Revised model for federal constitution

Constitution

of the Band Republic

1. Preamble. The purposes of this Constitution include the following:

1.1 To unite the peoples of the Band Republic into a permanent Union;

1.2 To establish justice;

1.3 To ensure domestic tranquility;

1.4 To provide for the common defense;

1.5 To promote the common welfare;

1.6 To secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity.

For these purposes we the people hereby do ordain and establish this Constitution, providing that any official action inconsistent with them is void.

2. Names. The name of the Nation shall be the Band Republic, or the Union. If there are other nations with a similar name the Diet may adopt a qualifying phrase to distinguish this one from the others.

3. Bill of Immunities. The Bill of Immunities established as of the ratification of this Constitution shall restrict powers of government at all levels. Immunities do not include entitlements to a sufficient amount of a scarce resource. Further amendments to the Bill must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Diet to take effect in the Union.

3. Jurisdictions. The three kinds of jurisdiction shall be personal, or personam, subject matter, or subjectam, and territorial, or locum, and all three must be proved in any trial.

3.1 The principal political subdivision of the Union is the land, which may also be called a state, to distinguish it as a member of the Union, which has voting representation in the houses, or camera, of the legislature, or Diet. With the exception of certain powers delegated to the Diet to legislate for persons on state territory, states shall have exclusive dominion over their own land and peoples, including the power of eminent domain. The territory that combines states and dominions shall be called the Commonwealth.

3.2 Territories not organized into states, over which the Diet has exclusive legislative jurisdiction, without voting representation in the Diet, shall be called dominions.

3.2.1 The Diet may establish one dominion with an area not to exceed 256 square kiloyards to serve at the Capital of the Union.

3.3 The government of each state or subdivision thereof, shall have a written constitution, and shall be organized into legislative, executive, and judicial branches, which may be further divided into houses or departments. Each land shall have a diet of two camera, a landrat and a landtag.

3.4 The Diet of each state, according to its Constitution, may further subdivide itself into legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, and militia districts. The top level of such subdivision shall be called a county, and the bottom level a ward, which shall contain about 3000 citizens.

3.5 Lands controlled by the Band but not full member states or dominions, shall be called protectorates, with all the attributes of an independent nation except for control of defense and foreign relations.

3.6 Lands bound to the Band by treaties of alliance shall be called allies.

3.7 Lands held by conquest or liberation shall be called occupates, which shall be regarded as dominions while occupied.

3.8 Territories not suited for occupation or settlement, such as the high seas, or which are in a lawless state where no government operates, shall be called nonstates, and are subject to the law of nations.

4. Person, denizen, citizen, elector, and militia.

4.1 A person is a legal role, which may be played by any entity that can have rights, powers, and duties that it can assert in a court of law.

4.2 A denizen is an individual with immunity from being denied or impeded from remaining at one’s domicile, and from returning to it after a sojourn elsewhere.

4.3 A citizen is a denizen who may, if otherwise qualified, have the privilege to vote and hold office, including the office of juror or elector.

4.3.1 A natural born citizen is one born on the soil of a state or dominion.

4.3.2 A naturalized citizen is one made a citizen by a statute.

4.4 An elector is a citizen of at least eighteen years of age who was born in or has been a resident of the election jurisdiction for at least six months, and is not presently incarcerated in a penal institution for conviction of a crime.

4.5 Militia is defense activity by citizens or legal residents, who are to be regarded as temporary citizens with limited privileges. It is the duty associated with the social contract that creates society; all citizens or legal residents fit for militia duty shall be subject to call-up, organization, and training, unless they hold offices that take priority over militia duties, or are disabled by due process of law. Jury duty shall be regarded as a form of militia duty. Those active in militia may not be kept in a called up status beyond the duration of an emergency.

4.6 A resident of a polity is an adult individual who is physically present om the soil of a polity, and who is thereby subject to the constitutional laws thereof.

4.7 All persons while they are on the national soil of the Union, except for duly certified foreign diplomats, are subject to this Constitution and constitutional laws, and shall be deemed as having taken a oath or affirmation to "Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the Union against all enemies, foreign or domestic".

4.8 A trust settlor, trustee, beneficiary, and a trust itself shall each be deemed as distinct persons in any court of law of the Union and any State, the trust represented therein by the trustee personally, but liability for debts shall be limited ti the assets of the trust. The Union, and corporations, shall be deemed a kind of trust.

5. Fetura is the default method of selecting public officials, unless a constitution should provide otherwise, consisting of alternating rounds of random selection (sortition) and fitness screening or election, each of which reduces the size of the candidate pool, until the final selection of the officials. The final round may be either sortition or election or fitness screening. The purpose is to dispel the undue influence of monied interests and the entrenchment of officials in their offices.

6 Structure. Government shall be divided into three branches.

6.1 All legislative power to which national individuals are subject, with the exception of the executive veto, shall be vested in a Diet, which shall be divided into two camera or chambers, a Bandrat and a Bandtag. They shall conduct business according to rules of procedure they shall adopt by a vote of two-thirds of each body, which shall include power to select their presidents and other officials.

6.1.1 Such legislative power, may not be subdelegated to staff, administrators, magistrates, or courts, but

6.1.2 Executive officials may issue directives or regulations to government employees or contractors under their supervision, which directives or regulations shall be subject to review by the Diet or the courts, but such directives or regulations shall not apply to national individuals outside of government.

6.2 The Diet structure.

6.2.1 The Bandrat shall consist of two rators representing each Land, each of which shall cast one vote.

6.2.2 The Bandtag shall consist initially of 200 tagtors, representing districts within each Land, divided in proportion to the numbers of electors in each Land, each of which shall cast a number of votes equal to the number of votes the tagtor received in the most recent election. The number of tagtors shall be increased by one for each Land, beyond 200, that is admitted into the Union.

6.3 Executive power shall be vested in an Executive Branch, which shall be headed by three offices, which may be held by the same individual:

6.3.1 Leiter. The chief spokesman for the government, to the people and to foreign nations.

6.3.2 Executor. The enforcer of lawful acts of the Diet and courts of the Judicial Branch.

6.3.3 Protector. The Commander-in-Chief of military and police forces at the Union level.

6.4 Judicial power shall be vested in a Judicial Branch, which shall consist of one Supreme Court, and such subordinate courts as the Diet shall create, and define the jurisdictions of each. But there must always be a court of competent jurisdiction to decide any judicial issue that is conveniently located to the parties.

