Constitution of Ultima Borealia

Constitution of Atlantica
Constitution of Atlantica
	File:Constitution of Atlantica.png First page of the original copy of the 1925 Constitution
Created	9 May 1925
Ratified	6 June 1925
Location	Civic Archives, Stórkostlegurborg, Atlantica
Author(s)	Althing
Signatories	Althing
Purpose	To establish a new Atlantican Constitution

The Constitution of Atlantica is the basic law of Atlantica, legally superior and above all other laws in Atlantica. The current Constitution was established in 1925 (and has been amended several times since then), whilst previous Constitutions existed from 1879-1925 (the 1879 Constitution), from 1657-1879 (the 1657 Constitution, commonly known as the Vjaarlandic Constitution) and from 821-1657 (the original Atlantican Constitution, commonly known as the 821 Constitution). The longest-written constitution in all of Esquarium, the Constitution establishes the framework of Atlantican sovereignty, national symbols, political system, judicial system, rights, and even touches upon its economic system.

The modern Atlantican Constitution is generally considered to be one of the most left-wing Constitutions of democracies in the world; the document; written by the Socialist-Farmer-Labour-Communist-Socialist Left Party coalition that governed when the document was written grants numerous rights that grant Atlanticans rights to water, food, housing, and healthcare under a single-payer system that effectively partially enshrines Atlantica's welfare state in its Constitution, while banning yellow-dog contracts, union busting and strikebreakers, and requiring employers to recognise and bargain with a particular trade union if a majority of that firm's employees vote to do so. The Constitution also declares numerous industries, including all public utilities (including telephone services) and all natural resources "beneath the land" (i.e., all mining and drilling operations) to be nationalised as a state monopoly, and formally establishes Atlantica as a socialist state, providing numerous justifications for this. Thus, parts of Atlantica's Constitution, particularly its Basic Principles and parts of its Declaration of Inalienable Rights, have been described as having more of the characteristics of an average minimum programme and manifesto of a socialist party rather than actual constitutional articles; the Basic Principles and parts of the Declaration of Inalienable Rights were, in fact, partially based of the SFL, Socialist Left, and Communist minimum programs and platforms of the 1925 Althing elections.

The Atlantican Constitution is also the only constitution in the world that formally grants the collective right of revolution, expressed as a "collective duty", though only if the Declaration of Inalienable Rights (Bill of Rights) is violated in an egregious way and said violation is not ruled unconstitutional by the Courts; this right has been recognised as a right in all Atlantican Constitutions, except the 1657 Constitution. The Constitution contains numerous religious references and officially describes Atlantica as a Heathen, or Norse pagan state.

Background

Previous Versions

The first Constitution of Atlantica was created in 821; based largely off of the Charter of the Atlantican League and the Constitution of Stórkostlegurborg, it formally established national symbols, framework for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, establish local government systems, and established Atlantica as a Heathen state, making Norse paganism the state religion. At first it also established frameworks for powers of the national-level government and various Provinces (largely particular cities and their vicinities), but in 1016 the Althing passed, and voters approved, major constitutional changes that abolished the Provinces, ending Atlantica's status as a federal state and making it a unitary one, but did allow for clauses granting the Overseas Territories---Sólaruppráseyja and later Muspell Eyja significant autonomy. Later, in 1221 voters again approved major constitutional changes that formally centralised Norse pagan religion into the Atlanticanist Temple, establishing unified doctrine and a central system of governance, based on representative democracy, direct democracy, and sortition. In 1407, voters approved formally making Atlantica a monarchy, albeit an elected one in the context of a crowned republic, this because Vjaarland demanded Atlantica becoming a monarchy in exchange for trading with it, as it (falsely) believed that a monarchy would be easier to Christianise.

In 1657, however, as part of the agreement with Vjaarland regarding the imposition of Vjaarlandic rule, the 821 Constitution was formally abolished and in its place the 1657 Constitution (commonly known as the Vjaarlandic Constitution within Atlantica); the 1657 Constitution notably expanded the powers of the monarchy within the context of the Vjaarlandic Grand Duke as a monarch, specifically a Co-Jarl, with said Co-Jarl having numerous powers, including powers to dissolve the Althing, prevent the imposition of new laws and such. The 1657 Constitution also notably dropped all facets of direct democracy on the national level, even the right of petitioning a referendum on a new law and voting constitutional amendments, additionally removing the requirement for all laws affecting the citizenry to be voted on in referenda; the 1657 Constitution also removed the autonomy of the Overseas Territory (Muspell Eyja). Later in 1671 the Althing passed a constitutional reform making the Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple a third monarch, largely to quell fears of Christianisation. In 1821, the Althing also passed major constitutional reforms that allowed non-Atlanticanist and non-Vjaarlandic Catholic men to vote, abolished slavery, and allowed unrestricted freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the press, generally viewed as guaranteeing a framework of a liberal democratic system within Atlantica. Later in 1864 and 1875, respectively, the Althing passed constitutional amendments that restricted the power of the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl, allowing the Althing to override the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl vetoing legislation by a three-fifths vote, and removing the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl from the power to dissolve the Althing without the request of both the Lawspeaker of the Althing and the Lawspeaker of the Hirds, respectively, as many Atlanticans viewed the Independence Revolution in Vestmark as a potential model that could and should be repeated in Atlantica.

In 1879, shortly following the Vjaarlandic Revolution, the Althing formally voted to establish a new Constitution, stripping the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl of his/her remaining powers (and, with this, making the Vjaarlandic President the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl), and formally declaring Atlantica to be a Heathen, liberal, sovereign, unitary, and constitutional democracy based on the principle of liberty. The 1879 Constitution also allowed Atlantica citizens freedoms of petition again, mandatory referenda on constitutional amendments, and the ability to hold referenda on passed laws, but only if a sufficient number of signatures are reached. The 1879 Constitution is also the only Atlantican Constitution to remain unamended throughout its entire term.

Enactment

In 1925, the new socialist administration of Gunnar Ólafursson, leading a Socialist-Farmer-Labour-Communist-Socialist Left coalition, was elected into power, with one of the many campaign promises of the coalition being the establishment of a new Constitution, replacing the 1879 one, as the coalition viewed the current Constitution as outdated and unable to guarantee equality and fraternity; thus, one of the first actions of the coalition was to have its supermajority (although the bill was also supported by the Social Credit Party, the Nationalist Workers' Party, and the Farmer's League, although the League later joined the SFL-Communist-SL coalition) the ram through a constitutional amendment to the 1879 one decreeing the establishment of a Constituent Assembly (composed of all members of the Althing) to draft a new constitution, and following this draft (and its approval by Atlantican voters), this new Constitution would replace the 1879 one; this constitutional amendment was subsequently approved by 72% of voters in a referendum held on 7 March 1925, shortly after the constitutional amendment was approved by the Althing.

The Althing then subsequently devoted its full time to the establishment of a new Constitution, finally voting on and approving a final draft on 9 May 1925 (coincidentally Atlantica's national day, celebrating the unification of the nation); the new Constitution reintroducing mandatory referendums on all laws affecting the citizenry, declared public ownership of all natural resources "beneath the land" and all public utilities, banned child labour, prohibited capital punishment and other punishments deemed inhumane, declared Atlantica a social and socialist democracy (in addition to previous principles established in the 1879 Constitution) based on equality, fraternity, and justice in addition to liberty (specifically equality and fraternity, under the mantra of liberty, equality, and fraternity), guaranteed rights to health (via single-payer, nationalised healthcare), water, food, education (up to and including tertiary education) and shelter, rights from unjust competition and monopolies (with the exception of state-owned industries in particular fields), and full rights to organise and strike. The new Constitution was subsequently approved by 67% of voters, being backed by the SFL, the Communists, the Socialist Leftists, the Farmer's League, and the Nationalist Workers' Party; the Social Credit Party took a neutral stance (although polls should a slight majority of members supported the plan), whilst all other political parties opposed the new constitution. The Constitution has subsequently been amended several times, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, establishing new rights guaranteed under the Declaration of inalienable Rights, mostly notably adding the Right to Bodily Sovereignty, Rights of Families, Rights of Squatters, Right to participate in Cultural Life, and the Right to a healthy Environment and Rights of Nature.

