Preamble

We, the Senate and People of Nova Roma, as a symbolically and spiritually independent and sovereign nation, herewith set forth this law as the foundation of our governing institutions and common society. We hereby declare Nova Roma to be the commonwealth in possession of the renascens populus Romanus, the renascent modern Roman people worldwide, regardless of their status of citizenship, as established by the Contract with the Gods at the October Horse ceremony in the 20th Year of Nova Roma, which completed the founding process of the New Roman Nation, and which was sealed by the Confirmed Declaration of Nova Roma and the installation of the Pignora Imperii and the New Palladium. Nova Roma shall stand as a beacon for those who identify as Romans anywhere in the world, who all shall be considered members of the Nova Roman Nation. Nova Roma is hereby established as the home community of all Romans and all things Roman, embodied in ancient Roman form, as its most classical incarnation, but inheriting and cultivating all periods of Roman history, from archaic to medieval and modern. As the spiritual heir to ancient Rome, Nova Roma shall restore and maintain the Pax Deorum and shall serve as the homeland and worldly focus for the Religio Romana. As heir to the Roman Republic and Empire, Nova Roma shall endeavor to exist, in all manners practical and acceptable, as the modern restoration of the ancient Roman Republic. The religion, culture, law and society of Nova Roma shall be patterned principally upon those of the ancient Roman Republic, or when needed or deemed more practical, on other periods of Roman history, preferably on the Principate. In its mission to revive Roman civilization, Nova Roma shall always endeavor to recreate the best of ancient Rome and the most classical expression of a Roman tradition. Nothing shall be permitted or legally valid in Nova Roma which would violate the spirit, purpose and principles of the Confirmed Declaration of Nova Roma.

The primary function of Nova Roma shall be to fulfill the Confirmed Declaration of Nova Roma, to restore the Roman Nation and attend the Cultus Deorum, to revive and to promote the study and practice of the mos maiorum, the religion, culture and virtues of classical Roman civilization, defined as the period from the founding of Rome in 753 BCE to the final extinction of the Sacred Fire of Vesta in 394 CE, and of all things Roman from other periods secondarily, encompassing such fields as religion, culture, law, politics, language, literature, philosophy, fashion, craftsmanship, art and architecture, and to found the Roman model city of Nova Roma.

I. Constitutional Basis

A. This law shall be the Constitution of Nova Roma, a special lex ('law') serving as the basic authority for all decision-making within Nova Roma, and shall limit the authority of all magistrates and institutions, of all other leges (translated as 'laws') passed by the Comitia, decreta (translated as 'decrees') of the priestly collegia, magisterial edicta (translated as 'edicts') and Senatus consulta (translated as either 'recommendations' of the Senate or 'decrees' of the Senate) shall be subject to it. This law may be altered by a lex passed by a two-thirds majority vote of Comitia Centuriata and ratified by a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate before it shall take effect.

B. Legal precedence and interpretation. The English terms “law” or  “legal” document within the context of Nova Roma shall be understood to refer to this lex constitutiva or to any lex, decretum, Senatus consultum or edictum if its nature and context is unspecified; more properly 'law' is the English translation of the term lex passed by Comitia. This present lex shall be the highest legal authority within Nova Roma. It shall thereafter be followed in legal authority by Senatus consulta ultima, edicta issued by a legally appointed a dictator, leges properly voted and passed by one of the Comitia, decreta passed by the Collegium Pontificum, decreta passed by the Collegium Augurum, Senatus consulta, and edicta issued by magistrates or other officers (in order of descending authority as described in section IV of this law, such edicts being binding upon themselves as well as others), in that order. Should a lower authority conflict with a higher authority, the higher authority shall take precedence. Should a law contradict another of the same rank of legal precedence without explicitly superseding it, the most recent law shall take precedence. Should the law of Nova Roma be silent or ambiguous in a question, ancient Roman law and legal convention shall be used as guide to the decision or interpretation. Interpretation of law and the legality and validity of disputed law or action shall be in the power of the magistrates, and relevant officers, with iurisdictio (with the possibility of overriding each other's decisions in order of authority), of the praetors in the first place as part of their primary duties, or of any higher magistrates with iurisdictio if they see the need to intervene, which can be overridden by Senatus consulta or leges, and in cases of religious law and the unwritten laws of sacred Roman traditions, the mos maiorum, of the Collegium Pontificum, which can be overridden by leges. Against the ruling of all these institutions on questions of interpretations, intercessio, provocatio or Nova Roman judicial process may be initiated, defined by lex. For the special case of adjudicating the validity of a disputed tribunician prehensio and intercessio, the rules in section IV.A.7.a-b apply.

C. This Constitution shall serve as the bylaws for Nova Roma, a legally incorporated entity in the state of Maine, USA (hereafter referred to as the "corporation"). The terms republic and state shall be understood to refer to the corporation within the context of Nova Roma. The other governing documents of the corporation shall be the leges of the Comitia which are the general assembly resolutions of the corporation, the decreta of the Collegium Pontificum and Collegium Augurum, which are cultural directive committee resolutions of the corporation, the Senatus consulta of the Senate which are the board resolutions, and the edicta of the magistratus which are the executive resolutions of the officers of the corporation. The Senatus consulta ultima are extraordinary board resolutions in corporate terminology. The governing bodies of the corporation shall be the Comitia Centuriata and the Comitia Tributa, which shall be the General Assembly of the members of the corporation (general meeting, the same body but with two different methods of voting); the Comitia Plebis Tributa shall be the Plebeian Committee of the General Assembly (composed of a class of members defined as plebeians), empowered to issue resolutions of the General Assembly in less important questions defined in these bylaws; the Priestly Colleges shall be Cultural Committees of the corporation, entrusted with keeping the corporation in line with its founding principles and cultural mission; the Senate shall be Board of Directors of the corporation, and the officers of the corporation shall be the magistrates, governors, priests and other elected or appointed officers of Nova Roma, as follows:

1. The consuls shall be the presidents of the corporation;

2. The praetors shall be the vice-presidents of the corporation;

3. The censors shall be the secretaries of the corporation;

4. The aediles shall be the deputy secretaries and culture and community directors of the corporation;

5. The quaestors shall be the treasurers and assistant directors of the corporation.

6. Other officers of the corporation: the tribunes of the plebs shall be the members' advocates of the corporation; the praefectus rei publicae (administrandae) shall be the chief executive officer, the curator aerarii the chief financial officer and the curator rei informaticae the chief information officer, the exact Latin titles and job descriptions of all of which can be defined and changed by law; the apparitors shall be senior and junior assistants of the management; the curators, legates and prefects shall be managers or supervisors of the management; the governors shall be regional presidents of the corporation; the various priests of Nova Roma shall be cultural officers, responsible to keep the organization within the spirit of Roman culture and religion.

7. The extraordinary corporate officers who are appointed only occasionally are the of the dictator, which is an extraordinary supreme president of the corporation, the magister equitum, which is an extraordinary vice-president, and the interrex, which is the temporary president of the corporation.

8. Additional corporate officers, or different corporate titles for the aforementioned officers other than described here, may be defined by edicta, decreta, leges and senatus consulta. In place of the censors, who are not permanent officers but hold office intermittently at fixed intervals, when there are none in office, the aediles shall fill the corporate legal role of secretary, but when doing so, they may not possess the powers of the censors other than which is specifically attributed to them by these bylaws or other laws of Nova Roma.

