Principle Articles of the Aarman Empire
The Principle Articles of the Aarman Empire is the supreme law of the Aarman Empire, only subordinate to the Crown. Comprising of seven articles, it sketches out the frame of government. Article II, Article III, and Article IV embody the doctrine of power sharing, whereby the monarch willingly shares power amongst other, three branches of government: the legislative, consisting of the unicameral Imperial Assembly (Article II); the executive, consisting of the Grand Governor and subordinate officers (Article III); and the judicial, consisting of the Prime Court and other imperial courts (Article IV). Article V and Article VI embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of provisional governments and the provinces in relationship to the federal government.
Principle Articles of the Aarman Empire
Preamble
(i) In order to promote peace, enforce justice, and establish security, I, the Emperor, do establish these Principle Articles for the Aarman Empire.
Article I
(i) The Emperor of the Aarman Empire serves as the Head of State and the Head of Government; they have complete and total control over the Empire - entrusted with all legislative, executive, judicial powers, here and not stated. The Emperor’s power can not be restricted in any way.
Article II
Section One
(i) Legislative powers are solely shared with an Imperial Assembly, which shall consist of a House of Delegates.
Section Two
(i)The House of Delegates shall be composed of Delegates from various districts appointed by the Citizens of the respective districts every three years, and the Lieutenant Governor to serve as the President of the Delegation.
(ii) Before the election of their vote into office, Delegates must have reached the age of nineteen years, and for seven years have been a citizen and inhabitant of the Empire, the Province of which their district is located, and district from which they’re chosen to represent.
(iii) Districts must encompass at most 300,000 Citizens while respecting the borders of the Province it inhabits. Citizens of a district are guaranteed a vote every three years to elect one Delegate to the House of Delegates. Delegates are guaranteed only one vote, except for the President of the Delegation, who is guaranteed no vote.
(iv) In the cases of vacancies, either by a Delegate’s death, resignation, or removal from office, the Governor of the Province that presides over the district has the power to appoint an Acting Delegate to office - continuing their predecessor's original term - until the next election for that office.
(v) In the case of the President of the Delegation's absence, the Delegation shall choose a Presiding Delegate of the House, and also establish other necessary offices to be a part of the Imperial Assembly, with the blessing of the Emperor.
(vi) The House of Delegates have the power of impeachment and impeach those stated in these articles.
Section Three
(i)The times, places, and manner of holding elections for Delegates shall be prescribed in each Province by the Provisional Assembly thereof, but the Delegation may at times, by law, make or alter such policies.
(ii) The Imperial Assembly must assemble once every year and stay assembled for fourteen days.
Section Four
(i) The Delegation and other offices of the Imperial Assembly shall be the judges of the elections, if required, returns and qualifications of its own Members; a majority of members of the Delegation and other offices shall constitute a quorum to do business in those offices, but a small number of Members may assemble from day to day to do business so described by their respective offices, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent Members in such manner and such penalties as each office may provide.
(ii) The Delegation may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish Delegates for disorderly behavior, and, with the agreement of two thirds of the Delegation, expel a Delegate from the Imperial Assembly.
(iii) The Delegation and other offices shall keep a journal of its proceedings and, for the Delegation, the Yays and Nays of each Delegate, on the thirty-first day of December each year, except such parts as may in judgment require secrecy.
Section Five
(i) Members of the Imperial Assembly shall receive compensation for their services to be ascertained by law and paid out of the treasury of the Empire. Delegates shall in all cases except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of the Assembly and in going to and returning from the same.
(ii) No Member of the Imperial Assembly during the time for which they were elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the Empire; and no Citizen holding any office under the Empire shall be a Member of the Imperial Assembly during their continuance in office.
Section Six
(i) Every bill which shall have passed through the House of Delegates, shall, before becoming law, be presented to the Emperor. If they approve they shall sign it, but if not they shall return it with his objections to the Delegation, who shall enter the objection in their journal. If any bill is not returned by the Emperor within fourteen days after it had been presented to them, the same bill shall become a law, as if they had signed it, unless the Delegation by their adjournment prevents its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
(ii) Every order, resolution, or vote to which the agreement of the Delegation may be necessary, shall be presented to the Emperor, who would have a renewed fourteen days to return such with approval, with disapproval, or not return such, which then it shall become a law.
Section Seven
(i) The Delegation shall have the right to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the Empire, but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the Empire;
(a) to borrow money on the credit of the Empire;
(b) to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several Provinces;
(c) to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the Empire;
(d) to coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
(e) to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the Empire;
(f) to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited time to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
(h) to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the oceans and offenses against the law of nations;
(h) to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
(i) to raise and support armies under the guidance of the Emperor, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for longer term than three years;
(j) to provide and maintain a navy;
(k) to make rules for the government and regulations of the land and naval forces;
(l) to provide for calling forth the Militia in guidance of the Emperor to execute the laws of the realm, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
(m) to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the Empire, reserving to the Provinces respectively, the appointment of the Officers and the authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by the Delegation;
(n) to exercise legislation and authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Provisional Assembly of a Province, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;
(o) to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other power vested by these articles in the government of the Empire, or in any office or Officer thereof; and
(p) to create a universal exam for all appointed Officials to qualify for civil service for the Empire.
Section Eight
(i) The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless in cases of rebellion or invasion the Public safety may require it.
(ii) No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be drafted or voted on.
(iii) No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
(iv) No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any province.
(v) No preference shall be given by any regulation or commerce or revenue to the ports of one Province over those of another, nor shall vessels bound to or from one Province be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
(vi) No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence or appropriations made by law, and a regular statement account of the receipts and expenditures of all Public money shall be published on the thirty-first day of December.