6.4.1 All richters or judges shall be selected by fetura into a single pool of richters, in which they shall serve for life, subject to good behavior, from which pool richters shall be selected by fetura to serve on each court for terms set by the Diet, except for two years in the Supreme Court, and selected by fetura to hear particular cases.

6.4.2 Judicial officers shall consist of all persons sworn to duty in a court of the United States or subdivisions thereof, including but not limited to court presidents, judges, magistrates, clerks, bailiffs, attorneys, witnesses, trial jurors, or recorders.

6..4.3 Subsequently appointed presidents, judges, magistrates, and clerks shall not be appointed permanently to a particular court, but periodically reassigned to courts and cases by sortition, with presidents or judges reassigned at random to courts each year, and at random to cases, other officials other than jurors assigned to courts for up to four years, and trial jurors selected at random to each case.

6.4.3 The Supreme Court shall have ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all cases, and may hear and decide any case in which they can provide property, injunctive, or declarative relief.

6.4.2.1 The Supreme Court shall consist of 28 richters, selected by fetura from the judicial pool to serve for a term of two years.

6.4.2.2 Each case shall initially receive oyer and terminer from a panel of three richters selected at random from the members of the Supreme Court.

6.4.2.3 Each case decided by a three-richter panel may be appealed to a panel of nine richters, selected at random from members of the Supreme Court, if three of the nine agree to hear it.

6.4.2.4 Each case decided by a nine-richter panel may be appealed to an en banc panel of twenty-seven of the members of the Supreme Court, selected at random from members of the Supreme Court, if six of the 28 agree to hear it.

6.4.3 In any multi-richter panel, Union or state, the decision in any case in which government shall be a party, must be unanimous to sustain the exercise of power of that government against the claim that government does not lawfully have that power.

6.4.4 The Supreme Court shall establish rules of procedure for all Union courts, at any jurisdiction or level, although subordinate courts may establish their own supplementary rules of procedure.

6.4.5 Inquestry. An inquestry shall consist of 23 citizens, with some spares, read in the law, selected at random from adult citizens of its jurisdiction, headed by a foreperson elected by its members, with power to hear any complaint from any person about the actions or conduct of any person or agency and to present its findings to the public or to appropriate agencies. Such findings may include an indictment or removal of official immunity, appointment of a prosecutor of the complaint, civil or criminal, in a court designated by it, and no individual shall be prosecuted for a crime without an indictment or presentment of an inquestry.

6.4.6 Jury. A trial jury shall consist of 12 citizens, with some spares, selected at random from all adult citizens in its jurisdiction, headed by a foreperson elected by its members, with the power to subpoena witnesses and testimony, hear all evidence, argument and pleadings, and to decide the complaint, civil or criminal, but it must be unanimous to find guilt in a criminal case, and failure to agree on conviction shall be deemed acquittal. All crimes for which the penalty shall be death or more than six months incarceration shall be tried by jury, even if the defendant does plead guilty.

7 Selection Procedures

7.1 Census. Within ten years after adoption of this Constitution, and on each tenth year thereafter, there shall be conducted a census of all inhabitants of the Union, to identify the name and count every denizen and citizen, elector and those likely to reach age for voting, physical condition of each, fitness for militia, including likely future fitness for those expected to reach militia age.

7.1.1 Within one year after the report of the recent census, the boundaries of wards shall be drawn or redrawn to contain approximately 3000 inhabitants, but not less than 2500 nor more than 4000, unless the state shall not contain that number. The lengths of ward boundaries shall be minimized, they shall be contiguous and simply connected with no holes. They shall not cross the boundaries of counties. All parts of a county must be placed in a ward.

7.1.2 For the first selection of officials that depend on census numbers, before a formal census can be conducted, an informal census shall be conducted by calling assemblies in each major town, counting the numbers of those who attend, and adding the counts to the estimated total.

7.2 Selection of the Bandtag.

7.2.1 Within a year after each census and prior to the next selection the number of tagtors which a land or state may select shall be calculated by the number of electors in the state, multiplied by the number of members of the Bandtag, divided by the number of electors in the Union, rounded up to the nearest whole number.

7.2.2 The state or land is to be divided into a number of Bandtag districts equal to the number of members the state is entitled to send to the Bandtag. The districts shall be composed of collections of wards that are equal in electoral population to within a margin of error of 20 percent, with a minimal outer boundary, contiguous, and simply connected. It should be attempted to avoid splitting counties among districts.

7.2.3 Each ward shall elect one candidate for a pool of candidates in its district, not necessarily a resident of the ward. Five of those candidates shall then be selected by lot to be the nominees for tagtor from that district. The electors shall then cast votes for one of those nominees, or for any other qualified person. The candidate who receives the most votes shall be the tagtor for that district, but in all proceedings of the Bandtag shall cast a number of votes equal to the number of votes that candidate received.

7.2.4 No person shall serve as tagtor who is not a citizen of the Commonwealth and has not attained the age of twenty-five years, or been a resident of his district for at least one year.

7 2 5 If a vacancy occurs in any position, that vacancy shall be filled by the next person in the line of designated successors, and if that line is exhausted, writs of election to fill such vacancy shall be issued by the executive authority of the state.

7.3 Selection of the Bandrat

7.3.1 Selection shall be at intervals of six years.

7.3.2 Each ward shall elect one candidate for a pool of candidates in its district, not necessarily a resident of the ward or district. Five of those candidates shall then be selected by lot to be the nominees for rator for the state. The electors shall then cast votes for one of those nominees, or for any other qualified person. The candidate who receives the most votes shall be the rator for that state, but in all proceedings of the Bandsrat shall cast one vote.

7.3.4 No person shall serve as rator who is not a citizen of the Commonwealth and has not attained the age of thirty years, and been a resident of the Commonwealth for a total of least five years.

7 3.5 If a vacancy occurs in any position, that vacancy shall be filled by the next person in the line of designated successors, and if that line is exhausted, writs of election to fill such vacancy shall be issued by the executive authority of the state.

7.3.6 The initial commissioners of election shall draw by lot whether each each rator shall initially serve for two years, four, or a full six. If initially two or four years then subsequent rators in that position shall serve for six years.