9. Members of the corporation are called “citizens”, or “people”, collectively; the reference to “people” as a source of law in these Bylaws and in the entire legal code of Nova Roma shall be understood to refer to the members' General Assembly (Comitia). Members are divided into membership fee paying members with more rights and enhanced voting power, called assidui, and non-paying members with limited rights, called capite censi or proletarii. Membership fee is called “tax” (or tributum) inside Nova Roma. Members of the corporation exercise their voting rights in voting groups, called centuries and tribes, within the differently voting variants of the General Assembly, further regulated by general assembly resolution. The result of the voting of the General Assembly is calculated not from the result of the individual votes of members, but from the result of the votes of these individual voting groups, the vote of each voting group being determined by the votes of the members cast internally within the voting group.

D. Any change to the Articles of Incorporation of Nova Roma, Inc. may be made by a lex passed by a two-thirds majority vote of Comitia Centuriata and ratified by a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate.

E. The use of male pronouns and technical terms within this Constitution is done solely for clarity, and shall not be construed to imply any disparity between genders before the law.

II. Citizens and Gentes

A. Citizenship. Regardless of citizenship, all people who identify as Romans shall be considered the spiritual members of the Nova Roman nation, with special emphasis of respect toward the people living in the former territory of the Roman Empire, especially those of Romance languages and nationalities, whereas the renascent Roman people, consecrated as native Romans by the Pignora Imperii, shall be the spiritual owners of Nova Roma. However, only citizenship grants any actual legal membership status and rights within the corporation. The full citizens of Nova Roma are those who possess the civitas Nova Romana optimo iure, they are the members of the corporation. The families of the cives optimo iure, and all spiritual members of the Nova Roman nation, either individuals or entire Roman communities, receive partial citizenship without voting or membership rights, the civitas Nova Romana sine suffragio, as defined by law, if they are registered in a manner defined by law. Entire Roman or non-Roman communities or individuals can receive the lesser partial associate citizenship of the civitas Latina (Latin citizenship) with the ius Latinum also knowns as ius Latii, or the allied or friend status, socius or amicus, as defined by separate law, which grant associate status to close partners of Nova Roma.  Any and all rights of a citizen, and citizenship itself, may be restricted, suspended or terminated, as a disciplinary measure, in process defined by law. Full citizenship, civitas optimo iure, shall be regulated as follows:

1. Any person 18 years old or older may apply for Citizenship.

2. Citizens may apply for Citizenship on behalf of their children or legal wards (as defined by relevant macronational law) under the age of 18. Such Citizens shall be known as impuberes.

3. Citizenship is open to anyone regardless of ethnic heritage, gender, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation.

4. Citizenship may be involuntarily revoked by those means that shall be established by law, or may be voluntarily relinquished by notification of the censors or by public statement before three or more witnesses.

5. Impuberes may have their Citizenship relinquished on their behalf by their parent or legal guardian (as defined by relevant macronational law) by notification of the censors or by public statement before three or more witnesses.

B. Citizens who have reached the age of 18 shall have certain fundamental rights (iura) and basic duties (munera). It is the mandatory duty of each citizen to register for the census, and it is an optional duty to pay the tributum and to perform the munus militiae (ceremonial and reenactment military service for Nova Roma) which shall be redeemable by alternative solutions, regulated by law. The fundamental rights that each citizen shall be guaranteed are contained in this enumeration, but it shall not be taken to exclude other rights that citizens may possess:

1. The ius suffragii, the right to vote in elections as members of their various Comitia on matters brought before the People;

2. The ius honorum, the right to be eligible for office, subject to requirements set by law;

3. The ius commercii, the right to pursue business enterprises within Nova Roma and the right to receive reasonable encouragement to build a strong economy through Roman-oriented commerce; the only restrictions being those informational and other materials copyrighted by the State, which shall remain the property of the State;

4. The ius conubii, the right to have a lawful marriage within Nova Roma with anyone, regardless of their citizenship status, and to have the children of any such marriage to be part of the Nova Roman Nation, however, full citizenship will be granted to these children only upon registration with the censors;

5. The ius provocationis, the  right of provocatio; to appeal a decision of a magistrate that has a direct negative impact upon that citizen to the Comitia Tributa;

6. The ius legis actionis, the right to receive justice, protection and redress in case of conflict with other citizens, non-citizens or with the State, in fair internal judicial procedure, defined by law;

7. The right and obligation to remain subject to the civil rights and laws of the countries in which they reside or hold citizenship, regardless of their status as dual citizens of Nova Roma;

8. The right of protection from ex post facto laws so that no citizen may suffer:

a. A penalty for an action which was not subject to a penalty when the action was performed. If an action was subject to a penalty when the action was performed but is no longer subject to any penalty, no penalty shall be applied for that action.

b. A greater penalty for an action than the penalty which was applicable when the action was taken. If an action was subject to a penalty when the action was performed but is now subject to a lesser penalty, the lesser penalty shall be applicable for that action.

9. The right to participate in all public fora and discussions, restricted only in case of disruptive behavior. Such officially sponsored fora shall be expected to be supported, maintained and reasonably moderated in the interests of maintaining order and civility;

10. The right to seek and receive assistance and advice from the State in matters of Roman culture and activities;

11. The right to privacy; security in one's home, person, and property; and authority over one's home, person, and property. Homes may not be searched, persons may not be detained, and property may not be seized, except by judicial ruling or by a special provision of law, and;

12. The ius sacrorum, the right to complete authority over one's own personal and household religion, rites and beliefs, Roman or otherwise; except when the laws mandate public participation in the ceremonies of the Religio Romana, such as the case of magistrates.

C. The Genera Gentilicia. There are two gentilic genera into which all citizens fall:

1. The patriciatus (the patrician genus)

a. The patriciatus shall consist of a minimum of 30 families.

b. Should there be fewer than 30 patrician families the Senate shall have the power to nominate a plebeian family to the Comitia Curiata for elevation to patrician status.

c. The Senate shall have the power to nominate additional families to the Comitia Curiata for elevation to patrician status if this elevation does not cause the patriciatus to exceed 5% of the population of Nova Roma.

d. A patrician family may allow its members to form new patrician families.

2. The plebs (the plebeian genus). The plebs shall consist of individuals who do not belong to the patriciatus.

D. Gentes (clans), stirpes (branches, dynasties), familiae (families) and domus (households). Familiae being the backbone of Roman society, the prerogatives and responsibilities of the familia are of primary importance to Nova Roma. Except where specifically dealt with in the law, each familia shall have the right to determine its own course of action and parents shall have the undisputed right and responsibility to see to the education and raising of their children.

1. Each gens (clan) shall be registered with the censors, who will maintain records of gens membership and other relevant information.

2. No two gentes may have the same nomen. The censors shall be responsible for ensuring this rule is observed.

3. Each gens shall consist of a minimum of one stirps (lineage).

4. No two stirpes' within a gens may have the same cognomen (surname). The censors shall be responsible for ensuring this rule is observed.

5. Each familia shall have a paterfamilias and / or materfamilias who shall act as the leader(s) of the family and speak for it when necessary. The holder(s) of this position must be registered as such with the censors. The paterfamilias and / or materfamilias may, at his, her, or their discretion, expel members of his, her, or their familia, accept new members into it by adoption, or allow members to form new familiae belonging to the same order.

a. The paterfamilias and / or materfamilias may, at his, her, or their discretion, exercise the rights enumerated in paragraph II.B of this law on behalf of impuberes in his, her, or their familia, with the exception of the rights under paragraphs II. B. 1-4.

