The Human Constitution

Third-prize-winning entry in the Constitution of Consent contest

Introduction

Shortly before this year’s FreedomFest, I learned of an exciting event: the Constitution of Consent contest. Based on the direction my thoughts have taken over the last decade—and very much over the last year—this opportunity seemed like kismet. After learning the details in a speech by Max Borders at FreedomFest, I was sure of it.

Contestants were given an unconventional task: to write a constitution that truly protects and respects human consent. To break free of the imposed order that has characterized the bulk of governance throughout history. And yes, to break free from the mythology with which we in America have all been raised: that our system is based on the “consent of the governed.” (SPOILER ALERT: It isn’t, and never was.)

This task was right up my street. In keeping with my beliefs —and with work I have been doing and plans I have been making for the last year—I produced a constitution that establishes and fosters a condition of voluntary order…for all those who wish to live in such a condition.

As I have explained in some detail over recent months, I believe that in the absence of an involuntary order imposed by a state, two main sub-conditions would predominate…

1. In a world in which consent is required for governance, some people will choose to contract with various private agencies providing security and justice services in a free and open market. We can call this market anarchism, though it is also frequently called anarchocapitalism.

2. In a condition of voluntary order, various polities would also arise. In contrast to market anarchism, a polity is a discrete, organized society in which people choose to participate.

   
   Like a government, a polity will usually have some form of distinct territory (though that territory might be virtual or distributed, as we discuss elsewhere). Like a government, a polity may provide security, a set of laws, and various forms of infrastructure, and may even claim a monopoly on the provision of these services. Polities might even arise that classical liberals would deem rather illiberal.

   However—and this is essential—participation in any such polity would be purely consensual and contractual. People would opt in to any such arrangement, and could choose to opt-out and exit (provided that all previous voluntary contractual obligations were satisfied).
   
   We can call this polity-based anarchism or enarchy.

My approach was to create a meta-constitution that recognizes both possibilities and encourages the advent of any polity or approach that truly respects consent and natural human rights. (I always hesitate before attaching the prefix “meta” to anything, but it really is appropriate here.)

Rather than prescribe rules by which a single hypothetical polity might govern itself, my constitution establishes a Framework for a voluntary order—one in which limitless free polities can arise and thrive.

The constitution is not silent on the subject of how polities ought to go about governing their affairs. Rather, it establishes a consensual, rights-respecting foundation—a Membership Compact upon which the systems of myriad free polities can be built. Signatory polities can take any approach they wish, so long as it is consonant with a set of basic precepts and participation therein is voluntary.

I lay out those precepts in a detailed Declaration of Principles, and follow that up with as comprehensive a Bill of Human Rights as I personally have ever seen.

I spilled a great deal of ink on these two sections, using up a significant chunk of our precious 5,000-word allotment. I knew while I was writing that this approach might, quite understandably, seem overly philosophical to some of the judges…or that, given the fact that they are all already well-versed in these principles, they might find themselves (subconsciously) saying, “Yeah, yeah—get to the good part.”

In spite of this possibility, I felt it was necessary to give full voice to these statements of rights and principles. I take this constitution seriously, not only as a contest entry, but as the basis of a real constitution for future use. As such, I felt it essential to make an ironclad statement—a once-and-for-all message that our rights are real and undeniable.

Finally, I envision signatory polities and people working together as part of a worldwide Network—to cooperate, innovate, and expand the domain of free lands and free peoples throughout the world.

Overall, I was conscious of the fact that this “meta” approach might be risky vis-a-vis the contest itself. Yet this approach is most consistent with the vision I have for the future, and I had to be true to that.

As I mentioned on the 16th, I am pleased and grateful that my entry was awarded third place in the contest. I thank the judges and sponsors for putting on the contest, allowing me to participate, and giving my entry their consideration. It was requested that I make my entry available for others to read, and I have done so below.

Now, it is time for these ideas and constitutions to begin playing out in the real world, producing a thousand experiments in freedom and consensual governance. Who knows…perhaps I will even offer one of my own sometime soon.

The Human Constitution
Version: 0.9.94
Author: Christopher Cook

The Human Constitution

Libertas. Caritas. Prosperitas.

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, in order to

Claim our birthright as human persons,

Establish a just framework for peace and voluntary cooperation,

Foster innovative experiments in consensual governance,

Form a network of free lands and free peoples,

Kindle a new spirit of liberty, and 

Send a message to all princes, potentates, and powers of the Earth that we are, and of right ought to be, independent and free,

DO HEREBY COMMEND THIS CONSTITUTION to all people everywhere.

