The Constitution of Cospania

All citizens of this nation have a right to practice their religion (or lack thereof) in peace, have a right to communicate and publish (be it in speech, written, or any form thereof) freely, and have a right to live, beginning at conception. Furthermore, it is the right of the people to assemble freely and protest peacefully.

Liberty of Contract is the inherent right of all men, and is legally protected by this document. It is the right of all citizens to own property, establish businesses, and engage in private contracts. No business, individual, or any other organization shall be compelled by the state to provide service(s) or transaction(s) to another for any reason other than private contract enforcement.

With the liberty of the populace being paramount to the existence of a free state, it is the right of each citizen to own and bear firearms. This right may not be abridged, violated, nor infringed upon by any level of government within the nation. Furthermore, it is the duty of each citizen to protect the liberties enshrined in this document.

The state may not take action to dismantle, prohibit, or impede the workings of the free and open marketplace. Any antitrust laws are hereby prohibited by this document.

There shall be a Federal Council of 7 executives, with the duty to veto or approve legislation, and a unicameral legislature named the Chamber of the Estates. The legislature shall have the power to go to war, propose amendments to this founding document, raise an army, and make law.

There shall be a national armed force (or private equivalent) tasked with the protection of this nation, funded by the government of this nation. In addition, there shall be a national armed force (or private equivalent) tasked with the enforcement of the laws passed by this nation.

The regions shall not have their own regional government, instead, devolved government shall fall to localities, smaller subdivisions of the region. The localities will have autonomy over matters of cultural issues (language, festivals/ceremonies), welfare, and census related matters. The governments of these localities are made up of one executive and a 13 legislator council. Localities are required to maintain a census every five years. If localities can prove 35% of the their population primarily speaks a foreign language, the locality will be designated as bilingual, if 75% of the locality primarily speaks a foreign language, the language of the locality will change altogether.

The national territory shall be divided into regions and those regions broken down into localities. Every region has 2 representatives, and every locality has 1 representative in The Chamber of the Estates. The 2 Regional representatives are elected in different manners, one by popular vote of the region, and one by majority of the localities within the region. Secretaries of federal departments are voted on by the Directory. Any member of the Directory can nominate a department secretary, but they must be confirmed by the majority of members of the Directory.

Each region shall be subservient to the laws passed by the national legislature, and all levels of government shall be subservient to this founding document. In addition, no government official shall be allowed to accept bribes by any individual or organization.

The state may not compel any individual, business, or other form of organization to engage in a private contract with another. Furthermore, the state may not prohibit nor negate any private contracts truly consented to between two or more of the previously listed entities.

The government may not establish a lender of last resort, nor shall it set any limits on interest rates. All banking institutions are also permitted to establish their own tender. Conversely, the government shall only accept payments in currency with an intrinsic value.

The government shall not pass a budget which would result in more spending than income coming into the government.

There shall be a system of courts established within the nation, with the highest court being the final deciding opinion on all matters of constitutional interpretation and all cases which reach said court. All laws deemed unconstitutional by the highest court would be deemed null and void. All cases where the federal government is a defendant automatically go to the highest court. All judges on the highest court may be nominated by any member of the directory, must confirmed by a vote in the directory, and then confirmed by a vote of the Chamber of the Estates.

All citizens have the right to a quick and fair trial. All citizens should be treated as innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. In addition, private property of individual citizens, businesses, or organizations cannot be confiscated by the government without prior consent and compensation.

A veto can be overturned in the legislature by a 5/8ths majority vote. The nation shall be divided into various regions for better governance. In addition, if 5/8ths of regions decide upon it (via referendum) a constitutional convention can be held, where the constitution can be amended. In addition, at any point, a referendum to hold snap elections can be held in a region, and if passed, that region will be allowed to hold a new set of elections for their representatives in the legislature.

Members of the directory will be elected separately from the legislators. Directory members will serve terms of 3 years, and legislators will have terms of 3 years. Special elections will be held for any vacant directory or legislatorial seat. Directors shall serve no more than 2 terms, and legislators shall serve no more than 4 terms.

Both federal and local income taxation is constitutionally prohibited. In addition, property taxation is constitutionally prohibited. No tax may be introduced which effectively serves as one of the aforementioned taxes. In addition, there shall not be an established federal sales tax, however, localities may establish a sales tax of no higher than 6%. Should a locality decide to establish a sales tax, there first must be deliberation within the official governing body over the tax, and the tax must have a legally stated, just, reason for its existence. Should these prior requirements not be met, the tax shall be declared null and void. Furthermore, the state may not tax estates after death.

In order to amend this founding document, 5/8 of the Chamber of the Estates must call for a referendum of the populace on a change to this document. If a 5/8 majority of the localities approve the suggested change by the Chamber, then the proposed change will be sent to the judiciary, in which the majority of the 9 justices must approve this change as in line with the spirit of the constitution, and if all those requirements are met, this change will be entered into this document.

Starting at conception, all citizens have the right to live, possess property, and pursue prosperity. Unjustly taking the life of another, or violating these rights of another causes oneself to forfeit these aforementioned rights granted to them.

The Directory shall be elected using a points based electoral system. The counties shall be assigned point values, and the candidate who receives the highest amount of electoral points, via a vote of the populace in each county, shall be declared members of the Directory. The elections for the Directory shall occur at staggering dates, so as to prevent the whole of its members from being elected in the same year.

The voting method for all elections which shall be used will be a Combined Approval Voting system.

All of the previous articles cannot be amended nor can they be nullified. No subsequent amendments to this document may nullify nor amend the previous articles, nor this amendment itself. Likewise, this amendment cannot be nullified, nor can it be amended in any form.