Text of the Constitution of Atlantica

When it becomes clear that the form of Government that governs a nation and people has become outdated for the modern world, or if that form of Government does not ensure liberty, equality, and fraternity, it is the collective duty of the peoples of that nation to establish a new form of Government, whether it be by revolution or by reform.

Although the previous Constitution, as was passed in the year of 1879, Common Era, has brought uncountable amounts of greatness to our Jarldom and has greatly extended the right of liberty, an inalienable right, granted by the Æsir and Vanir since the sons of Burr lifted Midgard out of the sea and created our world from the body of Ymir, when Ask and Embla were born; the previous Constitution has liberated our fair land from the occupation and dictatorship the Vjaars had imposed upon our great nation for more than three centuries. However, our wondrous land has come under great troubles, as a few swim in wealth while thousands are unemployed, and, although it has guaranteed liberty, has not guaranteed the two other of the deepest, most inalienable, most powerful, most important rights: equality and fraternity.

Thus, It is clear that the current form of government and Constitution of the Jarldom of Atlantica has become outdated for the modern world and no longer can guarantee the inalienable and self-evident truths granted by the Æsir and Vanir that all men and women are created equal and that all men and women have a multitude of rights, chief among them the rights of liberty, equality and fraternity.

Thus, WE THE PEOPLES OF THE JARLDOM OF ATLANTICA, IN ORDER to create a more righteous and harmonious nation in the name of the Æsir and Vanir, to secure the liberty and freedom of all Atlanticans, to give true equality, to promote the true brotherhood that exists among all Atlanticans, to create a Fatherland that shall allow all Atlanticans a high standard of living, to create an eternal democracy until Ragnarök, HEREBY ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION OF THE JARLDOM OF ATLANTICA:

The Jarldom

Sovereignty

§1 The Jarldom of Atlantica shall be an eternally independent state in the name of the Gods until Ragnarök, and shall be bordered by Vjaarland in the west until the Atlantican Mountains, a sub-range of the Fjølden Mountains, shall cease to exist, in the north and east by the coast of the Hyperborean Sea, and in the south by Vajorr. Additional area in the Hyperborean Sea off a certain coastline level set in accordance with international convention or law and island within that area shall also be part of the Jarldom.

§2 Furthermore, the Jarldom of Atlantica shall never grant land to another power unless otherwise the entirety of the Jarldom would be annexed, shall never come under the suzerainty of another power unless otherwise the Jarldom would be annexed, and shall never be annexed by another power or dissolve until Ragnarök.

§3 The Heads of State of the Jarldom of Atlantica shall be known as the two Co-Jarls of Atlantica and the Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple (the last position being that of the leader of the Atlanticanist Temple, representing the belief in the Æsir and Vanir and Heathenry within Atlantica), to be represented by the Meadcupbearer of Atlantica. The three Heads of Government of the Jarldom of Atlantica shall be known as the Lawspeaker of the Althing, Lawspeaker of the Hirds, and Lawspeaker of the People, respectively, and the Legislature shall be known as the Althing.

§4 The power of the Jarldom of Atlantica over its citizens and sovereign territories is derived from the mandate of the masses which is the sole granter of supreme executive power.

§5 The mandate of the masses the Jarldom of Atlantica has is granted by the social contract that Atlantican citizens agree to. By voluntarily using and enjoying the services of the state, the citizens of the Jarldom of Atlantica voluntarily agree to give up some of their rights to the Jarldom, in return for the Jarldom to secure the rest of their inalienable rights endowed to them by the Æsir and Vanir.

§6 As supreme executive power is derived solely from the mandate of the masses, the Jarldom of Atlantica shall be a democratic nation based on equality before the law, the rule of law and shall grant proper powers to the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial.

Basic Principles

§1 Atlantica is a Heathen, liberal, sovereign, unitary, constitutional, social, and socialist democracy that guarantees liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice.

§2 Atlantica is a Heathen state in accordance with the ancient and deeply-held traditions of the Atlantican people, in their deeply held reverence of the Æsir and Vanir, in their recognition of Atlantica as part of Midgard, connected to the other eight of the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil; the Atlantican nation is eternally tied, like other Norse nations, to these traditions of Heathenry, also known as Ásatru or the faith of the Norse, including the Atlantican people.

§3 Atlantica is a liberal state in its recognition of the liberal principles of various rights, restored principles given by the Æsir and Vanir when they created this world, as given to all men and women when they are born into this world, Midgard (also known as Esquarium); freedom and dignity of the self shall be inviolable.

§4 Atlantica is a sovereign state, for it is not, and shall never be, under the suzerainty or rule by another state, unless the very existence of this Jarldom is under threat. Sovereignty is solely derived from the people via the social contract.

§5 Atlantica follows the principle of a unitary state, in recognition of the unbreakable unity of the indivisible Atlantican nation.

§6 Atlantica is a constitutional state in order to ensure that our deeply-held principles, our inalienable rights, chief among them liberty, equality, and fraternity, and our status as a democracy are not threatened.

§7 Atlantica is a social state (specifically, in recognition of Atlantica's status as a democracy, a social-democracy) as it provides various benefits to its citizens in order to ensure all of the inalienable rights, these benefits included but not limited to health, water, a useful and remunerative job, food, and shelter---the basic needs.

§8 Atlantica is a socialist state because its people recognise the superiority of the socialist system in comparison to the feudalist, mercantilist, and capitalist systems, all of which are inherently unjust to all and are inherently immoral; Socialism is the only economic system that can consider itself to be moral to humanity. Socialism is the only true system that can ensure liberty, equality and fraternity, can create a harmonious brotherhood of all men and women, and it is the only system that can truly create democracy, both political and economic; indeed, socialism, defined as social ownership and democratic control of the means of production, is not in any way in conflict to the inalienable rights, democracy, and the nature of man; indeed, it is the only true and full realisation of any and all of these goals. In accordance with Atlantica's recognition of the inherent superiority of the socialist economic system, Atlantica shall implement proper measures to ensure the creation of Socialism in Atlantica, namely economic democracy and social ownership of the means of production.

§9 Atlantica is a democracy as it is the only way in which the needs and concerns of all are represented, and it is the only justifiable way in which a state can exist; only democracies have a right to exist; dictatorships do not and must become democracies at once.

§10 Atlantica fully guarantees Liberty, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, to all of its citizens. A nation without Liberty is inherently immoral and unjust, its citizens chafing under virtual enslavement. Thus, Atlantica shall fully guarantee Liberty.

§11 Atlantica fully guarantees Equality, of status and of opportunity, to all of its citizens. All humans are inherently equal; no one is superior to one another. In realisation of these fact, Atlantica shall fully guarantee Equality, including the equality of all groups, individuals, and distribution of other Inalienable Rights.

