Chapter VI

The Institutions of the Republic

Fourteen bodies, five orders, one rule: no institution may appoint, fund, discipline, and judge another.

Institutional design is the discipline of arranging conflicts of interest so that they cancel. Each body below is specified with the four elements the Instrument requires: what it may do, what it may never do, who watches it, and how those who lead it are removed. Where an institution's design departs materially from historical practice, the departure is noted and defended in Chapter XIII.

Figure 6.1 — Appointment and removal cross-flows


   CITIZENRY (election, and sortition for lay panels)
      |                    |                        |
      v                    v                        v
   ASSEMBLY OF        CHAMBER OF              CIVIC PANELS
   DELIBERATION       HORIZONS                (Common Assize,
      |                    |                   Revisory lay half)
      | elects             | confirms                |
      v                    v                         |
   FIRST STEWARD  <-- confirmation --> JUDICIAL       |
   (Executive Trust)                   NOMINATING <---+
      |                                COLLEGE
      | appoints (open competition,        |
      |  Probity vetting)                  v
      v                            COURT OF THE INSTRUMENT
   MINISTERS                       TRIBUNALS OF ASSURANCE
      |                            CIRCUIT + FIRST HEARING
      v                                    ^
   STANDING ADMINISTRATION                 | review of all
      ^                                    |
      | audit / ethics / integrity         |
      +---- AUDITORIUM  INTEGRITY ASSIZE  PROBITY CHAMBER ----+
            COUNCIL OF EVIDENCE  COGNITION AUTHORITY
            FABRIC AUTHORITY  COUNCIL OF EXTREMITY
            CONCORD COUNCIL  REVISORY CONVOCATION
                        (the STANDING WATCH)

Every appointment path crosses at least one order boundary; no body can staff its own supervisor.

The Legislative Order

The Assembly of Deliberation

The chamber of the present: it alone may originate law and grant money.

Constitutional powers

Enact, amend and repeal statute; approve all taxation and appropriation
Ratify treaties and declarations of emergency
Confirm the First Steward and remove the Executive Trust by vote of no confidence
Summon any officer, compel documents, and take evidence on oath

Strict limits

May not legislate retroactively to create an offence or liability
May not reduce the constitutionally fixed funding of the Standing Watch or courts
May not renew any lapsing instrument by omnibus vote
May not sit in secret except on defence matters, and then with a published index of items

Independent oversight: Auditorium audit of its own expenditure; Probity Chamber jurisdiction over every member; judicial review of the constitutionality of its enactments.
Transparency: All votes recorded by name; all amendments attributed; a public record of every meeting between a member and an affected party under the Ledger of Interests.
Removal: Members serve fixed terms with a maximum of three; recall by petition of a supermajority of the constituency; automatic vacation of seat on conviction for an offence of dishonesty or on adverse finding under Article 8.

The Chamber of Horizons

The chamber of the unborn: it cannot make law, and no law passes without answering it.

Constitutional powers

Reject a Horizon Statement as inadequate, suspending the measure until remedied
Impose a delay of up to two years on any measure with adverse effects beyond thirty years
Compel independent costing of long-term liabilities and require the Auditorium to report
Initiate a public hearing on any breach of the Debt Horizon Cap

Strict limits

May not originate, amend or veto legislation outright
May not delay measures concerning immediate public safety or emergency response
Its delay is overridable by a two-thirds vote of the Assembly with recorded reasons

Independent oversight: Its own reasons are judicially reviewable for irrationality; its members are subject to the Ledger of Interests and the Probity Chamber.
Transparency: All analyses published in full with underlying data and models; dissenting opinions published alongside.
Removal: Single non-renewable twelve-year terms; one third selected by lot from citizens who have completed civic service, one third by learned and professional bodies, one third elected on long constituency cycles; removal only for incapacity or a Probity finding.

The Executive Order

The Executive Trust

Power to act, held on trust, on the record, for a bounded term.

Constitutional powers

Direct the administration, execute statute, and conduct foreign relations subject to the Concord Council
Command the armed forces under civilian and judicial constraint
Propose the budget and legislation to the Assembly
Declare an emergency, subject to immediate review under Article 21

Strict limits

No power to legislate by decree; no power to spend unappropriated funds
No power to dismiss judges, auditors, or Watch officers
No power to classify a document to conceal illegality — such classification is void
Two-term limit for the First Steward, with no interval-based return

Independent oversight: Continuous Auditorium audit; mandatory publication of the decision record under Article 10; standing jurisdiction of the Court of the Instrument.
Transparency: A published diary of every official meeting within seven days; all directives numbered and published; all expenditure at transaction level within thirty days.
Removal: Vote of no confidence in the Assembly; conviction for Abuse of Office; adverse Article 8 determination; incapacity certified by an independent medical panel.

The Standing Administration

The permanent civil service: appointed on merit, loyal to the Instrument rather than to the government.