7.4 Selection of the Judiciary

7.4.1 Term of office shall be for life, subject to good behavior or fitness to serve.

7.4.2 Each ward shall elect one candidate for a pool of candidates for richter in its district, not necessarily a resident of the ward or district. Five of those candidates shall then be elected by the nominees for richter for the district. Vacancies in the Union judicial pool shall then be drawn by lot from those elected candidates.

7.4.3 Each position on each court shall be drawn by lot from the Union judicial pool, and when sitting as sub banc panels, shall be assigned by lot to particular cases.

7.4.4 No person shall serve as richter who is not a citizen of the Commonwealth and has not attained the age of forty-five years.

7.5 Selection of executive officials

7.5.1 The Leiter, Executor, and Protector shall each serve for a term of four years, but may be re-elected by a popular vote for an additional second term once. Selection shall be made at four-year intervals on a date set by the Diet. A single individual may serve as any two or all three of these offices.

7.5.2 Each ward shall elect one candidate for a pool of candidates for leiter, executor, or protector in its district, not necessarily a resident of the ward or district. Five of those candidates shall then be elected by by the nominees for those positions for the district. A number of executive electors, equal to the number of tagtors for the state, for each position shall be selected by lot from among those five, and each shall cast a ballot for one candidate for each position within its group. The candidate receiving a majority of the votes shall be declared selected, but if no one receives a majority then the executive electors shall vote again until a majority is attained, but the Diet shall designate the dates and places where all these selections are to be performed.

7.5.3 No person shall serve as Leiter, Executor, or Protector who is not a citizen of the Commonwealth from birth, either by being natural born to the soil or made a citizen at birth by a naturalization statute, and has not attained the age of thirty-five years.

7.5.4 Each executive official shall designate one or more successors who shall assume his role if he should become unable to perform it, as certified by an inquestry convened for the purpose.

7.5.3 Each executive official shall receive a compensation for his services, defined by the Diet and paid from the treasury, which shall not be increased or diminished during his term in office.

7.5.4 Each executive official shall, before he takes office, take an oath or affirmation that he will preserve, protect, and defend this Constitution, and faithfully execute the constitutional laws and lawful duties of the office he about to assume.

7.6 Qualifying candidates The Diet shall appoint 23 richters selected at random to be a richterate of selections, who shall determine from proof of qualification offered by each candidate that he is qualified to serve, or will be before assuming office. Any person may challenge the qualification of any candidate through a writ of quo warranto, but any or all such challenges may be consolidated into a single case.

7.7 The use of the masculine pronoun shall be deemed to include the feminine throughout this Constitution.

8. Removal procedures

8.1 Causes for which an official may be removed:

8.1.1 Treason.

8.1.2 Bribery

8.1.3 Dereliction of duty.

8.1.4 Commission of a crime.

8.1.5 Abuse of discretion.

8.1.6 Conduct unbecoming to the office held.

8.1.7 Willful violation of any provision of this Constitution, unless it may be warranted by an emergency.

8.1.8 Failure to obey a lawful order.

8.1.9 Incompetence.

8.2 Immunities of officials.

8.2.1 Officials shall not be subject to arrest or detention unless it is a felony or a life is in danger, during duty periods, such as members of the Diet while either house is in session.

8.3 If an official is deemed by a randomly inquestry unable to perform the duties of his office, and there is no designated successor available to take his role, the selection procedure for that office shall be repeated until a lawful candidate is selected.

8.4 Prior to selection a candidate shall designate at least one, and no more than five, successors to his office if he should become unable to perform the duties of his office, who shall take his place in the order of their succession.

8.5 Either house of the Diet shall have power to discipline or remove any of its members for any of the causes for removal listed above. They may enforce attendance at sessions.

8.6 Any richter may be removed by a randomly selected inquestry of members of the judiciary.

8.3 Impeachment and removal of officials

8.3.1 Any official may be initially impeached by an inquestry of impeachment selected from across the Union, but such impeachment shall be subject to review by the Bandtag, failing which the impeachment shall stand.

8.3.2 Any official may be tried by a court of removal, with a jury selected from across the Union, but such trial is subject to review by the Bandrat. If not rejected by the Bandrat, the court shall have the power to remove him from his office, disqualify him holding of any other office or position of benefit, but without power to otherwise impose penalties, which may be done by a trial held by or under the supervision of the Supreme Court, with prosecution, judgment, or punishment, according to law of the Union or any subdivision thereof.

8.4 Legislative procedure

8.4.1 Joint resolutions. Statutes and other acts of the Diet that expend public resources or are intended to have a structural or coercive effect on individuals or organizations, governmental or nongovernmental.

8.4.1.1 A bill may be introduced in either house of the Diet, where it shall be assigned a title and a number, and scheduled for debate;

8.4.1.2 Upon conclusion of debate, it shall be submitted to a vote by the members of the house;

8.4.1.3 If approved by the house, it shall be submitted to the other house for debate and a vote, during which it may be amended;

8.4.1.4 If approved with amendment, it shall be committed to a reconciliation committee composed of members of both houses who voted for it, for debate on amendments needed to propose a single compromise bill, which shall be submitted to both houses for further debate and perhaps approval;

8..4.1.5 If a single bill is passed by both houses, it is then submitted to the Leiter for signature, who may, if it concerns revenues, debts, spending, money, or assets of the Union, submit it to the Executor for his signature, or if it concerns defense or foreign relations, submit it to the Protector for his signature. Each executive, if he does not consent to the entire bill as submitted, shall return the bill to the Diet with his objections and any proposed deletions, but a bill of more than 10,000 words shall extend the time for signatures by ten days for each increment of 10,000 words;

8.4.1.5 If each house concurs with the deletions, it may do so by enacting a simple resolution of each house without objections to some of the deletions;

8.4.1.6 If it does not concur, the bill may be submitted, perhaps with amendments, to the other house like any other bill, and may convene the reconciliation committee to arrive at a common version, which may then be resubmitted to the executive officials who made objections for their signature or signatures. If one or the other refuses to sign, the bill fails, unless the Diet shall re-pass it by a vote of two-thirds of each house, in which case it shall be deemed passed;

8.4.1.7 If either executive shall not sign the bill within ten days while the Diet is in session, the bill fails, otherwise it is deemed passed.