§12 Atlantica fully guarantees Fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation, to all of its citizens. Atlantica shall strive, as part of its commitment to Socialism, to fully realise the creation of an eternal Fraternity, or brotherhood, of man; humans are naturally bound together by mutual aid, as part of our status as social creatures, and thus Atlantica shall fully guarantee Fraternity, in recognition of these facts.

§13 Atlantica fully guarantees Justice, social, economic and political, to all of its citizens. Justice is an inherent human right, for an unjust nation does, like a dictatorship, have no right to exist, for Justice is the embodiment of all that is righteous and fair in these Nine Worlds. Thus, Atlantica shall fully guarantee Justice.

Capital

§1 The Capital of the Jarldom shall be Stórkostlegurborg, which shall serve as the seat of residence for the Meadcupbearer, the Althing and all other government agencies.

National Symbols

§1 The Flag of the Jarldom shall be a tricolour of navy blue on the bottom and top of the flag to represent the Hyperborean Sea that provides food for many Atlanticans, and dark red in the middle to represent the blood spilled in order to preserve and protect and Atlantica and to unify the Jarldom. At the centre of the flag shall be the Atlantican Coat of Arms, which shall be a shield with a brown bear inside to represent the national animal of Luziyca and shall carry the Coat of Arms of Vjaarland to represent the ties between Atlantica and Vjaarland. Above that shield shall be a royal crown to represent the Jarl of Atlantica. To the left and right of the shield and crown shall be two red dragons, to symbolise the birds that fly in the skies of Atlantica and the might and wealth of the Jarldom. Directly below the shield shall be a yellow semi-U-shaped banner, with the words ég Standa, the official motto of the Jarldom inside the banner. In between the dragon and the shield and the shield and the crowns and directly below the banner, however, shall be an elaborate yellow design, which the red dragons shall stand on. The entire coat of arms shall be enclosed by a white band.

§2 The official motto of the Jarldom shall be ég Standa, meaning I stand in Atlantican, which shall until Ragnarök be the sole official language of the Jarldom. However, with respect to the traditions of all Atlanticans, the languages of the Vjaars and Vestmarkers who are, like the Atlantican peoples, have a unique culture and are an integral part of the heritage of the Jarldom, Vjaarlandic and Vestmarkic respectively shall be recognised as minority languages.

§3 The official anthem of the Jarldom shall be Blóð ok Dýrð!. meaning Blood and Glory in Old Norse, the predecessor of Atlantica. This shall be the anthem to represent the raiding and trading that many Atlanticans relied on in their lives in early Atlantican history.

§4 The official animal of the Jarldom shall be the Brown bear. Due to the status of the Brown bear being the official animal of the Jarldom, the Brown bear shall be protected from hunting.

§5 The official demonym of the Jarldom shall be Atlantican.

§6 Until Ragnarök the official scripts of the Jarldom shall be Latinised Atlantican and Atlantican runes, and the sole official language of the Jarldom shall be Atlantican. However, Vjaarlandic, Vestmarkic and Mburi shall be recognised as minority languages.

The Monarchs

§1 Atlantica shall be a monarchy in order to preserve unity in the Jarldom, but shall, as a democracy based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity, be a constitutional and popular monarchy; all powers of the monarchs shall additionally be vested in the Meadcupbearer of Atlantica, who shall serve as the representative of the monarchs, with the exception of the power to grant medals and awards, a power to be jointly vested in the monarchs and the Meadcupbearer.

§2 Atlantica shall additionally be a Triarchy.

The Atlantican Co-Jarl

§1 One of the three monarchs shall be the historical Co-Jarl of Atlantica, an indigenous post and descended from the line of Ásbjörn the Magnificent.

§2 This Co-Jarl shall follow the religion of the Atlanticanist Temple or any other religious organisation following the religion of the Æsir and Vanir, Heathenry; if this Co-Jarl chooses to formally leave the Temple, they shall no longer hold their post as Co-Jarl. Upon election, if this Co-Jarl is not already a member of the Atlanticanist Temple or any other religious organisation following Heathenry, to shall join the Temple or any other religious organisation following Heathenry.

§3 If this particular Co-Jarl abdicates, dies, leaves the Atlanticanist Temple, or is physically and/or mentally incapacitated, then they shall no longer hold their post as Co-Jarl and the Althing shall formally elect a Co-Jarl from among the previous Co-Jarl's family (for this purpose defined as a sibling, 1st cousin no times removed, aunt, uncle, parent, grandparent, niece/nephew, son/daughter, grandson/granddaughter, great-grandson/grandaugher and so forth) via exhaustive ballot. However, any candidates already the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl (and as such President of Vjaarland) or Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple shall be excluded from the position of candidate for Co-Jarl, unless they abdicate the positions barring them from becoming the Atlantican Co-Jarl; additionally, they may not become the Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl or Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple without abdicating as this particular Co-Jarl.

The Vjaarlandic Co-Jarl

§1 One of the three monarchs shall be the President of Vjaarland; this shall be an ex officio role of the President of Vjaarland.

§2 This monarch shall be titled as the Co-Jarl of Atlantica; this position shall be elected via the method Vjaarland uses to elect its President, in Vjaarland's presidential elections.

The Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple

§1 One of the monarchs shall be the Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple (that is, the leader of the Atlanticanist Temple), titled Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple.

§2 The Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple may not become, or be, either one of the Co-Jarls; if they do, they shall immediately abdicate their position as Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple.

The Executive

The Meadcupbearer

§1 The Meadcupbearer of Atlantica shall be jointly nominated by the three Lawspeakers and this nomination shall be confirmed by a simple majority vote of the Althing every five years at the beginning or the middle of a decade. The Meadcupbearer of Atlantica must be an Atlantican citizen that has at least reached the age of 16 and not be currently serving a criminal sentence in a prison.

§2 The Meadcupbearer of Atlantica shall have the power of pardon to any Atlantican citizens convicted of a crime except in the cases of impeachment proceedings or if the crime was committed by the Meadcupbearer themselves, shall cast tiebreaking votes if necessary in the Althing, shall be the representative of the Co-Jarls of Atlantica and Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple, shall have the power to grant awards and medals to any Atlanticans or noncitizens, and shall serve, along with the Foreign Hird and Ambassadors, as a representative of Atlantica abroad, and may, upon three-fifths approval by the Althing and the Atlantican people in a referendum and the request of the three Lawspeakers, declare a state of emergency within a part of or all of Atlantica.

§3 Immediately prior to inauguration, the Meadcupbearer of Atlantica shall take the following both: "I, <full name>, do solemnly swear before the peoples of Atlantica and the Æsir and Vanir that I shall faithfully execute the office of Meadcupbearer of the Jarldom of Atlantica and shall uphold, follow and defend at all costs the Constitution of the Jarldom of Atlantica." ("And the Æsir and Vanir" optional)

§4 If a Meadcupbearer dies, is mentally or physically incapacitated, resigns or is impeached from office, the three Lawspeakers shall jointly serve as the acting Meadcupbearer of Atlantica until a new Meadcupbearer can be confirmed by the Althing and sworn in for the remainder of the previous Meadcupbearer's term.

§5 If the Meadcupbearer of Atlantica is accused of having committed a felony, he/she shall be tried by the members of the Althing for their crimes (in addition to going through the proper motions of the Atlantican Judiciary). If a two-thirds majority of the Althing vote to convict the Meadcupbearer, they shall be immediately removed from their office.

§6 The Meadcupbearer of Atlantica shall have no other powers not listed in this Constitution.

