Title X · Defence, Public Order And Emergency · Public Register of the Republic of Fluid

268

Renunciation and purpose

War as policy is renounced, and force may only repel an attack on the territory.

1.The Republic renounces war as an instrument of policy and settles its disputes by peaceful means.
2.Armed force is employed only to repel an attack upon the territory, and in the cases of Article 277.
3.In no case may the Republic occupy foreign territory, annex territory, impose an administration upon another people, participate in an operation of regime change, or place its forces at the disposal of an operation pursuing any of these.
4.Preparation, planning and command of an act prohibited by paragraph 3 are offences under Article 229, and Article 229(2) governs.
5.Article 8(2) prohibits foreign military installations, and paragraph 3 of this Article prohibits installations of the Republic abroad.

269

Civilian direction

Armed bodies are under civilian direction, and may never be used against assemblies or strikes.

1.The forces, the communal police and every body authorised to use coercion are directed by civilians, are subordinate to this Constitution and the law, and hold no autonomous authority.
2.In no case may a person holding command in the forces or in a police body sit in the Assembly, sit on an executive committee, hold delegation to a planning body, hold an oversight office, hold judicial office, or hold office in a party.
3.In no case may a member of the forces or of a police body be deployed against an assembly protected by Article 55, against a strike or occupation protected by Article 55(6), or against a body of the Republic exercising a constitutional function.
4.Obedience is not owed to any order to commit an act prohibited by this Constitution, and refusal of such an order is a duty protected by Articles 61(3) and 81(4).
5.Members of the forces and of police bodies retain the rights of Title III, including association and expression, subject to Article 40 alone.

270

Weapons

Weapons of mass effect and autonomous killing systems are prohibited, as is arms export.

1.Manufacture, holding and use of weapons are governed by organic law, and every weapon held by a public body is entered in a public register stating its type, its location and the body responsible.
2.In no case may the Republic produce, acquire, hold, station or transport nuclear, biological, chemical or incendiary weapons designed for use against persons, weapons whose effects cannot be confined to a military objective, or autonomous systems selecting or engaging a target without a human decision.
3.In no case may the Republic export a weapon, a component of a weapon, or a technique of surveillance or coercion, and in no case may it license a foreign economic entity to produce any of these within the territory.
4.Article 10 does not apply to weapons design, which is withheld from the knowledge commons and from publication.

271

The Territorial Defence

Defence is a voluntary territorial militia, with no standing army and no conscription.

1.The armed force of the Republic is the Territorial Defence, a militia of residents who serve voluntarily.
2.There is no standing army. Organic law fixes the permanent cadre required for training, maintenance, logistics and command, which in no case exceeds the proportion of residents it states.
3.Conscription is prohibited. In no case may service be required of any person, and Article 48 governs.
4.The Territorial Defence is organised by commune and by sub-region, trains within the territory of its members, and is commanded by officers elected by the units they command for limited terms, confirmed by the competent executive committee.
5.Its doctrine, its equipment and its training are directed to the defence of the territory, and organic law publishes them so far as this does not disclose an operational disposition.

272

Membership and conditions

Anyone over eighteen may join or leave, and objectors lose nothing by refusing.

1.Any resident who has attained the age of eighteen years may enrol, and enrolment is refused on no ground listed in Article 38(2).
2.Members may leave at any time, except during the period of an attack under Article 276.
3.Service is contribution under Article 70(2), carries the provision of every resident, and the provision of a member is not distinguishable by rank.
4.Conscientious objection is guaranteed under Article 52(4), and in no case does refusal to enrol or to bear arms carry any consequence for provision, contribution, office or standing.
5.Members remain subject to the ordinary courts under Title VIII. In no case is a separate military jurisdiction established, and Article 77(5) governs.

273

Direction and control

The Assembly authorises the militia's strength, and examines it publicly every year.

1.The executive committee competent in defence directs the Territorial Defence under Article 153(1), and the Coordinating Bureau coordinates it with civil protection.
2.The Assembly authorises the strength, the equipment and the resources of the Territorial Defence by law, examines its conduct annually in public sitting, and may constitute a committee of inquiry into it under Article 132.
3.The Audit Office audits it under Article 249, and the Defender of Rights receives complaints against it under Article 252.
4.Its resources are allocated by the plan under Title IV and are counted against the ecological budgets under Article 26.
5.In no case does the Territorial Defence conduct intelligence upon residents, and Chapter 7 governs.

274

Communal police

Policing belongs to communes, officers are unarmed, and firearms need judicial authorisation.

