Senatus consultum de ratione senatus MMDCCLXV (Nova Roma)

Under the authority of section V.F. of the Constitution of Nova Roma, the Senatus Consultum de Ratione Senatus MMDCCLXV is hereby enacted to set forth the rules governing the internal procedures of the Senate.

I. DEFINITIONS

The definitions below shall be the only meaning applicable to their usage in this Senatus consultum. Any requirement(s), limit(s) or other condition(s) specified within a definition shall have the full legal force of this Senatus Consultum attached to it and therefore compliance with such a requirement(s), limit(s) or other condition(s) shall be mandatory. The absence of a definition in this section shall not be construed as any lack of full legal force of the word or phrase in question. Other sections of this Senatus consultum may also provide definitions for words or phrases not included in this section. Issues over meaning of a phrase or word shall be resolved under section XVIII of this Senatus consultum. Inclusion of quotation marks around a word or phrase and its highlighting in bold type in section I of this Senatus consultum is only for ease of reference to indicate that such a word or phrase is included in section I of this Senatus consultum and no additional or lesser legal force shall be construed from that. Exclusion of quotation marks around a word or phrase and any highlighting in bold type in any section of this Senatus consultum shall not construe any additional or lesser legal force arising from that exclusion, nor shall it be construed that such a word or phrase has a different meaning or definition from an identical occurrence of it in section I of this Senatus consultum.

• Active agenda item: An item on the agenda that has not been withdrawn.

• Agenda: The list of items that are initially proposed for debate during a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” contained within the “call to convene”, and which may subsequently amended according to the terms of this Senatus consultum.

• Arbitrate: With or without invitation by all, or by any, of the parties to a dispute or disagreement, make an authoritative decision to resolve such a dispute or disagreement, and to have the authority to compel all the parties to accept and/or comply with that result. Such a resolve shall be a final and absolute result not subject to any appeal.

• Another magistrate / other magistrate: A magistrate, not being a “member of the senate”, who has been specifically permitted by the “presiding magistrate” to address the Senate during a “formal meeting of the Senate in session”. This definition includes a curule aedile, a plebeian aedile, a quaestor, any other person elected by one of the comitia, a governor of a Nova Roman province, a provincial magistrate of first to fourth rank, a magistrate of an oppidum or municipium and any person appointed by the Senate to their position. This definition does not include a scribe and accensus, who shall not be permitted to join the “Senate list” unless he/she is also, in addition to that position of scribe or accensus already a “member of the Senate”. The invitation to such “another magistrate” is for one “formal meeting of the Senate in session” only. Such a magistrate is bound by all the restrictions in relation to posting, conduct, and confidentiality within this Senatus Consultum. There must be a clearly established and pressing need for such “other magistrate” to have access to the “Senate list” during the session and the “presiding magistrate” shall explain that need in his/her “call to order”. If in the opinion of the princeps senatus there has been a flagrant abuse of this right of invitation with no such need established, or there was no reason for the need stated in the “call to order”, then such behaviour on the part of the “presiding magistrate” shall be deemed to be “contempt of the Senate”. For the purposes of posting to the “Senate list” during the “debate period”, this “other magistrate” must first obtain either specific permission for each such post, or a standing right of posting for any time during the “debate period”. The standing right applies only to that one “formal meeting of the Senate in session”. The choice between specific permission and standing right is at the discretion of the “presiding magistrate”.

• Both consuls are unavailable/unavailable: When both consuls have indicated, by means of individual messages from each Consul posted to the “Senate list”, that they will be unavailable to receive and send messages to the Senate list for a period of time that includes the entire period of time that the “call to convene” post and the “call to order” post is made by a praetor or the princeps senatus.

• Business of the Senate: The functions, fulfilment of the purposes of and compliance with the lawful duties of the Senate, such functions, purposes and duties being as defined within the “legal code”. Also this includes the management and operation of the “Senate list”.

• Call for order: A post made by a presiding magistrate for purpose of restoring order to the Senate list, where if in the opinion of the presiding magistrate a post(s) is/are likely to lead to a violation of III.E, either by the member of the Senate or other magistrate posting such or by another member(s) of the Senate or other magistrate, then he/she may issue a post to the Senate list titled “Call for order” in the subject line of that post. He/she may attach such directions in the body of the post as are necessary in his/her opinion to prevent such a violation. Such directions shall not include a stated or implied sanction. The presiding magistrate may issue as many calls for order as he/she deems necessary in relation to any occurrence of such a type of posting, until it is clear that the risk of a violation of III.E has, in his/her opinion, ceased. Should such a call for order not be complied with then it may be deemed to be contempt of the Senate at the discretion of the presiding magistrate.

• Call to close: A post by the presiding magistrate sent to the “Senate list” stating that the “formal meeting of the Senate in session” has concluded. The presiding magistrate may include comments in the “call to close”. The “call to close” must have no other function than notifying the Senate of the close of session. After the “call to close” is posted no further business of the Senate that requires a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” shall be conducted without the issue of a new “call to convene”.

• Call to convene: A post by the presiding magistrate sent to the “Senate list” stating his/her intent to “call the Senate to order”. This post is the commencement of the process to initiate a “formal meeting of the Senate in session”.

• Call to order / called to order / call the Senate to order: A post of the presiding magistrate during the “formal meeting of the Senate in session” indicating that Senate is in session. This shall be issued either at or after the time and date when the session first commences as defined in the “call to convene”, or following the expiration of a recess of the “formal meeting of the Senate in session”. No “business of the Senate” shall be conducted until the “call to order” has been posted. The most recent periods of time allocated to debate and/or voting shall continue to decrease after the time and date of the “call to order”, as specified in the “call to convene”, or after the expiration of a period of recess in the “call to recess”, whether the “call to order” is posted or not. The “call to order” shall also include the most recent “agenda”.

• Call to recess: A post by the “presiding magistrate” sent to the “Senate list” stating his/her intent to recess the “formal meeting of the Senate in session” until a time and date as specified in that post. The most recent periods of time allocated to debate and/or voting shall cease to decrease after the “call to recess” is posted and no “business of the Senate” that requires a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” shall be conducted until the expiration of the period of recess and the “call to order” is posted.

• Call to vote: A post by the presiding magistrate on the “Senate list” that initiates the “voting period”. No “voting posts” shall be posted until the “call to vote” is posted.

• Closed session: A discussion on an “active agenda” item of a confidential nature that automatically invokes the requirement of the tribunes to confer with the Senate as under the requirements of I.B.4 and II.B.6.e of the Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum. This requirement shall exist and survive regardless of any superseding, alteration or repeal of, the above sections of/the entire Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum.

• Collegiately: A state of affairs where two magistrates have to agree to an act, or to a decision, before that act or decision can be legally held to exist.

• Debate period / period of debate: The period of time in a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” during which the “agenda” is discussed and which must be no less than 96 hours in length. No voting may occur during this period.

• Deemed: A state of affairs, or a fact, the existence of which is created by provision of this Senatus consultum. Once deemed to exist by this Senatus consultum then that state of affairs, or fact, shall for the purposes of, and within the context of, this Senatus consultum so exist.

• Disappearance of more than 30 days: Where a magistrate has failed to communicate with his/her colleague, or in a communication venue, for at least 30 days and where no known statement of future absence with a return date specified has been published by the magistrate in a communication venue prior to the 30 day period.

• Draft Senatus consultum / draft Senatus consultum ultimum: The final version of a proposed Senatus consultum or Senatus consultum ultimum that is put to the vote. If passed and then when enacted, such a draft becomes a “legal instrument”.

• Enacted: When an agenda item has passed then the Senatus consultum, or Senatus consultum ultimum, that was the subject of that “active agenda item” and that was included in the items put to the vote receives the immediate force of law upon the posting of the “official result of the vote”. Also, the posting of a “rule of session” shall cause it to be enacted.

• Extraordinary majority: When particular items are required by “law” to have a “extraordinary majority” of votes in order to succeed, then the votes shall be counted by adding together the count of affirmative and negative votes (ignoring abstentions), multiplying by the fraction required under the legal code, and comparing this to the number of affirmative votes. Such an item succeeds when the number of affirmative votes equals or exceeds the number obtained by this calculation.

For the purposes of this Senatus consultum any requirement for an “extraordinary majority” shall require a majority vote of at least four fifths (4/5ths) of all the “voting members of the Senate” as recorded on the Album senatorum, which can be found here: Category:Senators_(Nova_Roma)

A calculation of 4/5ths that produces a result that includes less than one senator shall be rounded up to next whole number so for example 11.2 as a calculation of 4/5ths becomes 12.

• Favourable: In the context of the auspices, a result that indicates no reason to delay a proposed “formal meeting of the Senate in session”, based on observations made by the person taking the auspices and where such observations are subject to rules of interpretation enacted by the Collegium augurum.

• Final authority: On matters relating to the internal procedures of the Senate as defined by this Senatus consultum and “rules of session”.

• Forbidden / prohibited: A requirement that, in respect of an act, or attempted act, that is “illegal”, places a lawful compulsion, and a lawful requirement for obedience with that compulsion, on the person committing the act, or attempting to do so, to either immediately cease that act and/or rescind that act and reverse and cancel any consequences that flow from it, or if an attempt then not to undertake such an act.

• Force of law: To be possessed of the proportionate weight of legal authority granted under the Constitution of Nova Roma to an item that is defined as “law”.

• Formal meeting of the Senate in session / session: The period of time between the time and date of the “call to convene” and the time and date of the “call to close” of a session of the Senate. This period of time is the only time that the “business of the Senate” can be addressed by way of Senatus consultum or Senatus consultum ultimum.

• Grossly inaccurate: The reported summary of a post being so obviously a complete distortion of the actual contents of the post.

• Holds the rods / hold the rods: A state of affairs deriving from the right to the fasces and in Nova Roma where a consul (or praetor) exercises the exclusive right in respect of his/her colleague of equal rank, to conduct a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” for a set period of time. The set period of time is monthly though by mutual agreement between the consul (or praetor) who does not “hold the rods” and his/her magisterial colleague who does “hold the rods” this may change. Such a change may see the rods transferred on a single session basis, a session-to-session basis, for an entire month or any other arrangement that is agreeable to both colleagues. The senior consul, or the consul elected with most centuries, or in the case of a tie then the oldest, shall “hold the rods” first in the January of the next year following his/her election. A suffect consul shall “hold the rods” as and when his/her predecessor would have held them had he/she remained in office.

• Inclusive: Includes all “sections” between the first and last quoted, including the first and last themselves.

• Law: Those items defined as comprising the “legal code” with the exception of the Constitution of Nova Roma.

• Law passed in comitia: A lex.

• Lawful / legal: A state of affairs in accordance with the requirements of the “legal code” of Nova Roma and/or not contradicting a requirement of the “legal code”, and thus a state of affairs permitted under the “legal code”.

