Constitution of the Commonwealth of Montrose

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Constitution

This copy is as of July 5, 2021. For the latest version, click here.

The Commonwealth of Montrose is a group of players, all of whom are tied together under one centralized democratic rule but enjoy complete autonomy over their holdings. This document is a complete list of the rights, rules, and procedures pertaining to citizens of Montrose and the government thereof.

Property and Land Usage

  1. Property in Montrose is classified in three ways: estate, national, and international.
    1. Estate property is land and items owned by citizens.
      1. Estates may establish their own local laws, create internal systems of government, and conduct diplomacy with other estates.
        1. Local laws or courts can never outrank national ones.
      2. The land borders of each estate are to be roughly defined when a citizen joins Montrose.
      3. Estates may consist of multiple citizens, who may determine their own internal governing structure as per article 1.1.1.1, so long as it does not conflict with Montrosian law.
      4. None of the items, blocks, land, or anything else within an estate may be used by the Montrosian government or another citizen without the estate’s permission.
      5. The Montrosian government may offer to purchase estate land to add to national land, at a price agreed upon between the government and the estate.
      6. Estates may expand freely into general national land.
        1. The Header reserves the right to nullify such an expansion if it is deemed disruptive.
      7. Estates lose their estate rights if they:
        1. Deliberately forfeit all or part of them to another estate or the Montrosian government.
          1. In the latter case the forfeited property becomes national property.
        2. Renounce their Montrosian citizenship. (See article 10.2.1.1.)
        3. Are kicked out of Montrose. (See article 6.4.2)
    2. National property is land and items owned by the Montrosian government, which always retains this property unless changed by a diplomatic action, minor expansion by citizens (as in article 1.1.1.6.), or if it gives this property to citizens.
      1. The Header manages national property directly.
      2. Any land acquired by Montrose is initially national land unless otherwise determined.
      3. Within national land is administrative land, which is permanent property of the Montrosian government, and cannot be expanded into by estates as defined in article 1.1.1.6.
        1. This includes roads, administrative buildings, national production facilities, and navigable rivers.
      4. The Montrosian government may also administer protected forests, which function similarly to administrative land.
        1. Estates may claim land in protected forests, although the only structures permitted are those no larger than a reasonably-sized cottage.
        2. Protected forests also have stricter resource harvesting guidelines. (see article 1.2.3)
    3. International land is space given to other countries for specific purposes.
      1. They function as if a foreign entity held an estate within Montrose; the laws of the foreign entity may be in effect but Montrosian law takes precedence.
      2. The Header manages all distribution and revocation of international land.
  2. Resource harvesting.
    1. In national territory, citizens may harvest:
      1. Resources underground via mines starting on their own estate, under y=35.
      2. Ores exposed to the surface.
      3. Ores exposed in caves.
      4. Resources from animals (including taming).
      5. A reasonable amount of flowers.
      6. Vines, so long as they do not destroy the source vine.
      7. Water from renewable sources (those being non-waterfalls).
      8. Lava not in lava lakes exposed to the surface.
      9. Clay, gravel, and sand, so long as they replace the sediment taken with another sediment. (Dirt, sand, clay, or gravel.)
    2. In national territory, citizens may not harvest:
      1. Lumber from trees connected to other trees (however, trees standing alone may be harvested, so long as they are replanted).
      2. Underground resources (minus the aforementioned categories of ores) above y=35.
      3. Dirt connected to the surface. (dirt pockets under y=35 are fine)
      4. They may not make mineshafts starting in national land.
      5. The Header may approve a request to go around these restrictions.
    3. No resource harvesting except in article 2.2.1.1. is permitted in national forests.

Faction Claims

  1. Montrose will be represented in-game by a faction called “Montrose”.
  2. Roles
    1. The Header will be the leader of the faction. (***)
    2. All other members of The Circle will be moderators of the faction. (*)
      1. The Header may temporarily promote non-Circle members to moderator status for emergency purposes.
    3. All other Montrosian citizens will be normal citizens. (+)
  3. Claims
    1. Each citizen of Montrose is allotted 12 faction claims, for claiming locations on their estate.
      1. This limit is not to be exceeded, unless otherwise agreed upon by Assembly.
      2. Citizens may rent their unused claims to other Montrosian citizens or the Montrosian government, at weekly installations of payment.
        1. If they wish to revoke their sale of claims, they must wait until the current week elapses, unless the party allows them to prematurely.
    2. Estates may have parts thereof /f owner-ed to give access to solely their residents and other specified Montrosians.
    3. The remaining 8 faction power from the citizen will be spent on claiming locations on national land, stored for later use, or used as a “buffer” against land going over the claim limit due to deaths of citizens.

