WHEREAS the Peoples of Markonia, being desirous of forming a Government that provides for the necessary Order, do hereby, and in perpetuity, set forth these Articles herein;

AFFIRMING the dignity and rights of the individual, whose personal liberty and freedom from unjust torment shall be paramount;

ACKNOWLEDGING the benefits of a common society;

CONVINCED of the importance of strong and fair governance;

RESOLVED to conclude these Presents in name of the people of Markonia;

DONE in the current form on the fourteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and ninety nine.

Article 1 – The rule of law in Markonia
Article 2 – Fundamental Human Rights
Article 3 – The sovereign
Article 4 – The powers of the sovereign
Article 5 – The Cabinet of Ministers
Article 6 – The powers of the Cabinet
Article 7 – The Judiciary
Article 8 – Miscellaneous Provisions

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1. The Constitution of Markonia is the supreme law of all Markonia.
2. All Citizens of Markonia and all persons within the territories of Markonia are equal before the law without distinction.
3. There shall be a Government which shall have jurisdiction over the various matters of State and whose powers shall be in accordance with the Constitution. The Government shall not unreasonably interfere in private matters of the people or in matters between the peoples unless such interference shall be necessary for the maintenance of Order or the integrity of Markonia.
4. The Government shall from time to time and in accordance with all due processes enact such laws seen, in the opinion of the Government, necessary or desirable for the furtherance of the interests of the people of Markonia.
5. All laws shall be written in the English language which shall be the authentic text. Any translations as may be provided are for guidance only and the legal interpretation shall be from the English original.
6. All laws as may be enacted shall be promulgated in the public domain for the information of the Citizens, all of whom shall be held responsible for implementation, adherence and compliance as appropriate.
7. No law shall contravene or contradict this Constitution of Markonia.
8. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be passed.

1. All people shall be free to pursue a life of personal fulfilment and no person shall be deprived of their life by any wilful action. 
2. All people shall be free to hold any scheme of conscious thought, moral code, persuasion or beliefs. No person shall be obligated to profess their thoughts or beliefs nor swear a religious oath.
3. All people shall be free to express their thought through peaceful speech or actions providing that such expression does not have the effect of defaming another or inciting others into unlawful acts.
4. All people shall be free to carry on any actions or behaviour as they see fit, provided only that it does not impose, inhibit, restrict or prevent the same of any other person or inflict wilful cruelty upon animals.
5. All people shall be free to assemble peaceably and unarmed to petition the Government for a redress of grievances except during a state of war or declared emergency. During peace times, no permission shall be required to assemble but the Government may require notification, in a manner stipulated by law, of such assemblies.
6. All people shall be free to practice any religion or no-religion. There shall be no established religion of the State nor any religious body funded or enabled by the State.
7. No law may be enacted or action may be taken nor shall any action be allowed to be taken through wilful inaction to cause disadvantages for a person exercising their lawful rights.
8. No person shall be deprived of their liberty or possessions without due process of law.
9. No person shall be subject to unreasonable searches or seizures save as required under a Warrant issued by a competent authority upon probable cause, supported by testimony under affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
10. No person shall be tried nor convicted in their absence (The right of Habeas Corpus). In all cases of criminal prosecution, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the natures and cause of the accusation prior to the commencement of any proceedings, to have opportunity to examine the testimony against them and to have opportunity for presenting witness testimony in their favour.
11. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against any other person or themselves.
12. No person shall be subject to cruel and torturous punishments.
13. No excessive bail shall be required, nor excessive fines imposed nor inflicted.

1. The executive authority of the State shall be vested in a sovereign who shall rule during the period of their life and shall be selected according to principals of absolute primogeniture.
2. The sovereign may assume the title of Their Highness Prince or Princess of Markonia and may by proclamation assign such subordinate titles to their heirs and decendents.
3. The sovereign shall by proclamation provide for the person to act as regent in the event that their heir will not have attained the age of maturity at the time they assume the thone. If the heir has not attained the age of maturity at the time they assume the throne and there is no eligible regent, the Cabinet may appoint a regent.
4. If the sovereign dies and there is no eligible heir, the Cabinet shall cause there to be an election for a sovereign. Where there is more than one candidate and no candidate achieves more than 50% of the votes in the first poll, a second poll will be taken between the two candidates with the highest number of votes in the first poll.
5. The Government shall provide for a suitable ceremony on the occassion of the investiture of a new sovereign.
6. The sovereign shall receive from the Markonian Treasury reasonable and appropriate remuneration for the maintenance of their private life. The nature, frequency of payment and amount of such remuneration shall be set by Special Resolution of the Cabinet.
7. The sovereign shall not accept any present, emolument or gift of any kind whatsoever from any Foreign State, except that they do so on behalf of the State and any such shall be at the disposal of the State.
8. The sovereign shall be removed on Impeachment by the Cabinet for and on conviction of any crime. A person who is Impeached shall never again hold any public office nor ever receive any payment from the Markonian Treasury.

