Draft Revamped Legal Code

Eluvatar:

Revamped Legal Code v1.3:

Codified Law of the North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. The Criminal Code will be complete.
2. No private citizen (a private citizen being a citizen holding no public office) may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
3. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
4. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
5. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a qualified majority of the Regional Assembly.
6. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
7. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.
8. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP.
9. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.
10. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of the North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
11. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.2: Espionage
12. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
13. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.
14. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of The North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
15. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.3: Sedition
16. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt on the official forums or within the NationStates region "The North Pacific" to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Election Fraud
17. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
18. "Crashing" refers to any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
19. "Forum" refers to the official offsite forums of The North Pacific.
20. "Off-site property" refers to any forums, websites or Wiki pages owned or maintained by resident citizens of The North Pacific, or any other Nationstates nation, organization or region, outside of nationstates.net.
21. "Phishing" refers to any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
22. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
23. "Spamming" refers to any action undertaken by non-region nationals to waste space on the any off-site property to cause it to crash.
24. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
25. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
26. The use of a proxy server by a forum user to conceal a forum user's host server is declared to be a security risk to the region.
27. The use of a proxy server by a citizen who is a member of the military or intelligence services will require the prior express authorization of said official entity which may be disclosed confidentially to other government officials only in the performance of their official duties.
28. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server by a citizen who seeks office.
29. Proxy server usage is defined as the use of an IP connection with the intent of rendering a forum user anonymous, aka proxy spoofing, or any such practice designed to allow a member to have multiple accounts on the forum.
30. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
31. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.


Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General is to serve as Chief Prosecutor to all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If for any reason, should the original Attorney General be unable to complete a pending case, then the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. Whenever, due to conflict of interest, unavailability, or other cause, the Chief Justice (or the Associate Justice with greatest seniority in the case of vacancy, absence, or unavailability of the Chief Justice) determines it appropriate, a hearing officer will be promptly appointed to preside for a particular proceeding.
9. Whenever there are one or more vacancies on the Court, or one or more Justices are unavailable, have a conflict of interest, or other cause, that prevent the participation of the full number of Justices created under the Constitution or by law, the remaining Justice or Justices will promptly appoint one or more hearing officers to participate in an en banc proceeding as temporary Justices.
10. Any hearing officer that is appointed under this Section must be a private citizen while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
11. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
12. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment.
13. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit ca criminal proceeding within six hours.
14. Once a criminal proceeding is publicly presented to the court, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
15. Once a plea is entered in a criminal proceeding a period of time for the discovery of evidence and the compilation of witness testimony will begin, its duration set by the Court.
16. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court.
17. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests at any time publicly and on the forum.
18. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials, elected or appointed, will be required to take the Oath of Office listed below before assuming their elected or appointed role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, (insert forum username), do hereby solemnly swear that during my duly elected/appointed term as (insert government position), I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of (insert government position), with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding on all government officials, and violations of said Oath may be grounds for a recall or impeachment.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Absentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who either declare themselves, or who have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated under this Law to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election. More than one Commissioner may be designated.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle will not include any legal holidays provided in Chapter 7, and those dates will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.
8. "Vacancy" in an office or position occurs when the holder of an elected office or position resigns, is removed, abandons, or is recalled. Vacancies are filled through a special election unless an special election cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle; or in all cases pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or by rule adopted by the appropriate body.
9. "Citizens" are those nations of the North Pacific who register on the official regional forum and are confirmed by Forum Administration to not be using a proxy, including the verification as part of the Regional Assembly admission process.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
10. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
11. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
12. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
13. Voting will last for seven days.
14. During any Election cycle, all Citizens will be considered to be Regional Assembly members.
15. The Regional Assembly will not vote on legislation during any Election.

Section 4.3: General Elections
16. The election cycle for the 4-month term of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
17. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
18. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
19. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
20. A special election cycle will last for no more than fourteen days, which must be completed prior to the beginning of the next election cycle for the vacated office or position.
21. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Chair of the General Council, or if the Delegate and Chair are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
22. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy occurs or is noticed.
23. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
24. Voting will last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being either at least (1) 50 endorsements, or (2) fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as being either (1) that number of endorsements that is 20 fewer than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or (2) no more than eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is least.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as the handover transition between elected Delegates, the recall of an elected Delegate from office, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. Should Council members not meet or exceed the required endorsement level for a period of at least fifteen days, the Vice Delegate is required to act pursuant to Section Two of this Law.
10. The elected and legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
11. The Vice Delegate shall suspend members of the Council who violate the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act.
12. Suspension takes places if, after a warning by the Vice Delegate, a Council member fails to come into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements within a reasonable amount of time specified in the warning, which is usually fifteen days.
13. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose World Assembly nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly (except as part of a formal redesignation of a resident World Assembly member nation within The North Pacific).
14. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of members of the Council to the General Council.
15. Should a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act, the Vice Delegate will reinstate the Council member.
16. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a Council member poses a Security Risk to The North Pacific and will submit such determination to the General Council for approval to remove that member from the Council.
17. The Chair of the General Council will submit the determination to an immediate vote of the General Council; approval will require a qualified majority.

Comment:

This is where most of the Endocap law would go if it were law. I'll add it in if that's the consensus.

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Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission and the Judiciary must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, (forum user name), as the leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Laws of The North Pacific Region, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I understand that if my Nation leaves The North Pacific region for reasons other than for official government business, that I may be stripped of my right to vote and required to reapply. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I understand that my registration of, or attempt to register, multiple Nations to vote in The North Pacific shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I further understand that if any nation under my control directly wages war against the North Pacific, or allies themselves with a region waging war, declared or not, against the North Pacific, this shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. In this manner, I petition the Speaker of The Regional Assembly of The North Pacific region for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may be solicited to register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly.
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
8. The Speaker's office will remove with immediate effect any members who's removal is ordered by the Court, who's North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to the North Pacific forum for over 15 days, or who fail to vote in two consecutive, non-overlapping Regional Assembly votes with at least 3 days between them.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act
9. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the Speaker of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
10. Unless told otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the Speaker is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the Speaker will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the Speaker observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
11. The Speaker will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act
12. The North Pacific government exists specifically to serve the people of the region and to act in the best interest of all resident nations of The North Pacific.
13. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
14. All registered citizens and/or governments residing in The North Pacific have the right to request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive, and
15. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, whom are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
16. Citizens or governments which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
17. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
18. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
19. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.


Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. The North Pacific is a free region, proud of its history of resistance to Tyranny.
2. This Chapter will include law concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
3. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

4. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
5. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
6. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Comment:

The flag and arms are not 100% done: windows need to be added in on the towers of the castle crown, and the thickness of some lines may need adjusting. I'll be replacing the images as I do that, and I'll add a note to this comment when I'm done.

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Section 7.2: Holidays
7. Cognizant of the role of shared national events in shaping and maintaining the culture of a region, and mindful of the importance of a region's history and the lessons it may contain, The North Pacific hereby recognizes the following annual holidays.
8. The first day of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to reflect upon and remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth day of May shall be known as Manumission Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh day of July shall be known as Constitution Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth day of July shall be known as Liberation Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight, and the return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth day of November shall be known as Creation Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of that first and greatest of games, Nationstates; as well as provide an opportunity to enjoy and extend fellowship to our counterparts throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third day of November shall be known as Founders' Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and the establishment through it of the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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Notes: the biggest single change is in the election law, allowing registered Citizens to vote. This can be done without altering the constitution because the law can define the RA however it wishes, so long as the admission process is "uniform".

