Principles of Construction:: Structural Hierarchy -------------------- This constitution is organized into a set of chapters, each of which covers a major subject area, and each of whose name is unique within this document. Each chapter is organized into a set of sections, each of which covers an aspect of the chapter's major subject, and each of whose name is unique within this document. Syntactic Gender ---------------- In law, pronouns imparting gender morphologically or etymologically apply equally to both genders and express no gender differentiation. Physical Unit Terminology ------------------------- In law: Except as specifically and prominently noted, all numbers represented with Arabic numerals are base 10, with the fractional portion (if any) separated from the integral portion by a single period, which appears nowhere else in the number. Time on the scale of days and larger is measured on a solar calendar, except when an absolutely precise, well-defined, and repeatable time interval is appropriate. A day is the time it takes for the earth to complete one rotation about its axis. A year is the time it takes for the earth to complete one revolution around the sun, rounded to whole days using the Gregorian method. Each year begins on the twelfth day counting from the day on which the winter solstice falls. Each week is seven days in length, and each day is part of exactly one week. The year is divided into twelve months of roughly equal length, each no less than 28 days in length nor more than 31 days, as delineated in the Gregorian method. Each day is part of exactly one month. When law specifies a duration of one month, it signifies a period of 30 days and some fraction of a day, ending at midnight at the end of the day which is the 30th day following the starting day, with the starting day considered the 1st. Time on scales smaller than a day, and whenever a precise, well-defined, and repeatable time interval is appropriate, is measured in hours, minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second. A minute is exactly 60 seconds, and an hour is exactly 60 minutes. A second is the duration of 9192631770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom. The meter is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum with no gravitational effects during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second. .0254 meter is one inch, twelve inches is one foot, three feet is one yard, and 5280 feet is one mile. One liter is the volume of a cube each face of which is one tenth of a meter wide. A gallon is 3.785412 liters, four quarts is a gallon, two pints is a quart, two cups is a pint, and eight fluid ounces is a cup. The kelvin is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point (point at which solid, liquid, and gaseous forms coexist in equilibrium, under some particular pressure) of water. To convert from Celsius to kelvin, add 273.15 to the Celsius temperature. To convert from Fahrenheit to kelvin, add 459.67 to the Fahrenheit temperature, then divide that sum by 1.8. A gram is one twelfth the mass of 6.022142E+23 chemically unbound carbon 12 atoms at rest and in their ground state (E+23 representing multiplication by the 23rd power of ten). A pound of mass is equal to 453.59231 grams, an ounce of mass is one sixteenth of a pound of mass, and a ton of mass is 2000 pounds of mass. A degree is 1/360 of a rotational sweep through a full circle. Variants of the foregoing units with Greek or Latin scaling prefixes have their recognized meanings. Defined as the power of ten to which it corresponds, they are: yotta-, 24; zetta-, 21; exa-, 18; peta-, 15; tera-, 12; giga-, 9; mega-, 6; kilo-, 3; hecto-, 2; deca-, 1; deci-, -1; centi-, -2; milli-, -3; micro-, -6; nano-, -9; pico-, -12; femto-, -15; atto-, -18; zepto-, -21; yocto-, -24. One newton is the force that accelerates one kilogram at one meter per second per second. A pound of force is equal to 4.448222 newtons, an ounce of force is one sixteenth of a pound of force, and a ton of force is 2000 pounds of force. Any other physical unit used in law or state-enforceable contract must be defined as some precise algebraic combination of the above units, with fully enumerated integer constants as necessary. No further restrictions can be imposed on units used in state-enforceable contracts. Instruments of State Policy --------------------------- A constitution is a single state document enacted within a unit of state, superior to and constraining all other laws enacted within that unit of state, approved by an affirmative vote of the affected population, that creates and constrains state authority, activities, and responsibilities, often in general terms suited to refinement by statute and regulation. A statute is a state document that enumerates a policy to be pursued and enforced by the state, and can elaborate a framework or procedure for such pursuit and enforcement. A statute is created by a legislature, and provides specification for the manner in which constitutionally endowed authority is exercised and responsibility is met. A statute cannot create any state authority or responsibility, and is wholly constrained by the applicable constitution. Enactment of an applicable constitutional section that conflicts with a portion of a statute voids that portion of the statute. A regulation is a state document that details a manner of operation for one or more statutes or portions thereof, and is wholly constrained by standing statutes and court precedents and rulings. Enactment of an applicable statute conflicting with a portion of a regulation voids that portion of