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Constitution of the Community of Hesperia
by C41, August 7, A. D. 1913
William James Sidis
[Note: C41 means, presumably, Citizen born April 1st ,
i.e., Sidis.] |
PREAMBLE
We, the people of Hesperia desiring that the law should allow full personal
liberty in all cases where the personal and property rights of others are not
violated, and wishing to organise a government to the end that this liberty may
be better obtained, do hereby form the Community of Hesperia and establish this
Constitution therefor.
ARTICLE I
Section I
1. Until the Legislature may assign some other meridian as standard, the
standard meridian shall be that meridian which passes midway between the
easternmost and westernmost points of the territory of the Community.
2. A day is defined as the average interval between two successive minimum
altitudes of the sun; and the average time of day of such minimum altitude shall
be called midnight.
3. A day is to be legally considered as ending at midnight.
4. An hour, or sixty minutes, is the twenty-fourth part of a day.
5. The time of day shall be indicated by the interval elapsed since the
preceding midnight; but twenty-four hours shall be added to times under one
hour.
Section II
1. A calendar year is a period of three hundred and sixty-five days, some
calendar years called bissextiles containing one more day.
2. Each calendar year shall be divided into twelve months, named in the
following order: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August,
September, October, November, December.
3. The days of each month shall be numbered in order, starting from the first
day of the month.
4. April, June, September, and November shall contain thirty days each; February
shall contain twenty-nine days in a bissextile and twenty-eight in other years;
while all other months shall contain thirty-one days each.
5. All calendar years shall begin on the first of January, and shall be numbered
in order, starting with the first solar calendar.
6. Bissextiles shall be those years and only those years whose numbers are
divisible by four but not by one hundred, or by four hundred but not by four
thousand.
Section III
1. All the days of each year, excepting the twenty-ninth of February in
bissextiles, shall be divided into groups of five days, called quintads; but the
twenty-ninth of February shall not belong to any quintad, the twenty-eighth of
February and the first of March being always considered successive days of a
quintad.
2. There shall be certain days in a year set apart as legal holidays; and, until
the Legislature may add to or alter the list the legal holidays shall be the
first of January, the twenty-ninth of February, the eighteenth of April, the
sixteenth of August and the twenty-ninth of November.
3. All legal holidays, whether provided by this Constitution or by the
Legislature, shall occur every year on the same day; except that the
twenty-ninth of February shall occur every bissextile.
Section IV
1. An interval of a given number of years shall be an interval between two days
of the same month and number, the difference in the year being the given number;
except that such an interval, beginning on the twenty-ninth of February and
ending in a year not a bissextile, shall end on the twenty-eighth of February.
2. An interval of a given number of months shall be an interval between days of
the same number the given number of months apart; but if the month at the end of
the interval contains no days of the same number as the day beginning the
interval, it shall end on the last day of the month.
3. The age of a person is defined as the interval elapsed since his or her
birth.
Section V
1. Each inhabitant of Hesperia shall be denoted by a name- number.
2. The name-numbers of all male inhabitants shall be odd; those of all female
inhabitants shall be even.
3.The day of any birth occurring in Hesperia and all other such obtainable
information as may be required by the Legislature shall be furnished to and
recorded by the officer appointed for that purpose, who shall also assign by lot
and record the name-number.
4. All natives of Hesperia shall have the name-number assigned at birth, except
in the case of changes of name-number which may be authorised for good reasons
by the Legislature, all such changes being recorded, together with the time
thereof.
5. Aliens entering the Community shall be assigned by lot name-numbers at the
entrance to the Community, which they shall use until they either leave the
Community or become naturalised citizens thereof.
6. All name-numbers of aliens shall be preceded by the distinctive letter A;
after the name-number of a native is changed, it shall be preceded by the letter
N; name-numbers of naturalised citizens shall be preceded by the letters C or
NC, according to whether they have or have not been changed since naturalisation.
7. The officers in charge of the naturalisation of citizens shall assign to the
naturalised citizens name-numbers which they shall use until it may be changed
under authority of the Legislature, all such name-numbers being recorded.
8. No two persons shall have the same name-number.
9. The signature of a person shall consist of a set of words which shall clearly
indicate his or her name-number, preceded or followed by any distinctive letters
that may precede or follow the name-number; provided that the signature of the
same person shall always consist of the same set of words (except in the case of
a change in name-number), that it be written in the handwriting of the person to
whom it refers, and that it be written by such person.
10. If the name-number of a citizen be changed, the name-number which that
citizen had before the change shall not be reassigned during his or her life;
and all signatures made before the change with the old name-number shall be
valid as if the change had not occurred.
Section VI
1. The Government of the Community of Hesperia shall issue labor certificates
are payment for its officers and employees, which it shall accept in exchange
for such of its goods and services as it offers for sale; such certificates
being called Hesperian money.
2. The ownership of Hersperian money shall be transferable.
3. Labor certificates may be issued in different denominations or values, every
such certificate containing a statement of its value, and equal values in
certificates of different denominations being exchangeable.
4. Until the Legislature shall provide otherwise, the value of a labor
certificate of the smallest denomination shall be called a cent; and the unit of
value shall be called a dollar, being equal in value to a hundred cents.
5. No money or other property shall be owned jointly, by two or more persons,
excepting when owned by the Government of the Community.
6. Money returned to the Government of the Community, whether in exchange for
sale or otherwise, may be reissued.
7. If the form of certificates issued by the Government of the Community be
changed, certificates of the old form shall still be considered legal money.
Section VII
1. All persons born under the jurisdiction of the Community of Hesperia, or
naturalised therein, shall be citizens of Hesperia, excepting such as have left
said Community and become citizens of another nation.
2. No person shall be prevented from leaving the Community, except for the
infraction of some law or the collection of an unpaid debt.
3. Citizens of Hesperia who become naturalised as citizens of another nation
shall not be readmitted to citizenship.
4. Persons resident in the Community within six months after this Constitution
goes into effect may be naturalised on application; but other applicants cannot
be naturalised until they have resided in the Community, continuously for two
years.
5. Naturalisation shall not be granted to any applicant therefor who has
infringed any of the laws of the Community during his or her residence therein.
6. Those citizens shall be voters who pass an intelligence test provided for
that purpose by the Legislature and the Board of Trade; said test to include a
knowledge of The Constitution and laws of the Community.
7. All aliens shall, before being admitted to the Community, pass an
intelligence test equivalent to that for voting, knowledge of the Community laws
not being required.
8. No person shall be naturalised as a citizen of Hesperia without a knowledge
of the Community laws equivalent to that for voting; and naturalised citizens
shall be voters and have all the other privileges of citizens who have passed
the intelligence test for voting.
9. All citizens who have not Passed the intelligence test for voting shall be
called minors.
10. Voters shall not be deprived of the right to vote except for the commission
of criminal acts, except that idiots and insane persons cannot vote.
11. The intelligence tests for voting and for admission of aliens to the
Community shall require ability to read and write in the English language.
12. Compliance with any religious belief or beliefs shall not be required in the
intelligence test either for voting or for admission to the Community, nor for
naturalisation as citizen of Hesperia.
Section VIII
1. Units of weights and measures shall he fixed by the Legislature; but until
they are so fixed the units shall be the metric units as defined in the
following clauses.
2. The metric unit of measure is a meter, to consist of one forty-millionth of
the meridional circumference of the earth; and one hundredth of a meter shall be
called a centimeter, one thousand meters being called a kilometer.