8.4.1.8 The yays and nays and the name of each member casting them shall be recorded and reported.

8.4.2 Concurrent resolutions. Acts which do not require the signatures of executives, such as amendments to this Constitution, treaties, or rules of procedure of the Diet.

8.4.3 Simple resolutions. Acts which do not require the concurrence of the other house, such as motions to adjourn, amend the rules of that house, enforce discipline of its members, or prepare or report the journal of the house.

9. Official duties.

9.1 Union and State Diets.

9.1.1 The diet of each state shall prescribe uniform times, places, and manner for the selection of its representatives to the Union Diet, and shall supervise such selections, but the Union Diet may at any time enact replacements or alterations to such state acts, and appoint its own supervisors.

9.1.2 The chief protector of each state, county, or ward, or his designee shall be commander of militia in that jurisdiction; but should he neglect such duty the militia members of that jurisdiction shall elect their own commander.

9.1.3 Militia of each sate shall be kept in a state of readiness in leadership, training, planning, equipment, and supplies, sufficient to prevail over the regular military that may be assigned to that area.

9.1.4 Each house of the diet shall adopt rules of procedure by a two-thirds vote of each house, and publish same:

9.1.4.1 Choose a commencement date for each year;

9.1.4.2 Compel the attendance of absent members in such manner as the house shall prescribe; and discipline misbehaving members, which may include fines or suspensions, or, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expulsion of them;

9.1.4.3 Keep a complete and accurate verbatim journal of its proceedings, and report such journal from time to time but at least once each year, except for those items that in its judgment may may require secrecy for security, for a period not to exceed ten years;

9.1.4.4 Record and report the yeas and nays of all votes, if demanded by at least one-fifth of the members;

9.1.4.5 Report annual and project expenditures and obligations incurred by its government;

9.1.4.6 Each house shall judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of its members;

9.1.4.7 A majority of the members each house shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a lesser number may adjourn from day to day;

9.1.4.8 No member of the diet shall be appointed to any other office, legislative, executive, or judicial, while serving, or to any office the compensation for which was increased by the diet during his term in that body; nor shall any officer of one branch of government be selected for or serve in a different branch concurrently;

9.1.4.9 The Union shall guarantee to any state or dominion compliance with its constitution or organic law, and its legislation shall be confined to 
specific delegated powers.

9.1.4.9 The Union shall defend every state or dominion from invasion, or at the request of the state or dominion diet or executive, against domestic violence.

9.2 Union Diet

9.2.1 Neither house may adjourn for more than three days, or to a place other than their regular place of sitting, without the consent of the other;

9.2.2 Members of each house shall be compensated for their service according to law, paid out of the Treasury of the Union, but such compensation shall not be increased during their terms in office;

9.3 Union Judicial Branch

9.3.1 General jurisdiction.

9.3.1.1 The judicial power of the Union shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior Courts as the Diet may from time to time ordain and establish, but the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction over all lower courts of all parts of the Union.

9.3.1.2 The judicial Power shall extend to all cases, in law, equity, or prerogative writs, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the Union, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under its authority:

9.3.1.2.1 To all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;

9.3.1.2.2 To all cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;

9.3.1.2.3 To cases to which the Union shall be a party;

9.3.1.2.4 To cases between two or more states, dominions, or protectorates;

9.3.1.2.5 Between a state, dominion, or protectorate, and citizens or lawful inhabitants of another State, dominion, or protectorate;

9.3.1.2.6 Between citizens or lawful inhabitants of different states, dominions, or protectorates;

9.3.1.2.7 Between citizens of the same state, dominion, or protectorate claiming lands under grants of different states, dominions, or protectorates;

9.3.1.2.8 Between a state, dominion, or protectorate, or the citizens or lawful inhabitants thereof, and foreign lands, or their citizens or subjects.

9.3.1.2.9 In any trial in which the government is a party, compliance with the Constitution shall be represented, if only an intervenor.

9.3.3 Original jurisdiction. The Union Diet shall assign original or appellate jurisdiction to any Union court, or to the Supreme Court, or to administrative or military tribunal, subject to the caseload capacities of each.

9.3.2 Procedure

9.3.2.1 The judges, or richters, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office;

9.3.2.2 Judicial office shall not be to a particular court or case, but to a pool from which they may be selected and appointed to particular courts or cases.

9.3.2.3 Decisions and opinions of all courts, majority, concurring, or dissenting, shall be signed by each judicial officer participating, and all decisions and opinions shall be published except those that might disclose Union or state secrets. The summary, findings, orders, and commentary shall be clearly separated and labeled as such.

9.4 All officials of all branches and parts

9.4.1 Every official shall swear or affirm that he will preserve, protect, defend, and comply with this Constitution, subject to penalties of perjury of oath, and the constitution of any part thereof to which he may be subject.

9.4.2 The trial of all treasons, felonies, or other crimes carrying a penalty of more than six months incarceration, but not impeachments, shall be tried by jury, regardless of the preferences or plea of the accused.

9.4.3 All crimes shall be tried in the state or dominion in which the crime was committed, but if not in a state, dominion, or district, then in a venue defined by the Diet.

9.4.4 The location where any crime shall be deemed to have been committed shall be where mens rea, actus reus, and concurrence occur, but not necessarily where causation or harm occur.

9.4.5 It shall be a violation of due process to indefinitely detain a person who may be a witness.

9.4.6 The people shall be secure against general and pervasive surveillance in private and public places, whether done by government or private actors, that has a chilling effect on their private and civic activities, without specific public court orders pursuant to acts of the Diet for national security.

9.4.7 Except in an emergency in which recording is infeasible, all legislative, judicial, and administrative proceedings, other than trial jury and inquestry meetings, shall be recorded with current techs, archived, and released as the Diet, for Union proceedings, or a state diet, for state proceedings, or a court of competent jurisdiction, shall direct. Persons present in a legislative of judicial assembly shall not be barred from recording the proceedings except to forbid them from disclosing the members of the jury before the trial is concluded.

9.4.8 The Diet shall have power, on territory under its exclusive jurisdiction, and state diets, on territory under their exclusive jurisdiction, to forbid weapons within penal facilities, courthouses, and government offices or proceedings, provided that they provide for a secure system for checking in weapons on entry, and return on leaving, and guarantee the safety of persons within against all injury they might be able to avoid by having the means to defend themselves or others.