the regulation. Any state employee so authorized pursuant to law can participate in the creation of regulations. A court precedent is a state document that details a manner of practical application at court for one or more regulations, statutes, or portions thereof, or for a portion of a constitution. A court ruling is a formal decision of a court, according to the applicable constitution and statutes, and optionally referencing applicable regulations. An instrument of state policy is any portion, or the entirety, of a constitution, legal code and constituent statutes, regulatory code, court precedent, form, order, ruling, directive, decision, or any other document enumerating a policy enforced or adhered to by the state, action to be taken by the state, or elaborating a framework or procedure for such action or enforcement, provided that contracts between non-state parties are not considered instruments of state policy. Instruments of state policy that are not constitutions, statutes, regulations, or court precedents or rulings, are enacted internal to a branch of state, fully constrained by applicable constitutions, statutes, regulations, and court rulings, to refine procedures for mission fulfillment. ``Law'' appearing without a syntactic article refers to the policy described by the complete set of standing instruments of state policy, and ``a law'' (preceded by the indefinite article, or by a definite article when a particular instrument of state policy has already been introduced and is specifically at issue, appearing as a plural, or preceded by a quantifier such as ``any'' or ``no'') refers to the policy described by any portion of that complete set. An action or condition is ``lawful'' if it is not forbidden by any applicable instrument of state policy. An action or condition is ``unlawful'' if it is forbidden by an applicable instrument of state policy. Morality and Law ---------------- Morality is the disciplined discernment and identification of the right from the wrong. It is an intrinsic property of legal systems that they are also moral systems. A law is an expression of one or more moral principles. For the purposes of this document, the term "moral" is semantically identical to the term "ethical." and the term "morals" is semantically identical to the term "ethics." To avoid confusion, the terms "ethical" and "ethics" should not be used in instruments of state policy. Lexical Discipline ------------------ Any word used in a state document with other than its ordinary denotation as consistently elucidated in published general purpose dictionaries, must be formally defined in a constitution, a statute, or in the document in which it is used. If the definition appears in the constitution of a unit of state, then any instrument of state policy of that unit of state and of all contained units of state must adhere to that definition. If the definition appears in a statute of a unit of state, then any non-constitutional instrument of state policy of that unit of state and of contained units of state, must adhere to the definition, as elucidated in. Any document can display special definitions which override the definition inherited as described above. Whenever the definition of a term is specially enumerated within the document it appears in, and the document is neither a constitution or portion thereof, nor a statute or portion thereof, the term must be typographically distinguished. State Activity -------------- An agent of the state is an individual or incorporated entity that, by formal contractual arrangement with the state, exerts authority over other individuals and/or incorporated entities, beyond the authorities defined in contracts entered between the former and the latter, in fulfillment of state responsibilities as enumerated in law. A state activity is any action, proceeding, or commerce that involves agents of the state in their official capacities. An agent of the state has extraordinary authority by dint of contractual affiliation with the state only when operating in his official capacity, and each agent of the state while operating in his official capacity must act exclusively in pursuit of specific laws, which he must be capable of enumeratively citing upon request (either verbally or by supplying documentation). In particular, no agent of the state can undertake an action in his official capacity, including but not limited to acquisition, disbursement, construction, transportation, and collection and distribution of information, except as directed by law. Definition of Publishing ------------------------ To "publish" means to publicly disseminate in such a manner that anyone may anonymously, though not necessarily without payment, gain access to the information. Definition of Mental Incompetence --------------------------------- An individual is defined as mentally incompetent if he is manifestly psychotic or otherwise of unsound mind, either consistently or sporadically, by reason of mental defect, among which are retardation, schizophrenia or other acute hallucinatory and delusory defects of mind, certain types of epilepsy and other seizure disorders which render the individual coordinated and mobile but of unsound mind, bipolar disorder which results in sporadic psychosis (but not simply mild or moderate bipolar disorder), and other disorders which consistently or sporadically render the individual starkly incapable of maintaining awareness of and responsibility for his actions. Proper Nouns ------------ No constitution, statute, or regulation can refer to or mention an individual, incorporated entity, or trademark, by name.