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES

We hereby attest

THAT certain universal moral truths exist, rooted in natural law and endowed with a higher ethic that stands above any manmade authority,

THAT human-made laws are only just when they are in accord with the natural law, whose foremost implications include certain fundamental principles,

THAT these principles create and necessitate, as a natural fact, certain inalienable rights,

THAT these rights continue to be violated by individuals, interests, groups, and governments, 

and thus

THAT a FULL DEMONSTRATION AND DEFENSE of these principles is required.

A. PERSONHOOD

Recognizing

THAT each and every individual human is, as an ineluctable fact of nature, a PERSON—a separate, unique, irreplaceable being with the independent capacity for a theoretically infinite range of thoughts, choices, and actions, and

THAT PERSONHOOD is a natural quality that cannot de facto be unmade by any act of nature or man, and is thus inalienable,

THIS CONSTITUTION recognizes, proclaims, and will hereunder affirm and defend the sovereignty and infinite worth of the human PERSON. 

B. THE IMPERMISSIBILITY OF INITIATED FORCE

Affirming

THAT no PERSON, or order of PERSONS, has any automatic, ontological, or birthright authority (ONTOLOGICAL AUTHORITY) over any other,

THAT all authority must either be voluntarily granted or imposed upon the unwilling by means of the initiation of force,

and thus

THAT no PERSON, or order of PERSONS, has the ONTOLOGICAL AUTHORITY to initiate force against any unwilling other,

We herein affirm and declare to the people and powers of the Earth the first universal precept of human relations:

THAT the initiation of force against any unwilling PERSON, by any other PERSON or order of PERSONS, is impermissible.

C. THE PERMISSIBILITY OF PROTECTIVE FORCE

Attesting

THAT there is a distinction between COERCIVE FORCE (force initiated to acquire resources, dominate, control, usurp, manipulate, tyrannize, or for other purposes) and PROTECTIVE FORCE (force deployed in response to and to defend against COERCIVE FORCE), and

THAT no PERSON, or order of PERSONS, has the ONTOLOGICAL AUTHORITY to initiate (COERCIVE) force against any unwilling other,

THIS CONSTITUTION recognizes, respects, and will hereunder assert and defend the right of any PERSON or PERSONS to deploy PROTECTIVE FORCE in response to and to defend against COERCIVE FORCE.

D. CONSENT

Declaring

THAT each PERSON possesses the natural capacity, as an ineluctable consequence of inalienable PERSONHOOD, of exclusive control over thought, choice, and action,

THAT this fact confers upon each PERSON the quality of self-ownership: dispositive decision-making authority over—and therefore a just moral claim to—one’s own life, body, and being, and

THAT forcibly subjecting any human PERSON to any nonconsensual transaction constitutes a violation of this just moral claim,

We herein affirm and declare to the people and powers of the Earth the second universal precept of human relations:

THAT the explicit, voluntary consent of the individual human PERSON is required for all transactions and impositions of authority.

E. EQUAL RIGHTS

Knowing 

THAT the absence of ONTOLOGICAL AUTHORITY—and thus of ontological inequality—presupposes and necessitates the ontological equality of all human PERSONS,

THIS CONSTITUTION recognizes, proclaims, and will hereunder affirm and defend the EQUAL CLAIM of each and every PERSON to natural rights and the enjoyment thereof. 

F. THE RIGHTS OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Proclaiming

THAT these just moral claims are the equal birthright of all PERSONS, and 

THAT their free and unfettered exercise is necessary for the support and maintenance of life,

THIS CONSTITUTION heretofore and hereafter defines RIGHTS as the ontological fact of each human PERSON’S

Exclusive, inalienable, and necessary title to personal control over an infinite range of thoughts, choices, and actions—held by each in equal measure to all others, violated through coercive force, and justly defensible via protective force.

Recognizing that respect for RIGHTS requires only inaction (the non-initiation of force) on the part of all others, THIS CONSTITUTION further affirms that a RIGHT is, simply, 

Anything a human PERSON wishes to do that does not initiate force upon another.

The principles heretofore illuminated produce unbounded expressions of RIGHTS, including, but not limited to, the RIGHTS enumerated hereunder.

