The Detinus Republic (DTR) is a sovereign democratic nation based on freedom and justice. It is ruled by its elected government in accordance with this Constitution and the laws given to it by its people through the Senate.
Article 2 - Aims of the Detinus Republic
1. The DTR protects the rights of its citizens and promotes their liberty and welfare. 2. The DTR shall seek to protect its national integrity and its strength to pursue its aims.
Article 3 - Citizenship
1. The DTR exists through its citizens, independent of property or territory held by the citizens or state. Only DTR citizens can be Speaker, Minister, Senator or Magistrate. 2. Any sentient being is entitled to DTR citizenship, provided that it solemnly stands for the Constitution and laws of the DTR, considers itself to be a member of the DTR and no other nation, and was not expelled from the DTR. 3. All DTR citizens have the right to form and join political parties, which in turn can nominate Senators.
Article 4 - Fundamental Rights
1. All sentient beings have irrevocable Fundamental Rights as laid out in this Constitution. 2. A sentient being is defined as any individual sentient entity, including those of a non-corporeal, artificial or collective nature. 3. Fundamental Rights are a) the rights to live, exist and prosper as an individual; b) individual dignity; c) freedom of thought and act, including the freedom to express one's opinion; d) the right to own property and use or treat it at will.
Article 5 - Limits to Fundamental Rights
Fundamental Rights have inherent limits where they conflict with other Fundamental Rights. They can also be limited and regulated by the Senate through laws to establish a fair balance between conflicting rights.
Article 6 - Extent of Authority
1. DTR law applies to all sentient beings who are citizens of the DTR, regardless of where they are, and to all sentient beings who exist within or move through territory that is claimed by the DTR or where DTR law has been found to apply. 2. DTR law can be applied to other locations and beings where no other law is found to apply or if they pertain to events or conditions that have a direct effect in space where DTR law applies.
Article 7 - Representation
1. The Speaker of the House of Lords represents the Detinus Republic. 2. The official symbol of the DTR is a red sun rising up and left behind a blue planet. The crescent red orb's diameter is two thirds that of the blue orb and its centre lies two thirds of the blue orb's radius up and left of the blue orb's centre. 3. The official colours of the DTR are blue and red, with a black background where applicable.
Section II - The Legislative
Article 8 - The Senate
1. All legislative power is held by the people of the DTR. They exert this power through democratically elected representatives in the Senate, the Senators. 2. The Senate sets laws, installs and supervises the government and reaches all important non-executive decisions for the DTR.
Article 9 - Votes in the Senate
1. Each Senator has a number of votes in the Senate corresponding to the public support for his political party. A Senator can only vote with his full voting power; votes may not be split. 2. In order to exert some control over the government, each Senator also has at least one vote on Executive Issues.
Article 10 - Motions
1. The Senate exerts its powers by passing Motions. Motions include, but are not limited to, laws, election of the Speaker and instructions to the Executive to perform or not to perform certain executive actions. 2. Any citizen of the DTR can bring a Motion before the Senate to vote on. Before being presented to the senate the Motion shall be thoroughly discussed and checked for compliance with this Constitution and other laws. Once it has been submitted to the Senate a Motion cannot be altered in any way. A Motion can be retracted by whoever brought it before the Senate until somebody else casts a vote in favour of the Motion. 3. Unless specified otherwise in this Constitution, a Motion is approved and thereby passed by the Senate if more votes were cast for than against it. A Motion may also state further conditions which must also be met for it in order to pass. 4. A Motion that has successfully passed the Senate overrules any conflicting Motion that was submitted to the Senate earlier, and is in turn overruled by any successful conflicting Motion that was submitted to the Senate later, regardless of when the Senate passed the Motions.
Article 11 - Voting Procedure
1. When a Motion has been formally presented to the Senate, the Senators can cast their votes for or against the Motion. They can also declare to abstain from the vote. Senators who fail to cast their votes within the voting period of a Motion are assumed to have abstained. 2. In order to cast a vote or declare abstention a Senator openly informs the Senate of his decision. 3. Unless specified otherwise in this Constitution, a vote ends a) if all Senators have cast their votes, b) if enough votes were cast to pass or dismiss the Motion or c) after two weeks, unless a longer voting period was specified in the motion.
Article 12 - Alternative Motions
Motions may contain several alternatives to be voted upon. In this case the alternative that gets most votes passes the Senate. Senators can always vote on full rejection of the Motion as one alternative.
Article 13 - Changes to this Constitution
Motions to change this Constitution require at least two thirds of all votes in the Senate to pass.
Article 14 - Constructive Vote of No-Confidence
1. A Motion to remove the current Speaker from office and replace him with another person (Constructive Vote of No Confidence) requires at least two thirds of all votes in the Senate to pass. This is the only form that a Motion aiming for the removal of the Speaker may take. 2. The Motion must name a viable successor who has expressly agreed to become Speaker. This can only be a Senator, Executive Secretary or Minister or the Magistrate. 3. If the Motion is successful, then the mandate of the new Speaker expires when the mandate of the former Speaker would have expired.
Section III - The Executive
Article 15 - The House of Lords
1. The government of the DTR is referred to as the House of Lords. It comprises the Speaker of the House of Lords (Speaker) and all Ministers. 2. Every member of the House of Lords is entitled to be addressed as Lord or Lady.
Article 16 - The Speaker of the House of Lords
The Speaker is the head of government and the chief representative of the DTR. He has all executive, administrative and representative rights and has 8 votes on Executive Issues.