3. The metric
unit of weight is a gram, being the weight of a cubic centimeter of water at the
temperature of maximum density; one thousand grams being called a kilogram.
ARTICLE II
Section I
1. A contract is defined as a written or printed agreement between two or more
persons or between the Government of the Community and a person or persons,
bearing below it the signatures of both parties to the contract, and requiring
some action on the part of one or both of said parties.
2. Contracts between two persons are called private contracts; contracts to
which the Government of the Community is a party shall be called Government
contracts.
3. Contracts with an idiot or an insane person, and contracts for illegal acts,
or for the payment of an amount of money in exchange for the use of a less
amount, or for the cohabitation of a man with a woman, shall be void, that is,
legally non-enforcable.
4. Contracts with a minor shall be voidable at the option of the minor, but
shall become legally binding if the minor ratifies it on passing the
intelligence test.
5. No government contracts shall be made but by authority of the Board of Trade,
or under the charter of legally constituted Unions.
6. All government contracts shall bear the Government seal as the signature of
the Government of the Community.
7. Contracts requiring action from a person not a party to the contract shall be
void.
8. Oral agreements cannot be legally enforced.
9. Contracts may be rescinded by mutual consent of both parties thereto; or, on
violation of the agreement, by the party not violating the contract.
10. Suit cannot be brought for the violation of a contract more than seven years
after said violation.
11. Signatures or other consent obtained under violence or other illegal act or
threats thereof shall be void.
12. On violation of a valid contract which has not previously been
rescinded, the party violating the contract may be sued by the other party, who
shall name an amount of money as damages to be paid by the defendant; but a less
amount may be adjudged to the plaintiff, if the amount named should be proved
excessive.
13. If the agreement violated specifies the amount of damages to be paid in case
of violation, no damages shall be awarded in excess of the amount specified; and
if the agreement consists in paying an amount of money, no damages shall be
awarded in excess of that amount.
14. The performance of a contract shall not be required in the case of an event,
circumstance, or occurrence beyond the control of the parties to the contract,
such as to make the performance of the contract impossible.
15. All suits brought by or against the Government of the Community of Hesperia
shall be tried and decided by the Trade Court of Hesperia.
16. In a suit based on a contract not consisting in the payment of money, the
court may order the performance of the contract if such performance be possible,
or give the defendant the choice between such performance and the payment of
damages.
Section II
1. No law shall be valid if in contradiction with any provision or provisions in
this Constitution.
2. Provisions becoming parts of this Constitution after said Constitution goes
into effect shall be called amendments if they in any way annul, contradict,
modify, repeal, reverse, or alter anything previously contained in this
Constitution; otherwise they shall be called bylaws.
3. An amendment in contradiction with any previous part of this Constitution
shall betaken as authority over the passage it contradicted; excepting that if
the Constitution forbids the change, the amendment shall be void.
4. Any bylaw in contradiction with an previous part of this Constitution except
a subsequently passed bylaw shall be void.
5. No laws shall be valid whose passage is either not expressly granted or
prohibited to the body that passed that law, whether said body be the
Legislature, the Board of Trade, or a legally constituted Union.
6. No law shall be valid in the Community of Hesperia except those passed by the
Legislature, the Board of Trade, or the legally constituted Unions, and those
laws contained in this Constitution and any additions thereto.
7. If any law-making body has been delegated any powers by this Constitution,
some of which it prohibits thereto, the powers prohibited shall be considered
exceptions to the rights delegated, unless the powers delegated be in a
subsequent amendment.
8. Union laws conflicting with laws passed by the Board of Trade or by the
Legislature shall be void.
9. Laws which are void cannot invalidate other laws by conflict.
10. Laws of the Board of Trade conflicting with laws of the legislature shall be
void.
11. Any law made by a constitutional law-making body, that is, by the
Legislature, the Board of Trade, or by a legally constituted Union, shall be
void when in contradiction with a subsequent law passed by the same body.
12. Conflicts between the laws of two legally constituted Unions shall be
settled by the Board of Trade.
13. Provisions in the originally adopted Constitution which cannot be
constitutionally amended shall be valid against any other provisions in the
originally adopted Constitution.
14. Other contradictions in the originally adopted Constitution shall be settled
by a committee consisting of other presiding officers of the Legislature and of
the Board of Trade, as also the Judge of the Supreme Community Court.
Section III
1. No person shall be property.
2. All property shall belong either to individual persons or to the Government
of the Community; and no property shall be owned jointly by two or more persons.
3. The owner of any property may transfer its ownership to any other person who
accepts said transfer.
4. The owner of property may allow other persons the use thereof without any
transfer of ownership; and said owner may specify any conditions for temporary
possession of said property.
5. All goods made by a person while engaged in regular work as a member of a
legally constituted Union shall be Government property.
6. All money returned to the Government in return for any goods or services
bought therefrom, and all money before issue, shall belong to the Government of
the Community.
7. All articles made by a person otherwise than as stated in clause 5 of this
Section shall be property of the person making them, provided the material
originally belonged to that person and there was no contract providing
otherwise.
8. All property possessed by a person at death shall become property of the
Government of the Community; and all debts and credits of said person shall
become debts and credits of the Government.
9. All land within the jurisdiction of the Community of Hesperia shall be
property of the Government thereof.
10. All owners have the full and unrestricted use of their own property, except
for committing an illegal act or for interfering with the personal or property
rights of another person or of the Government of the Community.
11. Suits for damages can be brought by the owner of damaged property against
the person causing the damage, whether the latter caused the damage by direct
volition or intention, by criminal negligence, or through his or her property.
12. Suits for damages can be brought by an injured person against the person
causing the injuries, such injuries being caused in any of the manners described
in the preceding clause, provided that the injuries were not due to the direct
volition or intention of the person injured; and this exception shall also apply
to the preceding clause.
Section IV
1.
Responsibility for violation of the law shall not apply to idiots or insane
persons; but all such persons shall be placed under proper care of such members
of the Physicians Union as may be judged by that Union competent to assume such
charge.
2. The extent to which responsibility for violation of the law shall apply to
minors shall be determined by the Board of Trade; but in the case of such
violation by minors to whom such responsibility does not apply, the guardian of
such minor shall be responsible for the violation as if there had been injuries
caused by his or her property.
3. No person shall be compelled by law to do impossibilities.
4. Contempt of court shall consist only in refusal to carry out any orders that
the court may legally give; but this shall not apply to an appeal from a
District Court to the Supreme Court.
5. An illegal act or a violation of the law is defined as an act against the
provisions of a valid Community law, or which such law punishes by a deprivation
of liberty or property.
6. No person shall be deprived of liberty or property except for violating the
laws of the Community.
7. A criminal act or a crime is an illegal act which cannot legally be settled
by restitution or payment of damages.
8. Religious beliefs are defined as beliefs, opinions, or creeds, which are in
any way dogmatic or otherwise authoritative or which are in any way to be taken
on faith or otherwise without criticism.
9. Compliance with any religious beliefs shall not be required as qualification
for acting as witness or juror, or Judge, or Constituted Union.
10. The compliance or non-compliance with any religious belief shall not in any
way affect the responsibility of a person for violation of the law.
11. No person shall be responsible for a violation of the law if the action in
court be more than seven years after such violation; except that such exemption
from responsibility shall not apply to murder cases.