E. Curiae, Tribes, Centuries and Classes

1. There shall exist thirty curiae, into which the censors shall divide all of the gentes, and each ten curiae shall be joined up in one of the three ceremonial tribes, the Ramnes, Tities or Luceres, directed by law passed by the Comitia. Unlike the voting tribes and the centuries, the curiae do not vote directly in the Comitia Curiata, but they are represented by the lictores curiati.

2. Separately from the three ceremonial tribes, there shall exist nineteen voting tribes, into which the censors shall divide all of the citizens. Fifteen of these tribes shall be designated the rural tribes, made up of those citizens who are designated as assidui. Four of these tribes shall be designated the urban tribes, and shall be made up of those citizens who are designated as capite censi or proletarii. Citizens shall be assigned by the censors into tribes as directed by law passed by the Comitia.

3. There shall exist a number of voting centuries, set by law enacted by the Comitia Centuriata, one reserved for the capite censi or proletarii, the rest for the assidui, into which the censors shall divide all of the citizens.

4. The centuries shall be established within five Classes into which the censors shall divide all of the citizens according to qualifications set by lex. The exact composition of the centuries and classes shall be determined by law passed by the Comitia Centuriata, but shall be weighted in favor of those citizens who have shown the greatest commitment to Nova Roma.

F. Ordo equester (equestrian order). The Equestrian Order shall consist of high standing citizens who excel in their service to the Res Publica. Equestrians shall be enrolled into the Ordo Equester as specified by laws approved by the Comitia. There shall be two grades of equestrians, the equites equo publico (public knights) who shall be the equestrians proper, and equites equo privato (private knights) who shall not be considered full members of the Equestrian Order, and a preliminary grade of the tribuni aerarii equestres (equestrian treasury tribunes), as defined by law.

III. Comitia

The Comitia are the highest organs of the republic possessing all powers of the people and the state. A law passed by the Comitia is called lex. No session of the Comitia may be held without taking the auspices before with favorable result and without an opening and closing ceremony of the Religio Romana; any lex enacted without this procedural step shall be invalid.

A. The Comitia Curiata (Curiate Assembly) shall be made up of thirty lictores curiati (lictors of the curia), appointed to their positions by the Collegium Pontificum (college of pontiffs). It shall be called to order by a consul or praetor in point III.A.1, or by the pontifex maximus or a pontifex in points III.A.2-5, when the Comitia Curiata can be also called Comitia Calata, and the Collegium Pontificum shall set the rules by which the Comitia Curiata shall operate internally. No magistrate shall exercise the rights contained in imperium and auspicia maiora without the formal grant by the Comitia Curiata.  It shall have the following responsibilities:

1. To invest elected and appointed magistrates, governors or other officers with auspicia maiora and imperium (full or greater imperium to consuls and to officers specially empowered with consular imperium, and lesser imperium to praetors and to officers specially empowered with praetorian imperium), without right of refusal individually or as a body. When imperium is prorogued, it shall not be invested again by the Comitia Curiata. Imperium is defined as chief command and presidency, complete power over provinces and military, supreme executive, judicial and disciplinary power, which includes the ius imperandi (the power to command and to give orders to anyone), full iurisdictio (the power to interpret and administer the law and to administer justice), full ius coercitionis (the right to enforce the law and their own decisions, even by disciplinary or preventive actions), ius intercessionis (the right to forbid decisions or actions of the colleague or lesser magistrates), and ius edicendi (the right to issue edicta); all these within the boundaries or provincia of the office, and it grants the honor of being preceded by lictors as a symbol of supreme power. With certain exceptions defined by this lex, imperium cannot be exercised within the central administration of Nova Roma, where it is subject to both provocatio and tribunician intercessio;

2. To witness the appointment of official priests and priestesses of the Religio Romana, adoptions, and the recording of wills.

3. To approve or reject the elevation of a plebeian family to the patriciatus;

4. To approve or reject an adoption that elevates a plebeian to the patriciatus or lowers a patrician to the plebs;

5. To approve or reject an application from a patrician who wishes to renounce his status and become a member of the plebs.

B. The Comitia Centuriata (Centuriate Assembly) shall be made up of all of the citizens, grouped into their respective centuries. While it shall be called to order by either a consul or a praetor, only the comitia centuriata shall pass laws governing the rules by which it shall operate internally. It shall have the following powers:

1. To enact laws binding upon the entire citizenry;

2. To elect the consuls, praetors, and censors;

3. To try legal cases in which the defendant is subject to permanent removal of citizenship.

C. The Comitia Populi Tributa (Tribal Assembly of the People), abbreviated as 'Comitia Tributa', which shall always refer to these Comitia, not to the Comitia Plebis Tributa, shall be made up of all citizens, grouped into their respective tribes. While it shall be called to order by either a consul or a praetor, only the comitia populi tributa shall pass laws governing the rules by which it shall operate internally. It shall have the following powers:

1. To enact laws binding upon the entire citizenry;

2. To elect the quaestors and curule aediles;

3. To try legal cases that do not involve permanent removal of citizenship.

D. The Comitia Plebis Tributa (Tribal Assembly of the Plebs), abbreviated as 'Concilium Plebis',  shall be made up of all non-patrician citizens, grouped into their respective tribes. While it shall be called to order by a tribune of the plebs, only the comitia plebis tributa shall pass laws governing the rules by which it shall operate internally. It shall have the following powers:

1. To enact plebiscites with the force of law, binding upon the entire citizenry, but those addressing finances or foreign policy (external relations of Nova Roma, alliances, unions) shall be ratified by the Senate before they shall take effect;

2. To elect the plebeian aediles and tribunes of the plebs;

3. To try legal cases solely involving members of the plebs that do not involve permanent removal of citizenship.

IV. Magistrates

Magistrates are the elected and appointed officials responsible for the maintenance and conduct of the affairs of state and for the welfare of the people. Higher magistrates posses the auspicia maiora  (the consul, censor and dictator have a higher degree of auspicia maiora which can be called auspicia maxima, the praetor and the magister equitum shall have a lesser degree) and higher potestas (power), the lower magistrates (the rest of the magistrates) possess the auspicia minora and lower potestas. The higher magistrates, together with the curule aediles, are curule magistrates and shall be accorded distinguished respect and their historical insignia and privileges. There are two categories of magistrates: magistratus ordinarii (those who are ordinarily elected) and extraordinarii (those who are only occasionally appointed). Qualifications necessary to hold these positions may be enacted by law properly passed by one of the Comitia. No magistrate or promagistrate shall enter office without a taking of office ceremony of the Religio Romana before, including an inauguration and taking the vows of imperium, the oaths and auspices for the term of office with favorable result; a magistrate or promagistrate without these procedural steps may not legally exercise any powers of his office. No one may hold more than one magistracy at the same time.

