Preamble

Whereas the Senate and People of Nova Roma and the Republic of the Nova Roman People has been dragged into crisis and turmoil by Cn. Iulius Caesar and L. Cornelius Sulla Felix and their faction,

and whereas the faction that caused this chaos by a meditated coup and still controls the infrastructure of Nova Roma, refuses to return these assets of Nova Roma to the Nova Roman people,

and whereas the perpetrators of the coup, Cn. Iulius Caesar and L. Cornelius Sulla Felix instilled fear in the citizenry by the expulsion of the elected magistrates and the tribunes of the plebs for life, by the oppression of the citizens’ rights and free speech, by destroying the citizenship and Nova Roman identity of citizens who expressed disagreement with their tyrannical actions, and thus they made free speech dangerous, and honest public discussion in the official forum of Nova Roma controlled by the coup-makers impossible,

and whereas the perpetrators of the coup, who maintain control of the voting tools of Nova Roma, withhold the election of new magistrates, causing Nova Roma to be without official government,

we, the citizens of Nova Roma assembled for the purpose of saving Nova Roma from this crisis, do hereby resolve to restore Nova Roma to proper function under proper political process, and to organize our Roman community life until the res publica is restored to said function; to which end we do take affirmative and restorative action by proclaiming the following unofficial and non-corporate private citizens’ initiative in the form of a lex, to be enacted as temporary measures, not to be held as binding under the corporate constitution of Nova Roma or the regulations of the State of Maine:

I. The election of the tribuni militum consulari potestate

I.A. In order to provide a temporary substitution during the forced absence of a fully functioning Nova Roman government, the corporate management and state magistracies, with respect to the extraordinary circumstances when the People of Nova Roma is not in possession of the infrastructure of Nova Roma, and in order to provide the traditional reckoning of years required by Roman custom, four tribuni militum consulari potestate (an alternative title is “tribuni militares consulari potestate”, the English title is “military tribunes with consular power” or “consular tribunes” for short) shall be elected by a non-corporate session of the comitia centuriata, according to the laws in force that regulate consular elections, with the procedural exceptions granted to the current consules by the non-corporate senatus consultum ultimum on the continued operation of the res publica during the crisis.

I.B. A candidate to the office of tribunus militum consulari potestate shall be at least 21 years of age and shall have been a citizen of Nova Roma for at least 3 years. The magistrate presiding at the election may make an exception from under the requirement of length of citizenship, and may accept or refuse all kinds of candidates based on their merits to Nova Roma.

II. The role of the tribuni militum consulari potestate

The tribuni militum consulari potestate shall fill the role of the consules, in that they shall provide the citizenry with guidance in their Nova Roman community life, by serving as a center offering cohesion and coordination to the citizens, their activities and initiatives as long as the individuals in control of the infrastructure and assets of Nova Roma are not filling this role. The tribuni militum consulari potestate shall fill the role of the praetores and censores as well, likewise to their ancient Roman counterpart, inasmuch as the circumstances necessitate acting in the capacity of a censor or praetor. In addition, the Nova Roman tribuni militum consulari potestate shall fill the role of the four aediles as well, unless aediles are elected or other officers entrusted with the aedilician duties.

II.A. The tribuni militum consulari potestate shall take care of the same tasks and shall have the same powers and rights that the consules, praetores, censores and aediles would have, excepting such as would require the holding of position as an officer of Nova Roma, Inc.. The tribuni militum consulari potestate shall not be considered officers of Nova Roma Inc., or any part of the corporate structure and organization, but shall exist only within the symbolic framework of the res publica, and shall serve as civic representatives of the people that gave a mandate to them; the purpose of the office being to organize community life and the res publica, without having the power to issue any decision of binding force upon the corporation.

II.B. The tribuni militum consulari potestate shall represent the law respecting senatores and citizens of Nova Roma; and thus they shall work, as their primary goal, on the restoration of the res publica out of the turmoil.