9.4.9 The Diet shall have power, on territory under its exclusive jurisdiction, and state diets, on territory under their exclusive jurisdiction, to forbid unsupervised possession of destructive devices or weapons each discharge of which can produce the death or injury of more than 1000 individuals over a space of 1000 square yards and a time of one hour.

9.4.10 No debt by the Union or any department thereof shall be incurred or held valid that funds consumption by other than military personnel and militia personnel in federal service, or that funds payment of interest on existing debt; and any person may challenge the validity of any debt, whereupon the government shall have 20 days to prove it is authorized by law and not for consumption except as provided above, failing which the debt shall be deemed null and void.

10. Delegated powers

10.1 Executive officials. All executive officials shall have power to appoint subordinate officials, require in writing reports of the actions, receipts, and expenditures, of subordinate officials and their subordinates, under their supervision, and to issue executive orders or regulations governing them.

10.1.1 Leiter.

10.1.1.1 The Leiter shall speak for the Commonwealth to the people, to states, and to foreign lands.

10.1.1.2 The Leiter or his designees shall represent the Commonwealth in the courts, except when an inquestry appoints someone else to represent the Commonwealth.

10.1.1.3 The Leiter shall, at least once a year, report to the Diet and the people the State of the Union, with recommended measures.

10.1.1.4 The Leiter must consent to all bills passed by the Diet within 10 days, and if he should fail to do so within that time, or find it or any part thereof to be unconstitutional, it shall be deemed enacted, but he shall have an additional ten days for each 100,0000 words of the bill.

10.1.1.5 The Leiter may reprieve or pardon any person convicted of a Union crime, except in a case of treason or official impeachment, but such pardon or reprieve does not remove it, or forbid prosecution in a different jurisdiction for the same act.

10.1.1.6 The Leiter shall nominate and with the majority consent of the Bandrat, appoint Cabinet officials, other than the Executor or Protector, judges, ambassadors, and other officials which the Diet has designated must require their consent, reserving the appointment of lesser officials to the heads of departments, or courts.

10.1.1.7 The Leiter shall have the authority to fill vacancies that may occur while the Diet is adjourned, to serve until the Diet reconvenes.

10.1.1.8 The Leiter shall have authority to convene either or both houses of the Diet, at a place which he shall designate, consistent with places previously established by law, and to adjourn those thus convened, but not to suspend or adjourn either of them during their regular sessions.

10.1.1.9 The Leiter shall receive ambassadors and other ministers of foreign lands.

10.1.2 Executor.

10.2.1.1 The Executor must diligently and fairly execute the constitutional laws of the Band, subject to availability of appropriated resources.

10.2.1.1 The Executor shall collect, keep, and disburse all funds, and manage all debts, of the Band.

10.2.1.2 The Executor shall account for all finances to the Diet and to the People at least once a year.

10.2.1.3 The Executor must consent to all bills passed by the Diet on budgetary, financial, revenue, or spending matters, within 10 days, and if he should fail to do so within that time, or find it or any part thereof contrary to wise policy, it shall be deemed enacted, but he shall have ten additional days for each 100,000 words of the bill.

10.2.1.4 The Executor shall administer the affairs of the dominions and protectorates, subject to constitutional acts of their own legislatures.

10.2.1.5 The Executor shall supervise execution of the laws by subordinate departments.

10.1.3 Protector

10.1.3.1 The Protector shall act as Supreme Commander of all armed forces, militia, law enforcement and intelligence agents within the jurisdiction of the Band, with authority to call up militia for general service for the duration of an emergency.

10.1.3.2 The Protector shall negotiate all treaties except those involving the accession of lands into the Band, of alliances, and of war and peace.

10.1.3.3 The Protector shall propose declarations of war and letters of marque and reprisal, with the consent of the Diet, or such part of them as can be convened on short notice, and to engage in hostilities when there is not time to do so.

10.1.3.4 The Protector shall execute the jus gentium for offenses outside the pale of the Band, including:

10.1.3.4.1 Bellum against legitimus hostis, including laws of war and peace;

10.1.3.4.2 Guerra against foreign private actors latrones (brigands) or praedones (pirates), who commit warlike acts against a land or assets, foreign to themselves, or that is without effective governance, and those who aid and abet them, intentionally or negligently, for whom the penalty may include death, with summary due process before a military tribunal.

10.1.3.4.3 The Protector must consent to all bills passed by the Diet on military or defense matters within 10 days, and if he should fail to do so within that time, or find it or any part thereof contrary to wise policy, it shall be deemed enacted.

10.1.3.4.4 The Protector shall commission military and militia officers, with the consent of the Leiter.

10.2 Delegated Powers to the Diet. The Diet shall have power:

10.2.1 Civil powers over money and finance

10.2.1.1 To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, excises, and tariffs on profitable activities and objects that are evidence of profitable activities, uniformly throughout the Union, and fees or rents for the use of public privileges, to pay the debts and fund the operations of the Union, but revenues shall not fall to the advantage or disadvantage on any state, region, or class, and revenues and expenditures shall not be made that have the inferable or intended effect of redistributing the wealth of the People; Taxable objects shall include only profitable activities that are not exercises of constitutional immunities, and shall not include gifts, bequests, equal exchanges, possession, existence, or inaction.

10.2.1.2 To borrow money or other assets on the credit of the Union;

10.2.1.3 To regulate articles of commerce, which are transfers of title and possession of a tangible asset for a valuable consideration, with foreign nations, between the states, within the dominions, and among the lands and domestic nations of the Union, and not within such lands, but shall not include money, energy, information, or services, it shall not include transport without such transfer or interest, nor extraction other than mining from depths of more than 250 yards, or primary production, manufacturing, possession, use, or disposal, nor shall it include the other activities of those engaged in such transfers; the power to regulate shall be only to restrict attributes or modalities of the article regulated, and shall not include the power to impose criminal penalties;

10.2.1.4 To establish a uniform rule of bankruptcy and reorganization of insolvent individuals, private entities, or municipalities, and of dividing entities with a high risk of becoming dangerously insolvent to the stability of the Union and the world into entities with more manageable risks; but lending for interest shall not be regulated or forbidden provided that any such debt may be discharged in bankruptcy;

10.2.1.5 To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the Standard of weights and measures; to make anything legal tender for the payment of debts only on territory under its exclusive jurisdiction, but not on state territory.