The Three Lawspeakers

§1 Following an election of the Althing, both a Lawspeaker of the Althing as well as the Council of the Hirds shall be nominated by one or more political parties who together command at least half of all the seats in Althing as well as the support of the Meadcupbearer, or command at least 50%+1 of all the seats in the Althing.

§2 Following this nomination, a confirmation vote of the three Lawspeakers and the Council of the Hirds shall be held in the Althing. A nominated Lawspeaker of the Althing or Hird must have half of all the votes in the Althing regarding confirmation be in support of them becoming Lawspeaker or Hird as well as the support of the Meadcupbearer, or a simple majority of all the votes in the Althing supporting them becoming Lawspeaker or Hird.

§3 The Council of the Hirds shall then elect a Lawspeaker of the Hirds from among their own, under a system of exhaustive ballot until a simple majority of votes in favour of a particular Hird becoming Laswpeaker is reached.

§4 At the same time as an election to the Althing, an election for a Lawspeaker of the People, directly-elected by the people via instant-runoff voting, shall occur.

§3 The three Lawspeakers shall be jointly the head of the Atlantican Government, shall serve as primus inter pares and may dismiss a member of the Council of Hirds at any time, so long as said dismissal is approved by the other two Lawspeakers, as well as either the Council of the Hirds or the Althing. The Lawspeaker of the Althing shall additionally serve as the presiding officer of the Althing, whilst the Lawspeaker of the Hirds shall additionally serve as the presiding officer of the Council of the Hirds.

§4 At least once every month, all three Lawspeakers shall attend the Althing for Lawspeaker's Questions, in which the three Lawspeakers present their goals for the rest of their term and members of the Althing ask questions related to the Government which the three Lawspeakers must answer to the best of their abilities. These questions shall be moderated by the Meadcupbearer.

§5 Immediately following confirmation by the Althing/election by the Council of the Hirds, all three Lawspeakers shall take the following both: "I, <full name>, do solemnly swear before the peoples of Atlantica and the Æsir and Vanir that I shall faithfully execute the office of Lawspeaker of the [Althing, Hirds, or People, depending on office] and shall uphold, follow and defend at all costs the Constitution of the Jarldom of Atlantica." ("And the Æsir and Vanir" optional)

§6 All three Lawspeaker shall be members of the Althing. The Lawspeaker of the Hirds shall additionally be a Lawspeaker. No person may hold both the titles of Lawspeaker of the Althing, Lawspeaker of the Hirds, or Lawspeaker of the People at the same time; the three titles must, at all times, be held by three different individuals.

The Council of Hirds

§1 The Council of Hirds shall be elected by the Althing. The Lawspeaker of the Hirds shall by a primus inter pares of the Council of Hirds, shall be a Hird of a specific Department themselves, and shall preside over the Council of Hirds. The appointments for each Hird must be confirmed by the Althing. Either Lawspeaker, may with, but only with, the approval of the other Lawspeakers as well as the approval of either the Council of Hirds or the Althing, dismiss a Hird and replace one with a Hird (specific Hird must be approved by the Althing) at any time ("reshuffling").

§2 Any Þingmaður may introduce a vote on confidence on a particular Hird. The Althing, however, may only have a maximum of one confidence vote for a particular Hird once every two months (i.e, a confidence vote on the Hird of Finance may only happen once every two months, with the same rule applying for the Hird of Foreign Affairs, etc.). If a confidence vote fails by not obtaining a simple majority in favour of confidence, then that specific Hird must resign, and the Althing shall elect a new Hird.

§3 Further members can be created by statute, but at a bare minimum the Council of Hirds must include the Lawspeaker of the Hirds, the Deputy Lawspeaker of the Hirds (who may serve in other offices and shall succeed the Lawspeaker of the Hirds is he/she ever resigns, dies, or is mentally or physically incapacitated), the Hird of Foreign Affairs (who shall be Atlantica's main representative abroad, serve as the commander-in-chief of the Royal Atlantican Armed Forces, direct Atlantica's foreign policy and head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the Hird of Finance (who shall manage Atlantica's finances, help manage the National Bank of Atlantica along with the Lawspeakers and Chairman/woman of the Atlantican National Bank, present Atlantica's budget and head the Ministry of Finance), the Hird of Justice (who shall manage Atlantica's police forces, judicial system and head the Ministry of Justice), and the Hird of Labour, Health, and Welfare (who shall manage Atlantica's labour laws, healthcare and welfare state and head the Ministry of Labour, Health and Welfare).

§4 Immediately following confirmation by the Althing, each Hird shall take the following both: "I, <full name>, do solemnly swear before the peoples of Atlantica and the Æsir and Vanir that I shall faithfully execute the office of [their post] of the Jarldom of Atlantica and shall uphold, follow and defend at all costs the Constitution of the Jarldom of Atlantica." ("And the Æsir and Vanir" optional)

§5 Each Hird shall head a Ministry, including the Lawspeaker of the Hirds and Deputy Lawspeaker of the Hirds. Ministries shall be government departments tasked with handling specific affairs.

§6 All Hirds must be a Þingmaður.

Vote of No Confidence

§1 A Þingmaður may introduce a vote on confidence on the Lawspeaker of the Althing and thus the government. However, if the Althing votes to keep confidence in the Lawspeakers' government (by voting for confidence via a simple majority), then no confidence vote on the Lawspeaker of the Althing may be held for the next 30 days.

§2 If the Lawspeaker of the Althing and the government loses the confidence vote, all three Lawspeakers have the choice to either resign and let others become the three Lawspeakers, or call elections.

§3 A Hird may introduce a vote on confidence on the Lawspeaker of the Hirds. However, if the Council of the Hirds votes to keep confidence in the Lawspeaker's tenure as Lawspeaker (by voting for confidence via a simple majority), then no confidence vote on the Lawspeaker of the Hirds may be held for the next 30 days.

§5 If the Lawspeaker of the Hirds loses the confidence vote, the Lawspeaker of the Hirds shall then resign.

§5 The Lawspeaker of the People may be removed by a recall vote, to be carried out as every standard petition would, or by a vote of no confidence by the Althing, in both cases following which the Lawspeaker of the People shall then immediately resign; however, an Althing's vote of no confidence may be overturned by a referendum, again carried out as every standard petition would, of the people on the recall of the Lawspeaker of the People.

The Legislative

The Althing

§1 The legislature shall be known as the Althing, which shall be a unicameral body of not less than 300 members.
§2 An election for the legislature shall occur every year whose number under the Gregorian calendar is divisible by three, unless the Lawspeakers lose a no confidence vote and choose to call an election (or choose to call a snap election), in which case the newly-elected Althing shall serve for the rest of the previous Althing's term. The Althing shall be elected via the D'Hondt method, without an electoral threshold and no constituencies except national ones.
§3 A member of the Althing shall be known as a Þingmaður. Þingmaðurs must be at least 16, Atlantican citizens and not currently serving a criminal sentence in a prison.
§4 Immediately before inauguration, a Þingmaður must stay: "I, <full name>, do solemnly swear before the peoples of Atlantica and the Æsir and Vanir that I shall faithfully execute the office of Þingmaður of the Jarldom of Atlantica and shall uphold, follow and defend at all costs the Constitution of the Jarldom of Atlantica." ("And the Æsir and Vanir" optional)

Removal of a Þingmaður

§1 A Þingmaður shall be removed from office if they no longer satisfy the requirements to become a Þingmaður, resign, die or are mentally or physically incapacitated from carrying out their duties.
§2 Following the removal of a Þingmaður from their office, a new Þingmaður shall serve at their place for the rest of their term. The method in which a Þingmaður's seat is replaced shall be determined by a later statute.

