Government of Falvaard

The Vinlandic Republic of Falvaard is a Federated Republic under a constitutional, parliamentary, and semi-direct democracy. All governmental duties are led by parliament while the judicial branch decides the constitutionality of federal laws and resolves other disputes about federal laws.

~Parliament or Logþing (460 members)
* Yfirsekretaris (Chief secretary) - the most powerful person in the country. The Chief secretary selects/dismisses other members of the secretariats, allocates posts to members within the government, and is the presiding member and chairperson of "the cabinet/Kabinettum" (which is their own, personal team of advisors). They also Sign, veto, and/or line-item veto legislation. They act as chief public representatives; though, they almost always make national speeches and addresses alongside the Deputy Chief Secretary, attorney general, and Foreign affairs secretary. They are referred to as "Sekretaris/Ritara" (the secretary) and also act as commander-in-chief and Chief Diplomat. In this capacity, the Chief Secretary has military power, the power to declare war (so long as parliament agrees), and form military policy with the Secretariat of Defense and Interior.

*Staðfortræður-sekretaris/Staðsekretaris (Deputy Chief Secretary) - They can take the position of acting chief secretary when the chief secretary is temporarily absent; they are appointed by the chief secretary themselves at the recommendation of the respective secretariats and their parties if they are part of any. Technically, they can elect whomever they want and are not obligated to take the recommendations of their party; the chief secretary can appoint anybody as their deputy. Typically, this role is delegated to Parliament majority leaders. Also, since their role in government is entirely ceremonial, they typically hold other positions (such as parliament majority leader), ones for organization/event planning. Theoretically, they do not even need to be elected officials. It is not uncommon for an MP, Union leader, or protestor/civil rights leader to hold this position as a form of public advocacy and nowadays this role serves an incredibly important role in public policy/referendums and often acts as "the voice of reason" for a sitting chief secretary. So on the one hand they hold no effective governmental power, on the other hand, they hold a massive amount of influence over public policy

*Logþingadvokat (Attorney-General) - chief legal officers that work alongside the secretariats of Justice and of the interior; they oversee impeachment trials; they are also obligated to assume office if both the Chief Secretary and Deputy Chief Secretary die or are in no position to hold office; they also issue formal opinions to state agencies; act as public advocates in areas such as child support enforcement, consumer protection, antitrust, and utility regulation, they propose legislation, enforce federal and state environmental laws, represent federal agencies before the federal courts, handle criminal appeals and serious statewide criminal prosecutions; institute civil suits on behalf of the state, represent the public's interests in charitable trust and solicitations, and Operate victim compensation programs. Attorney generals have historically enforced antitrust laws against monopolies. This is the only parliamentary position, outside of the military itself, that serves no loyalty to the chief secretary since they oversee impeachment trials and criminal prosecutions; rather, they serve loyalty only to the constitution and the people. They are typically appointed by an independent board at the recommendation of the leading party(s). It's typically a lifetime role but all respective attorney generals must retire at the age of 70.

*Fleirtals Þingmaður (Parliament Majority Leader) - the head of the legislature and appointed by the majority party/coalition. The majority leader schedules legislation to be considered on the House floor; organizes daily, weekly, and yearly legislative plans; consults with Members to understand how party members feel about issues; coordinates committee activity; and works to advance the goals of the party or coalition. They are always the last person vote on legislation and are the de facto tie-breakers.

~the legislature is led by Logþing/Parliamentið (the Parliament) which is an elected body consisting of 460 members known as members of Parliament (Parliamentsmeðlime) or PM or ÞM (Þingmeðlime). PMs are elected to represent constituencies called a "Commune" (Kommun) by the first-past-the-post system, meaning that the candidate with the plurality of votes is the winner of the legislative seat. As of recently (2016) this is organized via rank choice as no candidate ever wins a plurality of the vote on the first ballot. The losing party or parties win no representation at all. Kommuns are redistricted and/or created by an independent governing body based on population size. The parliamentarians hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved. Legislative responsibilities of Parliament are delegated to ministries known as Secretariats (skriptisdeild); they can, and often are, expanded or replaced by other secretariats or even merged into a single conglomerate. They are led by "honorable secretary chairs" (virðulegur skriptisstóllmaður) and their respective staff are appointed by the Chief Secretary and approved by the parliamentarians. Members who are not secretaries will generally be allocated positions on parliamentary committees with a strong scrutiny role in relation to legislation in the Legislative Council and government portfolio responsibilities in the Legislative Assembly. The acting secretariats in Falvaard include the following

Secretariat of Defense - Responsible for National Security and implementing the defense policy in Falvaard and maintaining the military. This is one of the most important secretariats as it holds the power to command and control military personnel, launch, direct and supervise military operations, order or authorize the deployment of troops, unilaterally launch nuclear weapons, and form military policy with the Secretariat of Interior.