(vii) No title of nobility shall be granted by any organization or Citizen within the Empire except for the Emperor, and no Citizen holding any office of profit or trust under the Empire shall, without the consent of the Emperor, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any foreign government or its Citizens.
Section Nine
(i) No Province shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
(ii) No Province shall, without the consent of the Delegation, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection law, and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any Province on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the Empire; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Delegation.
(iii) No Province shall, without the consent of the Delegation, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another Province, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will no admit of delay.
Article III
Section One
(i) Executive powers are solely shared with a Grand Governor of the Aarman Empire. They shall hold the office for a term of five years together with a Lieutenant Governor, chosen for the same term, be appointed as follows:
(ii) The Grand Governor is appointed directly by the Emperor, where the Lieutenant Governor is appointed by the Grand Governor with the approval of the Delegation, if the nomination for Lieutenant Governor is disapproved by the Delegation, the Grand Governor may nominate another Citizen.
(iii) No Citizen except a natural born Citizen shall be eligible to the office of Grand Governor or Lieutenant Governor, neither shall any Citizen be eligible to those offices who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years and been fourteen years a inhabitant within the Empire.
(iv) In the case of the removal of the Grand Governor from office, or their death, their resignation, or their inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Lieutenant Governor; the Delegation may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability of the Lieutenant Governor, declaring what Officer shall then act as Lieutenant Governor, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a Lieutenant a Governor shall be appointed.
(v) The Grand Governor and Lieutenant Governor shall, at statet times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which they shall have been appointed, and they shall not receive within that period any other enolument from the Empire, or any of them.
(vi) Before they enter on the execution of the office of Grand Governor, they shall take the following oath of affirmation before the eyes of the Emperor and while enwrapped with the Imperial Flag of Aarman: “I, pledge, to thee, Emperor and, thee, Aarman, and will truly execute the office of Grand Governor to, with the best of my ability, preserve and defend such.”
(vii) Before they enter on the execution of the office of Lieutenant Governor, they shall take the following oath of affirmation before the eyes of the Emperor and while enwrapped with the Imperial Flag of Aarman: “I, pledge, to thee, Emperor and, thee, Aarman, and will truly execute the office of Lieutenant Governor to, with the best of my ability, preserve and defend such.”
Section Two
(i) The Grand Governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Emperor, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and all other officers of the Empire, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Delegation may by law vest appointment such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the heads of departments.
Section Three
(i) The Lieutenant Governor shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article IV
Section One
(i) The judicial powers are solely shared in one Prime Court and inferior courts as the Delegation, with the advice and consent of the Emperor, may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Prime Court and inferior courts, shall hold their office in good behavior, and shall, at states times, receive for their services, compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during their continuance in office.
Section Two
(i) The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under these Principle Articles, the laws of the Aarman Empire, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;
(a) to all cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;
(b) to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;
(c) to controversies to which the Aarman Empire shall be a party;
(d) to controversies between two or more Provinces;
(e) between a Province and Citizens of another Province;
(f) between Citizens of different Provinces, between Citizens of the same Province claiming land under grants of different Provinces, and between a Province, or the Citizens thereof, and foresign states, Citizens or Subjects.
(ii) In all cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a Province shall be a party, the Prime Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Prime Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Delegation, with the advice and consent of the Emperor, shall make.
(iii) The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be jury, and such trial shall be held in the Province where the said crimes shall have been committed, but when not committed within any Province, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Delegation, with the advice and consent of the Emperor, may by law have directed.
Section Three
(i) Treason against the Aarman Empire shall consist only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No Person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, the advice and consent of the Emperor, or on confession in open court.
(ii) The Delegation shall have the power, with the advice and consent of the Emperor, to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the Person attainted.
Article V
Section One
(i) Full faith and credit shall be given to each Province to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every Province, and the House of Delegations may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such arts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Section Two
(i) The Citizens of each Province shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of Citizens in the several Provinces.
(ii) A Person charged in any Province with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another Province, shall on demand of the executive authority of the Province from which they fled, be delivered up to be removed to the Province having jurisdiction of the crime.
(iii) No Person held to service or labor in one Province, under the laws thereof, escaping into another shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
Section Three
(i) New Provinces may be admitted into this Empire by the House of Delegates, with the advice and consent of the Emperor, but no new Province shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other Province, nor any Province be formed by the junction of two or more Provinces, or parts of a Province, without the consent of the Emperor and the advice of the Provisional Assembly of the Provinces concerned as well as of the advice of the Delegation.
(ii) The Delegation shall have power, with advice and consent of the Emperor, to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the Empire; and nothing in these articles shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the Empire, or of any particular Province.
Section Four
(i) The Emperor shall guarantee to every Province in this Empire a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and an application of the Provisional Assembly, or of the executive against domestic violence.
(ii) The Emperor has every right and every power to intervene.
Article VI
(i) These Principle Articles, and the laws of the Aarman Empire which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the Emperor and the Empire, shall be the supreme law of the realm, and all Judges in every Province shall be bound thereby, anything in these Principle Articles or laws of any Province to the contrary notwithstanding.
(ii) The Delegates before mentioned, the Members of the several Provisional Assemblies, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the Empire of Arman and of the several Provinces, shall be bound by oath of affirmation to support the Emperor and their Principle Articles of the Aarman Empire, but no religious tests shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the Aarman Empire.
Article VII
(i) The signing of these articles by the Emperor of the Aarman Empire shall be sufficient enough for the establishment of these Principle Articles of the Aarman Empire, then left to preside over the Aarman Empire and all its territories; and is subject to change by the Emperor themselves; and all powers and all rights no before stated shall always fall to the Emperor of the Aarman Empire.
Shane Imperator
Emperor, Aarman Empire