Bills

§1 Any Þingmaður may introduce a bill into the Althing. This bill must be put categorised into one of the following categories:

    Emergency Services, for bills relating to the Armed Forces, Police or Healthcare.
    Foreign Affairs, for bills relating to Foreign Affairs.
    Businesses and Finance, for bills relating to labour, businesses and the finances of the Jarldom.
    Environment and Energy, for bills relating to the Environment and Energy policies (including oil) of the Jarldom.
    Utilities, for bills relating to the Utilities of the Jarldom.
    Welfare and Education, for bills relating to the status of Education and Welfare (except for Healthcare) in the Jarldom.
    Miscellaneous, for bills not in the other categories.

§2 Following the submitting of a bill, if it gains at least three other supporters in the Althing, it shall be submitted into the queue. The seven oldest bills in the queue relating to each of the seven categories shall each be debated and voted on in the course of a week. If no bills relate to a particular category, then the oldest bill in the queue in other categories shall be debated and vote on. Additionally, confidence votes shall be immediately voted on following getting the necessary supporters.

§3 All bills require a simple majority to pass, with the exception of amendments to this Constitution, which require a two-thirds majority to pass.

Referenda

§1 All bills passed in the Althing, shall, with the exception of internal actions regarding legislative procedure or bills not impacting the lives of Atlantican citizens, be voted on by the Atlantican public. A vote on all bills passed in the Althing (with the exceptions listed above) in the past month shall occur on the first Saturday of every month. Like in the Althing, regular bills require a simple majority to pass, while constitutional amendments require a three-thirds majority to pass.

§2 Additionally, initiatives, defined as laws proposed by citizens eligible to vote outside of the Althing, may be proposed at any time. Initiatives must require a minimum of valid signatures of citizens allowed to vote to be voted on in the monthly referendums; the minimum of signatures shall be designed at a latter time by statute. Initiatives, if approved (simple majority for regular laws, two-thirds majority for constitutional amendments) shall be immediately voted on by the Althing (without taking up a bill on the ESFABFEEUWEM space) after a short period of debate and shall require the same amount to pass as was used for the initiatives (that is to say, simple majority for regular laws, two-thirds majority for constitutional amendments), except if the initiative got at least 25 times the minimum amount of signatures and was approved by the general public, in which case that bill immediately becomes law.

Powers Not Held by the Legislature

§1 The Althing may not, under any circumstance, levy a poll tax (of both kinds), or a regressive or flat income tax or payroll. All income or payroll taxes must be progressive.
§2 The Althing may not pass any ex post facto law or bill of attainder.
§3 The Althing may not pass any law that violates this Constitution.
§4 The Althing may not make Copyrights or Patents apply for after the creator's death, or for longer than 10 years (whichever one is shorter). Nothing in this Constitution should be read to prohibit the Althing from creating a shorter time on Copyrights and Patents, or choosing not to create Copyrights or Patents at all.
§5 The Althing may have the power to create any other law that is not prohibited in this Article or Constitution.

The Judicial

The Courts

§1 All powers relating to justice in the Jarldom shall be exercised by the Courts, established by and in accordance with this Constitution, the laws of the Jarldom and what is generally recognised as the principles of justice throughout democratic nations. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be law in Atlantica.
§2 There shall be the following Courts in the Jarldom:

    The Constitutional Court,
    The High Court, and
    The Municipal Courts

§3 The Atlantican Constitutional Court and shall be the sole authority to exercise the power of judicial review, shall deal solely with constitutional law and shall have the ability to strike down unconstitutional laws, based on applications of previous legal principles enshrined in this Constitution or my Statute. No Atlantican Judicial Lawspeaker may create or destroy legal principles under any circumstance.
§4 The High Court shall be an Appellate Court, and shall rule on all appeals on both criminal and civil trials. Decisions, once ruled on by the High Court, may not be appealed. All High Court decisions shall be decided by its members, and not by a Jury.
§5 The Municipal Courts shall be where all criminal and civil trials are initially tried. The Althing may create more Municipal Courts, but at a bare minimum there shall be at least ten Courts.

Appointment of Judicial Lawspeakers

§1 All Courts shall be composed of judges, to be known as Judicial Lawspeakers.
§2 The Constitutional Court shall be composed of eleven Judicial Lawspeakers, to be known as Justices, who shall be appointed for a ten-year term by the Lawspeaker of Justice, and these appointments shall be staggered so one new appointment every year, and all appointments shall be confirmed by the Althing. The Lawspeaker of Justice may not appoint Justices over the age of sixty.
§3 Justices may only serve a maximum of two terms. If the Justice resigns, dies, is mentally or physically incapacitated or attains the age of sixty, the Lawspeaker of Justice shall appoint a new Justice on the advice of the Three Lawspeakers (and that Justice is then confirmed by the Althing) to serve out the rest of the previous Justice's term. If the Justice has served at or over 5 years of the previous Justice's term, then their time in office as a filler for the previous Justice shall be counted as one full term, while if the Justice has served less than 5 years of the previous Justice's term, then their time in office as a filler for the previous Justice shall not be counted as a term. The most senior member of the Constitutional Court shall be known as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, and shall be the presiding officer of the Constitutional Court.
§4 The rules for appointment to the High Court and serving as Chief Justice shall be the same as those for the Constitutional Court, except that there shall be no term limits to serving as Justice.
§5 Each Municipal Court shall have one Lawspeaker to preside over it. Lawspeakers of Municipal Courts shall be nominated by the Lawspeaker of Justice, shall have fifteen-year terms (unless they resign, die, reach the age of 60 or are mentally incapacitated), without term limits and shall not be over the age of 60 when appointed.
§6 One must already be a Lawspeaker to the High Court or a Municipal Court to be appointed to the Constitutional Court, and one must already be a Lawspeaker to the Constitutional Court or a Municipal Court to be appointed to the High Court. One must be a lawyer working for a Lawspeaker to be appointed to the Municipal Court.