• Legal code: The Constitution, leges, decreta, Senatus consultum ultima, Senatus consulta and edicta of Nova Roma Inc.

• Legal instrument: A formal text that is one of those items defined as comprising the “law”.

• Macronational: Being of the world outside of Nova Roma, excluding that which is of, from and in Nova Roma.

• Management of Senate business: The administration of the functions, fulfilment of the purposes of and compliance with the lawful duties of the Senate, such functions, purposes and duties being as defined within the “legal code”. The princeps senatus may avail himself/herself of this definition for the purpose of, and reason for, issuing a “call to convene”, when those other magistrates defined as a “presiding magistrate”, excluding those that are Tribunes due to their having only limited legal scope of purpose in respect of a “call to convene”, are unavailable due to any occurrence of a singular, or multiple combination, of loss of senatorial status, death, resignation from the Senate, renunciation of citizenship, or a “disappearance of more than 30 days”,

• May: (Not the calendar month) Optional and discretionary.

• Member(s) of the Senate: Any person appointed to the Senate under III. Lex Popillia senatoria and any person having the right of ius sententiae dicendae under IV. Lex Popillia senatoria, and any person holding the office of a Nova Roman Tribune. All such persons must also be both a current citizen of Nova Roma and be recorded by the Censors as holding assidui status, by virtue of having paid the annual Nova Roman tax. For the purposes of posting to the “Senate list” during the debate period, a Tribune, who is not also a voting member of the Senate, must first obtain either specific permission for each such post, or a standing right of posting for any time during the debate period. The standing right applies only to that one “formal meeting of the Senate in session”. The choice between specific permission and standing right is at the discretion of the “presiding magistrate”. A Tribune who is also a “voting member of the Senate” may post without specific permission or standing right.

• Must / shall: A mandatory requirement. Failure to perform that specified requirement shall render the act attached to the condition illegal.

• Official: State of being or existence of an object, office, position or other thing that has specific authorization or recognition within the “legal code” as being a formal part of Nova Roma, or which is specifically referred to within the “legal code” as official, authorized, state sponsored, state maintained or any similar phrase.

• Official result of the vote: The final and validated result(s) of the calculations to determine whether an item(s) put to the vote during a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” passed or failed to pass. No Senatus consultum or Senatus consultum ultimum shall be enacted until that final and validated result(s) has been posted to the “Senate list”.

• Passed: Where after a calculation of result of votes cast, such calculation subject to the type of majority required, an item succeeds.

• Period of the session: The “debate period” or “voting period”

• Presiding magistrate: The consul, praetor, tribune or the princeps senatus who intends to issue, or issues, or issued the “call to convene”. This term is only ever used in connection with a “formal meeting of the Senate in session”. The presiding magistrate that issued the call to convene must also issue the “call to order”, the “call to vote”, the “call to close” and any “call to recess”. The duties, honors, powers, limits and obligations of any member of the Senate who is a “presiding magistrate” shall be limited to only those as specified in this Senatus consultum.

• Prohibited day: Any day that the Decretum Pontificum de Calendario Perpetuo decrees as dies nefastus publicus or dies fasti publici or ater dies. It is prohibited and illegal for a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” to take place on any such day.

• Prorogued: The re-appointment of a person in an official position for a term of office which if not specified shall be either the term as set by the “legal code”, or in the absence of such a provision in the “legal code” shall be for a term equal to the length of the expired term he/she held that office for immediately before the act of prorogation.

• Restricted day: Any day that the Decretum pontificum de calendario perpetuo decrees as: dies nefasti, annotated as (N), or dies endotercisi, annotated as (EN), quando rex comitiavit fas annotated as (QRCF), or quando stercus delatum fas, (QSTDF or QSDF), or is indicated as religiosus is deemed to be dies nefasti for the purpose of a determining if a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” can be conducted on a particular day.

• Results of the vote: The preliminary result(s) of the calculations to determine whether an item(s) put to the vote during a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” passed or failed to pass that have yet to be validated.

• Rule of session: A temporary rule that shall have accorded to it the full force and legal authority of this Senatus consultum, as though it was specifically enshrined within this Senatus consultum, which is enacted solely for the purpose of resolving an issue that is not specifically covered by this Senatus consultum and where such a rule does not conflict or alter or constrain the application of any part of this Senatus consultum. Such a rule shall only be enacted, and only have force and legal authority, for the duration of the “formal meeting of the Senate in session” in which it was created and issued. The princeps senatus shall post the “rule of session” to the “Senate list” and upon posting such a rule shall be enacted. A “rule of session” shall not, where a similar issue arises again, be binding by way of precedent upon the princeps senatus, his/her successor, or a person delegated under the terms of this Senatus consultum to act as princeps senatus, but instead shall be considered advice only. A record must be kept in the file section of the Senate list of all such rules issued, indicating the post number, time and date of enactment, content and the name of the princeps senatus enacting such a rule. Such rules may form the basis of subsequent amendments to this Senatus consultum. The expiration of the full force and legal authority of a “rule of session” due to the close of the “formal meeting of the Senate in session” in which it was enacted shall not remove the full force and legal authority that “rule of session” had during that “formal meeting of the Senate in session”.

• Sanction: A lawful penalty and/or consequence of an act that is unlawful, illegal.

• Section(s): A section(s) is a part of the Constitution of Nova Roma or any other “legal instrument” that is delineated by the use of combinations of numerals and/or letters as described at XXI.B and XXI.C.

• Senate list: The electronic meeting place where a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” is held. Currently this is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SenatusRomanus/

No other electronic meeting place shall be used for “formal meetings of the Senate in session”, though informal Senate discussion shall be held in such a place. Membership and/or participation in any other place or list, or using any other medium, that is used for informal Senate discussion is discretionary and must not be mandatory for a “member of the Senate”. Informal Senate discussion shall only take place on the Senate list when a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” is not in progress.

• Senate seal: A condition where all “members of the Senate” and any “other magistrate” are bound by confidentially and shall not report, or discuss, in any way with any other person(s) other than those who are “members of the Senate”, or any “other magistrate” who was present during such discussion, by any medium or means including but not limited to, regular mail, email, posting to lists or message boards, texting, telephone conversations, or in person conversations, the existence, nature and details of the “closed session” agenda item. The “presiding magistrate” invoking the “Senate seal” may specify a time period for which the “Senate seal “is in effect, but in the absence of such the time period is deemed to be in perpetuity or until released from the “Senate seal” conditions by that, or any subsequent, “presiding magistrate”. Such a release must be by means of the “presiding magistrate” releasing the “Senate seal” posting that decision to the “Senate list”. All “members of the Senate” are bound by the invocation of the “Senate seal”, whether they were present for the “formal meeting of the Senate in session” or not when the “Senate seal” was invoked.

• Senator: Person currently included in the Album senatorum

• Simple Majority: A “simple majority” is defined as the number of affirmative votes plus the number of negative votes, divided by two, with one added to that result. Abstentions are not counted when determining this number. An equivalent result may be obtained by directly comparing the numbers of affirmative and negative votes, again ignoring abstentions; if the number of affirmative votes exceeds (not merely equals) the number of negative votes, the item has succeeded, and the Senate has voted in favour of the item.

• Super Majority / special majority: When particular items are required by law to have a “super majority” or “special majority” of votes in order to succeed, then the votes shall be counted by adding together the count of affirmative (yes) and negative (no) votes while ignoring abstentions, multiplying by the fraction required under the “legal code”, and comparing this to the number of affirmative votes. Such an item succeeds when the number of affirmative votes equals or exceeds the number obtained by this calculation.

For the purposes of a change to the Constitution of Nova Roma and as required by I.D of the Constitution of Nova Roma, the type of majority required shall be described in this Senatus consultum as a “super majority” or “special majority”. For the purposes of I.D of the Constitution of Nova Roma the fraction required is a majority vote of at least two thirds (2/3rds) of all the “voting members of the Senate” as recorded on the Album senatorum, which can be found here: Category:Senators_(Nova_Roma)

A calculation of 2/3rds that produces a result that includes less than one senator shall be rounded up to next whole number so for example 10.777 as a calculation of 2/3rds becomes 11.

• Terms of Service / ToS: The combination of:
  • the contents of the general Terms of Service (ToS) of Yahoo! Inc that can be located here: http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html
  • and the contents Yahoo! Inc. Groups Guidelines that can be located here: http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html

• Unfavourable: In the context of the auspices, a result that indicates a reason to delay a proposed “formal meeting of the Senate in session”, based on observations made by the person taking the auspices and where such observations are subject to rules of interpretation enacted by the Collegium augurum.

• Unlawful / illegal: A state of affairs or act in not in accordance with the requirements of the “legal code” and/or contradicting a requirement of the “legal code”, and thus a state of affairs or act not permitted under the “legal code”. A person is not required to comply or obey with the intent or consequences of such a state of affairs or act

• Voting member(s) of the Senate: Any person appointed to the Senate under III. Lex Popillia senatoria and any person having the right of ius sententiae dicendae under IV.A or IV.C Lex Popillia senatoria, excluding at IV.C Lex Popillia senatoria a Tribune, and any person holding the office of Tribune who is also a person appointed to the Senate under III. Lex Popillia senatoria, or any person holding the office of Tribune who also holds a right to vote in the Senate granted by the Lex Popillia. A Tribune not being a Senator or who does not also hold a right to vote in the Senate granted by the Lex Popillia senatoria cannot vote in the Senate, and shall not be defined as a “voting member of the Senate”, as prohibited from doing so by IV.A Lex Popillia senatoria and/or by this definition of “voting member of the Senate, by right granted to the Senate under V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma. A “voting member of the Senate” shall have the right to post to the “Senate list” without asking prior permission to do so, unless he/she is subject to a lawful sanction, lawfully imposed under any section of this Senatus consultum concerning such sanction(s).

• Voting period / period of voting: The period of time in a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” during which the “voting members of the Senate” cast their votes. That period must be no less than 48 hours in length and no greater than 96 hours in length. No debate shall take place during this period, except as permitted under VII.G.7.

• Voting posts: The posts made by “voting members of the Senate” by which mechanism those members register a vote according to the requirements of VII.G on items presented to the vote.

• Withdrawal / withdrawn: Removing an item from the agenda of a “formal meeting of the Senate in session” and thus removing the right of a “member of the Senate” or “other magistrate” to post further on that item after the time and date of removal, and removing the right of a “voting member of the Senate” to vote on that item.

II. INFORMAL SENATE DISCUSSION

A. Any member of the Senate may, at his/her discretion, when a formal meeting of the Senate in session is not being held, introduce any topic for discussion by sharing it with the rest of the Senate by means of posting to the Senate list.