1. The soverign shall be the supreme and executive commander, howsoever titled, of the Markonian Armed Forces and shall authorise the commission of Officers to each of the branches or any executive agency thereof.
2. The sovereign shall be the sole authority for all representations to Foreign States or to entities constituted or active outside Markonia. The sovereign shall have the power, with the consent of the Cabinet, to conclude Treaties with Foreign States.
3. The sovereign shall have the power to assent to Laws as may be prepared by the Cabinet or to withhold such assent as the sovereign shall see fit.
4. The sovereign shall have the power, with the consent of the Cabinet, to declare War and to make Peace.
5. The sovereign shall have the power, with the consent of the Cabinet, to levy taxes, duties, customs and excises as necessary to ensure the functions of the State. No direct taxation shall exceed 10 per cent of a Citizen’s net income except during a state of war or declared emergency. The sovereign shall establish and amend as appropriate a national tax code which shall codify the tax responsibilities of the Citizens and the payment of the same. The establishment of the national tax code and each amendment thereof shall be subject to ratification by the Cabinet.
6. The sovereign shall in desperate times have the power to declare a state of emergency during which time the sovereign shall have temporary extraordinary powers to enact legislation, require curfew, levy additional taxes, raise militia units and conscript Citizens to their ranks, and other specific measures as may be defined by law. No state of emergency shall extend beyond a period of seven days without the consent of the Cabinet except where Invasion or other hostile act prevents the Cabinet from fulfilling this function. All actions of the sovereign taken in exercise of extraordinary powers during a declared state of emergency shall cease and revert to the previous status quo immediately on the cessation of the state of emergency.
7. The sovereign shall, at their discretion, require the opinion, in writing or otherwise, of any person appointed to any civil office upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
8. The sovereign shall have the power to grant reprieves, clemency and pardons, except in cases of Impeachment, to any person for any penal offence committed or to be committed within the territories of Markonia. Such powes are to be exercised in the interests of Markonia.
9. The sovereign shall have the power to accredit Ambassadors, Envoys and other diplomats as necessary through the issuing of letters of credence. Such diplomats shall not be plenipotentiary. 
10. The sovereign shall receive the accreditation of Foreign Ambassadors and diplomats who shall be afforded the privileges as accustomed to their rank in accordance with the customs and practices as established under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 including the Protocols Concerning Acquisition of Nationality.
11. The sovereign shall have the power to establish, such persons or groups of persons as seen fit with devolved authority to effect such matters as may be prescribed by law. Amongst these may be Commissioners and / or Executive Agencies concerned with external matters, internal matters, matters of concern to the sovereign, matters concerned with the Markonian Treasury and other institutions constituted to serve particular needs of Markonia.
12. The sovereign shall have the power to authorise the Naturalisation of any person as a Citizen of Markonia. Such person’s descendants are to receive the same rights, privileges and responsibilities of that status. The sovereign shall also have the power to renounce said Naturalisation.
13. The sovereign shall have the power to issue currency or to vary the denomination or appearance thereof. Such currency is to be legal tender for use within the territories of Markonia.
14. The sovereign shall have the power to instigate, authorise the use of, alter and cancel all symbols and insignia of State.
15. The sovereign shall have the power to establish and vary a Markonian Order of Precedence and to determine the rights, privileges and responsibilities of any honorific status.

