Office of the President
An Official Publication of
The Government of the Second Republic
24 August 2020
ARTICLE 1 [Declaration]
1.1 [Preamble]
The people of the Commonwealth of Sovermia, seeking to secure the benefits of community and mutual support,
1.2 [Affirmation]
affirm these as essential foundations for the fulfillment of human life for ourselves and for posterity;
1.3 [Vigilance]
from the ample testimony of past human experience, aspire to active and ongoing vigilance in the face of the progressive removal of the premises of state power from easy access, careful scrutiny and necessary reform;
1.4 [Law]
assert the historically demonstrable superiority of well-grounded law over any single or corporate human authority;
1.5 [Social Compact Defined]
acknowledge that the heart of all social compacts consists of two common-law principles: fulfilling agreements and respecting boundaries defining persons and their property;
1.6 [Enacting the Compact]
agree that only through the realization of both obligations and rights do we empower and enact such a compact;
1.7 [Establishment]
and therefore we derive by elaboration from these goals and understandings a compendium of laws, including both obligations and rights, in order to assess our past deeds, guide our present choices, and shape and realize our future hopes. Therefore, expressing our common purpose and our ideals, we establish this constitution for our governance, acknowledging its imperfection as a human instrument, and committing ourselves to its ongoing reform through careful deliberation, wise choice and personal example.
ARTICLE 2 [Obligations]
2.1 [Preamble]
By living in community, and acknowledging that where we hope to benefit is a guide to where we likewise have obligations to help to preserve others’ corresponding benefits, we assent to and assume these obligations:
2.2 [Wisdom]
to seek out wisdom and knowledge, striving to avoid ignorance and folly as excuses for our failings;
2.3 [Training and Development]
to discover and develop worthy skills, talents and strengths through training, practice and education, striving to avoid indolence and waste of potential;
2.4 [Personal Responsibility]
to act for the good of the whole, striving in good faith to minimize the imposition on others of the direct and indirect effects of our own actions and beliefs without their consent or knowledge, and to maximize the advantage individually and in community of our abilities, perspectives, contributions, and presence;
2.5 [Care of the Commons]
to care for the commons, including air, water, land and living creatures; the human social space, including laws and statutes; and our own health, because it affects others; and to support on others’ behalf those things which we ourselves also wish to enjoy;
2.6 [Political Vigilance]
to maintain vigilance toward all government, so that its actions reflect our will, and so that we do not forfeit freedom through negligence;
2.7 [Sovermian Citizenship]
to assume or renounce Sovermian citizenship, in light of these obligations, either when we attain to the age of majority at 20 years if native born, or as adults after one year of participation in the Commonwealth;
2.8 [Outlawry]
to enforce the consequences of outlawry on those who forfeit citizenship.
ARTICLE 3 [Rights]
3.1 [Preamble]
By living in community, we acknowledge a second time that the heart of all social compacts consists of fulfilling agreements and respecting boundaries defining persons and their property; we further acknowledge that where we claim rights is a guide to where we likewise have obligations to help to preserve others’ rights;
in light of these acknowledgments, we extend to each other the following rights; agree to support and defend them for each other corporately and individually; acknowledge them often to be in necessary and fruitful tension with each other and with our obligations, and their ongoing reconciliation and resolution insofar as possible a healthy, necessary, and ongoing responsibility of citizenship;
3.2 [Life]
to life, of which no one may deprive another for any cause except self-defense and outlawry;
3.3 [Liberty]
to freedom of movement within and between nations; and to freedom from arrest, detention or exile on arbitrary grounds;
3.4 [Instruction]
to training, information, education and instruction, informal and formal, in order to maximize one’s opportunities and capacities both to contribute to the whole and to realize one’s highest ideals.