12. No person shall be considered responsible for any violation of the law due
to accident, unless said person could have prevented such accidents by a
reasonable amount of caution.
13. No person shall be punished for any act done in defense of his or her
personal rights.
14. Any person attempting any violation of the law by some overt act, or being
an instigator, accessory, or accomplice to such violation, shall be given the
same penalty as if such person had actually violated that law.
15. No one shall be compelled to confess violation of any law of the Community.
16. No person shall, after being acquitted, be tried again for the same offense.
17. In any trial, the defendant shall be assumed not to be guilty of the charge,
unless it be proved either by voluntary confession be the defendant, or by
conclusive direct or circumstantial evidence.
Section V
1. Each district shall contain a court, to be called a District Court, presided
over by a judge elected by the voters of the district for a term of two years.
2. There shall be a court called the Supreme Community Court, to decide cases of
appeals from the District Courts, and presided over by a judge elected by the
voters of the Community for a term of two years.
3. Besides the courts mentioned in the two preceding clauses, there shall be a
court called the Trade Court of Hesperia, which shall consist of a committee of
the Board of Trade, and which shall have such jurisdiction as may be indicated
in the second Section of the fourth Article of this Constitution.
4. No laws shall be used in any court within the Community of Hesperia for any
interpretation or decision excepting such laws as are contained in this
Constitution or any additions thereto, and such laws as have been passed by the
Legislature, by the Board of Trade, or by a legally constituted Union.
5. In all cases before the Trade Court of Hesperia and in all suits for damages,
a summons shall be issued to the defendant; but no summons shall be issued but
on probable cause.
6. All suits for damages between two persons shall be judged and decided by the
court of the district in which the defendant resides, and all criminal cases
shall be tried and decided by the court of the district in which the offense has
occurred, unless the defendant appeals to the Supreme Court.
7. All cases in a District Court or in the Supreme Community Court shall be
tried and decided by the judge of the court in which the trial takes place; but
the Legislature is authorised to name certain kinds of violations of the law for
which trial is to be decided by a jury consisting of twelve persons chosen from
the list of voters, exemption from jury duty being granted to physicians and to
guardians of minors.
8. All judges and jurors shall take an oath to decide their cases impartially
and according to the law of the Community; and all oaths shall consist of
Promises made verbally or in writing by the person taking the oath.
9. The Trade Court of Hesperia shall appoint in twenty-one of its members to act
as Judges for the District Courts and for the Supreme Community Court until
Judges ca be properly elected; and, in the case of a temporary vacancy in the
position of Judge of any of these courts, the Trade Court shall appoint one of
its own members to fill the vacancy.
10. Sentence shall be given in the Trade Court by the presiding officer thereof,
and in a District Court or in the Supreme Community Court by the Judge thereof.
11. All witnesses shall be required to take an oath, to consist of a promise to
tell only the truth and the whole truth in so far as he or she may know it.
Section VI
1. In any cases tried before a District Court, the defendant may appeal to the
Supreme Community Court if the evidence, or any part of it, in favor of the
defendant, has not been properly considered.
2. No appeal from a District Court to the Supreme Community Court shall be
granted on the ground of error in the indictment.
3. In the case of the commission of a crime, any person having direct personal
knowledge, or any member of the Police Union on probable suspicion based on
circumstantial evidence or on a warrant legally issued on probable cause, may
arrest the person charged with such crime.
4. Not appearing in response to a court summons shall be considered contempt of
court, except when disability or other unavoidable causes make such appearance
impossible; as also resistance to arrest.
5. Warrants and summonses for an accused person shall be issued only on the
filing of an indictment with the court which is to try the case; said indictment
to consist of as concise a description of the illegal act of which such person
is accused as may be adequate to show wherein the law was violated.
6. In the case of an arrest, the person arrested shall be told on request the
nature of the accusation on which the arrest was based; and in any case before a
court the indictment shall be read to the defendant at the beginning of the
trial, which shall, in a criminal case, occur within forty-eight hours after the
arrest, unless a longer time be necessary to obtain a jury.
7. At any trial, the defendant shall give an account of what happened at the
time stated in the indictment, after which any defense may be heard, and the
case argued by the plaintiff and defendant and the witnesses on each side.
8. If the defendant be found to have violated the law, but not as stated in the
indictment, such proof shall not constitute an acquittal, but the penalty for
the violation actually committed shall be administered.
9. In the case of trial by jury, the concurrence of three-fourths of the jury is
necessary to a conviction of the defendant.
10. In cases before the Trade Court, the cases shall be tried and decided by the
members of that court, the concurrence of three-fourths of said members being
necessary to a conviction of the defendant.
11. Warrants shall be issued either by the presiding officer of the Police Union
or by the Judge of the Supreme Community Court.
12. In a criminal case, the courts are empowered only to give the legal sentence
and to require restitution; in a suit, the courts may order the performance of a
violated contract, reparation, restitution, or payment of damages either in
money, property, or services.
13. Witnesses and jurors, as well as defendants who have been acquitted, shall
be paid in proportion to the time they have been kept, at a rate specified by
the Legislature; but, in the case of an acquittal, the plaintiff shall not be
thus paid.
Section VII
1. All penalties mentioned in this Section shall be alterable by the
Legislature, unless otherwise specified; but in no case shall the compliance or
non-compliance with religious beliefs affect the penalty in any manner.
2. Whoever shall imitate or attempt to imitate another person’s signature or
otherwise impersonate another person shall be punished by imprisonment for not
more than two years.
3. Whoever makes an imitation of a labor certificate with the intention of using
it in payment shall be punished by imprisonment for five years.
4. Any person in temporary possession of the property of another person or of
the Government of the Community who uses or attempts to use such temporarily
possessed articles as his or her own property or otherwise in violation of the
conditions specified by the owner of the property shall be punished by
imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than three years.
5. Whoever appropriates or otherwise takes possession of any articles without
the owner’s consent shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor
more than five years.
6. Whoever obtains property as mentioned in the preceding clause by illegally
entering the house or lodging which is occupied by another person shall be
punished by imprisonment for not less than three nor more than six years.
7. Whoever obtains property as mentioned in clause 5 of this Section by violence
or threats thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than four nor
more than seven years.
8. Whoever writes an agreement over a signature already made, or in any way
obtains or attempts to obtain any money, property, or services under false
pretences or by misrepresenting the amount, variety, or quality of the goods or
services to be given in return for such services or property, shall be punished
by imprisonment for not less than two nor more than four years.
9. Contempt of court shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred
dollars or the equivalent or by imprisonment for not more than two years or
both.
10. False statements by a witness under oath shall be punished by imprisonment
for not more than three years.
11. Whoever influences or attempts to influence the vote of any voter of the
Community or of any member of a legally constituted Union, of the Board of
Trade, or of the Legislature, of the Trade Court, or of a jury, or the decision
of a Judge of a District Court or of the Supreme Community Court by an
intimidation, reward, or offer of reward, shall be punished by imprisonment for
not less than two nor more than four years.
12. Any Judge or juror or member of the Legislature or of the Board of Trade
whose vote is influenced as described in the preceding clause shall be
thereafter disqualified from holding any of the offices hereinbefore mentioned,
and shall be punished by imprisonment for four years.
13. Violence is hereby defined as the willful or intentional use of physical
force to the bodily injury of another person.
14. Whoever uses or attempts to use violence in striking or otherwise touching
the body of another person without the latter’s consent shall be punished by
imprisonment for not more than four years.
