Constitution of Sanctaria

Constitution of Sanctaria
Jurisdiction	Divine Federation of Sanctaria
Adopted	1974
Date effective	19 November 1974
Last amended	2018 (federalisation), in force 1 January 2019
System	Federal parliamentary republic
Chambers	Bicameral: House of Deputies and Senate
Head of state	President, directly elected for ten years
Executive	Government, led by the Chancellor
Judiciary	Supreme Court (nine justices), federal courts of appeal and district courts, and state courts
Federal units	Nine states, three of them city-states

The Constitution of Sanctaria, formally the Constitution of the Divine Federation of Sanctaria, is the supreme law of Sanctaria. It was adopted in 1974 to take effect on the death of the Patriarch, ending the Papal States of Sanctaria and establishing the Divine Republic of Sanctaria, and was substantially amended in 2018 to create the present federation.

The Constitution establishes a federal parliamentary republic. It provides for a directly elected, largely ceremonial President, a bicameral Parliament, a Government led by a Chancellor chosen by the House of Deputies, nine states, and an independent judiciary headed by the Supreme Court, which has the power of judicial review. Since 1 January 2019 power has been divided between the federal level and the states. Amendments must be passed by both chambers of Parliament and approved by the people in a referendum.

History

Adoption (1974)

The Constitution was drafted in the final years of the Papal States. In 1973 Patriarch Aequitas IV announced that the empire would be broken up on his death, a decision codified in the Aequitaen Treaty of 1974. He ordered new constitutions to be created for each of the remaining states, and Sanctaria's was passed earlier in 1974 with the provision that it would come into effect on the Patriarch's death. The first elections were held in September so that governments and institutions could carry on seamlessly. Aequitas IV died on 19 November 1974, and the Divine Republic of Sanctaria came into being under the new text, with those elected in September taking office the same day.

As originally adopted, the Constitution created a unitary, bicameral parliamentary republic. Executive power lay with a strong head of government, then styled Prime Minister, while the President became a weakened head of state. The office of President was established by the same text. The House of Deputies, formed in 1974, was initially much stronger than the Senate; reforms over the following forty years strengthened the upper house until the two chambers were broadly equal in power.

Federalisation (2018–2019)

The Constitution was substantially amended in 2018. The Sanctarian Federalisation Act 2018, nicknamed the "Great Devolution Bill", amended a large number of existing sections of the 1974 text rather than replacing it. It passed both the House of Deputies and the Senate on 3 October 2018, was approved in a national referendum on 10 November 2018 with 61% of voters in favour, and was signed by President Marian Woodstrom on 17 November. Sanctaria became a federation on 1 January 2019.

The amendments created the nine states, set out the composition of state parliaments, their titles and the limits of their powers, and renamed the office of Prime Minister as Chancellor, with no change to its duties or powers. They also led to a reduction in the size of Parliament: the House of Deputies from 799 seats to 460 (in effect since 2022) and the Senate from 100 seats to 40 (in 2020).

Federal institutions

Parliament

The Constitution defines Parliament as comprising the President, the Senate and the House of Deputies. A bill becomes law when approved by both houses and signed by the President. A money bill may not be initiated in the Senate.

The House of Deputies is the lower house and has 460 members, elected for five-year terms (reduced from seven in 2012).

The Senate has 40 senators: four from each of the nine states and four elected by Sanctarian citizens living abroad, serving seven-year terms. It confirms the Government's nominees for the cabinet, the judiciary and other senior state posts.

If the Chancellor seeks a dissolution when less than two and a half years remain of the Senate's term, he or she may also dissolve the Senate; the Senate may also dissolve itself by majority vote.

Each house has privileges rooted in the Constitution. Nothing said in debate in either house may be questioned in any court or other body outside Parliament, and members are free from arrest, except on serious criminal charges, during a session and for 40 days before and after it. Each house may punish breaches of its privilege, and contempt of Parliament.

Elections

Members of both houses are directly elected, and vacancies are filled by by-election. Deputies are elected by resident citizens aged 18 and over, by first-past-the-post, from single-member electoral divisions known as cantons, which are apportioned to the states by population using census results. Senators are elected at large by the single transferable vote: each state elects four, and Sanctarian citizens living abroad elect four. The Senate has been open to direct election under universal suffrage only since 2013. An election to the House must be held at least once every five years, and to the Senate at least once every seven, although either may be dissolved earlier. Voting was compulsory until 2015.

To stand for election, a candidate must be at least 21, must have been a citizen for five years, and must live in the district they seek to represent; senators elected by citizens abroad may live anywhere in Sanctaria. The President is elected separately, as described below.

President

Main article: President of Sanctaria

The President is the head of state, the ceremonial Supreme Commander of the Sanctarian Defence Forces, and formally one of the three parts of Parliament. The office is largely ceremonial: executive authority is expressly vested in the Government, and most of the President's functions are exercised on its binding advice. The President formally appoints the Chancellor and the rest of the cabinet, but must appoint whoever the House of Deputies nominates as Chancellor, and whoever the Chancellor nominates, with the Senate's approval, as ministers. The President also appoints federal judges on the Government's advice, convenes and dissolves Parliament on the Chancellor's advice, represents the state in foreign affairs, may grant pardons for federal crimes, and signs bills into law. The President has no veto, but may refer a bill, other than a money bill or a bill to amend the Constitution, to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. A small number of powers are exercised at the President's discretion: refusing a dissolution to a Chancellor who has lost the confidence of the House, and withholding assent from a bill of great national importance, other than a constitutional amendment, pending a referendum, if petitioned by a majority of senators and a third of Deputies.