B. No call to convene, call to order, or call to close is required to start or end an informal Senate discussion. A vote may not take place nor any Senatus Consultum or Senatus Consultum Ultimum be enacted during informal Senate discussion.

C. Members of the Senate remain bound by the requirements of XII.E. Moderation of posting rights shall not occur during informal Senate discussion, unless in the opinion of the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors, that such discussion has resulted in a violation of XII.E, in which case the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors, must:

1. Post a requirement to the Senate list for the member of the Senate who, in his/her or their opinion, violated XII.E to cease posting. A period of time maybe requested, but not imposed, during which the member of the Senate should desist from posting. At the expiration of such time, which must be no greater than 4 hours, the member of the Senate can post freely without further sanction, provided he/she does not further violate XII.E.

2. Should that member of the Senate fail and/or refuse to comply with the direction to cease posting and continue posting in a manner that in the opinion of the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors has, or is likely to, lead to a breach of XII.E, then that member of the Senate may have his/her posting rights set to a moderated status requiring approval of posts.

3. Such moderated status at II.C.2 must last no longer than 24 hours and at the expiration of that period the moderated status must be removed.

4. Should the period of moderated status at II.C.2 still be in force after a call to order is posted, then that moderated status must be immediately removed to allow the member of the Senate to participate in the session.

5. Moderated status removed as at II.C.4 prior to its expiration will not be re-imposed for the remaining balance of the 24 hours after the call to close is posted, unless the member of the Senate continued, in the opinion of the princeps senatus, to violate XII.E during the formal meeting of the Senate in session.

6. The re-imposition of the remaining balance at II.C.5 is not affected by the removal of any moderated status imposed during the formal meeting of the Senate in session.

7. If a member of the Senate commits numerous violations in separate posts before moderation of posting rights is imposed, the period of moderation shall still be no longer than 24 hours.

8. Repeated violations of XII.E resulting in a combined total of 72 hours of moderated status in any five day consecutive period may result, notwithstanding II.C.3 and II.C.7, in moderated status being continuously imposed until the next call to order of the next formal meeting of the Senate in session. An imposition of this continuous moderation is at the discretion of the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors. At such a call to order the moderated status must be removed. After the call to close, the decision whether to re-impose moderated status is at the discretion of the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors and may be based on the behaviour / posts of that moderated member of the Senate during the formal meeting of the Senate in session. Removal of continuous moderated status before any set maximum number of hours is at the discretion of the princeps senatus.

9. Moderated status imposed at II.C.8 for the first time in any 365 day period must in no cases last longer than a maximum of 720 hours, excluding the total periods of time between the call to order and the call to close of any formal meetings of the Senate in session during that first occurrence of continuous moderation.

10. Moderated status imposed at II.C.8 for the second time in any 365 day period must in no cases last longer than a maximum of 2160 hours, excluding the total periods of time between the call to order and the call to close of any formal meetings of the Senate in session during that first occurrence of continuous moderation.

11. Moderated status imposed at II.C.8 for the third time in any 365 day period shall result in continuous moderation with no limit, the removal of which is at the discretion of the princeps senatus.

12. If after release from such a third time of moderation at II.C.8, the member of the Senate is subject to a further period of moderation of any length, whether imposed during an informal Senate discussion period or during session, within 6 months since the date of release from the third time of moderation at II.C.8, the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors, may impose continuous moderation with no limit during informal Senate discussion periods. Removal of such continuous moderation is at the discretion of the princeps senatus.

13. Regardless of the length of moderated status, either set or until removal, this moderated status only applies to informal Senate discussion periods. Any member of the Senate so moderated must be released temporarily from that moderated status for the time between the call to order and the call to close of any formal meetings of the Senate in session.

14. A member of the Senate subject to moderation imposed during informal Senate discussion periods is still bound by the requirements on members of the Senate during formal meetings of the Senate in session, and no such moderation can exonerate or indemnify him/her from further sanctions that may be imposed on him/her as a result of any violations of behaviour during formal meetings of the Senate in session.

15. Hours of moderation imposed during session do not subtract from, or add to, any total of moderated hours a member of the Senate is subject to during informal Senate discussion periods.

16. Release from a period of moderation imposed during informal Senate discussion periods, either by the expiration of the period of moderation or by decision of the princeps senatus, or in his/her absence the Censors, does not imply or result in the alteration, suspension or termination of any sanctions imposed as a result of behavioural infractions during formal meetings of the Senate in session.

D. No person other than a member of the Senate shall participate in informal Senate discussion, nor shall be added to the Senate list during such a period.

E. During informal Senate discussion a Tribune(s) must not be subject to any requirement to obtain permission from any member of the Senate prior to posting to the Senate list, nor must any other conditions, other than those applicable to all members of the Senate as specified within this Senatus Consultum, be imposed or applied to a Tribune(s).

F. The rights of reporting at VI.B.1 to VI.B.4 inclusive do not apply to informal Senate discussion periods and such reporting during these periods is forbidden.

III. PRESIDING MAGISTRATE

A. A consul may issue a call to convene a formal meeting of the Senate in session for any purpose.

B. A praetor may issue a call to convene a formal meeting of the Senate in session for any purpose, but only if both consuls are unavailable.

C. A Tribune may issue a call to convene a formal meeting of the Senate in session only in order to ask the Senate's advice on any subject that is clearly within the scope of his or her constitutionally mandated concerns.

1. The Tribune must clearly state in the call to convene the subject that he/she seeks advice on together with any relevant sections of the legal code that is the subject of advice sought, or which the Tribune will reference in any way during the formal meeting of the Senate in session.

2. Any failure to comply with III.C.1 above shall be deemed to be an automatic termination of the call to convene and deemed contempt of the Senate.

3. The Tribune must not deviate from, alter, or add to, the content of the call to convene at any time and any deviation, alteration or addition shall be deemed to be illegal and an automatic termination of the formal meeting of the Senate in session and deemed contempt of the Senate. The only item(s) that the Tribune shall present to the Senate during the voting period is/are that one/those contained within the call to convene.

4. In any formal meeting of the Senate in session where a Tribune is the presiding magistrate, no Senatus Consultum Ultimum can be enacted and any such attempt to do so shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate. The only lawfully permitted content of any draft Senatus Consultum put to the vote during such a session is in the form of advice and the content must state: “The advice of the Senate of Nova Roma is as follows”. Such a Senatus Consultum must also state at the end of the advice “This advice is non-binding and is not, and shall not be interpreted as, a direction, order or command of the Senate of Nova Roma.”

5. A Tribune who is the presiding magistrate must not recess a formal meeting of the Senate in session, except for the reasons specified at XIII.A.

6. A Tribune who is the presiding magistrate must not put to the vote a draft Senatus consultum as at III.C.4 the content of which seeks to interpret, define or offer advice on this Senatus consultum or any part of it thereof. Any such act shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

D. The princeps senatus may issue a call to convene a formal meeting of the Senate in session for any purpose connected with the procedures of the Senate, conduct of members of the Senate or management of Senate business.

E. The presiding magistrate may require, by means of a call for order, a member of the Senate, or other magistrate, to cease his/her posting, but that requirement must only be when such posting:

1. Violates XII.E.

2. Is not concerned with any item on the agenda currently under debate.

3. Causes a disruption in the proceedings of the formal meeting of the Senate in session and/or the business of the Senate, and/or the period of the session.

If the member of the Senate, or other magistrate, fails and/or refuses to comply with the direction of the presiding magistrate to cease posting in the call for order, and where such posts continue to violate any or all of the sections III.E.1 to III.E.3 inclusive, then that member of the Senate, or other magistrate, may have his/her posting rights set to a moderated status requiring approval of posts, but only where such continued posting if unchecked, in the opinion of the presiding magistrate and the princeps senatus, would result in extreme disruption to and/or abandonment of, the session. Where a member of the Senate is placed on moderation that shall also be deemed contempt of the Senate. Ratification of such moderated status is required by the means specified at IX.A.2 during the next formal meeting of the Senate in session. Should such ratification not occur within 60 days from the date of suspension, then that moderated status is deemed cancelled and the princeps senatus or in his/her absence the Censors, shall ensure that the member of the Senate subject to such moderated status has his/her membership of the Senate list reinstated. Additionally if any other magistrate fails and/or refuses to comply with the direction of the presiding magistrate in the call for order to cease posting, then that other magistrate may be removed from the Senate list by the princeps senatus.

4. Only the presiding magistrate or the princeps senatus may approve a post from a member of the Senate on moderated status.

5. Such a post at III.E.4 must not be rejected in lieu of approval, except in cases of a clear and obvious breach of XII.E or such a post deleted after approval. Such a post must be left pending approval.

6. Such a post pending approval must be approved and released for publication to the Senate list as soon as is reasonably practicable after the call to close has been posted. The definition of “reasonably practicable” is as defined by the princeps senatus.

7. Such an approval at III.E.6 does not imply approval of the contents and does not indemnify the member of the Senate from any consequences arising from the content. The presiding magistrate or princeps senatus approving such a post are indemnified from any sanction that may be applied under the provisions of this Senatus Consultum if such a post is found to constitute contempt of the Senate, or any other provision that results in a sanction being applied.

8. The exception to the approval of such a post at III.E.7 shall be in circumstances where there is a clear and obvious breach of XII.E, in which case the post must be rejected and a post made to the Senate list stating the name of the poster and the fact that the post had been rejected for a breach of XII.E. In justifying such rejection no part of the rejected post shall be quoted verbatim, but may be summarized in a manner that does not breach XII.E. Verbatim reposting shall be a breach of XII.E.

9. No indemnification at III.E.8 exists if quoted verbatim or the summary at breaches XII.E, but the member of the Senate on moderated status who originally authored the post shall not himself/herself be subject to a sanction based on either the verbatim quote or the summary. The responsibility in such a case for a breach of XII.E rests solely with the approver of the post.

F. The presiding magistrate may not delegate or share his role or functions, or part thereof, at any time, but may permit another member of the Senate to introduce an item on the agenda and post his/her opinion on it.

G. The presiding magistrate must observe the following consecutive sequence of events in the below order during a formal meeting of the Senate in session:

1. Call to convene

2. Call to order

3. Call to vote

4. Call to close

As an exception to the above consecutive sequence, the call to order must also be issued after the expiration of the period of time specified in a call to recess.

H. A Consul, or if both Consuls are unavailable a Praetor, who is presiding magistrate must ensure that a formal meeting of the Senate in session does not extend into a period when his/her colleague holds the rods:

1. Without first obtaining permission from his/her colleague prior to issuing the call to convene,

2. Or if the overlap occurs during the session then the presiding magistrate must obtain the permission from his/her colleague fast as is reasonably practicable.