A. The magistratus ordinarii are to be elected by the Comitia annually, with the exception of the censors, defined in IV.A.1. As the powers of the praetors and censors are derived from the consul's historical regia potestas, the consuls, praetors and censors shall be elected under the same auspices, and, in addition, the praetors shall be considered as minor colleagues of the consuls whose full ceremonial title is “praetor iudex consul”. Newly elected quaestors shall assume office on the Nones of December (December 5); the tribuni plebis and aediles plebis shall enter their offices on the fourth day before the Ides of December (December 10); all other magistrates shall enter their offices on the Kalends of January (January 1). Should an office in mid-term become vacant and suitable candidates be at hand, an election shall be held in the appropriate Comitia to elect a successor to serve out the remainder of the term within one month of the vacancy. The magistratus ordinarii, in decreasing order of authority, are as follows:

1. Censor. Two censors shall be elected by the Comitia Centuriata to be regarded as the most sacred magistrates kept in the highest respect, to serve a term lasting a maximum of eighteen months, to be elected once in every thirty months, to conduct the census of Nova Roma, which shall be initiated no later than in the thirtieth month after the lustrum of the previous census, observing that one in two censuses be completed before the end of every fifth calendar year of Nova Roma. The censors shall not necessarily remain in office until the end of their term, but they may resign from office after they have completed the census and the lustrum. If a censor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the remaining censor shall resign no later than within a nundinum. When there are no censors in office, their duties listed under IV.A.1.c-d, without the right to award public knighthoods, shall be continued by the Censorial Office directly administered by the praefectus rei publicae administrandae under the legal authority of the consuls who shall only supervise the lawfulness of the operation of the Censorial Office; the rest of the censorial powers shall remain in abeyance. All censorial decisions shall be made by unanimous collegial decision. The censors shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold potestas and the auspicia maiora, and to conduct the census with the lustrum, which shall include the lectio senatus (appointment and removal of senators), the recognitio et probatio equitum (elevation to, or removal from, the Equestrian Order), the regimen morum (general control, with disciplinary power, over the public conduct and morals of citizens, including the punishments of tribu movere: to re-allocate an assiduus citizen from a rural tribe to an urban tribe; senatu movere: to remove a senator from the senate, equum adimere: to remove the rank of “eques equo publico” from an equestrian; in aerarios referre: to remove the voting rights of citizens by exclusion from all tribes and centuries, simultaneously removing them from the Senate and the Equestrian Order, too), to possess an incomplete ius coercitionis limited to be used within their duties, and the ius edicendi restricted only to issue those edicta that are necessary to carry out those tasks in which they are mandated by law to engage;

b. To review, evaluate and set the direction of the public works, properties (in cooperation with the aediles) and finances of the state between two censuses;

c. To maintain the album civium (list of citizens) including the list of gentes, the allocation of citizens into tribes, centuries and classes as described by law, and other appropriate information regarding them;

d. To maintain the album equitum (lists of members of the equestrian order), including the power to add and remove names on that list;

e. To maintain the album senatorium (list of Senators), including the power to add and remove names on that list according to qualifications set by law;

f. To safeguard the public morality, virtue, honor and decency through public chastisements (animadversio) and through the collegial administering of notae;

i. The nota censoria shall include the public explanation of the reasons for the disciplinary action and the recommended behavior which could convince the censors to lift the nota;

ii. The nota censoria shall impose one or more punishments that the censors are empowered to inflict, listed at IV.A.1.a;

iii. A nota shall remain in force until such time as it is removed by the same or by subsequent censors;

g. To appoint apparitors and other officers to assist with administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit.

2. Consul. Two consuls shall be elected annually by the comitia centuriata to serve a term lasting one year. They shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold the regia potestas et imperium and the auspicia maiora, and to exercise, even when the use of imperium is restricted, full iurisdictio, the ius coercitionis, the ius intercessionis, the ius edicendi, the ius agendi cum populo (the right to call the Comitia of the whole people), the ius agendi cum Senatu (also known as “ius agendi cum patribus”, the right to call the Senate) and to have the honor of being preceded by twelve lictors; the consuls are responsible in general for the government of Nova Roma;

b. To issue those edicta necessary to advance the mission and function of Nova Roma and to administer the law;

c. To call the Senate, the comitia centuriata, and the comitia populi tributa to order;

d. To pronounce intercessio (intercession; a veto) against another consul or magistrate of lesser authority;

e. To appoint by unanimous collegial decision, the praefectus rei publicae (administrandae), modelled on the ancient praefectus urbi, as a general deputy, representative and prime assistant to coordinate the executive offices and the administration of Nova Roma, and individually or collegially, apparitors and other officers to assist with administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit.

3. Praetor. Two praetors shall be elected by the Comitia Centuriata to serve a term lasting one year. They shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold the lesser regia potestas et imperium and the auspicia maiora, and to exercise, even when the use of imperium is restricted, full iurisdictio, the ius coercitionis, the ius intercessionis, the ius edicendi, the ius agendi cum populo, the ius agendi cum Senatu, to deputize for the consuls in any of their powers and duties; and to have the honor of being preceded by six lictors; the praetors are responsible for the administration of justice and judicial procedures in Nova Roma which shall be defined and regulated by law;

b. To issue those edicta necessary to advance the mission and function of Nova Roma and to administer the law;

c. To call the Senate, the Comitia Centuriata, and the Comitia Tributa to order;

d. To pronounce intercessio against another praetor or magistrate of lesser authority;

e. To appoint apparitors and other officers to assist with administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit.

4. Aedilis curulis (curule aedile). Two curule aediles shall be elected by the comitia populi tributa to serve a term lasting one year. They shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold lower potestas, incomplete iurisdictio (the right to interpret and administer the law and to administer justice, limited to cases within their duties and to smaller punishments defined by law), incomplete ius coercitionis limited to be used within their duties, the ius intercessionis and the ius edicendi, all of which rights and powers are restricted only to be exercised within their scope of authority, that is, to oversee and manage the cultural life, festivals and celebrations, public market and commerce within Nova Roma, the public infrastructure, the official and public fora, media, websites and communication platforms and the public order of Nova Roma, or any additional tasks assigned to them by law; and to have the honor of being preceded by two lictors;

b. To issue those edicta necessary to ensure public order, to regulate public space and market, to see to the maintenance of public facilities, conduct of public games, festivals and gatherings, and to administer the law;

c. To pronounce intercessio against another aedile (curule or plebeian) or magistrate of lesser authority;

d. To appoint apparitors and other officers to assist with administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit.

e. To maintain the venues of market and commerce within Nova Roma.

5. Aedilis plebis (plebeian aedile). Two plebeian aediles shall be elected by the comitia plebis tributa to serve a term lasting one year. They must both be of the plebs and shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold lower potestas, incomplete iurisdictio (the right to interpret and administer the law and to administer justice, limited to cases within their duties and to smaller punishments defined by law), incomplete ius coercitionis limited to be used within their duties, the ius intercessionis and the ius edicendi, all of which rights and powers are restricted only to be exercised within their scope of authority, that is, to oversee and manage the cultural life, festivals and celebrations, public market and commerce within Nova Roma, the public infrastructure, the official and public fora, media, websites and communication platforms and the public order of Nova Roma, or any additional tasks assigned to them by law; and to assist the tribunes of the plebs in any plebeian matter as mandated by them;

b. To issue those edicta necessary to ensure public order, to regulate public space and market, to see to the maintenance of public facilities, conduct of public games, festivals and gatherings, and to administer the law;

c. To pronounce intercessio against another aedile (curule or plebeian) or magistrate of lesser authority;

d. To appoint apparitors and other officers to assist with administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit.

e. To maintain the venues of market and commerce within Nova Roma.