1.Policing belongs to the commune, which constitutes a police service answerable to its council or to its assembly under Article 169.
2.Officers are recruited from the residents of the commune by open competition under Article 159, are trained in the rights of Title III, in de-escalation and in restorative procedure, and serve limited terms fixed by organic law.
3.Officers are unarmed. They carry no firearm, no kinetic projectile weapon and no chemical agent in the ordinary exercise of their function.
4.Firearms are held in secured communal armouries, are issued only for a named operation upon judicial authorisation stating the ground and the duration, and every issue, every return and every use is recorded and published.
5.Organic law may constitute one specialised unit for situations of armed threat, deployed only upon the authorisation of paragraph 4, and in no case stationed within a commune in the ordinary course.
6.Officers are individually identifiable at all times under Article 55(5), wear a number visible from every side, and record their interventions by means whose recordings belong to the person concerned and to the Defender of Rights.
7.In no case may an officer conceal their face or their identification, and concealment voids any act performed and is a disciplinary offence.

275

Use of force and accountability

Force is a last resort, every use is reported publicly, and complaints go to the Defender.

1.Force is used only where strictly unavoidable, only to the degree necessary, and only for a purpose this Constitution permits.
2.Article 45(3) governs any killing by an agent of the Republic, and Article 55(4) prohibits the means there named against assemblies.
3.Every use of force is reported within twenty-four hours to the communal council and to the Defender of Rights, and the report is public.
4.Complaints against officers are investigated by the Defender of Rights under Article 252, and in no case by the service complained of.
5.An officer who exceeds the limits of this Article is personally liable under Article 43(4), and the commune answers under Article 162(1).
6.Communes may agree common services under Article 186 for matters exceeding one commune, and a national investigative service is constituted by organic law for offences under Article 229, holding no power of patrol, no armed unit and no presence in a commune except upon the request of its council or upon judicial order.

276

Defence of the territory

On attack the militia acts at once, but never crosses a frontier.

1.Upon an armed attack upon the territory, the Territorial Defence acts to repel it, and its action requires no prior decision of any organ.
2.The Coordinating Bureau informs the Assembly at once, and the Assembly meets within twenty-four hours and sits in permanent session.
3.The Assembly determines by law the conduct of the defence, and may at any time order its cessation by a majority of its members.
4.In no case does an attack suspend this Constitution, the rights of Title III except as Article 281 permits, the jurisdiction of the courts, the mandate of the Assembly, or the elections of Title V except under Article 123(4).
5.Action of the forces is confined to the territory as defined by Article 8(1). In no case may a unit cross a frontier under this Article.

277

Action beyond the territory

Anything beyond the frontier needs two thirds of the Assembly and a referendum.

1.The forces of the Republic act beyond the territory only for the rescue of persons in distress, including the assistance owed at sea under Article 57(5), for relief after a disaster, and for participation in a mission of international peace under Article 278.
2.Rescue and relief require the authorisation of the Assembly by a majority of its members, are limited in object and in duration, and carry no combat mandate.
3.Every other action beyond the territory requires, in addition to a law adopted by two thirds of the members of the Assembly, the approval of a referendum held under Article 140.
4.In no case may a referendum authorise an action prohibited by Article 268(3), and the Constitutional Chamber verifies the question under Article 140(2) before the vote.
5.The question put states the object, the territory, the number of persons, the duration, the rules governing the use of force, and the date on which the mandate expires.
6.A mandate expires on the date stated, and its renewal follows the whole procedure afresh.

278

Missions of international peace

Peace missions are limited to protection and support, with no immunity from local courts.

1.The Republic may contribute to a mission of peace established by an international body of which it is a member, on the conditions of Article 277(3).
2.The contribution is confined to interposition, protection of civilians, clearance of munitions, medical service, engineering and logistics.
3.Members serve voluntarily, and Article 272(3) applies.
4.Members remain subject to the criminal law of the Republic and to the ordinary courts, and in no case does the Republic accept an immunity from the jurisdiction of the courts of the territory in which the mission takes place.
5.The Assembly examines every mission annually in public sitting, and any resident may challenge the conformity of its conduct under Article 43.

279

Declaration

The Bureau may declare an emergency, which lapses in seven days without a two-thirds vote and a court finding.

1.A state of emergency may be declared only upon a natural disaster, an epidemic, a failure of an essential system, or a comparable event that endangers the life or health of the population and that the ordinary powers cannot meet.
2.The Coordinating Bureau, acting with the executive committee competent in the matter, declares the state of emergency, defining the territory it covers, the danger it meets, the measures it authorises and the date on which it expires.
3.The declaration is published at once with its reasons and the evidence relied upon, and is transmitted immediately to the Assembly, to the Constitutional Court, to the Defender of Rights and to the councils of the territories covered.
4.The declaration takes effect on publication and lapses after seven days unless the Assembly confirms it.
5.Confirmation requires a majority of two thirds of the members of the Assembly, and a fresh finding by the Constitutional Court that the grounds of paragraph 1 exist. The Court decides within seventy-two hours.
6.A confirmed state of emergency runs for thirty days.
7.In no case may a state of emergency be declared upon a strike, an assembly, an occupation, a political demand, an electoral result, an economic difficulty, a shortage arising from the plan, or the conduct of an association.

280

Renewal and outer limit

Emergencies run thirty days at a time, and six months at most in any two years.