ARTICLE I:
THE HUMAN BILL OF RIGHTS

SPEAKING together with shared purpose,

We certify and proclaim to the people and powers of the Earth that each and every individual human PERSON has, and must be allowed to enjoy, the inalienable RIGHTS enumerated, inferred, and adjured hereunder, and

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, hereby agree to champion, secure, and establish systems for the protection of these RIGHTS.

Section 1
PERSONAL RIGHTS

Except in cases in which a specific exercise of a RIGHT initiates force against the person or property of another, 

EACH and every individual human PERSON has, and must be allowed to enjoy, the RIGHTS of

I. LIFE

To live and exist.

II. CONTINUANCE

To take the actions needed to continue life; to pursue survival and improvement; to plan, act, and labor; and to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.

III. PEACE

To think, choose, act, and exist free from the initiation of force by any PERSON, or by any agency, government, group, or any other order of PERSONS.

IV. FREEDOM

To think, choose, act, and exist free from captivity, slavery, involuntary servitude, invasion, control, dominion, arbitrary detention or imprisonment, forced allegiance to PERSONS or powers, forced adherence to causes or beliefs, forced submission to any government or social contract, or any other forcible imposition by any other PERSON or order of PERSONS.

V. SELF-OWNERSHIP

To be the exclusive and responsible owner of oneself, one’s life, and one’s choices.

VI. SELF-GOVERNANCE

To act, exist, and enjoy self-determination free from the imposition of involuntary authority.

VII. CONSENT

To consent, withdraw consent, or refuse to consent to engage in or be subjected to any transaction, arrangement, association, or form of governance, and to require the condition that one’s consent be explicit, transparent, and ongoing.

VIII. SELF-DEFENSE

To deploy PROTECTIVE FORCE—individually, in concert, or through assigned agents—in response to and to defend against COERCIVE FORCE; to defend person, property, RIGHTS, and freedom; and to possess, carry, and use weapons to discharge this RIGHT.

IX. PROPERTY

To hold allodial title to property—to land, consumable goods, personal possessions, money, information, creative works, products of labor, personal identities, data, digital assets, natural resources, and any other alienable thing—

acquired through original acquisition or homesteading of unowned things,

produced without the initiation of force, 

acquired in voluntary trade or transaction, or 

inherited in voluntary bequest, 

and to possess, use, maintain, enjoy, protect, develop, exploit, exclusively control, and dispose of said property and its resources in any way that does not initiate force upon the person or property of another,

and to be secure in said property from trespass, acquisition, occupation, use, control, overlordship, taxation, forced quartering, or any other initiation of force by any other PERSON or order of PERSONS.

X. BODILY AUTONOMY

To exercise exclusive personal control and authority over one’s own body; to seek or refuse physical care; to administer self-care; and to make dispositive decisions about one’s own life and physical being. 

XI. MOVEMENT AND LOCATION

To move one’s body and, with respect of property RIGHTS, to change one’s location and travel freely; to choose unowned locations for activity and habitation; and voluntarily to transact for permissions or RIGHTS to travel through or abide in a given location.

XII. THOUGHT AND CONSCIENCE

To exercise independent thought, belief, intellect, reason, imagination, judgements, opinions, conscience, and emotions; to contrive and invent; and to choose and follow a set of values.

XIII. EXPRESSION AND SPEECH

To express ideas, opinions, facts, beliefs, emotions, concepts, and any other information, and to disseminate any such information by voice, print, or any other medium.

XIV. PRIVACY

To secure from search, scrutiny, and seizure one’s person, property, documents, data, communications, finances, ideas, transactions, and associations; to be anonymous; and to be selective about recipients of information.

Section 2
ASSOCIATIVE RIGHTS

Affirming

THAT the individual human PERSON—being the locus of all thought, choice, action, and experience—is the only entity capable of holding RIGHTS, and yet

THAT we are not a solitary species, and it is in our voluntary associations that we find our continuance, and much of our prosperity, meaning, and joy,

THIS CONSTITUTION recognizes the various ways in which human PERSONS may express their individual RIGHTS in collective endeavors with others.

Except in cases in which a specific exercise of a RIGHT initiates force against the person or property of another, 

EACH and every individual human PERSON has, and must be allowed, in their shared endeavors with others, to enjoy the RIGHTS of

I. ASSOCIATION

To associate with, disassociate from, or refuse to associate with any PERSON or PERSONS; to form voluntary groups; and to create mutually acceptable agreements with any PERSON or within any group.