6. Quaestor. Eight quaestors shall be elected by the Comitia Tributa to serve a term lasting one year. One quaestor shall be assigned to each consul and praetor by mutual agreement or, if such cannot be made, by decision of the newly-elected consuls to serve them as their general assistants in their duties and manager of the funds allocated to these magistrates. The four other quaestors shall be assigned various administrative tasks, duties and projects by any higher ranking officer, by the Senate or the Comitia. Any two of the quaestors, assigned to the provincia of the aerarium by the Senate, shall be the quaestores aerarii, chief treasurers, supervising and administering the aerarium (state treasury), but funds may be spent only according to the directives of the Senate. Any quaestor, even those already assigned to magistrates, can be assigned to governors in the same functions, and after their term of office, the governor can prorogue the term of his quaestor in the territory of the province with the title “proquaestor”.  All quaestors shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold lower potestas, incomplete ius coercitionis and ius intercessionis, all of which rights and powers are restricted only to be exercised within their scope of authority, that is, to supervise, manage or execute tasks, duties and projects assigned to them by law or order by a higher ranking officer, the Senate or the Comitia;

b. To guard and administer the legal handover of government, including the oaths of office, to act as legal and financial controllers of the other officers, to serve as public prosecutors, investigators and chief law enforcement officers, to assist at Nova Roman judicial proceedings and to administer the law;

c. To serve as representatives, delegates and deputies of the magistrates, governors or other officers to whom they are assigned, acting in their name with full competence in the extent as defined by their superior;

d. To employ apparitors from among the existing ones, based on mutual agreement between quaestor and apparitor, as assistants in administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit. This assignment of an apparitor to a quaestor shall be made by an edictum of the praefectus rei publicae administrandae (who shall have the ius edicendi) at the order of the quaestor, or in absence of such praefectus, or by any officer with the ius edicendi at their discretion.

7. Tribunus plebis (tribune of the plebs). Five tribunes of the plebs shall be elected from among the plebeian citizens by the Comitia Plebis Tributa to serve a term lasting one year, who shall be sacrosanct and inviolable. The tribunes of the plebs have powers only within the central civilian administration of Nova Roma, they cannot interact with provincial governors and officers or within the ceremonial military of Nova Roma. They shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

a. To hold the special tribunicia potestas, derived from their ius auxilii ferendi (the right to bring help to a citizen negatively impacted by a magistrate) which is the main duty and the basis of all other powers of the tribunes: the highest degree of ius coercitionis, encompassing the ius prehensionis (prehensio, 'detainment': the right to suspend the citizenship rights and the office of a someone who obstructs the tribunes in the performance of their duties, for no longer than 72 hours), the highest degree of ius intercessionis, the ius edicendi, the ius agendi cum plebe (the right to call the Comitia of the plebs) and the ius agendi cum Senatu in business concerning the plebs only;

i. As the tribunes are sacrosanct and inviolable, they are empowered to apply disciplinary and judiciary actions within Nova Roma against anyone who hinders them in the exercise of their duties, as defined by law.

ii. The ius prehensionis may only be exercised with the unanimous collegial decision of all tribunes of the plebs, and the issuing of the prehensio shall include a legal reasoning, citing the articles of law which are being violated by the offender. Without such a reasoned exposition, the prehensio is invalid, null and void. The person subject to the prehensio may appeal to the people for legal redress within the first 48 hours of the prehensio, in which case the tribunes are obliged to call the Comitia Plebis Tributa immediately, no later than within 72 hours after the appeal, or if calendrical restrictions do not allow this, on the next possible day, to vote on the justification of the prehensio. If the tribunes do not convene the Comitia within these time frames, or if the Comitia judges the prehensio unjust, the prehensio shall be considered to have been done illegally, and the tribunes lose their right to exercise prehensio for the rest of their term.

b. To pronounce intercessio (intercession; a veto), only within the central administration of Nova Roma, against the actions or decisions of any other magistrate (with the exception of the dictator and the interrex), fellow tribune, other central officers, edicta, decreta after their issuance, or motions for Senatus consulta and leges before their enactment, which would violate, in their interpretation, the rights and interests of the plebs, a plebeian citizen, any citizens, or the mission and function of Nova Roma, or the letter and spirit of any law. Once a pronouncement of intercessio has been made, the other tribunes may, at their discretion, state either their support for or their disagreement with that intercessio. When a dictator is in office, the tribunes' right of intercessio is suspended, and they are not permitted to issue intercessio against consuls and officers acting under the authority of a Senatus consultum ultimum.

i. If the validity of a tribunician intercessio is contested, the praetors, within 48 hours of the issuance of the intercessio, may rule on it based on their full iurisdictio, against which ruling there shall be no place for tribunician intercessio, but the tribunes shall have the right to bring the case to the Comitia Plebis Tributa, within 72 hours after the praetor's decision, or if calendrical restrictions do not allow this, on the next possible day, to overrule the praetors' decision. The declaration of the praetor shall include a legal reasoning, citing the articles of law which serve as evidence for the invalidity of the intercessio. Without such a reasoned exposition, the overruling of the intercessio by the praetor is invalid, null and void. No prehensio may be applied against a praetor for such a praetorian declaration. If the Comitia Plebis Tributa decide that the praetor's verdict was correct, no tribune may ever issue another intercessio against the same action or decision until a new lex authorizes them to do so.

ii. If a tribunician intercessio is declared invalid by the praetors, it ceases to have effect until the decision is overturned by the Comitia Plebis Tributa, and then it shall take force retroactively and it shall annul the act which was vetoed and its effects.

iii. Each Tribune may issue only one such declaration of support or disagreement, but may change their declaration from one to the other, should they wish to do so.

iv. The initial pronouncement of intercessio by a Tribune shall count as that Tribune's declaration of agreement.

v. Should the number or the Tribunes who choose to disagree with an intercessio equal or exceed the number of Tribunes who choose to support it, the intercessio shall be revoked.

1. Intercessio may not be imposed against statements of support for or disagreement with a use of intercessio that are issued pursuant to the preceding paragraph.

2. The issuance and function of intercessio shall be defined according to procedures described by legislation passed by Comitia.

c. To be immune from intercessio pronounced by other magistrates, except as described in paragraphs IV. A. 7 .a. and IV. A. 7. b. above;

d. To be privy to the debates of the Senate, and keep the citizens informed as to the subjects and results thereof, in such manner and subject to such restrictions as may be defined by law;

e. To call the Comitia Plebis Tributa to order; and to call the Senate to order for advice in matters strictly within the sphere of duties of the tribunes, and to enact Senatus consulta which may include such decisions only that are strictly internal business of the plebs or internal administrative matters of the tribuni plebis, except when the tribune shall call the Senate for approving a plebiscite requiring ratification by the Senate, or in other cases defined by law;

f. To help and protect the plebeians and all citizens from any discriminating action of the magistrates, to act as legal controllers of all officers, to conduct judicial procedures in connection with their duties, to serve as public prosecutors, public defenders, and to administer the law;

g. To appoint apparitors to assist with administrative and other tasks, as they shall see fit.

8. Vigintisexvir (Magistrate of the twenty-six). Collectively, the vigintisexviri shall be various magistrates elected by the Comiti Tributa to serve a term lasting one year to fulfill those necessary functions as shall be assigned to them by law enacted by one of the Comitia of the people. Their collective title may be changed by law from vigintisexvir to reflect their real number in Latin.