Article 17 - Ministers
1. The Speaker shall install Ministers to act on his behalf in their respective area, and give them executive rights as required. He can create and disband ministries, nominate and dismiss ministers and grant and revoke executive powers at his will at any time; however there is always to be a Minister for Internal Affairs and a Minister for Military Affairs. The Minister of Military Affairs also bears the title of Grand Admiral and is the supreme commander of all DTR armed forces, unless the Speaker personally assumes command. 2. All Ministers have 4 votes on Executive Issues. High-ranking officials can be appointed Executive Secretary, and have 2 votes on Executive Issues.
Article 18 - Electing the Speaker
1. The Speaker is elected by the Senate from all viable candidates in an Alternative Motion as laid out in this article. 2. Viable candidates are all DTR citizens who have announced their candidacy both no earlier than eight weeks and no later than three weeks before the current period is over, or, if the position is vacant, within two weeks after the position became vacant. 3. Provided that at least one citizen has put forward a valid candidacy, an Alternative Motion automatically begins three weeks before the current period is over, regardless of whether or not the Motion was formally presented to the Senate. The Magistrate shall remind the Senate of the Motion and name the candidates.
Article 19 - Installing the Speaker
1. The Speaker is elected into office for a period of one year. His mandate automatically extends by one more year if the Senate has not elected another Speaker by the end of the period. 2. The mandate of the Speaker immediately ends if a) he dies; b) he steps down from office; c) his DTR citizenship expires or is found to be invalid.
Article 20 - Acting Speaker
1. If the Speaker is unable to attend to his duties or if his mandate expires, leaving the position vacant, a deputy (Acting Speaker) shall take up his role in the following order: a) any DTR citizen who was nominated by the Speaker for this purpose, b) the Minister for Internal Affairs, c) the Minister for Military Affairs. 2. If no other Acting Speaker can be determined then the Magistrate shall be Acting Speaker. 3. The Active Speaker is immediately relieved of his duties if the Speaker resumes his duties after a temporary inability to attend his office, or if a new Speaker has been elected. 4. This article also applies to the Acting Speaker himself.
Article 21 - Executive Issues
1. The following executive actions shall only come into effect if the majority of votes on Executive Issues are cast in favour: a) Expelling somebody from the Detinus Republic and revoking his citizenship; b) Changing the Executive Voting power of a political by changing his nominal rank; c) Creating or Breaking an alliance with another affiliation; d) Altering the tax rate; e) Selling affiliation assets. 2. The following executive actions can be blocked by a majority of votes on Executive Issues: a) Posting a position; b) Changing the command rank of a starship; c) Transferring affiliation funds; d) Transferring control of an affiliation asset.
Section IV - The Judiciary
Article 22 - The Magistrate
1. The Magistrate is the head and chief representative of the Judiciary. Through his office he serves as judge, public prosecutor and legal advisor to the DTR. 2. To install the Magistrate, the Speaker has to propose a Motion to the senate nominating a candidate. Any DTR citizen except for the Speaker, the Minister for Internal Affairs and the Minister for Military Affairs is a suitable candidate. The Motion requires two thirds of all votes in the Senate to pass. If the position is vacant, the Senate can install the Magistrate with a regular Motion. 3. The Magistrate remains in office until a new Magistrate is installed. The position only becomes vacant if the current Magistrate steps down or dies, or if his DTR citizenship expires or is found to be invalid.
Article 23 - Independence of the Jurisdiction
The judicial institutions of the DTR are independent and exclusively bound by the Constitution and laws of the DTR.
Article 24 - Stalling Motions
Any citizen of the DTR may call upon the Magistrate to rule whether a given Motion that has passed the Senate is in violation of this Constitution. If this is found to be the case then the Magistrate declares the Motion to be in violation of the Constitution, thereby invalidating it.
Section V - Special Regulations
Article 25 - Incompatible Positions
The positions of Speaker, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Military Affairs and Magistrate are incompatible with each other. No single sentient being may hold two or more of these positions at the same time.
Article 26 - Classified Information
1. The Speaker is privy to all information and must be given any information he requests. He can decide what information is classified and what levels of secrecy exist beyond what is put down in this Article. He decides if and how classified information may be distributed outside of the DTR.2. The following minimum levels of classification exist: a) Confidential: This level of classification restricts information to the DTR and allied affiliations. All DTR citizens are privy to Confidential information. Any information available through the DTR data network [AFF] is automatically considered Confidential. b) Secret: This level of classification restricts information to trusted citizens. Only Senators, Executive Secretaries, Ministers and the Magistrate are automatically privy to Secret information. 3. In the case of Motions pertaining to classified information, the Senate forms a committee from all its members who are privy to every bit of information required. Only the votes from this committee are relevant for the motion. The Senate as a whole shall receive a report of the Motion and its results as best as secrecy permits.
Article 27 - State of Emergency
1. The Senate can declare the DTR to be in a State of Emergency by means of a motion that requires at least two thirds of all votes in the Senate to pass. 2. In dire circumstances the Speaker can enact a State of Emergency immediately. In this case his mandate expires when the State of Emergency ends, unless the Senate passes a motion to expressly approve of the action. 3. During a State of Emergency, the Speaker and all Ministers have full executive powers and may make use of this power to any extent required to guarantee the safety of the state and the rule of law. They are not bound by Motions from the Senate. Only the Speaker can veto the decisions of the Ministers. The Senate shall vote in favour of all Executive Issues raised by any Minister or the Speaker. The Speaker and all Ministers can only be held responsible for their actions and decisions after the State of Emergency is over. 4. A State of Emergency automatically ends no later than four weeks after it was enacted by the Speaker or declared or confirmed by a Motion. The Senate may pass Motions to declare a State of Emergency anew even before a current State of Emergency has ended, thereby extending the period by four weeks from the time the Motion was passed. 5. The Senate has the irrevocable right to declare a State of Emergency to be over, thereby ending it, by means of a regular motion at any time.