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Revamped Legal Code v1.4:

Codified Law of the North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. The Criminal Code will be complete.
2. No private citizen (a private citizen being a citizen holding no public office) may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
3. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
4. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
5. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a qualified majority of the Regional Assembly.
6. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
7. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.
8. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP.
9. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.
10. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of the North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
11. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.2: Espionage
12. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
13. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.
14. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of The North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
15. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.3: Sedition
16. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt on the official forums or within the NationStates region "The North Pacific" to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Election Fraud
17. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
18. "Crashing" refers to any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
19. "Forum" refers to the official offsite forums of The North Pacific.
20. "Off-site property" refers to any forums, websites or Wiki pages owned or maintained by resident citizens of The North Pacific, or any other Nationstates nation, organization or region, outside of nationstates.net.
21. "Phishing" refers to any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
22. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
23. "Spamming" refers to any action undertaken by non-region nationals to waste space on the any off-site property to cause it to crash.
24. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
25. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
26. The use of a proxy server by a forum user to conceal a forum user's host server is declared to be a security risk to the region.
27. The use of a proxy server by a citizen who is a member of the military or intelligence services will require the prior express authorization of said official entity which may be disclosed confidentially to other government officials only in the performance of their official duties.
28. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server by a citizen who seeks office.
29. Proxy server usage is defined as the use of an IP connection with the intent of rendering a forum user anonymous, aka proxy spoofing, or any such practice designed to allow a member to have multiple accounts on the forum.
30. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
31. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.8. Conspiracy
32. "Conspiracy" is defined as conspiracy to perform any crime under this criminal code, and is also a crime.

Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
7. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.
8. Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than the sentence that would be appropriate for the crime.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General is to serve as Chief Prosecutor to all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If for any reason, should the original Attorney General be unable to complete a pending case, then the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. Whenever, due to conflict of interest, unavailability, or other cause, the Chief Justice (or the Associate Justice with greatest seniority in the case of vacancy, absence, or unavailability of the Chief Justice) determines it appropriate, a hearing officer will be promptly appointed to preside for a particular proceeding.
9. Whenever there are one or more vacancies on the Court, or one or more Justices are unavailable, have a conflict of interest, or other cause, that prevent the participation of the full number of Justices created under the Constitution or by law, the remaining Justice or Justices will promptly appoint one or more hearing officers to participate in an en banc proceeding as temporary Justices.
10. Any hearing officer that is appointed under this Section must be a private citizen while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
11. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
12. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment.
13. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit a criminal proceeding within six hours.
14. Once a criminal proceeding is publicly presented to the court, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
15. Once a plea is entered in a criminal proceeding a period of time for the discovery of evidence and the compilation of witness testimony will begin, its duration set by the Court.
16. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court.
17. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests at any time publicly and on the forum.
18. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and/or sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials, elected or appointed, will be required to take the Oath of Office listed below before assuming their elected or appointed role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, (insert forum username), do hereby solemnly swear that during my duly elected/appointed term as (insert government position), I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of (insert government position), with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding on all government officials, and violations of said Oath may be grounds for a recall or impeachment.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Absentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who either declare themselves, or who have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated under this Law to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election. More than one Commissioner may be designated.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle will not include any legal holidays provided in Chapter 7, and those dates will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.
8. "Vacancy" in an office or position occurs when the holder of an elected office or position resigns, is removed, abandons, or is recalled. Vacancies are filled through a special election unless an special election cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle; or in all cases pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or by rule adopted by the appropriate body.
9. "Citizens" are those nations of the North Pacific who register on the official regional forum and are confirmed by Forum Administration to not be using a proxy, including the verification as part of the Regional Assembly admission process.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
10. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
11. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
12. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
13. Voting will last for seven days.
14. Should a run-off vote be required it shall begin within two days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
15. During any Election cycle, all Citizens will be considered to be Regional Assembly members.
16. The Regional Assembly will not vote on legislation during any Election.

Section 4.3: General Elections
16. The election cycle for the 4-month term of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
17. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
18. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
19. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
20. A special election cycle will last for no more than fourteen days, which must be completed prior to the beginning of the next election cycle for the vacated office or position.
21. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker, or if the Delegate and Chair are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
22. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy occurs or is noticed.
23. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
24. Voting will last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being either at least (1) 50 endorsements, or (2) fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as being either (1) that number of endorsements that is 20 fewer than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or (2) no more than eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is least.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as the handover transition between elected Delegates, the recall of an elected Delegate from office, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. Should Council members not meet or exceed the required endorsement level for a period of at least fifteen days, the Vice Delegate is required to act pursuant to Section Two of this Law.
10. The elected and legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
11. The Vice Delegate shall suspend members of the Council who violate the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act.
12. Suspension takes places if, after a warning by the Vice Delegate, a Council member fails to come into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements within a reasonable amount of time specified in the warning, which is usually fifteen days.
13. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose World Assembly nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly (except as part of a formal redesignation of a resident World Assembly member nation within The North Pacific).
14. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of members of the Council to the Regional Assembly.
15. Should a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act, the Vice Delegate will reinstate the Council member.
16. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a Council member poses a Security Risk to The North Pacific and will submit such determination to the Regional Assembly for approval to remove that member from the Council.
17. The Speaker will submit the determination to an immediate vote of the Regional Assembly; approval will require a qualified majority.

Comment:

This is where most of the Endocap law would go if it were law. I'll add it in if that's the consensus.

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Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission and the Judiciary must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, (forum user name), as the leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Laws of The North Pacific Region, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I understand that if my Nation leaves The North Pacific region for reasons other than for official government business, that I may be stripped of my right to vote and required to reapply. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I understand that my registration of, or attempt to register, multiple Nations to vote in The North Pacific shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I further understand that if any nation under my control directly wages war against the North Pacific, or allies themselves with a region waging war, declared or not, against the North Pacific, this shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. In this manner, I petition the Speaker of The Regional Assembly of The North Pacific region for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may be solicited to register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly.
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
8. The Speaker's office will remove with immediate effect any members who's removal is ordered by the Court, who's North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to the North Pacific forum for over 15 days, or who fail to vote in two consecutive, non-overlapping Regional Assembly votes with at least 3 days between them.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act
9. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the Speaker of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
10. Unless told otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the Speaker is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the Speaker will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the Speaker observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
11. The Speaker will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act
12. The North Pacific government exists specifically to serve the people of the region and to act in the best interest of all resident nations of The North Pacific.
13. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
14. All registered citizens and/or governments residing in The North Pacific have the right to request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive, and
15. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, whom are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
16. Citizens or governments which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
17. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
18. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
19. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.


Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. The North Pacific is a free region, proud of its history of resistance to Tyranny.
2. This Chapter will include law concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
3. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

4. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
5. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
6. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Comment:

The flag and arms are not 100% done: windows need to be added in on the towers of the castle crown, and the thickness of some lines may need adjusting. I'll be replacing the images as I do that, and I'll add a note to this comment when I'm done.

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Section 7.2: Holidays
7. Cognizant of the role of shared national events in shaping and maintaining the culture of a region, and mindful of the importance of a region's history and the lessons it may contain, The North Pacific hereby recognizes the following annual holidays.
8. The first day of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to reflect upon and remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth day of May shall be known as Manumission Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh day of July shall be known as Constitution Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth day of July shall be known as Liberation Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight, and the return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth day of November shall be known as Creation Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of that first and greatest of games, Nationstates; as well as provide an opportunity to enjoy and extend fellowship to our counterparts throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third day of November shall be known as Founders' Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and the establishment through it of the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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Revamped Legal Code v1.5:

Codified Law of the North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. The Criminal Code will be complete.
2. No private citizen (a private citizen being a citizen holding no public office) may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
3. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
4. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
5. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a qualified majority of the Regional Assembly.
6. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
7. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.
8. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP. At this time TNP has no treatied allies.
9. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.
10. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of the North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
11. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.2: Espionage
12. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
13. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.
14. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of The North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
15. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.3: Sedition
16. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt on the official forums or within the NationStates region "The North Pacific" to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Election Fraud
17. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.
18. “Fraud” is defined as an intentional deception, by falsehood or omission, made for some benefit or to damage another individual.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
19. "Crashing" refers to any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
20. "Forum" refers to the official offsite forums of The North Pacific.
21. "Off-site property" refers to any forums, websites or Wiki pages owned or maintained by resident citizens of The North Pacific, or any other Nationstates nation, organization or region, outside of nationstates.net.
22. "Phishing" refers to any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
23. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
24. "Spamming" refers to any action undertaken by non-region nationals to waste space on the any off-site property to cause it to crash.
25. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
26. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
27. The use of a proxy server by a forum user to conceal a forum user's host server is declared to be a security risk to the region.
28. The use of a proxy server by a citizen who is a member of the military or intelligence services will require the prior express authorization of said official entity which may be disclosed confidentially to other government officials only in the performance of their official duties.
29. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server by a citizen who seeks office.
30. Proxy server usage is defined as the use of an IP connection with the intent of rendering a forum user anonymous, aka proxy spoofing, or any such practice designed to allow a member to have multiple accounts on the forum.
31. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
32. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.8. Conspiracy
33. "Conspiracy" is defined as conspiracy to perform any crime under this criminal code, and is also a crime.

Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
7. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.
8. Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than the sentence that would be appropriate for the crime.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General is to serve as Chief Prosecutor to all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If for any reason, should the original Attorney General be unable to complete a pending case, then the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. Whenever, due to conflict of interest, unavailability, or other cause, the Chief Justice (or the Associate Justice with greatest seniority in the case of vacancy, absence, or unavailability of the Chief Justice) determines it appropriate, a hearing officer will be promptly appointed to preside for a particular proceeding.
9. Whenever there are one or more vacancies on the Court, or one or more Justices are unavailable, have a conflict of interest, or other cause, that prevent the participation of the full number of Justices created under the Constitution or by law, the remaining Justice or Justices will promptly appoint one or more hearing officers to participate in an en banc proceeding as temporary Justices.
10. Any hearing officer that is appointed under this Section must be a private citizen while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
11. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
12. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment.
13. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit a criminal proceeding within six hours.
14. Once a criminal proceeding is publicly presented to the court, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
15. Once a plea is entered in a criminal proceeding a period of time for the discovery of evidence and the compilation of witness testimony will begin, its duration set by the Court.
16. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court.
17. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests at any time publicly and on the forum.
18. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and/or sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials, elected or appointed, will be required to take the Oath of Office listed below before assuming their elected or appointed role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, (insert forum username), do hereby solemnly swear that during my duly elected/appointed term as (insert government position), I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of (insert government position), with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding on all government officials, and violations of said Oath may be grounds for a recall or impeachment.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Absentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who either declare themselves, or who have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated under this Law to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election. More than one Commissioner may be designated.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle will not include any legal holidays provided in Chapter 7, and those dates will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.
8. "Vacancy" in an office or position occurs when the holder of an elected office or position resigns, is removed, abandons, or is recalled. Vacancies are filled through a special election unless an special election cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle; or in all cases pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or by rule adopted by the appropriate body.
9. "Citizens" are those nations of the North Pacific who register on the official regional forum and are confirmed by Forum Administration to not be using a proxy, including the verification as part of the Regional Assembly admission process.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
10. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
11. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
12. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
13. Voting will last for seven days.
14. Should a run-off vote be required it shall begin within two days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
15. During any Election cycle, all Citizens will be considered to be Regional Assembly members.
16. The Regional Assembly will not vote on legislation during any Election.

Section 4.3: General Elections
16. The election cycle for the 4-month term of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
17. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
18. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
19. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
20. A special election cycle will last for no more than fourteen days, which must be completed prior to the beginning of the next election cycle for the vacated office or position.
21. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Chair of the General Council, or if the Delegate and Chair are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
22. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy occurs or is noticed.
23. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
24. Voting will last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being either at least (1) 50 endorsements, or (2) fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as being either (1) that number of endorsements that is 20 fewer than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or (2) no more than eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is least.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as the handover transition between elected Delegates, the recall of an elected Delegate from office, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. Should Council members not meet or exceed the required endorsement level for a period of at least fifteen days, the Vice Delegate is required to act pursuant to Section Two of this Law.
10. The elected and legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
11. The Vice Delegate shall suspend members of the Council who violate the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act.
12. Suspension takes places if, after a warning by the Vice Delegate, a Council member fails to come into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements within a reasonable amount of time specified in the warning, which is usually fifteen days.
13. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose World Assembly nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly (except as part of a formal redesignation of a resident World Assembly member nation within The North Pacific).
14. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of members of the Council to the Regional Assembly.
15. Should a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act, the Vice Delegate will reinstate the Council member.
16. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a Council member poses a Security Risk to The North Pacific and will submit such determination to the Regional Assembly for approval to remove that member from the Council.
17. The Speaker of the Regional Assembly will submit the determination to an immediate vote of the Regional Assembly; approval will require a qualified majority.

Comment:

This is where most of the Endocap law would go if it were law. I'll add it in if that's the consensus.

Click to expand...

Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission and the Judiciary must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, (forum user name), as the leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the region, to abide by its laws, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Laws of The North Pacific Region, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I understand that if my Nation leaves The North Pacific region for reasons other than for official government business, that I may be stripped of my right to vote and required to reapply. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I understand that my registration of, or attempt to register, multiple Nations to vote in The North Pacific shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I further understand that if any nation under my control directly wages war against the North Pacific, or allies themselves with a region waging war, declared or not, against the North Pacific, this shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I understand that if I break this oath I may immediately lose my voting privileges, permanently. In this manner, I petition the Speaker of The Regional Assembly of The North Pacific region for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may be solicited to register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly but must be made aware of the Criminal Code they are pledging to respect..
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker will take no longer than 14 days to process an applicant. If the applicant is not rejected within 14 days, they will be automatically accepted to the Regional Assembly.
8. Regional Assembly members may not vote in any vote which began before they were last admitted.
9. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
10. The Speaker's office will remove with immediate effect any members whose removal is ordered by the Court, whose North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to post the North Pacific forum for over 15 30 days, or who fail to vote in two consecutive, non-overlapping Regional Assembly votes with at least 3 days between them.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act
11. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the Speaker of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
12. Unless told otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the Speaker is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the Speaker will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the Speaker observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
13. The Speaker will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act
14. The North Pacific government exists specifically to serve the people of the region and to act in the best interest of all resident nations of The North Pacific.
15. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
16. All registered citizens and/or governments residing in The North Pacific have the right to request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive, and
17. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, whom are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
18. Citizens or governments which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
19. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
20. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
21. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.

Section 6.4: Mandatory Ministries

22. There will be an Executive Officer charged with the North Pacific's foreign affairs. They will ensure the continued operation of any embassies of the North Pacific.
23. There will be an Executive Officer charged with welcoming. They will be tasked with ensuring that nations founded in the North Pacific are appropriately greeted, that newcomers to the regional forum and to regional internet relay chats shall be welcomed and helped with any questions, and with the maintenance of regional FAQs.
24. There will be an Executive Officer charged with military affairs. They will carry out such legal missions as are authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.
25. An Executive Officer may sustain multiple roles defined by this Act.
26. The Regional Assembly may elect an Executive Officer should one of the roles defined by this act remain vacant for seven days or in connection with the Regional Assembly removing the Executive Officer charged with that role.


Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. The North Pacific is a free region, proud of its history of resistance to Tyranny.
2. This Chapter will include law concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
3. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

4. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
5. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
6. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Section 7.2: Holidays
7. Cognizant of the role of shared national events in shaping and maintaining the culture of a region, and mindful of the importance of a region's history and the lessons it may contain, The North Pacific hereby recognizes the following annual holidays.
8. The first day of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to reflect upon and remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth day of May shall be known as Manumission Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh day of July shall be known as Constitution Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth day of July shall be known as Liberation Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight, and the return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth day of November shall be known as Creation Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of that first and greatest of games, Nationstates; as well as provide an opportunity to enjoy and extend fellowship to our counterparts throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third day of November shall be known as Founders' Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and the establishment through it of the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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Revamped Legal Code v1.6:

Codified Law of the North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. The Criminal Code will be complete.
2. No private citizen (a private citizen being a citizen holding no public office) may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
3. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
4. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
5. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP. At this time TNP has no treatied allies.
6. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.
7. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of the North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
8. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.2: Espionage
9. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
10. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.
11. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of The North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
12. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.3: Sedition
13. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt on the official forums or within the NationStates region "The North Pacific" to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Election Fraud
14. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.
15. “Fraud” is defined as an intentional deception, by falsehood or omission, made for some benefit or to damage another individual.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
16. "Crashing" refers to any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
17. "Forum" refers to the official offsite forums of The North Pacific.
18. "Off-site property" refers to any forums, websites or Wiki pages owned or maintained by resident citizens of The North Pacific, or any other Nationstates nation, organization or region, outside of nationstates.net.
19. "Phishing" refers to any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
20. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
21. "Spamming" refers to any action undertaken by non-region nationals to waste space on the any off-site property to cause it to crash.
22. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
23. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
24. The use of a proxy server by a forum user to conceal a forum user's host server is declared to be a security risk to the region.
25. The use of a proxy server by a citizen who is a member of the military or intelligence services will require the prior express authorization of said official entity which may be disclosed confidentially to other government officials only in the performance of their official duties.
26. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server by a citizen who seeks office.
27. Proxy server usage is defined as the use of an IP connection with the intent of rendering a forum user anonymous, aka proxy spoofing, or any such practice designed to allow a member to have multiple accounts on the forum.
28. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
29. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.8. Conspiracy
30. "Conspiracy" is defined as conspiracy to perform any crime under this criminal code, and is also a crime.

Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for some finite duration at the discretion of the Court.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
7. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.
8. Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than the sentence that would be appropriate for the crime.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General is to serve as Chief Prosecutor to all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If for any reason, should the original Attorney General be unable to complete a pending case, then the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. Whenever, due to conflict of interest, unavailability, or other cause, the Chief Justice (or the Associate Justice with greatest seniority in the case of vacancy, absence, or unavailability of the Chief Justice) determines it appropriate, a hearing officer will be promptly appointed to preside for a particular proceeding.
9. Whenever there are one or more vacancies on the Court, or one or more Justices are unavailable, have a conflict of interest, or other cause, that prevent the participation of the full number of Justices created under the Constitution or by law, the remaining Justice or Justices will promptly appoint one or more hearing officers to participate in an en banc proceeding as temporary Justices.
10. Any hearing officer that is appointed under this Section must be a private citizen while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
11. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
12. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment.
13. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit a criminal proceeding within six hours.
14. Once a criminal proceeding is publicly presented to the court, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
15. Once a plea is entered in a criminal proceeding a period of time for the discovery of evidence and the compilation of witness testimony will begin, its duration set by the Court.
16. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court.
17. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests at any time publicly and on the forum.
18. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and/or sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials, elected or appointed, will be required to take the Oath of Office listed below before assuming their elected or appointed role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, (insert forum username), do hereby solemnly swear that during my duly elected/appointed term as (insert government position), I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of (insert government position), with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding on all government officials, and violations of said Oath may be grounds for a recall or impeachment.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who either declare themselves, or who have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated under this Law to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election. More than one Commissioner may be designated.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle will not include any legal holidays provided in Chapter 7, and those dates will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.
8. "Vacancy" in an office or position occurs when the holder of an elected office or position resigns, is removed, abandons, or is recalled. Vacancies are filled through a special election unless a special election cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle; or in all cases pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or by rule adopted by the appropriate body.
9. "Citizens" are those nations of the North Pacific who register on the official regional forum and are confirmed by Forum Administration to not be using a proxy, including the verification which is part of the Regional Assembly admission process.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
10. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
11. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
12. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
13. Voting will last for seven days.
14. Should a run-off vote be required it shall begin within two days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
15. During any Election cycle, all Citizens will be considered to be Regional Assembly members.
16. The Regional Assembly will not vote on legislation during any Election.

Section 4.3: General Elections
17. The election cycle for the 4-month term of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
18. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
19. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
20. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
21. A special election cycle will last for no more than fourteen days, which must be completed prior to the beginning of the next election cycle for the vacated office or position.
22. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker, or if the Delegate and Speaker are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
23. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy occurs or is noticed.
24. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed.
25. Voting will last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being either at least (1) 50 endorsements, or (2) fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as being either (1) that number of endorsements that is 20 fewer than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or (2) no more than eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is greatest.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as the handover transition between elected Delegates, the recall of an elected Delegate from office, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. Should Council members not meet or exceed the required endorsement level for a period of at least fifteen days, the Vice Delegate is required to act pursuant to Section Two of this Law.
10. The elected and legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
11. The Vice Delegate shall suspend members of the Council who violate the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act.
12. Suspension takes places if, after a warning by the Vice Delegate, a Council member fails to come into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements within a reasonable amount of time specified in the warning, which is usually fifteen days.
13. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose World Assembly nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly (except as part of a formal redesignation of a resident World Assembly member nation within The North Pacific).
14. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of members of the Council to the Regional Assembly.
15. Should a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act, the Vice Delegate will reinstate the Council member.
16. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a Council member poses a Security Risk to The North Pacific and will submit such determination to the Regional Assembly for approval to remove that member from the Council.
17. The Speaker of the Regional Assembly will submit the determination to an immediate vote of the Regional Assembly; approval will require a qualified majority.

Comment:

This is where most of the Endocap law would go if it were law. I'll add it in if that's the consensus.

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Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission and the Judiciary must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, (forum user name), as the leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the region, to abide by its laws, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Laws of The North Pacific Region, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I understand that if my Nation leaves The North Pacific region for reasons other than for official government business, that I may be stripped of my right to vote and required to reapply. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I understand that my registration of, or attempt to register, multiple Nations to vote in The North Pacific shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I further understand that if any nation under my control directly wages war against the North Pacific, or allies themselves with a region waging war, declared or not, against the North Pacific, this shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I understand that if I break this oath I may immediately lose my voting privileges, permanently. In this manner, I petition the Speaker of The Regional Assembly of The North Pacific region for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may be solicited to register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly but must be made aware of the Criminal Code they are pledging to respect..
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker will take no longer than 14 days to process an applicant. If the applicant is not rejected within 14 days, they will be automatically accepted to the Regional Assembly.
8. Regional Assembly members may not vote in any vote which began before they were last admitted.
9. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
10. The Speaker's office will remove with immediate effect any members whose removal is ordered by the Court, whose North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to post the North Pacific forum for over 15 30 days, or who fail to vote in two three consecutive, non-overlapping Regional Assembly votes with at least 3 days between them.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act
11. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the Speaker of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
12. Unless told otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the Speaker is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the Speaker will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the Speaker observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
13. The Speaker will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act
14. The North Pacific government exists specifically to serve the people of the region and to act in the best interest of all resident nations of The North Pacific.
15. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
16. All registered citizens and/or governments residing in The North Pacific have the right to request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive, and
17. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, whom are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
18. Citizens or governments which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
19. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
20. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
21. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.

Section 6.4: Mandatory Ministries

22. There will be an Executive Officer charged with the North Pacific's foreign affairs. They will ensure the continued operation of any embassies of the North Pacific.
23. There will be an Executive Officer charged with welcoming. They will be tasked with ensuring that nations founded in the North Pacific are appropriately greeted, that newcomers to the regional forum and to regional internet relay chats shall be welcomed and helped with any questions, and with the maintenance of regional FAQs.
24. There will be an Executive Officer charged with military affairs. They will carry out such legal missions as are authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.
25. An Executive Officer may sustain multiple roles defined by this Act.
26. The Regional Assembly may elect an Executive Officer should one of the roles defined by this act remain vacant for seven days or in connection with the Regional Assembly removing the Executive Officer charged with that role.

Section 6.5: War

29. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a qualified three-fifths majority vote of the Regional Assembly.
30. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
31. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.

Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. The North Pacific is a free region, proud of its history of resistance to Tyranny.
2. This Chapter will include law concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
3. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

4. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
5. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
6. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Section 7.2: Holidays
7. Cognizant of the role of shared national events in shaping and maintaining the culture of a region, and mindful of the importance of a region's history and the lessons it may contain, The North Pacific hereby recognizes the following annual holidays.
8. The first day of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to reflect upon and remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth day of May shall be known as Manumission Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh day of July shall be known as Constitution Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth day of July shall be known as Liberation Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight, and the return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth day of November shall be known as Creation Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of that first and greatest of games, Nationstates; as well as provide an opportunity to enjoy and extend fellowship to our counterparts throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third day of November shall be known as Founders' Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and the establishment through it of the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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Revamped Legal Code v1.7:

Codified Law of the North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. No citizen holding no public office may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
2. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
3. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
4. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP. At this time TNP has no treatied allies.
5. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.
6. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of the North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
7. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.2: Espionage
8. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
9. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.
10. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of The North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
11. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.3: Sedition
12. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt on the official forums or within the NationStates region "The North Pacific" to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Election Fraud
13. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.
14. “Fraud” is defined as an intentional deception, by falsehood or omission, made for some benefit or to damage another individual.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
15. "Crashing" is defined as any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
16. "Phishing" is defined as any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
17. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
18. "Spamming" is defined as any action by non-region nationals to waste space or cause shock on any off-site property or regional message board to make it unusable.
19. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
20. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
21. The use of a proxy server by a forum user to conceal a forum user's host server is declared to be a security risk to the region.
22. The use of a proxy server by a citizen who is a member of the military or intelligence services will require the prior express authorization of said official entity which may be disclosed confidentially to other government officials only in the performance of their official duties.
21. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server by a citizen who seeks office. to render a forum user anonymous or any practice which allows a member multiple accounts.
27. Proxy server usage is defined as the use of an IP connection with the intent of rendering a forum user anonymous, aka proxy spoofing, or any such practice designed to allow a member to have multiple accounts on the forum.
22. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
23. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.8. Conspiracy
24. "Conspiracy" is defined as planning, attempting, or helping to commit any crime under this criminal code.

Section 1.9. Exceptions
25. Exceptions for treason, espionage or proxying may be given to members of the military and intelligence services with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving regional security.

Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for whatever finite duration the Court sees fit.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for whatever finite duration the Court sees fit.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
7. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.
8. Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than what would be appropriate for the original crime.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General will serve as Chief Prosecutor in all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If for any reason, should the original Attorney General is unable to complete a pending case, then the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. Whenever, due to conflict of interest, unavailability, or other cause, the Chief Justice (or the Associate Justice with greatest seniority in the case of vacancy, absence, or unavailability of the Chief Justice) determines it appropriate, a hearing officer will be promptly appointed to preside for a particular proceeding.
9. Whenever there are one or more vacancies If there is a vacancy[color] on the Court, or one or more [color]any Justice is s are unavailable or has have a conflict of interest or other cause, that prevent the participation of the full number of Justices created under the Constitution or by law, the remaining Justices will promptly appoint one or more a hearing officer to participate in an en banc proceeding as temporary Justices.
10. Any hearing officer that is appointed under this Section may not hold any other office while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
11. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
12. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment.
13. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit a criminal proceeding to the court within six hours.
14. Once a criminal proceeding is presented, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
15. Once a plea is entered, a period of time set by the Court for the discovery of evidence and witness testimony will begin.
16. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court.
17. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests publicly on the forum.
18. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and, if necessary, sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials elected or appointed, will be required to take the Oath of Office listed below before assuming their elected or appointed role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, [forum username], do hereby solemnly swear that during my duly elected/appointed term as [government position], I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of [government position], with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding on all government officials, and violations of said Oath may be are grounds for a recall or impeachment.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who either declare themselves, or who have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated under this Law to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election it. More than one Commissioner may be designated.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle will not include any legal holidays provided in Chapter 7, and those dates will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.
8. A "vacancy" in an office or position occurs when the holder of it an elected office or position resigns, is removed, abandons it ,or is recalled. Vacancies are filled through a special election unless a special election it cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle. or in all cases Pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.
9. "Citizens" are those nations of the North Pacific who register on the official regional forum and are confirmed by Forum Administration to not be using a proxy, including the verification which is part of the Regional Assembly admission process.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
10. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
11. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
12. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed and last for seven days.
13. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within two days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.
14. During any Election cycle, all Citizens will be considered to be Regional Assembly members.
15. The Regional Assembly will not vote on legislation during any Election.

Section 4.3: General Elections
16. The election cycle for the terms of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
17. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
18. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
19. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
21. A special election cycle will last for no more than fourteen days, which must be completed prior to the beginning of the next election cycle for the vacated office or position.
20. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker, or if the Delegate and Speaker are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
21. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy occurs or is noticed.
22. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed and last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being either at least (1) 50 endorsements, or (2) fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as being either (1) that number of endorsements that is 20 fewer endorsements than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or (2) no more than eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is greatest.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as transitions between elected Delegates, the recall of a n elected Delegate from office, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. Should Council members not meet or exceed the required endorsement level for a period of at least fifteen days, the Vice Delegate is required to act pursuant to Section Two of this Law.
9. The elected and legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
11. The Vice Delegate shall suspend members of the Council who violate the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act.
12. Suspension takes places if, after a warning by the Vice Delegate, a Council member fails to come into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements within a reasonable amount of time specified in the warning, which is usually fifteen days.
10. If any Council member does not the required influence level, or exceeds or does not meet the required endorsement level, the Vice Delegate warn them. If the Council member does not come into compliance within at least fifteen days of the warning, the Vice Delegate will suspend them.
11. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose World Assembly member nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly (except as part of a formal redesignation of a resident World Assembly member nation within The North Pacific).
12. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of a member of the Council to the Regional Assembly.
13. If a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act, the Vice Delegate will reinstate them.
14. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a Council member poses a security risk to The North Pacific and will submit such determination to the Regional Assembly for approval to remove that request approval from the Regional Assembly to remove the member from the Council.
15. The Speaker of the Regional Assembly will submit the determination request to an immediate vote of the Regional Assembly; approval will require a qualified two-thirds majority.


Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission and the Judiciary must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, [forum user name], as the leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the region, to abide by its laws, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Laws of The North Pacific Region, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I understand that if my Nation leaves The North Pacific region for reasons other than for official government business, that I may be stripped of my right to vote and required to reapply. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I understand that my registration of, or attempt to register, multiple Nations to vote in The North Pacific shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I further understand that if any nation under my control directly wages war against the North Pacific, or allies themselves with a region waging war, declared or not, against the North Pacific, this shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I understand that if I break this oath I may immediately lose my voting privileges, permanently. In this manner, I petition the Speaker of The Regional Assembly of The North Pacific region for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may who register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly must be made aware of the Criminal Code they are pledging to respect..
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker will process applications within 14 days. If the applicant is not rejected within 14 days, they will be automatically accepted to the Regional Assembly.
8. Regional Assembly members may not vote in any vote which began before they were last admitted.
9. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
10. The Speaker's office will promptly remove any members whose removal is ordered by the Court, whose North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to post the North Pacific forum for over 15 30 days, or who fail to vote in two three consecutive, non-overlapping Regional Assembly votes with at least 3 days between them.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act
11. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the Speaker of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
12. Unless told otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the Speaker is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the Speaker will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the Speaker observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
13. The Speaker will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act
14. The North Pacific government exists specifically to serve the people of the region and to act in the best interest of all resident nations of The North Pacific.
14. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
15. All registered citizens and/or governments residing in The North Pacific have the right to may request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive.
17. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, who are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
18. Citizens or governments which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
19. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
20. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
21. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.

Section 6.4: Mandatory Ministries

22. There will be an Executive Officer charged with the North Pacific's foreign affairs. They will ensure the continued operation of any embassies of the North Pacific.
23. There will be an Executive Officer charged with welcoming. They will be tasked with ensuring that nations founded in the North Pacific are appropriately greeted, that newcomers to the regional forum and to regional internet relay chats shall be welcomed and helped with any questions, and with the maintenance of regional FAQs.
24. There will be an Executive Officer charged with military affairs. They will carry out such legal missions as are authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.
25. There will be an Executive Officer charged with governmental communications. They will report on events in the region.
26. An Executive Officer may sustain multiple roles defined by this Act.
27. The Regional Assembly may elect an Executive Officer should one of the roles defined by this act remain vacant for seven days or in connection with the Regional Assembly removing the Executive Officer charged with that role.

Section 6.5: War

28. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a qualified three-fifths majority vote of the Regional Assembly.
29. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
30. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.

Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. This Chapter will include laws concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
2. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

3. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
4. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
5. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Section 7.2: Holidays
6. The first of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to reflect upon and remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth of May shall be Manumission Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh of July shall be Constitution Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth of July shall be Liberation Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight and return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth of November shall be Creation Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of that first and greatest of games, Nationstates; as well as and provide an opportunity to enjoy and extend fellowship to our counterparts throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third of November shall be Founders' Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and the establishment through it the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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Revamped Legal Code v1.8:

Codified Law of the North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. No citizen holding no public office may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
2. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
3. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
4. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP. At this time TNP has no treatied allies.
5. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.
6. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of the North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
7. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.2: Espionage
6. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
7. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.
10. Exceptions may be given to members of the military and intelligence services of The North Pacific, with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister.
11. This exception is only valid when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving Regional security and the Constitution.

Section 1.3: Sedition
8. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt on the official forums or within the NationStates region "The North Pacific" to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Election Fraud
9. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.
10. “Fraud” is defined as an intentional deception, by falsehood or omission, made for some benefit or to damage another individual.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
11. "Crashing" is defined as any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
12. "Phishing" is defined as any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
13. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
14. "Spamming" is defined as any action by non-region nationals to waste space or cause shock on any off-site property or regional message board to make it unusable.
15. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
16. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
21. The use of a proxy server by a forum user to conceal a forum user's host server is declared to be a security risk to the region.
17. The use of a proxy server by a citizen who is a member of the military or intelligence services will require the prior express authorization of said official entity which may be disclosed confidentially to other government officials only in the performance of their official duties.
18. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server by a citizen who seeks office. to render a forum user anonymous or any practice which allows a member multiple accounts.
27. Proxy server usage is defined as the use of an IP connection with the intent of rendering a forum user anonymous, aka proxy spoofing, or any such practice designed to allow a member to have multiple accounts on the forum.
19. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
19. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.8. Conspiracy
20. "Conspiracy" is defined as planning, attempting, or helping to commit any crime under this criminal code.

Section 1.9. Exceptions
21. Exceptions for treason, espionage or proxying may be given to members of the military and intelligence services with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving regional security.

Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for whatever finite duration the Court sees fit.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for whatever finite duration the Court sees fit.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
7. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.
8. Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than what would be appropriate for the original crime.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General will serve as Chief Prosecutor in all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If for any reason, should the original Attorney General is unable to complete a pending case, then the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. Whenever, due to conflict of interest, unavailability, or other cause, the Chief Justice (or the Associate Justice with greatest seniority in the case of vacancy, absence, or unavailability of the Chief Justice) determines it appropriate, a hearing officer will be promptly appointed to preside for a particular proceeding.
9. Whenever there are one or more vacancies If there is a vacancy on the Court, or one or more [color]any[/color] Justice is s are unavailable or has have a conflict of interest or other cause, that prevent the participation of the full number of Justices created under the Constitution or by law, the remaining Justices will promptly appoint one or more a hearing officer to participate in an en banc proceeding as temporary Justices.
9. Any hearing officer that is appointed under this Section may not hold any other office while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
10. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban, or expel from the RA due to oath violation, pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
11. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment, and their decision will be final.
12. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit a criminal proceeding to the court within six hours.
13. Once a criminal proceeding is presented, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
14. Once a plea is entered, a period of time set by the Court for the discovery of evidence and witness testimony will begin. This period is normally 7 days.
15. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court. This period is normally 5 days.
16. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests publicly on the forum.
17. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and, if necessary, sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials elected or appointed, will be required to take the Oath of Office listed below before assuming their elected or appointed role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, [forum username], do hereby solemnly swear that during my duly elected/appointed term as [government position], I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of [government position], with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding on all government officials, and violations of said Oath may be are grounds for a recall.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to signify a voter's presence for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who either declare themselves, or who have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office or position to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office or position during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated under this Law to oversee and supervise a given general or judicial election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during that election it. More than one Commissioner may be designated.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made, includes all voting periods, and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The exact dates for the Election Cycle will not include any legal holidays provided in Chapter 7, and those dates will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate so as to encourage the greatest level of participation by eligible voters during the designated month.
8. A "vacancy" in an office or position occurs when the holder of it an elected office or position resigns, is removed, abandons it ,or is recalled. Vacancies are filled through a special election unless a special election it cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle. or in all cases Pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
11. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
12. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
13. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed and last for seven days.
14. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within two days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.

Section 4.3: General Elections
15. The election cycle for the terms of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
16. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
17. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
18. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
21. A special election cycle will last for no more than fourteen days, which must be completed prior to the beginning of the next election cycle for the vacated office or position.
19. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker, or if the Delegate and Speaker are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
20. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy occurs or is noticed.
22. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed and last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being either at least (1) 50 endorsements, or (2) fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as being either (1) that number of endorsements that is 20 fewer endorsements than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or (2) no more than eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is greatest.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as transitions between elected Delegates, the recall of a n elected Delegate from office, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. Should Council members not meet or exceed the required endorsement level for a period of at least fifteen days, the Vice Delegate is required to act pursuant to Section Two of this Law.
9. The elected and legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
11. The Vice Delegate shall suspend members of the Council who violate the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act.
12. Suspension takes places if, after a warning by the Vice Delegate, a Council member fails to come into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements within a reasonable amount of time specified in the warning, which is usually fifteen days.
10. If any Council member does not have the required influence level, or exceeds or does not meet the required endorsement level, the Vice Delegate will warn them. If the Council member does not come into compliance within at least fifteen days of the warning, the Vice Delegate will suspend them.
11. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose World Assembly member nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly (except as part of a formal redesignation of a resident World Assembly member nation within The North Pacific).
12. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of a member of the Council to the Regional Assembly.
13. If a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence level requirements of this Act, the Vice Delegate will reinstate them.
14. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a Council member poses a security risk to The North Pacific and will submit such determination to the Regional Assembly for approval to remove that request approval from the Regional Assembly to remove the member from the Council.
15. The Speaker of the Regional Assembly will submit the determination request to an immediate vote of the Regional Assembly; approval will require a qualified two-thirds majority.


Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission, the Judiciary, and the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, [forum user name], as the leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the region, to abide by its laws, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Laws of The North Pacific Region, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I understand that if my Nation leaves The North Pacific region for reasons other than for official government business, that I may be stripped of my right to vote and required to reapply. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I understand that my registration of, or attempt to register, multiple Nations to vote in The North Pacific shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I further understand that if any nation under my control directly wages war against the North Pacific, or allies themselves with a region waging war, declared or not, against the North Pacific, this shall warrant the summary withdrawal of my right to vote from all my Nations, past, present, and future, as well as possible expulsion from the Region. I understand that if I break this oath I may immediately lose my voting privileges, permanently. In this manner, I petition the Speaker of The Regional Assembly of The North Pacific region for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may who register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly must be made aware of the Criminal Code they are pledging to respect..
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker will process applications within 14 days. If the applicant is not rejected within 14 days, they will be automatically accepted to the Regional Assembly.
8. Regional Assembly members may not vote in any vote which began before they were last admitted.
9. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
10. The Speaker's office will promptly remove any members whose removal is ordered by the Court, whose North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to post the North Pacific forum for over 30 days, or who fail to vote in two consecutive, non-overlapping Regional Assembly votes with at least 3 days between them.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act

11. The Speaker will designate a person who is not involved in any military operations to be the registrar of confidential puppets.
12. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the registrar of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
13. Unless granted permission otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the registrar is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the registrar will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the registrar observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
14. The registrar will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act
14. The North Pacific government exists specifically to serve the people of the region and to act in the best interest of all resident nations of The North Pacific.
15. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
16. All registered citizens and/or governments residing in The North Pacific have the right to may request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive.
17. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, who are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
18. Citizens or governments which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
19. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
20. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
21. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.

Section 6.4: Mandatory Ministries

22. There will be an Executive Officer charged with the North Pacific's foreign affairs. They will ensure the continued operation of any embassies of the North Pacific.
23. There will be an Executive Officer charged with welcoming. They will be tasked with ensuring that nations founded in the North Pacific are appropriately greeted, that newcomers to the regional forum and to regional internet relay chats shall be welcomed and helped with any questions, and with the maintenance of regional FAQs.
24. There will be an Executive Officer charged with military affairs. They will carry out such legal missions as are authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.
25. There will be an Executive Officer charged with governmental communications. They will report on events in the region.
26. An Executive Officer may sustain multiple roles defined by this Act.
27. The Regional Assembly may elect an Executive Officer should one of the roles defined by this act remain vacant for seven days or in connection with the Regional Assembly removing the Executive Officer charged with that role.

