C.D. 001: Constitutional Charter of the County of Ransenar

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Janus Eadric

C.D. 001: Constitutional Charter of the County of Ransenar

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WE,
Janus Eadric I,
Humble Servant of His Niftiness the Kaiser,
COUNT OF RANSENAR,
PRINCE OF NERIDIA,
LORD OF GOLDCASTLE.


WHEREAS Divine Providence has laid upon us great obligations and responsibilities as Count of Ransenar, mainly the establishment of a Constitutional Charter for the County to provide for the establishment of an appropriate and suitable constitutional order within the County, honoring our position within the Duchy of Goldshire and the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, from which Good Government, Peace, Prosperity, Tranquility and Stability may emanate;

WHEREAS We are bound, by the example of the Kaiser, the Duke of Goldshire, Our fellow Counts, to recognize and bring to fruition the wish of our citizens for a constitutional charter as the expression of a real need;

WHEREAS assured of our intentions, and strengthened by our conscience, we pledge ourselves, in the presence of the people of Ransenar which hears us, to be faithful to this constitutional charter, reserving to ourselves to swear to maintain it with a new solemnity, before the altars of our Gods, who weigh in the same balance kings, counts, presidents, and nations.

WHEREAS We have voluntarily, and by the free exercise of our authority, accorded and do accord, grant and concede to our people, as well for us as for our successors forever, the constitutional charter which follows:

We, the people of the County of Ransenar, recognizing the rights and duties of this great Country as a part of the Duchy of Goldshire, and of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, reaffirm our adherence to the laws and Charter of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth; and in order to assure the county government power to act for the good order of the county and the liberty, health, safety and welfare of the people, we do ordain and establish this constitutional charter --

MAGNA CARTA

ARTICLE I.
Bill of Rights.

1. Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly and Petition.
No law shall be enacted respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

2. Due Process and Equal Protection.
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws, nor be denied the enjoyment of his civil rights or be discriminated against in the exercise thereof because of race, national origin, religion, sexual preference, sex, gender, or ancestry.

3. Searches and Seizures and Interceptions.
(a) The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
(b) The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable interception of telephone, telegraph and other electronic means of communication, and against unreasonable interception of oral and other communications by electric or electronic methods, shall not be violated, and no orders and warrants for such interceptions shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation that evidence of crime may be thus obtained, and particularly identifying the means of communication and the person or persons whose communications are to be intercepted.
(c) Evidence obtained in violation of this section shall not be admissible in any court against any person.

4. Self-Incrimination.
No person shall be compelled to give testimony which might tend to incriminate them.

5. Writ of Habeas Corpus.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

6.] Rights of Accused Persons.
(a) In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, to have the assistance of counsel for his defense, and to the assignment of counsel to represent him at every stage of the proceedings unless he elects to proceed without counsel or is able to obtain counsel. In prosecutions for felony, the accused shall also enjoy the right of trial by an impartial jury.
(b) All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, but bail may be denied to persons charged with capital offenses or offenses punishable by life imprisonment, giving due weight to the evidence and to the nature and circumstances of the event. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishment inflicted.
(c) No person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.

7. Political Tests for Public Office.
No oath, declaration or political test shall be required for any public office or employment other than the following oath or affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will support and defend the Kaiser and the Charter of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth and the constitution of the county of Ransenar and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of __________ to the best of my ability."

ARTICLE II.
Powers, Organization and Composition of the Comital Government.


8. Powers of Government.
The enumeration in this Constitutional Charter of the County of Ransenar of specified powers and functions shall be construed neither as a grant nor as a limitation of the powers of the comital government but the comital government shall have all of the powers not denied by this charter, the Codex Aureus, or by or under the Charter of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth.

9. Separation of Powers, Powers of Government.
(a) The executive power of the Comital Government of Ransenar is vested on the Count of Ransenar, and on the instruments of his Prerogatives as prescribed by Comital law.
(b) The legislative power of the Comital Government is vested on the Count of Ransenar, and the Ransenari Tynwald, and on the instruments of their Prerogatives prescribed by Comital law.
(c) The judicial power of the Comital Government is directly vested on the Arbiter of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, and on the courts established by the Imperial Republic of Shireroth.

10. Seat of Government, Separated by Administrative and Legislative.
(a) The Comital Government of the County of Ransenar shall be seated in the city of Goldshire Hamlet, with said city serving as the administrative capital of the County.
(b) The Ransenari Tynwald shall be seated in the city of Wendor, with said city serving as the legislative capital of the County.