3. The definition of “reasonably practicable” is as defined by the princeps senatus.

4. If his/her colleague refuses permission, at III.H.1 or III.H.2 then the presiding magistrate shall either:

a. Shorten any period of the session, but not below that permitted as a minimum by this Senatus Consultum, to prevent or correct any such extension, or

b. Issue the call to close on no later than the last day he/she holds the rods, provided that last day is one that the Senate is permitted to hold a session on subject to that last day not being one prohibited by XIII.A.

5. If the extension occurs as a result of proposing to increase the vote period and the vote period has not commenced, the length of vote period automatically remain as it was prior to the increase.

6. If the vote period is already underway when the extension is identified and brought to the attention of the Senate, or is not brought to the attention of the Senate, then the vote period shall continue regardless of the fact that it extends into the period the colleague of the presiding magistrate holds the rods.

IV. CONVENING THE SENATE

A. In order to commence a lawful formal meeting of the Senate in session a call to convene must be issued by only one presiding magistrate.

B. A call to order cannot be made until 24 hours have elapsed after the call to convene was issued.

C. The presiding magistrate may also send the call to convene post to any other list at his/her discretion.

D. In cases of discrepancy of content between the call to convene post made to the Senate list and one or more call to convene post(s) made to any other list, the call to convene post to the Senate list shall be considered the definitive and only legal call to convene.

E. An initial agenda must be included in the call to convene detailing the items to be discussed. Substantive details are not required, but may be included by the presiding magistrate, but sufficient detail must be included such that members of the Senate can reasonably be expected to understand the general nature of the topic of each and every agenda item. The definition of “reasonably expected” is as defined by the princeps senatus.

F. The call to convene post must specify the time and date when the Senate will be called to order, the times and dates of the commencement and end of the debate period, and times and dates of the of the commencement and end of the voting period.

G. The length of the debate period specified for all the items on the agenda, within the call to convene, must be a minimum of 96 hours.

1. If there is more than one item on the agenda, none of these items can have any individual times/dates of commencement/end of debate applied to them. Debate on all items on the agenda is to be simultaneous during the debate period.

2. The exception to IV.G.1 is a cultus or religio item(s) described at XIII.B, which must be placed first on the agenda. Where there is more than one such items then debate on them must comply with the conditions at IV.G.1.

3. Where there are more than one such cultus or religio XIII.B items at IV.G.2, they must be allocated, as a block of items, a minimum of 96 hours of debate, and the end time and date of the debate period on such block of cultus or religio XIII.B items must be specified in the agenda.

4. All other civil agenda items must then be allocated, as a block of items, a separate minimum of 96 hours that must follow the items specified at IV.G.2 and debate on such civil items must comply with the conditions at IV.G.1. The end time and date of the debate period on such block of XIII.B civil items must be specified.

H. A call to convene must be made by only one presiding magistrate, who must not act jointly with any other member(s) of the Senate, whether any such other(s) are defined as a presiding magistrate or not.

I. If after the call to convene is posted, but before the call to order is issued, the presiding magistrate wishes to cancel that formal meeting of the Senate in session, then he/she must do so by way of a post to the Senate list, with a subject heading “Formal meeting of the Senate in session cancelled”, stating in the body of the post the reason(s) for such cancellation.

V. PRESENTING AGENDA ITEMS TO THE SENATE

A. The presiding magistrate must post the call to order to commence the formal meeting of the Senate in session and must present to the Senate one or more matters on the agenda for debate.

B. The presiding magistrate may introduce items to the agenda other than those listed in the call to convene. These maybe his/her items or he/she may accept items from a member of the Senate or another magistrate.

C. Any new item(s) to the agenda may be included at any time between when the call to convene is issued and the commencement of the voting period. If its inclusion on the agenda occurs after the call to order, then 96 hours must be allowed for debate on that new item, with that 96 hours commencing from the time and date of its inclusion on the agenda. The debate period will need to be increased after such an inclusion after the call to order, but such increase is subject to the permitted maximum number of hours for debate at VI.A.4.a and if the inclusion of the item would exceed that permitted maximum, then the item shall not be included.

VI. DEBATE, REPORTING, PROXY AND CLOSE

A. After the call to order, members of the Senate may offer their opinions on any item on the agenda presented by the presiding magistrate in the call to order by means of a post to the Senate list.

1. The debate shall include members of the Senate and any other magistrate.

2. There shall be no limit on the text length of such opinions.

3. The presiding magistrate may at his/her discretion extend the period of debate, and may shorten it, but a reduction in the debate period must never reduce the number of hours allotted for debate from the number specified in the call to convene.

4. The number of hours allocated by the presiding magistrate to the debate period must always be between a minimum of 96 hours, or the number of hours set in the call to convene whichever is greater, and a maximum of 288 hours.

a. Amendments to the debate period at the time of, or after the call to order, shall never result in the debate period exceeding 288 hours.

b. The addition of the number of hours of debate at IV.G.3 and the number of hours of debate at IV.G.4 must never exceed the maximum of 288 hours.

B. In addition to the provisions of the Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum, the Tribunes may, at their discretion collectively or individually, keep the citizens informed as to the progress and content of the debate period. The format for informing the citizens between these periods must be as follows:

1. Full verbatim transcripts of any/all post(s) of any member of the Senate or other magistrate made to the Senate list during the formal meeting of the Senate that the Tribune is reporting on.

2. Partial transcripts of any/all post(s) of any member of the Senate or other magistrate made to the Senate list during the formal meeting of the Senate that the Tribune is reporting on, with a summation of the parts of that post not recorded as verbatim transcript.

3. A summation of any/all post(s) of any member of the Senate or other magistrate made to the Senate list during the formal meeting of the Senate that the Tribune is reporting on.

4. Any mix of VI.B.1, VI.B.2) or VI.B.3 above during the formal meeting of the Senate in session that the Tribune is reporting on. Such a mix is at the discretion of the Tribune reporting.

C. The right of reporting at VI.B.1 to V1.B.4 inclusive is a privilege the Senate grants to the Tribunes in addition to those rights under the Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum.

1. Any departure from, or abuse of, the process at VI.B.1 to V1.B.4 inclusive, including but not limited to, inaccurate or false reporting of verbatim transcripts and/or grossly inaccurate summations may, at the discretion of the Consuls, lead to a revocation of the privileges granted, at VI.B.1 to V1.B.4 inclusive, to the Tribune responsible, for a period of time at the discretion of the princeps senatus.

2. The presiding officer may not alter, suspend or cancel the right of reporting at VI.B.1 to V1.B.4 inclusive, except under the conditions and terms of this Senatus Consultum.

D. If an agenda item concerns an item which is the presiding magistrate determines is of a confidential nature, he/she may:

1. Declare the Senate in closed session for that item.

2. Declare that the Senate seal is active and in effect for that item.

Declaration that the Senate seal is active automatically invokes closed session for that item. Such a determination by the presiding officer to invoke closed session and/or Senate seal requires the consent of the princeps senatus. If the consent of the princeps senatus is not granted, the senate is deemed not to be in closed session and/or Senate seal is not invoked.

In respect of reporting the business of the Senate under the Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum, or under the right of reporting at VI.B.1 to V1.B.4, where the Senate seal is active in respect of an agenda item, the Tribunes shall report only “A confidential item was discussed”. Reporting such an agenda item using any other text, by way of description, explanation or other purpose, will constitute contempt of the Senate.

E. Debate is only to be conducted by posts to the Senate list. The requirements of IV.G.1 apply throughout the debate period. Each member of the Senate:

1. Shall be able to post an opinion on any active agenda item that the presiding magistrate has put to the Senate to debate. Such a right to post shall be for a minimum of 96 hours and a maximum number of hours as defined in the agenda as presented to the Senate during the call to order, or as defined by the most recent amendment by the presiding magistrate to that maximum number of hours for debate.

2. Shall not commence, or continue, debate on an item that has been withdrawn by the presiding magistrate.

3. Shall be assumed to have abrogated his/her right to post an opinion as at VI.E.1 if he/she has failed to post at the expiry of the maximum number of hours for debate. Such a failure shall not be considered a waiver of the right to vote.

F. Any voting member of the Senate who will be unable to vote during a formal meeting of the Senate in session, may between the time and date of the call to convene the Senate up to the call to vote give his proxy vote to another voting member of the Senate. In order for such a grant of a proxy vote to be considered valid and legal the voting member of the Senate who will be unable to vote must:

1. Send a post to the Senate list. This must be at least 24 hours before the time and date of the call to order, such time and date as specified in the call to convene. This post must state the reason he/she is unable to have access to the Senate list at the time and date of the voting stage, such time and date as specified in the call to convene.

2. Specify whom his/her proxy is granted to. The person receiving the grant of his/her proxy vote must be a voting member of the Senate.

3. Specify any directions on how he/she wishes his/her proxy vote used in respect of the agenda items known at the time of his posting at VI.F.1. This is discretionary and there is no obligation to specify any directions, but if none are specified the voting member of the Senate receiving the grant of the proxy vote is entitled to vote how he/she wishes using the proxy vote. If directions are included they must be followed and any deviation from them will render the vote on the agenda item(s) subject of the deviation invalid, and counted as an abstention.

4. The presiding magistrate for the formal meeting of the Senate in session for which a grant of a proxy vote is made has no power to alter, impede, refuse or terminate such a grant in any way.

5. If a member of the Senate will be absent and unable to attend any known or future meetings of the due to any reason for a known period of time, he/she may issue a standing grant of a proxy vote to one or more members of the Senate. The process to be followed for such a standing grant to be considered legal is:

a. The process at VI.F.1 must be complied with.

b. In the post to the Senate list the voting member of the Senate shall grant his/her proxy to either:

i. One voting member of the Senate for the whole period of absence.

ii. Two or more voting members of the Senate for specified time, giving the start and end dates of such a grant.

iii. Two or more voting members of the Senate with no specific start and end dates for the grant to each of them, but by ranking them in order of precedence, numbering them (1) onwards, (1) being the highest in ranking. If there is a formal meeting of the Senate in session during the period of the grant of the proxy, the presiding magistrate for that session shall post to the Senate list requiring all those on the absent voting member of the Senate’s proxy list, to identify themselves as present. He shall then assign the proxy to the highest ranked choice present.

c. That absent voting member can specify directions, as at VI.F.3, for any known agenda for a formal meeting of the Senate in session that call to convene the Senate has been issued for prior to the posting of his/her standing proxy grant and which falls within the period of the grant at either VI.F.5.b.i to VI.F.5.b.iii inclusive. Any such directions issued, apply to all recipients of the grant of the proxy and they are bound as under VI.F.3 to follow such directions. Failure to do so shall be dealt with as at VI.F.3.

d. If no such call at VI.F.5.iii has been issued then the recipient(s) of the grant of the proxy is entitled to vote how he/she wishes using the proxy vote.

