Constitution of Tumbra

The Constitution of Tumbra, or the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Tumbra is the supreme law of the Federal Republic of Tumbra. Consisting of a preamble, ten sections, 44 articles and 230 clauses, it deals primarily with the basis of the Federal Republic, the rights of those living in it, and the foundations of the government of the Federal Republic. Since it came into force in 1864, multiple amendments have occurred to keep the Constitution up to date with the State; today it is regarded as one of the most well-written Constitutions to exist.

History and Background

The first influence of the written Tumbran constitution came from within the White League, who themselves were influenced by James Edwards' revolutionary treatise on the founding of a new republic. Emboldened by this treatise, Gordon Hamilton - who would later serve as the first President of the Federal Republic - and other like minded military officers came together to form the White League, whose membership soon grew. Its authorship is largely attributed to most of the so-called Founders of the Republic, with the first Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court, Samuel Cohen being widely regarded as the main author and drafter of the Constitution, with evidence of early drafts being found amidst his personal belongings dating back as early as 1862.

Other acknowledged drafters include Gordon Hamilton, Ralph Davidson, Michael Turner, John Crowley (who particularly influenced the structure of the Federal Parliament), and Alexander Schmidt (who essentially wrote the entirety of Section II by himself).

The Constitution was promulgated on 7 January 1864, 2 days after the formation of the Provisional Government of the Federal Republic. Over the years, the Constitution has been amended to represent the changing needs of the growing nation, the most significant of which was the official transformation of the Federal Republic from a semi-presidential form of government to a fully parliamentary form of government, as well as restrictions on the powers of the President, which were passed in 1876.

Several parts of the Constitution allowed for acts of Parliament to further expand on what was put out in the Constitution. These acts, which are generally placed at the end of the Constitution, are part of a body known as Constitutional law, and are often taken as part of the Constitution. They are, however, regular Acts of Parliament which may be amended with a simple majority of votes in either house of Parliament, instead of constitutional amendments, which require two-thirds of the Parliament to alter.

Contents

The contents of the entire Constitution come down to slightly over ten thousand words, making it a relatively short Constitution; this has attracted praise and criticism in equal fashion - on one hand, allowing the Federal Government to govern with less rules, instead allowing it to enshrine constitutional conventions without them having to be written down; on the other hand, such conventions, if not properly documented, could very well be broken by a government not interested in following them. Clause 228, however, or the "Irrevocability Clause", enshrines certain clauses of the Constitution such that they may not be removed or amended to be rendered moot; in practice, should any such Constitutional amendment pass both Houses of Parliament, the President would immediately refer said amendment to the Federal Constitutional Court for judicial review.

Section I - The Federal Republic and its Structure

Section I, which covers Article I to V, set out the basics of the Federal Republic, including the three branches of government, the national symbols, the national capital, and the relationships between the states and the federal government, including the procedure to for new states to be admitted.

Article I - Establishment of the Federal Republic covers the basic structure of the Federal Republic, and sets out basic values that the three branches of government should follow.

• Clause 1, known as the "Establishment Clause", establishes the Federal Republic, and sets out its basic values;
• Clause 2, known as the "Government Clause", establishes the governance structure on the federal level, and establishes the three branches of government;
• Clause 3, known as the "Legitimacy Clause," sets out the legitimacy of the State (i.e. that it is derived from the people);
• Clause 4, known as the "Responsibility Clause", sets out the principles that should guide the three branches of government.

Article II - The Federal Capital establishes the federal capital to be in the Free City of Straton.

Article III - Symbols of the Federal Republic establishes the national symbols of the country; the motto (Liberty and Justice for All), the flag and seal. Due to the fact that there was no national anthem and no other national symbols when the Constitution was promulgated, (the national anthem, the Song of the Tumbrans, was only composed in 1875, and only became statute in 1890; the national animal, the golden eagle, was only enshrined in 1876 despite it being on the flag from the very start; the widely accepted national flower, the cornflower, has yet to been enshrined in statute; and the widely considered alternate motto of the country - "To Rise Above" - has not entered statute either), it only covers the flag, seal and motto.

Article IV - The Federal Republic and the International Community sets out the terms of which the Federal Republic may join international organisations, and dictates how the Federal Republic should conduct its international relations.

• Clause 17, known as the "Neutrality Clause", sets out that "Any act of the Federal Parliament be the aggressor in any declaration of war, or to disrupt the peaceful relations between nations, shall be illegal.", and further quantifies it by saying that all military shall "remain neutral in any and all international conflict, and otherwise only act in defence of the interests of the State and its allies." This has by far been the most hotly debated and controversial clause in the entirety of the Constitution, and several attempts have been made to either repeal this clause or change its language to make it more permissive of international intervention. However, in 1988, a Federal Constitutional Court ruling delineated that international peacekeeping action can be taken, as the interests of Tumbra were broad enough to support such ventures outside of the borders of Tumbra, as well as crisis reaction and prevention.

Article V - The States of the Federal Republic enshrines the concept of a federal state, sets out the terms under which new states may be admitted, sets out the procedure for which states may come into existence or be disestablished, and recognises the right of local government.