II.C. Decisions and actions of the tribuni can be made individually, jointly or collegially. Individual decisions or actions are the ones taken by only one tribunus. Sessions of the senate and the comitia can only be called to order and presided individually. Any decision or action of a consular tribune can be vetoed by one or more of his colleagues: the veto procedure and its time frames shall be the same as described by the lex Labiena de intercessione. If some of the tribuni aren’t involved in the making of a decision or action, it shall not be considered to be made collegially, but only a joint decision or action taken by some tribuni and not by the entire college of the tribuni. Collegial decisions and actions require the participation (agreement, disagreement, abstention, with the agreements plus abstentions exceeding the number of disagreements) of all tribuni in the action or decision-making. Unanimous collegial decisions require the agreement or conscious abstention of all tribuni.

II.D. A consular tribune is regarded as involved in an action or decision-making if he was demonstrably informed that he was invited to make a decision or action. If such a consular tribune is unresponsive 72 hours after having been contacted and fully informed, his absence shall be counted as conscious abstention.

II.E. The tribuni shall appoint, by unanimous collegial decision, a praefectus officio tribunicio praetorio who, while not being a tribunus but a subordinate first officer, shall be responsible for the coordination and organization of the administrative work and all activities of the joint office of the college of the consular tribunate.

II.F. The consulship and this consular tribunate shall be considered to be the same magistracy, identical by all intents and purposes: all legal documents of Nova Roma referring to the consulship shall be taken also as a reference to the consular tribunate.

III. Term of office of the tribuni militum consulari potestate

III.A. The term of office of the tribuni militum consulari potestate shall commence on January 1.

III.B. If the crisis is still unresolved as of September 1st, the tribuni shall pass a senatus consultum ultimum with the decision whether the tribunal form of government is to be continued for the next year or the res publica should revert to the consular government. After the decision, a period of interregnum shall follow, for ceremonial and religious reasons, and for the holding of next year’s elections, whether it be for a consular or tribunal government.

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

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

III.E. After the founding rituals are completed, the elections for the next year shall be conducted by the interreges, in a manner described by the senatus consultum ultimum that specifies the order and sequence of the interreges, and the new government shall enter office on the next Kalends of January. If the new government remains to be led by tribuni militum consulari potestate, their term of office, from this year on in each subsequent year, shall be one year from January 1 to December 31.

III.F. The office of the tribuni militum consulari potestate shall be filled until the declaration of the recognition of the new legal corporate government, whereas the office of the tribuni militum consulari potestate will automatically expire. There shall be an alternative mechanism to disband the entire college of the tribuni militum consulari potestate: if two of the tribuni jointly declare that they step down from office with the intention of dissolving the college of the tribuni by this action, the term of office of the entire college of the tribuni expires immediately.

IV. The election, assignment and function of quaestores

IV.A. Eight non-corporate quaestores shall be elected according to the laws of Nova Roma, by a non-corporate session of the comitia populi tributa, to assist the tribuni militum consulari potestate and all other higher officers in any task assigned to them by the higher officers as described in the laws of Nova Roma. The status of non-corporate quaestores and their relation to Nova Roma, Inc. is the same as that of the tribuni militum consulari potestate as described under II.A..

IV.B. Each tribunus militum consulari potestate shall assign one individual quaestor to his own government office. Other quaestores may be assigned to other officers by the tribuni.

IV.C. Candidates for the quaestorship shall be at least 21 years of age and there is no other requirement.

V. Other non-corporate magistrates and officers

V.A. Other ordinary magistrates such as the diribitores, magister aranearius, vigintisexviri, aediles, tribuni plebis, praetores and censores may be elected if their election is authorized previously by a senatus consultum. Consules shall not be elected for the next calendar year (MMDCCLXX AUC). Non-corporate apparitores and all types of elected or appointed officers may be elected or appointed by the public institutions or the higher officers normally authorized to do so. The status of all non-corporate magistrates and officers and their relation to Nova Roma, Inc. is the same as that of the consular tribunes as described under II.A..

V.B. If the illegal coup senate or the comitia called to order by the illegal magistrates of the coup faction, or any illegal separatist corporate authority of Nova Roma manages to elect or appoint corporate magistrates, promagistrates, governors or other officers (henceforth “officers”) for Nova Roma, the tribuni militum consulari potestate shall pass a decree of the lawful senate to decide whether to recognize any of the illegal corporate officers as real magistrates, promagistrates, governors or officers of the res publica, except in the case of corporate quaestores and aediles, where recognition is automatic. Such recognized corporate officers shall be considered as (supernumerary) colleagues of the non-corporate officers, but may only be integrated to the lawful government on an individual basis decided by the tribuni militum consulari potestate, with specification as to what powers and rights they are entitled to exercise.

