The constitution

Bill Identifier: 20251210-0

Summary: the constitution duh.

Raw Contents:

u/Due_Camel6262, and the teenagers of Reddit, in the Year 2025 of the Common Era, decided to simulate the democratic and political processes using a subreddit.
To clearly define how the subreddit's institution should run, this very text, from now on referred to as "the Constitution", is here to set how the subreddit shall run.
Section 1: of the human rights
Some rights shall be considered non-negotiable and should be protected at all costs. This section shall define these basic human rights.
Article I – Humans are born and remain free and equal in rights.
Article II - Power to create, change and repeal the laws shall emit from the people. No violation of the concepts of Democracy and the rule of law shall be tolerated.
Article III - None shall make law establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the rights of Conscience be infringed, provided that expressing such thoughts does not trouble the public order established by the law.
Article IV – Liberty consists of doing anything which does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each human has only those borders which assure other members of the society the fruition of these same rights.
Article V – The council has the right to forbid only actions harmful to society. Anything which is not forbidden by the law cannot be impeded, and no one can be constrained to do what it does not order.
Article VI – The law is the expression of the general will. All the citizens have the right of contributing personally. It must be the same for all, either that it protects, or that it punishes. All the citizens, being equal in its eyes, are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents.
Article VII – No human can be accused, arrested nor detained but in the cases determined by the law, and according to the forms which it has prescribed. Those who solicit, dispatch, carry out or cause to be carried out arbitrary orders, must be punished; but any citizen called or seized under the terms of the law must obey at once; he renders himself culpable by resistance.
Article VIII - The right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Article IX – The law should establish only penalties that are strictly and evidently necessary, and no one can be punished but under a law established and promulgated before the offense and legally applied.
Article X – Any human being presumed innocent until he is declared culpable if it is judged indispensable to arrest him, any rigor which would not be necessary for the securing of his person must be severely reprimanded by the law.
Article XI - No person shall be subject to more than one trial, or one punishment for the same offense, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
Article XII – The free communication of thoughts and of opinions is one of the most precious rights of human: any citizen thus may speak, write, print freely, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
Article XIII – In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.
Article XIV - Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article XV – The society has the right of requesting an account from any public agent of its administration.
Article XVI - The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
(Article XVII – Property being an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of private usage, if it is not when the public necessity, legally noted, evidently requires it, and under the condition of a just and prior indemnity.)
Article XVIII : The right to be toxic. all citizens, as long as not being hateful, and just spewing an opinion, not hate speech, may be as mean or nice as they’d see fit-and be able to be reprimanded by their colleagues, but not moderators. If this citizen does break a rule however, they still break a rule. Article XIX (19): The right to toxicity against citizens of power citizens of power, such as moderators, presidents, council members, or any of the sort as seen fit as the president, may not reprimand a citizen for speaking out against themselves or their colleagues. MODERATORS AND THE REDDIT FILTERS STILL HAVE FULL DISCRETION, SECTION BY DUE_JOB
Section 2: of the council
The council shall be the legislative branch of r/TeenGovernment. It shall pass laws, act, bills, motions and constitutional amendments. Its power comes from the people and it has seven members. This section defines what this council is (precisely).
Article I - The council shall be elected by the members of the subreddit, every 1st sunday of the month from 00:00 UTC to 23:59 UTC
Article II - The council may pass different kinds of texts. These texts are:
- laws, bills, or acts, which are regular laws, that can be passed by a 50%+1 vote,
- motions, which are non-abiding texts expressing the majority opinion of the Council,
- constitutional amendments, which are modification of this very text, that need at least 2/3 votes in favour,
- no-confidence votes, to remove from office any high official who failed their duties or abused their powers.
The voting options are as following: Aye, Nay, and Abstain. Results are public.
Article III - The council shall only pass texts if a quorum of 50% of the elected representatives is reached. For a text to pass, the quorum must be reached and the Aye/Nay ratio must be equal or above what is defined by Section II, article II depending on the kind of text.
Article IV - The council may elect a Speaker, who announces which text is currently being voted on, moderates debates in the council and who shall take the place of the president under the conditions defined by Article VI of the 3rd Section of the Constitution. The speaker is elected in 3 turns. If any candidate for speaker ever gets 50%+1 votes, he automatically becomes speaker no matter what is the current round. First round is open to all legislators. Second round is only for candidates who received at least 20% of the votes during the first round. If no one got 50%+1 votes yet, a last round where only candidates with more than a third of the votes can run. If no candidates got more than a third of the votes in second turn, the two candidates with the most votes are picked.
Article V - Within 24 hours of the certification of the results of the council election, the members of the council shall make a constituent assembly deciding on the frequency of the sessions, duration of votes, and who shall be the speaker. These parameters can be modified during any session with a simple majority vote.
Section 3: of the president
The president shall be the highest representant of r/TeenGovernment both internally and outside. They shall sign or oppose propositions passed by the council. This section defines their exact powers an duties.
Article I - The president shall be elected by the members of the subreddit, every 1st saturday of the month from 00:00 UTC to 23:59 UTC. The presidential term starts the 1st Sunday of every month at Noon and ends the 1st Sunday of the next month at noon, unless the incumbent president is re-elected.