Criminal Trials

§1 All criminal cases shall be brought forth by the Municipal Prosecutor (who shall be the public prosecutor for every Municipal Court) or the Municipal Prosecutor's office if there are high amounts of evidence that a defendant has committed a crime detailed in the Atlantican Criminal Code, which shall be the national Criminal Code of Atlantica and shall be established as a statute by the Althing and public referendum and an individual, the victim(s) of the crime perpetrated, has chosen to press charges against the defendant; crimes shall be understood to be offences not against the state, but rather of the victim. Tax evasion shall be understood as a crime against the people of Atlantica as a whole, as embodied by the Atlantican state, in the context of popular sovereignty, with the Atlantican state, for all intents and purposes, considered to be the victim in this case.
§2 A defendant brought forth to a Court on a criminal charge(s) shall have the right to a bail hearing. A court shall issue bail (albeit under certain conditions) without any requirement to pay for bail by the defendant if there is substantial evidence that a defendant will if granted bail interfere with the proper procedures of the scheduled trial or commit a crime while on bail, in which case a bail hearing shall not be held.
§3 Both defence and prosecutor may make motions during and prior to the start of the trial on any grounds subject to Atlantican laws or this Constitution is relevant. These motions shall be heard fairly before the presiding lawspeaker of the Municipal Court.
§4 All Municipal Courts trials shall be presided over by the presiding lawspeaker of that Municipal Court. This lawspeaker shall hear all the evidences fairly, without any preconceptions and the Lawspeaker shall preside over the trial. The verdict, however, shall be reached by a 9-person jury. Juries shall be randomly selected via sortition from all able Atlantican citizens over the age of 16 and in the area covered by the Municipal Court. If called for jury duty, the individual called for jury duty must report to the Municipal Court. Any lost wages shall be just and jointly compensated by the Ministry of Justice and any employer that Juror may have been employed by.
§5 If the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict of Guilt or Not Guilty, a mistrial shall be declared and all charges against the defendant in the particular trial shall be dropped. If, but only if, substantial new evidence appears to show the defendant's guilt, then the Municipal Prosecutor may refile the charges.
§6 If the Jury unanimously declares the defendant not guilty, charges against that same defendant for the same crimes may not, under any circumstance, be filed against said defendant.
§7 If a defendant is deemed guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the Municipal Court Lawpeaker shall preside over sentencing procedures and shall sentence the Defendant for their crimes. If the sentencing includes prison time, the maximum prison time allowed shall be 15 years; however, prison time may only apply in cases of violent crimes, or tax evasion; all other crimes shall involve monetary compensation to victims instead, at a rate double to monetary damage done, or less, if such lessening is determined by a victim; additionally, victims may impose a "Victim's Pardon", where victims may exercise full pardons to, or a reduction of, the punishment imposed of the committer of a crime created by the victim; if the crime in question is murder or manslaughter, full rights of both a "Victim's Pardon" and prosecution shall instead by undergone by legal guardians, if the victim in question was under the age of majority, or by the recipients of the possessions in the victim's will; if there are multiple recipients to a victim's will, then a weighted voting system shall be used concerning the percentage of goods and money (the value of goods to be determined by the Municipal Court that tries to the accused perpetrator of the crime committed), with a simple majority required for all decisions; however, the victim may, in their will, establish a different system for voting purposes, including one involving those not receiving parts of the will, or specifically bar the prosecution of the accused perpetrator of the crime committed, or bar a "Victim's Pardon" both partially or in its entirety.

Civil Trials

§1 Civil trials, or lawsuits may be brought forth by an affected party, again as represented by a Municipal Prosecutor.
§2 The procedure of a civil trail shall be the same as that of a criminal trial. However, the maximum sentencing shall be monetary compensation to the affected party; this shall not be implied to restrict the use of monetary compensation in criminal trials.

Universal Jurisdiction

§1 Universal Jurisdiction shall be declared for crimes outside of Atlantica if the Defendant is an Atlantican citizen or permanent resident, or the Defendant committed crimes against humanity, including but not limited to torture, war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, mass murder, etc.

Advocate-General

§1 The Lawspeaker of Justice shall appoint an Advocate-General of Atlantica, who shall be the Chief Legal Advisor of the Atlantican Government. The Advocate-General must be a trained Atlantican Lawyer or Lawspeaker and shall give legal and constitutional advice to the Government of Atlantica.
§2 The Advocate-General or a Lawyer working in the service of the Advocate-General shall represent the Atlantican Government in legal cases involving that body.

On Religion

§1 The state religion of the Jarldom shall be the Atlanticanist Temple, which shall practice Heathenry, although Atlanticans have the right to freedom of and from religion.
§2 All Atlanticans shall automatically become members of the Atlanticanist Temple at birth unless their parents opt-out.
§3 The Atlanticanist Temple shall be primarily funded by general taxation and a Church tax imposed on wealthy enough members of the Atlanticanist Temple. However, the Atlanticanist Temple may request and receive donations.

Temple Organisation

§1 The Atlanticanist Temple shall be governed by a mix of Representative democracy and Sortition, except on the local level, which shall be decided via a mix of direct democracy and representative democracy. Temple elections shall be held every three years, in conjunction with the elections for the Althing.
§2 In the Temple elections, elections shall be held for the Goði Council, which shall be the lower house of the legislature of the Atlanticanist Temple (to be known as the Temple Assembly), and shall determine Temple doctrine, policies, etc. The election system used for the Goði Council shall be whatever electoral system is used for the Althing and shall also have the same number of seats the Althing has. The upper house of the Temple Assembly shall be known as the People's Council and shall be selected by sortition of all Temple members above 16 and not serving on the Goði Council. If selected and the selected member agrees to serve on the People's Council (the People's Council shall compensate for all lost wages during the time served as a member of the People's Council), the selected member shall serve on the People's Council for a period of six months. The People's Council shall have the same number of seats as the Goði Council. The two bodies shall be of equal importance.
§3 Additionally, during the Temple Elections, a vote among all of those over the 16 and members of the Temple in a particular area covered by a specific Hofgoði shall be held to see if those Hofgoðar are re-elected to their position as Hofgoði of their particular area. Individual Goðar, shall be elected in the Annual Hof General Meeting. Particular Hofs shall be generally decided via a mix of direct democracy and representative democracy somewhat akin to the system used for local government.
§4 Hofgoðar and members of the Goði Council shall have attended and completed courses at an Atlanticanist Seminary and have already become members of the Clergy by either becoming a Goði or a lesser position in the Atlanticanist Temple, whilst Goðar shall have at least attended and completed courses at an Atlanticanist Seminary.
§5 The overall leader of the Atlanticanist Temple shall be the Allsherjargoði of the Atlanticanist Temple, who shall be elected during the same time as an election for the Temple Assembly via a system of instant-runoff voting by all members of the Temple who are over 16.
§6 Further laws on Temple organisation shall be decided by the Temple Assembly itself, with the approval of the Althing.

On Local Government

§1 The Jarldom of Atlantica is an shall forever be until Ragnarök a unitary people's democracy and the state for the Atlantican nation and people. In accordance with this, the Government of the Jarldom may choose to grant cities the right to become Autonomous Cities by issuing a City Charter, or to revoke that right as it sees fit by revoking a City Charter.
§2 Autonomous Cities shall have the right to, as they see fit, nationalise any businesses they choose, levy any tax as they see fit (subject to the same restrictions as those of the Atlantican national Government, however), institute any form of welfare or subsidies they see fit, create and fund infrastructure within their borders, and via Municipal Ordinances prohibit minor actions, such as traffic tickets, not specifically prohibited by Atlantican national law. In accordance with the basic status of Atlantica as a unitary, constitutional democracy, Municipal Ordinances may not violate Atlantican national law or this Constitution, and may be overturned at any time by the Althing.
§3 Violations of Municipal Ordinances shall be considered violations of Municipal Ordinances if they are issued a ticket by the Atlantican Police. If there is reasonable doubt the violation of a Municipal Ordinance did not actually occur, however, then a trial shall be held, under the same system used for all trials at the national level; however, monetary compensation shall instead be distributed to the state; monetary compensation to the state for violations of Municipal Ordinances shall additionally be based proportionally on income.
§4 The Government of the Jarldom may, if it chooses, grant additional powers to Autonomous Cities or specific Autonomous Cities in particular.

Governance of Autonomous Cities

§1 All Autonomous Cities shall be governed via a directly democratic Thing, composed of all Citizens eligible to vote in Althing elections and those present at the Thing.
§2 A Thing shall be held every month. In a Thing, any assembled may propose any motion at any time, members assembled may vote for or against any motion proposed to be decided via simple majority, decide whether to approve or strike down any actions taken in the meantime by the Autonomous City Council by a simple majority, and elect the Autonomous City Council.
§3 Autonomous City Councils shall be popularly elected at the monthly Things and shall serve as both the legislative and executive branch of Autonomous Cities (though subservient to the ultimate legislative branch of the Things) and shall run Autonomous Cities in between the monthly Things and may take legislative action in between the Things, but all actions must be approved by the Things.
§4 Autonomous City Councils may choose to elect a Mayor among their fellow Councillors to help execute the actions of the executive branch. All of a potential Mayor's actions as Mayor are, like those of the Autonomous City Councils, subject to approval or disapproval by the monthly Thing.