II. PAIRING

To form consensual emotionally and physically intimate relationships, and to enter into (or discontinue) private or religious marriage or bonding arrangements.

III. PROCREATION

To conceive, bear, keep, and raise children with a consenting mate.

IV. FAMILY FORMATION

To form, though pairing and procreation, family units, and to make decisions and conduct familial affairs free from external COERCIVE FORCE.

V. PARENTHOOD

To nurture and protect one’s children: to discharge one’s parental responsibilities to provide for their physical, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional care; to protect their PERSONHOOD and individual RIGHTS until they are able to enjoy full communion with those RIGHTS, and thus conditionally to hold their RIGHT of consent in temporary proxy; and to determine the means by which best to accomplish these aims and raise them successfully to adulthood.

VI. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 

To create, participate in, decline to participate in, or depart from any geographical, non-geographical, or virtual community; organization; social structure; economic market; polity; cultural, religious, ethnic, or kin group; or any other voluntary association.

VII. ASSOCIATIVE CONSENT

To act in association with any PERSON or order of PERSONS to criticize, resist, withdraw consent from, or secede from any form of involuntary arrangement or governance; and to agree to establish explicitly voluntary arrangements for security, justice, governance, or any other desirable good or service.

VIII. MUTUAL DEFENSE

To form, equip, and empower AGENCIES for the delivery of security and justice SERVICES, and voluntarily to transact for such SERVICES; to make mutual protection arrangements, and voluntarily to participate or decline to participate in such arrangements; to defend the PERSONS, property, freedom, and self-determination of individuals and communities; and to connect or include, by mutual consent, properties into a TERRITORY, and to establish and defend the borders of such TERRITORY from invasion or migration.

IX. COMMERCE

To buy, sell, and trade goods, services, property, and labor in voluntary transactions; to make voluntary agreements and contracts for the exchange of alienable goods and services, and to hold title to property exchanged in any such agreement or contract; to form business and labor associations, and to be free from compulsion to form, join, negotiate with, or pay for any such associations; to choose a profession; to succeed; to fail; and to refuse to engage in any transaction or negotiation not previously contracted.

X. MEDICINE

To cooperate to specialize in and create institutions for the teaching and delivery of medical care; to offer care; and voluntarily to transact to deliver care to willing patients.

XI. MIGRATION AND TRAVEL

To create—through cooperation and with respect of property RIGHTS—roads, rights-of-way, easements, waterways, airways, and other routes (THOROUGHFARES) for the purposes of free movement, travel, and migration; to create mutually acceptable agreements for travel and migration through private areas; and to move through or migrate to unoccupied territory.

XII. BELIEF SYSTEMS

To create, maintain, and freely practice associative belief systems: ideologies, schools of thought, religious traditions, and any other products of collaborative thought, conscience, belief, faith, and imagination; to associate with others and adhere to belief systems; to refuse to choose or associate with any belief system; to choose one’s manner of adherence to a belief system; to form institutions for the observance, maintenance, and propagation of belief systems, and for those institutions to self-govern, and to solicit, train, and expel members.

XIII. ASSOCIATIVE EXPRESSION

To associate with others to express ideas and disseminate information; to create ideological, intellectual, political, artistic, spiritual, and other movements and freely to express the views thereof; to form and freely operate institutions of journalism and the press, and to engage in the activities thereof; and to assemble and make any such expressions in common spaces or, with permission, on private property.

XIV. ASSOCIATIVE PRIVACY

To form and maintain private group associations, memberships, finances, documents, data, networks, information, and activities.

Section 3
UNENUMERATED RIGHTS

Based in the theoretically infinite range of human activities, choices, and thoughts, the range of possible RIGHTS is itself infinite, subject to the moral rule that COERCIVE FORCE must not be initiated in the exercise of any RIGHT.  As such, no enumeration of RIGHTS can be complete, and THIS CONSTITUTION thus declares that

The enumeration of specific RIGHTS herein must not be construed to limit or deny the existence of any other RIGHTS.

The boundlessness of RIGHTS may thus be expressed as

∞ THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

To pursue any objective in any way, provided that said pursuit does not initiate COERCIVE FORCE against another. 