Section 6.5: War

28. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a qualified three-fifths majority vote of the Regional Assembly.
29. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
30. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.

Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. This Chapter will include laws concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
2. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

3. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
4. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
5. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Section 7.2: Holidays
6. The first of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to reflect upon and remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth of May shall be Manumission Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh of July shall be Constitution Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth of July shall be Liberation Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight and return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth of November shall be Creation Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of that first and greatest of games, Nationstates; as well as and provide an opportunity to enjoy and extend fellowship to our counterparts throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third of November shall be Founders' Day, and shall provide an opportunity for Nations to commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and the establishment through it the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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Revamped Legal Code v1.8:

Codified Law of The North Pacific


In order to present a clearer and more comprehensible legal system, the Regional Assembly undertakes to keep the law of the North Pacific organized and clear. If any part of this Code is in conflict with the Constitution or subsequent legislation, the Speaker will update it on the instructions of the Court, unless a Regional Assembly member objects. This Code will be divided into several Chapters, which may contain Sections. Every operative sentence must be a numbered clause, numbered within a Chapter. Clauses may be referenced by chapter and clause number.


Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. No citizen holding no public office may be punished for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
2. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
3. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
4. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP. At this time TNP has no treatied allies.
5. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.

Section 1.2: Espionage
6. "Espionage" is defined as the use of a Nation or Persona within The North Pacific for the purpose of gathering information for a group or region not officially sanctioned by the lawful government of The North Pacific as governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
7. The information gathered must be of a nature that a person that has not registered on the official forums or attained public office would be unable to access it without cracking technical security measures.

Section 1.3: Sedition
8. "Sedition" is defined as an intentional attempt to incite the Nations of The North Pacific to revolt in a manner not sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Section 1.4: Fraud
9. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of citizens with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.
10. “Fraud” is defined as an intentional deception, by falsehood or omission, made for some benefit or to damage another individual.

Section 1.5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
11. "Crashing" is defined as any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
12. "Phishing" is defined as any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
13. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
14. "Spamming" is defined as any action by non-region nationals to waste space or cause shock on any off-site property or regional message board to make it unusable.
15. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
16. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.6: Proxying
17. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server to render a forum user anonymous or any practice which allows a member multiple accounts.
18. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.7. Adspam
19. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.8. Conspiracy
20. "Conspiracy" is defined as planning, attempting, or helping to commit any crime under this criminal code.

Section 1.9. Exceptions
21. Exceptions for treason, espionage or proxying may be given to members of the military and intelligence services with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving regional security.

Chapter 2: Penal Code

1. Criminal acts may be punished by restrictions on basic rights, in a manner proportionate to the crime at the discretion of the Court unless specified in this chapter.
2. Treason will be punished by ejection and banning, and removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit.
3. Espionage will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights for whatever finite duration the Court sees fit.
4. Sedition will be punished by the suspension of speech and/or voting rights and ejection and banning if necessary for whatever finite duration the Court sees fit.
5. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any and all basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
6. Proxying may be punished by ejection and banning, the removal of any basic rights for whatever duration the Court sees fit, and/or banning by forum administration.
7. Adspam prohibited by the Delegate may be punished by adspam suppression and summary ejection and/or banning from the region.
8. Conspiracy will be punished by a sentence strictly less than what would be appropriate for the original crime.


Chapter 3: Judicial Law

1. These procedures will govern the Judiciary.

Section 3.1: The Attorney General
2. The Attorney General will be elected during Judicial Elections.
3. The Attorney General must not have been convicted of any crime in the North Pacific.
4. The Attorney General will serve as Chief Prosecutor in all cases brought before the Court of the North Pacific.
5. It is the duty of the Attorney General to see to completion any proceeding they are prosecuting.
6. If the original Attorney General is unable to complete a pending case, the successor Attorney General will take over as prosecutor and complete the pending proceedings.
7. The Attorney General may request expedited judicial review of any executive action by any official.

Section 3.2: Appointment of Hearing Officers
8. If there is a vacancy on the Court, or any Justice is unavailable or has a conflict of interest the remaining Justices will promptly appoint a hearing officer to participate as temporary Justices.
9. Any hearing officer appointed under this Section may not hold any other office while serving as a judicial hearing officer.

Section 3.3: Criminal Trial Procedure
11. When seeking an indictment to eject or ban, or expel from the RA due to oath violation, pending a trial, the Government must inform all the Justices.
12. Any Justice may approve or deny an indictment, and their decision will be final.
13. Once an ejection is performed, the Government must notify the ejected nation of their rights within one hour, and publicly submit a criminal proceeding to the court within six hours.
14. Once a criminal proceeding is presented, the defendant will have 48 hours to enter a plea, or a plea of "Not Guilty" may be entered for them.
15. Once a plea is entered, a period of time set by the Court for the discovery of evidence and witness testimony will begin. This period is normally 7 days.
16. Once discovery ends a period of time for arguments on the evidence and law will begin, its duration set by the Court. This period is normally 5 days.
17. During discovery and arguments, either side may make objections or requests publicly on the forum.
18. Once arguments end, the Court will have 72 hours to decide on a verdict and, if necessary, sentence.


Chapter 4: Election and Appointment Procedure

Section 4.1: Oath of Office
1. All government officials will take the Oath of Office below before assuming their role within the government of The North Pacific.

I, [forum username], do hereby solemnly swear that during my term as [government position], I will uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific. I will use the powers and rights granted to me through The North Pacific Constitution and Legal Code in a legal, responsible, and unbiased manner, not abusing my power, committing misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in any gross or excessive manner. I will act only in the best interests of The North Pacific, not influenced by personal gain or any outside force, and within the restraints of my legally granted power. As such, I hereby take up the office of [government position], with all the powers, rights, and responsibilities held therein.

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2. All government officials will be required to take the Oath of Office within one week of attaining office or be subject to removal from office following an automatic recall vote.
3. This Oath will be binding and violations are grounds for a recall.

Section 4.2: Election Law Definitions
4. "Abstentions" are not votes for or against any candidate, and may not be used to determine the results of any election. They may be used to for quorum, activity, or other purposes.
5. "Candidates" are those citizens who declare themselves, or have accepted a nomination by another Assembly member preceding the close of nominations, as a candidate for an office to be chosen at that election. Candidates may only stand for one office during a given Election Cycle.
6. "Election Commissioner" is an individual designated to supervise a given election. No one who may be a candidate in an election may serve as an Election Commissioner during it.
7. "Election Cycle" is defined as the period of time that begins on the first day on which nominations, or a declaration, of candidacy are made and concludes with the final declaration of results for an election. The dates for the Election Cycle will be designated at least 30 days in advance by the Delegate .
8. A "vacancy" in an office occurs when the holder of it resigns, is removed, abandons it . Vacancies are filled through a special election unless a it cannot be completed prior to the beginning of the general or judicial election cycle. Pending an election, however, a vacancy may be temporarily filled as provided by the Constitution, the Legal Code, or a rule adopted by the appropriate body.

Section 4.3: Overall Election Law
11. In General and Judicial elections, Election Commissioners will be appointed by the Delegate to oversee the nomination and election processes at least one week before the month in which the election begins. If an appointment of Election Commissioners has not been made by that time, the Chief Justice shall promptly make the appointment within 48 hours.
12. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy shall last for seven days.
13. Voting will begin three days after the period for nominations or declarations has closed and last for seven days.
14. If a run-off vote is required it will begin within two days of the first vote ending and it shall last for five days.

Section 4.3: General Elections
15. The election cycle for the terms of the Delegate and Vice Delegate will begin on the first day of the months of January, May, and September.
16. Non-incumbent candidates for Delegate or Vice Delegate may not obtain an endorsement level during the election cycle greater than the level authorized for members of the Security Council under Chapter 5.

Section 4.4: Judicial Elections
17. The election cycle for the 6-month term of the Chief Justice, the two Associate Justices, and the Attorney General will begin on the first days of the months of April and October.

