Title XII · Constitutional Change, Accessibility And Revision · Public Register of the Republic of Fluid

306

Nature of the amending power

The Constitution changes only by the routes in this Title, and never during an emergency.

1.This Constitution is amended only by the procedures of this Title.
2.The amending power is constituted by this Constitution and is limited by it. In no case does it extend to the core of Article 310.
3.An act purporting to amend this Constitution otherwise than under this Title produces no effect, requires the obedience of no person, and is usurpation under Article 3(3).
4.In no case may this Constitution be amended, suspended or displaced during a state of emergency under Title X, during an armed attack under Article 276, during an ecological emergency under Article 36, or while an election has been postponed under Article 123(4).
5.In no case may an amendment be adopted by an organ acting for itself, by decree, by regulation, by treaty, by act of a union organ, or by any instrument other than the one this Title prescribes.

307

Initiative

Amendments may be proposed by members, residents, communes, or both regional councils.

1.
An amendment may be proposed by:
1. a)one third of the members of the Assembly;
2. b)one hundred thousand residents, or three per cent of the residents registered, whichever is the lesser;
3. c)one third of the communal councils, representing together no less than one fifth of the residents of the Republic;
4. d)both regional councils acting jointly.
2.A proposal states the text to be inserted, amended or repealed, in the words proposed, and states the reasons.
3.Every proposal is published on deposit, together with its authors, its text and its reasons.
4.Signatures under paragraph 1(b) are collected within twelve months, are verifiable and revocable, and may be given in writing and through the public information system.
5.In no case is the exercise of an initiative under this Article conditioned upon the approval of any organ.

308

Procedure

Proposals are checked against the core, published for six months, examined by a lot-drawn body, then voted.

1.Upon deposit, the proposal is transmitted to the Constitutional Chamber, which verifies within sixty days that it lies outside Article 310 and states its reasons publicly. A proposal touching the core proceeds no further.
2.The proposal is published for public examination for one hundred and eighty days, during which the Assembly, the communal and regional councils, the National Planning Congress, the Ecological Budget Authority, the offices of Title IX and any resident may submit observations, and every substantiated objection receives a written and public answer.
3.A deliberative body drawn by lot under Article 142 examines every proposal, hears evidence from persons of differing view, and publishes a report with dissenting opinions. The report is published no less than sixty days before the vote of the Assembly.
4.The Assembly debates the proposal in three readings under Article 135 and votes upon it by a majority of its members, in a vote by name.
5.Adoption by the Assembly submits the proposal to referendum. Rejection by the Assembly submits it to referendum where its authors so require within thirty days, and where the initiative arose under Article 307(1)(b), (c) or (d) the referendum is held in every case.
6.The Assembly may submit a counter-proposal to the same referendum, and the voters decide between the two texts and the existing provision.
7.The referendum is held no earlier than ninety days and no later than one hundred and eighty days after the vote of the Assembly.

309

Referendum and entry into force

Every amendment needs a referendum, with no turnout threshold.

1.Every amendment to this Constitution is adopted by referendum, and in no case does an amendment take effect without one.
2.The amendment is adopted where a majority of the votes cast approves it, and in no case does the level of participation condition the validity of the referendum.
3.Public resources are furnished equally to the organised proponents and opponents, and the organs of the Republic publish an impartial statement of the effects of each outcome thirty days before the vote, together with the report of Article 308(3).
4.The question states the text proposed, the provision it replaces, and the consequences of each outcome, and the Constitutional Chamber verifies its formulation under Article 140(2).
5.An amendment adopted takes effect ninety days after the proclamation of the result, or upon the later date the text appoints, and is published in the consolidated version under Article 314.
6.A proposal rejected by referendum is reintroduced in the same terms no earlier than four years after the vote.
7.Article 137 applies to no amendment adopted under this Title, and the conformity of an amendment with Article 310 is examined under Article 308(1) and under Article 311.

310

Beyond the amending power

Eleven things can never be amended, including dignity, ecology, social ownership and equal rights.