VII. VOTING PERIOD

A. After the minimum of 96 hours of debate on an agenda has elapsed, that item is eligible to be put to the vote. The call to vote must specify all those items that, having first been subject to the minimum of 96 hours, are to be put to the vote in one vote period during that formal meeting of the Senate in session. Multiple vote periods, whether overlapping or consecutive, are illegal except as allowed for at XVI.P and XVI.Q.

B. The presiding magistrate may present none, any or all of the items on the initial agenda, or which were added to the agenda subsequently, to a vote. The agenda presented to the Senate cannot be altered once the voting period has commenced. If the vote required for an agenda item to be passed is not calculated on a simple majority, then the presiding magistrate shall indicate the majority required against that specific item contained in the agenda items submitted to the vote.

C. The presiding magistrate may at his/her discretion extend the period of voting, but may not shorten it, from the period specified in the call to convene. The period of voting may only be extended to a maximum of 96 hours. If the presiding officer issues no post to the Senate list indicating that he/she is extending the voting period, then the length of time of that period shall be the period specified in the call to convene the Senate. Once the voting period has commenced no alteration to its length, either shorter or greater, shall be considered legal and the period shall remain unchanged from that length of the voting period last posted to the Senate prior to the voting period commencing.

D. Voting shall only be conducted on the Senate list by means of voting members of the Senate posting to the Senate list. The subject line of that post must identify that it is a vote and may include which votingmember of the Senate it is from.

E. Matters being voted on shall be decided by majority vote unless mandated otherwise.

F. Should the voting period elapse, any voting member of the Senate that has yet to vote shall be assumed to have abrogated his/her right to vote.

G. On items that are presented for to the senate during the voting period for approval, a voting member of the Senate may either vote or abstain from voting as follows:

1. An AFFIRMATIVE vote is registered by a voting member of the Senate stating in his/her post "YES", "UTI ROGAS", or another clearly synonymous phrase of support in respect of an agenda item.

2. A NEGATIVE vote is registered by a voting member of the Senate stating in his/her post "NO", "ANTIQUO", or another clearly synonymous phrase of opposition in respect of an agenda item.

3. An ABSTENTION is expressed with a voting member of the Senate’s stating in his/her post "ABSTINEO", "I ABSTAIN" or another clearly synonymous phrase of abstention in respect of an agenda item. Abstentions are not considered to be votes, and are not counted when calculating the number required for a majority. Abstentions do not diminish the number of Senators considered present when determining whether a quorum is achieved.

4. VII.G.7.1 to VII.G.7.3 inclusive may include supporting comments to explain the reason why the voting member of the Senate cast his vote in manner he/she did. There shall be no limit on the text length of such comments.

5. Except where otherwise stated, a Senatus consultum or Senatus consultum ultimum is passed and enacted when the number of affirmative votes (as described above) equals or exceeds the number required for a "simple majority".

6. The voting period may begin at sunrise in Rome on the first day of the voting period and may end at sunset in Rome on the last day of the voting period, or may be set to sunrise and sunset in the time zone in which the presiding magistrate is resident.

7. During the voting period members of the Senate must not continue discussion on the agenda items put to the vote. In cases of exceptional urgency a member of the Senate may request permission, by private email, and not on the Senate list, from the presiding magistrate to bring a new item to the attention of the Senate. This shall be treated as an item for information and discussion only and must not be included in the items to be voted upon.

8. Any agenda item presented to the Senate for the vote must be in one of the following categories:

a. Draft Senatus Consultum

b. Draft Senatus Consultum Ultimum

9. All positions and/or offices that the Senate is authorized by the legal code to appoint persons to must:

VIII. RECESS AND CLOSE OF SESSION

A. Once the voting period has elapsed the presiding magistrate shall calculate and post to the Senate list no later than 48 hours after the expiration of that period, the results of the vote by referring to the voting posts and calculating the results for each item voted upon.

B. The Tribunes shall either challenge or validate the result based on their own calculations. They shall select, by whatever means they wish, one of the Tribunes to post to the Senate list no later than 24 hours after the presiding magistrate posts his/her calculations of the results at VIII.A above to the Senate list the challenge or validation of the presiding magistrate’s calculations. Each of the other Tribunes shall post to the Senate list within 24 hours if they disagree with the post made on behalf of the Tribunes, stating the reason for such disagreement. In the absence of any such post from one or more Tribunes disagreeing with the post made on behalf of the Tribunes, such an absence shall be deemed to be approval of that result posted on their behalf.

C. If the presiding magistrate fails to post within the 48 hours the Tribunes shall select, by whatever means they wish, one of the Tribunes to post to the Senate list within 24 hours of the 48 hour period elapsing, post the results of the vote to the Senate list.

D. If the presiding magistrate fails to post within the 48 hours the result posted at VIII.C above shall be deemed to be the official result of the vote and shall not subject to challenge by the presiding magistrate. If however one or more of the Tribunes disagree with the post made on behalf of the Tribunes at VIII.C, they must post such a notice of disagreement to the Senate list within 24 hours stating the reason for such disagreement.

E. Where a disagreement exists between the presiding magistrate and the Tribunes, or between the Tribunes themselves, over the calculation of the vote, it shall be resolved by mutual consent within 24 hours of the challenge being posted, or failing that by the princeps senatus. Such a determination by either manner of resolution shall be considered to be the official result of the vote.

F. If the Tribunes fail within 24 hours after the presiding magistrate posts his/her calculations of the results at VIII.A above to the Senate list, to cause a challenge or validation as at VIII.B above to be posted, then the princeps senatus shall substitute for them and post such a challenge or validation. Any challenge by the substitute for the Tribunes shall be resolved by mutual consent within 24 hours of the challenge being posted, or failing that the calculation of the substitute for the Tribunes shall be considered the official result of the vote.

G. If the presiding officer is a Tribune, the princeps senatus, shall substitute for the Tribunes in matters relating to the process of challenging or validating the calculation of the vote posted by the presiding officer and the Tribunes, other than the presiding magistrate, shall be excluded from that process entirely.

H. If the Tribunes, or their substitute at VIII.F or VIII.G above, validate the post of the presiding magistrate, the result(s) contained within it shall be considered to be the official result of the vote. The official result of the vote must be immediately posted to the Senate list upon validation.

I. After the official result of the vote is posted, the presiding magistrate must post a call to close within 24 hours of that official result being determined, and if he/she fails to do so then the session immediately that 24 hours period has expired shall automatically be deemed to be closed.

J. For the purposes of I.B.4 and II.B.6.e of the Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum the method of conferring with the Senate shall be delegated to the presiding magistrate of the formal meeting of the Senate in session where the item of a confidential nature in question is being/was discussed.

1. The decision of the presiding magistrate as to what details of the discussion and/or comments and/or voting should be released to the citizens is deemed to be a decision of the whole Senate.

2. Such a decision VIII.J.1 shall be binding on the Tribunes for the purposes of I.B.4 and II.B.6.e of the Lex Moravia de renuntiatione senatus actorum, as to what to report to the citizens concerning the item of a confidential nature in question.

K. The presiding magistrate may issue the call to recess a formal meeting of the Senate in session for a period of time between 24 hours and 144 hours. If after 144 hours have elapsed the presiding magistrate of that recessed session has not called the Senate to order and recommenced the session, then that session is deemed closed. The presiding magistrate may not issue the call to recess during the voting period.

L. The presiding magistrate may issue the call to close at any time, except during the voting period.

IX. CONTEMPT OF THE SENATE

A. Any member of the Senate or other magistrate who disregards the invocation of closed session conditions and/or disregards the invocation of the Senate seal, such disregard being determined by the princeps senatus, and/or commits an act deemed in this Senatus Consultum to be contempt of the Senate, shall be automatically found in contempt of the Senate. In respect of a matter of contempt of the Senate, the princeps senatus may:

1. Resolve the matter informally when the member of the Senate or other magistrate purges his or report that contempt to the Censors for their consideration of any action they deem appropriate.

2. Suspend the posting and/or voting rights and/or membership of the Senate list of a member of Senate found in contempt. Such actions must only be taken by means of a Senatus Consultum voted on by members of the Senate and passed by a simple majority. Such a Senatus consultum must include the commencement and termination dates of such sanctions. “In perpetuity”, “until further order of the Senate” or another clearly synonymous phrase indicating no fixed end date shall not be considered for the purposes of this Senatus consultum a valid end date. Any Senatus consultum passed for this purpose that does not contain a valid end date cannot invoke suspension of posting and/or voting rights and/or membership of the Senate list. Should the Senatus consultum fail, the suspended posting and/or voting rights and/or membership of the Senate list of a member of Senate found in contempt must be immediately restored to that member the princeps senatus or in his/her absence the censors.

3. In cases of contempt of the Senate where the princeps senatus considers, that notwithstanding IX.A.2 above an immediate suspension of membership of the Senate list is required in order to protect Nova Roma Inc. from imminent and/or severe loss or damage, or the risk of severe loss or damage, and in order to comply with fiduciary responsibility, he/she may remove that member of the Senate from the Senate list.

4. Ratification of such an immediate suspension at IX.A.3 is required by the means specified at IX.A.2 above during the next formal meeting of the Senate in session. Should such ratification not occur within 60 days from the date of suspension, then that suspension is deemed cancelled and the princeps senatus or in his/her absence the Censors, shall ensure that the suspended member of the Senate has his/her membership of the Senate list reinstated.

5. At any time before the expiration of the 60 days the princeps senatus, may reinstate membership of the Senate list in circumstances where:

a. The member of the Senate has fulfilled any conditions that may have been required to be fulfilled prior to reinstatement.

b. The member of the Senate is subsequently exonerated of having committed an act(s) that led to the finding that he/she was in contempt of the Senate.

c. The member of the Senate has proactively taken steps to purge his/her contempt of the Senate to the satisfaction of the princeps senatus.

B. If the princeps senatus determines that a presiding magistrate has:

1. Attempted to invoke closed session or Senate seal for an agenda item where confidentially was clearly not required and/or

2. Proceeded to try to invoke closed session or Senate seal without the consent of the princeps senatus then this shall constitute contempt of the Senate and the princeps senatus may:

3. Resolve the matter informally when the presiding magistrate has proactively taken steps to purge his/her contempt of the Senate to the satisfaction of the princeps senatus or

4. Report that contempt to the censors for their consideration of any action they deem appropriate.

C. If the princeps senatus commits an act that obviously and clearly violates the prohibitions under III.E, or IX.A or IX.B this shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate and the censors shall:

1. Request the consuls, or in their absence the praetors, to issue a call to convene a formal meeting of the Senate in session. The consuls, or in their absence the praetors, must accede to that request. In the agenda on the call to convene there must only be one item, and that must only be described as “Internal procedural matter”. No supporting or descriptive text can be included. After the call to order of that session the presiding magistrate shall declare that:

a. The Senate in closed session for that item.

b. The Senate seal is active.