Section 4
EQUALITY OF RIGHTS

THIS CONSTITUTION recognizes, attests, and enjoins the people and powers of the Earth that because all human PERSONS are created ontologically equal,

EACH and every PERSON has EQUAL CLAIM to all the RIGHTS enumerated, inferred, and adjured herein.

ARTICLE II:
THE FRAMEWORK

WHEREAS proper respect of the RIGHTS herein illuminated requires that all PERSONS be free to choose and explicitly consent to the rules by which they are governed,

We hereby resolve to define and actuate a consensual FRAMEWORK of principles, protocols, and procedures for the protection of RIGHTS and the establishment of a voluntary social order.

Section 1
DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of THIS CONSTITUTION and FRAMEWORK,

A POLITY is

Any territorial, semi-territorial, pre-territorial, non-territorial, or virtual instantiation of consensual association or governance,

owned, organized, provided, or administered by individuals, cooperatives, corporations, consortiums, councils, confederacies, sovereign joint-stock companies, or any other entity,

including, but not limited to, POLITIES that are

fully seceded (city states, private-law jurisdictions, free nations),

sub-jurisdictional (special economic zones, charter cities, property associations),

virtual (network states, decentralized autonomous organizations),

internally self-governing (cooperatives, intentional communities, fraternal orders),

dispersed (diasporas, stateless peoples, distributed/non-contiguous nations),

panarchic (jurisdictionally coterminous governance providers or market agencies), 

future (ocean settlements, exocolonies), or any other,

whether recognized by GOVERNMENTS or not.

An AGENCY is

A company operating in a free market to provide goods and services in voluntary transactions with individual and business customers.

A GOVERNMENT is

Any entity claiming or exercising a monopoly of compulsion and authority over a given territory or people.

A REPRESENTATIVE is

An owner, manager, administrator, official, provider, or other rightful agent of a POLITY.

A MEMBER is 

An adult customer, subscriber, citizen, tenant, resident, or any other rightful participant in a contractual arrangement with a POLITY, or any child under the care of a parent or guardian MEMBER.

Section 2
FRAMEWORK RIGHTS

Derived from the RIGHTS and precepts heretofore identified, and resting on the essential pillars of PEACE, CONSENT, SELF-OWNERSHIP, and SELF-GOVERNANCE, this FRAMEWORK recognizes and necessitates the following set of RIGHTS.

Notwithstanding any impediments to the full realization and enjoyment of these RIGHTS,

EACH and every human PERSON has, and must be allowed to enjoy,

I. THE RIGHT TO ESTABLISH

To create, own, and maintain—in any unowned or consenting privately owned physical or virtual space—any consensual system of social or political organization (POLITY); to administer said POLITY according to any chosen set of rules or principles; and to solicit, offer, and encourage, or to reject and refuse, voluntary participation or MEMBERSHIP therein.

II. THE RIGHT TO JOIN

To choose voluntarily to become a MEMBER of a POLITY by mutual consent and agreement with the REPRESENTATIVES of such POLITY.

III. THE RIGHT TO EXIT

To discontinue any association or MEMBERSHIP with any POLITY (provided that all previous voluntary contractual obligations are satisfied); and to depart, unhindered, from the territory or control of any POLITY or GOVERNMENT.

IV. THE RIGHT TO SECEDE

To discontinue, unilaterally and without hindrance, any association with, allegiance to, or subjection by any GOVERNMENT, and to ESTABLISH, unhindered, any new POLITY on any private or unowned land; or to remove one’s property from the ambit of any POLITY, provided that previous voluntary contractual obligations are met.

V. THE RIGHT TO REMAIN

To remain unmolested on one’s own property without being subjected to any GOVERNMENT or required to join any POLITY; and to make private, voluntary arrangements for security, justice, or any other desirable SERVICES.

Section 3
FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

Know all persons and powers by these presents
That WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, do hereby establish this 
FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT OF THE FREE PEOPLES OF EARTH.

We hereby agree

0. To foster and advance the evolution of a polycentric social order of self-governing PERSONS, private POLITIES, and market-based AGENCIES, supported by a consensual FRAMEWORK of shared principles, constructive procedures, and cooperative protocols.

I. To respect the EQUAL CLAIM of each and every PERSON to the possession and enjoyment of all the RIGHTS enumerated, inferred, and adjured in THIS CONSTITUTION.