9. Tribunus militum comitiatus (Elected military tribune). The Comitia Tributa shall elect a number of military tribunes (also called tribuni militum a populo) elected to fulfill functions related to the ceremonial and reenacting military of Nova Roma as defined by law enacted by one of the Comitia of the people. Military tribune is also a military rank (tribuni militum rufuli), promoted by the consuls, praetors, governors or other commanding officers of a legion.

B. The magistratus extraordinarii are as follows:

1. Dictator. In times of emergency or to complete special extraordinary tasks, the consuls, upon the mandate of the Senate, may appoint a dictator to serve a term not to exceed six months, who shall possess all powers and rights of all magistrates and the judiciary, including all of their authorizations mentioned in this lex or elsewhere in the legal system of Nova Roma. A motion for appointing a dictator, the enactment process of the Senatus consultum about the appointment of the dictator, or the actual appointment by the consul, are not subject to tribunician intercessio (installing a dictator by Senatus consultum ultimum shall remain subject to tribunician intercessio). In the mandate for the appointment of the dictator, the Senate shall prescribe definite tasks or boundaries within which the dictator is obliged to remain, and after the task is completed, the dictator shall resign from office within a nundinum. The dictator can exercise imperium within the central administration, as well, subject to neither intercessio nor provocatio, and the edicta of the dictator are absolute, under the constraints of this Constitution, within the tasks and boundaries prescribed by the Senate. The edictum of the dictator may not be used in place of a lex or Senatus consultum to enact a change in the Constitution or in the Articles of Incorporation, or in place of a decretum pontificum to appoint priests. Those instructions and measures of the dictatorial edicta which overruled leges, Senatus consulta or decreta in the legal system of Nova Roma may not remain in force after the term of office of the dictator has ended: they cease to have any validity or effect. However, the edicta or the parts of an edictum that are not in conflict with the aforementioned types of law, the day-to-day management, operational actions and decisions implemented by the dictator for Nova Roma that do not create new law conflicting with laws of higher legal precedence, will not become reversed or annulled automatically after the tenure of the dictatura, only the changes to the legal system of Nova Roma which would be in conflict with existing leges, Senatus consulta or decreta. The dictator shall appoint a magister equitum as his deputy with lesser imperium equal to a praetor's, who shall assist the dictator as mandated and shall act in his name. The dictator shall hold greater imperium and potestas regia than any magistrate and shall have the honor of being preceded by twenty-four lictors.

2. Interrex. Should both consular positions be vacant and should there be no praetors in office at the same time, the Senate shall immediately appoint an interrex to serve a term lasting five days, and as many subsequent interreges, as will be needed to organize elections to elect the suffect consuls and other missing magistrates to serve out the remainder of the term of office, or in case of a new year, the new consuls and magistrates. The interrex must be a member of the patriciatus, and shall have all the powers and responsibilities of a normally elected consul.

C. Promagistratus (Promagistrate). The Comitia and the Senate can prorogue the imperium of consuls, praetors and the potestas of quaestors (quaestors can be prorogued also by the governor who is their superior) to govern provinces and command legions (or to assist therein, in the case of the quaestor), and can specially create, appoint, and grant consular or praetorian imperium to, governors, commanders or special extraordinary officers. Promagistrates are not magistrates, but private citizen officers who are empowered to exercise the office of magistrate.

D. Commissioner. The Comitia, the Senate, the magistrates and other officers with the ius edicendi, have the right to elect or appoint other officers with Roman titles, patterned upon the legal system of ancient Rome. These are not considered magistrates but commissioners of the state, and they include but are not limited to the office of curator, usually appointed by the senate, the legatus (legate), appointed by the Senate, or upon special authorization of the Senate, by magistrates or other officers, the praefectus (prefect) and the praepositus (provost), usually appointed by magistrates or other officers with the ius edicendi, the tribunus (tribune), usually appointed by consuls, praetors, governors and legion commanders, or elected by the people. The Comitia and the Senate can create, appoint, and grant any rights and powers of any magistrates to special extraordinary commissioners to complete specific tasks. Commissioners, magistrates and promagistrates can be an overlapping category: provincial governors are usually promagistrates, less frequently magistrates, appointed as commissioners to govern a province. If authorized by the Senate, a consul or someone with consular imperium can delegate limited praetorian imperium to a commissioner, but such delegated imperium stays the property and remains under the auspices, control and responsibility of the delegating officer.

E. Apparitor (Civil servant). Collectively, the apparitors are not magistrates but various lower officers appointed as assistants to the higher officers and priests by edictum or by other legal instrument. They shall be appointed into various decuriae to fulfill those necessary functions as shall be assigned to them by law. They shall include the scribae, lictores, viatores, praecones, the unspecified apparitores and the accensi. Other types of apparitors may be defined by law based on Roman historical precedence.

F. Military officers. According to the principles of the classical Roman mos maiorum, military and civilian offices and administration are not separated in Nova Roma, and those magistrates and officers who possess imperium are considered (ceremonial and reenactment) military generals. Certain magistrates and other offices who do not possess imperium, but serve as deputies or delegates to imperium holders, such as quaestors, proquaestors, legates, prefects, provosts and military tribunes (or others defined so by the appointing officer) are considered lieutenant generals or lesser generals. Magistrates and other officers defined as generals can appoint and promote various Roman military officers to military ranks, to military appointments (offices, positions), and can grant certain officers the right to appoint lesser military officers, as defined by law. Military officers can serve in the administration of provinces as a type of commissioners and civil servants (militia officialis) together with the apparitors, and they can serve in the praetorium of the imperium holding officers in the central administration, as well. A law shall define the regulation and the various degrees of autonomy of the ceremonial and reenactment military units of Nova Roma and the role and relationship of these generals and officers regarding them. The aforementioned generals' ranks are political military offices and not professional military ranks: the rank of generals is always a political office. The military rank proper of an individual (including but not limited to tribune, centurio, optio, aquilifer, signifer, tesserarius, decanus)  is separate from the political military office (including consul, proconsul, praetor, propraetor, quaestor, proquaestor, legate, prefect, provost, tribune), and different generals can hold different military ranks, or no military rank.

G. General rules for of the operation of magistrates

1. Collegiality. Decisions and actions of the colleague magistrates in the same magistracy can be made individually, jointly or collegially.

a. Individual decisions or actions are the ones taken by only one colleague. Except in cases defined by law, sessions of the Senate and the Comitia can only be called and presided individually. Any decision or action of a magistrate can be vetoed by one or more of his colleagues: the veto procedure (intercessio) and its time frames shall be defined by lex, but the period of time while a decision or action may be vetoed shall be limited to 72 hours, the counting of which period shall be restarted once, and only once, from the time of the first veto in order to allow time for possible counter vetos. As long as an action or decision is not vetoed, it shall be considered to be in force. After a veto has been pronounced, during the period of waiting for possible counter vetoes, the vetoed action or decision shall be considered suspended, and not in force until the end of the waiting period: if a voting has already been started on a vetoed motion, the voting shall proceed uninterrupted, but the law shall not take effect until the end of the veto procedure. If, at the end of the procedure, the veto becomes annulled, the action or decision shall be considered as if it had never been vetoed. These same rules of intercessio shall be applied by the tribunes of the plebs and magistrates of higher authority when vetoing the actions or decisions of magistrates of lower authority.

b. If not all of the colleagues are involved in the making of a decision or action, it shall not be considered to be made collegially, but only a joint decision or action taken by some of the colleagues and not by the entire college.

c. Collegial decisions and actions require the participation (agreement, disagreement, abstention, where the agreements plus abstentions exceed the number of disagreements or vetoes) of all colleagues in the action or decision-making. Unanimous collegial decisions require the agreement or conscious abstention of all colleagues. Colleagues are regarded as involved in an action or decision-making if they were demonstrably informed that they were invited to make a decision or action. If the colleagues are still unresponsive 72 hours after having been contacted and fully informed, their absence shall be counted as conscious abstention even if they protest it later. An unanimous collegial decision may be published as soon as all colleagues were fully informed about it, but it will not be considered unanimous, and might even become null and void depending on the proportion of vetoes, if a colleague still vetoes it.

