Article II, Section E of the Austenasian Constitution of 2011 states that said Constitution may be amended or edited by the consent of the Monarch and of over eighty percent of the House of Representatives, once a free and fair referendum has taken place in which the majority of the subjects of Austenasia have expressed their wish for the amendment or edit in question to take place.
Our Imperial Majesty hereby orders a referendum to take place on Monday 31 August 2015. All Austenasian subjects shall be given the chance to vote on the question stated below. Representatives shall collect votes from the subjects of their Towns, and Our Imperial Majesty shall personally collect the votes from non-residential subjects. Subjects who choose to vote may answer “Yes”, “No”, or “Abstain” to the question: “Should the amendments to the Austenasian Constitution of 2011 proposed by the Decree of Wrythe be made?”
Our Imperial Majesty hereby proposes the following amendments to the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, to be voted on in the referendum of 31 August:
“United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland” in Article I, Section C shall be changed to “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and all other countries which claim its land”.
The second instance of “United Kingdom” in Article I, Section C shall be changed to “United Kingdom and other neighbouring countries”.
“consists” in Article I, Section D shall be changed to “consisted”.
To the end of Article II, Section E shall be added “In the case of an absolute emergency when a change of any sort to the Constitution is unable to be made in this way, the Monarch may unilaterally make such changes as are necessary to the Constitution in a time of great crisis and existential threat to the state, with such changes to be reverted as soon as normal constitutional government is able to be resumed.”
“were married during their” in Article IV, Section B, Paragraph F shall be changed to “are or were in a state of marriage to each other during or after the”, and “of the descendant” shall be added to the end of said Paragraph.
“in this” in Article IV, Section B, Paragraph Q shall be changed to “in this or any other”.
“Parliament” in Article IV, Section C, Paragraph F shall be changed to “Parliament, which may make changes to the Line of Succession that it considers necessary, and decide to whom the Throne shall pass in the case of the Line of Succession as defined by this Constitution coming to an end”.
“ended” in Article IV, Section E, Paragraph L shall be changed to “ended; otherwise, it shall be continued”.
“there are less than five people eligible to become Counsellors of State, for example the Prime Minister is the Line of Succession or the Monarch has no spouse,” in Article IV, Section F, Paragraph E shall be changed to “there are less than five people eligible to become Counsellors of State – for example, if the Prime Minister is in the Line of Succession, and/or if the Monarch has no spouse -”.
The second instance of “five people” in Article IV, Section F, Paragraph E shall be changed to “five people. An extra sixth person may be made eligible by Parliament to be appointed a Counsellor of State”.
“At present, HIM Emperor Declan I is the Monarch, and holds” in Article IV, Section J, Paragraph A shall be changed to “At the time of the original promulgation of this Constitution, HIM Emperor Declan I was the Monarch, and held”.
“exempla gratia” in Article IV, Section J, Paragraph D shall be changed to “exempli gratia”.
“Exempla gratia” in Article V, Section A, Paragraph E shall be changed to “exempli gratia”.
“with three weeks’ notice” in Article V, Section B, Paragraph C shall be changed to “for an individual Town or Towns, or for all Towns together, with three weeks’ notice”.
“every two” in Article V, Section B, Paragraph C shall be changed to “in each Town every five”.
“last Local Election” in Article V, Section B, Paragraph D shall be changed to “last Local Election in that Town”.
“two years since the last Local Election” in Article V, Section B, Paragraph D shall be changed to “five years since the last Local Election in that Town”.
“Right Honourable” in Article VI, Section A, Paragraph D shall be changed to “The Right Honourable (The Right Hon.)”.
“the first of the three weeks” in Article VI, Section B, Paragraph C shall be changed to “the first three weeks”.
Paragraphs E- G of Article IX, Section A may be collectively or individually repealed by Parliament.
Sections A-D of Article X may be collectively or individually repealed by Parliament.
“ends” in Article XII, Section Y shall be changed to “end”.
The twenty two amendments to the Austenasian Constitution of 2011 proposed above shall be collectively referred to as the First Amendment to the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, and may be individually referred to as paragraphs numbered by the order in which they are written.
Should over half of the subjects of Austenasia vote “Yes” in the referendum to be held on 31 August 2015, and should over eighty percent of the House of Representatives vote in favour of the First Amendment to the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, it shall come into force at one second past midnight on the morning of Sunday 20 September 2015.
The remainder of this decree has no direct relation to the proposed First Amendment to the Austenasian Constitution of 2011.
In accordance with Section B of Article V of the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, Our Imperial Majesty hereby gives formal notice of three weeks for a Local Election to take place on 31 August 2015. Any willing subject (or resident who fulfils the criteria set out in Paragraph 3 of the Resident Representatives Act 2011) may stand for election to run for the office of Representative of their Town before 17 August, and may use the time between 17 August and 31 August to campaign to persuade the subjects of their Town to vote for them. On 31 August, all subjects (and those non-residential subjects able to do so in accordance with Paragraph 10 of the New Richmond and Shineshore Act 2014) willing shall go to ballot stations organised by their respective Town Council to cast a vote for who they wish to be their Representative. Votes shall be delivered to and counted by our Imperial Majesty, with the results verified by our Secretary-General and sent to the incumbent Representatives of each Town. On 1 September, the results of the Local Election shall be announced in each Town by the individual who was its Representative or Acting Representative before the Local Election – the person with the highest number of votes shall become its new Representative.
Our Imperial Majesty hereby decrees that marriages may take place only with both spouses present at the same physical location. Furthermore, in regards to the word “full” in Article XII, Section Q of the Austenasian Constitution of 2011, consent must be genuine; if words of consent are given in a context which is implicitly or explicitly jocular, no marriage shall have taken place.
Our Imperial Majesty hereby claims the property of 26 Newton Street, Millers Falls, Massachusetts as the Austenasian Embassy to the United States of America. In accordance with international law and convention, we claim extraterritoriality for the Austenasian Embassy to the United States of America, but do not claim sovereignty over the territory on which it is situated. We hereby appoint Lord Vice Admiral Eren Lewis, Baron of Terentia as Austenasian Ambassador to the United States of America.
Our Imperial Majesty hereby decrees that Austenasian embassies, being under the extraterritorial control of the Empire, shall be governed by Austenasian law. For matters which would be decided by Town Councils or Governors in Austenasia, the Chief Ambassador shall have administrative power in regards to embassies.
Finally, in regards to Paragraph 15 of the Property Offences Act 2013, breaking into a vehicle to rescue a person or pet which has been left inside in what would reasonably be considered hot conditions shall constitute a lawful excuse for vandalism, should there have been no reasonable means of otherwise freeing the person or pet.
Decreed at Wrythe this tenth day of August during the third year of our reign, anno mundi 7523, in the year of the consulship of Carolina Principissa Coronae and Imogena Eastonii Thanasiae Domina.