II. To forswear the initiation of COERCIVE FORCE against any PERSON or order of PERSONS.

III. To oppose the initiation of COERCIVE FORCE by any PERSON or order of PERSONS.

IV. To support the RIGHT of any PERSON or PERSONS to deploy PROTECTIVE FORCE in response to and to defend against COERCIVE FORCE.

V. To promote and foster the creation of private AGENCIES and consensual systems for the protection of PERSONS and property from the initiation of COERCIVE FORCE.

VI. To promulgate and uphold the FRAMEWORK RIGHTS to ESTABLISH, JOIN, EXIT, SECEDE, and REMAIN, pursuant to the conditions and definitions established in Article II, Section 2.

VII. To oppose the imposition of any form of involuntary governance upon any PERSON or PERSONS.

VIII. To coordinate with existing GOVERNMENTS to facilitate a peaceful transition to a condition of voluntary order.

IX. To nurture and advance the principals and precepts illuminated and established in THIS CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE III:
POLITY COMPACT

Recognizing

THAT a proper application of the FRAMEWORK will allow, encourage, and result in the advent of numerous POLITIES, and

THAT these will—and must be free to—vary in character and approach,

THIS CONSTITUTION shall not attempt to prescribe the precise nature of any POLITY, but shall encourage POLITIES to become SIGNATORIES hereto and to utilize the following COMPACT as the core of any CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT with MEMBERS:

Section 1
MEMBERSHIP COMPACT

WE, as rightful REPRESENTATIVES of our respective POLITIES, and as SIGNATORIES to THIS CONSTITUTION and FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT, do hereby further pledge to undertake and offer this MEMBERSHIP COMPACT

0. To offer clear, transparent MEMBERSHIP terms to MEMBERS, and to be accountable and responsive thereto.

I. To respect and safeguard the RIGHTS of all MEMBERS within our ambit.

II. To respect the CONSENT of all PERSONS, and not to subject any unwilling PERSON to any form of involuntary governance, authority, or COERCIVE FORCE.

III. To respect and affirm the FRAMEWORK RIGHTS to ESTABLISH, JOIN, EXIT, SECEDE, and REMAIN as established in Article II, Section 2.

IV. To acknowledge all MEMBERS’ titles of property ownership as allodial unless some superseding arrangement is explicitly stated by voluntary contract.

V. To forswear the use of voting or other democratic mechanisms in any circumstance the result of which violates any RIGHT.

VI. To forswear the imposition of a compulsory legal tender, and to provide—or encourage and safeguard the private provision of—decentralized mechanisms of exchange, including cryptocurrencies, digital peer-to-peer fungible and non-fungible assets, sound money based in precious metals or commodities, or any other decentralized financial instruments. 

VII. To forswear all forms of involuntary taxation, and to generate revenue by means of voluntary and market-based mechanisms, including subscription fees, voluntary contributions, lotteries, crowdfunding, exchange of digital assets, or any other voluntary or market-based mechanism.

VIII. To forswear all forms of forced redistribution of property for any purpose, and to provide or encourage voluntary systems of charity, including individual giving, mutual-aid organizations, philanthropic foundations, and any other form of charitable organization.

IX. To forswear central economic planning and to allow voluntary transactions and commerce in a free and open market.

X. To provide—or encourage and safeguard the private provision of—for-profit, charitable, or other common areas for public gathering and intercourse.

XI. To provide—or encourage and safeguard the private provision of—intra-POLITY THOROUGHFARES upon which MEMBERS enjoy a general RIGHT TO TRAVEL.

XII. To respect and affirm the general RIGHTS of PERSONS to TRAVEL, and to EXIT from any POLITY, via inter-POLITY THOROUGHFARES.

XIII. To forswear the invention and imposition of statutes that violate natural law and the RIGHTS, principles, and precepts of THIS CONSTITUTION. 

XIV. To foster and allow the ongoing application of natural law, custom, common sense, and human wisdom to the adjudication of disputes in order to produce an organic, emergent, accrescent body of COMMON LAW; to allow COMMON LAW to serve as the basis for a system of justice and social order; and to provide a COMMON LAW legal system or encourage and safeguard the development and activities of a private, polycentric COMMON LAW legal order.

XV. To allow, in any polycentric legal order, a diversity of legal approaches and private law CODES to arise; to allow MEMBERS to choose to abide by and be held to particular law CODES, and voluntarily to contract with private law and appeals courts and other AGENCIES of arbitration, dispute resolution, and insurance; and to encourage a COMMON LEGAL CODE to arise and continually improve through cooperation and the ongoing harmonization of legal approaches in inter-AGENCY and inter-POLITY cases.