Article II - The president shall sign bills before they legally apply. Refusing to sign any bill result in a case of veto. President approval is not needed for a referendum or a unanimous vote in the council.
Article III - The president is responsible of defending the subreddit. In case of crisis such as brigading, the council can pass a motion giving mod powers to the president. These powers should be automatically removed after 72 hours, unless the crisis ends or the council pass a second motion, extending mod powers to 96 more hours, for a maximum total of 144 hours or 7 days. If the president or the council declares that the crisis has ended, mods powers should be removed from the president.
Article IV - The president is NOT immune from the law. Any minor infraction should be treated identical as any citizen unless it can be proven that such offense has been done for the greater good. If the president is found guilty of any serious criminal offense (such as murder) or political crime (such as bribery), they are automatically removed from the office.
Article V - The council may pass a motion of no-confidence against the president. if exactly 2/3 or more members of the council vote the no-confidence, the president is removed from the office.
Article VI - If the president is permanently or temporarily unable to hold the office due to impeachment, culpability of a serious criminal offense or political crime, death, resignation (temporary or permanent) or sickness, an interim president take its place until the next regular presidential election. The order of succession for the office is the following:
A person designed by the president at the start of their term (only applies for death, resignation or sickness),
The president of the council
An interim president elected by the council
An interim president elected in an emergency election
If the president is once again able to hold the office before the end of their term or that presidential elections happened, the interim president has to give up their power.
Section 4: of the supreme court
The supreme court shall be the final decider on what happens if someone or something breaks the law or what should happen if the laws are not clear. It also protects the constitution and shall stop what is against the constitution. This section defines the powers and duties of the court.
Article I - The court shall be constituted of 5 elected judges. Judicial elections shall happen every Second Sunday of the month.
Article II - There are 3 types of judiciary case,
Ban appeals: if a user is banned of the subreddit for 72 hours (3 days) or more, they can appeal to the supreme court if said user consider their sentence is not justified or more than what is needed. The moderator who banned said user can explain themselves during the trial.
Lawsuits: if a user ever practices unlawful actions related to the subreddit, a witness or a victim can fill a lawsuit against said user. the court will first vote if the defendant is innocent or not. If the defendant is found guilty, the court shall agree on the sentence of the culprit.
Constitutional clarifications: If a user finds the constitution too vague or finds an action taken by moderators, council, and/or the president unconstitutional, they can bring it to the supreme court. Any action deemed unconstitutional by the court should be reverted.
Article III - A court session lasts 36 hours. The first 24 hours are for debate between all involved parties, and the last 12 for voting. Multiple sessions can happen at once. Except for the final decision, cases of constitutional clarifications, or for incidents which could themselves start a lawsuit, everything which happens during a session is confidential, and no one shall reveal the details of the session except in aforementioned cases.
Article IV - Judges have a duty of neutrality. Judges can't make a post supporting a party, ideology or politician during their term, hold any office inside a political party higher than "member" and openly express their votes (even for votes on court decisions). Justices can resign from office to gain these rights back.
Article V - if any judge is found to have practiced illegal activities such as murder, corruption or breaking the duty of neutrality, they can be tried. In such a trial, they can't be part of the jury. If a court justice is found guilty of a political crime or serious criminal offence, they shall be removed from office.
Article VI - If a justice is removed from function, resigns from the office or dies, the remaining justices can decide to call for an election or not. If exactly or less than two thirds of the number of seats in the court are filled, an election must happen within 24 hours to fill the empty seats.
Section 5: of the moderation
The moderation shall be preventing unlawful posts and comments on the subreddit. It has a duty a neutrality regarding this power.
Article I - New moderators are chosen amongst redditors by the moderation team. When new moderator(s) are needed, an admin can appoint a trial moderator for 7 days, while an internal vote is held between moderators. If there are more moderators that explicitly endorse the trial mod than moderators who explicitly oppose them, the trial mod becomes a normal moderator at the end of the 7 days. If a moderator does not explicitly endorse or oppose a new moderator, this is counted as an abstention.
Article II - Moderators have the powers to remove unlawful posts and comments. Additional powers can be granted by an Admin. They also have the same rights as any other member, except when these rights contradict with their duty.
Article III - Moderators have a duty of neutrality. Moderators do not have the right to publicly express their vote or run for any RP office. A moderator can resign or get promoted to admin to gain these rights back.
Article IV - Admins are special moderators with all rights and less duties. They are the one promoting and demoting moderators and are the one banning members in case of rule violation. A moderator can become admin if a petition endorsing a candidate for admin is signed by at least 50% of all moderators, including at least 1 admin.
Article V - ToS and other rights and duties fully apply to moderators and admin unless stated otherwise in Section 5 of the constitution
Section 6: of the laws
The laws shall define the rights, outlaw reprehensible actions, create duties, and set regulations.
Article I - A citizen of the subreddit is any unbanned redditor aged IRL between 13 and 19 year old member of the subreddit.
Article II - Only citizens may participate to the community in any way.
Article III - All laws should be easily accessible, and thus, all laws, amendments and other legal texts must have a wiki page.
Article IV - All posts must be correctly flaired. Moderation discretion applies here. If a post is not properly flaired, the moderation can freely change its flair but not remove it unless it breaks any other rule.

Status: Passed

History