2. Accountability. Should any officers be found to be derelict in their duties, to abuse their power, or to break the law in any way, they may be removed by a law originating in the Comitia that elected them or by a legal decision of the authority that appointed them. Judicial procedure may not be started against sitting magistrates or promagistrates, but requests for judicial procedure shall be recorded and kept on hold until the end of their term of office when they shall be processed immediately.

3. Transfer of authority. In case of need, certain magistrates shall act in the place of other magistrates, according to the historical and hierarchical nature of their office. If the praetors are not capable to attend their duties, or there are no praetors in office, the consuls, as major colleagues, shall take over the praetorian duties. If the censors are not capable to attend their duties, or there are no censors in office, the consuls shall preside over the censorial office, but they may not directly exercise the censorial functions except in cases, and in a manner, mandated by the Senate or the people; and the aediles shall fill the role of corporate secretary when required by the country of incorporation. As heads of state and government, the consuls, and their deputies, the praetors, shall take over the duties of the aediles if the aediles are not capable to attend their duties, or there are no aediles in office. If only the curule aediles have to be substituted, the plebeian aediles, if only the plebeian aediles have to, the curule aediles shall take over each others' duties. Magistrates, commissioners and governors can transfer their own authority to quaestors (also to proquaestors in the provinces, or optionally also to praetors in the case of the consuls) for a period of time if necessary.

V. The Senate

The supreme policy-making authority for Nova Roma shall be embodied in its Senate. Senators shall be either permanent or temporary members, and voting or non voting members of the Senate. Permanent, full members of the Senate shall be appointed by the censors during the census according to qualifications set by law. Censors, consuls, praetors, and potentially other magistrates determined by lex, shall become ex officio voting members of the Senate upon election to office, but their permanent membership in the Senate will have to be approved by the censors during the census, until which time they shall remain temporary voting members of the Senate. Senators shall hold their senatorial position for life, excepting in cases of resignation or removal from the Senate by the censors or by process of law, loss of citizenship, or extended failure to maintain assiduus status. The Senate may also have non-voting members, defined by lex. The Senate shall have the following powers and responsibilities:

A. As the repository of experience and wisdom in the affairs of State, the Senate shall have the authority to issue Senatus consulta (advice of the Senate) on those topics upon which it shall see fit to comment.

B. The Senate shall exercise control over the aerarium (treasury) and shall oversee the financial endeavors, health, and policy of the state.

1. No later than the last day of November of each year, the Senate shall prepare a budget for the following year. This budget shall deal with the disbursement of funds from the aerarium to the quaestors for various purposes. Even though the quaestors assigned to the consuls shall be responsible for the maintenance of the entire treasury, no funds from it may be disbursed without the prior approval of the Senate. The Senate may, as required by changing circumstances, pass supplemental Senatus consulta to modify the annual budget.

2. The Senate may, by Senatus consultum, impose taxes, fees, or other financial requirements on the citizens in order to maintain the financial welfare of the state.

C. The Senate may, by Senatus Consultum, create provinciae for administrative purposes and appoint provincial governors therefor, who shall bear such titles as the Senate may deem appropriate. The Senate may review each governor on a yearly basis and it remains in the discretion of the Senate whether or not to prorogue such governors, although this review shall not constitute a ban on the authority of the Senate to remove governors from office as its discretion. Governors shall have the following honors, powers, and obligations:

1. To hold imperium et auspicia and have the honor of being preceded by a number of lictors, depending on the rank and degree of their imperium, and solely within the jurisdiction of their respective provinciae, twelve for governors with consular imperium, six for governors with praetorian imperium, who are prorogued in their imperium after their praetorship, and five for governors who are not holding their governorship as propraetors or haven't held the office of praetor. Provinces shall in the first place be given to sitting consuls and praetors, who shall continue their governorship by prorogation of imperium by the Senate or the Comitia. When it is impossible or impractical, provinces should be assigned to former consuls and praetors, whose imperium shall be renewed by the Senate or the Comitia. When no current or former consul or praetor can be found as the most suitable candidate for the governorship, the Senate or the Comitia can grant imperium and assign the province to another individual. No governor shall assume imperium and auspicia without a taking of office ceremony of the Religio Romana before, including an inauguration and taking the vows of imperium, the oaths and auspices for the term of office with favorable result; a governor without these procedural steps may not legally exercise any powers of his office. When a governor's imperium is prorogued, none of these ceremonies shall be required, except for a new province, but they shall be required when the imperium of a sitting magistrate is prorogued for the first time.

2. To proclaim those edicta (edicts) necessary to engage in those tasks which advance the mission and function of Nova Roma, solely within the jurisdiction of their provinciae (such edicts being binding upon themselves as well as others);

3. To manage the day-to-day organization and administration of their provinciae;

4. To appoint officers to whom authority may be delegated, subject to those restrictions and standards as the Senate shall deem appropriate;

5. To remove officers whom they have appointed, or make changes to their titles and/or delegated authority, subject to those restrictions and standards as the Senate shall deem appropriate.

D. In times of emergency, the Senate shall have the power, by a two-thirds majority vote, to issue the Senatus consultum ultimum (the ultimate decree of the Senate) which can, with the exception of this Constitution, supersede all other laws, the judiciary, the magistrates and the Comitia, by making decisions in their place, and can authorize the consuls and other officers to use their imperium in the central administration with absolute powers, under the constraints of this Constitution and within the prescribed scope as defined by the Senatus consultum ultimum, to deal with a specific situation. The Senatus consultum ultimum is a type of Senatus consultum, and as such, it is subject to tribunician intercessio and to all rules regarding Senatus consulta, but magistrates acting under an enacted Senatus consultum ultimum are not subject to tribunician intercessio or provocatio. The Senatus consultum ultimum may not be used in place of a lex to enact a change in the Constitution or in the Articles of Incorporation, or in place of a decretum pontificum to appoint priests. A Senatus consultum ultimum may not remain in force for longer than three months after its enactment: it ceases to have any special authority other than a regular Senatus consultum, and only those parts of the Senatus consultum ultimum retain validity or effect after the three month period has passed which are not in conflict with laws of higher legal precedence above Senatus consultum. Day-to-day management, operational actions, and decisions implemented under the the Senatus consultum ultimum for Nova Roma that do not create new law conflicting with laws of higher legal precedence, will not become reversed or annulled automatically after the expiration of the Senatus consultum ultimum, only the changes to the legal system of Nova Roma that are in conflict with laws of higher legal precedence.