1. There shall be a Cabinet of Ministers who shall number not fewer than three and shall sit to consider and advise on matters of State.
2. The Ministers who make up the Cabinet shall be appointed and, as required, dismissed by the sovereign who shall at all times use best judgement to ensure a balance of representation of the interests of Markonia. The sovereign shall determine, with the consent of the Cabinet, the remit of each of the Ministers as shall be necessary or desirable for the good order of the Government.
3. A majority of the Ministers shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may be authorised to compel the attendance of absent Ministers, in such manner and under such penalties as may be prescribed by Law.
4. Ordinary Acts of the Cabinet shall be made by an affirmative vote by at least half of all the Ministers. An affirmative vote by no less than three quarters of all the Ministers shall be required in cases of Special Acts. All Ministers shall be counted whether present at any meetings in person or otherwise, and all Ministers shall vote affirmative or dissent. Absence and abstention by the Minister will be counted, for the purposes of the vote, the same as dissent. Votes as cast shall be counted and noted in the Records.
5. The Cabinet shall convene at least once in every year, and such convention shall be on the fourteenth day of April, unless the Cabinet shall by Ordinary Act appoint a different date.
6. The Cabinet shall cause there to be Records made of all their meetings and actions that are transcribed in written form, excepting such parts as may require secrecy as determined by Ordinary Act.
7. The Ministers shall in all cases, except Treason, have absolute privilege for any speech or debate in connection with the business of the Cabinet and they shall not be questioned on such business in any other place.
8. No Minister shall, during the time for which they are appointed to the Cabinet, be appointed to any other civil Office of State. Any appointment held at the time of acceptance of the office of Minister shall immediately be surrendered.
9. No Minister may accept of any present, emolument or gift of any kind whatsoever from any Foreign State without the consent of the sovereign and only on behalf of the State and any such shall be at the disposal of the State.
10. A Minister shall be removed from Office automatically on conviction of any crime. A Minister who is so removed shall never again hold any public office.

1. The Cabinet shall, upon instruction of the sovereign or by collective consensus of need perceived by the Cabinet, by Ordinary Act, prepare those Bills seen appropriate or necessary for the furtherance of the interests of the people of Markonia. Such Bills as may be prepared by the Cabinet shall be presented to the sovereign for bringing into Law or for such other disposition as the sovereign shall see fit.
2. The Cabinet may by Ordinary Act ratify Treaties with Foreign States on receipt from the sovereign of a certified copy of the original and complete text, including a certified translation into the English language when the original text is not so.
3. The Cabinet may by Ordinary Act ratify declarations by the sovereign of War and Peace.
4. The Cabinet may by Ordinary Act ratify the establishment and each amendment of a national tax code.
5. The Cabinet may by Special Act consent to a request from the sovereign to extend a declared state of emergency beyond seven days for a set period to be determined by the Cabinet, any and each further extensions shall require a separate Special Act.
6. The Cabinet may by Special Act propose amendments to this Constitution. Such proposed amendments shall be presented to the sovereign for bringing into effect or for such other disposition as the sovereign shall see fit.
7. The Cabinet may, by Ordinary Act, reprimand and take remedial action against any Minister for disorderly behaviour and require the dismissal of any Minister by Special Act.
8. Subject to this Constitution, the Cabinet, when convened, is to formulate its own rules and procedures necessary or convenient for the conduct of its business.

1. The power to administer and uphold the Law of Markonia shall be vested in one Supreme Court of Markonia, and in such inferior Courts as the Supreme Court may from time to time ordain and establish. 
2. Judicial authority shall extend to all cases in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of Markonia and Treaties made or which shall be made.
3. In all cases affecting the sovereign, Ministers of the Cabinet, Commissioners, Ambassadors and diplomats, and those in which a Foreign State shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original and sole jurisdiction. In all other cases, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction.
4. In all cased where the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction or appellate jurisdiction, the trial shall be by judgement by no less than three Judges. The trial of all crimes heard by Courts with original jurisdiction, other than the Supreme Court, shall be by judgement by Jury.
5. The Supreme Court shall nominate persons to be appointed as Judges and convey the nomination to the sovereign who shall, on the advice of the Supreme Court, ratify the appointment, and that ratification shall not unreasonably be withheld without proper reason being given.
6. The Supreme Court shall have the power to declare any law that the Court in session shall find to contravene or contradict this Constitution as unconstitutional rendering it null and void. Any convictions under a law declared unconstitutional shall immediately be quashed and all traces of the original court proceedings shall be deleted from the records and shall not form any part of any subsequent proceedings.

1. All debts and engagements entering into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against Markonia under this Constitution.
2. No Citizen, resident or other person, whether personal or corporate shall make nor imply to be able to make any representation to any Foreign State, organisation or person concerning any matter of State.
3. No title of nobility, office of Trust or position of privilege granted by a Foreign State shall apply within the territories of Markonia nor shall any such have equivalent status in Markonia without the consent of the sovereign.
4. Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Government may do anything that a competent person may do.