Constitution of La Rossa

The constitution of La Rossa is the sum of laws, rules and traditions that determine political governance in La Rossa. Unlike most democracies, La Rossa has no one single constitutional document, and has its political system guided largely based on past traditions and historical precedent. Although the island's shared political tradition traces its foundations to the Unification of La Rossa, the document sets little restrictions (or responsibilities) concerning the government that ruled the union, with most power at the time concentrated locally, and centralization eventually emerging naturally with the passing of centuries.

Institutions and History

The right of lawmaking is centralized in the position of the Dux, an elected position of near-absolute legislative and executive power. The accompanying, similarly elected Advisory Council, taking the form commonly seen of legislature, has no power of rule on its own (its advice is non-binding), and is able only to strike down proposals formulated by the Dux. Although similar in some regards, the Advisory Council differs from elected judiciaries in that it does not call upon its judgement based on legal precedent, but stemming from representation of local interests. As such, ruling by decree, the Dux's word is taken as law unless vetoed by the Council.

Universal suffrage has been an element present in Rossan elections since 15 PC. This followed a short period of revolutionary dictatorship under Dux Falcone, which overthrew a system of voting rights limited to land-owners, a minority of the population at the time. Most of the island's history, however, saw the right to vote concentrated solely in the hands of the Six Families, the ruling aristocracy that possessed most of the island's wealth and political power for several centuries. Such an arrangement is noted down in the Uniting Charter, although the archaic law no longer applies, reflecting the gradual change to Rossan constitutional law.

The Dux, a uniting figure made to ensure trade and peace between the Cities lives abound, shall be chosen by the representatives of the noble Families Minestrici of Mineria, Buonestrotti of Buglio, Barozzo of Tolia, Morelio of Lorma, Giannone of Salino and Miglio of Padeno once in every two years, to ensure no City suffers at the behest of the rest, to ensure no City prospers at the expense of the whole.

― Uniting Charter, 1044 TT

Established with the island's unification, the figure of the Dux was originally envisaged as a shared ruler who would work towards ensuring peace and trade without hostile barriers between the Rossan city-states, imagined as a response to the two centuries of repeatedly ignited conflict stemming from the Silver Rush of 1296 TT. Although the position was largely ceremonial at first, merely expressing and dictating consensus, owing to the fact that the power of armed enforcement of laws remained in the hands of the individual Families, it gradually evolved to hold more centralized power, eventually becoming absolute.

While individual city-provinces have threatened secession several times over the course of history during the reign of unpopular rulers, such a promise has not as of yet materialized. Throughout history, an apparent trend of the ruling political and economic class recognizing the Dux's power as absolute and legitimate has made the enforcement of any decree or declaration a definite certainty, despite a lack of constitutional documents. Rossan courts thus have no power to rule against such decrees, but only the power to judge cases in accordance with them.