3.5 [Assembly]
to freedom of assembly and association, including religious and political activity, and the organization of guilds, trade groups and unions;
3.6 [Freedom from Compulsory Association]
to freedom from compulsion to join any organization for any reason, in tension with the needs of the social compact;
3.7 [Just Law]
to impartial, compassionate and non-prejudicial law, including the right to litigation, counsel, representation, trial, judgment and appeal, without delay or bias;
3.8 [Redress and Restitution]
to legal redress of grievances in the form of a compensatory contract made between the wronged and wronging parties;
3.9 [Presumption of Innocence]
to the presumption of innocence until demonstration or admission of guilt;
3.10 [Limitation on Penalties]
to freedom from guilt or penalty for an act or omission which did not constitute an offense at the time it was committed;
3.11 [Slavery]
to freedom from slavery, including buying or selling persons as slaves, profiting from association with those holding slaves, or benefiting in any other way from slavery or its consequences;
3.12 [Political Service]
to political service and expression, and to abstention from these, in tension with citizen responsibilities and obligations;
3.13 [Fair Government]
to fair, efficient, responsive and transparent governmental structures; and to adequate means to achieve and sustain these;
3.14 [Political Change]
to the change or dissolution of governmental structures and state power through all lawful means, or, when the state or its representatives have usurped all lawful means and no other remedy is available, through any means whatsoever;
3.15 [Torture and Unusual Punishment]
to freedom from torture and from any other cruel or unusual punishment;
3.16 [Property]
to property, held alone or in association with others, including status and reputation held in community;
3.17 [Thought, Conscience, Belief and Religion]
to freedom of thought, conscience, belief and religion, and to individual and communal expression of these;
3.18 [Identity and Nationality]
to the establishment and maintenance of a legal identity, including a nationality, of which a person may not be deprived for any reason before establishing a new legal identity to replace it;
3.19 [Marriage]
to marry, to abstain from marriage, and to end marriage;
3.20 [Family]
to form families through birth and adoption, as both single persons, couples, or natural groups;
3.21 [Childhood Protection]
to protection as children, until adulthood at the age of 20, from exploitation, abuse, deprivation and abandonment, and to provision of food, clothing, counsel, shelter, education and health care until adulthood;
3.22 [Privacy]
to privacy of person, opinion, identity, association, affiliation and communication with others;
3.23 [Access to Information]
to access to information, in fair and just reciprocity with the right to privacy;
3.24 [Expression and Publication]
to express and disseminate ideas, opinions and beliefs in the media of one’s choice;
3.25 [Employment]
to suitable employment, and to just and equitable compensation sufficient to sustain life, health, freedom and dignity;
3.26 [Leisure]
to rest and leisure, including a reasonable limitation of working hours;
3.27 [Education]
to education as a necessity of democratic citizenship, sustainable community, personal growth and employment, as far as personal merit and capacity avail;
3.28 [Health and Environment]
to a healthy commons and to equitable access to the means of sustaining and restoring individual health;
3.29 [Cultural Life]
to participation in a cultural life of one’s choosing and preference;
3.30 [Societal Support]
to societal support equivalent to the right of employment, in case of involuntary unemployment, disability, illness, incapacity, or extended familial obligation;
3.31 [Outlawry]
to outlaw a citizen, only after due process, and when no further recourse is possible; and to self-outlawry and exile from Sovermia within 48 hours, in both cases abrogating all obligations and rights under Sovermian law.
ARTICLE 4 [Syndicates]
4.1 [Preamble]
(a) Because need for government at this scale does not currently exist in Sovermia, citizens continue to explore the implications of the provisions of this Article through a variety of means, and further treat this Article as experimental rather than as having legal force at this time, acknowledging that this section in particular should receive special scrutiny on every occasion of constitutional review.
(b) In order to maximize political engagement; to stimulate even and fair representation; to hinder the formation and influence of a professional political class, vested interests and lobbies; to encourage responsiveness to the communal interest; and to inhibit as much as possible the empowerment of a government to disenfranchise its own citizens, the government of the Commonwealth of Sovermia shall be composed of a network of syndicates chosen through public sortition or lot from among citizens standing to selection as syndics.
4.2 [First Syndicate]
The First Syndicate
(a) is the sole permanent standing syndicate. However, one third of its membership, chosen by sortition, shall be replaced annually;
(b) shall oversee the establishment of all Second and Emergency syndicates;
(c) votes into law, vetoes, or returns for further review to Second Syndicates the decisions, policies or recommendations of Third Syndicates.
4.3 [Qualifications of Syndics]
Any adult citizen may stand to selection as a syndic by sortition.
4.4 [Size of Syndicates]
No syndicate shall exceed nine members in number, unless a Second Syndicate specifically establishes a larger number for the work of a Third Syndicate.
4.5 [Second Syndicates]
A Second Syndicate shall
a) determine, if necessary, extraordinary criteria appropriate to selecting by sortition the syndics of one or more Third Syndicates to address an issue, practice, law or concern; and any specific procedures to be followed; extraordinary criteria must be approved by a Third Syndicate established for their review;
b) publish in a timely manner these criteria and procedures as a prerequisite for selection of the Third Syndicate(s);
c) oversee selection of the syndics of the Third Syndicate(s);
d) monitor the process and progress of the Third Syndicate(s);
e) establish connections of mutual support between itself, its Third Syndicate(s), and other relevant syndicates as they develop;
f) forward to the First Syndicate, with notation, commentary and resolutions by the Second Syndicate, the decisions, policies and recommendations of the Third Syndicate(s).
g) document all of its proceedings; and
h) publish its proceedings and a review of its successes and failures, with recommendations for subsequent syndicates, if any, before dissolving itself by the end of its term.
4.6 [Third Syndicates]
A Third Syndicate shall
a) inform itself through sufficient research and outside testimony in order to examine adequately the issue, practice, law or concern for which it was established;
b) observe any criteria established for its procedures, either by its Second Syndicate or by the First Syndicate in the case of Emergency Syndicates;
c) reach a decision, establish a policy or make a recommendation in a timely fashion;
d) document all of its proceedings; and
e) publish its decision, policy or recommendation, together with its proceedings and a review of its successes and failures, with recommendations for subsequent syndicates, before dissolving itself by the end of its term.