Section 4.5: Special Elections
18. A special election will be held in the event of a vacancy in any elected office or position.
19. The Delegate, or if the Delegate is not available, the Speaker, or if the Delegate and Speaker are not available, any Court Justice, will serve as Election Commissioner for the special election.
20. The period for nominations or declarations of candidacy in the special election will last for five days, beginning within two days after the vacancy is noticed.
22. Voting will begin one day after the period for nominations or declarations has closed and last for five days.


Chapter 5: Security Council Law

1. Any laws regulating the activities of the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.
2. In this chapter, "Council" means the Security Council.

Section 5.1: Requirements
3. Members of the Council will maintain an influence level equal to or greater than Vassal.
4. Members of the Council will maintain an endorsement level within the range described in this Section.
5. The minimum level is defined as being 50 endorsements, or fifty per cent of the serving Delegate's endorsement count, whichever is least.
6. The maximum level is defined as 20 fewer endorsements than the serving Delegate's endorsement count, or eighty-five percent of said count, whichever is greatest.
7. Where the computation results in fractions, the count shall be rounded down.
8. The required range is to be applied in a reasonable manner, taking into account such factors as transitions between elected Delegates, the recall of a Delegate, or periods of Delegate inactivity.
9. The legitimate Delegate is exempt from endorsement requirements.

Section 5.2: Enforcement
10. If any Council member does not have the required influence level, or exceeds or does not meet the required endorsement level, the Vice Delegate will warn them. If the Council member does not come into compliance within at least fifteen days of the warning, the Vice Delegate will suspend them.
11. The Vice Delegate shall remove members of the Council whose member nation no longer exists or no longer resides in The North Pacific or resigns from the World Assembly.
12. The Vice Delegate will report any suspension or removal of a member of the Council to the Regional Assembly.
13. If a suspended member of the Council comes back into compliance with the endorsement and influence requirements, the Vice Delegate will reinstate them.
14. A majority of the Council may vote to determine that the continued membership in the Council of a member poses a security risk to The North Pacific and request approval from the Regional Assembly to remove the member from the Council.
15. The Speaker of the Regional Assembly will submit the request to an immediate vote of the Regional Assembly; approval will require a two-thirds majority.


Chapter 6: Government Regulations

1. Any Law regulating the operations of the government of the North Pacific other than the Election Commission, the Judiciary, and the Security Council must be listed in this chapter.

Section 6.1: Regional Assembly Membership Act
2. The Speaker will work with forum administration to process Regional Assembly applicants.
3. Assembly members must maintain a nation in the North Pacific.
4. Applicants must swear an oath, as follows:

Code:

[nation]TNP Nation[/nation]
[nation]WA Nation[/nation]

I, [forum user name], leader of The North Pacific nation of (your TNP nation's name), pledge loyalty to the region, to abide by its laws, and to act as a responsible member of its society. I pledge to only register one Nation to vote in The North Pacific. I pledge that no nation under my control will wage war against the North Pacific. I understand that if I break this oath I may immediately lose my voting privileges, permanently. In this manner, I petition the Speaker for membership in the Regional Assembly of the North Pacific.

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5. New forum members may who register as citizens or join the Regional Assembly must be made aware of the Criminal Code they are pledging to respect..
6. The Speaker will accept applicants with valid applications who are verified by forum administration not to be using a proxy or evading a judicially-imposed penalty.
7. The Speaker will process applications within 14 days. If the applicant is not rejected within 14 days, they will be automatically accepted to the Regional Assembly.
8. Regional Assembly members may not vote in any vote which began before they were last admitted.
9. The Speaker's office will maintain a publicly viewable roster of Regional Assembly members.
10. The Speaker's office will promptly remove any members whose removal is ordered by the Court, whose North Pacific nation leaves or ceases to exist, who fail to log in to the North Pacific forum for over 30 days.

Section 6.2: RA WA Verification and Confidentiality Act

11. The Speaker will designate a person who is not involved in any military operations to be the registrar of confidential puppets.
12. Assembly members with a World Assembly nation must inform the registrar of any nation of theirs which may attain World Assembly membership before it does so.
13. Unless granted permission otherwise by the Assembly member in question, if the registrar is informed of possible future World Assembly nations the registrar will keep that information in confidence and will not share it with anyone on pain of a minimum three months ban from the region unless the registrar observes such a nation waging war against the North Pacific.
14. The registrar will not inform their successor of confidential potential World Assembly nations; they may only report which Assembly Members have submitted such lists.

Section 6.3: Freedom of Information Act

15. The Delegate and appointed government officials will be delegated the task of informing the Assembly of any governmental action not already disclosed by the respective officers of the Executive.
16. All registered citizens residing in The North Pacific may request information from the Government through the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive.
17. The Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive will endeavour to retrieve information requested from the different departments of the government, who are obligated to release this information provided it will not and/or does not present a threat to regional security or unduly impinge on the privacy of private citizens, and
18. Citizens which do not receive this information for any reason not specifically designated in appropriate laws or regulations may file a request for the information in a regional court, where the Delegate and the designated officers of the Executive may present evidence that addresses any claim that release of the information impairs Regional security.
19. Information not disclosed because of issues pertaining to Regional security will be classified by the majority vote of the Court sitting as a three-member panel.
20. Information whose disclosure is deemed a security threat to the Region will be released by the affirmative vote of a majority of a three-member panel of the Court, no sooner than 2 months after the original request, once the threat no longer exists.
21. All activities by the designated regional intelligence services are exempt from this law.

Section 6.4: Mandatory Ministries

22. There will be an Executive Officer charged with the North Pacific's foreign affairs. They will ensure the continued operation of any embassies of the North Pacific.
23. There will be an Executive Officer charged with welcoming. They will be tasked with ensuring that nations founded in the North Pacific are appropriately greeted, that newcomers to the regional forum and to regional internet relay chats shall be welcomed and helped with any questions, and with the maintenance of regional FAQs.
24. There will be an Executive Officer charged with military affairs. They will carry out such legal missions as are authorized by the Delegate, expressly or categorically.
25. There will be an Executive Officer charged with governmental communications. They will report on events in the region.
26. An Executive Officer may sustain multiple roles defined by this Act.
27. The Regional Assembly may elect an Executive Officer should one of the roles defined by this act remain vacant for seven days or in connection with the Regional Assembly removing the Executive Officer charged with that role.

Section 6.5: War

28. A region or organization "at war" with TNP is one which has made a formal declaration, or made acts of war against The North Pacific, or vice versa, as deemed by a three-fifths majority vote of the Regional Assembly.
29. War does not constitute actions taken by or against any army of the North Pacific abroad unless the conflict meets the conditions above.
30. A state of war exists until a formal peace treaty, surrender terms, or similar, are recognized by the Regional Assembly.

Chapter 7: Cultural Declarations

1. This Chapter will include laws concerning the North Pacific's history and culture.

Section 7.1: Arms, Flag, and Seal
2. The following arms as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the coat of arms of the North Pacific:

3. Each institution in the North Pacific's government may establish for itself a seal which uses the arms of the North Pacific.
4. The arms of the North Pacific may not be used except to represent the North Pacific or an official regional entity.
5. The following flag, as designed by ThelDRan and revised by Eluvatar and Gulliver is adopted as the official flag of the North Pacific:

Section 7.2: Holidays
6. The first of January shall be known as Remembrance Day, and shall provide an occasion for Nations to remember those players who have left the region and the game of Nationstates.
9. The twenty-sixth of May shall be Manumission Day, and shall commemorate the end of the delegacy of Pixiedance, and celebrate the return of a democratic government to the region.
10. The seventh of July shall be Constitution Day, and shall commemorate the ratification of the Constitution of the North Pacific.
11. The twenty-eighth of July shall be Liberation Day, and shall commemorate and celebrate the overthrow of Great Bight and return of a native government to the region.
12. The thirteenth of November shall be Creation Day, and shall commemorate and celebrate the establishment of Nationstates; and provide an opportunity to extend fellowship throughout the NationStates communities.
13. The twenty-third of November shall be Founders' Day, and shall commemorate and celebrate the establishment of the first official forum of The North Pacific, and through it the community which has kept The North Pacific as the preeminent region in Nationstates.

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