Declaration of Inalienable Rights

When men are born upon this world, each and every one of them are granted an inalienable list of rights endowed to them by the Æsir and Vanir from above this world, at the top of Yggdrasil in Asgard and Vanaheim. It is the duty of every Government to guarantee these inalienable rights to all of their citizens, and no nation that does not guarantee the inalienable rights has, like dictatorships, legitimacy in the eyes of the Æsir and Vanir, and these rights are of paramount importance for any nation based upon the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. These rights, which shall until Ragnarök be guaranteed by the Jarldom of Atlantica and may not ever be repealed, are the following:

Fundamental Rights

§1 Above all, all Atlantican citizens have the inalienable rights to life, liberty, equality, the pursuit of happiness and brotherhood and fraternity between all fellow Atlantican citizens, regardless of sex, race, creed, age, colour, sexuality, gender identity, ethnic or national origin.
§2 All Humans born within the sovereign territory of the Jarldom, or at least one of whose parents is an Atlantican citizen shall be automatically granted citizenship.

Rights to Liberty and Personhood

§1 All Atlanticans shall have freedom from enslavement, bondage (including debt bondage), involuntary or indentured servitude.
§2 All Atlantican citizens shall have freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. The Atlantican Government may never practice capital punishment, torture (including 'enhanced interrogation') both mental and physical, solitary confinement, and any prison sentence banning parole.
§3 As citizens of the Jarldom, all Atlantican citizens shall have the right to recognition to personhood as a person.

Rights of Expression and Broadcasting

§1 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to all and unconditional freedom of speech, expression and opinion. No law may ban Defamation or any similar idea thereof, except if the medium for the Defamation is via the press. This right shall be understood to mean both political and cultural speech.
§2 All Atlantican newspapers and other forms of media, whether the means of communication is via the press, electronic publication or broadcasting shall have unconditional freedom of the press in the instances of political speech or similar reporting thereof, including whistleblowing, which shall be protected as the lifeblood of a free press and a free nation. Cultural speech, however, may be regulated in the interest of a quality press.
§3 The state shall not censor or regulate any true information as part of the media, except if such information is related to gossip and rumours.
§4 A medium for expression of the media or a media agency may not be forcibly shut down or censored by the Government for publishing any truthful information
§5 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to believe in and practice any religion they choose, worship any deities they choose, or not to worship or believe in any religion.
§6 All Atlantican citizens shall have freedom to peacefully assemble and protest. The Government or private institutions may not, under any condition, abridge this right, whether by regulating the time, place, manner or content of assembly and protest.

Rights of Equality

§1 Equality, as outlined in Clause I in Section 1 ("Fundamental Rights"), shall be understood to mean equality before the law, segregation, banning certain individuals to marry each other, the creation of second-class citizens, and discrimination. This clause shall apply to sex, race, creed, colour, sexuality, gender identity, ethnic or national origin.
§2 In keeping with this tradition of equality, no title of nobility shall be granted by the Jarldom, and no title shall be inherited by a citizen of the Jarldom, except the title of Jarl. No Atlantican citizen may accept any title of nobility without the consent of the Althing, and if that person does accept that title without the prior consent of the Althing, then that person shall be immediately cease to be a citizen of the Jarldom.
§3 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to equal pay for equal work.

Rights of Property

§1 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to ownership of personal and real property, with reasonable restrictions.
§2 The Atlantican Government may not seize real property with just and fair compensation, and solely for the public use, without any private benefits to private corporations whatsoever.
§3 No soldier, police officer or holder of a similar position shall be quartered in real property without the consent of the property's owner or any tenants in that property during a time of peace, or during a time of wartime without being prescribed as such by law.
§4 Nothing in this Constitution shall be implied to prohibit or limit nationalisation, taxation (bar that prohibited in the section "Powers Not Held by the Legislature"), regulation and land reform. There are no constitutionally-guaranteed rights to businesses.

Right to Privacy

§1 All Atlanticans shall have the right to privacy. No search shall occur of a person's property without the consent of the property owner or the written permission of the proper local Judge, and no wiretapping or electronic monitoring shall occur within the borders of the Jarldom unless in the case of prisoners or Defendants in Atlantican criminal trials.

Right to Vote

§1 All Atlantican citizens over the age of 16 shall have the right to vote in a secret ballot in elections for the Althing and in referendums, and must do so. No exceptions to this section may be made.

Judicial Rights

§1 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to a fair, public and speedy trail, the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, the right to an impartial jury, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to a fair public hearing, the remedy by competent tribunal, due process and habeas corpus.
§2 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to a public defender, to be known as the Municipal Defender, if they cannot afford one free of charge. Funding for and the amount of public defenders shall be the same as that for Municipal Prosecutors (and any lawyers under the authority of either a Municipal Defender or Municipal Prosecutor).
§3 Nothing in this Constitution shall be implied to support the so-called 'freedom of contract'. This so-called freedom, used by advocates of the widely-discredited theory of lassiez-faire (which shall not be the economic system used in Atlantica) to create a laissez-faire Kritarchy shall not be considered a right.

Right to Bodily Sovereignty

§1 All Atlanticans shall have the right to bodily sovereignty over themselves.
§2 As such, this right guarantees that all Atlanticans shall, if they choose, have an unrestricted right to an abortion up until labour, and the right to end their life via voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide.
§3 In keeping with this right, no victimless crime may be made a crime; the Government shall not ban the consumption of particular drugs, prostitution, provided that there is consent, all partners are of the appropriate age, and no forms of sexual slavery are involved, or gambling. Nothing in this Clause shall be read, however, to effectively legalise things such as tax evasion.
§4 Also in keeping this this right, no laws may criminalise homelessness or the realities of being able to survive under homelessness; no laws may ban begging, feeding the homeless, or sleeping on the streets.

Rights of Work and Right to Organise and Strike

§1 All Atlanticans shall have the right to be employed in a just and favourable condition, and to bear the fruits of their labour via organising into a trade union. No employer shall engage in "union-busting", prohibit an employee from joining a trade union, and, if a majority of employees and that employer's company vote to join a specific trade union in a secret-ballot election, shall recognise that trade union and shall bargain with that trade union.
§2 All Atlanticans shall have the right to strike unless they work in the essential services (policing, prisons, military, emergency telephone service, electricity, water, sewage, firefighting, hospitals). No employer may hire replacement workers during a strike.
§3 The Atlantican Government shall not, under any circumstance, prohibit 'closed shops' or 'union shops'.
§4 All Atlanticans under the age of 16 shall have the freedom from child labour, and as such may not work.
§5 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to rest and leisure. Mothers and fathers shall be granted at a bare minimum 3 months paid maternity and paternity leave (the minimum paid maternity and paternity leave may be expanded via statute, or an employer may choose to grant additional paid maternity and paternity leave), all Atlantican citizens shall have the rights to paid sick and vacation leave, and no Atlanticans shall be compelled to work over 40 hours or work over 40 hours without overtime pay. This maximum of 40 hours may be lowered via statute.

Right to Socialism

§1 In recognition of Atlantica's status as a socialist democracy, to achieve a harmonious brotherhood of all men and women, all Atlantican shall have the right to social ownership and democratic control of the means of production, including democratic management of economic life, and rights to free association of labour.

Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

§1 All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to an adequate standard of living and freedom from want. The following rights are guarantees of the basic needs to ensure a right to life and the right to an adequate standard of living, and the Atlantican Government and Althing shall take appropriate steps to enforce these rights:
- §1a All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to clean water. In order to ensure this right, a minimum set of litres for water (to be set via statute) may not be charged for by the government. Additionally, all water distribution shall be run by the government.
- §1b All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to adequate food. In order to ensure this right, the government shall provide allowances for food for the poor, the sick, the elderly and children in order to eliminate food insecurity, malnutrition and starvation within Atlantica.
- §1c All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to housing. The Atlantican Government shall take appropriate steps to realise this right by establishing public housing for the poor and shelters for those without a home until those without a home are able to get a home.
- §1d All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to health. In order to ensure this right, the Government shall provide healthcare and prescription medications free of charge, and all hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices and pharmacies shall be property of the Atlantican people as expressed via the state.
- §1f All Atlantican citizens shall have the right to social security, including but not necessarily limited to those over a certain age in order to provide old-age pensions, the sick and disabled, a system of workplace compensation and new or single parents.
§2 Atlantican businesses shall have freedom from unjust competition and monopolies. This clause shall not apply to state-owned monopolies on particular industries.

Right to Sustainable Development

§1 All Atlantican citizens shall collectively have the right to sustainable economic, social and cultural development, to fair use of natural resources without foreign exploitation, which shall be the common heritage of the Atlantican people, and public utilities, defined as the "essential services" listed above in Clause I in the "Rights of Work and Right to Organise and Strike" section, as well as all other telephone services, the railways and the roads. As such, all natural resources beneath the land and public utilities shall be held in the commons of the peoples of the Jarldom, expressed via the State. All public utilities and natural resources beneath the land, with the exception of Railways and Roads, which may be held by either Autonomous Cities or the national Atlantican Government, and Sewage and water, which shall be managed by the Autonomous Cities within their borders and the national Atlantican government outside of their borders, shall be held, managed and owned by the national Atlantican Government.

Rights of Families

§1 The family is the natural and traditional unit of society. The Atlantican Government shall take the appropriate action to ensure a harmonious family, by guaranteeing equality and harmony between all of the family and shall take appropriate steps to end all discrimination against women, children and the elderly.

Rights of the Child

§1 Every child (defined as those under 16, which shall be the age of majority) shall have the right to a name and identity.
§2 Every child shall have the right to be free from exploitation, whether physical or mental. No child may be employed as a child labourer anywhere within the borders of the Jarldom.
§3 All Atlantican children shall have the right to a free education up to and including tertiary education. Primary and secondary education shall be mandatory, but tertiary education shall not be mandatory.
§4 Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted that children are ever deprived of the other rights listed to all Atlanticans and all Atlantican citizens in this Constitution.

Rights of Squatters

§1 Neither the national Government nor an Autonomous City may ban squatting or evict squatters from a place that has been abandoned for at least one month and a place where the owner of that property has not legally agreed to start a housing contract in 1 month or sooner.
§2 Autonomous Cities may not establish regulations dealing with squatting.
§3 This shall not be implied to prohibit constitutional prohibitions of squatting; this article merely protects some forms of squatting.

Collective Rights

§1 All Atlantican peoples have the collective right to equality, in addition to the individual right to equality as enshrined in Clause I in the "Rights of Equality" section. No group may dominate another. The Government shall take the appropriate steps to ensure this collective right.
§2 All peoples, language and cultures within the Jarldom shall have the collective right to existence. Genocide, ethnic cleansing and other heinous crimes shall be illegal in the utmost way within the Jarldom. The Government shall also take appropriate steps to preserve endangered languages and cultures within the Jarldom.
§3 All Atlanticans shall have the right to intergenerational equity.

Right to participate in Cultural Life

§1 All Atlanticans shall have the unabridged right to participate and contribute to the cultural life and heritage of the Jarldom.

Rights of Other Species

§1 All other Apes, that is, our fellow Great Apes as well as Gibbons, and the species of Elephants and Dolphins are hereby recognised as, in recognition of numerous scientific studies and the thoughts of scientific experts on non-Human highly intelligent species, having sufficient mental capacity to warrant the granting of extended rights to them in relation to their less-knowledgeable companion species.

§2 As such, all other Apes, and Elephants and Dolphins shall not be killed unless in self-defence (to be enforced appropriately, similar to conceptions of third-degree murder/voluntary manslaughter of a human), shall not be experimented on, and shall only be held in captivity if their captive situation provides all necessary features of survival, and as closely mimics their natural habitats as is possible, with the inclusion of fellow members of their species.

§3 All other animal abuse laws shall still apply to these species. This Constitutional article not be held to degrade the status of any other species.

Right to a healthy Environment

§1 All Atlanticans shall have the right to a healthy environment; the right of Atlanticans to live in a healthy, ecologically-balanced environment, with guarantees of stainable development is recognised.

§2 Environmental conservation, and the protection of our nation's ecosystem and beautiful wilderness, the prevention of environmental damage to the beautiful wilderness of our fair land, and the recovery of damaged ecological and natural sites shall be undertook by the Government.

§3 The Government of the Jarldom shall promote, the use of environmentally clean technologies and nonpolluting, clean sources of energy; the Government shall also follow examples in the public sector, but not to the detriment of oil production within the Jarldom, within reason, in recognition of the interests of both sustainability and development, in the framework of sustainable development.

§4 All legally-designated national parks shall be forever wild, as a place where, in recognition or our nation's commitment to sustainable development, the wilderness is to be preserved and maintained.

Rights of Nature

§1 Nature, as the source of all life, including that of Humanity, shall have the right to respect for its existence; the Government shall provide for the protection and, if necessary, rebirth and regeneration, of its ecosystems.
- §1a The Jarldom shall, as such, incentivise private citizens, corporations, non-governmental charitable organisations, and labour unions, to protect, and if necessary, rebirth and regeneration of the Atlantican wilderness.
- §1b As such, all citizens of the Jarldom have the right to call for public authorities to enforce these rights. Other parts of the Constitution shall remain protected, as necessary.

§2 Nature shall be recognised as having rights to, if necessary, its regeneration, rebirth, and restoration. As such, this shall be an obligation of the Jarldom; the Jarldom shall establish mechanisms to achieve, if necessary restoration, rebirth and regeneration of Nature, and shall adopt measures to eliminate or mitigate harmful environmental consequences of development, in recognition of the Jarldom's dual commitments to both sustainability and development.

§3 The Government of the Jarldom shall apply ensure restrictions of activities that have the potential of leading to the extinction of species or the destruction of ecosystems and ecological systems, shall work to prevent extinction of species, and shall focus on methods to de-extinction, and the rebirth, restoration, and regeneration of ecosystems and ecological systems.

§4 In recognition of the Jarldom's dual commitments to both sustainability and development, natural wealth shall be fairly distributed, in the context of the Jarldom's status as a socialist democracy based on liberty, equality, and fraternity, among the various peoples of the Jarldom, and the various peoples of the Jarldom shall have the right to benefit from the environment, nature, and natural wealth.

Right of Revolution

§1 If the Atlantican Government violates this Constitution, specifically this Declaration of Inalienable Rights in an egregious way, and said violation is not ruled unconstitutional by the Courts, then the Atlantican peoples have the collective duty of Revolution in order to reestablish the Rights endowed to them by the Æsir and Vanir.

Other Rights

§1 Nothing in this Declaration of Inalienable Rights shall be implied to limit or deny other rights not listed in this Declaration.