10. The Executive Branch.
(a) The Count of Ransenar is appointed by the Duke of Goldshire to serve as His Most Loyal and Trusted Representative-in-Government, and shall be charged with the faithful execution of the laws of the County of Ransenar, or Comital laws, and the Duchy of Goldshire. He may, by appropriate action or proceeding brought in the name of the County, enforce compliance with any constitutional or legislative mandate, or restrain violation of any constitutional or legislative power, duty or right by an officer, department or agency of the Comital Government or any of its civil divisions.
(b) The Count of Ransenar shall commission all officers of the County of Ransenar. He may at any time require information, in writing or otherwise, from the officers of any administrative department, office, or agency upon any subject relating to the respective offices. He shall be the commander in chief of the armed forces of the Comital Government, except when called into the service of the Duchy of Goldshire, and may call upon them to execute the laws, to preserve order, to suppress insurrection or to repel invasion.
(c) The Count of Ransenar shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all offenses committed in the County of Ransenar for the Comital Government, and may delegate such powers, subject to such procedures as may be prescribed by Comital law.
(d) All executive and administrative offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the Comital Government, and their respective functions, powers, and duties, shall be allocated by Comital law among and within not more than twenty principal departments so as to group them as far as practicable according to major purposes. Regulatory, quasi-judicial and temporary agencies established by law may, but need not, be allocated within a principal department. Comital law shall prescribe the functions, powers and duties of the principal departments and of all other agencies of the Comital Government and may from time to time reallocate offices, agencies and instrumentalities among the principal departments, may increase, modify, diminish or change their functions, powers and duties and may assign new functions, powers and duties to them; but the governor may make such changes in the allocation of offices, agencies and instrumentalities, and in the allocation of such functions, powers and duties, as he considers necessary for efficient administration. If such changes affect existing law, they shall be set forth in Comital Decrees, which shall be submitted to the Tymwald while it is in session, and shall become effective, and shall have the force of law immediately or as otherwise prescribed by the Comital decree.
(e) The Count of Ransenar shall appoint or remove the heads of all administrative departments. All other officers of the administrative service of the Comital Government shall be appointed and may be removed as provided by law.
(f) If the Count of Ransenar fails to assume office for any reason, the Duke of Goldshire shall act as Count of Ransenar until the Count of Ransenar qualifies and assumes the Office. The County of Ransenar is hereby vested on the House of Eadric, the line of Janus Eadric I, and in case of its extinction or disappearance, the Duke of Goldshire shall have the right to replace the Ruling House of the County of Ransenar.
(g) The Count of Ransenar shall maintain his official residence and hold Court at Goldcastle, in Goldshire Hamlet.
(h) The Count of Ransenar may assign Comital Warrants for strategically important non-governmental organisations, businesses, vigilantes or similar entities in Ransenar may be assigned a Warrant for the protection and promotion of their activities. A Comital Warrant invests the operations of the warranted entity with the power of the Count zirself.

11. The Legislative Branch.
(a) The Ransenari Tynwald will be composed of a single chamber consisting of one member to represent each legislative district. The number of members shall be prescribed by Comital law. Each member of the legislature shall be a qualified voter maintaining zir principal residence in the County of Ransenar and shall be of at least 18 years of age.
(b) For the purposes of electing members of the Ransenari Tynwald, the County shall be divided into as many districts as there shall be members of the legislature. Each district shall be compact and of contiguous territory. All districts shall be so nearly equal in population that the population of the largest district shall not exceed the population of the smallest district by more than 75%.
(c) The Comital Government shall determine the boundaries and limits of each legislative district as prescribed by Comital law.
(d) The members of the Ransenari Tynwald shall be elected by the qualified voters of the County for a term of two (2) years. When a vacancy occurs in the legislature it shall be filled as provided by Comital law.
(e) The Ransenari Tynwald shall be a continuous body during the term for which its members are elected. It shall meet in regular sessions annually as provided by law. It may be convened at other times by the Count or, at the written request of a majority of the members, by the presiding officer of the Ransenari Tynwald.
(f) The Ransenari Tynwald shall be the final judge of the election and qualifications of its members and may by law vest in the courts the trial and determination of contested elections of members. It shall choose its presiding officer from among its members and it shall employ a secretary to serve for an indefinite term. It shall determine its rules of procedure; it may compel the attendance of absent members, discipline its members and, with the concurrence of two thirds of all the members, expel a member, and it shall have power to compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and papers either before the legislature as a whole or before any committee thereof. The Secretary of the Tynwald shall
be its chief fiscal, administrative and personnel officer and shall perform such duties as the legislature may prescribe.
(g) For any speech or debate in the Tynwald, the members shall not be questioned in any other place.
(h) The Ransenari Tynwald shall enact no law except by bill and every bill except bills for appropriations and bills for the codification, revision or rearrangement of existing laws shall be confined to one subject. All appropriation bills shall be limited to the subject of appropriations. Legislative compliance with the requirements of this section is a constitutional responsibility not subject to judicial review.
(i) When a bill has passed the legislature, it shall be presented to the Count and, if the Tynwald is in session, it shall become law if the Count either signs or fails to veto it within fifteen (15) days of presentation. If the legislature is in recess or, if the session of the legislature has expired during such fifteen day period, it shall become law if he signs it within thirty (30) days after such adjournment or expiration. If the Count does not approve a bill, he shall veto it and return it to the legislature either within fifteen (15) days of presentation if the legislature is in session or upon the reconvening of the legislature from its recess. Any bill so returned by the Count shall be reconsidered by the legislature and, if upon reconsideration two thirds of all the members shall agree to pass the bill, it shall become law.

