10 week term of the old Premier has expired.

4. The Premier-elect shall be able to present his appointees to cabinet positions to the General Assembly at this time, however s/he and his or her appointees shall not hold any executive authority until such a time that the 10 week term of the old Premier has expired.

5. The Premier-elect is honor bound to not cast a vote for his nominees, or interfere with the Assembly’s process as the Premier is not also a member of the Assembly. While the Premier-elect is not, strictly speaking the Premier, nor indoctrinated with any of the powers there of, the Premier-elect should respect that under normal circumstances the Office in which they shortly will be ascending to does not have a vote in the Assembly.


Section III- The Judicial

Article A- Structure of the Judicial

1. The Judicial power of the Dirty South shall be invested in the Supreme Court of the Dirty South.

2. The Supreme Court shall consist of, initially, a sole seat that shall represent the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dirty South.


Article B-Selection of the Chief Justice

1. The Chief Justice shall be a position that is appointed by the Founder of the Dirty South, The Holy Empire of Teh Dirty South Boss, etc.

2. The appointee will then be put forth the General Assembly, which will proceed to question the appointee for as long as they deem necessary.

3. A vote will then be called by the Speaker of the General Assembly; 50%+1 of the votes cast will be necessary to allow the appointee to ascend to the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dirty South.


Article C- Power of the Supreme Court

1. The Supreme Court shall settle the disputes that may arise between Citizen Nations of the Dirty South.

2. The Supreme Court shall settle the disputes that may arise between a Citizens Nation(s) and the Executive Administration of The Dirty South.

3. The Supreme Court shall settle the disputes that may arise between the Executive Administration of the Dirty South and the General Assembly of the Dirty South

4. The Supreme Court shall settle the disputes that may arise between The General Assembly of the Dirty South and a Citizen Nation(s).

5. The Supreme Court shall set precedent with its decisions, and while not binding these decisions should be noted to the posterity of the Dirty South as the common law in the region, and only with due consideration, time, and social change, should precedent be overturned.

6. The Supreme Court shall also have the power to interpret the Acts passed by the General Assembly, and as such determine their validity and constitutionality. As such the Supreme Court shall have the power to strike down Acts of the General Assembly if found to be unconstitutional.

7. The Supreme Court, in its power of Judicial Review, must strike down the whole law or nothing at all.

8. The Supreme Court, in its power of Judicial Review, may only strike down a law, and cannot prescribe a law in its place or suggest a law for future.


Article D- Term length of the Chief Justice

1. A Chief Justice, once appointed by the Founder, and approved by the General Assembly shall hold their position for life, or until they cease to become a citizen of the Dirty South as outlined by this constitution, are removed from the bench in the process set for in Section III, Article G, or by their resignation from the bench.

2. The term length for the Chief Justice shall be applied proactively to all additional positions created by the General Assembly that apply to the Judicial Branch of the Dirty South.


Article E- Expansion of the Supreme Court and Judicial Branch

1. The General Assembly, at a time it sees fit, may pass legislation in the form of a motion to expand the bench that sits on the Supreme Court.

2. All Offices created by the General Assembly to expand the bench of the Supreme Court shall be inferior to the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Dirty South.

3. The General Assembly, in its legislation will stipulate the manner in which the new Justices shall be appointed to their offices.

4. All new Justices shall inherit the term length stated in Section III, Article D, Clause 2.

5. The General Assembly, at a time it sees fit, may pass legislation in the form of a motion to expand the Judicial Branch of The Dirty South.

6. All Courts created by the General Assembly to expand the Judicial Branch of the Dirty South, shall be inferior to the Supreme Court of the Dirty South.

7. The General Assembly, in its legislation will stipulate the manner in which the Justices, for the new court, shall be appointed to their offices.

8. All Offices created to bench the new Courts created by the General Assembly shall receive the term length laid out in Section III, Article D, Clause 2.


Article F-Recusal

1. The Chief Justice, and any other Justice created by the General Assembly should, and is expected to, recuse him or herself from a case if they believe they have an acute bias, or are a party in the case themselves.

2. The General Assembly is hereby imbued with the authority and power to pass legislation in the form of a motion to determine the best solution in the event the Chief Justice, or some lower Justice, needs to recused from a case.