15. Whoever by force confines or attempts to confine another person without the
latter’s consent so as to interfere with the movements of the latter, or
prevents or attempts to prevent the egress of such person from any rooms, house,
lodging, or other limited area, except in the case of arrest or imprisonment as
penalty for a crime, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor
more than three years.
16. Whoever by criminal negligence or otherwise unintentionally deprives another
person of life shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two nor more
than five years.
17. Whoever willfully and intentionally deprives another person of life shall be
punished by imprisonment for life.
18. Whoever destroys or attempts to destroy by fire or explosion the house or
lodgings of another person shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than
five nor more than seven years.
19. Any person who forces a man and a woman to cohabit without the consent of
one or both of the latter, or any man who cohabits with a woman without her
consent, shall be punished by imprisonment for six years.
20. Any woman who cohabits or attempts to cohabit with a man without his consent
shall be punished by imprisonment for three years, and, in case of a birth
resulting therefrom, shall be deprived of the right to draw the regular
disability insurance or birth payment; and this deprivation of payment shall not
be subject to change by the Legislature.
21. Any person cohabiting with a person of the opposite sex who is less than
eighteen years of age shall be required to pay a fine of four hundred dollars or
the equivalent.
ARTICLE III
Section I
1. The territory under jurisdiction of the Community of Hesperia shall be
divided into twenty contiguous parts called districts, containing as nearly as
may be the same number of voters.
2. The first apportionment of districts shall be made by the first provisional
Legislature when this Constitution goes into effect; and thereafter the
Legislature shall redetermine the boundaries of the districts at intervals of
ten years.
3. No redistricting shall affect the place of a trial of a District Court case
in which the indictment was drawn before the redistricting went into effect.
4. The voters of each Distract shall vote for a District Representative on the
twenty-ninth of November at intervals of two years, said representatives to take
office on the first of January following their election.
5. The voters of the Community shall elect twenty Representatives-at-large on
the twenty-ninth of November at intervals of five years, said representatives to
take office on the first of January following their election.
6. Each District Representative shall reside in the district by which he or she
was elected; and one Representative-at-large shall reside in each district.
7. The District Representative and Representatives-at-large, together with a
forty-first person chosen by the representatives aforesaid for a term of one
year, shall constitute the Legislature of the Community of Hesperia; and this
forty-first member thus selected shall be the President of the Legislature, and
shall preside over its meetings.
8. Until a Legislature can be properly elected, the Board of Trade shall act as
provisional Legislature; but while it is so acting, any of its actions must
contain a statement whether such action was done by it in the capacity of Board
of Trade or in that of provisional Legislature.
9. The Legislature shall have only such powers as may be expressly delegated to
it by this Constitution.
Section II
1. Each member of the Legislature shall have one vote therein, but the President
of the Legislature shall have no vote, except in case of a tie.
2. All members of the Legislature, of the Board of Trade, or of any legally
constituted Union, as well as all Judges and all other elective or appointive
officers shall be regularly qualified voter in the Community.
3. Proposed bills shall become law if passed by a majority of the votes cast
thereon in the Legislature, if the Legislature has power to make such laws.
4. A quorum of the Legislature shall be twenty-seven members thereof.
5. All bills in the Legislature shall be proposed either by a member thereof or
by the popular initiative as described hereinafter.
6. Any law of the Legislature can be repealed by the voters of the Community as
hereinafter described.
7. Laws proposed and passed by voters of the Community shall be considered laws
of the Legislature.
8. A member of the Legislature may be expelled therefrom either by a vote of
thirty members thereof or by popular recall as hereinafter described.
9. Members of the Legislature and the Board of Trade shall be paid at a rate
determined by the Legislature with the consent of the Board of Trade; the
aforesaid payment to be covered by an issue of labor certificates.
Section III
1. Any bill proposed by a petition signed by one-tenth of the voters
of the Community shall either be put to vote in the Legislature or be submitted
to the voters of the Community; and the Legislature shall decide in each case
which of the two alternatives is to be taken.
2. Such bill shall become law if acceded to by majority of the votes cast.
3. On petition signed by one-tenth of the voters of the Community, any specified
law of the Legislature shall be referred to the voters of the Community within
fifteen days; the election on such question to take place on the twenty-ninth of
November if the petition be received between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth
of that month.
4. The Legislature may, by a majority vote, submit any of its laws to the voters
of the Community.
5. When a property signed petition for the passage of a law shall be received by
the Legislature, either it shall be put to vote therein or an election therefore
shall be declared by the Legislature within forty-eight hours.
6. The action of the majority vote on a referendum shall go into effect five
days after the special election therefore.
7. No law proposed and passed by the voters of the Community shall be valid if
it would not have been valid if passed by the same legislative powers as the
Legislature.
Section IV
1. All officers elected by the voters of the Community, as well as the President
of the Legislature and members of the Board of Trade, shall be subject to recall
or expulsion by a majority vote of the voters of the Community.
2. All officers elected by the voters of a District, including the Judge of the
District Court and the District Representative, shall be subject to recall by a
majority vote of the voters of said District.
3. An election on the question of a recall shall be declared by the Legislature
on petition signed by twenty-five per centum of the voters authorised to vote on
such recall, if said petition contains an adequate reason for such recall.
4. In an election on recall in an elective office, all persons against the
recall shall vote for the person whose recall is being voted on; any person in
favor of the recall shall vote for some other person to occupy the office.
5. The recall shall take place if the votes thereforeconstitute a majority of
the votes cast, and the person who receives the greatest number of votes in
favor of the recall shall be appointed to the office until such time as the term
of the person recalled would have expired if the recall had not taken place.
6. Recalls decided by an election shall take effect five days after.
7. Election on recall shall take place not more than fifteen days after the
petition therefor has been received by the Legislature; and such election
shall take place on the twenty-ninth of November if the petition be received
between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of that month.
Section V
1. Every person who passes the intelligence test for voting shall be registered
by an officer appointed for that purpose as a voter in that district in which he
or she resides; similarly in the case of a naturalised citizen of the Community.
2. Change of residence of a voter shall be reported to the officer in charge of
the registration of voters; and the district for which a voter is registered
shall be changed if the District in which the voter resides is changed either on
account of a change of residence or because of a reapportionment of districts.
3. All ballots not signed by the person casting the vote shall be void; and if
there be more than one ballot with the same signature on election on the same
question or for the same office, all of those ballots shall be void.
4. Ballots with a false or fictitious signature, or with the signature of a
person not a voter, shall be omitted in the counting.
5. There shall be in each district at least one polling place for the use of the
voters in that district; and all polling places shall be in charge of a warden
appointed for that purpose.
6. Sample ballots and a list of the questions to be voted on shall be posted in
a conspicuous place at or near the entrance to each polling place at least two
days before the election.
7. All votes in an election shall be cast either by the voter appearing at the
polling place in person and dropping in the ballot box a ballot of the regular
form properly marked, or, when the voter cannot come to the polling place, by
dropping in the ballot box a statement signed by said voter describing how he or
she wishes to vote.
8. All ballots for election to an office shall contain the name-numbers of
persons who, by their own request, have entered themselves as candidates for
that office; and all such voluntary candidates shall file a motto of not more
than fifteen words expressing what they intend to do if elected, said motto
being placed on the ballot below the name of the candidate who filled it.