XVI.  To provide—or encourage and safeguard the private provision of—

RIGHTS-PROTECTIVE SERVICES, deploying justified and proportional PROTECTIVE FORCE in response to and to defend against internal or external aggression, including defense, investigation, apprehension, subrogation of restitution and compensation, aggression insurance, indemnification of victims, and any other such SERVICES as are desired and do not initiate COERCIVE FORCE; and 

complementary RECTIFICATION AND INCARCERATION SERVICES managing facilities for the collection of restitutive and compensatory debts, and for rehabilitation or the incapacitation of dangerous offenders as needed.

XVII. To ensure that any and all procedures, principles, and mechanisms of law, security, and justice, developed or applied by any POLITY or AGENCY, respect, secure, and do not violate the RIGHTS of PERSONS.

XVIII. To use—or promote and safeguard the use of—custom, COMMON LAW, and private or market solutions to manage externalities, equilibrate situationally conflicting expressions of legitimate RIGHTS, protect consumers, mitigate environmental impact, and adjudicate marginal questions regarding the initiation of force.

XIX.  To respect the validity of private contracts, including self-executing and other digital contracts.

XX. To respect the TERRITORIAL integrity, independence, RIGHTS of PERSONS, privacy, and digital security of all other POLITIES, SIGNATORY and NON-SIGNATORY, and to choose and encourage peaceful and diplomatic solutions to conflicts whenever possible.

Section 2
BRANCHES AND FORKS

POLITIES may produce CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENTS, complementary herewith, further specifying the precise means and mechanisms by which these and any other objectives shall be achieved.

Any such AGREEMENT added by any SIGNATORY POLITY to an unamended canonical version of THIS CONSTITUTION shall be considered a POLITY-specific constitutional BRANCH.

Any addendum, adaptation, or amendment not adopted into the canonical version of THIS CONSTITUTION shall be considered a FORK thereof.

ARTICLE IV:
NETWORK AGREEMENT

IN ORDER TO 

Cultivate of a condition of peace and voluntary order,
Expand the domain of free people living in free lands, and
Foster the next evolution in human cooperation,

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, hereby agree

To form an international NETWORK of PERSONS, POLITIES, and AGENCIES committed to the RIGHTS and precepts of THIS CONSTITUTION and FRAMEWORK.

0. All SIGNATORIES shall be eligible, and may choose voluntarily, to join this NETWORK.

I. The NETWORK shall select and impanel an ADVISORY COUNCIL to coordinate activities of the NETWORK and pursue the objectives of the FRAMEWORK and THIS CONSTITUTION.

II. The ADVISORY COUNCIL shall cooperate and coordinate with the PERSONS, POLITIES, and AGENCIES of the NETWORK to

Develop, recommend, and solicit RIGHTS-protective practices and procedures, and advise POLITIES and AGENCIES in the application of the principles of THIS CONSTITUTION,

Facilitate cooperation and assist in the resolution of disputes unresolved by private arbitration,

Foster peace among SIGNATORIES, and with NON-SIGNATORIES, and consult on responses to instances of aggression and RIGHTS violations,

Gain commitments to maintain and respect the RIGHTS of EXIT and TRAVEL on inter-POLITY and general-access THOROUGHFARES,

Promote the provision of desirable SERVICES by private AGENCIES,

Maintain the canonical version of THIS CONSTITUTION and solicit information regarding BRANCHES and FORKS thereof,

Coordinate record-keeping of NETWORK membership by means of distributed ledger technologies or any other cryptographically secure and effective method,

Encourage and champion the creation of new POLITIES and experiments in voluntary governance, 

Cultivate and advance a condition in which all RIGHTS are recognized, respected, and protected, and 

Establish the NETWORK as a reliable world authority in these principles.

III. The ADVISORY COUNCIL shall, with diplomatic tact, assist PERSONS, POLITIES, and AGENCIES in negotiations with GOVERNMENTS to secure agreements for exercise of the RIGHTS to ESTABLISH, EXIT, SECEDE, and REMAIN, and to foster a peaceable transition to a condition of voluntary order.

IV. The ADVISORY COUNCIL shall—with reference to the principles of natural law, common wisdom, and THIS CONSTITUTION—develop and advocate PROTOCOLS and procedures as needed to pursue the aims herein enumerated.

