Concerning the Articles of the Federation

[Rush Limborg]

You could say these questions are mostly for KRAD, but...any info from anyone would be great, of course.

First, it would seem, through piecing together info from both Memory Apha and Beta, that the "Federation Constitution" and "Federation Charter" are different documents which are both part of the Articles of the Federation. The Constitution was written for the establishment of a federal government over the member worlds, the Charter for the guidlines by which a world can be a member of the UFP.

Now, I recall an ep of Voyager which had a Preamble to the Charter, roughly based off of the UN Charter preamble.

Does any info exist on a Preamble to the UFP constitution--or on a preamble to the Articles in General?


The next question concerns the Guarantees. Picard describes the Seventh Guarantee as basically being based off of America's Fifth Amendment.

How many Guarantees are there supposed to be--and is there any info from canon and Treklit on what those might be?

 

[seigezunt]

questions like this make me leery of reading this book.

 

[Christopher]

questions like this make me leery of reading this book.

Those question have nothing to do with the book. It's called Articles of the Federation, but it's not actually an analysis of the document by that name. It's a chronicle of President Bacco's first year in office, done very much in the style of The West Wing.

 

[Paris]

It's not like AotF is steeped in political procedure and the actual Articles. It's more of an insight into the Palais de la Concorde in 2380, and a look at the Federation. It's a fantastic read and a great story. It's one of KRAD's best...up there with books like Art of the Impossible and A Singular Destiny


...IMHO of course...

 

[Rush Limborg]

Still, I'd think KRAD, having become an expert on all things UFP, due in no small part to that book--I'd think he knows more than anyone about the Articles.

(Great. I just called his magnum opus "that book". I assure you, everyone--it was meant affectionately.)

 

[Rush Limborg]

questions like this make me leery of reading this book.

I'm just asking this for research. For the fanfic.

I have some things in mind, but I need to confirm I won't be contradicting anything....

 

[KRAD]

questions like this make me leery of reading this book.

It shouldn't, because as Christopher said, the book has nothing whatsoever to do with any of that.

And Rush, what you found online is pretty much all that's been established so far. My interest in politics is in the interaction of people with each other, not the minutiae of legal documents.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Thank you very much, sir.

 

[seigezunt]

Okay.

You're not helping me trim down my list, folks.

 

[Sci]

You could say these questions are mostly for KRAD, but...any info from anyone would be great, of course.

First, it would seem, through piecing together info from both Memory Apha and Beta, that the "Federation Constitution" and "Federation Charter" are different documents which are both part of the Articles of the Federation.

That's one way to interpret what the canon and the novels have established, but I don't agree with it. In the canon, the terms "Charter" and "Constitution" have both been used to refer to the Federation's governing document (including both establishing civil rights for Federates and people in Federation territory), strongly implying that "Charter" and "Constitution" are both accepted terms for the same document. (TNG's "The Drumhead," for instance, established the Seventh Guarantee's right to refrain from self-incrimination, and "The Perfect Mate" established the Constitution to apply to all sentients aboard Federation starships, while DS9's "Ascension" established the Federation Charter to ban caste-based discrimination and "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" established that the Charter bans interference in the internal affairs of foreign states.)

Meanwhile, the book Articles referred to legal processes that follow what is prescribed in the Articles as following the "constitutional" procedure. So, AotF seems to be establishing that the Articles of the Federation is the Federation's constitution -- seemingly establishing that "Federation Charter" and "Federation Constitution" are commonly-accepted informal terms for the Articles of the Federation. This seems to be confirmed by TNG: Losing the Piece, which makes reference to rights guaranteed by the Articles several times.

The next question concerns the Guarantees. Picard describes the Seventh Guarantee as basically being based off of America's Fifth Amendment.

How many Guarantees are there supposed to be--and is there any info from canon and Treklit on what those might be?

We know from VOY's "Author, Author" that there are at least 12 Guarantees. Losing the Peace refers to rights guaranteed to refugees, but refers to it by an article number rather than by a guarantee number.

 

[Rush Limborg]

We know from VOY's "Author, Author" that there are at least 12 Guarantees. Losing the Peace refers to rights guaranteed to refugees, but refers to it by an article number rather than by a guarantee number.

Okay. Can you give me the specific quote from "Author, Author", then?