9. Any voter can vote for a candidate whose name is not on the ballot.
10. After the polling places have closed, the warden of each polling place shall
count and make a written report of the number of votes on each side of each
question or for each candidate for an office; and all the votes on each side
from all the polling places shall be added together and the results stated in a
written report made by the officer for the registration of voters.
11. Willful or intentional error in the written reports required in the preceding
clause shall be subject to the same penalty as bribery.
12. In the case of vacancy in any elective office due to disability, absence
from the Community, resignation, death, trial, expulsion, or imprisonment, an
election for that office shall be declared to take place within fifteen days of
the time that the vacancy started, said election to be by the voters regularly
authorized to vote for that office; the election to be on the twenty-ninth of
November if such vacancy started between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of
that month.
13. All regular elections for an office, except in the case of recall or
vacancy, shall take place on the twenty-ninth of November, such elections to be
called general elections, all others to be called special elections.
14. All officers elected at a general election shall take office on the first of
January next following the election.
Section VI
1. The Government of the Community of Hesperia shall publish every first of
January a copy of this Constitution, including all bylaws and amendments which
have been made part thereof before that day; as also the laws of the Legislature
which were passed before that day.
2. Each law of the Legislature shall, after being passed, be published and
copies thereof distributed to all voters and all aliens.
3. All aliens on being admitted to the Community, and all minors on passing the
intelligence test for voting, shall be given a copy of the Constitution and laws
for the preceding first January, as also a copy of all laws of the Legislature
passed since that date.
4. Ignorance of the law shall excuse no one.
Section VII
1. The Legislature shall have power to make laws to prevent violence or any
other interference of any person with the personal or property rights of
another;
2. To alter the penalties provided in the last Section of the preceding Article
of this Constitution, except as otherwise provided;
3. To provide for the building of streets, roads, to name them, and to regulate
traffic thereon so as to prevent blocking of traffic, or other traffic
interference;
4. To provide for the change of name-numbers of citizens;
5. To provide for proper sanitary conditions in the streets and roads and on
other Government property, and to establish quarantine laws;
6. To fix the salaries of Judges, members of the Legislature and of the Board of
Trade, witnesses, jurors, and of persons occupying offices filled either by
election or by or under authority of the Legislature;
7. To appoint or provide for the appointment of officers for election,
registration, and admission of aliens;
8. To prevent explosions or any unreasonable noise or disagreeable smell;
9. To make, or authorize the making of, prison regulations;
10. To provide jury trial for certain violations of the law;
11. To regulate all elections, and to make rules concerning its own meetings;
12. To provide for the forms and denominations in which money is issued, and to
establish a standard meridian, as well as standard weights and measures
otherwise than as already provided in this Constitution;
13. To prevent, regulate, or restrict, cohabitation of man with a woman when one
of the parties thereto has not proper health conditions, or is insane or
criminal;
14. To provide (with consent of the Board of Trade) what conditions the
intelligence test for voting shall consist of;
15. To enforce any provision or provisions in this Constitution;
16. To establish rules on naturalisation of citizens;
17. To provide the qualifications for elective and appointive officers and for
members of the Board of Trade;
18. To make any laws which may be necessary for the execution of any of the
powers granted to it in this Section or elsewhere in this Constitution;
19. To provide penalties for violation of any of its laws.
Section VIII
1. No law shall be passed by the Legislature or by any other law-making body
which shall require compliance with any religious beliefs or requiring such
compliance as qualification for being a voter for admission to the Community,
for naturalisation as citizen thereof, for being a witness or juror, for taking
an oath, for occupying any Government office, or for being a member of any
legally constituted Union; nor shall any such law be made enforcing any
religious beliefs.
2. No law shall be passed by the Legislature which shall apply to any action
taking place at any time before the twentieth day after the passage thereof.
3. No penalty shall be provided by the Legislature for violation of any law
excepting payment of damages, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or
the equivalent, imprisonment for not more than seven years (except that for
murder life imprisonment may be provided), probation, or exclusion from the
Community.
4. No titles of nobility shall be granted by the Community of Hesperia.
5. The Legislature shall not pass any law restricting or regulating cohabitation
of a man and a woman otherwise than as specially mentioned in this Constitution
as originally adopted; nor shall any formality or license be required to precede
such cohabitation; nor shall any person be prevented from cohabitating with more
than one person of the opposite sex when cohabitation with any one of them would
be allowed; nor shall either party to such cohabitation be required to pay any
expenses for the other; nor shall any person be prevented from invalidating a
consent to such cohabitation be legally recognised.
6. No law shall be passed in restriction of the freedom of speech excepting to
prevent false testimony in court or other violation of oaths or any other case
to the contrary expressly mentioned in this Constitution.
7. No law shall be passed which shall regulate what any person shall wear,
excepting that the Legislature may require prison uniforms and that the Board of
Trade may require members of certain Unions or persons having particular
positions in certain Unions to wear special Union badges while engaged in
regular work in such positions; such Union badges not to be more than thirty
centimeters in height nor more than twenty centimeters in width.
ARTICLE IV
Section I
1. The Board of Trade shall consist of three members of every Union, every
member elected by the Union which he or she represents and is a member of, for a
term of two years.
2. The Board of Trade shall select one of its members as presiding officer, to
be called the President of the Board of Trade.
3. Each member of the Board of Trade shall have one vote in the meetings
thereof, except in case of a tie.
4. Any member of the Board of Trade may be expelled therefrom by the concurrence
of two-thirds of the members of said Board.
5. When this Constitution goes into effect, each Union then recognised shall
elect three of its members as representatives in the Board of Trade, those
representatives to hold office for two year beginning at the time of their
election; and thereafter any Union, on being legally constituted, shall elect
three members of the Board of Trade for a term of two years.
6. At the expiration of the terms of any of the members of the Board of Trade,
or when such member is expelled or otherwise recalled, or on the death or
resignation of such member, or in any other case of vacancy, the Union in whose
representation the vacancy occurs shall fill said vacancy by electing a new
member to the Board of Trade.
7. Any member of the Board of Trade resigning membership of the Union which he
or she represents shall thereby resign membership of the Board of Trade.
8. Any member of the Board of Trade may be recalled by a majority vote of the
Union which he or she represents.
9. The Board of Trade shall have only those powers expressly granted thereto by
this Constitution; and it shall have the power to repeal any action of a legally
constituted Union, unless such repeal be expressly forbidden by this
Constitution.
Section II
1. The Board of Trade shall appoint a committee consisting entirely of members
of said Board, to be known as the Trade Court.
2. Members of the Trade Court shall remain members thereof during their term of
membership in the Board of Trade, unless they be expelled from said Court on
adequate reason by the Board of Trade or by the Trade Court, or unless they have
resigned from said Court.
3. Any member of the Trade Court acting as Judge pro tempore of a District Court
or of the Supreme Community Court shall be suspended from membership in the
Trade Court and in the Board of Trade during the time he or she acts thus as
Judge.
4. Each member of the Trade Court shall have one vote therein, except the
presiding officer elected by said Court, who shall have no vote.
5. The presiding officer of the Trade Court shall take indictments, issue
summonses, preside over trials, and declare penalty in case of conviction, for all cases tried in said Court.
6. The Trade Court shall have power to decide suits for damages brought either
by or against the Government of the Community of Hesperia, all cases against
minors, and all cases involving the respective rights of a minor and his or her
guardian.
