User:The Oan Isles/sandbox/South Hills
Politics and government
Administrative divisions
The UCCS consists of 20 states and 1 territory of which one state is located in Itur and the territory is jointly administered with a foreign power. The Constitution states that sovereignty shall be shared by the states and the confederate governments. The states are bequeathed by the Constitution with autonomy over their internal affairs in areas not explicitly conferred upon and reserved to the confederate government whereas territories are directly administered by the confederate government with powers devolved to them by statute.
The Constitution does not grant the states nor the territories the right to unilaterally secede from the Confederation. The admittance of new states and territories into the Confederation requires the approval of the National Legislature. The National Legislature may create new states from existing states by statute with the approval of the state which is being partitioned however it may form new territories from existing territories of its own volition. The status of a state cannot be demoted to that of a territory except with the approval of a three-quarters majority of the National Legislature.
The Constitution requires that each state be governed in the form of a republic with a three branch government under a constitutional statute of its own. The governance of each state is influenced to a large degree by its history and circumstances. Because South Hills formed from the expansion in the northeast from the greater Ulvrikian civilisation, they are governed differently from the states to the south and centre of the country whose systems of government reflect the political systems under which they were governed before their annexation into the Union.
The northern states inherited the Ulvrikian system of a viceroy or emissary of the suzerain known as a Jarl being the highest political official who shares power with elected officials. In the modern day this manifests in a Governor who is directly elected by the residents with the power to appoint the executive branch, promulgate state legislation, represent state interests abroad and to the Union government, to grant pardons, and to dissolve the state legislature. The daily administration of the state is vested in the State Cabinet which consists of the state Premier who is required to command the confident of the Thing (state legislature) and who in turn appoints the State Secretaries who helm executive departments.
The tendency of the Ulvriks to summon large gatherings of their common people to deliberate on issues of import to the community persists in the form of the Moots which are bodies of citizens selected by lottery once a year to deliberate issues of import, and approve the report of the executive branch on the governance of the State. With regular governance having been vested in a body of nobles, the Ulvrikian states retain an upper chamber of full-time legislators elected by proportional representation.
Small moots of citizens had once judged their peers in medieval Ulvrikian societies when formal tribunals of full-time literate judges were uncommon. Thus, the judicial systems of the Ulvrikian states have adopted a hierarchical system that divides the courts into appellate and trial courts, however they have retained the moots via juries and the limitation of the jurisdiction of a court to defined geographical boundaries, vesting the highest and final judicial authority in a State Supreme Court.
The nation's interior had once consisted of the Elishan Empire whereby Prefects and Consuls appointed by the suzerain wielded all political power in the area apportioned to them by the Emperor of the Elishans. Prefects were educated in the dicasteries of Elisha while Consuls were products of the Legion, their basis in power stemming from their military powers. Thus, states whose predominant government had historically been under Prefects tended to prefer a fused executive where the Governor is the sole chief executive and is elected by the state legislators. In contrasts, states that were ruled by Consuls prefer a fused executive whom the people directly elect. Their legislatures lack the folks moots of the Ulvrikian states and instead prefer a single chamber legislature reminiscent of the Senate of Elisha which consisted of representatives drawn from different regions who counselled the Elishan Emperor. They are elected by single member constituencies of roughly equal population. While sharing in similarity with the Ulvrikian states a hierarchical judiciary whose courts have geographic boundaries, they have foregone the juries altogether.
The states of the south inherited their political identity from the Ladoese kingdoms of old. Their governments were highly decentralised with small tribal and clan groups resolving disputes, managing resources, enforcing justice and distributing work by the consensus of the community with deferrence paid to the advice and leadership of the elders. Although these states adopted the modern systems of a Governor as chief executive who presides over and rules with the State Cabinet, as well as a state legislature elected by the people via proportional representation, they veer in that constitutional amendments require a referendum and laws can be referred to a referendum and proposed by the public when sufficient signatures on a valid petition are presented.
Judiciary
The Constitution of the UCCS establishes the judiciary as the branch of the government responsible for enforcing justice, adjudicating legal disputes, and interpreting and applying the law. Because the states and union government share sovereignty, they also have separate judicial and law enforcement bodies. At the apex of the confederate system of courts is the Concordian Supreme Court. The Concordian Supreme Court consists of 13 justices and the Chief Justice of the UCCS who are appointed for life by the President with the consent and approval of the Ansengamot. The incumbent Chief Justice is the Esteemed Enrico de Sosa Quijada. The Concordian Supreme Court has the power to strike down laws that violate the constitution and it is the final court to which cases of confederate law can be appealed. The Concordian Supreme Court is responsible for settling disputes among states and between the states and union government.
The Concordian Circuit Courts are courts that receive appeals from lower confederate courts and cases presented here can be appealed to the Concordian Supreme Court. These courts cannot strike down statutes that violate the Consitution but they can strike down executive orders, administrative ordinances, state laws and by-laws. These courts are also appointed in a similar manner to the Supreme Court. In total, there are 6 Circuit Courts with a total of 118 justices.
Beneath these courts are the district courts. The confederate district courts are courts of first instance concerning cases for federal law. Alongside the district, Circuit and Supreme Courts, which have general jurisdiction are the Specialist Appeals and Specialist Courts whose mandate focuses on a particular issue of topic and not a geographic area. In addition, there are the military courts which are responsible for enforcing discipline within the military. In some cases, there can be an appeal to a civilian court. For various religious communities, there are Confederate Faith Courts which comprise of government-appointed justices with a focus on and originating from a particular faith based community responsible for resolving civil disputes with respect to matters within that religion that are not reserved for the civilian and military courts. Currently, only the Tunseist, Thaerist and Ulvriktru religions have such courts. There are also tribunals and commissions which are staffed by part professionals with legal expertise in one area that handle petty crimes, minir administrative disputes, and small claims.
The bulk of the judicial system lies in the courts of the states which handle the overwhelming majority of cases. In most cases, they have a State Supreme Court, State Constitutional Court or both, under which are State Circuit or High Courts, State Intermediate or District Courts, and State Local or Magistrate Courts. These bodies are appointed in terms of state laws and customs.
The law of the UCCS consists of statutes passed by the national and state legislatures, delegated law in the from of administrative ordinances and regulations from government agencies, case law formed from the judicial precedence of confederate courts and courts where stare decisis are observed, civil codes, customary law, common law and/or received law. In most states, there is an adversarial system whereby litigants to a case present evidence and arguments and cross examine witnesses under a judge (sometimes to a jury or a panel of one or more judges). In criminal cases the prosecution represents the accuser and the defence the accused and in most cases, the prosecution is the government. In civil cases, the complainant represents themselves against a respondent. Whereas criminal cases must be proven beyond a shadow of doubt, civil cases must be proven on a balance of probabilities.
The use of torture or corporal punishment is forbidden, however in some cases and in some states the death penalty is enforced. Although mandatory servitude is forbidden for free citizens, prisoners can be compelled to work as part of their correction and rehabilitation. A combination of publicly and privately owned prisons are responsible for administering correction and rehabilitation however community service can be administered via state departments and civil society organisations. Each state maintains its own police with large urban areas permitted to implement their own law enforcement. At the national level, the only law enforcement body is the Concordian Investigations Agency (CONCIA) which investigates and enforces confederate laws.