4.7 [Emergency Syndicates]
The First Syndicate may establish an Emergency Second or Third Order Syndicate to deal with a problem or issue which in its judgment cannot wait for Sortition Day. The term of any Emergency Syndicate is still one year.
4.8 [Executive]
A syndicate may appoint one of its number to act as President, its executive and spokesperson, through sortition.
4.9 [Term of Office]
The term of office of syndics of all Second and Third Syndicates shall be no more than one year.
4.10 [Conditions of Sortition]
Apart from the filling of single vacancies on existing syndicates, or the formation of an Emergency Syndicate, sortition shall occur on Sortition Days, which shall be a two-day public holiday, so that all citizens may participate, standing to sortition themselves, or witnessing and assisting its fulfillment, as well as voting.
ARTICLE 5 [Prohibited Powers and Rights]
5.1 [Preamble]
a) Because need for government at this scale does not currently exist in Sovermia, citizens continue to explore the implications of the provisions of this Article through a variety of means, and further treat this Article as experimental rather than as having legal force at this time, acknowledging that this section in particular should receive special scrutiny on every occasion of constitutional review.
b) To preserve liberty, to prevent the establishment of coercive government, and to improve accountability of government to the people, many common governmental powers and rights are prohibited to Syndicates or any other governmental authority.
c) Private compacts, cooperatives, businesses, non-profit organizations, companies, unions, federations and underwriters, operating by means of contracts, membership fees, and voluntary subscriptions and donations, shall take the place of government offices, divisions, ministries and departments in providing such services.
d) We therefore prohibit to syndics and Regular Syndicates the following specific powers and rights:
5.2 [Taxation]
to impose taxes of any kind, or to collect revenues for any purpose;
5.3 [Currency]
to establish coinage or currency regulations;
5.4 [Banks]
to establish, operate or regulate banks;
5.5 [Insurance]
to establish, operate or regulate insurers;
5.6 [Property]
to own or benefit from owning property;
5.7 [Conscription]
to mandate a military or civilian draft or conscription;
5.8 [War]
to wage war or impose martial law; the people may however elect to go to or refrain from war through an emergency syndicate they establish for that purpose;
5.9 [Weights and Measures]
to establish or enforce standards for weights and measures;
5.10 [Eminent Domain]
to exercise eminent domain;
5.11 [Prisons]
to maintain prisons or imprison citizens;
5.12 [Religion]
to establish, support, promote or hinder religion or religious expression;
5.13 [Police and Fire Protection]
to maintain a police or fire prevention force;
5.14 [Schools]
to establish or operate schools or mandate education;
5.15 [Extradition and Immigration]
to regulate immigration, emigration, citizenship or naturalization;
5.16 [Compensation]
to establish compensation for syndics or syndicates;
5.17 [Commerce]
to participate in commerce or business, or benefit from commercial or business activity;
5.18 [Immunity]
to legislate legal immunity of any kind by virtue of office;
5.19 [Licenses]
to establish licenses, permits or fees for any activity;
5.20 [Term of Office]
to establish or modify a syndic’s or syndicate’s term of office; that is, syndics cannot initiate such changes themselves, while syndics, to their own or another’s benefit or detriment;
5.21 [Intelligence]
to establish, operate or regulate intelligence or counter-intelligence operations;
5.22 [Transportation]
to establish, operate or regulate transportation, including roads, bridges, airports, etc., or the medium of transport, such as water, air or land;
5.23 [Communications]
to establish, operate or regulate communications, including over telephone, radio, internet, etc., or the medium of communications, such as wire, radio, cyberspace, etc., in any form now existing or to be developed;
ARTICLE 6 [Constitutional Amendment and Reform]
6.1 [Preamble]
In order to provide for legislation responsive to the people, this constitution makes provision for its own amendment through the following terms:
6.2 [Amendments]
Proposing amendments to this Constitution requires establishment of amending syndicates of both the first and second orders.
6.3 [Additional Syndicate Responsibilities]
In addition to the established responsibilities of syndicates, amending syndicates determine
a) whether the issue, except under the conditions of 6.5, merits syndicate attention in the first place, or can be better addressed by other means;
b) whether the Commonwealth has a compelling interest in the existing state of affairs;
c) whether those affected by a proposed change desire the change;
d) whether anyone is harmed by the change;
e) whether, in order of decreasing concern, the legislation is a new right, an expansion of an existing right, or the extension of an existing right to a new group of people;
f) whether, if the proposed legislation is an extension of an existing right to a new group, the right been extended before, with precedent, consequences and evaluation established.
6.4 [Approval of Amendments]
Approval of an amendment to the constitution requires a two-thirds majority among the syndics of the second order amending syndicate.
6.5 [Syndicate of Constitutional Review]
Within a maximum of every twenty years, a first and second order constitutional syndicate shall be convened specifically to review this constitution, and to override 6.3a above.