10.2.1.6 To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the Union, but not of privately minted coin that are easily distinguishable from Union coin;

10.2.2 Civil power generally

10.2.2.1 To establish or regulate post offices and post roads, but not to establish monopolies for carrying the mail;

10.2.2.3 To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for periods of seven years the exclusive right to authors and inventors to produce their respective writings and discoveries for sale, and for an additional seven years the exclusive right to receive royalties on such writings and inventions, at a rate to be prescribed by law;

10.2.3.3 To authorize itself or committees of itself to operate as an inquestry for the investigation of public matters, including the issuance of subpoenas, and to enforce its subpoenas and directives to provide information, directly or through a court.

10.2.3 Judicial

10.2.3.1 To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court, which may hear appeals from any other lower court;

10.2.3.2 To define and punish contumacy; No judge shall have power to punish contumacy by fine, imprisonment, or other penalty, other than by incarceration for a period not to exceed ten days per court session, without conviction by a jury in a trial in which another judge shall preside.

10.2.3.3 To define and punish perjury of oath and other high crimes and misdemeanors;

10.2.3.4 To define and punish fraud against the Union;

10..2.4 Defense

10.2.4.1 To establish a uniform rule of naturalization of foreign nationals or foreign born offspring of Union nationals;

10.2.4.2 To define and punish felonies committed on the high Seas, praedones (piracies) and and other offenses against the jus gentium, including entry into the Union without permission, or the law of nations, and to make rules for guerra against praedones or latrones;

10.2.4.3 To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal to private parties or to the Protector, and make rules concerning captures on land, water, and elsewhere. A declaration of war shall specify the state or organized body that is the enemy, the casus belli or casus foederis requiring its issuance, the commencement date, and perhaps the terms for its conclusion. The identification of the enemy shall be sufficiently precise to allow persons of common understanding to recognize them, and not be left to executive officials to define the boundaries of what is included;

10.2.4.4 To recruit military volunteers and support and maintain armed forces, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

10.2.4.5 To make rules for the government and regulation of the armed forces, or for protection of the assets or territory of the Union;

10.2.4.6 To provide for calling forth the militia for the duration of emergencies to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, repel invasions, and respond to disasters;

10.2.4.7 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the Union, reserving to the states respectively, the election of officers by county or ward units, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Diet, but should the state fail to do so, militia units may convene themselves and elect their own officers;

10.2.4.8 To regulate or prohibit release unto the environment of harmful substances;

12.2.4.9 Treason. Treason shall consist of warlike acts, or the aiding or abetting of such acts, intentionally or negligently, by citizens or legal residents against the land or assets of their nation or domicile, proved by the testimony of two independent witnesses to the same overt acts. It does not include ordinary felonies for gain or with malice, nor shall conviction thereof bring corruption of blood or forfeiture within the lifetime of the accused. Treason may be punishable by exile or death.

12.2.4.10 To punish infringement of any of the immunities in the Bill of Immunities.

12.2.4.11 To punish interference with the lawful exercise of duties of a Union agent.

10.2.5 Union enclaves and dominions.

10.2.5.1 To exercise exclusive legislation with powers common to most states, over such Capital dominion as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of the Diet, become the seat of the government of the Union;

10.2.5.2 To exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the diet of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection and use of needful public buildings, or facilities, but all such cessions shall be defined by metes and bounds;

10.2.5.3 The total area of all such cessions from a state, or retained parcels from admission of a state, shall not exceed five percent of the total area of the state; and

10.2.5.4 Each such ceded or retained parcel shall have its boundaries clearly marked, lacking which the parcel shall revert to the state or dominion, but the inhabitants of the parcel shall remain inhabitants of the state for all electoral and militia purposes;

10.2.5.5 To exercise like authority over coastal waters between the high tide line and a line 30 kiloyards out from that line;

10.2.5.6 To exercise like authority over airspace above 2 kiloyards above terrain features of Union territory;

10.2.5.7 To exercise like authority over minerals 250 yards or more beneath the land surface;

10.2.5.8 Shmita.The Diet shall, perhaps with a treaty with other nations collectively producing most of the world’s valuable assets, exercise power to do the following for each year evenly divisible by seven, for a shmita period at least three and not more than nine months:

10.2.5.8.1 Cancel all debts, securities, fiat currencies, and derivatives thereof;

10.2.5.8.2 Liquidate or break up all for-profit corporate entities and activities into organizations comprised of not more than 3000 individuals and investors;

10.2.5.8.3 Regulate emergent behavior that might act in concert like a corporate entity;

10.2.5.8.4 Suspend all extraction, including mining planting, harvesting, and fishing, all manufacturing, and all transport beyond 100 kiloyards of durable goods, other than those essential for defense, justice and law enforcement, water, power, or medical services;

10.2.5.8.5 Promote storage systems to enable persons to endure the shmita period;

10.2.5.8.6 Forbid the importation of goods subject to the shmita during the shmita period;

10.2.5.8.7 Call out militia to enforce the shmita.

10.2.6 To make any laws which shall be absolutely necessary and proper, or incidental, for making a reasonable effort to carry into execution the foregoing powers, but not necessarily to get a desired result, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the Union, or in any department or officer thereof.

10.2.7 To punish infringements of immunities in the Bill of Immunities;

10.3 Restrictions on the delegated powers of the Diet. The Diet or executive officers shall not:

10.3.1 Impose any tax or duty on any dominion, not represented in the Diet, to go to the Union Treasury, but only on behalf of that dominion, to go to its treasury, until it can constitute its own legislature;

10.3.2 Suspend or impede the prerogative writs of habeas corpus, prohibito, mandamus, procedendo, scire facias, quo warranto, error, or certiorari, or the filing and prosecution thereof directly by any individual, in the name of the people, except during periods of emergency when the courts are not open; and such writs shall not be treated as petitions or motions for injunction, but as demands, requiring a response;

10.3.3 Pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto act, or their functional equivalents, imposing criminal penalties on a group that has not had individual due process for an act committed before the act of the Diet went into effect, or that increases a penalty after sentence is imposed;