• Clause 22a, known as the "Parliamentary Clause", enshrined the system of parliamentarism in the states, a major change from the fully-presidential style of a Govenor and a state legislature that existed from 1864 to 1881, as a result of the Compromise of 1881.
• Clause 24, known as the "States' Rights Clause", gives the federated states the power to freely the powers granted to them by the Federal Government. However, powers not explicitly granted to the states are retained with the federal government - a key sticking point in the federalist cause of Tumbra, which has long campaigned for a partial repeal of this clause to get rid of the offending part. This clause has also garnered much controversy throughout of the State.
• Clause 26, known as the "Federal Rights Clause", sets out the topics that the Federal government has the exclusive right to legislate on.

Section II - Basic Rights of the Person

Section II has often been called the most important section of the Constitution. It deals primarily with the human rights of any person living in Tumbra, as well as property rights. Much of constitutional law, especially regarding those related to human rights, draws on this section, and multiple landmark legal cases have owed their legal basis to this section.

Article VI - Human Dignity, Equality and the Law has been called perhaps the single most important article outside of Article I, which establishes the legal basis of the State. It contains merely two clauses, but its wording enshrines the status of equality before the law, and the inviolability of human dignity.

• Clause 27, known as the "Equal Protection Clause", dictates that all shall be treated equally before the law. The sub-clauses within this clause also entitle all people to a speedy and fair trial before an independent judge, protects against self-incrimination, excessive punishments, ex post facto laws and double jeopardy. In a 1967 ruling in the case Hartley v Straton Police Department, the Federal Constitutional Court also ruled that clause 27d (which deals with the prohibition of ex post facto laws), also implicitly upholds the principle of nulla poena sine lege, or "no penalty without a law".
• Clause 28, known as the "Dignity Clause", states that human dignity is inviolable and inalienable, and that the State has the obligation to safeguard it. While widely used by activists as the clause that should abolish capital punishment - which is not explicitly forbidden by the Constitution, and was last passed down as a sentence in early 2021 for serial murderer Jacob Locke - support for capital punishment remains high, and it is used sparingly by judges - before the Locke case, the last death sentence handed down was in 1995.

Article VII - The Freedoms of the Person establishes the basic rights of every person within the boundaries of the Federal Republic.

• Clause 29 enshrines the right to personal development.
• Clause 30 enshrines the right to life, personal liberty and integrity, "except in accordance to any law."
• Clause 31 enshrines the right to freedom of speech, and the freedom to be informed by any sources that they wish to be informed by. Multiple sub-clauses here enshrine the right to freedom of information (within limits; the Official Secrets Act, passed in 1939, is implicitly allowed here - indeed, this text was not added until 1937, in preparation for the passing of said law), a freedom to petition, freedom of the presses, arts and sciences, to research and inform, and to vote and participate in elections as a candidate (so long as the prospective candidate or voter has reached the age of 18).
• Clause 32 enshrines the right to freedom of (and from) religion, and allows the establishment of religious schools, and the right to convert between different faiths without fear of reprisal.
• Clause 33 enshrines the right to peaceful, unarmed assembly, but gives the Federal Parliament the right to restrict said assemblies if they would contravene other parts of this Constitution.
• Clause 34 enshrines the right to free association, and the freedom to found and join political parties, if said associations do not directly contravene the principles of the Federal Republic. The right to form and join unions is also enshrined here.
• Clause 35 enshrines the right to freedom of movement, save for restrictions for the sake of public safety and well-being.
• Clause 36 abolishes and bans slavery, and sets free any slave that enters the territory of the Federal Republic.
• Clause 37 enshrines the right to asylum.
• Clause 38 enshrines the right to marriage, civil unions and to start a family, provided both parties are of age and consent. Prior to 2007 one of the sub-clauses here restricted these privileges to between a man and a woman, but was repealed during the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Tumbra.
• Clause 39 enshrines the right to privacy, subject to any national security law.
• Clause 40 enshrines the right to free education in Tumbra throughout the primary and secondary stages.
• Clause 41 enshrines the right to citizenship, provided they fulfill the requirements to become a citizen. More on citizenship can be found later in the Constitution. This clause also allows the right of people to renounce their citizenship and hold dual citizenship, but with the perhaps unique caveat that the citizen has "personal responsibility" regarding their citizenships in any dispute regarding them. This has led to criticism of this clause for not adequately protecting Tumbran citizens, and has even been slated as a means of the Tumbran government to discourage the picking up of multiple citizenships. This has been denied by the Tumbran government.

Article VIII - The Freedoms of the Person with respect to Property establishes the property rights of people in the Federal Republic.

• Clause 42 enshrines the freedom to own property, to inherit said property and to utilise their own property.
• Clause 43 enshrines the inviolability of the home, and protects against unreasonable searches and seizures; and also prevents search warrants from being issued without probable cause of an offence; such warrants must also describe the place to be searched, or items to be seized.
• Clauses 44 and 45 enshrines the government's right to eminent domain for itself or for public ownership; however, it also enshrines the right to compensation should anyone's property be expropriated in this way.