2. For the purposes of IX.C.1.a and IX.C.1.b the consent of the princeps senatus required under VI.D shall be deemed to have been granted.

3. The Censors must then collegiately submit a draft Senatus Consultum to the Senate, where the sole content is “The Senate of Nova Roma removes the position and title of princeps senatus, together with any and all honors, powers, limits and obligations, from “ with the name of the princeps senatus appended after that phrase. The Senatus Consultum must not contain any further text, other than title and date. The Censors must in a separate post(s) to the Senate list detail the facts and substantiate the violation(s).

4. After the call to vote is posted, voting members of the Senate shall vote to approve or reject this Senatus Consultum. The vote shall be by way of super majority.

5. If the Senatus Consultum is passed the princeps senatus is immediately and automatically dismissed from his position and the Censors shall immediately assume the role collegiately of the princeps senatus until a replacement can be chosen in the manner as described at X.C.

X. THE PRINCEPS SENATUS

A. The princeps senatus must:

1. Be a Senator

2. Be a member of the patrician order.

3. Be a former consul.

4. Be a former censor.

5. Hold the longest, continuous and uninterrupted record of membership of the Senate.

B. The appointment of the princeps senatus must only be by the manner permitted in this Senatus Consultum and shall be for a period of 5 years. At the expiration of that period if the princeps senatus whose period of appointment has just expired is the only member of the Senate meeting the conditions at X.A then he/she shall be automatically prorogued as princeps senatus for a further period of 5 years to the position of princeps senatus, unless he/she indicates an unwillingness to be so prorogued.

C. If at the expiration of the period of his/her appointment the princeps senatus whose period of appointment has just expired does not meet the conditions at X.A, or he/she has indicated an unwillingness to be prorogued, or the position of princeps senatus has fallen vacant due to any occurrence of a singular, or multiple combination, of loss of senatorial status, dismissal from the position of princeps senatus, death, resignation or renunciation of citizenship, then the procedure to appoint a new princeps senatus shall be:

1. The Censors shall determine from the Album Senatorum if one or more members of the Senate meet the requirements at X.A and compile a list of candidates that do meet them. From that list of one or more candidates the Censors will select the one that is in their collegiate opinion the most suited to the position, taking into account the reputation and standing amongst the other members of the Senate of each candidate. The Censors shall then appoint that candidate by means of issuing an edict to that effect.

2. If no members of the Senate meet the requirements at X.A, the Censors shall examine the Album Senatorum and choose a member of the Senate, taking into account his/her reputation and standing amongst the other members of the Senate, that in their collegiate opinion most closely fits the requirements at X.A. Notwithstanding the period of 5 years specified at X.B, this appointment shall be for a period of 1 year. The Censors shall then appoint that candidate by means of issuing an edict to that effect. The period of appointment is a new one and is not affected, reduced or increased by any remaining period of appointment of the previous princeps senatus.

3. If one or more candidates do meet the requirements at X.A, but do not in the opinion of the Censors possess the required reputation and standing amongst the other members of the Senate to successfully and/or honourably discharge the position of princeps senatus, then the Censors shall at the next formal meeting of the Senate in session, where the presiding magistrate is either a Consul or Praetor, request that the matter of the appointment of the princeps senatus be added to the agenda as an item. The presiding magistrate must:

a. Accede to that request.

b. Declare the Senate in closed session for that item.

c. Declare that the Senate seal is active and in effect for that item

4. For the purposes of X.C.3.b and X.C.3.c the consent of the princeps senatus required under VI.D shall be deemed to have been granted. The Censors shall then report to the Senate why the candidate(s) who were eligible to be considered for appointment as princeps senatus was/were not selected. The presiding magistrate must:

a. Decide from the posted opinions of Senators if the one or more of the candidates passed over for selection has/have sufficient support to warrant the matter being put to the vote.

b. Any such vote shall include on the proposed Senatus Consultum for appointment of the princeps senatus, the names of those candidates identified at X.C.3 and the winning candidate shall be the one that receives the most votes by way of simple majority.

5. The princeps senatus shall have the following honors, powers, limits and obligations.

a. To be the final authority to determine if the procedures of this Senatus Consultum have been violated by any member of the Senate either in the manner of application of, or in the failure to comply with, such procedures, whether through negligence or a deliberate act.

b. To be the final authority on what is acceptable conduct to be expected from members of the Senate, both during informal Senate discussion and formal meetings of the Senate in session.

c. To be the final authority on determining the meaning of any part of this Senatus Consultum where such meaning is unclear to any member of the Senate, and/or to arbitrate in any dispute between members of the Senate over such meaning.

d. To be consulted on any proposed changes to the internal procedures of the Senate.

e. To be empowered, due to a period of his/her absence, to delegate his/her functions as princeps senatus to a Senator of his/her choice in order who should match exactly or as close as possible, in his/her opinion, the requirements under X.A, The method of delegation shall be as follows:

i. A post to the Senate list, by the princeps senatus, in which he/she must specify who is to be acting princeps senatus, together with the commencement and the end dates of the acting period.

ii. The details at X.C.5.e.i may be included in the post required under VI.F.1.

iii. The princeps senatus may select different Senators to act at various non-overlapping, but consecutive, date ranges during his/her period of absence.

iv. The princeps senatus may select a Senator(s) to act for him/her that differs from the Senator(s) he selects to receive the grant of his proxy vote.

f. To have the authority to enforce any and all provisions of this Senatus Consultum and to create a rule of session.

g. If the princeps senatus cannot be contacted either between the call to convene and the call to order during a formal meeting of the Senate in session, then the Censors shall appoint a Senator of their choice to act for the princeps senatus during that session only. That Senator should match exactly or as close as possible, in their opinion, the requirements under X.A. Should the princeps senatus subsequently declare himself/herself present before the call to close, the appointment of the acting princeps senatus shall be automatically terminated.

XI. QUORUM

A. The quorum for the Senate of Nova Roma is only required for formal meeting of the Senate in session.

B. The quorum is calculated and based on only voting members of the Senate.

C. The required quorum must be achieved at the time the call to order is posted.

D. If the quorum is not achieved then the call to order cannot be posted and no formal meeting of the Senate in session can legally be held. Any formal meeting of the Senate in session that is held where the quorum is not achieved is illegal and no Senatus consultum or Senatus consultum ultimum passed during such an illegal session shall have any legal force or validity.

E. A voting member of the Senate is deemed present at the time the call to order is posted if that member has not posted to the Senate list that he/she will be absent, using the process at VI.F.

F. Once the quorum is established as being present at the time the call to order is posted, no challenges by any member of the Senate to establish if it is present subsequently shall be legal or permitted. Such challenges if made shall be an extreme disruption to a formal meeting of the Senate in session, as defined at III.E.3.

G. Any member of the Senate present at the time the call to order is posted, by virtue of not having posted his/her absence at VI.F, may state that he/she is leaving the formal meeting of the Senate in session, but for the purposes of the quorum he/she is deemed to still be present during the remainder of the session conducted in his/her absence.

H. Any calculation of the results of the voting stage shall treat the vote of any member of the Senate leaving after the call order, as defined at XI.G, as an abstention vote as defined at VII.G.3.

I. The quorum required must be 2/3rds (two thirds) of the total number of voting members of the Senate, where fractions are rounded up to the next nearest whole number. For example if there are 22 voting members of the Senate, 2/3rds is 14.666 recurring. Therefore the quorum would be 15 voting members of the Senate, who would have to present immediately before the call to order.

J. Those voting members of the Senate who have identified themselves as absent under the process at VI.F will be counted as being present during a formal meeting of the Senate in session that occurs during that period of absence for the purposes of the calculation of the quorum if they have assigned the grant of a proxy vote under the process at VI.F. If they have not assigned a proxy vote then they will be counted as absent.

K. The presiding magistrate must make the calculation of whether the quorum has been achieved. The call to order must not be made until the calculation is made and the quorum established as being achieved as defined at XI.I. The presiding magistrate must immediately before the call to order post is made follow the steps below in consecutive order:

1. Count the number of voting members of the Senate who have identified themselves as absent, under the process at VI.F.

2. Calculate the quorum as under XI.I.

3. Subtract the number at XI.K.1 from the total number of voting members of the Senate.

4. If the result of the subtraction at XI.K.3 is greater than the quorum as at XI.I, then the quorum has been achieved and the call to order may be posted and the formal meeting of the Senate in session can proceed.

5. If the result of the subtraction at XI.K.3 is less than the quorum as at XI.I, then the quorum has not been achieved and the call to order must not be posted and the formal meeting of the Senate in session cannot proceed.

L. Where the quorum is achieved and the call to order made, the presiding magistrate shall include in the call to order post the statement “The quorum is achieved”. The presiding magistrate must also include in the call to order post the calculations made at XI.K.1 to XI.K.3 inclusive.

M. Where the quorum is not achieved, the presiding magistrate shall post to the Senate list a post with a subject heading “Formal meeting of the Senate in session cancelled”. This post must include, within the body of the post, the statement “The quorum is not achieved”. The presiding magistrate shall also include in the body of the post the calculations made at XI.K.1 to XI.K.3 inclusive.

XII. THE SENATE LIST

A. The only owners of the Senate list shall be the Censors and the princeps senatus.

B. The only moderators of the Senate list shall be the Consuls.

C. The Censors shall not, unless one or both are acting princeps senatus, engage in, except as provided for at II.C, any task involving:

1. Restricting or moderating the posting rights of members of the Senate including, including but not limited to, rejection, approval or deletion of posts.

2. The removal of a member of the Senate from the list, except in cases where a member has ceased to be a member of the Senate due to any occurrence of a singular, or multiple combination, of loss of senatorial status, death, resignation from the Senate or renunciation of citizenship.

3. Any other role or function connected to a formal meeting of the Senate in session, with the exception of those tasks assigned by this Senatus Consultum.

D. The Censors shall be responsible for the addition of new members of the Senate to the Senate list and for the granting of moderator status to a Consul at the commencement of his/her term of office and removal of that moderator status at the expiration of his/her term.

E. All posts are expected to conform to the requirements and restrictions of the Terms of Service by which members of the Senate and any other magistrate are bound by virtue of membership of the Senate list.

F. The Senate list is an official list of Nova Roma. Ownership or moderator status of the list, as defined by the Yahoo! Inc. roles of owner and moderator, is solely for the purposes of ensuring the continued maintenance of the functions of the Senate as defined by the legal code. The owner and moderator features of the Senate list are restricted to the uses and purposes of such features that are allowed by this Senatus consultum. Any use of such features other than that allowed by this Senatus consultum are forbidden.