(Perhaps it's a clue as to what the 12th Guarantee is...?)



BTW, as to why the rights for refugees are in an article, not one of the guarantees--even before the Bill of Rights, there are rights in the USA Constitution, or at least, limits on the Federal Government's power (Section 9 of Article I comes to mind, with Habeas Corpus, etc., as does the whole of Article IV).

 

[Sci]

We know from VOY's "Author, Author" that there are at least 12 Guarantees. Losing the Peace refers to rights guaranteed to refugees, but refers to it by an article number rather than by a guarantee number.

Okay. Can you give me the specific quote from "Author, Author", then?

(Perhaps it's a clue as to what the 12th Guarantee is...?)

Memory Alpha is a wonderful thing:

Section seven gamma of the Twelfth Guarantee of the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets defines an artist as a "person who creates an original artistic work."

Mister Tuvok used this defense against Ardon Broht, who admitted that the Doctor created the original program Photons Be Free. Based on this, Tuvok concluded that the Doctor should be entitled to all rights and privileges accorded an artist under Federation law.

However, the arbitrator of the case, noted one flaw in Tuvok's logic, the law says that the creator of an artistic work must be a "person" and the EMH doesn't meet that criteria. (VOY: "Author, Author")

I would infer from this that the Twelfth Guarantee covers intellectual property such as artwork.

BTW, as to why the rights for refugees are in an article, not one of the guarantees--even before the Bill of Rights, there are rights in the USA Constitution, or at least, limits on the Federal Government's power (Section 9 of Article I comes to mind, with Habeas Corpus, etc., as does the whole of Article IV).

Sure. And it's also possible that each Guarantee has an associated article number rather than being solely known by their Guarantee number. Something to the effect of, "Article XIV. Seventh Guarantee: No sentient being shall be compelled to testify against itself in a legal proceeding."

 

[Rush Limborg]

Thanks!

So...I suppose the Twelfth Guarantee referrs to private property rights--including patents and copyrights.

 

[Christopher]

Sure. And it's also possible that each Guarantee has an associated article number rather than being solely known by their Guarantee number. Something to the effect of, "Article XIV. Seventh Guarantee: No sentient being shall be compelled to testify against itself in a legal proceeding."

Quite possibly. In the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights consists of amendments because it was added as an afterthought. Presumably the Articles of Federation would have the fundamental rights codified as part of the initial process, so they'd be integral parts of the document, and therefore articles.

Although it seems more likely to me that there'd be one article containing all the guarantees as its subsections.

 

[William Leisner]

See, here's the thing about the politics of the Federation:

We authors just make this shit up out of whole cloth.

None of this has been explicitly spelled out and set in stone, nor is it ever likely to be. And sometimes, we're going to use different name for the same document, or refer to laws and rights and whatnot interchangeably. Because it's all just make-believe.

 

[Sci]

See, here's the thing about the politics of the Federation:

We authors just make this shit up out of whole cloth.

None of this has been explicitly spelled out and set in stone, nor is it ever likely to be. And sometimes, we're going to use different name for the same document, or refer to laws and rights and whatnot interchangeably. Because it's all just make-believe.

Well, sure, but we the fans are playing make-believe by trying to fit it all together.

Though I'll concede that spending too much time on whether the guarantees are structured according to "guarantee numbers" or "article numbers" is probably going a little bit too far on our power.

 

[Rush Limborg]

And if I do say so myself, I believe I have sufficient info to formulate some things of my own about the Articles....

(Hey--if KRAD can create an admittedly-incomplete list of UFP Presidents....)

 

[William Leisner]

Yes, Rush, you are just as capable of making stuff up as anyone.

And FWIW -- nowhere in LtP does it say one way or the other what the legal basis of any person's rights are.

 

[Captain Robert April]

As an amateur Constitutional scholar, I'd like to see what El Rushbo comes up with...

 

[Sci]

So, um, funny story. About five years ago or so, I basically re-wrote the preamble to the United Nations Charter and United States Constitution into the Articles of the Federation. And I've periodically revised it.

Yes, I'm a dork. I'm comfortable with that.

Anyone who wants to see what I came up with (which is still in the process of being revised in accordance with what Losing the Peace established about the sheer number of articles), PM me.