1.Renewal requires a fresh declaration under Article 279(2), a fresh confirmation by two thirds of the members of the Assembly, and a fresh finding by the Constitutional Court, and runs for thirty days.
2.In no case does a state of emergency, together with its renewals, exceed six months in any period of twenty-four months, whether the danger continues or not.
3.At the expiry of six months every measure taken under the state of emergency lapses by operation of law, and the danger is met thereafter by the ordinary powers, by legislation adopted under Title V, and by the adjustment of the plan under Article 99.
4.In no case may a fresh state of emergency be declared upon the same danger within the same period of twenty-four months.
5.A declaration or renewal exceeding this Article is void under Article 265(1)(j), requires the obedience of no person, and engages Article 43(4).

281

Powers

Emergencies allow only listed measures, and never touch elections, courts, provision or oversight.

1.A state of emergency authorises no measure beyond the following: restriction of movement into, out of and within the territory covered; restriction of the use of premises and of gatherings in enclosed spaces where the danger requires it; requisition of goods, premises, equipment and vehicles against compensation in provision; direction of the resources of the plan to meeting the danger under Article 99; suspension of periods and formalities in administrative procedure; and restriction of assembly under paragraph 3.
2.Each measure states the danger it meets, the territory and the persons it affects, the period for which it runs, and the reasons for which no lesser measure suffices.
3.Restriction of assembly is permitted only where gathering itself propagates the danger, is the least restriction that meets it, is limited to the territory and the period in which the danger exists, and leaves open a means by which residents may assemble, demonstrate and communicate. In no case may an assembly be restricted by reference to its purpose, its organisers or its opinions.
4.In no case does a state of emergency authorise: derogation from a right listed in Article 42(2); dissolution of the Assembly, of a council or of an assembly of residents; suspension of an election except under Article 123(4); suspension of the courts, of the remedy of Article 49(5), or of the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court; interference with the oversight offices of Title IX; censorship, closure of a media organisation, or interruption of the network; indiscriminate surveillance under Article 50(3); detention outside Article 49; compulsion to labour outside Article 48(3); reduction of essential provision under Article 62; or alteration of the ecological budgets.
5.Every measure is published on adoption, with its reasons, in every language of record.
6.Every measure lapses with the state of emergency, and in no case does a measure survive it.

282

Review

Every emergency measure can be challenged in court within seven days, free of charge.

1.Every measure taken under a state of emergency is reviewable by the Constitutional Court at the instance of any person, without delay and without cost, and the Court decides within seven days.
2.Review extends to the existence of the danger, to the necessity of the measure, to its proportion, to its territory and to its duration.
3.Interim relief is granted where a credible risk of irreparable harm is shown, and Article 43(5) governs.
4.The Defender of Rights supervises the operation of every measure and publishes findings at intervals of no more than seven days.
5.The Assembly may revoke a state of emergency, or any measure taken under it, at any time by a majority of the votes cast.
6.Within ninety days of the end of a state of emergency, the Assembly examines its conduct in public sitting upon the reports of the Constitutional Court, of the Defender of Rights and of the Audit Office, and the examination is published.
7.Persons who ordered or executed a measure exceeding this Chapter are personally liable under Article 43(4), and reparation is owed to those affected.

283

Relation to ecological emergency

Ecological emergencies are separate, and this Title can never override them.

1.The ecological emergency of Article 36 is declared by the Ecological Budget Authority and is governed by Title II.
2.A state of emergency under this Title may run concurrently with an ecological emergency, and neither extends the powers of the other.
3.In no case may a state of emergency under this Title suspend, restrict or override a measure taken under Article 36.

284

Civil protection

Civil protection runs from the communes, without any emergency being declared.

1.Civil protection is organised by the communes, coordinated by the sub-regions and the regions, and supported by the Republic, and it operates without a state of emergency.
2.Residents may enrol voluntarily in civil protection, and service is contribution under Article 70(2).
3.The plan holds within the reserve of Article 105 the resources required for disaster, and their allocation requires no declaration under this Title.
4.Communes maintain plans for foreseeable dangers, publish them, and exercise them at intervals fixed by organic law.

285

Limits

There is no domestic intelligence service, and mass collection is prohibited in every circumstance.

1.The Republic maintains no service conducting surveillance upon residents.
2.Collection of information concerning an external threat is conducted by a service constituted by organic law, whose existence, budget, structure and head are public.
3.In no case may that service operate within the territory against residents, hold a power of arrest, conduct a covert operation affecting political life, or acquire information otherwise than under Article 50(2) upon prior judicial authorisation.
4.Article 50(3) prohibits indiscriminate collection, retention and analysis in every circumstance, including a state of emergency and an armed attack.
5.The service is supervised by a division of the Defender of Rights holding full access to its files and systems, reporting annually in public, and Article 241 applies.
6.In no case may the Republic receive from a foreign body information that it could not lawfully have collected itself, nor furnish information that would expose a person to a treatment described in Article 47(2).
7.Information obtained in breach of this Article is inadmissible in every proceeding, and Article 79(3) governs.

Defence, Public Order And Emergency

Chapter 1 · Principles