New-Athens-Legal-Code/Readme.md

# New Athenian Legal Code

This repository contains the official **Legal Code** of the Free Nation of New Athens. It serves as the centralized, version-controlled system for publishing, organizing, and maintaining all statutory laws enacted under the authority of the Constitution.

The Legal Code is distinct from the Constitution, which defines the foundational structure of government, enumerates unalienable rights, and establishes the supreme principles of national governance. The Legal Code, by contrast, contains specific acts and regulations that implement, interpret, or expand upon powers already granted by the Constitution.

## Purpose

The New Athenian Legal Code is designed to:

- Serve as the authoritative public reference for all current laws outside the constitutional text  
- Provide a scalable and organized framework for future legislation  
- Maintain transparency and accountability through version history  
- Enable collaborative drafting, review, and amendment of statutory law  

## Legal Authority and Governance Model

New Athens is a constitutional monarchy. Under this system, the Constitution grants the Reigning Monarch broad executive authority, including the power to create ministries, appoint officials, and issue laws by royal decree.

However, Parliament, comprising all citizens with voting rights, also holds the authority to propose, deliberate, and pass legislation in all areas of national governance, provided the legislation:

- Does not contradict the Constitution  
- Receives a majority vote in accordance with Article XV  
- Receives Royal Assent by the Reigning Monarch before taking effect  

This model ensures that both the Monarch and the Parliament may legislate, with clearly defined roles:

- The **Monarch** may issue decrees and create ministries to manage executive and administrative functions  
- **Parliament** may legislate through the Legal Code to create policies, programs, and regulations for the nation, in addition to constitutional amendments  
- The **Legal Code** serves as the authoritative record of all such non-constitutional laws  

Laws recorded in the Legal Code may be repealed or revoked by either a royal decree issued by the Reigning Monarch or by parliamentary amendment passed in accordance with Article XV.

The Legal Code includes any law, regulation, or binding public decree, whether enacted by Parliament, Royal Decree, or Ministerial Decree, provided it carries general legal effect. Ceremonial proclamations, internal directives, or administrative orders without legislative force are excluded. All such laws follow a unified naming and categorization format.

## Structure

Each law in this repository is assigned a unique identifier using the following format:

`LAW-YYYY-XX`

Where:  
- `YYYY` is the Gregorian year the law was enacted  
- `XX` is the sequential number of the law enacted in that year within its category  
- Amendments may be appended using `-A1`, `-A2`, etc., e.g., `LAW-2025-03-A1`  

Laws are organized in a folder hierarchy by category and year:

```
/<Category>/
  /<Year>/
    LAW-YYYY-XX.md
```

All laws follow this structure and naming format regardless of origin. There is no distinction in naming between parliamentary acts, royal decrees, or ministerial decrees.

Each Markdown file contains a single act or decree and begins with the following standardized metadata header:

```markdown
---
Title: [Full Title of the Act]
Law Number: LAW-YYYY-XX
Category: [Legal Code Category]
Enacted By: [Parliament / Royal Decree / Ministerial Decree]
Ratified By: Reigning Monarch
Date Ratified: [Gregorian Date]
NAD Date: [New Athenian Date]
Status: [Active / Repealed]
---
```

## Legal Code Categories and Acronyms

| **Code** | **Category Name**                | **Description**                                                                                 |
|-------------|----------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| GOV         | Governance and Administration    | Internal government operations, appointments, records, and administrative policies             |
| CIT         | Citizenship                      | Naturalization, documentation, revocation, and related procedures                              |
| JUS         | Justice and Civil Order          | Legal systems, courts, enforcement, identification, and regulations on public behavior         |
| DIP         | Foreign and Diplomatic Affairs   | Diplomatic recognition, international treaties, and representation protocols                   |
| ECO         | Economy and Agriculture          | Fiscal policy, national economic programs, business regulation, and agricultural development   |
| EDU         | Education                        | Laws on public and private education, curricula, institutions, and educational standards       |
| HEA         | Health and Welfare               | Public health initiatives, medical regulations, and social well-being policies                 |
| INF         | Public Services and Infrastructure | Transportation, utilities, communications, and other essential public services              |
| SCI         | Science, Innovation, and Aerospace | Research, national scientific advancement, and aerospace initiatives                        |
| CUL         | Culture and National Identity    | National holidays, symbols, language, heritage, and ceremonial practices                       |
| ENV         | Territory and Environment        | Environmental protection, land use, geographic data, and territorial administration            |

Additional categories may be created as needed to support new legislation.

## Usage

This repository is intended for both public reference and internal legislative management. The public may browse the laws freely, while authorized legislative officials may propose edits or new legislation through tracked changes.

- To read the laws: Navigate through the folders by category and year, and open any Markdown file  
- To propose changes: Submit a pull request or contact the Office of Legislative Affairs  
- To view legal history: Use the repository's commit history to review past versions and amendments  

## Contributing

Only authorized legislative personnel may directly modify this repository. Others may suggest changes by submitting pull requests, which will be reviewed in accordance with national legislative procedures.

## License

This repository is licensed under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

You are free to:

- Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format  
- Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially  

Under the following terms:

- **Attribution** - You must give appropriate credit to the Free Nation of New Athens  
- **ShareAlike** - If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license  

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For questions or official requests, please contact the Speaker of the People at [speaker@newathensgov.org](mailto:speaker@newathensgov.org).

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*Hosted in New Athens*