Constitution of The Monarchy of Logos Section 1.

[xnsSubscriber]

Critique and Loophole abuse please?

Preliminary: Interpretation.

“Right” means a provision in Section 1 this Constitution.

“Individual” means any person who is a citizen, permanent resident or visitor who is within the borders of Logos. The term extends to legal entities owned by individuals.

“Parliament” means all elected ministers

“The Environment” means the geographic features, trees and animals, air and water within the borders of logos.

“Adult” means an individual above the age of 18.

“Law” means the law of Logos

“Contract” means an agreement between two or more parties.

“Warrant” means a writ issued by a member of the judiciary with probable cause that allows a law enforcement member to make an arrest, search, seize or otherwise take action relating to the administration of the law.

“His or Her” means any male, female or individuals of unspecified gender.

Section 1: Rights of an Individual.

1a. Pursuit of Happiness

Individuals have the right to the pursuit of happiness, so long as it does not directly deprive others of their rights.

Should the actions of an individual be found by a member of the judiciary to directly deprive another of their rights, the right to the pursuit of happiness may be withheld until a sentence is issued and carried out.

1b. Freedom of Expression

An individual has the right to freely express any thoughts or feelings in whatever form in any space that is not private or government property.

No form of expression should endanger the safety and lives of others who do not consent to said endangerment.

1c. Freedom of Choice

Individuals have the right to freely enter into any legally binding contracts they choose.

Individuals may take or ignore, action that will lead to or prevent bodily harm or death to themselves.

1d. Prohibition of Slavery and Forced Labour

No individual may be forced to do labour.

No individual may owned as a slave.

1e. Protection against retrospective laws and repeated trials

No individual may be convicted or tried for an act that was not a crime at the time of commission. Nor will any sentence be modified upon a change to the law that resulted in conviction.

An Individual who has been convicted or acquitted of an offence shall not be tried again for the same offence except where the conviction or acquittal has been quashed.

1f. Ratification upon adulthood

An Individual may ratify any and all contracts signed on his or her behalf by a parent or guardian upon attaining the age of 18 years.

1g. Equality Under the Law

All Individuals are equal under the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.

1h. Protection from Search and Seizure

The property of an individual may neither be searched nor seized without a warrant issued by a member of the judiciary.

1i. Protection from unlawful detention

Where a person is arrested and not released, he shall, without unreasonable delay, and in any case within 48 hours (excluding the time of any necessary journey), be produced before a member of the judiciary where unless required to stand trial, the individual is to be released.

1j. Property

An Individual’s property cannot be seized or exchanged for another item or currency without the his or her consent. Unless the possession of that property is illegal.

1k. Regulation

Individuals and legal entities owned by them are exempt from regulation unless their activities directly affect others who do not consent to their effects.

1l. Waiver

All individuals have the right to waive their rights via legal contracts.

[Carl-PålssonSubscriber]

I can’t find anything overtly crazy about this.

But, since a lot of these rules are available in existing documents, like the US Constitution and probably many others, it might be worthwhile to copy them literally (individual clauses, not the whole document) instead of using a new phrasing. Reinventing the wheel again… .

At least the paragraphs that have proven easy to interpret historically should be safe to copy. I think I’d try to improve on the second amendment for instance, to make it a bit more foolproof (if I were to include such a law/right), just as an example.

What is the bottom line? Non-aggression?

Just my $.02. IANAL and all that…

[xnsSubscriber]

Bottom line here being; “Live your life your way, we’re not going to tell you how to do it.”

I’ve lifted partially from the American constitution, but also from the Singaporean and proposed European constitution.

Seems I also made a spelling mistake in the slavery line.

Quick question though; If a mother forces her child to clean his room, can that child invoke his protection from forced labour right?

King Shannon of the Constitutional Monarchy of Logos.

[thebastidgeSubscriber]

I’ve had it in mind to write my own ideal Constitution fnd/or Bill of Rights for some time, purely as an exercise in examining and developing my own polticial beliefs and in stating them formally, refining my ability to explain and convince people.

With that in mind…

What’s your definition of “forced to do labour”?

Is it being nagged?

Being whipped?

Being tied to a wheel that forced them to move with it?

Or is it simply being denied access to resources (Food, shelter, clothing, medical attention, affection, respect) without performing labour?

The problem is both in being too general and in being too specific. Your constitution needs to embody principles, not cases. As such, it will always be subject to interpretation. Your job in writing a new constitution is to first of all:

1. Be possible

2. Be Useful

3. Be Consistent

4. Be clear

5. Provide a process for amendment where necessary (but not necessarily easily)

Suggestions:

1. Avoid compound sentences where possible. Especially, avoid dependent clauses where they are not needed.

2. Without getting too pedantic, provide a purpose statement. This is one major flaw in the US Constitution, that is only partly served by the Declaration of Independence (because the Declaration is not binding law).

3. Try to phrase your rules so you don’t need to append an exclusion or exception. It weakens your statement.

4. Start with the general principle and illustrate by becoming more granular. Don’t go the other way around.

[xnsSubscriber]

Many thanks Bastidge, looks like the whole thing needs to get cleaned up quite abit… All the other 4 sections too :p

King Shannon of the Constitutional Monarchy of Logos.

[thebastidgeSubscriber]

How about, rather than “no one shall be forced to do labour”, “no one shall be forced to labour without compensation” or “persons shall not be deprived of the fruits of their own labour”.

No point in forcing someone to work if you can’t benefit from it. But then, a general blanket prohibition on slavery should do the same.

[xnsSubscriber]

I’d actually considered removing that right completely since 1) It’s too much of a grey area and 2) All the other rights make slavery effectively impossible.

King Shannon of the Constitutional Monarchy of Logos.

[thebastidgeSubscriber]

I dunno about “impossible”. Remember, you will not ever get it perfect. You’re just trying to create a starting point and influence development in a freedom-oriented direction.

Some things, the more you try to nail them down, the slippier they get. It’s like bananas- technically they’re solid, but they squish under pressure.

Your principles are more important than your clauses. Just make sure you are as concise and consistent as possible. One princple needs to lead to another, and reinforce each other.

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