Article G- Removal from Office

1. A Chief Justice, or lower Justice, may be removed from their position by the General Assembly, with the consent of the Premier, if it is felt that the Justice has shown an acute bias in a case.

2. To remove a Chief Justice, or lower Justice, the General Assembly must call a hearing, where the Justice in question shall
testify before the General Assembly why they believe they did not show an acute bias, and answer any questions the General Assembly poses to them.

3. The General Assembly may then pass legislation removing the Justice, in the form of a motion, that must receive 75% of the votes cast in order to pass.

4. If the motion passes, it then goes to the Premier who can either sign off on the motion, or can veto the motion.

5. If the motion is vetoed, it then dies, and the Justice shall stay on the court, and cannot be impeached for an acute bias in the same case again.

6. If a Chief Justice or lower Justice is removed from the bench, their decision in the case in which they are accused of committing the act of having an acute bias, is not affected, and the decision still stands.


Section IV- Definitions

Article A- The Founder

1. The Founder of the Dirty South is The Holy Empire of Teh Dirty South Boss, and all the puppets he declares as his own, which include, but are not limited to:
a. The Little Green Ghouls of Cool Egg Sandwich
b. The Empire of Egg Sandwich
c. The Corporate Robot FUPA of Cool Eggs

2. At anytime, the Founder can announce, either through the RMB on the NS page, or to the General Assembly on the forum, the establishment of another Puppet he would like recognized under the powers of this constitution.

3. For simplicity, in all future legal documents, acts, and in this constitution the founder of the Dirty South, can be referred to simply as The Holy Empire of Teh Dirty South Boss, etc., and one would be referring not only to the sole nation The Holy Empire of Teh Dirty South Boss, but all other affiliated puppets as well.

4. The Founder of the Dirty South has no Executive, Legislative, or Judicial powers in his role as The Dirty South founder.


Article B- The Office of The World Assembly Delegate

1. The World Assembly Delegate is hereby mandated to be The Holy Empire of Teh Dirty South Boss, etc.

2. The Office of The World Assembly Delegate has no Executive, Legislative or Judicial powers granted to it by this constitution.

3. The Holy Empire of Teh Dirty South Boss, etc. is free to administer the duties of The World Assembly Delegate how he sees fit, and in the facets granted to the office by the NS site.


Article C- Citizenship

1. A Nation-state must have a nation residing in the region The Dirty South, to be considered a Citizen of the Dirty South

2. A Nation-state must be registered on the forums of The Dirty South, to be considered a Citizen of the Dirty South

3. If a Nation-state is in compliance with Section IV, Article C, Clause 1&2, and has participated in the Constitutional Convention through a post in one of the affiliated forums, they shall be considered a citizen upon the passage of this constitution.

4. All other Nation-states must first fill out an application for Citizenship and be granted Citizenship by the sitting administration before being granted the full rights of a Citizen of The Dirty South

5. If a Nation-state is in compliance with Section IV, Article C, Clause 1&2, but has neither participated in the Constitutional Convention, as laid out in Section IV, Article C, Clause 3, nor have they been granted Citizenship by a sitting administration, as laid out in Section IV, Article C, Clause 4, they will have none of the rights of a citizen, and no rights granted by this constitution. As such, these Nation-states will be considered Civilians of the Dirty South.


Article D- Forum Registration

1. It is hereby mandated by this constitution that all nation-states who register for the Forums of the Dirty South, must do so with the name of their Nation in NS.

2. The Admins of the forum are hereby ordered to reject any and all registrations that do not comply with Section IV, Article D, Clause 1, and to vigorously see to it that said clause is enforced, and followed.


Article E: Puppets

1. Registering a puppet government on the forum of The Dirty South with its own separate account is hereby outlawed.

2. This Article shall be enforced by the Admins and Moderators of the forum.

3. If an Admin discovers multiple accounts they are allowed to take immediate action by placing the puppet account into a mask, which this constitution mandates will be able to view and post in the Supreme Court.

4. If multiple accounts are discovered by a Moderator, they must submit a report to an Admin, who must further investigate, and may take immediate action as outlined in Section V, Article E. Clause 3.