F. The Senate may, by Senatus consultum, enact rules governing its own internal procedure which may be overruled by laws passed in the Comitia only if ratified by the Senate. Leges passed by one of the Comitia which affect or alter the rules by which another Comitia operate internally, or which affect tor alter this lex or the Articles of Incorporation, and plebiscites addressing finances or foreign policy shall be similarly ratified by the Senate. Such ratifications may be done either before or after the enactment of the lex by the Comitia.

VI. Public Religious Institutions

A. The Religio Romana, the worship of the Gods and Goddesses of Rome, shall be the official religion of Nova Roma.  All magistrates and Senators, as officers of the State, shall be required to publicly show respect for the Religio Romana and the Gods and Goddesses that made Rome great.  Magistrates, Senators, and citizens need not be practitioners of the Religio Romana, but may not engage in any activity that intentionally blasphemes or defames the Gods, the Religio Romana, or its practitioners.

B. The priesthoods of the Gods of Rome shall be organized as closely as practical on the ancient Roman model. The institutions of the Religio Romana shall have authority over religious matters on the level of the state and nation only, maintaining the religious rites of the State and providing resources pertaining to the Religio Romana which Citizens may make use of if they choose.  Nova Roma shall approach all other religions with a syncretistic outlook, offering friendship to all paths which acknowledge the right of those who practice and honor the Religio Romana to do so and respect the beliefs thereof.  Only Citizens of Nova Roma may be members of the public institutions of the Religio Romana, which shall be organized, and have their responsibilities divided, as follows:

1. The Collegium Pontificum (College of Pontiffs) shall be the highest of the priestly collegia. It shall consist of the pontifex maximus and a number of pontifices, the flamines, Vestales, and the rex sacrorum. The Collegium Pontificum shall determine its internal structure, the number of its constituent priests, and shall appoint its own members, elect the pontifex maximus, and shall define, create and appoint all other priesthoods. The powers and duties of the Collegium Pontificum do not limit the unalienable historical rights of the Comitia and the Senate to mandate rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices, religious offerings or other actions, and to institute holidays or festivals. The Collegium Pontificum shall have the following honors, powers, and responsibilities:

a. To control the the calendar, and determine the festivals and the legal character of the days, and what their effects shall be on the institutions of the state, within the boundaries of the example of ancient Rome, to maintain the official state archives, the various fasti and the annales maximi, and to ensure that the sacred mos maiorum of our spiritual ancestors, the unwritten law and code of conduct of ancient Rome, the traditions of the ancient Roman people, the Roman religion, culture and virtues are celebrated and upheld in an authentic form in Nova Roma;

b. To have general authority and disciplinary power over the institutions, rites, rituals, and priesthoods of the public Religio Romana and in questions of authentic revival and practice of the mos maiorum, and the right to interpret its unwritten laws to be observed by the citizens;

c. To regulate the ius divinum (religious law), the sacra publica, the public rituals and ceremonies, the required ceremonial procedures that validate the offices and actions of the officers and institutions of the state,  and

d. To issue decreta (decrees) in all matters discussed in VI.B.1-VI.B.1.c or in any matter that is relevant to the Religio Romana, to any priesthood, and to its own internal procedures (such decreta may not be overruled by laws passed in the Comitia or by Senatus consulta).

2. The Collegium Augurum (College of Augurs) shall be the second-highest ranked of the priestly Collegia. The eldest person of the Collegium shall be the Magister Collegii. The Collegium Augurum shall consist of a number of augurs, determined by the Collegium Pontificum, among whom no more than four may be plebeians. The Collegium Augurum shall coopt its own members, but each member shall be approved and confirmed by the Collegium Pontificum.

a. The collegium augurum shall have the following honors, powers, and responsibilities:

1. To research, practice, and uphold the ars auguria (the art of interpreting divine signs and omens, solicited or otherwise);

2. To issue decreta (decrees) on matters of the ars auguria and its own internal procedures (such decreta may not be overruled by laws passed in the comitia or Senatus consultum).

b. Individual augurs shall have the following honors, powers, and responsibilities:

1. To define templum (sacred space) and celebrate auguria (the rites of augury);

2. To declare obnuntiatio (a declaration that unfavorable and unsolicited omens have been observed that justify a delay of a meeting of one of the comitia or the Senate).

3. Priests shall hold their priesthoods for life, excepting in cases of resignation or removal from priesthood by the Collegium Pontificum, loss of citizenship, or extended failure to maintain assiduus status. Former priests who have resigned or lost their priesthood or citizenship shall remain sacred in their persons, but may exercise no powers or functions, nor shall they be accounted members of their former priestly college. Other religious institutions and priesthoods may be instituted, and different rules than described here set for such other priesthoods, by the Collegium Pontificum, in accordance with the ancient models of the Religio Romana as practiced by our spiritual ancestors.

C. Magistrates and other officers of the people are the executive authorities of the Religio Romana, however, if, for various reasons, they are unable to perform their part in the sacra publica of Nova Roma, they shall have the right to delegate their religious duties to priests of the state, or to any qualified citizens, who as their representatives shall stand in for them in their names in the rituals of the Religio Romana that the magistrates are required to perform.

D. Religious and legal foundations of the institutions of the sacra publica. The first complete ritual, religious and legal establishment of the Collegia, the Senate, the Comitia and the magistrates, initiated by the patres patriae M. Cassius Iulianus and Fl. Vedius Germanicus, was concluded by the ceremonial acts of Completion of the Founding of the Nova Roman Nation, mandated by the People in the original version of this law, on the Ides of October in the year of the tribuni militum consulari potestate Sex. Lucilius Tutor, C. Claudius Quadratus, P. Annaeus Constantinus Placidus and Q. Lutatius Catulus, under the royal auspices of the special rex sacrorum and interrex Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander, pater patriae. The religious and legal validity of the current and past memberships of the Collegia and the Senate derives from the act of ceremonial appointment and confirmation of all members, past and current at that time, by by the rex sacrorum and interrex, authorized by the following passages of the earlier version of this law:

1. The term of office of the tribuni militum consulari potestate shall end on the day before the Ides of October (October 15), in the Sacred 20th Anniversary Year of the Founding of Nova Roma, when they shall transfer the government to a series of interreges.

2. The first interrex shall complete the ritual founding of Nova Roma by reissuing the Declaration of Nova Roma and conducting those proper Latin religious rituals and ceremonies on the Ides of October (October 15), day of the October Horse, a most propitious day to ceremonially close the founding years of Nova Roma, that were missing or not perfectly performed at the founding of Nova Roma 20 years ago. This Completion of the Founding of Nova Roma ceremony shall be performed and the ritual prayers and vows worded in a manner that ensure that Nova Roma as the spiritually legitimate heir to the ancient Roman Empire, and as a state and nation of Nova Romans is fully acknowledged by the Penates, Lares and Manes of the Roman people, the gods of Rome. These rituals shall be supervised by at least one pontifex and one augur who are proficient in Latin and highly respected experts of the sacra publica and cultus deorum. The first interrex in the series of interreges shall be the person who has already served as the first ever interrex of Nova Roma, Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander. His appointment shall be formally made by a Senatus consultum ultimum, enacted no later than the last day of September, and the same Senatus consultum ultimum shall define the specific order and sequence of interreges until the day before the Kalends of January (December 31).

3. After the founding rituals are completed, the elections for the next year shall be conducted by the interreges, in a manner described by the Senatus consultum ultimum that specifies the order and sequence of the interreges, and the new government shall enter office on the next Kalends of January.