Assembly Roles

  1. The Assembly of Montrose is a legislative body of every active citizen of Montrose.
    1. Whether or not a citizen is active is determined by if they have the “Voting” role in Montrose discord. (See article 8.1.)
    2. Each citizen receives one vote.
      1. This includes the Header.
  2. Assembly decisions are always determined by a simple majority.
  3. Assembly decisions can only be initiated by a Montrosian citizen.
  4. Assembly decisions are always voted upon and determined by Assembly.
    1. This includes, exhaustively:
      1. Allowing estates to expand where two estates would dispute.
      2. The trials of crimes of citizens. (See article 6.)
      3. The ability to overrule a decision taken by the Header. (See article 4.1.)
      4. Elections of the Header.
      5. An amendment to the Montrosian constitution.
      6. A motion to recall the current Header.
      7. Admission of new citizens.
      8. Claiming and releasing land.
      9. Conducting votes of confidence.
        1. These votes are held once every other month, as proposals asking the Assembly if they are satisfied with the current Header.
        2. The proclamation of expediency (article 3.7) does not apply here.
          1. Rather, the vote ends after 4 days, and votes already submitted are counted relative to one another.
        3. The Header cannot vote in votes of confidence, except to break ties.
        4. If the motion fails, an election is automatically held, per article 3.8.
          1. The Header may run in this election.
      10. Conducting ongoing, binding diplomacy, such as war declarations and alliances.
      11. Approving and revoking visas for non-Montrosian citizens to be allowed into the faction.
      12. Issuing travel bans.
      13. As a country, taking actions not specified but not expressly forbidden in this document.
  5. Votes are to be given as simply an appropriate emoji reaction to the respective proposal.
  6. If there is a tie, the Header breaks it, effectively counting their vote twice.
  7. The Proclamation of Expediency:
    1. If a bill in Assembly receives no “no” votes in the first 24 hours of it being proposed, but not a simple majority required to pass it, it passes automatically.
    2. If a single “no” vote is given, the bill must be voted on normally.
    3. However, if the 24-hour limit has elapsed with only yes votes and discussion is still ongoing, the bill shall not pass until discussion is resolved.
      1. The definition of “resolved” here is determined by the Header.
    4. This is intended to both encourage political activity, as well as prevent the paralysis of Assembly caused by citizens simply not voting.
  8. Elections:
    1. When electing a new Header, 24 hours is to be given for nominees to announce their candidacy, and another 24 hours for Assembly to cast their votes.
    2. If the Header resigns, they continue to serve in their position until the election is complete.

Header Roles

  1. The “Header” of Montrose is the leader. They have a set of roles that are delegated to them. These are, exhaustively:
    1. Ambassador to the world on behalf of Montrose.
    2. The administration of national and administrative land.
    3. The command of the Montrosian military.
    4. The responsibility of refilling national storage chests to necessary levels as they empty.
    5. The ability to delegate roles otherwise left up to the Header.
      1. Those with these positions, with the express permission of the Header, may take actions otherwise noted in this constitution to be left exclusively up to the Header.
    6. The ability to issue “executive proclamations”.
      1. These are identical to bills except in that they do not need to be voted on; they go into effect immediately.
      2. Executive proclamations are only to be used in times of emergency when passing bills through Assembly would take too long or would otherwise be unfeasible.
    7. The enforcement of criminal punishments. (See article 6.6.)
    8. The ownership of the ingame “Montrose” faction. (See article 2.2.1)
    9. The ownership of the Montrosian discord server.
    10. The “ownership” with their google account of all Montrosian government documents.
    11. Conducting government trades. (See article 9.)

The Circle

  1. The Circle is a trusted group of individuals selected by the Header to assist with national tasks, based on demonstrated activity, integrity, and loyalty.
  2. The group enjoys a higher government status than most other Montrosian citizens, including:
    1. Moderator status in the in-game faction. (see article 2.2.2)
    2. Access to otherwise nonpermitted national areas.
    3. Access to more sensitive government information.
    4. Articles 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 come at the individual discretion of the Header.
  3. Members of The Circle are expected to be readily available to assist with national tasks and emergencies.
  4. Only active citizens are eligible for Circle membership, and long-inactive citizens are removed.