G. Those members of the Senate that are designated owners or moderators of the Senate list renounce any and all rights to treat the Senate list as though it were their own personal property, renounce all rights to and accept that they hold the Senate list in trust for the Senate of Nova Roma. Deletion of the Senate list or any change in the name of the Senate list is forbidden. Acceptance and continued exercise of the roles of owner or moderator is deemed acceptance of this trust.

H. Any failure on the part of a member of the Senate who is an owner or moderator to abide by XII.F or XII.G shall be defined as laesa patriae for the purposes of section 21 of the Lex Salicia poenalis. Such a definition is itself established as a right of the Senate under of the authority of V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma. Any subsequent amendment to, or superseding or repeal of, Lex Salicia poenalis shall not, by virtue of V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, result in this definition being defined, affected, altered, contradicted, ignored, negated, overruled, cancelled, or other such limiting consequence.

I. Membership of the Senate list is restricted to:

1. Members of the Senate

2. Other magistrate(s), who shall be granted temporary membership of the Senate list for the formal meeting of the Senate in session to which they have been invited to by the presiding magistrate of that session. After the call to close the princeps senatus or the Censors shall remove that other magistrate from the Senate list.

J. The following powers must be granted to a Consul as a moderator of the Senate list:

1. Approve pending messages

2. Invite and add members

3. Approve pending members No addition to the above powers may be made at the time of, or subsequent to, the granting of moderator status at the commencement of his/her term of office.

XIII. CALENDAR AND RELIGIOUS MATTERS

A. If a prohibited day occurs during a formal meeting of the Senate in session, then the presiding magistrate must issue the call to recess at any time on the preceding day. The period of the recess must be at least for the full 24-hour duration of the prohibited day.

B. It is permitted for a formal meeting of the Senate in session to take place on a restricted day, but any matter concerning the cultus and religio must be dealt with in the agenda before any civil matter. It is the responsibility of the presiding magistrate to order the agenda to ensure this occurs.

C. Before a call to convene can be posted the auspices must have been taken. They must be taken by:

1. The presiding magistrate,

2. An augur on behalf of, and at the request of the presiding magistrate. A copy of the auspices result of either method at XIII.C.1 or XIII.C.2 must be posted to the Senate list by either the person at XIII.C.1 or the presiding magistrate on whose behalf they were taken at XIII.C.2.

D. If the result of the auspices at XIII.C is favourable the call to convene may be posted. If the result is unfavourable the call to convene must not be posted and no formal meeting of the Senate in session may occur.

XIV. HISTORICAL ITEMS OF RECORD

A. The following are automatically deemed to be subject to Senate seal for a duration in perpetuity, or until released from the Senate seal by way of super majority vote and such release is for the purpose of publication outside of the Senate:

1. Any post or any file or any item stored on the Senate on a date prior to the enactment of this Senatus consultum.

2. Any other content or information stored on or drawn from the Senate list, that relates or concerns any incident or matter of a date prior to the date of the enactment of this Senatus consultum.

B. Members of the Senate may address such issues at XIV.A.1 or XIV.A.2 after the date of enactment of this Senatus consultum, but such further discussion will not be affected or restricted by XIV.A and, subject to the closed session or Senate seal being specifically applied to such further discussions, the right ofreporting granted at VI.B.1 to V1.B.4 extends to and covers such further discussions.

XV. PHYSICAL AND OTHER MEETINGS OF THE SENATE

A. No physical meeting of Senators, or any other meeting of Senators on any medium, other than on the Senate list, shall be a lawful formal meeting of the Senate in session, unless a Senatus Consultum passed by extraordinary majority specifically authorizes such a meeting.

B. The rules for such a physical or other meeting that is a formal meeting of the Senate in session, such other excluding one held on the Senate list, must be defined and established within that Senatus Consultum at XV.A.

C. Holding, or attempting to hold, such a physical, or other, formal meeting of the Senate in session, other than on the Senate list and other than by the process at XV.B, is illegal and forbidden and shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

XVI. JURISDICTION AND AUTHORITY OF THE SENATE

A. Under the authority of V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, the Senate is authorized to enact rules by Senatus consultum that govern its own internal procedures and a law passed in comitia may not overrule any such Senatus consultum. Therefore under the authority of V.F. of the Constitution of Nova Roma, this Senatus consultum asserts and establishes the primacy and supremacy of its contents, and of this Senatus consultum in its entirety, as the only lawful and permitted legal instrument that shall affect and/or regulate the internal procedures of the Senate, subject only to the Constitution of Nova Roma itself.

B. In respect of 1.A and 1.C of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio, the phrase “within the duties of the magistrate” in respect of any presiding magistrate, or other member of the Senate or other magistrate, possessing imperium and potestas, and in the context of the extension or use of that imperium and/or potestas as regards the Senate of Nova Roma and the business of the Senate, shall be defined as precluding any act, or attempted act, that involves the exercise, or attempted exercise, of imperium and potestas, including but not limited to the issuance of an edictum, that would supersede, contradict, ignore, negate, or overrule any of the provisions of this Senatus consultum. Any such act, or attempted act, is illegal and forbidden. Such an act, or attempted act, shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

C. In respect of 1.A and 1.C of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio, the phrase “within the duties of the magistrate” in respect of any presiding magistrate, or other member of the Senate or other magistrate, possessing imperium and potestas, and in the context of the extension or use of that imperium and/or potestas as regards the Senate of Nova Roma and the business of the Senate shall be defined only as those duties, honors, powers, limits and obligations assigned by this Senatus consultum. Any extension, or attempted extension, of the scope of those duties as defined above in excess of those permitted within this Senatus consultum is illegal and forbidden. Such an extension, or attempted extension, shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

D. In respect of 2.C of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio, the phrase “calling to Senate to vote or placing a proposed senatus consultum on the Senate agenda” in respect of any presiding magistrate, or other member of the Senate or other magistrate, possessing imperium and potestas, and in the context of the extension or use of that imperium and/or potestas as regards the Senate of Nova Roma and the business of the Senate shall be defined only as the processes, conduct and regulation of a formal meeting of the Senate as defined and described within the scope of this Senatus Consultum. It shall not imply or be defined as granting such a presiding magistrate, or other member of the Senate or other magistrate, any extra authority beyond that scope. Any such grant, or attempted grant, is illegal and forbidden. Such a grant, or attempted grant, shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

E. The definitions at XVI.B to XVI.D inclusive are under the authority of sections V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma, where under I.B no conflict existing between a lesser legal authority and a higher legal authority, and in the absence of such a definition existing, the Senate, through Senatus consultum, is authorized to so define such phrases and for such definitions to have the force of law.

F. In accordance with 4.B of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio the definitions at XVI.B to XVI.D inclusive abide by the definitions and limits of imperium and potestas such as are provided within that lex, but as the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio is silent on providing definitions of the phrases as at XVI.B to XVI.D inclusive, then this Senatus Consultum is authorized by V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma, as described at XVI.E of this Senatus consultum, to so define those phrases.

G. Any subsequent amendment to, or superseding or repeal of, the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio shall not, by virtue of V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, result in the definitions at XVI.B to XVI.D inclusive being defined, affected, altered, contradicted, ignored, negated, overruled, cancelled, or other such limiting consequence. For the purposes of the internal procedures of the Senate the definitions at XVI.B to XVI.D are the only definitions for the purposes of this Senatus consultum that shall be applied to those specified phrases, regardless of any future definitions that are enacted by way of edictum or law passed in comitia.

H. Any use, or attempted use, of imperium and/or potestas, as defined by and subject to the limitations at XVI.B to XVI.D inclusive, by a member of the Senate or other magistrate, to evade, impede, negate or otherwise cancel any sanction(s) imposed upon that member or other magistrate, or upon another member or other magistrate, under the authority and terms of this Senatus consultum shall be illegal and forbidden and deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

I. No section of this Senatus consultum shall be defined or implied to affect, or alter, or define the scope and/or use of imperium and/or potestas, as defined by the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio, on matters not pertaining to the Senate and the business of the Senate.

J. In respect of 2.D and 2.E of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio, the use of the phrase “on all levels on all Nova Roma subjects” in respect of any presiding magistrate, or other member of the Senate, possessing imperium and potestas, and in the context of the extension or use of that imperium and/or potestas as regards the Senate and the business of the Senate shall be defined as being by right of section V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma subject to, and limited by, the right of the Senate to establish a specific method of interpretation for this Senatus consultum.

K. The exercise, or attempted exercise, of the right of full iurisdictio under 2.D and 2.E of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio that would seek to define, affect, alter, contradict, ignore, negate, overrule, cancel, or other such limiting consequence, the method of interpretation of this Senatus consultum, established within this Senatus consultum, under the authority of XVI.J is illegal and forbidden. Such an exercise, or attempted exercise, shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

L. As the right to hold of imperium, as defined under IV.A.2.a, IV.A.3.a and IV.A.4.a of the Constitution of Nova Roma, does not include a definition of the scope and use of imperium, and as the the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio is silent on the definition of the phrases as specified at XVI.B to XVI.D inclusive of this Senatus consultum, then the definitions at XVI.B to XVI.D, by virtue of V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma, shall not be defined or interpreted as in conflict with IV.A.2.a, IV.A.3.a and IV.A.4.a of the Constitution of Nova Roma.

M. In respect of VI.B.1.c and VI.B.2.a.2 of the Constitution of Nova Roma, any such decretum so issued that is concerned with, or affects, the internal procedures of the Senate shall, by the right granted to the Senate under V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, require confirmation by Senatus consultum, passed by way of extraordinary majority, before that decretum can legally be applied to, or affect, the internal procedures of the Senate. Any such decretum not subject to confirmation, or having failed to receive confirmation, shall have no legal force or applicability in respect of the internal procedures of the Senate and shall only be treated as non-binding advice to the Senate. Such non-binding advice shall not affect or alter the procedures of the Senate as defined within this Senatus consultum and any act that affects or alters, or attempts to affect or alter, those procedures is illegal and forbidden.

N. In respect of VI.B.2.b.1 of the Constitution of Nova Roma, any such definition that the Senate list, or any such place as defined under XV.B of this Senatus consultum, is a templum shall, by the right granted to the Senate under V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, require confirmation by Senatus consultum, passed by way of extraordinary majority, before that definition can legally be applied to, or affect, the internal procedures of the Senate. Any such definition not subject to confirmation, or having failed to receive confirmation, shall have no legal force or applicability in respect of the internal procedures of the Senate and shall only be treated as non-binding advice to the Senate. Such non-binding advice shall not affect or alter the procedures of the Senate as defined within this Senatus consultum and any act that affects or alters, or attempts to affect or alter, those procedures is illegal and forbidden.