7. No case shall be convicted before the Trade Court, except with the
concurrence of three-fourths of the votes therein.
8. In a case in the Trade Court between a minor and his or her guardian, the
Trade Court shall have power to transfer the minor to another guardian, or to
expel the defendant from the Guardians’ Union, if the guardian is convicted.
Section III
1. Any person making an invention which shall be judged by a committee of the
Board of Trade, (to be known as the Patent Committee) to be deserving of that
distinction shall be granted a patent, which shall give the inventor the right
to take charge of the manufacture and (if the invention be for sale) the sale of
said invention for the Government of the Community of Hesperia, or to delegate
such charge to any other person whom he or she may designate; such charge to
continue for a period of three years.
2. Any patentee shall, if the article patented be for sale, receive twenty per
centum of the money returned to the Government of the Community through the sale
of that article.
3. If an article patented is not for sale, but is a machine for the use of the
Government of the Community or other article or contrivance producing goods or
services in exchange for which the Government of the Community of Hesperia
receives money, the patentee shall receive twenty per centum of as much of the
price of the goods or services aforesaid as may result from their having been
produced by the article presented.
4. If the article patented be not for sale, but not as mentioned in the
preceding clause, the patentee shall receive from the Government of the
Community twenty per centum of the amount of labor certificates that said
Government would receive therefrom if said article had been for sale.
5. If a person who has received a patent delegates the management of the trade
to some other person, the latter shall be paid thirty per centum of the
inventor’s salary provided for in the three preceding clauses.
6. All patent payments provided in this Section shall be given by the Government
of the Community for three years following the granting of the patent; at the
end of which time the Patent Committee shall find the average payment therefore
given to the patentee, who shall receive said average rate for ten years
thereafter.
7. An author who has his or he book or other writing duly printed and published
by the Printing Union may, on the approval of a committee of the Board of Trade
to be called the Copyright Committee, be given a copyright, which shall give
said author the right to receive seventy per centum of the money received by the
Government of the Community in exchange for said publication.
8. The Board of Trade shall have power to declare a penalty for copying a
passage from a copyrighted book or other writing during the life the author
without said author’s consent; but no penalty shall be declared by the Board of
Trade which the Legislature is expressly forbidden to declare.
Section IV
1. All territory under the
jurisdiction of the Community of Hesperia shall be property of the Government
thereof, and shall be subject to regulation by the Board of Trade, excepting
that streets and public buildings and land shall be regulated by the
Legislature.
2. The rights of control of
street railway shall be arranged by agreement between the Board of Trade and the
Legislature.
3. Houses for dwelling shall
be built under the direction of the Board of Trade and of the Builder’s Union with various accommodations, each house having adjoining land.
4. Besides these houses,
lodging shall be provided for persons staying in the Community a short time.
5. The Board of Trade shall
have power to declare a penalty for trespassing, which offense is to consist of
entering the house or lodging of another without the latter’s consent, or
remaining therein after being ordered by the occupant to leave.
6. Persons occupying houses or
other lodgings shall pay for the right to do so three per centum of what would
be the price thereof should it be for sale, such payment to be given each year.
7. No houses or other lodgings
shall be given for the joint use of two or more persons; but no person shall be
prevented from admitting any other person into the house or lodging in which he
or she lives.
8. The rights of any person to
any house in which he or she is legally entitled to live shall be arranged by
contract between that person and the Government of the Community, excepting in
so far as such rights are provided in this Constitution.
9. Land used for manufacturing
places, offices, or stores controlled by the Government of the Community, as
well as street and railway routes, shall be property reserved for the use of the
Government of the Community.
10. On the construction of
a street or railway through ground previously occupied by houses or lodgings,
such buildings shall be destroyed, but the Board of Trade shall provided other
houses or lodgings for the use of the occupants of the destroyed buildings.
11. There shall be in each district
at least one store for the sale of goods by the Government of the Community of
Hesperia.
Section V
1. The Board of Trade shall
have power to organise legally constituted Unions and to accept petitions for
such organisation when signed by one-twentieth of the voters of the Community;
2. To grant and alter the
charters of legally constituted Unions, and to dissolve such Unions if the
demand for the goods or services produced thereby be not sufficient to warrant
its continuation;
3. To establish and regulate
systems of Government insurance;
4. To elect any of its own members as
members of the Trade Court or of other committees of the Board of Trade;
5. To name, order the
construction of, provide routes for, and regulate the traffic, on railways, the
consent of the Legislature being necessary for the construction and routes of
street railways;
6. To make regulations and
laws concerning land, excepting such land as may be under control of the
Legislature, to reserve any land under its control for the use of railways
routes, and to provide a penalty for trespassing;
7. To repeal any action of a legally
constituted Union;
8. To provide for the issue of labor
certificates, in the forms and denominations provided by the Legislature;
9. To expel any of its own
members by a two-thirds vote;
10. To regulate the conduct
of its meetings;
11. To provide the amount
of disability insurance for birth, of the regular birth payment, and of the
allowance for minors;
12. To provide for the regulation and
conduct of the intelligence test for voting;
13. To make regulations and laws
concerning patents and copyrights;
14. To provide a penalty for
violation of copyright and for interfering with another person’s correspondence
by telegraph or mail;
15. To fix the rate of exchange
between foreign currency and Hesperian labor certificates;
16. To make any regulations and laws
concerning the responsibility of minors, and concerning any education given by
the Government of the Community of Hesperia either to minors or to other
persons;
17. To make any laws and regulations
concerning mail, telegraph, and other means of correspondence and transportation
controlled by the Government of the Community of Hesperia;
18. To make any laws which may be
necessary to carry out any of the powers given to it either in this Section or
elsewhere in this Constitution;
19. To delegate any of its powers to
committees appointed in accordance with clause 4 of this Section, excepting
those powers granted in clauses 4, 7, 9, 14, and 18 of this Section.
Section VI
1. Government currency of
other nations shall be exchanged on request for Hesperian labor certificates at
a rate to be determined by the Board of Trade in accordance with clause 15 of
the preceding Section; and any person leaving the Community of Hesperia may
receive foreign currency in exchange for Hesperian labor certificates at the
same rate.
2. The Government of the
Community of Hesperia may import goods from other nations by paying in exchange
either exports or the currency of the other nation or any other sort of payment
agreed upon; and said government may receive either foreign currency or imports
or any agreed form of payment in return for exports.
3. The Government of the
Community of Hesperia shall lay no taxes either on imports or exports or on any
other goods, property, or money, or any taxes on persons.
Section VII
1. Neither the Board of Trade
nor any of the committees thereof nor any legally constituted Union shall have
powers not expressly delegated to them by this Constitution.
2. The Board of Trade and the
Unions shall have no power to declare penalties, except as mentioned in clauses
6 and 14 of Section V of this Article; and no penalty shall be declared which
the Legislature is not authorised to declare by clause 3 of Section VIII of the
third Article of this Constitution.
3. The Board of Trade and the
legally constituted Unions shall not be allowed to make any laws whose passage
is forbidden to the Legislature in Section VIII of the third Article of this
Constitution; except that Unions may make laws to take effect immediately.
4. No penalties shall be
provided by the Board of Trade unless a copy of the law in which such penalty is
declared is distributed to every voter and to every alien in the Community.
ARTICLE V
Section I
1. All Government employes
engaged in the same industry shall be organised together into a Union, excepting
that those employed in an industry based on a patented invention shall not be
organised.