The President is directly elected by secret ballot using the Alternative Vote, for a term of ten years that may be extended to twelve in a national emergency, and may serve at most two terms. Candidates must be citizens over 35, nominated by at least 40 members of Parliament, three state parliaments or 1,500,000 citizens. There is no Vice President: when the office is vacant, a Presidential Commission of the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of Deputies and the Moderator of the Senate carries out its functions, and a successor must be elected within sixty days. The President can be removed if the Supreme Court, sitting with at least five judges, finds the President permanently incapacitated, or by impeachment, a process involving both houses that requires two-thirds majorities.

Chancellor and Government

The Constitution vests executive power expressly in the Government, made up of the Chancellor and the secretaries of state, rather than in the head of state. The office of Prime Minister was established by the 1974 text and renamed Chancellor on federalisation on 1 January 2019, with no change to its duties or powers.

The Chancellor is nominated from among its members by a simple majority of the House of Deputies and formally appointed by the President, who must appoint whoever the House designates. After a general election the House elects or re-elects the Chancellor, and a vacancy during a term is filled in the same way. Where no party holds a majority, a coalition may be formed; if none can be formed before a date set by the outgoing government, another election must be held. The Chancellor has no fixed term and no term limit, and holds office while commanding the confidence of the House. The Chancellor nominates the rest of the cabinet, who are appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and the President has no right to decline; the Chancellor may also advise the President to dismiss ministers.

A Chancellor who loses the support of a majority of the House, through a vote of no confidence, the failure of a vote of confidence, or the House refusing supply, is not automatically removed, but must either resign or persuade the President to dissolve the House. The President may refuse a dissolution, forcing the Chancellor to resign. A resigning Chancellor continues to exercise the office until a successor is appointed.

Federalism

The states

The Constitution divides Sanctaria into nine states, three of which are city-states: Sanctus, Corpus and Haven. Each state has its own constitution, legislature, executive and judiciary. Each state, including the city-states, is represented in the Senate by four senators.

Each state's legislature has a single chamber: the State Assembly in the six states that are not city-states, and the city council in each of the three city-states. In the six states the head of government is the Premier and the head of state is the Governor. The city-states are governed by a Governing Mayor, an office that combines head of state and head of government.

Division of powers

The federal Parliament has the power to legislate on any subject. The states may legislate only within the subject areas set out in the Constitution or those that Parliament chooses to devolve to them, and Parliament often refrains from interfering in those areas. In practice a great deal has been devolved. Responsibility for education, healthcare, transport and other public services lies largely with the states, which also legislate on criminal law, state policing and local government. Defence, foreign affairs, some tax and financial measures, and matters that require federal involvement, such as national curricula and national minimum wage laws, remain federal. Where state and federal law conflict, federal law prevails to the extent of the inconsistency, and the Supreme Court arbitrates.

Judiciary

Main article: Judiciary of Sanctaria

Federal courts

The federal courts have three tiers: trial courts, which hear federal crimes, disputes between residents of different states and questions of federal law; three regional courts of appeal, each covering three states; and the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was established under the Constitution in 1974 and has nine justices: the Chief Justice and eight associate justices. Justices are nominated by the Government, confirmed by the Senate and appointed by the President. They serve for life, under legislation passed in 1979.

The court has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over federal and state cases that involve a point of federal law. It also has original jurisdiction, which it cannot decline, over disputes between states or between the federal government and a state, and over bills referred to it by the President to test their constitutionality. It holds the power of judicial review, and can strike down federal and state law that is inconsistent with the Constitution.

State courts

The Constitution permits each state to establish its own system of common law courts, which apply state law, state precedent and the state constitution. Every state must have at least one court of first instance and one court of final resort, but states may otherwise change their court structures by law, in accordance with their own constitutions. Where federal law is involved, decisions of a state court of last resort may be appealed to a federal court of appeal or to the Supreme Court.

Rights and freedoms

Since 1974 the Constitution has protected Sanctarian citizens from extradition to states that use the death penalty. In 2019 the Supreme Court held that this protection, like the Constitution's rights generally, applies to everyone within the country's borders unless the text says otherwise; political rights such as the franchise are reserved to citizens.

Religion

The Church of Sanctaria is the established church, but it retains no political or temporal power. The Constitution also provides for religious freedom.

Neutrality and defence

The Constitution contains a neutrality clause. It describes the role of the Sanctarian Defence Forces as defensive only. A ruling in 2007 read "defence" to include guarding the security of Sanctaria, more broadly anywhere in the International Democratic Union, as well as crisis reaction and conflict prevention.

Amendment

A bill to amend the Constitution must be approved by both houses of Parliament and then by the people in a referendum before it is presented to the President for signature. Such bills are excluded from the President's powers to refer a bill to the Supreme Court and to withhold assent pending a referendum.

Amendments include:

• 2012 – the standard parliamentary term was reduced from seven years to five.
• 2018 – the federalisation amendments, in force on 1 January 2019, created the nine states and renamed the Prime Minister the Chancellor.

See also

• President of Sanctaria
• Government of Sanctaria
• Federal Parliament of Sanctaria
• Judiciary of Sanctaria
• Supreme Court of Sanctaria
• States of Sanctaria
• Sanctarian federalisation referendum, 2018
• Papal States of Sanctaria