El Lexhatx

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El Lexhatx (pronounced [lɛˈd͡ʒaʒ] ( )) is the legal code of the Kingdom of Talossa, compiled from all of the acts of the Ziu and Prime Dictates. It was passed in February of 2014/XXXV by the 46th Cosa after its introduction by Sir Alexandreu Davinescu. At its passage, it codified 151 prior laws and specifically repealed another 111 acts of questionable effect. El Lexhatx also included a blanket repeal of all prior law, to finally put an end to the worries about missing records from past Cosas. "Lexhatx" is a Talossan word, meaning an "ongoing ordering of the law." The bill was passed by full unanimous votes in both the Cosa and the Senäts, and it remains the only bill known to have passed thus in modern Talossa.

Preface

The preface, which does not have legal effect, is a statement of Talossan principles which invokes the language of some important laws from history: the Code of Ur-Nammu, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the 1979/I Declaration, and the 1988/IX Constituziun.

Tandi qe:

El Ziu zesclara q'els legeux del Regipäts Talossan sint drepts es bens. Os estevent cunsacrats över plürs anneux, d'acurd cün el Legeu Orgänic, es la naziun prospereva. Dreitüra esteva seþada in la fülca. L'urfalan non esteva smestat àl praidivíeu; la vidua non esteva smestada àl podeschciatíu. Com'evri, l'antiquità grült del Regipäts Talossan tent laßat sieu legeux spapersats es variats. Solamint els pü metxaveséux revindicadrent famiglharità avetz toct i statuteux säpeschti, es las zesclaraziuns da quáisevois Cosas tiennent amistat àl posterità. Ivenðo toct i pevarhen del legeu, dal finançù, es d'ingenc'hosa d'alter sint ceafats in el popul, c'e unfáþil për lor à sä́parh com'acestilor pevarhen tiennent estescu uçats.

Acest non put starh. Els legeux sint l'exprimaziun dal volontà xheneral. Cadascu citaxhien tent el drept da partiçipaziun àl fundamaintsch, eda par implicamaintsch perziunal, eda par sieu representanteu. Els legeux fossent estarh identic per toct, siat ça prostexhent eda ça punient. Ça fossent estarh avalaval à toct, es vlicaval fáþilmint es à regeu es àð enclin, es à cadì es à petiziuneir, es à Seneschal es à citaxhien. Com'acest, els legeux fossent estarh raßemblats in ün codeu singul, svo að toct in el regipäts lor tenadrent es lor guardadrent, ben es cümbien in lor pienità es totalità për lor es lor sovinds.

Ainda qe el Regipäts Talossan isch ün pätset, pri 'n mundeu magnh, el Ziu, in la nómina del Popul Talossan, perventüra empena avant la þistoria, q'ár respunçivalitaes värts noastra päts sint üna fiduschcia sacra tondavon qe acestilor d'altreux popuis värts lor pätsilor. Per aceasta raziun, noi establischent es cunsacrent acest codeu, qe noi nominent el Lexhatx. Qe noi en victuadrent, es en tamadrent.

Whereas:

The Ziu finds that the laws of the Kingdom of Talossa are good and just. They were ordained over many years, in concert with the Organic Law of Talossa, and the nation prospered. Equity was established in the land. The orphan was not given over to the rich; the widow was not given over to the powerful. However, the great antiquity of the Kingdom of Talossa has left her laws scattered and diverse. Only the most knowledgeable can claim familiarity with all known statutes, and the declarations of some Cosas have even been lost to posterity. Though all power of law, finance and anything else is vested in the people, it is difficult for them to know how that power has been used.

This cannot stand. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. It must be available to all, and easy to access for king and subject, justice and petitioner, Seneschal and citizen. And so the laws must be compiled into a single code of law, that all those in the kingdom might have and keep them, well and peaceably in their fulness and entirety for them and their heirs.

While the Kingdom of Talossa is a small country, in the face of the great world, the Ziu, in the name of the people of Talossa, hereby pledges before history that our responsibilities to our country are no less a sacred trust than those of other people to theirs. We therefore do establish and ordain this code of laws, to be known as el Lexhatx. We shall uphold it, and perfect it.

Contents

After a prefatory declaration of principles, el Lexhatx is divided into ten sections, sorting out all the current law into different categories, referred to as "titles." These categories are general crime (detailing the criminal code, acceptable punishments, and broad principles); elections (governing political parties and how the Chancery conducts elections); offices of the royal household (including the Chancery, the Scribery, the Civil Service, and the Bar); the government (describing the duties of all the bureaus and sub-bureaus of the Talossan government); immigration (who is allowed to enter the country, and the appropriate procedure); culture (such as holidays, official symbols, and the like); justice (how the Cort Pü Inalt and the Magistracy work); legislation (detailing how it is submitted and passed in the Ziu); the military (in all of its fractal complexity and silliness); and the Lexhatx itself (how it should be maintained and amended).

Status

Since the creation of el Lexhatx, it has remained the only statute; when read in conjunction with the Organic Law, it represents the whole of Talossan law. This arrangement has made it significantly easier for all citizens to understand and follow the law, since there are no longer multiple standing bodies of law. Looking up the laws on any particular subject is usually as simple as clicking to the relevant title within el Lexhatx.

Citation

Reference to a provision of el Lexhatx is made by first citing the document (as Lexh), then by appending the letter of the specific title, and then by adding the number of the provision. If referring to a subsection or a subsubsection (or so on). Separate each division with a full stop. Thus, referring to the seventh section and eighth subsection of Title J, the citation would read: Lexh.J.7.8. This style of notation is described in Title Z of the law.

The abbreviation "Lexh" is preferred over "Lex," since the digraph "xh" represents a single sound in Talossan.