Rule of Law (Yohannes)

The Two-Power Standard was formulated to help Yohannes guarantee the Rule of Law in its maritime trade routes.

The Rule of Law has its origin in Yohannes and is the most fundamental building block of the Nineteen Countries constitutional system. It depends on the unspoken agreement between the individual and the state—the subject and their ruler. They must sacrifice some rights and accept certain responsibilities. The individual protected by the state must be willing to sacrifice a certain degree of freedom in the name of law. In return, the state must exercise restraint and act in conformity with existing laws.

The development of the Six Introductory Principles can be traced back to the earliest mention of the rule of law by the Alexandrian jury constituted ad hoc by Frederick William I in 1509. They were local villagers summoned by the king to settle a land reform dispute between two influential property owners in the village of Altenmark. A party who won the agreements of 11 villagers would win. Its trace can still be seen today, where liability is decided by 11 citizens of the realm, or in the case of a grand jury, where a party must win the support of 11 jury members out of 21.

Limited Separation of Powers

According to Governance of the Nineteen Countries (HM the Queen, 1998), there are three branches of the Realm Government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary. The Realm Government, headed by the Chancellor of the Nineteen Countries and supervised by the Yohannesian Emperor, is the face of the executive branch. The Realm Parliament, assembled by the Electoral College and headed by the Speaker, is the face of the legislative branch. The Justices of the Peace, appointed by the Emperor and supervised by the Realm Parliament, is the face of the judiciary branch.

In organisational manners, each of these three branches has a separate existence with their own traditions and methods of recruitment. There is a separation of personnel, with only one contradictory element to that statement: the executive is a part of the legislature. The Realm Parliament includes both the Chancellor and the (Electoral and Listed) Members. Further, cabinet members, or Ministers of the Realm, are members of both the executive and the legislature. The executive and the legislative branches have their own functions for the most part, with only some overlapping roles and activities. One example of this is the way in which the executive includes itself in legislative actions (such as the involvement of select committees) both to represent itself as an administrator, but also as part of the legislative body at the same time. The Justices of the Peace are also included in statute law review.

The Three Executive

The Executive Branch, representing the Nineteen Countries in Yohannes overseas, to the countries of the international community, to the World Assembly, and to entities of non-nation-state nature, is divided into three bodies. The first is the Head of State. She or he is the Emperor, Empress, or Imperial Monarch. The words are interchangeable in Yohannes, unlike overseas, with "Emperor" often used for a female monarch (e.g. Her Majesty Garnet Til Alexandros the 17th Yohannesian Emperor). The second is the Chancellor, leading the Ministers of the Realm, who, together with their Ministers, are elected parliamentary members—they are voted into office by registered voters from the general electorates. Traditionally, the Ministers of the Realm are the advisers of the Head of State. However, in modern day Yohannes, that point has been completely ignored—since the Second Industrial Growth era (1850–1900), the Emperor has been the supervisor, the Chancellor the executive catalyst, and the Ministers of the Realm the executors of laws.

It has to be noted that even today, the Emperor has very extensive powers, on paper, but they cannot be exercised freely—and in the case that this tradition is broken, the unfavourable reactions of the people, which include those elected Members of Parliament, would convince the offending incumbent to immediately submit themself to public scrutiny or, worse still, resign. The Ministries, further, are not static in nature. Election results and the resulting interparty negotiations can create new ministries, delete existing ministries, or reform more than one to become one, within reason (e.g. budget crisis means the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry will become one). The Ministry is an aggregate which meets as part of the Cabinet of the Nineteen Countries. The Chancellor, heading this cabinet, enjoys preeminent position as Head of Government of the Nineteen Countries. Only the Emperor can override the Chancellor’s authority as a reviewer of the Chancellor’s actions.

In theory, the Ministers must act professionally for Yohannes the nation-state, regardless of their personal political allegiances; should be non-political in their bureaucratic orientation; and should be neutral in the context of inter-party interactions. Realistically, however, sometimes boundaries are broken, much to the chagrin of political pundits and middle ground voters. The Ministries must follow the orders of their Ministers, and must help the Ministers of the Realm to turn laws into reality, on the ground, everyday across the Nineteen Countries.

The Will of Parliament

The Will of Parliament is a concept taken from the foreign Constitution of Maxtopia. The concept, well-known and widely seen in many other countries, means that an Act of the Realm supersedes and is prioritised above all other public and private entities in the Nineteen Countries. The Act of the Realm is not limited by any legal barriers, and under the Realm Nineteen Countries Amendment Act 1970, the Realm Parliament received full authorities as the editor and eraser of existing Acts. The Justices of the Peace cannot eradicate or make unlawful the Will of Parliament, once it has passed the tables of Parliament. The Justices of the Peace of the Realm can, however, overrule the Will of Parliament, if they believe that a documented law has not followed proper procedures.

Finally, it must also be taken into consideration that in the Nineteen Countries, the Will of Parliament to impose its Act does not mean that Parliament, by itself, is the ultimate bearer of justice. The executive and the legislature must be able and willing to work together effectively. Since the executive body by legal acknowledgement (section 103 of the Realm Nineteen Countries Amendment Act 1970), and by tradition (since the Second Industrial Growth Era), has practically all the powers over non-ministerial, elected Electoral and Listed Members, the Will of Parliament can be abused by the executive body to assert its will over the legislative body, insofar as consent has already been given by the majority support of Parliament’s members.

The Rule of Law

An excerpt from Know Your History—by specialist litigation and arbitration lawyer Jennifer Chua-Küchler.