V. The ADVISORY COUNCIL shall impanel from among the NETWORK, by means of sortition and consent, ad hoc CONCLAVES to address special questions and make recommendations.

VI. The ADVISORY COUNCIL shall finance its activities through voluntary and market mechanisms.

VII. The NETWORK shall hold an ANNUAL CONVENTION to cultivate relationships and exchange knowledge, conduct votes on PROTOCOLS and AMENDMENTS to THIS CONSTITUTION, and select the COUNCILORS of the ADVISORY COUNCIL.

VIII. All SIGNATORIES shall be eligible to vote on PROTOCOLS, AMENDMENTS, and COUNCILORS; votes may be conducted by any cryptographically secure and effective means.

IX. Upon a simple majority assent of NETWORK voters, proposed AMENDMENTS to THIS CONSTITUTION, and any additions of or changes to any PROTOCOLS developed pursuant thereto, shall be considered for adoption, and shall be deemed adopted upon an 81 percent supermajority assent. 

X. NETWORK members may, at their discretion, hold meetings, in physical or virtual spaces, to discuss matters of mutual interest. Meetings may be organized regionally (street, neighborhood, community, town, polity, region, or at any other suitable level); decimally, with TEN individuals or family units forming a base MODULE, ten of which form a HUNDRED, proceeding thusly upwards by level to include the entire NETWORK; or by any other appropriate organizational criteria.

XI. Regional, decimal, or other MODULES may select DELEGATES to relay concerns, transmit information throughout the NETWORK, propose new PROTOCOLS and AMENDMENTS at CONVENTIONS, and in any other way convey the wishes of the PERSONS and families at each level below.

XII. Initial SIGNATORIES to THIS CONSTITUTION shall comprise or select an initial ADVISORY COUNCIL to serve until such time as the NETWORK and CONVENTION system are established, for a period not to exceed four years. Subsequent COUNCILS shall be comprised of 12 COUNCILORS, plus one DELEGATE from each of seven global regions: North America, Central America and Atlantica, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacifica. COUNCIL elections shall be held every third year, or when called by a two-thirds vote of the NETWORK.

ARTICLE V: 
IMPLEMENTATION

Section 1
MESSAGE TO GOVERNMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGING that involuntary governments depend, for their function and continuance, upon a general presumption of their legitimacy, and thus may deem the implications of THIS CONSTITUTION provocative, we hereby

ASSURE all existing governments of our peaceful principles and intent;

REQUEST recognition, without hindrance, of the RIGHT of all PERSONS to withdraw from any governance arrangement to which they did not explicitly consent; to enjoy allodial title to their land; and to create such private POLITIES and make such private arrangements as they deem suitable to their security and happiness; and

INVITE a process of cooperative negotiation to achieve these aims in peace and friendship.

Section 2
ADOPTION

A. UNIVERSALITY

PROCLAIMING our intention to establish a FRAMEWORK within which all people can live in peace and freedom,

THIS CONSTITUTION is given to any and all human beings, and may be adopted, adapted, and used by any PERSON, or order of PERSONS, anywhere.

B. SCALABILITY

AFFIRMING that there is no 'one true way' of life, and that enforced consensus violates the rights of the human PERSON,

THIS CONSTITUTION is designed to be adopted by any PERSON or group of any size, and adoption by one does not require adoption by any other.

C. ENFORCEABILITY

DECLARING our intent to model the ideals of THIS CONSTITUTION, and to be a beacon of peace and nonviolence to the world,

THIS CONSTITUTION includes no ex ante enforcement mechanisms, and relies on voluntary cooperation, market incentives, time-honored human custom, and the private deployment of justified protective force as necessary.

D. VALIDITY

ACKNOWLEDGING that existing governments, and others, may reject THIS CONSTITUTION’S assertions, resist its implications, and refuse to approbate specific implementations thereof,

Any claim by any government, power, or person that any of the provisions or principles herein are invalid, or any act taken by any government, power, or person to prevent, hinder, or menace implementation of any portion of THIS CONSTITUTION do not, and shall not be construed to, invalidate any portion of THIS CONSTITUTION or any application thereof.

E. RATIFICATION

ATTESTING that the need for humanity to chart a new course is urgent,

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, do hereby adopt THIS CONSTITUTION and commit to undertake the progressive and ongoing realization of its objectives.

© 2023 Christopher Cook
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