The Constitution of the United Empire of Romania

Section 1: Sovereignty and Structure

The United Empire of Romania shall consist of autonomous republics, united in perpetual allegiance to this Constitution. Once admitted, no republic may withdraw from the Empire. Each republic shall govern itself through direct democracy, free from nationwide laws or centralized mandates.

Section 2: Philosophy of Government

This Empire recognizes that all persons are created equal by the Creator, possessing inherent rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Government exists solely to protect these rights, not to grant them. The greatest minority is the individual, and no majority may infringe upon individual liberty through democratic tyranny.

Section 3: Natural Law

The Creator initiated the universe and established natural laws that govern its operation. Human society must organize itself according to reason and these natural laws, respecting the autonomy of individuals and the natural world.

Section 1: Freedom of Expression

Every person shall possess unlimited freedom of speech, press, and assembly. No law shall recognize "hate speech" or regulate conversation between individuals. All written censorship is forbidden, even of suspected falsehoods. Publicly accessible businesses shall not restrict speech of composed and even-tempered persons.

Section 2: Right to Bear Arms

Every adult citizen shall own a firearm, maintain it safely, and receive training in its proper use. No restriction on carrying concealed or unconcealed firearms, including automatic weapons, shall be permitted. All citizens are members of the national militia from birth, with the duty to defend the Empire and this Constitution from tyranny.

Section 3: Privacy and Property

No government agent shall enter any home, vehicle, or private property without a warrant or explicit permission. The government shall conduct no surveillance of persons without probable cause. Government shall own no land; all government buildings must be rented from private owners.

Section 4: Due Process

Every person accused of wrongdoing shall be tried before a court and jury. Courts shall not only punish harmful acts but may also reward beneficial deeds through the national lottery. Juries shall determine both civil liability and restitution.

Section 5: Personal Autonomy

No law shall prohibit:

• The possession, use, or sale of any substance
• Consensual sexual commerce between adults
• Any peaceful activity that harms neither other persons nor nature
• The practice of any profession by any capable person

The government shall not issue or verify professional licenses. Individuals must verify credentials independently.

Section 6: Reproductive Rights

All females shall possess the right to abortion, as personhood begins with the severing of the umbilical cord.

Section 7: Right to Nature

Nature possesses the right to exist, to flourish, and to be free from harm. Any person may bring civil action on behalf of nature to protect natural systems from damage, contamination, or destruction. Plaintiffs who prevail shall retain forty percent of damages awarded. The remaining sixty percent shall be dedicated exclusively to ecological restoration of the affected natural systems, with all expenses publicly documented and independently auditable. Courts shall determine the allocation of restoration funds and may appoint independent trustees to oversee their disbursement.

Section 1: Absolute Prohibitions

The government shall never:

• Impose laws beyond those enumerated in this Constitution
• Regulate zoning, development, or land use
• Maintain welfare programs for any persons or purposes
• Own or operate schools, hospitals, fire services, or ambulance services
• Issue licenses for mining, development, broadcasting, or any other purpose
• Enforce antitrust or competition laws
• Provide or mandate insurance of any kind
• Maintain or manage parks beyond security and ticketing
• Impose checkpoints or conditions for travel between republics
• Declare offensive war or join military alliances
• Provide foreign aid or accept gifts on behalf of the state
• Create fiat currency or engage in banking
• Borrow money for any reason
• Operate with deficit spending
• Create a criminal code or define criminal offenses
• Require occupational licenses, permits, or professional certifications

Section 2: Taxation Limits

The government shall impose only three taxes: a 10% sales tax, a 10% capital gains tax, and a 25% income tax. No other taxes shall ever be levied, even in wartime. When the national treasury exceeds one kilogram of gold per capita, all three tax rates shall decrease to 5%. No government may raise these rates for any reason.

Section 3: Limited Functions

Government shall provide only: police, prisons, courts, defense forces, census, land records, and travel documents. No other services or departments may be created. Any unauthorized government structure may be demolished by citizens exercising their duty to prevent government expansion.

Section 4: Ideological Prohibition

Communism and socialism, as political ideologies that advocate the redistribution of private property by force or the collective ownership of the means of production, are incompatible with this Constitution and the rights it protects. Any person who, having been found by a court to have advocated for the violent overthrow of this Constitution or the forcible seizure of private property, shall be liable for civil damages and subject to deportation. Political parties organized on communist or socialist principles are banned. Mere expression of economic opinions, preference for social welfare, or criticism of capitalism shall not constitute advocacy under this section. The burden of proof rests upon the plaintiff, and the standard of proof shall be clear and convincing evidence of specific intent to promote forcible expropriation.

