Constitution of Arcerion

The constitution of the Confederated Provinces of Arcerion or Acerion comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the Confederacy as a political and sovereign body. While other country's constitutions are codified sets of agreements, the Arcer constitution is a loose arrangements of principles, arguments, and thesis that establish a codifying ethos and governing social structure for a society with provisions for how the rule of law and governmental functions will administer the provinces. While some constitutional lawyers have argued this leaves too much open to interpretation, the Arcer constitution is deeply rooted in Arco Determinism, the governing socio-cultural ethos of the Arcer people. The Arcer Supreme Court fundamentally recognizes some obvious institutional organizations and provisions such as parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, and the overseeing of democracy, as well as upholding a fair and just basis for foreign and international policy.

Members of the Parliament of Northlea Governorate ratify the articles of the Arcer constitution in an 1851 session to join the Confederated Provinces of Arcerion as the fourth Governorate.

The Arcer Supreme Court also recognizes that some Acts of Parliament have special roles in the constitution or otherwise have different relationships with the nation's codifying laws. Fundamentally, these include a letters from the King of Ardmore, a petition to the Crown, and a universal declaration. These are often referred to in Arcer political circles as the "Trinity" over Acer sovereignty. The first of these is a letter from the King of Ardmore, establishing the colony of Arcerion and establishing its sovereign claim to much of the Southeastern Cronan Peninsula. As Indigenous peoples were not recognized by the Crown at this time, their relationship was ultimately one of conflict as Arcers felt the inherent right to the land the Crown had given them. The second of the Trinity is a petition from then Crown Governor of Arcerion, Sir William Walter James, who in 1889 requested permission on Arcerion's centennial birthday to have a special status as a semi-sovereign state. Granted, this gave Arcerion control over its own international relations, diplomatic presence, its own sovereign coat of arms, and control over its economic policy. The final document is a universal declaration. This was published and submitted to the League of Nations at the end of hostilities during the Ardmori Civil War. It declares that Arcerion is the last bastion of the Ardmore Crown, and retains sole authority over exercising both Crown prerogative and maintaining their status as both a sovereign nation but also as part of the Ardmore Commonwealth. This final document is what truly allowed Arcerion to become a free and sovereign nation. Respectively, each of the three documents are celebrated by a federal statutory holiday in Arcerion. Documents have also been amalgamated that add to the structure of Arcerion, and these are codified in two supporting documents to the Trinity. These are the individual ratification by governorates (ie. Northlea) of the Constitution, and adherence to the laws and regulations of the wider Arcer state, as well as the Parliament Act of 1833, which set the provisions for a three-way separation of the state powers into a legislative, executive, and judiciary.

The Parliament Constitutional Reform Act of 1911 was ratified to codify the voting age to not just land owning men, but gave equal voting rights to all adult persons of the age of 18 or older. This coincided with Arcerion's process of attempting to codify much of its turn of the century expansions and post-First Great War changes to stabilize the state.

The primary insitutions of the Arcer consitution are the Confederate Parliament, the judiciary (Supreme Court of Arcerion), and the executive branches (Prime Minister of Arcerion and the Arcer Cabinet). The provincial governments of the individual Arcer Governorates and the municipal governments and special municipalities (ie. Kurst National Capital Region) all play a role in the constitution as they have separate provisions for their management and administration. The Confederate Parliament is the supreme body for the creation, debate and passage of new laws and regulations, and represents the voting citizenry of Arcerion. It traditionally consisted of a monarch and two houses, however after the Ardmori Civil War, the monarch's position is ceremonially left empty and just has an upper and lower house, the Senate and Parliament. The Confederate Parliament is a democratically elected institution comprising of seats and ridings across Arcerion's five governorates, every 4-5 years or shorter in times of a vote of non-confidence. The Senate is a special institution as the Upper House. Traditionally not able to create legislation, but standing as a supervisory body, it has been filled in the modern era not by landed lords or through the Royal peerage system of Ardmore, but now members are appointed by a Parliamentary vote and usually represent upstanding examples of Arcer values, such as veterans, former judges, business people, and philanthropists.

Passing of Parliamentary Acts requires both Houses to read, debate, amend, and approve the proposed motions and legislation before it is signed by the Arcer Prime Minister. The lack of a true veto means that the Prime Minister is forced to collaborate with the Houses of Parliament and often unable to have overreach of executive power. The twelve-person Supreme Court is the highest judicial organization and is the final signatory, outlined as the governors-in-absentia taking on the ceremonial role of caretakers of the Ardmori Crown.

The executive branch is led by a Prime Minister, who upon winning the most seats in the first-past-the-post electoral system, is invited by the Supreme Court to form a government and a cabinet. The Prime Minister appoints the cabinet and its Ministers, as well as special executives for non-ministerial departments. Due to the lack of an Admori Crown presence, the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court often acts in cases where Royal Prerogative or Crown Authority are required to finish or pass the laws of Arcerion.

The Supreme Court will review any constitutional arguments to new Acts of Parliament or the passage of laws. Constitutional challenges often are based on human right's issues such as the right to life, liberty, torture, forced labour, taxation, environmental protections, rights to fair trial, privacy and surveillance of citizens, freedom of speech and expression, and role of unions and socialism in the government.

History

Relationship with Ardmore

Due to the Ardmori Civil War and the deposition of the Ardmori Crown, Arcerion no longer has a Royal Monarch in the seat of power as the Regent over Ardmore and the Ardmori Commonwealth. In the 1932 Universal Declaration, the Confederate Parliament stated that Arcerion is the last bastion of the Ardmore Crown, and retains sole authority over exercising both Crown prerogative and maintaining their status as both a sovereign nation but also as part of the Ardmore Commonwealth. This power was invested in the Supreme Court of Arcerion and the Chief Justice, as the judiciary was seen as an unbiased and lawful body to rest the powers of the Crown in. Ceremonially, this was done in 1933, when members of the Arcerion Parachute Regiment delivered to the Supreme Court damaged artifacts such as the Royal Scepter and parts of the Royal Regalia destroyed by the Civil War but recovered during the Regiments' withdraw from the Ardmore Campaign.

The Chief Justice is technically still an appointed judiciary official, but strangely has the invested powers of some of the Ardmori Crown and therefore is both technically a monarch as well as a judiciary official, the only one of its kind in Ixnay.

Modern Challenges

Modern challenges have arose from issues such as freedom of expression and unlawful surveillance. For the former this arose specifically in the late 2000s as part of the 2009 Arcer Economic Crisis, where trade unions and other socialist organizations demanded equal bargaining rights as private citizens for their institutions. The Supreme Court decided that the organizations did not constitute a person or have the same rights as a private Arcer citizen, and the challenges were struck down by both municipal courts, and their appeals rejected by the Supreme Court. Similarly, the Arcer government was challenged on the unlawful surveillance of these organizations in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Acer Bush Wars. Members of the Office of Public Safety and National Security were alleged to have been involved with the surveillance and elicitation of intelligence from Arcer citizens that had liberal or socialist sympathizing values, or affiliated themselves with organizations such as TRIAD. A series of secret and closed-door political nd judiciary hearings with senior officials of the OPSNS as well as SUpreme Court judges ended with the determination that while in some cases the OPSNS had overstepped their mandate and violated the rights of Arcer citizens domestically, the alleged interference in the foreign activities of Arcetr citizens was not unconstitutional as they had affiliated or coerced with organizations deemed subversive by the Arcer government, but not necessarily watch listed as terrorist organizations. In this instance, the OPSNS was forced to offload much of their domestic surveillance activities onto the Royal Acer Constabulary as the domestic security apparatus of the state.