Article IX - Other Provisions relating to Basic Rights, etc. is also a particularly controversial subject; detractors say that the content of this article directly contravenes the Dignity Clause, but supporters have long called it a natural consequence of failing to respect the sovereignty of the State.

• Clause 46 enshrines the right of the State to strip any of the basic rights enumerated above from any person "caught abusing, flouting or contravening in order to undermine the principles of the State, as laid out in Clause 1, or to undermine the sovereignty of the State itself, or any other probable and reasonable cause as brought against the said person." However, only the Federal Constitutional Court may determine whether anyone's rights may be stripped in this manner, and what rights may be stripped from said person.
• Clause 47 allows judicial recourse for anyone who believes that their rights have been curtailed by any act of the Federal Parliament, with exceptions for any leeway that already has been input in the Constitution.

Section III - The Legislative Branch

Section III covers the basic structure of the Federal Parliament, and basic legislative procedures that the Federal Parliament has to adhere to.

Article X - The Federal Parliament establishes the Federal Parliament and its structure.

• Clause 48 establishes the Federal Parliament as the legislative branch of the federal government.
• Clause 49 establishes the two houses of Parliament, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
• Clause 50 gives the Parliament the sole power to legislate on topics within its purview.
• Clause 51 gives the Parliament the sole power to declare war so long as it does not contravene the Neutrality Clause.
• Clause 52 establishes that the Federal Parliament shall sit at least once every year.
• Clause 53 establishes that sittings of the Federal Parliament may be public, unless three-fifths of members vote to expel visitors;
• Clause 54 establishes Hansard, the system of parliamentary transcripts;
• Clause 55 establishes the principle that no individual shall be at the same time part of both Houses, or a member of any state legislature and in either house of the Federal Parliament.

Article XI - Legislative Procedures describes basic legislative procedures, including quorum (currently set at one-third of all members elected at the previous election), how motions and bills would be passed, the enacting formula for all legislation, sets out the principle that both houses must pass a bill in its exact form for it to be sent to the President, and gives both houses of Parliament the privilege to establish their own standing orders.

Section IV - The House of Representatives

Section IV establishes the lower house of the Federal Parliament - the House of Representatives - and sets out its functions, roles and certain privileges.

Article XII - The House of Representatives, Elections and Members, as its name suggests, deals with the members of the House, as well as the method of election for the MPs.

• Clause 62 sets the minimum amount of representatives at 150, enshrines the principle that every state should have at least one representative, sets out that each seat should have a similar number of voters, and allows for the formation of an Elections Commission (which was eventually established in the 1920s).
• Clause 63 sets the requirements to serve in the House of Representatives.
• Clauses 64 and 65 set out the term limit for the House and the length of the election campaign for the House, respectively.
• Clause 66 sets out the maximum amount of time after the election that the House must be summoned by the President.
• Clause 67 establishes that Members of Parliament should be recompensed for their work, and that no law varying said compensation can be allowed until after a general election.
• Clauses 68 and 69 establish the procedure for replacing any MP who has resigned, died or "otherwise" - the Standing Orders of the Federal Parliament dictate that "otherwise" includes a failure to attend at least one sitting of two consecutive Parliamentary sessions, at which point the MP's seat will be declared vacant and a by-election will be called.
• Clause 70 states the text of the Oath of Office that all MPs must take at the start of a new Parliament.

Article XIII - The Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the House sets out the role of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the House, and establishes that the House must follow established rules of procedure. It also enshrines the Speaker's tie-breaking capacity in law, though does not dictate how they should vote. As of 2021, there is one Speaker of the House and three deputy Speakers. All four are drawn from the two largest parties in Parliament.

Article XIV - Parliamentary Committees establishes the right of the House to form parliamentary committees for any reason it deems fit, sets limits on the number of MPs that can serve on any committee, and establishes that committees must mirror the structure of the House, i.e. if 60% of the members of the House are from a particular party, then 60% of the members on a particular committee must also be from that political party. Article XIV does not set out the different types of committees (that is left to the Standing Orders), but it enshrines that the Committees are able to summon any person to testify before it.

Article XV - Legislative Responsibilities of the House sets out the boundaries of House legislation.

• Clause 83 sets out that only the House may raise money bills. In practice, this means that the Budget always comes from the House.
• Clause 85 establishes the right of the House to ratify treaties.
• Clauses 86 and 87 establish that any bill from the House must be sent to the Senate to be debated, and vice versa.
• Clause 88 establishes the House with the primary responsibility of responding to any petition coming from the citizenry as enshrined by clause 31 of the Constitution.

Article XVI - Legal Responsibilities sets out the legal rights of members of the House.

• Clauses 89 and 91 privileges any vote cast or statement made in the House, or its committees.
• Clause 90 enshrines the concept of legal immunity for MPs, unless they were caught in flagrante delicto. In recent years a movement for reform of this Constitution has sprung up to reform this clause, giving the Speaker the power to lift the immunity for certain MPs to open them to investigation.
• Clause 92 withdraws the protection rendered in Clauses 89 and 91 to any "blatantly defamatory or seditious remarks".

External links

"Full text of the Constitution of Tumbra".