Lex Minucia de eiuratione magistratuum (Nova Roma)

I. This Lex pursues the constitutional language of Section IV, headed 'Magistrates', which states that an office becomes vacant when a magistrate resigns or dies.

II. This lex clarifies the legal definition of magisterial resignation, consequences of resignation, and those procedures legally necessary to validate and remedy magisterial vacancy due to resignation of office.

III. The language of this lex is binding on resignation of magisterial offices elected in the Comitia Centuriata, in the Comitia Populi Tributa and in the Comitia Plebis Tributa.

IV. A tendered resignation from an elected office becomes legal and binding once receipt of same is acknowledged to the resigning Magistrate by an appropriate presiding official (defined below) of the comitia by which he or she was elected.

A.i. Resignation of an office elected in the Comitia Plebis Tributa is tendered in writing to the Tribuni Plebii or tendered in writing in the presence of three or more Plebian citizens, who shall witness and communicate the resignation to the Tribunes. Once advised of a resignation, the Tribuni Plebii shall respond in writing to the resigning magistrate within 24 hours, in order to acknowledge the tendered resignation, and a vacancy of that office is legally established.

A.ii. Elections shall be held in the Comitia Plebis Tributa within 45 days of the established vacancy for a suffect magistrate,according to prevailing legal procedure governing elections of this comitia.

A.iii. This lex does not in itself restrict a former magistrate from standing for election in the Comitia Plebis Tributa to fill the vacancy caused by his or her resignation.

B.i. Resignations of offices elected in the Comitia Populi Tributa or the Comitia Centuriata are to be tendered in writing to the Consuls, or in the presence of three or more citizens,who shall acknowledge and communicate receipt of the resignation to the Consuls. Once advised of the resignation, the Consuls shall respond in writing within 24 hours to the resigning magistrate in order to acknowledge the tendered resignation, and a vacancy of that office is thereby legally established.

B.ii. Elections shall be held in the appropriate comitia within 45 days of the established vacancy for a suffect magistrate, according to the respective prevailing laws governing these comitia elections.

B.iii. This lex does not in itself restrict a former magistrate from standing for election in the appropriate comitia to fill the vacancy caused by his or her resignation.

V. Consuls may not accept resignations of offices elected of the Comitia Plebis Tributa.

VI. The presiding comitia magistrate who lawfully acknowledges receipt of a resignation of office to the tendering magistrate as detailed in Ai and Bi, shall be responsible for communicating this information to the Censors, the Magister Aranearius and the citizenry via public fora within 48 hours.

VII. Accreditation of century points for partial service of a term of office shall not be affected by this lex.

Original text of lex as passed in comitia, maintained here for transparency and tracability:

This lex clarifies the legal definition of magisterial resignation, consequences of resignation, and those procedures legally necessary to validate and remedy magisterial vacancy due to a resignation of office, in accordance with the Constitution of Nova Roma, Section IV, on 'Magistrates', which states that an office becomes vacant when a magistrate resigns or dies while in office. The language of this lex is binding on resignation of magisterial offices elected in the in the Comitia Populi Tributa and in the Comitia Plebis Tributa.

I.A: An elected magistrate resigns from office by tendering his or her notification of a resignation to the presiding official (defined below) of the comitia in which the resigning magistrate was elected.

B: The Tribunes of the Plebs are the presiding officials of the Comitia Plebis Tributa. A resignation of an office that was elected in the Comitia Plebis Tributa may be tendered in writing directly to one or more Tribunes of the Plebs, or else is tendered to the Tribunes of the Plebs by posting a notice of resignation via the official Comitia Plebis Tributa list, or a list that is supported by Nova Roma as a Public Forum.

C: The Consuls and Praetors are the presiding officials of the Comitia Populi Tributa. A resignation of an office that was elected in the Comitia Populi Tributa may be tendered in writing directly to one or both Consuls or Praetors, or else is tendered by posting a notice of resignation on a list that is supported by Nova Roma as a public Forum.

II.A: A vacancy of office is legally established when an appropriate presiding official acknowledges in writing the receipt of a tendered resignation to the resigning magistrate. A vacancy may also be legally established when the Censors inform the presiding magistrates that a magistrate is unreachable after an absence of 45 or more days.

B: Within twenty-four (24) hours of receiving notification of a resignation, the presiding official of the respective comitia – any one of the Consuls or Praetors, or any one of the Tribunes of the Plebs, as the case may be, shall acknowledge receipt in writing to the resigning magistrate.

C. Consuls shall not accept a resignation from office of a magistrate elected in the Comitia Plebis Tributa.

D. Tribunes of the Plebs may only accept the resignation from office of a magistrate elected in the Comitia Populi Tributa as in II A and B when none of the Consuls or Praetors is available to accept the resignation on behalf of this comitia.

III: Elections shall be held within 45 days of the established vacancy for a suffect magistrate in the legally appropriate comitia, according to prevailing legal procedures governing elections of that comitia.

IV: This lex does not in itself restrict a former magistrate from standing for election in the Comitia Plebis Tributa or in the Comitia Populi Tributa to fill the vacancy caused by his or her resignation, and for which he or she is eligible to hold.

V: The presiding official of a comitia who lawfully acknowledges receipt of a resignation from office of any magistrate who was elected in either the Comitia Plebis Tributa or Comitia Populi Tributa, as outlined in this lex, shall be responsible for communicating this information to the Censors, the Magister Aranearius and to the citizenry via public fora within the following forty-eight (48) hours from the time that the resignation goes into effect.