Constitutional powers

Implement statute and administer public services
Prepare Horizon Statements and evaluation reports independently of ministers
Refuse and formally record any unlawful instruction under Article 24

Strict limits

No policy-making authority of its own; no public political advocacy
No appointment by patronage — every post filled by published open competition
No revolving door: a defined cooling period before employment by a regulated party

Independent oversight: Independent Public Appointments Commissioner; Auditorium performance audit; Probity Chamber ethics jurisdiction.
Transparency: Publication of the organogram, salary bands, all external contracts, and all recorded refusals of instruction in aggregate.
Removal: Dismissal only for cause on evidence, through a process independent of ministers; protection against removal for lawful refusal is absolute.

The Judicial Order

The judiciary is organised in four tiers, deliberately separating constitutional adjudication from ordinary appellate work so that political controversy does not congest the courts citizens actually use.

Figure 6.2 — Judicial hierarchy


                    COURT OF THE INSTRUMENT
                    (15 judges; constitutional
                     questions and voidness only;
                     sits in public; reasons always
                     published; dissents recorded)
                              ^
              +---------------+----------------+
              |                                |
      TRIBUNALS OF ASSURANCE            COUNCIL OF REVISORY
      (final appeal in ordinary          REFERENCE (advisory
       law; review of state action;      opinions before enactment,
       actions of Excess)                non-binding, published)
              ^
              |
      CIRCUIT COURTS OF COMMON RIGHT
      (regional appeal; civil and criminal)
              ^
              |
      COURTS OF FIRST HEARING
      (trial courts; juries of the Common Assize
       in serious criminal and constitutional
       damages matters)

Constitutional questions may be referred upward at any tier; ordinary appeals do not reach the apex court.

The Court of the Instrument

The constitution's only authorised interpreter, and the state's most closely watched body.

Constitutional powers

Declare acts, orders and appointments void under Article 1
Determine the constitutionality of statute on referral or on citizen action of Excess
Supervise emergency declarations and certify escalated renewals
Hear final appeals from the Integrity Assize and the Probity Chamber

Strict limits

No advisory jurisdiction on hypothetical questions except through the Revisory Reference
No power to award itself jurisdiction not granted by the Instrument
No judge may hear a matter touching a party with whom they have any registered interest

Independent oversight: Mandatory published reasons and dissents; academic and public commentary protected absolutely; a Judicial Conduct Panel drawn from retired judges, lay members chosen by lot, and the Probity Chamber.
Transparency: Livestreamed hearings, published case allocation by verifiable random assignment, published recusal decisions, and an annual statistical report on outcomes.
Removal: Single non-renewable eighteen-year terms with staggered expiry so that no single Assembly appoints a majority; removal only for proven incapacity or serious misconduct, on the finding of the Judicial Conduct Panel confirmed by two-thirds of both chambers.

The Standing Watch

The fifth order is Dominicism's principal structural innovation. Its bodies are not subordinate to the executive, are funded by constitutional formula under Article 12, and exist to make the other four orders legible.

The Auditorium (National Ledger of Account)

Every unit of public money, traceable from levy to outcome.

Constitutional powers

Audit every public body, contractor and recipient of public funds without notice
Compel documents, data and testimony; access systems directly rather than through summaries
Publish findings without ministerial clearance; classify liabilities for the Debt Horizon Cap
Refer suspected offences to the Integrity Assize

Strict limits

No power to prosecute, block spending, or direct policy
No comment on the merits of a policy choice, only on evidence, cost, execution and outcome

Independent oversight: Adversarial Audit Pairing: two independent audit houses, rotating, each reviewing samples of the other's work, with disagreements published unresolved.
Transparency: The Perpetual Ledger — a public, machine-readable record of every public transaction above a trivial threshold, published within thirty days.
Removal: Auditor General appointed for a single ten-year term by cross-order college; removable only by two-thirds of both chambers on a Judicial Conduct Panel finding.

The Integrity Assize

Investigation and prosecution of corruption, insulated from everyone it might investigate.

Constitutional powers

Investigate bribery, procurement fraud, abuse of office, nepotism and illicit enrichment
Bring Article 8 reverse-onus proceedings for removal from office
Obtain judicial warrants; freeze assets pending judicial confirmation
Compel the production of beneficial ownership information

Strict limits

No jurisdiction over private citizens who hold no public power and receive no public money
No power to detain; no power to publish allegations before charge
Every coercive step requires prior judicial authorisation

Independent oversight: A supervisory panel of judges and lay members chosen by lot; every declined case recorded with reasons and reviewed externally.
Transparency: Annual publication of case volumes, outcomes, durations and declinations by category of respondent.
Removal: Director appointed for a single eight-year term; removable only on a Judicial Conduct Panel finding, never by the Executive Trust.

The Probity Chamber (Public Ethics)

The conscience of office, with published reasons and no power of imprisonment.

Constitutional powers

Maintain and audit the Ledger of Interests; rule on conflicts before they mature
Issue binding pre-clearance opinions that protect an officer who follows them
Hear ethics complaints in public and impose censure, disqualification or removal from office

Strict limits

No criminal jurisdiction; no jurisdiction over private conduct unrelated to office
May not initiate proceedings on anonymous allegation alone

Independent oversight: Appeal on the record to the Tribunals of Assurance; annual review by the Revisory Convocation.
Transparency: All rulings, including pre-clearances, published in a searchable public register.
Removal: Members serve single seven-year terms, removable only for incapacity or proven misconduct.