Crimes and Trials

  1. Committing, or attempting to commit any of the following are against Montrosian law, for Montrosian citizens:
    1. Conspiring with a foreign power to harm Montrose’s interests.
    2. Deliberate, unauthorized construction or griefing of structures/natural features outside or inside of Montrose.
    3. Acting on behalf of any foreign entity to do any of the following:
      1. Influence an Assembly decision.
      2. Steal from Montrosian national stockpiles.
    4. Deliberately leak reasonably sensitive Montrosian internal information without clearing it with the Header.
    5. Killing a non-Montrosian outside of war without their consent, unless in self-defense or otherwise necessitated.
    6. “Smuggling” state-produced goods (see article 9.) and selling them privately.
    7. The Montrosian government itself breaching the limitations and duties set by this document.
    8. Stealing, from other Montrosian estates, the Montrosian government, or foreign entities.
    9. Intentionally selling goods that are defective, mislabeled, or otherwise worse than as advertized.
  2. Committing, or attempting to commit any of the following are against Montrosian law, for non-Montrosian citizens: (Note: other, more egregious attacks on Montrosian interests not listed here are handled through diplomatic channels.)
    1. Deliberate, unauthorized construction or griefing of structures/natural features inside of Montrose.
    2. Stealing from Montrosian estates or the Montrosian government.
    3. Killing a Montrosian unprovokedly without their consent.
    4. Intentionally selling goods to a Montrosian that are defective, mislabeled, or otherwise worse than as advertized.
    5. Breaking a travel ban.
  3. Those accused of a crime are to be put on trial.
    1. A judge manages the trial, including jury selection, moderating the “debate” section of the trial, and announcing verdicts.
      1. The Header is the judge by default, though they may appoint another person to take this role.
    2. If the government is the one being prosecuted, the Header represents the defense.
    3. The offended party must choose to press charges and initiate the trial.
    4. If deemed necessary by the judge, the defendant may be imprisoned indefinitely before their trial, to prevent them from tampering with evidence or causing further destruction.
    5. Up to five active Montrosians (with the “Voting” role and not Unwillfully Inactive) who the judge deems impartial will be chosen randomly to serve as a jury.
      1. The prosecution, defendant, and judge may not be selected to serve on the jury.
      2. Jury members will be notified via DM that they have been chosen, and must respond with confirmation within 24 hours, or they will be replaced.
      3. If either the prosecution or defendant takes issue with the potential partiality of a jury member, they may request they be replaced with another eligible citizen.
      4. If there are less than five eligible citizens, the next highest number is used.
      5. In the case of article 6.8, the prosecution may bring in jury members from their own country, Montrose, or elsewhere.
    6. The trial is to be conducted in a purpose-made text channel in the Montrosian Justice System discord server.
      1. Both sides are given as much time as they need to demonstrate their points to the jury and to disprove the other side’s.
      2. Once the judge has determined the debate to be concluded, they are to call the jury into a private chat, to reach a verdict.
      3. Jury decisions are reached by a simple majority, but all members of the jury must cast their vote for a verdict to be valid.
  4. Any combination of the following may be given as punishment crimes:
    1. A court order demanding an amount of reparations be paid to an injured party, including labor required to repair damage or as reparations itself.
      1. These reparations can be decreased or waived by the injured party.
    2. The expulsion of the convicted citizen from Montrose.
      1. This decision must be forwarded to Assembly to vote on it as a normal motion.
      2. Article 10.2.1. applies here.
    3. Imprisonment.
      1. If the defendant has been imprisoned before their trial per article 3.4.6, half of the time they spent in prison beforehand is to be subtracted from the total amount they are sentenced to serve.
      2. If an acquitted player was held in prison prior to their trial, they will receive one diamond block per day they were held in prison as reparations, paid by the prosecution.
  5. The court may determine additional reparations for a citizen who emigrates during their trial, which would be enforced via proper diplomatic channels.
  6. Assembly may vote to extradite a citizen if they are wanted for trial by an extranational or international court.
  7. The Header ensures that court rulings are carried out, except in article 6.8.
  8. Foreign citizens may request to conduct trials through Montrose’s court system, based on Montrose’s or their own country’s laws.
    1. Montrose may not enforce punishments decided through its system unless for an unrelated reason, such as an alliance.
    2. Montrosian prisons may be used for the imprisonment sentences of foreign trials, as authorized by the Header.
  9. If a former citizen of Montrose is found to have committed a crime while they were in Montrose, they will be treated as a normal Montrosian citizen in court proceedings.
  10. Credible threats of vigilantism from the prosecution are grounds for the complete dismissal of a case. Justice will be served through court alone.