Secretariat of Foreign Affairs - Since 1968 the secretariat has been concentrated in the Eiríksminning district of Krestarent Fals. This is one of the most structurally complex and important ministries; the SFA is the government secretariat responsible for the nations' diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The secretary of foreign affairs appoints ambassadors, ministers, and consuls (subject to confirmation by the parliament) and receives foreign ambassadors and other public officials. It also negotiates and signs bilateral and multilateral foreign treaties and agreements. It employs 3,420 people (of whom approximately 70% are women) as well as 1,870 locally hired personnel and maintains 300 overseas offices housing foreign missions. The Secretariat represents Falvaard's interests to other governments and non-governmental organizations, including at the United Nations, NATO, APEC, EFTA, TPPA, and the WTO. It takes an active role in the North American region and has been involved in regional security initiatives such as NAMSI and The Mérida Initiative. It is active in developing export opportunities for local companies, especially in the Caribbean, and is actively working to normalize trade relations with Cuba. The secretariat is further divided into seventeen departments:

Political Department
NATO Department
Department for External Economic Relations
Department for Development Policy
Department for Europe
Department for Nordic Relations
Department for North America and the Caribbean
Department For South America
Department for Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent
Department for East and Pacific Asia
Department for North Africa and the Middle East
Department for Subsaharan Africa
Department for Global Affairs
Legal Department
Department for Administrative Affairs
Department for Communication and Culture
Protocol Department

Secretariat of Transportation - Responsible for planning and coordinating federal transportation projects. It also sets safety regulations for all major modes of transportation, especially public transportation. State-sponsored non-profits such as the Institute for Automotive Safety (Institutið fyrir bifreiða ábyrgði) IBA, which is responsible for testing motor vehicle crashes through research and evaluation and through education of consumers, policymakers, and safety professionals, are primarily funded by the Transportation secretariat.

Secretariat of Social Affairs - Responsible for ensuring the welfare of the public in Falvaard, and overseeing the supply of services. On an international level, they deal with foreign aid and UN spending. Their greatest influence is exerted on poverty elimination by organizing funds for Falvaard's pension program, Food supplements, unemployment insurance, welfare for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seeker public grants/free lunch programs for students among numerous other things.

Secretariat of Health and Safety - Responsible for administrating virtually all programs that cover a vast spectrum of activities that impact health, public health, and human services. From food and drug regulation, healthcare and services, public safety demands, and emergency services.

Secretariat of Social Justice - Responsible for ensuring the welfare of the Elderly, disabled, and impoverished. This is a sister department of the Social Affairs Secretariat but is significantly more specialized in civil rights. They oversee elder safety and social security by means of healthcare prioritization, assisted living programs and home health aides, and community outreach programs for public schools, they do numerous things to help Falves with disabilities, as well as public events that help prevent isolation among the elderly/disabled individuals and mental health programs. But their work extends beyond the elderly as they help to negotiate drug prices, act as health advocates for vulnerable communities and people, and often work alongside the health and safety secretariat to protect people from discrimination. Their most recent landmark decision has been pushing parliament to pass the 'inclusivity act' which is an expansion of the 1960 law "Falvic people with disabilities advocacy act" which made strict enforcement of inclusive infrastructure but failed at actual enforcement. It made it so all buildings, schools, parks, workplaces, etc face strict reprimands for not complying with disability inclusion quotas through annual check-ups, disability outreach hotlines, job and community programs, free lawyers and advocates, etc. Companies and especially government facilities that fail to comply with the inclusivity act can face harsh fines, lawsuits, and possible jail time.

Secretariat of Environmental Protection - Responsible for administrating the protection of human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations

Secretariat of Commerce and Labour - Responsible for formulating policy on foreign trade, export, and import regulations, foreign direct investments, consumer protection, market competition, and negotiating bilateral and multilateral trade agreements as well as overseeing issues in employment, workforce, and labor.

Secretariat of Treasury and Finance - Responsible for printing and minting all paper currency and coins in circulation as well as maintenance of all other financial affairs.

Secretariat of Justice - Responsible for criminal justice and courtroom regulation headed by the Secretary of State for Justice.

Secretariat of Culture - Responsible for the preservation and promotion of art and culture especially through the maintenance of museums. It is also responsible for maintaining world heritage sights, national parks, and protected land areas.

Secretariat of Interior - Responsible for naturalization, immigration, and customs. Their outreach extends even to undocumented immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers particularly with helping them get public health insurance and naturalization efforts, and education programs.

Secretariat of Agriculture - Responsible for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture and rural affairs

Secretariat of Development - Responsible for conducting elections and the administration and regulation of housing and buildings. They also are in charge of a massive public housing project under the housing and development board a public housing agency tasked with intergrading mixed-income families and individuals into mass public housing developments.

Secretariat of Enterprise and Communications - Responsible for Information technology and communications. mailing, regional growth, and technological standardization and implementation. By far their biggest role however is their administration and maintenance of infrastructure

Secretariat of Veteran Affairs - Responsible for ensuring the welfare of Veterans and maintaining veteran healthcare.

Secretariat of Sciences and Energy - Responsible for the formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to science and energy production.

Secretariat of Education and Training - Responsible for the formulation and administration of the rules regarding licensing, professional training, maintaining Pell grants for masters, trades, and doctoral programs, maintaining public schools, and formulation of national-based standards(with respect to custom implementation by state) for pre-school, primary school, secondary (high school), tertiary (4-year college) school, and 4-year tradesman school.