1.
The following lie beyond the amending power, and in no case may they be amended, repealed, suspended, restricted or evaded by any procedure, by any majority, or by the replacement of this Constitution under Chapter 3:
1. a)human dignity, and its inviolability under Article 2;
2. b)the republican form, and the sovereignty of the people under Article 3;
3. c)the obligation to sustain the ecological conditions of life under Article 5(1), and the binding force of the ecological budgets under Article 26(1) and (2);
4. d)the social ownership of the means of production under Article 6(1) and (2), the abolition of income from the bare holding of productive assets under Article 6(3), and the prohibitions of Article 6(4);
5. e)the constitution of the Republic as a participatory democracy under Article 1(1), the universal, equal, free and secret suffrage of Article 60(1) and (2), and the periodic election of the Assembly;
6. f)the rights from which Article 42(2) permits no derogation;
7. g)the guarantee of essential provision under Article 62(2) and (3);
8. h)the equality of persons under Article 38(1) and (2), and the extension of the rights of Title III to every resident under Article 37(2);
9. i)the independence of the courts under Article 193, and the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court under Article 216(2);
10. j)the acts declared void by Article 265, and the rule against attainment by indirection in Article 266;
11. k)this Article.
2.The core binds the amending power, the constituent power exercised under Chapter 3, the Assembly, the planning bodies, the territories, every majority and every referendum.
3.In no case does a referendum, however large its majority, authorise a measure touching the core, and Article 139(6) governs by analogy.
4.Provisions of Titles I, II and III outside the core are amended under Chapter 1 like any other provision of this Constitution.

311

Guardianship of the core

The Constitutional Court guards the core, and can void an amendment that breached it.

1.The Constitutional Chamber verifies every proposal under Article 308(1), and the plenary of the Constitutional Court decides where the question is contested.
2.Where a proposal is declared to touch the core, it proceeds no further, and the declaration states which limb of Article 310(1) it touches and why.
3.Where an amendment has been adopted and is afterwards found to touch the core, the Court declares it void from the beginning, at the instance of any person under Article 231(1), and Article 4(4) governs.
4.A series of amendments attaining cumulatively a result the core forbids is void from the amendment at which the result is reached, and Article 266(2) governs.
5.Decisions under this Article are published with reasons and with dissenting opinions.

312

The Constitutional Convention

The whole Constitution may be replaced only by an elected Convention and a referendum.

1.This Constitution may be replaced in its entirety only by a Constitutional Convention elected for that purpose, and the text it produces takes effect only upon approval by referendum.
2.A Convention is convened where a referendum so decides, held upon the request of two thirds of the members of the Assembly, of two hundred thousand residents, or of half the communal councils.
3.The Convention consists of two hundred members elected by the residents under the system of Article 120, in the districts of Article 121, and Articles 122, 124, 126 and 127 apply to its members.
4.Membership of the Convention is incompatible with a seat in the Assembly, with membership of an executive committee, with delegation to a planning body, with judicial office and with an office of Title IX.
5.The Convention sits in public, publishes its records, its votes by name and its drafts, convenes deliberative bodies drawn by lot under Article 142, and admits observations from any resident, which it answers publicly.
6.The Convention completes its work within eighteen months, extensible once by six months upon a public and reasoned decision, and dissolves upon the referendum whatever its outcome.
7.The Convention adopts its draft by a majority of two thirds of its members.

313

Limits and continuity

The core survives replacement, and nothing is suspended while a Convention sits.

1.The core of Article 310 survives the replacement of this Constitution and binds the Convention, the draft it produces, and the text that succeeds this one.
2.The Constitutional Chamber examines the draft against Article 310 before the referendum, and a provision touching the core is in no case submitted to the vote.
3.Convening a Convention suspends nothing. The Assembly, the executive committees, the planning bodies, the courts, the offices of Title IX and the councils of the territories continue in office and in function, this Constitution remains in force, and elections are held as they fall due.
4.In no case may a Convention legislate, plan, allocate resources, exercise any power of another organ, or extend its own term beyond Article 312(6).
5.Where the referendum rejects the draft, this Constitution continues in force, and a fresh Convention is convened no earlier than four years afterwards.
6.Where the referendum approves the draft, the new text enters into force on the date it appoints, and provides for the continuity of provision, of the plan, of judicial proceedings and of the rights acquired under this Constitution.

314

Consolidation and publication

The consolidated text is published free, in open formats, with a full cross-reference table.

1.A consolidated version of this Constitution, incorporating every amendment in force, is published in the public register, without charge, in open and machine-readable form, and in every language of record.
2.Consolidation is completed within thirty days of the entry into force of an amendment, and the superseded versions remain published with the dates between which each was in force.
3.Publication includes an index, a table of every cross-reference, and a record of the amendment history of each article.
4.In no case is any version, edition, translation or format made subject to a charge, a licence, a registration or an account.

315

The official summary

An official plain-language summary exists, carries no legal force, and must be corrected if it diverges.