5. All actions are reviewable by the Supreme Court, where the decision can either be upheld or overturned.


Section V- Amendments

Article A- The Power to amend

1. This Constitution may be amended by the General Assembly of The Dirty South, with the consent of the Premier of the Dirty South, or by a Super Majority of the General Assembly as defined by this constitution, in the absence of the consent of the Premier.


Article B- The Process

1. At anytime the General Assembly may propose a Constitutional Amendment in the form of a motion for debate within the General Assembly.

2. When asked by the sponsor of the motion, the Speaker of the General Assembly shall move the motion to a separate forum for voting by the whole General Assembly.

3. The motion must receive at least 66% of the votes cast in favor in order to be considered successful.

4. If the motion gains the needed support, it shall be presented to the Premier of the Dirty South by the Speaker of the Assembly.

5. At this time the Premier can choose to either sign the Amendment, at which time it will come into effect (or come into effect at a prescribed time stated by language in the motion), or the Premier may choose to veto the motion, in which case the Premier shall send the motion back to the General Assembly. The Premier may also attach a letter of recommendation, which may contain his thoughts, reservations, and disagreements with the motion, among other things.

6. At this time the General Assembly shall proceed to debate the motion further, where it may take into consideration the Premiers letter of recommendation and either choose to follow the recommendation, resulting in a new motion where the process laid out in Section V, Article B, Clause 1-5 shall be repeated, or the General Assembly can move forward with a vote to override the Premier’s veto.

7. In the event the General Assembly should seek to override the veto of the Premier, the Amendment, in the form of the motion, must attain a threshold of 75% of the votes cast in favor to override the veto of the Premier.

8. At such a time the Premier’s veto is overridden, the Amendment will come into effect immediately or at such a time that is prescribed within the language of the Amendment.


Section VI- Bill of Rights

Freedom of Religion-
All nations in The Dirty South are free to recognize any/all religion(s) or no religion at all.

National Sovereignty-
Nations in The Dirty South are free to run their government(s) on a domestic level however they wish.

Free and Fair Trial-
All Nations in The Dirty South have the right to a trial. Further, nations will never have to pay for a trial, nor will they be subjected to a judge who has an acute bias, or conflict of interest.

Freedom of Election-
No Citizen Nation of The Dirty South will be barred from nomination for an elected office, besides those offices stated specifically in this constitution.

Freedom of Speech-
Nations within The Dirty South will be free to speak without limitation, as long as their words are not directly harmful to a neighboring nation, are slanderous/libelous, or are a threat to a nation's physical or emotional well-being.

Due Process-
All Citizen Nations of The Dirty South are given the right of due process, and are of equal status under the laws of this constitution.

Representation-
All Nations are granted the right to represent themselves in a court of law. Furthermore, nations may employ or enlist legal counsel to represent them in a court of law.


Last edited by Serenel on Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:13 pm; edited 3 times in total
Serenel
Serenel

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The Constitution of The Dirty South Empty Re: The Constitution of The Dirty South

Post  Cool Egg Sandwich Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:21 pm

Other than the proposed edits [which I sent you in TG in-game], I think this Constitution is absolutely fantastic.

As such, I would grant my full support for its ratification...


Edit: As the proposed edits have been made, and the draft reflects my sentiments, I now give my FULL support for the ratification of this Constitution.

Rgds.,


Last edited by Cool Egg Sandwich on Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Anglenburgh Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:50 pm

Good to go I say.
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Post  Serenel Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:19 pm

I made some changes.

Section 1, Article E, Clause 2 & 3

just changed minor things around for clarity

Section 1, Article F, Clause 1.

changed it because the consent of the General Assembly will be different then a motion, so i decided to just let the Speaker of the Assembly decide how that will go down instead of trying to confusingly legislate it, like i have done too many times already in this constitution lol!

Section 1, Article G.

We somehow also foregot to mention the Speaker Pro Tempore, so like the other edit, i just mentioned it and allowed the Gen Ass to figure out the specifics.

Section 2, Article B, Clause 8 & 9

I switched this a little bit for more clarity in powers...just to try and close any possible loop holes, (like before it may of been theoretically possible that the General Assembly could pass a motion, and then if the Premier is on vacation lets say, since the Deputy Premier is only 'Acting' and doesnt have the power of veto, they could claim its an Act, because the Premier only had the negative power of vetoing something, and not espressly the positive act of signing something....so i thought i would try to just cover our ass)
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