2. At the time of the adoption
of this Constitution, such Unions as may be legally constituted by this
Constitution shall be organised and elected members of the Board of Trade; as
also all industries carried on within the Community, excepting those essentially
and entirely depending on personal services.
3. Any member of a Union, on
being appointed as presiding officer or representative in the Board of Trade for
that Union, shall be excused from regular Union work during his or her term of
office.
4. Each member of a Union
shall have one voter therein, except that the presiding officer shall have no
vote, except in case of a tie.
5. Any member of a legally
constituted Union who is elected to the Legislature or some other elective or
appointive office shall be suspended from membership of said Union until the end
of the term of office.
6. The Board of Trade may, by
a majority vote of its members or on petition of one-twentieth of the voters of
the Community, organise any industry or trade into a Union; and all such Unions,
as well as those described in clause 2 of this Section, and those which are
organized following a patent or the buying of a private business, shall be
called legally constituted Unions.
7. All Unions legally recognised at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall be given a
charter by the Board of Trade within fifteen days after the election of the
first Board of Trade, such charter to contain a definition of the various rights
of said Unions; and each Union thereafter, on being legally constituted, shall
be similarly given a charter by the Board of Trade; said Board having the right
to alter the charter of any legally constituted Union at any time, on twenty
days’ notice.
8. Each Union may decide on
the qualifications of its own members, with the exceptions noted in this
Constitution; and it may also provide the reasons for which a member can be
expelled therefrom.
9. No person shall in any way
be compelled to do any sort of work or service, either for the Government of
Community or otherwise, except in the case of a person convicted of a crime; but
this clause shall not be construed so as to invalidate contracts with the
Government of the Community of Hesperia for services, membership of any Union,
or occupation of any position.
10. The Physicians’ Union
is hereby declared a legally constituted Union; and the Legislature shall have
the power to declare a penalty for practicing medicine in the Community of
Hesperia without being a member of the Physicians’ Union; but any persons
entering the Community who are legally entitled to practise medicine outside the
Community shall, on application, be admitted to the Physicians’ Union.
11. No charges shall be
made for admission to any legally constituted Union or for remaining a member
thereof.
12. No religious
qualifications shall be required for becoming or remaining a member of any
legally constituted Union or of the Board of Trade or of any committee thereof.
Section II
1. Disability is hereby
defined as inability to engage in regular work on account of sickness or
accident, provided that such sickness or accident has not been caused by the
direct volition or intention of the person thereby disabled.
2. Any person who is obliged
to cease work as a member of a Union on account of disability shall be given a
salary, to be known as disability insurance, equivalent to one-half the average
rate of pay which he or she has obtained in the past three months from that
Union, or during the whole time of membership, if such person has been a member
thereof for less than three months.
3. Disability insurance shall
be paid on the same day of every quintad starting from the acceptance of the
application therefor.
4. Women who are under
disability on account of being about to give birth shall receive disability
insurance at a rate specified by the Board of Trade, the payment thereof to
continue till thirty days after the birth; but no change in such rate shall take
effect less than one year after being announced.
5. In the case described in
the preceding clause, an additional payment, known as birth payment, shall be
made for two years starting from the time of birth, and equal to twice the rate
of the disability insurance.
6. Any member of a Union, on
attaining the age of sixty years, may retire from membership of said Union and
receive an old age pension, at a rate equal to the average rate of payment which
he or she has received from the Government since passing the intelligence test
for voting.
7. All disability insurance,
birth payments, and old age pensions, shall be covered by an issue of labor
certificates.
Section III
1. Any member of a Union may charge
payments to be made to the Government of the Community in exchange for goods or
services, but no person shall be allowed to charge payments to a greater amount
than his or her payment for four months during any period of one year; and such
right shall be extended to any person receiving a regular salary from the
Government of the Community.
2. A charged payment shall be
collected by deducting fifty per centum from the wages or other salary received
by the person charging the account, until the full amount is collected; the last
deduction being less than fifty per centum if the full percentage is not
necessary for the collection of the full amount.
3. Any person ceasing to
receive regular payments from the Government of the Community shall be required
to pay directly to said Government all unpaid sums which he or she has charged
to himself or herself in accordance with clause 1 of this Section.
4. Fines may be included in
the charge account provided in clause 1 of this Section, provided they are not
greater than the limit of charge account provided in said clause.
5. Damages adjudged for
payment by one person to another may be collected from the former by the charge
account method provided in this Section, provided such damages do not exceed the
limit of charging; and the amounts thus collected being paid to the latter
person by the Government of the Community.
Section IV
1. The Government of the
Community shall be empowered to buy any business or other establishment
producing profit to the owner, unless such profit be obtained by essentially
personal services given directly by the owner.
2. When the Government of the
Community buys any such establishment of profit, it shall pay the owner thereof
an amount of money equal to forty times the average yearly net profit accruing
to the owner from said establishment during the time that he or she owned it.
3. When any establishment of
profit is bought by the Government of the Community in accordance with the two
preceding clauses, all persons employed in such establishment shall become
members of any legally constituted Union, if there be such, which does the same
kind of work as was done in said establishment; and if there be no such Union,
then the Board of Trade shall organise said employes into a legally constituted
Union, and give said Union a charter.
4. No private establishment of
profit shall be bought by the Government of the Community except by and with the
concurrence of a majority vote of the Board of Trade.
Section V
1. When this Constitution goes
into effect, each Union legally constituted at that time shall make an estimate
of the relative amounts of labor required in each position, and the Board of
Trade shall thereupon attach to each position a rate of payment in labor
certificates per quintad, positions in the same Union having the same ratio of
payment as the estimated amounts of labor, and positions in different Unions
having the same ratio as between their respective amounts of labor, as estimated
by the Board of Trade.
2. All rates of payment for
any position in a legally constituted Union shall be arranged, if possible, in a
sliding scale so that an increased amount of efficient labor by a person in such
a position will result in a proportional increase of payment per quintad.
3. Any Union becoming legally
constituted from a previously existing industry, either on a patented invention
or under the provisions of the preceding Section, shall give the same rates of
payment as before obtaining the charter, until such rates have been altered.
4. Any Union becoming legally
constituted otherwise than as described in the preceding clause shall, on
receiving the charter, fix the rates of payments for the various positions
therein.
5. If there be a superfluity
of acceptable candidates for membership of a Union, the Board of Trade shall
lower all rates of payment therein in the same proportion; and if there be a
deficiency of such candidates, the Board of Trade shall raise all the rates of
payment in the same proportion.
6. If such superfluity or
deficiency occur only in the application for a particular position in a Union,
said Union shall alter the rate of payment in said position.
7. The prices for goods or
services shall be twenty per centum in excess of the total amount which the
Government of the Community has paid to obtain such goods or services or to give
them to the buyer thereof.
8. Each Union may provide days
on which its members, or those in certain positions, may be released from Union
work, the first preference being that of releasing one-fifth of said members on
each day of the quintad, and of releasing all members in question on every legal
holiday, the payments being made the day before that day of the quintad on which
such person is released.
9. Should a legal holiday come
on that day of the quintad when a member of a Union is released from Union work
in accordance with the preceding clause, said member shall also be released from
Union work on the following day.
Section VI
1. All minors shall, at some
age less than eighteen months which may be specified by the Legislature, be
given to the individual charge of some member of the Guardians’ Union, assigned
in such manner as the Board of Trade may provide.