Judicial Branch:
* Hugesiréttum (The Supreme Courts), Landsréttur (Appellate Courts), and Heraðréttum (District Courts) (19 members)
*Dømarhøvðingur (Chief Justice) - Clemency powers, tie-breaker between judges, and always makes last decision on rulings
*Réttarhøvðingjar (Deputy Justices)
*Sjálfstætt Dømstóll (Independent Tribunals) ~ Inuit Nipingat Tusaajinut ( Inuit Land Tribunal), Biindigen Anishinaabe Aski nendagwendaawaa (Anishinaabe people's tribunal), Immigration Tribunal, Housing and urban development tribunal, etc

Hugesiréttum (The Supreme Court) sits at the very top of the Falvic court hierarchy as the final appellate court. Cases may only go to the supreme court if it grants "leave to appeal". It generally hears appeals of considerable public interest, commercial significance, substantial miscarriages of justice, or other significant issues. There are 19 judges in the Supreme Court.

One of the Supreme Court justices is president of the Supreme Court and officially elected by the people as of 1876, with the first elected official, Gunnar Reginalds Sigurðsson from 1876 until 1890. Judges were historically appointed by Parliament and the other judges. The Judges of the Supreme Court, like other judges, are appointed by the Secretary of Justice, attorney-general, the Chief Secretary, and often on the recommendation of the Independent tribunals collectively. Judges shall automatically be retired at the end of the month in which they reach the age of 70. Justices are referred to as Réttarhøvðingjar and the president is referred to as Dømarhøvðingur but as of recently, these titles have not been formally used as they come across as pretentious. So they may be referred to as hæðelega-dømari/hæðelegur-dømarar, which is literally translated as honorable justice/justices, and hæðurlega-dømari meaning supreme
justice.

The High Court (Landsréttur) and Court of Appeal(stuttleikuréttum) are subordinate appellate courts (ætluréttum). The High Court is also the highest court of the first instance, primarily hearing complex cases or those cases which exceed the lower courts' jurisdiction. This includes all criminal trials for murder, manslaughter, and treason. The District Courts (heraðréttum) hear more than 95% of all criminal trials. The Family Court and Youth Court (skuldaliðréttum) are specialist divisions of the District Court, dealing with families and young people, respectively. Other specialist courts include the Employment Court; the Housing court; the Environment Court; the Land Court; the Appellate Court; and disputes tribunals, which are small claims courts.

Sjálfstætt Dómstóll (Independent Tribunals): These tribunals are not courts but rather standing commissions of inquiry. They review claims brought by people concerning legislation, policies, actions, or omissions of the Falvaard government that are alleged to breach the rights of the people. Examples of these tribunals include the Inuit Nipingat Tusaajinut (Inuit Land Tribunal), Biindigen Anishinaabe Aski nendagwendaawaa (Anishinaabe People's Tribunal), Immigration Tribunal, Housing and Urban Development Tribunal, and others.

Falvaard is a mixed legal system, part civil law, part common law, as is the nominal classification in Quebec, Louisiana, Scotland, or South Africa. The laws are based on Falvic law; historic codes, statutes of Parliament, and decisions of the courts. The laws are based on four related principles: parliamentary sovereignty; the rule of law; the separation of power; and the inalienable rights of all peoples. On the surface, this seems similar to other common law practices, like American or English common law, but one key difference from the other two systems is the "third option" in Falvic criminal law. While most people are familiar with the "guilty" vs. "not guilty" divide in most justice systems, Falvaard has opted for and persisted with a third verdict - "unverified" essentially, not having enough evidence to prove one's guilt or innocence. As a whole, precedent can be extremely important in determining a court case so generally common law is preferred and jurisdiction is prioritized. Common law is not always prioritized over civil law though. Common types of cases where civil law is used include debt cases, family disputes, divorces/dissolutions, damages, repossession, evictions, and claims for personal injury. In essence though, whether doctrine or jurisprudence is determined in a court case depends on the court case itself and how much ambiguity is offered. precedent is often less prioritized over doctrine in many court cases; but in particularly hot court cases, many tribunals that advocate for social justice may call for a break in doctrine by looking into judicial review and precedent.

Judicial review (valdsvið skrúðgángernar), under which executive actions of the Government are subject to review, and possible invalidation, is used in Falvaard. But in contrast to its use in the United States, judicial review cannot always be used as a mechanism to challenge the lawfulness of legislation passed by Parliament, as it remains supreme. The court’s jurisdiction in a claim for judicial review is often supervisory but some landmark decisions can be made on considerably hot court cases: Its task as a whole though is to determine the lawfulness of decisions or actions of those in authority rather than repair the decision or substitute its own decision. In recent years however Judicial review has become much more important as it is a tool used to put pressure on Parliamentarians to push for certain laws. Judicial review has been used to determine the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, and while it did not override any provincial law that explicitly banned it, it allowed for provinces to challenge these doctrines by having a legal precedent being established by the highest court in the land. It eventually led to parliament legalizing it on a federal level.