1.An official summary is published of this Constitution as a whole and of every article within it, stating in plain and direct language what the provision does, whom it binds and what it requires.
2.The summary is drafted by the Office of Constitutional Revision under Article 317, is examined by a deliberative body drawn by lot under Article 142 for intelligibility, and is revised upon the observations that body records.
3.The summary carries no legal force. In no case does it create, extend, restrict or interpret a right, an obligation or a competence, and in no case does a court decide a case upon it.
4.Any person may report a divergence between the summary and the article it summarises. The Office answers within sixty days, publicly and with reasons.
5.Where the Office, a court or the Constitutional Court finds that the summary misstates an article, the Office corrects it within ninety days, publishes the correction with the date and the reason, and records the divergence in its annual report.
6.Where a divergence has caused a person to act to their detriment, the fact of the divergence is taken into account under Article 43 in assessing the remedy, and paragraph 3 governs the interpretation of the article itself.
7.The summary is published together with the text in every edition, format and version issued under Articles 314 and 316.

316

Distribution

A free printed copy goes to every dwelling, in every language and accessible format.

1.A printed copy of this Constitution, with the official summary, is furnished free of charge to every dwelling in the Republic, and to every person upon request.
2.It is general provision under Article 107, is durable, and is produced within the ecological budgets under Article 33.
3.Copies are held and lent by every library, every school, every place of detention, every place of care and every communal office.
4.Editions are published in every language of record, in large print, in braille, in audio, in easy-read form, and in the formats accessibility requires, and Article 130(5) governs by analogy.
5.A fresh distribution follows every amendment adopted under Chapter 1 and every replacement under Chapter 3.
6.Education in this Constitution, in the rights it guarantees and in the procedures by which residents exercise them is part of the common curriculum under Article 67(2).

317

The Office of Constitutional Revision

An Office of Constitutional Revision reports contradictions and proposes simplifications.

1.The Office of Constitutional Revision maintains the consolidated version, drafts and corrects the official summary, maintains the table of cross-references, and reports upon the coherence of this Constitution.
2.The Office is constituted as an oversight office under Title IX, and Articles 234 to 243 apply to it, its pool comprising persons qualified in law, in drafting, in translation and in plain language.
3.The Office reports annually and publicly upon: contradictions between provisions; cross-references that have failed; provisions that have never been applied; provisions that courts have found unintelligible; duplication; and passages that the deliberative body of Article 315(2) found unclear.
4.The Office proposes simplifications, consolidations and repeals, drafted as amendments, and publishes them with its reasoning.
5.A proposal of the Office is transmitted to the Assembly, which examines it in public sitting within one hundred and eighty days and states publicly its reasons for acting or declining.
6.In no case does the Office amend this Constitution, alter a text, resolve a contradiction by its own act, or hold any power beyond drafting, reporting and proposing.

318

Periodic review

Every ten years a body drawn by lot asks whether this text still serves the people bound by it.

1.Every ten years, the Assembly convenes a deliberative body drawn by lot under Article 142 to examine whether this Constitution serves the persons bound by it.
2.The body examines, upon evidence and upon the reports of the Office of Constitutional Revision, of the courts and of the offices of Title IX: whether the guarantees of Title III are attained in fact; whether residents can find, read and use the text; whether the procedures of participation operate; whether the length and complexity of the text obstruct its use; and which provisions might be simplified, consolidated or repealed.
3.The body publishes a report with dissenting opinions, and the Assembly answers it in public sitting within one hundred and eighty days, article by article.
4.The report may propose amendments, which proceed under Chapter 1, and may propose the convening of a Convention, which proceeds under Chapter 3.
5.The review binds no organ to a result, and in no case does it suspend, delay or condition the exercise of any right or procedure of this Constitution.

319

Duty of intelligibility

Complexity is never a reason to deny anyone a right or a remedy.

1.Provisions of this Constitution, of organic laws and of laws are drafted in language as direct and as short as the subject admits.
2.Length is justified only by the protection it furnishes. Where a guarantee can be secured in fewer words without weakening it, the shorter form is adopted.
3.In no case does the complexity of this Constitution, of a law, or of a procedure furnish a ground for denying a right, refusing a remedy, or dismissing a claim, and Articles 39(3), 77(2) and 43(1) govern.
4.Where a person has failed in a procedural requirement because the requirement was unclear, the organ concerned assists them to comply and treats the requirement as satisfied on compliance.
5.This Article furnishes a standard of drafting and of interpretation, and in no case does it confer a power upon any organ or ground the invalidity of a provision.

Constitutional Change, Accessibility And Revision

Chapter 1 · The Amending Power