V.B.1. If corporate aediles are elected, and there are non-corporate aediles already in office, the corporate aediles are automatically recognized as junior colleagues to the non-corporate aediles and will be recorded with the title “aediles corporativi”. If there are no non-corporate aediles in office, the recognition of corporate aediles is automatic.

V.B.2. There shall not exist lawfully recognized corporate and non-corporate consules, censores and governors (within an identical province) at the same time. If the lawful senate recognizes the corporate consules, censores or governors, the non-corporate counterparts are immediately dismissed. Such recognition of corporate consules is the valid way of terminating the non-corporate crisis government, as described under III.F.

VI. The non-corporate senate, comitia and priestly colleges

The status of all non-corporate senate, comitia and priestly colleges and their relation to Nova Roma, Inc. is the same as that of the consular tribunes as described under II.A..

VI.A. If the corporate coup senate enacts a senatus consultum, or if the comitia called to order by illegal magistrates of the coup faction enacts a lex, it can be considered lawful and valid within the Free Nova Roma if, and only if, the non-corporate senate approves it as well, however in the case of a lex, by this approval it is automatically reclassified as a senatus consultum ultimum.

VI.B. Since the corporate infrastructure, including all communication channels and the voting tools of Nova Roma are under control of the coup faction, who refuse to defer to lawfully established procedure, disallow any exercise of electoral process and willfully impede the election of magistrates, the tribuni militum consulari potestate are authorized to issue alternative session rules and voting procedures for all comitia (and also for the senate) which shall differ from the procedure described by the laws of Nova Roma only in those points where it is necessitated by the circumstances of the crisis.

VI.C. Presiding magistrates are hereby authorized, if approved by at least one augur, to take auspices for the senate or comitia sessions over which they preside, or to delegate this authorization to a pontifex who shall take the auspices in their name. A magistrate presiding over an election is further authorized, if approved by at least one pontifex, to convene the comitia curiata jointly with the authorizing pontifex to invest the elected magistrates with imperium

VI.D. If a corporate priestly college enacts a decretum, it shall be considered lawful and valid automatically within the Free Nova Roma unless its non-corporate priestly college counterpart invalidates it. The non-corporate priestly colleges consist of those members of the priestly colleges who are loyal citizens of Nova Roma and, if the head of a particular college isn’t loyal to the res publica, the interim president of that college shall be the member with the highest rank, or if it isn’t viable, the member with the greatest length of membership within that college, and he shall be titled as “extraordinary secretary” (ab officiis extraordinariis).

VII. Legal force

This lex is enacted, operating, and to be interpreted under the authority of the non-corporate senatus consultum ultimum on the continued operation of the res publica during the crisis, and thus has all the force of a senatus consultum ultimum to override temporarily the existing laws of Nova Roma for the benefit of the recovering citizenry. Should any danger to the continued existence of the Free Nova Roma emerge the management of which is not covered by this lex or other laws, the committee of the liberatores are lawfully empowered to defend the freedom of the res publica.

VIII. Subsequent confirmation

This non-corporate lex shall not have any legal meaning or official status either under the laws of the State of Maine or within the context of Nova Roma, Inc. as a corporation chartered in the State of Maine, USA; however, it shall become an official lex of the Nova Roman Republic upon subsequent confirmation by the lawful, legal state and corporate authorities of Nova Roma after order is restored to the Republic. The non-corporate senate shall have the power to declare, by a senatus consultum ultimum, the recognition of the new corporate government as lawful and legal under the laws of the Republic, but such a declaration of recognition can only take force if the corporate government has already confirmed all non-corporate legal documents, offices, actions and decisions made until the day of the declaration of recognition. This subsequent confirmation by the corporate authorities is obligatory and it is a prerequisite, inasmuch as the validity of the recognition of the corporate government as lawful under the laws of the Republic depends on the corporate government’s full confirmation of all non-corporate legal documents, offices, actions and decisions without any exception. If such a declaration of recognition by a non-corporate senatus consultum ultimum is made, and if all non-corporate legal documents, offices, actions and decisions are confirmed by the corporate authorities, all non-corporate institutions and offices immediately merge with the corporate institutions, in a manner described by the same senatus consultum ultimum.