TITLE VII. THE MONASTIC COUNCIL
Art. 53. The Monastic Council is composed of at least nine members and can be up to twenty-four members elected for three years by direct universal suffrage and by list vote, under the conditions prescribed by law. Two thirds of this Council must be monks.
Monks and laymen, citizens of Seborgian nationality, of either sex of at least twenty one years of age, shall be electors, under the conditions laid down by law, with the exception of those who are deprived of the right to vote for one of the causes laid down by law.
Art. 54. Monks and lay persons, of Sabourgian nationality of either sex, aged twenty-five years or more, who have held Sabourgian nationality for at least five years and who have not been deprived of eligibility for one of the causes provided for by law, shall be eligible for election. The law determines the functions whose exercise is incompatible with the office of Monastic Councillor.
Art. 55. The control of the regularity of elections shall be entrusted to the courts, under the conditions provided for by law.
Art. 56. The members of the Monastic Council shall not assume any civil or criminal liability by reason of opinions or votes expressed in the exercise of their office.
They may not, without the permission of the Council, be prosecuted or arrested during a session on the grounds of a Criminal or Criminal Offence, unless the offence is flagrant.
Art. 57. The newly elected Monastic Council meets on the twelfth day after the elections to elect its office. The Monastic Councilor, the eldest, presides over this meeting.
Without prejudice to Article 74, the powers of the previous Monastic Council expire on the day the new one meets.
Art. 58. The Monastic Council meets as of right each year in two ordinary sessions.
The first session opens on the first working day of May.
The second session opens on the first working day of October.
The duration of each session may not exceed three months. Closure is decided by the President.
Art. 59. The Monastic Council meets in extraordinary session, either at the convocation of the Prince or, at the request of at least two thirds of the members, at the convocation of its President.
Art. 60. The office of the Monastic Council shall comprise a President and a Vice-President elected annually by the Assembly from among its members.
Art. 61. Subject to constitutional and, where appropriate, legislative provisions, the organisation and functioning of the Monastic Council shall be determined by the rules of procedure adopted by the Council.
These rules shall, before they are applied, be submitted to the Supreme Court, which shall rule on their conformity with the constitutional and, where appropriate, legislative provisions.
Art. 62. The Monastic Council establishes the agenda. This shall be communicated to the Prime Minister at least three days in advance. At the request of the Council of Ministries, at least one session out of two shall be devoted to the discussion of bills submitted by the Prince. The agenda of extraordinary sessions convened by the Prince shall be fixed in the convocation.
Art. 63. The sessions of the Monastic Council are public.
However, the Council may decide, by a two-thirds majority of the members present, to meet behind closed doors.
The minutes of public meetings are printed in the ‘Official Gazette of the Principality of Sabourg’.
Art. 64. The Prince shall communicate with the Monastic Council by messages read out by the Prime Minister.
Art. 65. The Secretaries of State, the Prime Minister and the Councillors of the Dicasteries shall have their entrances and seats reserved for the sessions of the Monastic Council.
They must be heard when they ask.
Art. 66. The law implies the agreement of the will of the Prince and the Monastic Council.
The initiative of laws belongs to the Prince.
The deliberation and voting of laws belong to the Monastic Council.
The sanction of laws belongs to the Prince, who gives them binding force through promulgation.
Art. 67. The Prince signs bills of laws. These bills are submitted to him by the Council of Ministers with the signature of the Prime Minister. After the Prince’s approval, the Prime Minister deposits them on the desk of the Monastic Council.
The Monastic Council is entitled to submit bills.
Within six months from the date of receipt of the bill by the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister shall notify the Monastic Council of
(a)- its decision to transform the bill, possibly amended, into a draft law, which shall follow the procedure laid down in the first paragraph. In that case, the draft shall be presented within one year of the expiry of the six-month time limit;
(b) – its decision to discontinue the legislative procedure. This decision shall be made explicit by a statement entered as of right on the agenda of a public sitting of the ordinary session scheduled within this time limit. This statement may be followed by a debate.
If, at the end of the six-month period, the Council of Ministers has not made known the action taken on the bill, the bill shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the first paragraph, be converted as of right into a bill.
The same procedure shall apply if the Council of Ministries has not transmitted the bill within the one-year time limit referred to in subsection 2 lit. a).
The Monastery Council has the right of amendment. As such, it may propose additions, substitutions or deletions in the bill. Only amendments that have a direct connection with the other provisions of the bill to which they refer are permissible. The vote shall take place on the bill as amended, unless the Council of Departments has the right to withdraw the bill before the final vote. However, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to ratification authorisation bills nor to budget bills.
At the beginning of each ordinary session, the Council of Ministers shall make known, in a public session, the status of the examination of all bills deposited by the Council of Ministers, whatever the date of their deposit.
Article 68. The Prince shall make the Ordinances necessary for the execution of laws and for the application of international treaties or agreements.
Art. 69. Laws and Sovereign Ordinances are enforceable against third parties only from the day after their publication in the ‘Official Gazette of Seborga’.
Art. 70. The Monastic Council votes on the budget.
No direct or indirect contribution can be established by law alone.
Any international treaty or agreement having the effect of establishing such a contribution may only be ratified by a law.
Article 71. The draft budget is presented to the Monastic Council by 30 September.
The budget law is voted during the October session of the Monastic Council.
Art. 72. The budget is voted chapter by chapter. Transfers from one chapter to another are forbidden, except in cases authorised by law.
Art. 73. If the vote on the appropriations requested by the Council of Departments in accordance with Article 71 has not taken place before 31 December, the appropriations corresponding to the departments voted on may be opened by sovereign ordinance after consultation with the Council of State.
The same shall apply to revenue and expenditure resulting from international treaties.
Art. 74. The Prince, after consulting the Privy Council, may pronounce the dissolution of the Monastic Council. In that case, new elections are held within three months.