The Council of Evidence (Scientific Advisory)

It certifies what is known and the confidence with which it is known. It decides nothing.

Constitutional powers

Certify the evidentiary adequacy of Horizon Statements and renewal evaluations
Publish assessments of scientific questions bearing on public policy, with explicit uncertainty
Require any public body citing evidence to publish the underlying data and method

Strict limits

No policy-making power and no veto; its certification concerns method, not desirability
May not suppress or endorse research; may not determine a scientific dispute by vote alone

Independent oversight: Membership by rotating election from accredited research institutions; all conflicts declared; dissenting minority reports mandatory where disagreement exists.
Transparency: All deliberations minuted and published; all funding sources of members disclosed.
Removal: Fixed six-year terms; removal for undisclosed conflict or fabrication, determined by the Probity Chamber.

The Cognition Authority (Artificial Intelligence Oversight)

No consequential decision about a person without a person who can be named and questioned.

Constitutional powers

Licence and audit automated systems used in public decision-making or critical infrastructure
Compel disclosure of training provenance, evaluation results and error rates
Order suspension of a deployed system pending judicial confirmation within seventy-two hours
Maintain the public Register of Consequential Systems

Strict limits

No power to restrict research, publication, or private non-consequential use
No power to require a licence for expression, speech or general-purpose tools
Every suspension order is time-limited and judicially reviewable

Independent oversight: Technical panels rotate; adversarial red-team reports commissioned from bodies with no commercial relationship to the licensee.
Transparency: Public register of every automated system used in decisions affecting rights, benefits, liberty or licensing, with its accuracy and appeal statistics.
Removal: Fixed seven-year terms; mandatory cooling period before and after service with any licensed developer.

The Fabric Authority (National Infrastructure)

The things that must still work in eighty years.

Constitutional powers

Maintain the hundred-year national infrastructure plan for energy, water, transport, housing land, networks and strategic stock
Certify infrastructural necessity for compulsory acquisition under Article 16
Set resilience standards and require redundancy in critical systems

Strict limits

No power to build or procure directly beyond defined thresholds without Assembly appropriation
No power to designate a project without published cost-benefit and Horizon analysis

Independent oversight: Auditorium capital audit on every project; Chamber of Horizons review of the plan every five years.
Transparency: Full publication of plans, options rejected, costs, delays and contractor performance histories.
Removal: Board appointed on staggered terms by cross-order college; removal on Probity finding.

The Council of Extremity (Emergency Powers)

It exists to end emergencies, not to run them.

Constitutional powers

Certify that the factual conditions for an emergency declaration exist or have ceased
Require the Executive Trust to justify each extraordinary power separately and publicly
Terminate an emergency by majority at any time

Strict limits

No executive authority whatsoever; it may not direct forces, funds or agencies
May not certify continuation beyond ninety days without escalating supermajority and judicial certification
May never authorise suspension of elections, courts, or the Standing Watch

Independent oversight: Continuous supervision by the Court of the Instrument; mandatory public inquiry within one year of every termination.
Transparency: Every certification, refusal and dissent published within twenty-four hours.
Removal: Composition fixed by office — senior judges, the Auditor General, chamber presiding officers, and two citizens chosen by lot — so that no government can compose it.

The Concord Council (Foreign Affairs)

Continuity of external commitment across changes of government.

Constitutional powers

Review and publish assessments of all treaties, alliances and foreign agreements
Require disclosure of foreign funding and undeclared foreign influence in domestic institutions
Advise the Assembly on ratification; report on treaty compliance annually

Strict limits

No power to conclude agreements; the Executive Trust negotiates and the Assembly ratifies
No power to conduct intelligence operations or covert activity

Independent oversight: Cross-party and cross-order composition with minority veto on secrecy classifications; Auditorium audit of all external expenditure.
Transparency: A public treaty register including side letters and non-binding memoranda; secret annexes prohibited, with narrow, time-limited defence exceptions recorded and reviewed.
Removal: Fixed terms staggered against the electoral cycle; removal on Probity finding.

The Revisory Convocation (Constitutional Review)

The body that asks, every decade, whether the machine still works.

Constitutional powers

Conduct the mandatory decennial review of the entire Instrument
Publish reasoned findings and draft amendments for referendum
Report annually on the health of the separation of the five orders

Strict limits

No power to amend; it may only propose, and every proposal proceeds through Article 23
May not propose any change to the unamendable core

Independent oversight: Half its members are selected by lot from the citizenry, half by cross-order appointment, so no political faction can control its agenda.
Transparency: All evidence, submissions and deliberations published; minority reports mandatory.
Removal: Convocation dissolves on delivery of its report; members serve once only.

The Design Rule Restated

Read together, the fourteen institutions obey a single constraint: for every power that can be abused, the body capable of detecting the abuse is not appointed by, funded by, disciplined by, or dependent on the body committing it. Where that constraint could not be satisfied — as with the Auditorium, which must audit something — it is replaced by adversarial duplication: two bodies with opposing incentives examining the same evidence in public. Chapter IX develops that method into the full Integrity Architecture.