10.3.4 Establish or continue any title of nobility or its functional equivalent, granting privileges or immunities on any person except as his office may require it to perform his duties, nor permit any person holding a position of trust in the Union to accept any such title, estates, revenues, or other items of value, from any foreign state; but any official immunity may be removed by indictment of an inquestry;

10.3.5 Impose any direct tax or rent on any object which may be evidence of profitable activity, except in proportion to the population of the state taken from the most recent census;

10.3.6 Impose any tax or duty on articles exported from any state, or on articles or services useful for militia;

10.3.7 Give preference in regulation of commerce for revenues to one state or its ports or roads over that of another;

10.3.8 Draw any money from the Treasury, or create any debts or obligations, except those authorized by appropriations of the Diet, nor shall any expenditure or incurrence of debt not be reported to the public at least once a year;

10.3.9 Make anything except gold or silver coin or units of energy legal tender for the payment of debts within any state;

10.3.10.Take any real property through eminent domain, or any chattel, without just compensation and through due process of law, and only for a legitimate public use, from any dominion, or from any state without the consent of the state diet; but any property thus taken which is not put to public use within ten years shall be returned to its original owner together with fair market rent for its use, and any regulatory or other activity which diminishes the value of the property by more than ten percent shall be considered a taking under this clause;

10.3.11 Infringe on any of the immunities in the Bill of Immunities. All powers delegated in this Constitution are constrained to be exercised only for a proper, or reasonable, rational, and legitimate, public purpose, as a fiduciary trust for the general benefit of all the people and not for the special benefit of any part of them, partially but not completely stated in the Preamble. No power is plenary or without limits, and no power may be extended to accomplish a purpose without amendment.

10.3.12 Devotion to the Constitution as originally meant and understood may be an established civil religion in the Union and in any subdivision thereof.

10.3.13 The Diet may not require any state or local official, or private person, of the Union, to expend any resources without providing such resources, or make the provision of resources conditional on performing actions the Diet does not have the power to command, except for militia organization, training, and operations, or for specific performance on a voluntary contract.

10.4 Immunities of officials and government, and claims

10.4.1 Officials shall have official immunity from execution of money judgments for injuries caused by acts lawfully done by the official or in the performance of his lawful duties; however

10.4.2 Officials shall not have immunity from suit; and

10.4.3 Officials shall not have immunity against money judgments for injuries caused by acts done unlawfully by him or not in the performance of his lawful duties; however,

10.4.4 If an injurious act was done by an official lawfully or in the performance of his lawful duties, the injured party may sue and receive judgment for such injury against the government or agency employing him, under the doctrine of respondeat superior; but the plaintiff may not execute such judgment against assets of the government or agency chosen by him, but shall be paid only from a fund appropriated for the payment of such claims, upon application therefor, provided that funds are available; and

10.4.5 Sufficient funds shall be appropriated for the payment of such claims, before any other funds are appropriated.

10.4.6 Collection of such claims shall not be impeded or made excessively expensive, and the government or agency shall be liable for reasonable costs and delays of collection.

10.4.7 If an official shall not have sufficient assets to pay a judgment against him, his government or agency shall be liable for the deficit; and

10.4.8 If the injury consists of the death or physical impairment of an innocent person, the official may be criminally prosecuted by the injured party or his representative for a penalty that may include death.

10.4.9 Members of the Diet shall be privileged from arrest or detention during sessions of his house, or while traveling to such sessions, except for treason, bribery, or breach of the peace; or civil or criminal or civil prosecution for any speech or debate, for votes cast, while his house is in session.

10.4.10 No official shall be subject to a religious test to hold office or perform his duties.

11. States, dominions, protectorates, and subdivisions thereof.

11.1 A state or land shall be a full member of the Union, on the same terms as for other states, and shall be represented in both houses or camera of the Diet, and shall participate in the selection of executive officials.

11.2 A state or protectorate shall be sovereign over its land, with the exclusive power of eminent domain.

11.3 A dominion shall not be sovereign over its land, but sovereignty shall vest in the Union until it be admitted as a state or protectorate.

11.4 Restrictions on the powers of states, dominions, and protectorates. No state, dominion, or protectorate, or any subdivision thereof, shall:

11.4.1 Enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation with a foreign nation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin or units of energy a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or bill impairing the obligation or terms of contracts, or grant any title of nobility or its functional equivalent;

11.4.2 Without the consent of the Diet, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws; and the net yield of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the Union; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Diet;

11.4.3 Impose any restrictive regulation, tax, fee, or duty on articles or services useful for militia.

11.4.4 Without the consent of the Diet, lay any duty of tonnage, keep regular armed forces, other than militia, in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state without consent of the Diet, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

11.4.5 Take any real property through eminent domain, or any chattel, without just compensation and through due process of law, and only for a legitimate public use, but any property thus taken which is not put to public use within ten years shall be returned to its original owner together with fair market rent for its use, and any regulatory or other activity which diminishes the value of the property by more than ten percent shall be considered a taking under this clause.

11.4.6 Shall not impair the obligations of contracts, license contracts, or regulate their terms, although the courts may not enforce some contracts.

11.4.7 There shall be no occupational licensing, formal or informal, national, state, or local, especially of lawyers by lawyers or judges.

11.4.8 Every bill enacted by a state diet shall expire two years after enactment, unless re-enacted, or unless it is constitutionally mandated.

11.4.9 Infringe on any of the immunities in the Bill of Immunities;
11.4.10 Make or enforce any law that is not authorized by a specific delegation by its constitution.

11.5 Admission of states and protectorates. A state or protectorate may be admitted into that role by application, selection of a government, and submission of a constitution for approval by the Diet. State constitutions shall be modeled on that of the Union, but may be adapted to the needs of the state. Before admission they may have been a dominion or a foreign land. No state or protectorate shall be admitted from within a state or dominion, by uniting parts of dominions or states, without consent of the legislature of the state or dominion and of the Diet. A protectorate must continue for ten years as a protectorate before it is admitted as a state, except for lands in the British Isles.

11.5.1 The Union shall not retain more than ten percent of the area of a state, for natural, historical, or scenic reserves, or for military installations, upon admission of a state, which reserves shall not be subject to taxation by the state.

11.5.2 The Diet shall have power to legislate for a Capital dominion as though it were a state and the Diet were its government.