According to Governance of the Nineteen Countries (HM the Queen, 1998), the principles of the Rule of Law and its existence must divide the international community of countries into two: the civilised nation-state, and those of the uncivilised nation-state. The Rule of Law describes a situation whereby the action of the executive must be executed throughout the realm in accordance with existing laws passed in Parliament verbatim. The Justices of the Peace, leading the higher courts of the realm, must have the power to examine, without obstruction, diversion or corruption, the legality of each and every one of the Acts passed by Parliament, the action of cabinet members and their ministries in relation to the Act, and the action of state-sponsored bodies in relation to the Act. The Justices of the Peace must not, however, make legally null the application of an Act, once it has followed proper procedures, word for word, and recorded by the Gazette of the Realm.

Responsibility of an Imperial Ministry

The responsibility of a Realm Ministry can be divided into three: support of the majority, responsibility before the majority, and leader of their assembly. The first, support of the majority, means the support of majority Electoral and Listed Members in Parliament, supervised by the Electoral College, will be required for a ministry to successfully carry its task. Another reason is because the head of a ministry must come from Parliament itself. The second, responsibility before the majority, means a ministry is accountable for the action of every department or body acting on its behalf. The minister, as head of that ministry, must defend her or himself, before Members of the opposing political parties in Parliament, if they are to be required for an Act of the Realm to be legislated into reality.

All public expenditure and related materials must be accredited by the Justices of the Peace. The lack of such approval means the minister, as head of the ministry, will not be able to use the material to defend their position. A minister is, in essence, the leader of their pack, which is the third point of responsibility. They will be responsible, before Parliament, for all publicly aired views by government and state sponsored officials and by their subordinates in their ministry and its associated bodies. The overall principle of the Responsibility of an Imperial Ministry means the legislature will have the power to judge and review a ministerial body of the realm. Its existence, however, can be abused by some ministers of the realm, for the confidential nature of them speaking before Parliament means that members of the public will not know about the information presented by these ministers that may affect them.

The Opposing Forces

She or he elected and chosen as the public face of the non-governing largest party in Parliament, or the second largest party in Yohannes, is given the title of Realm Head of Opposition to speak on behalf of The Opposing Forces. This inherited practice was handed down from the early days of politics in Yohannes before the Second Industrial Era, when the state of political party administration was poor compared to today's standards. Then, more than one person, sometimes up to five, spoke on behalf of the opposing parties in Parliament against the governing parties. The need for practicality and precedents slowly reduced the number of representatives to just one. The Realm Head of Opposition has special privileges not given to other Electoral and Listed Members in Parliament—in effect, making them almost equal in status to the Chancellor of the day.

Just like the Chancellor, the Realm Head of Opposition can speak on behalf of the Nineteen Countries overseas, although not officially, to show the other side of public opinion about certain foreign policy issues happening outside Yohannes. The title is an ad hoc creation; it was not recorded by any previous Act of the Realm, nor was it recorded by wills. It is a position founded entirely out of necessity, as time progressed since the nineteenth century unification of the nineteen countries in Yohannes the continent. It is the face of how parliamentary practice and the nature of politics in Yohannes is changing everyday, within reason and within the bounds of acknowledged conventions. There may be more than one Head of the Opposition in future, if the situation allows for that to happen.

The Realm Head of Opposition has the fourth highest salary in Parliament assembled, behind only the Chancellor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Domestic Economy, Export Industry and Trade, in that order. The party she or he belongs to is known as the Leading Party of the Opposition, and Electoral and Listed Members of parliament and Elected Collegians of the Nineteen Countries from that party are seated opposite the governing party, next to the Speaker of the Realm Parliament. The Speaker has the power to remove an existing Head of Opposition, if two or more non-governing parties have clear leading power to represent the opposition (i.e. through equally or almost equally high number of popular votes from Ream Parliamentary Election). The Head of the Opposition has all the privileges of a Chancellor, with the exception of tools of governance, and is given full knowledge oft things happening concerning Yohannes, such as commerce and trade, intelligence, and other important nation state matters.

The Sixth Amendment—Law of the Sea

The Law of the Sea encompasses the laws regulating navigation and commerce of the territorial sea, continental shelf, and exclusive zone of trade and commerce of the Nineteen Countries. In Unity Law, the Law of the Sea is to be found primarily in statutes and in the decisions of the Justices of the Peace. For the purposes of historical inquiry, the Law of the Sea was derived from the admiralty and maritime jurisdictions of such bodies of law in Common Law countries.

The Law of the Sea states that as an island country, the seas surrounding the Nineteen Countries must be protected by ships of the Commonwealth Navy, for the purposes of nation-state protection. All undeclared ships of a military nature found in the territorial sea of the Nineteen Countries must be seized of jurisdiction; arrested, confronted, and be seized permanently as property of the Nineteen countries, from the date of transfer of jurisdiction by the Admiralty Court of the Justices of the Peace.

A ship is defined as including any description of vessel used in navigation. The non-exclusive definition of ship can be contrasted with other statutory definitions applicable in the context of the limitation of liability for claims relating to ships, and the registration of such ships. The question whether a particular object meets the definition of ship is a matter of jurisdiction. The question can arise in relation to ships withdrawn from navigation and ships used for alternative purpose; ships under construction or repair; and objects which operate at sea but which have, as their primary purpose, something other than navigation in mind.

For the purposes of bottomry, jurisdiction must still be applied. The same must also be applied for the purposes of respondentia. Under ancient bonds of the kind, the lender took the risks of the ship being lost; in this case to the jurisdiction of the Nineteen Countries. Any future charges or mortgages acting as successors must also be treated accordingly.