Senatus consultum ultimum de validitate senatus consultorum priorum (Nova Roma)

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With the enactment of the lex Lucilia de re publica restituenda, the lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda has become the permanent Constitution of Nova Roma. This new Constitution, section V.D, put a limit of 3 months on the validity of senatus consulta ultima, after which they will revert to simple senatus consulta, or, if the instructions contained therein will have become fully completed and will no longer have any relevance, they will become lapsed.

As an uncertainty of interpretation of this V.D. of the lex Cornelia Domitia arose, the senate issues the following interpretation and instructions so that the republic suffer no harm:

I. The lex Cornelia Domitia de re publica constituenda stipulates that it shall be interpreted, until the official merger of the corporation with the republic, under the authority of the senatus consultum ultimum on the continued operation of the res publica during the crisis. This clarifies that until the official announcement of the end of the crisis period, which the senate intends to do before the end of the current year, our Constitution is to be interpreted within the spirit of a senatus consultum ultimum, therefore it is not against the spirit of our Constitution, at this transitional period, that we interpret all past senatus consulta ultima as being still in force, regardless of whether they are older than 3 months.

II. It is also the practice of macronational countries not to interpret past laws retroactively, so the senatus consulta ultima that were enacted before the current Constitution should not be considered affected by the present Constitution but by the previous Constitution. This also points to the direction that our past senatus consulta ultima should still be in force in Nova Roma. However, this macronational practice can be, and often is, debated by theorists, especially in case of a law so powerful as a constitution, therefore it is needed that our senate give an official ruling on the interpretation about this question how it applies to Nova Roma.

III. Considering the points above and the need for a clear answer, the senate enacts the following:

A. All senatus consulta ultima that were in force at the time of the enactment of the lex Lucilia de re publica restituenda, are hereby confirmed, and re-issued, for the 3 months period that the lex Cornelia Domitia, our Constitution, allows for their maximum term. The three months shall be counted from the enactment of this current SCU.

B. The senate interprets that in the spirit of crisis government, all senatus consulta ultima that are hereby confirmed have in fact been in force and there was no hiatus in their validity. This is decided by the interpretative authority of the senate whereas the senate prefers to resolve the uncertainty in the spirit of the lex Cornelia Domitia which is under the authority of a senatus consultum ultimum itself.

C. The senate resolves that those senatus consulta ultima that were intended to regulate an important part of Nova Roman administration and which are needed for long term purposes be put before the People to be voted as leges. The rest of the SCU shall expire after 3 months from today.