11.5.3 Dominion status is for lands with few indigenous inhabitants, not yet fully settled by Union citizens, which indigenes have not yet consented to the Constitution of the Union or to its laws. Some such may continue as subdominions or domestic nations.

11.5.4 Protectorate status is for lands already inhabited with peoples organized with their own government and laws, who may need some time to reconcile those laws to those of the Union before being admitted as a state. Their proposed constitution need not be as closely modeled on that of the Union.

11.5.5 The Union shall guarantee to each state or protectorate compliance with its own constitution.

11.6 Secession. A state or protectorate may secede from the union after it has been admitted at least 20 years, with mutual accommodation between that state or protectorate and the Union for the lands and properties of each, by consent of the diets of both the Union and the state or protectorate.

12. Treaties and alliances.

12.1 Commercial, territorial, diplomatic, extradition, or other such treaties shall be negotiated by the Leiter, and shall go into effect with consent of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet.

12.2 Supporting mutual defense agreements, such as status of forces agreements, shall be negotiated by the Protector, and shall go into effect with consent of a majority of both houses of the Diet.

12.3 No treaty shall have the effect of creating or extending any delegated powers of the Diet or any department of government, or of any state constitution.

12.4 The Protector may engage in hostilities for 90 days without a declaration of war in a case of casus bellum or casus foederis, or if there is an imminent danger that will not admit of delay.

12.5 The Protector is not bound to defend allies that have provoked hostilities.

12.6 If the Union is in a mutual defense alliance in which some member states are not doing their fair share of the duties of mutual defense, the Protector may assess and collect duties or fines from the international commerce, assets, or operations of delinquent members, and pay such revenues to a fund to pay for mutual defense efforts, or to an alliance defense legion, bearing letters of marque and reprisal, organized to fulfill the mutual defense and other duties of members of the alliance.

13. Jus gentium. Jus gentium shall be the main law in recently liberated or occupied lands until constitutional governments can be established there. It shall include any of the following acts, without the consent of the Diet, by declaration of war, mutual defense treaty, or through letters of marque and reprisal:

13.1 Latrocinium (piracy), including warlike acts against the assets of a land not that of the attackers;

13.2 Invasion or unlawful entry into the territory of a foreign land;

13.3 Attacks on emissaries, ambassadors, or on Union or Alliance military forces;

13.4 Subversion of the government of a foreign land;

13.1 Enslavement or its equivalent shall be an offense of piracy, punishable by death.

13.2 Violent oppression of groups within a land, other than of supporters of the previous regime, shall be an offense, punishable by death;

13.3 Such other extraterritorial violent acts as may be defined by the Diet.

14. Supremacy, comity, and assumption of debts.

14.1 This Constitution of government, and laws pursuant thereto, shall be the supreme law of the Union, subject only to the constitutions of nature, the society, and the dominion of the society, of its states, dominions, and protectorates, superseding the constitutions, treaties (other than with the Union), and laws of such parts, and the courts of every part shall be bound thereby.

14.2 The courts of all parts of the Union shall give full faith and credit to the official acts and judicial proceedings of other parts, but the Union Diet may prescribe the forms of proof and the effect thereof.

14.3 The Union assumes all outstanding contracts or debts of newly admitted states and dominions not retained by them;

14.4 The citizens or each state or dominion shall enjoy the privileges or immunities common to other states or dominions.

14.5 A Person charged in any state or dominion with treason, felony, piracy, or other crime, who shall flee from justice in that jurisdiction, and be found in another state or dominion, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state or dominion from which he fled, be extradited, delivered up, and removed to the state or dominion having jurisdiction of the Crime, at its expense.

15. Construction.

15.1 Any claim of authority or official immunity must be presumed not to be valid unless proved.

15.2 The writ of quo warranto may be filed by any person to demand proof of authority, which writ must be heard before of all other writs or cases, although once proved another writ of quo warranto on the same claim need not be heard by the same court for 30 days without new evidence.

15.3 Acts of any diet shall be presumed to be unconstitutional until proved to be constitutional.

15.4 Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to prejudice any preceding claims by or upon the Union or any state.

15.5 Court decisions shall not be deemed binding in any other case, but at most persuasive.

15.6 Constitutional text shall be construed only on the basis of historical meaning for first, the ratifiers, second, the framers.

15.6 No person shall be denied standing for at least declaratory relief even if he has not incurred or does not expect particular injury.

15.7 The powers to tax, spend, promote, regulate, and prohibit (or punish), shall each be construed as distinct, with none derivable from any of the others, and none shall be exercised as a way to avoid the lack of a power to do one of the others.

15.8 No power applicable to an object, or any necessary and proper power derived from it, shall be extended to other objects with which it may be aggregated or causally connected, except to separate the applicable objects from the others.

16. Amendment

16.1 Amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in any of the following ways:

16.1.1 By a concurrent resolution of the Union Diet;

16.1.2 By identical proposals from the diets of two-thirds of the then existing States;

16.1.3 By a convention called by the diets of one-third of the then existing states, with the appointment by those diets of a convention commission to manage it;

16.2 Amendments to this Constitution may be ratified in any of the following ways:

16.2.1 By concurrent resolutions of the diets of three-fourths of the then existing states,

16.2.2 By conventions called by the diets of three-fourths of the then existing states;

16.2.3 By conventions in three-fourths of the then existing states called by the Union Diet.

16.3 No State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its two equal votes in the Union Bandrat, or at least one vote in the Union Bandtag.

16.4 An amendment shall be appended to this Constitution, and shall be deemed part of it for all purposes; courts are to resolve conflicts between an amendment and preceding parts of the Constitution in favor of the last ratified.

16.5 To be deemed ratified, the results of votes of the diet or convention in each state shall be reviewed and verified by a vote of at least 18 of a randomly selected inquestry of 23 from citizens of that state who are not dependent on public funds for their support; and the reports of all such votes and inquestries shall be reviewed and verified by a vote of at least 18 of a randomly selected inquestry of 23 from citizens of the Union who are not dependent on public funds for their support.

17. Ratification

18.1 This Constitution shall go into effect if ratified by the diets, ratifying conventions, or referenda, of four of the five lands in the British Isles, one of which must be England.

18.2 This Constitution shall go into effect for any additional lands that accede to it, with the consent of the Union Diet.

18. Postamble. Proposed in convention as described below.