Section 1: Office and Authority

The Lord Protector shall serve as head of state, emerging through the natural order of hereditary succession rather than election or divine appointment. The Lord Protector embodies the Empire's commitment to liberty and limited government and serves as the living symbol of the Empire's founding principles.

Section 2: Succession

The Lord Protector shall be succeeded by their firstborn child upon death, abdication, or permanent incapacity as determined by a unanimous vote of the Supreme Court. If no direct heir exists, succession shall pass to the nearest living blood relative. If no blood relative exists, a successor shall be selected by lottery from among the children of the Empire born within its borders, to be raised and educated in the duties of the office from the date of selection.

Section 3: Restrictions

The Lord Protector shall:

• Accept no gifts from any person or entity
• Be subject to removal by national referendum requiring 75% turnout and 75% approval
• Exercise no legislative authority beyond enforcing this Constitution
• Never create a criminal code, define criminal offenses, or establish criminal penalties
• Appoint no judges, as the judiciary is selected by sortition per Article V
• Command the armed forces in defensive operations only, subject to referendum per Article VIII
• Maintain residences and properties as specified by law
• Hold no authority to suspend, amend, or override any provision of this Constitution

Section 4: Penalty for Constitutional Violation

Any government employee, including police, judges, or members of the Lord Protector's administration, who violates this Constitution by punishing persons for exercising inalienable rights, shall be tried before a court. Upon conviction by a jury with 75% agreement, the offender shall be permanently stripped of office, barred from all future government employment, and liable for treble damages to the aggrieved party. If the violation resulted in the death of a citizen, the offender shall be sentenced to lifetime penal military service without possibility of release.

Section 1: Court Structure

Each republic shall maintain courthouses at the local level. Civil cases shall require a filing fee equal to the median annual salary, which shall be waived for indigent plaintiffs upon demonstration of inability to pay. The filing fee shall be forfeited by the losing party and deposited into the court's operational fund.

Section 2: No Criminal Cases

There shall be no criminal cases. All matters shall be adjudicated as civil disputes between parties. No person shall be imprisoned by the state except as specified in Article VII for penal military service. The state shall not prosecute; only aggrieved parties or their representatives shall bring actions. Restitution, not punishment, shall be the purpose of all court proceedings.

Section 3: Standards of Justice

Courts shall determine liability and restitution based on actual harm caused. Restitution shall be proportionate to the harm, designed to make the aggrieved party whole where possible. Threatening violence over speech remains prohibited regardless of speech content. Courts may not award punitive damages exceeding three times the actual harm demonstrated.

Section 4: Trial Requirements

All jury trials require 75% juror agreement to render verdicts. Jury shall consist of twelve citizens selected at random from the registered voter rolls of the republic where the case is filed. The right to trial by jury shall not be waived except by mutual consent of all parties.

Section 5: Transparency

All public servants must identify themselves by name and badge number, verifiable by telephone through a publicly accessible registry. No public servant may cover their face while on duty. All court proceedings shall be public and recorded, with transcripts available to any person upon request.

Subsection A: Eligibility

Judges shall be selected by random lottery from the pool of all licensed lawyers who have passed the bar examination at any university with an enrollment exceeding one hundred thousand students. No person may volunteer for or campaign for judicial office. No person may decline selection except upon demonstration of physical or mental incapacity, conflict of interest in pending cases, or having reached the age of seventy-five.

Subsection B: Term and Tenure

Judges shall serve a single term of twenty years from the date of selection. Upon completion, they shall return to private practice and shall be ineligible for future selection as a judge. Judges may not be removed during their term except through the disbarment process described in Subsection D.

Subsection C: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United Empire shall consist of nine justices selected by random lottery from among all sitting judges who have served at least thirty years on the bench. Supreme Court justices shall serve until death, voluntary retirement, or disbarment. When a vacancy arises, a new justice shall be selected by lottery from the eligible pool within thirty days.

Subsection D: Disbarment and Removal

Any person may bring a motion of contempt against any judge by filing a written complaint with the court administrator. Upon filing, a jury of twelve other judges shall be selected by random lottery to hear the complaint. A unanimous vote of all twelve reviewing judges shall be required to disbar and remove the judge from office. Disbarment shall permanently strip the individual of the right to practice law within the Empire. Frivolous or malicious contempt filings shall subject the filer to civil liability for the judge's legal costs and damages.