ARTICLE III.
Local Government.


12. Organization of Local Government.
(a) The Comital Government shall provide by Comital law for the government of baronies, cities and other civil divisions and for methods and procedures of incorporating, merging, consolidating, altering and dissolving such civil divisions and of altering their boundaries.
(b) A barony or city may exercise any legislative power or perform any function which is not denied to it by its charter, is not denied to baronies or cities generally, or to baronies or cities of its class, and is within such limitations as the Comital Government may establish by general law. This grant of home rule powers shall not include the power to enact private or civil law governing civil relationships except as incident to an exercise of an
independent barony or city power, nor shall it include power to define and provide for the punishment of a crime.
(c) Any barony charter shall provide the form of government of the barony and shall determine which of its officers shall be elected and the manner of their election. It shall provide for the exercise of all powers vested in, and the performance of all duties imposed upon, counties and barony officers by law. Such charter may provide for the concurrent or exclusive exercise by the barony, in all or in part of its area, of all or of any
designated powers vested by this Charter or laws of this County in cities and other civil divisions; it may provide for the succession by the barony to the rights, properties and obligations of cities and other civil divisions therein incident to the powers so vested in the barony, and for the division of the barony into districts for purposes of administration or of taxation or of both. No provision of any charter or amendment vesting in the barony any powers of a city or other civil division shall become effective unless it shall have been approved by the Count of Ransenar.
(d) Except as provided in Article II, Section 12, Clauses A and B, each city is hereby granted full power and authority to pass laws and ordinances relating to its local affairs, property and government; and no enumeration of powers in this Charter shall be deemed to limit or restrict the general grant of authority hereby conferred; but this grant of authority shall not be deemed to limit or restrict the power of the Comital Government to enact laws of statewide concern uniformly applicable to every city.

ARTICLE IV.
Intergovernmental Relations.

13. Cooperation with other Governments.
Nothing in this Charter shall be construed:
  • (1) To prohibit the cooperation of the government of this County of Ransenar with other governments, or
    (2) the cooperation of the government of any barony, city or other civil division with any one or more other governments in the administration of their functions and powers, or
    (3) the consolidation of existing civil divisions of the County of Ransenar. Any barony, city or other civil division may agree, except as limited by Comital law, to share the costs and responsibilities of functions and services with any one or more other governments
ARTICLE V.
Amendment of the Constitutional Charter of the County of Ransenar.

14. Amendment Methods.
(a) Amendments to this Charter may be proposed by the Count of Ransenar, the Ransenari Tynwald or by initiative of the residents of the County of Ransenar.
(b) An amendment proposed by the Count of Ransenar shall be agreed to through a decree signed by the Count of Ransenar.
(c) An amendment proposed by the Ransenari Tynwald shall be agreed to by record vote of a majority of all of the members, which shall be entered on the journal.
(d) The process by which amendments may be proposed by the residents of the County of Ransenar shall be prescribed by Comital law.
AND We establish that This Charter shall be in force from 5601 ASC, except as herein otherwise provided, as the Supreme Law of the County of Ransenar;

AND We decree that laws not inconsistent with this Charter shall continue in force until they expire by their own limitation or are amended or repealed, and all existing writs, actions, suits, proceedings, civil or criminal liabilities, prosecutions, writs, judgments, sentences, orders, decrees, appeals, causes of action, contracts, claims, demands, titles and rights shall continue unaffected except as modified in accordance with the provisions of this Charter and Decree.

SIGNED BY OUR HAND AT GOLDCASTLE - OUR WILL IS LAW.
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