Amendment Process

  1. Amendments changing the nature of clauses within this document (not including syntax, grammar, minor word choice, typos, etc.) or adding new legislation may be engendered only by a vote within the Montrosian Assembly.
    1. Minor changes described above are to be done by the Header, as they are the “owner” of Montrosian government documents per article 4.1.9.
  2. Each amendment should be written as a google document and linked in the “Assembly” channel of the Montrose discord. Sharing settings should be set to “Anyone with the link can comment.”
  3. Amendments should be written into the document itself, as the edit history feature provides an accurate history of amendments.
  4. Seeing as all Montrosian laws are included in this document, any changes or additions to Montrosian legal code are considered amendments.
  5. Where possible, bills amending the Montrosian Constitution should be a google document that simply copies the original document and shows where specific clauses would be changed/added/deleted, for easier amending and reference.

Inactivity

  1. General inactivity.
    1. If a Montrosian citizen is inactive for 14 days, the following will happen:
      1. They will be given no more than one faction claim for their entire estate, as opposed to the normal 12.
        1. All their non-valuables will be moved into this singular claim.
      2. Their valuables will be moved to a safe, secure, claimed location in administrative land. These valuables will be stored in a chest clearly marked as belonging to the person who is inactive. Valuables here include, exhaustively:
        1. Diamonds/iron/gold/emeralds/lapis lazuli/redstone/netherite, in chests, ores, or as decorative blocks.
        2. Valuable crafted blocks (beacons, hoppers, enchanting tables, etc.)
        3. Diamond gear or non-diamond gear that is highly enchanted (one or two low-level enchantments don’t count here)
        4. Enchanted books.
        5. Novelty items such as maps, nametags, music discs, historical/sentimental artifacts, etc.
        6. Gunpowder/TNT.
        7. Blaze rods/powder.
        8. Obsidian.
        9. Shulker shells/shulker boxes.
      3. The inactive person may recover these valuables whenever they return to the server.
    2. Each citizen should receive pings in the #inactivity channel of Montrose discord informing them of the following:
      1. When they have two days or less before being autokicked from the faction.
      2. When they have been autokicked, which should include the date at which they will become inactive (set to four days later).
  2. Willful inactivity.
    1. If a Montrosian citizen is inexplicably inactive for 14 days, the following will happen, in addition to article 8.1:
      1. They will be given the “Willfully Inactive” role in Montrose discord to denote this, and their “Voting” role will be removed.
      2. They will be removed from any minister positions they hold.
        1. If necessary, the items (both valuables stored in a safe place or non-valuable items in the claim on their estate) of the willfully inactive person may be appropriated by the Montrosian government in times of war or another demanding emergency.
          1. This is viewed as a “commutation fee”, where the willfully inactive person, willfully not helping Montrose in its time of need, provides their items as a substitute for this expected help.
    2. If a Montrosian has been willfully inactive for six months, their estate may be annexed by the Montrosian government into national land, and their claims removed and items moved to general storage.
      1. They are not entitled to receive their old land upon returning if it is budgeted for other purposes by the Montrosian government, and must settle anew within Montrose.
        1. What remains of their stored valuables will be given back to them.
      2. They will also be removed as a member of The Circle, if they previously were so. (See article 5.4.)
  3. Unwillful inactivity.
    1. If a Montrosian citizen is inactive for 14 days, but provides a reason for this inactivity, the following will happen:
      1. They will be given the “Unwillfully Inactive” role in Montrose discord to denote this.
      2. Article 8.1 may be selectively or entirely ignored for them. This is up to the Header.
        1. For example, if a citizen goes on a trip for 20 days and can access discord on their phone, but not log in ingame, nothing should be changed. On the other hand, if they have indefinite computer issues but can log into discord on their phone, they should remain “Voting” but their ingame possessions should be subject to article 8.1.
        2. Unwillfully inactive citizens should have their situation reviewed after one month of inactivity, to determine if they should be moved to willfully inactive or not.

State Income

  1. The Montrosian government maintains a number of facilities to produce goods which are sold for profit or used internally.
  2. Montrosian citizens with access to these facilities may, barring particular restrictions or allowances from the Header, use them to produce for their own needs, but may not sell anything they produce.
  3. The price of each trade is determined by the Header.
    1. This price (either as a set price or a proportion to the purchase cost) should be publicly stated before sales actually commence.
  4. The actual sales are done through the Header, who may delegate this task.
  5. All proceeds go to the Montrosian treasury.
  6. The Header may sell resources from Montrosian general stockpiles.

Joining and Leaving

  1. Joining
    1. Prospective citizens must contact a Montrosian in order to join, who must motion for their joining in Assembly.
    2. A majority is required to admit a new Montrosian citizen. (see article 3.2)
  2. Leaving
    1. Montrosians are free to renounce their Montrosian citizenship at any time, at which point they have 24 hours before the following occur:
      1. The land on their estate becomes national land.
      2. Their personal property becomes national property, and is moved as needed to national storage.
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