Subsection E: Independence of the Judiciary

The judiciary shall be independent of the Lord Protector, the legislature (where one exists at the republic level), and the military. No branch or office may command, pressure, or retaliate against any judge for any ruling. The judicial budget shall be fixed at two percent of total government revenue and may not be reduced or increased as a means of influencing judicial behavior.

Section 7: Separation from Military

The judiciary and the military shall be structurally and operationally separated. The military may not request, demand, or suggest that the judiciary sentence any person to military service. The judiciary may not request, demand, or suggest that the military accept any person for service. Each institution operates independently within its constitutional mandate. No person shall be sentenced to military service except upon an individualized court finding of liability for actual harm, with the court determining the length of service proportionate to the harm caused, subject to the limits in Article VII.

Section 1: Birthright Citizenship

All persons born within the Empire are citizens. All persons residing in territories admitted to the Empire automatically become citizens.

Section 2: Immigration Standards

Each republic may establish immigration procedures through its courts, subject to these requirements:

• No discrimination based on immutable characteristics
• Exclusion of persons with judicial findings of liability for violent harm, fraud, or theft (speech-related charges from foreign jurisdictions shall not disqualify)
• Exclusion of persons without identity documents
• Exclusion of persons who refuse to pledge allegiance to universal liberty and justice
• Exclusion of persons who have advocated for the violent overthrow of constitutional government or the forcible seizure of private property
• Exclusion of persons unwilling to assist fellow Romanians in need
• Exclusion of persons who have engaged in slavery, war crimes, genocide, or government corruption

Section 3: Pledge of Allegiance

New citizens shall pledge: "I pledge allegiance to the Romanian Empire and its flag, and the moral values of freedom and liberty on which it stands, so help me God. Amen."

Section 1: Purpose and Philosophy

The Empire shall not maintain prisons for the purpose of punishment or warehousing. Incarceration serves only to hold persons pending trial or those deemed an ongoing danger to others. For persons found liable in civil court for acts of violence, theft, fraud, or other serious harm, the court may sentence the liable party to a term of military service in lieu of monetary restitution where the liable party lacks the means to pay, or in addition to restitution where the harm warrants.

Section 2: Service Terms

Penal military service shall not exceed five years for any single finding of liability. The court shall determine the precise length based on the severity of harm, proportionate to the offense, with a minimum of six months. Service shall not be extended beyond the court-ordered term except upon a new and separate finding of liability for acts committed during service.

Section 3: Rights and Conditions of Penal Soldiers

Persons sentenced to penal military service shall retain all rights enumerated in this Constitution except the right to bear arms during non-combat training periods, the right to free movement during the service term, and the right to refuse military orders. Penal soldiers shall:

• Receive the same training, equipment, and protective standards as volunteer soldiers
• Not be assigned to combat roles at a disproportionate rate relative to volunteer soldiers
• Receive standard military compensation, of which fifty percent shall be deposited toward restitution for victims and fifty percent shall be held in trust until release
• Be housed in military barracks under military discipline
• Have access to sunlight, physical exercise, education, and medical care equivalent to volunteer soldiers
• Upon completion of service, have their record expunged and their right to bear arms and all civil rights fully restored

Section 4: Volunteer Forces

The Empire shall maintain a volunteer military force of sufficient size to train, lead, and integrate penal soldiers. Volunteer soldiers shall hold all officer and specialist positions. No penal soldier may command a volunteer soldier. The ratio of volunteer to penal soldiers shall not fall below one volunteer for every four penal soldiers.

Section 5: Prohibition on Press-Ganging

No person shall be sentenced to penal military service for any act that does not involve actual harm to another person or to nature. Victimless acts, speech, peaceful assembly, drug possession, unlicensed professional practice, or any other activity protected by this Constitution shall not result in military service. Courts that sentence persons to military service for protected activities shall face disbarment proceedings under Article V, Section 6, Subsection D.

Section 1: Defensive Posture

The Empire shall not declare war except in direct defense after attack upon its territory or citizens. Such declaration requires national referendum approval with 75% turnout and 75% approval.

Section 2: Free Passage

No checkpoints, conditions, or prohibitions on travel shall exist between republics. Toll road operators crossing republic borders must provide free alternative routes.

Section 3: Weapons of Mass Destruction

The government shall maintain nuclear weapons solely for deterrence. Private ownership of nuclear weapons is prohibited due to their indiscriminate nature. Private nuclear materials licenses may be granted for research and energy production.