O. In respect of VI.B.2.b.2 of the Constitution of Nova Roma, any such declaration of obnuntiatio in respect of a formal meeting of the Senate in session shall, by the right granted to the Senate under V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, only apply and result in such a meeting being delayed where auspices have been taken according to XII.C.2 of this Senatus consultum. Any declaration of obnuntiatio not based on the taking of auspices, as defined at XIII.C, shall require acceptance of the presiding magistrate before that declaration can legally result in such a meeting being delayed. Any such definition not subject to such acceptance, or having failed to receive such acceptance, shall have no legal force or applicability in respect of the internal procedures of the Senate and shall only be treated as non-binding advice to the Senate.

P. Should the presiding magistrate at XVI.O not accept a declaration of obnuntiatio and proceed with a formal meeting of the Senate, the first agenda item after the call to order that must be discussed is that declaration of obnuntiatio. Regardless of any other requirement or provision of this Senatus consultum, the matter of the obnuntiatio shall be subject to an immediate debate period of only 24 hours in length at the conclusion of which an additional call to vote must be issued.

Q. Regardless of any other requirement or provision of this Senatus consultum, this additional voting period at XVI.P shall only be 24 hours in length. This additional voting period shall be separate from, and additional to, that voting period specified on the call to convene. A Senatus consultum concerning the matter of the obnuntiatio shall be the only item put to the vote in this additional voting period.

R. The Senatus consultum at XVI.Q that shall be put to the vote in this additional voting period shall state the text of the declaration of the obnuntiatio, who made the declaration, the time and date it was made, and any other information provided by the person making the declaration, and shall further state the following motion: “As a consequence of this declaration of obnuntiatio the Senate of Nova Roma decrees that the current formal meeting of the Senate in session shall be immediately recessed.” The time and date when the recess ends and the Senate must reconvene should be appended immediately after the above motion.

S. The presiding magistrate at XVI.P may at his/her discretion not specify any time and date to reconvene and instead substitute “shall be immediately closed” in place of “shall be immediately recessed” in respect of the motion at XVI.R.

T. At the conclusion of the voting period at XVI.Q the determination of the results shall be by the provisions as specified at section VIII of this Senatus consultum. If the Senatus consultum at XVI.Q is enacted the presiding magistrate shall immediately follow its direction and issue either the call to recess, or the call to close based on the text of the Senatus consultum. If the Senatus consultum at XVI.Q is not enacted then the formal meeting of the Senate shall proceed.

U. Any such declaration of obnuntiatio subject to such confirmation by means of Senatus consultum as at XVI.Q, where such a Senatus consultum having been put to the vote did not achieve a simple majority, shall have no legal force or applicability in respect of compelling a delay of the formal meeting of the Senate.

V. Any act, or attempted act, that circumvents, supersedes, contradicts, ignores, negates, or overrules all, or any part of, section XVI of this Senatus consultum, or attempts to do so, for the obvious, or likely, purpose of subjugating the Senate to the dictate, direction or control of any member of the Senate, or other magistrate, or official, or citizen through the exercise, or attempted exercise, of imperium and/or potestas and/or iurisdictio and/or intercessio and/or other exercise of an otherwise lawful power or right, or by the exercise, or attempted exercise, of an illegally usurped power or right, where the purpose of such subjugation is itself to alter, limit, reduce or eradicate the right of the Senate under V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma to govern its own internal procedures, or where the purpose of such subjugation is to enable an appointment of a dictator, or the enactment of a Senatus consultum ultimum, where the process of such an appointment or enactment is not in compliance with this Senatus consultum, then such an act, or attempted act, shall be defined as laesa patriae for the purposes of section 21 of the Lex Salicia poenalis. Such a definition is itself established as a right of the Senate under of the authority of V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma.

W. In respect of any act, or attempted act, defined within this Senatus consultum as contempt of the Senate, or as illegal and forbidden, or as laesa patriae and/or treason, then no member of the Senate or other magistrate, or official, or citizen shall be required to comply with any such act, or attempted act. The imposition of any sanction that is applied, or is attempted to be applied, to a member of the Senate, or other magistrate, or official, or citizen as a consequence of a failure to comply with such an act, or attempted act, shall be defined as laesa patriae for the purposes of section 21 of the Lex Salicia poenalis. Such a definition is itself established as a right of the Senate under of the authority of V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma.

X. For the purposes of the internal procedures of the Senate the definitions of laesa patriae and/or treason contained within this Senatus consultum are the only definitions that shall be applied, regardless of any future definitions that are enacted by way of any legal instrument. Such definitions are themselves established as a right of the Senate under of the authority of V.F and I.B of the Constitution of Nova Roma. Any subsequent amendment to, or superseding or repeal of, Lex Salicia poenalis shall not, by virtue of V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma, result in this definition being defined, affected, altered, contradicted, ignored, negated, overruled, cancelled, or other such limiting consequence.

XVII. NOVA ROMA INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

A. A meeting of the Nova Roma Inc. Board of Directors shall be a meeting separate from a formal meeting of the Senate in session and debate and voting shall be restricted to those members of the Senate who are Directors of the corporation.

B. Such a meeting is not subject to the conditions at XIII.C.

C. Legal macronational names shall be used throughout, but any use of such names shall be redacted from any report of such a meeting published on the Nova Roman website/wiki and replaced with initials.

D. An original un-redacted report with full legal macronational names intact shall be stored within the Senate list file section and shall constitute the official record of that meeting.

E. The procedures of such a meeting will be in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order. http://robertsrules.org/rror--00.htm

F. The consent of the princeps senatus is required before a Senatus consultum to authorize a meeting of the Board of Directors can be put to the Senate for a vote. This shall be passed by simple majority and shall contain the specific reason for such a meeting. No meeting maybe held until such a Senatus consultum is passed and enacted. Upon enactment of this Senatus consultum the Board of Directors meeting shall take place immediately after the call to close of the formal meeting of the Senate in session in which the Senatus consultum was passed.

XVIII. INTERPRETATION

A. If an issue of interpretation of this Senatus consultum, on any matter pertaining to this Senatus consultum, the Senate and/or the business of the Senate, arises during a formal meeting of the Senate in session, then by right conferred upon the Senate by virtue of V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma the following process is established to regulate the use of full iurisdictio under 2.E of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio and the general grant of imperium conferred under the Constitution of Nova Roma. This regulation of full iurisdictio, and the general grant of imperium, applies only to the interpretation of this Senatus consultum, and/or to the interpretation of any matter pertaining to the Senate and/or to the business of the Senate. This process shall not be defined or interpreted as affecting the application of full iurisdictio and/or imperium outside of the scope of interpretation in respect of this Senatus consultum and/or any matter pertaining to the Senate and/or the business of the Senate.

1. If the presiding magistrate possesses imperium and full iurisdictio, he/she shall consult with the princeps senatus to try to establish a consensual interpretation of the issue at XVIII.A.

2. Should consensual interpretation at XVIII.A.1 not be reached within 24 hours of the issue being raised or identified during session, then by virtue of X.C.5.c the interpretation of the princeps senatus shall prevail and have precedence, and shall be adopted as the final and determining interpretation of the issue. The princeps senatus shall post that interpretation to the Senate list in the form of a rule of session.

3. No other member of the Senate or other magistrate who possesses imperium and full iurisdictio shall be part of the interpretative process at XVIII.A.1.

B. If an issue of interpretation of this Senatus consultum, on any matter pertaining to this Senatus consultum, the Senate and/or the business of the Senate, arises during informal Senate discussion, then by right conferred upon the Senate by virtue of V.F of the Constitution of Nova Roma the following process is established to regulate the use of full iurisdictio under 2.E of the Lex Arminia Equitia de imperio and the general grant of imperium conferred under the Constitution of Nova Roma. This regulation of full iurisdictio, and the general grant of imperium, applies only to the interpretation of this Senatus consultum, and/or to the interpretation of any matter pertaining to the Senate and/or to the business of the Senate. This process shall not be defined or interpreted as affecting the application of full iurisdictio and/or imperium outside of the scope of interpretation in respect of this Senatus consultum and/or any matter pertaining to the Senate and/or the business of the Senate.

1. The princeps senatus shall resolve the issue by way of reaching an interpretation within 72 hours of the issue being raised or identified and shall post that interpretation to the Senate list.

2. The interpretation of the princeps senatus at XVIII.B.1 shall, by virtue of X.C.5.c, be the final interpretation of the issue.

4. No other member of the Senate or other magistrate who possesses imperium and full iurisdictio shall be part of the interpretative process at XVIII.B.1

XIX. SUPERSEDING, AMENDING OR REPEALING THIS SENATUS CONSULTUM

A. Upon enactment of this Senatus Consultum, under the authority of XVI.A the only lawful method of subsequently superseding, amending or repealing this Senatus consultum must be by way of a Senatus Consultum that must achieve an extraordinary majority before it can be enacted. Any other method or attempt shall be illegal and forbidden and shall be deemed to be contempt of the Senate.

B. No other Senatus Consultum shall be enacted where the proposed content of which conflicts, negates, overrides, limits or otherwise affects in a negative manner the contents and/or purposes of all or any part of this Senatus Consultum, whether directly or indirectly other than by the method at specified at XVIII.A.

XX. REPEALED AND SUPERSEDED

A. The following Senatus Consulta are repealed:

1. Rules on defining a Senate Quorum – approved a d XV Sex MMDCCLIV

2. Rules on convening the Senate – approved a.d. XVII Kal. Dec. MMDCCLVI

3. Procedures for Reporting the Senate's Call to Order – undated.

4. Senatus consultum de ratione senatus MMDCCLIX – approved a.d. VIII Id. Sex MMDCCLIX

5. Rules and procedures for debate and for the taking of votes in the Senate – undated.

B. The contents of this Senatus Consultum shall by authority of XV.A supersede and override the contents of any other Senatus consulta, or lesser legal authority, enacted prior to this Senatus Consultum which is concerned with, but not limited to, informal Senate discussion, the procedures of the Senate during a formal meeting of the Senate in session, the princeps senatus, management and ownership of the Senate list and matters of internal moderation of members of the Senate.

XXI. ANNOTATION AND STYLE

A. The use of (s) in this Senatus consultum indicates that the singular occurrence of the word may also be read as the plural of that word. Absence of such (s) shall not necessarily imply that the plural cannot be inferred.

B. Where not stated otherwise, as at XXI.C, the use of a combination of letters, Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, such as XXX.A.1.a.i, is a reference to a corresponding section of this Senatus consultum.

C. Similar types of combination at XXI.B can also be used to indicate a corresponding section of either the Constitution of Nova Roma or a named lex.

D. The use of a descriptive title to describe sections of this Senatus consultum is only to assist in providing a brief general description of the contents in that section. Such a title does not form part of the reference method described at XXI.B.

E. The use of italics is for ease of reference only and no extra meaning shall be construed from such use.

F. Any issue arising from a matter of spelling, punctuation, grammar, annotation or style shall be resolved using the process described in XVIII of this Senatus consultum.