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LEGAL CODES
In Lendosa, all laws (including those which, in most countries, would be part of a formal constitution) are placed in a set of documents known as Codes. Each Code contains various statements regarding the governance and laws of the Lendosan Confederation, and can usually be amended as the result of a Senate vote whenever needed.There are eleven legal Codes currently in force in Lendosa. Each of these deals with a specific area of legal jurisdiction. They are briefly described below.
Civil Code
The Civil Code covers law as it relates to the activities of individual citizens. It contains laws regarding things such as assault, murder, and robery, as well as things such family law (custody of children, distribution of property, and suchlike). The taxation of private individuals is also covered here. It is the Code that regular citizens are most likely to come into contact with.Commercial Code
This Code deals with the world of business, and contains laws which govern the actions and management of companies and corporations. It sets up standards of accountability, transparency, and honesty in advertising, as well as imposing rules regarding employee welfare and safety practices. It also contains rules regarding competition and monopolies. Corporate taxation is controlled by the Commercial Code.Administrative Code
The Administrative Code deals with governmental matters. It is less a list of laws than it is a set of operational rules for the proper operation of government. It regulates elections and the various interactions between elements of the government. It is, in essence, a less grandiose form of a Constitution, explaining how the government of the nation should be run. It does not, however, lay down any moral principles that the state should adhere to, leaving such things for the Ethical Code.Military Code
The Military Code is a set of laws and regulations for the military. It deals with the structure of the military, including its command, and controls with the proceedures that must be followed for the military to act. It also regulates exactly what the military are within their rights to do.Police Code
The Police Code is similar to the Martial Code, but deals with the police and other security forces rather than the military. It places restrictions on what the police may do, and imposes guidelines for their interaction with other parts of the government.Judicial Code
This Code governs the actions and functions of Lendosa's law courts. It sets down how these various bodies are to operate and interact, and places restrictions on the actions that they can take. Until recently, the rules contained in the Judicial Code were part of the Administrative Code.Intelligence Code
The Intelligence Code governs the actions of the Panopticate, the Confederation's primary information-gathering organization. It determines what the Panopticate may or may not do. The first half of the document deals with the structure of the Panopticate and its duties to Lendosa. The second half of the Intelligence Code is, for the purposes of state security, kept secret.Academic Code
The Acdemic Code is a specialised code that deals with matters relating to science and education. It is responsible for setting down guidelines about the operation of the education system, and for establishing the curriculum that is studied by all students. It also administers science and research within Lendosa, and details how the governmental research program should function. It also governs the conditions under which private research must be undertaken, and establishes the rules that cover any scientific research that is not permitted in Lendosa (for example, it bans human cloning).Diplomatic Code
The Diplomatic Code essentially deals with everything relating to non-Lendosans. This primarily focuses around the Lendosan Confederation's dealings with the outside world through the Diplomacy Section, governing the way in which such communication is handled and the people permitted to carry it out. It also governs the establishment of embassies, covering both regulations for Lendosan embassies abroad and rules for the establishment of foreign embassies in Lendosa. In addition, it is the Code which deals with visitors to Lendosa, and controls which laws they are subject to and how they will be dealt with if they break them.Ethical Code
The Ethical Code makes almost no actual law whatsoever, and one cannot be tried or found guilty for a violation of one of its statements. Rather, it is more like a list of principles which other Codes can refer to. For example, a law in the Civic Code might read: "No citizen may be refused employment for reasons which violate Declarations Three through Seven of the Ethical Code", where those Declarations mentioned say that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race, gender, language, religion, and so forth. Similar statements may be found throughout the other Codes.Confederate Code
The Confederate Code is rarely invoked. It deals with matters affecting national sovereignty and stability. It is reserved for those who commit crimes aimed at undermining the state, rather than criminals simply attempting to further their own ends. The Confederate Code is divided into two sections, one of which is active and one of which is dormant. The active parts of the Code deals only with the sovereignty and stability of the nation. The dormant section of the Code is larger, and contains laws which supercede many of those outlined in other Codes. It is intended to be activated in emergencies, when strict enforcement of law and order may become essential. To invoke the High Confederate Code, as it is called, requires the permission of the highest ranking officials from each of the three branches of government, or, if this is not possible, the direct command of the Praetor alone. It immediatly suspends all form of government aside from the Praetor's office, the First Consilium, the military, the police, the Guard, and the Panopticate, and institutes wide-ranging martial law. The High Confederate Code will only ever be invoked in times of greatest crisis.