2. Said Union shall be
considered a legally constituted Union; and it shall contain certain of its
members as substitutes for regular guardians in case of disability.
3. Male children shall be
assigned to the charge of male guardians, and female children to the charge of
female guardians.
4. It shall be the duty of the
guardian of a minor to take care of such minor and to make it possible for such
minor to pass the intelligence test for voting.
5. Guardians shall not be
allowed to teach any minor under their charge any conformance with any religious
beliefs.
6. Guardians using violence
against any minor under their charge shall be submitted to the same penalty as
would be given by the same sort of violence in other cases.
7. All cases involving the
respective rights of a minor and his or her guardian shall be tried and decided
by the Trade Court of Hesperia.
8. The Board of Trade shall
have power to make regulations concerning the education and care of minors, in
so far as such regulations have not already been made in this Constitution; and
the Guardians’ Union shall have power to make such regulations in so far as they
have not been made either by this Constitution or by the Board of Trade.
9. A minor may be transferred
from the charge of one guardian to that of another, if the Board of Trade, the
Guardians’ Union, or the Trade Court decide such transfer to be for the benefit
of said minor.
10. Each minor shall be
given allowance of money at a rate fixed by the Board of Trade, to be paid on
every quintad; but the guardian of any minor shall not be allowed to use this
allowance for his or her personal purposes.
11. No minor shall be
required in any way to do personal or other services for his or her guardian;
nor shall a guardian be allowed to use authority in any way.
12. Any minor after passing
the intelligence test for voting shall be entitled to not more than eight years
of further education by the Government of the Community without charge, of which
the last four years may consist in preparation for admission to some Union or
other trade, profession, or business; but no such education shall contain any
training in conformance with religious beliefs.
Section VII
1. Any legally constituted
Union shall have the power to regulate the conduct of its own meetings and the
execution of the work assigned to the various positions therein, as well as the
management of the trade and the regulation of the payments to the members
occupying its various positions.
2. Any legally constituted
Union shall be authorized to make laws concerning the use of any buildings or
land for the use of its own trade by the Government of the Community, as well as
to define what constitutes a trespass on such land or buildings.
3. Legally constituted Unions
shall have the power to discharge any member for sufficient reason, as well as
to recall their Representatives in the Board of Trade, and to determine the
qualifications necessary for membership or admission.
4. Each legally constituted
Union shall have any powers specially delegated to it by this Constitution, or
by the charter given to it by the Board of Trade.
ARTICLE VI
Section I
1. The Legislature shall
declare a special election for the passage of a proposed addition to this
Constitution, to take place within fifteen days of the time such addition is
proposed; said election to take place on the twenty-ninth of November, if said
addition be proposed between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of that month.
2. An addition to the
Constitution shall be considered as proposed as bylaw if it be concurred to by
three-fifths of the votes cast in the Legislature, or if a petition for its
passage be sent to the Legislature signed by one-third of the voters of the
Community.
3. An article submitted to the
voters of the Community as a proposed bylaw in a special election as provided by
clause 1 of this Section shall go into effect five days after said election if
acceded to by two-thirds of the votes in said election.
4. No bylaw shall be made
extending the powers of the Legislature or of any other constitutional
law-making body to regulate cohabitation of a man with a woman.
Section II
1. If any bylaw found to be in
contradiction with any previous part of this Constitution, it shall be submitted
to the voters of the Community as an amendment at a special election to take
place on the twenty-ninth of November next following.
2. Other changes in this
Constitution shall be proposed either by concurrence of two-thirds of the votes
cast in the Legislature or by petition signed by one-half of the voters of the
Community.
3. Such changes as provided in
the preceding clause shall be submitted to the voters of the Community at a
special election to take place within fifteen days of their being proposed; said
election to take place on the twenty-ninth of November if the change be proposed
between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of that month.
4. An amendment shall take
effect five days after being decided on in the special election if concurred to
by three-fourths of the votes cast therein.
5. No amendment shall be made
which shall in any way change or affect any of the following passages: Section
II of the second Article; clauses 1, 2, and 7 of Section VIII of the third
Article; clause 12 of Section I of the fifth Article.
6. The Government of the
Community shall not deny the equal protection of its laws to any person under
its jurisdiction; and no amendments shall be made which shall amend this
provision.
7. No amendments shall be
passed before the year of the solar calendar two thousand one hundred which
shall in any way or manner make valid any agreements for cohabitation of a man
with a woman, or which shall in any way or manner affect, change or alter the
fifth clause Section VIII of the third Article of this Constitution, or which
shall in any way regulate or restrict or authorize the regulation or restriction
of cohabitation of a man with a woman except as mentioned in clauses 19, 20, and
21 of Section VIII of the second Article in clause 13 of VII of the third
Article of this Constitution.
Section III
This Constitution shall be
considered as adopted and in effect on the formation and organisation of the
Community of Hesperia in accordance with the provisions hereinbefore contained.
ARTICLE VII
Section I
1. The term “name-number”
shall denote that combination of letter and number, or that number, which is
applied distinctively to every person within the Community of Hesperia.
2. The term “person” shall
apply to all human beings within the territory of the Community of Hesperia.
3. The term “intelligence
test” shall denote any means whatever for finding out the amount of particular
specified kinds of information or of reasoning ability, or of both, possessed by
a person.
Section II
1. “Debt” shall mean in this
Constitution any valid agreement for the payment of Hesperian money or other
property by the person having the debt; and the term “credit” shall mean such a
contract in relation to the person or other party to receive the property.
2. A contract is said to be
rescinded if it was previously valid, but if at the time referred to it is not
valid, in accordance with clause 9 of the first Section of Article II of this
Constitution.
3. Any statement or collection
of statements in a law shall be called a provision.
4. “The Constitution as
originally adopted” shall mean all provisions in this Constitution at the time
of its going in effect.
5. “Personal rights” shall
mean the rights to protection of body, life, health, and liberty to do all acts
not against the written Community law; whereas “property rights” shall indicate
the rights to protection of property given in the second and fourth Articles of
this Constitution, and in any other part of said Constitution where rights
connected with holding property may be mentioned.
Section III
1. All persons occupying
positions the occupation of which is decided by the voters of the Community or
of a District, or by the Legislature or other positions elected by such voters,
as well as all members of the Board of Trade, shall be called officers; while
all other persons occupying positions with salaries paid by the Government of
the Community shall be called Government employes.
2. “Regulation” shall mean the
making of laws on a specified subject; “restriction” shall mean laws prohibiting
certain actions under certain circumstances; “prevention” means prohibiting
entirely.
3. “Responsibility” shall mean
possibility of punishment for a violation of the law.
Section IV
1. The Legislature shall have
the power to make any laws to define terms in this Constitution or in any of its
laws; and the Board of Trade shall have power to define any terms in laws passed
by it or by a legal constituted Union.
2. This Article shall be
considered to all intent and purposes as part of the originally adopted
Constitution.
Section V
Thus ends the seventh Article
of the Constitution of the Community of Hesperia, composed by C41, at twenty
minutes before twenty-three o’clock on this thirtieth of January in this year of
the solar calendar one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight.
Archives Home
Typed
by Leon Hansen
"The
word Hesperia means slightly more than a literal Greek translation of
Western. The word also denotes a relationship to
the Hesperides, daughters of the god Atlas who was one of the first
inhabitants of Atlantis in Greek mythology."―Leon
Hansen
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