Section 4: Military Command

The Lord Protector shall serve as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces but may not deploy forces outside Empire territory except in direct response to an attack upon Empire territory or citizens, or upon referendum approval as in Section 1.

Section 1: City Limitations

Each republic may contain no more than three cities exceeding 250,000 residents. Only one such city per county is permitted. Cities require minimum 5,000 residents. Villages incorporate at 1,000 residents with establishment of police services.

Section 2: Zoning Prohibition

All zoning laws are illegal and void. Individuals dissatisfied with their surroundings must relocate voluntarily. No government entity at any level may regulate land use, building height, density, setback, use classification, or any similar restriction.

Section 1: The Leu

The national currency, the Leu, shall be pegged at 1/500th gram of gold and float freely on foreign exchange markets. The Leu shall never be backed by less than this gold quantity.

Section 2: Fiat Currency Prohibition

Fiat currency is illegal. Any attempt to create paper money unbacked by gold shall be rejected as unconstitutional.

Section 3: Constitutional Defense

Should the government remove the gold standard or alter the gold peg, any citizen may bring civil action against the responsible officials, who shall be permanently removed from office and liable for all economic damages resulting from the alteration. Should gold synthesis become economically viable, the standard may shift to another non-synthesizable precious metal by referendum with 75% approval.

Section 1: Language and Religion

The Empire shall have no official language or religion. Government shall not sponsor personal choices or arbitrate individual preferences.

Section 2: Biological Sex

Passport gender designations refer to biological sex assigned at birth and cannot be altered. Private entities and individuals may recognize whatever gender designations they choose in private interactions.

Section 3: Civil Rights Laws

All hate speech and civil rights laws are void. The government shall not regulate interactions between individuals. No laws shall prohibit "offensive speech" or create "hostile work environment" standards. Private discrimination by private individuals or businesses on the basis of any characteristic shall not be prohibited by law, except that publicly accessible government facilities may not discriminate on the basis of immutable characteristics.

Section 1: Executive Departments

Only these ministries shall exist:

• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Homeland Security
• Ministry of Defense
• Ministry of External Affairs
• Ministry of the Interior
• Ministry of Nature

Section 2: Authorized Structures

Government may maintain only:

• Courthouses
• Jails and prisons (for pre-trial detention and those awaiting penal military assignment only)
• Police stations
• Customs and border facilities
• Military bases and barracks
• National park security and ticket offices
• Document offices (passports, birth/death certificates, visas)
• Tax and revenue offices
• Lord Protector's residences
• Census bureau
• Secret Service and intelligence offices
• Mint and gold depository

No additional departments, agencies, or structure types may be created.

Section 1: Referendum Requirements

No vote, referendum, or election shall pass with less than 75% turnout. All referendum results are legally binding. Government may be held liable for failing to implement results or acting contrary to referendum intent.

Section 2: Constitutional Amendment

This Constitution may be amended only by national referendum with 75% turnout and 75% approval. No amendment shall:

• Reduce or eliminate any right enumerated in Article II
• Expand government beyond the functions enumerated in Article III, Section 3
• Increase taxation beyond the limits in Article III, Section 2
• Alter the sortition-based judicial selection process in Article V, Section 6
• Remove the prohibition on the Lord Protector creating a criminal code
• Alter the gold-backed monetary system except as provided in Article X, Section 3

Section 3: Constitutional Supremacy

No law shall be made beyond those enumerated in this Constitution. This document represents the complete and total legal framework of the Empire.

Section 4: Immutability

The principles of individual liberty, limited government, and natural law contained herein shall remain inviolate for all time.

Section 1: Ratification

This Constitution shall be ratified upon approval by referendum in each of the forty-one founding republics, each requiring 75% turnout and 75% approval.

Section 2: First Lord Protector

Upon ratification, the first Lord Protector shall be selected by lottery from among all citizens who have reached the age of forty and who have resided within the Empire for at least twenty years. The first Lord Protector shall serve for life or until voluntary abdication, after which the hereditary succession in Article IV, Section 2 shall apply.

Section 3: Continuity of Laws

Upon ratification, all prior laws, regulations, codes, and government structures not consistent with this Constitution are void. A period of two years shall be provided for the orderly transition of courts, police, and military structures to the forms prescribed herein.

Section 4: Existing Court Cases

All pending criminal cases under prior legal systems shall be dismissed. Parties aggrieved by acts that would be actionable under this Constitution may refile as civil actions within one year of ratification.