The Lex Magicus of Canberra

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Consilium Charter

• All cabals residing in the city of Canberra have the right to their own Councilor on the Consilium's Ruling Council.
  • A cabal's Councilor is to be appointed by their own choosing and at their own discretion - each cabal is responsible for resolving their own disputes of representation.
• The Consilium's Ruling Council is the law-making body of the Consilium, all mages of the Consilium must abide by their rulings.
• The Hierarch has the right of tie-breaking should the Ruling Council fail to arrive at a decision on a matter it has put to a vote.

Lex Magicus Precepts

Precepts are not laws - instead precepts are guiding conventions of legal practice; ideas that can be cited as being the spirit of the law, or the zeitgeist of the Consilium. These traditions aid in the establishment of new laws and also act as a common way to articulate legal concepts.

• Secrecy: the idea that the existence of magic must be kept secret from those who do not practice magic (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp57-58)
• Recognition: the idea that a Consilium must define who falls under its legal authority, and that an individual must be "recognised" by a Consilium (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, p59).
• Protectorate: the idea that a Consilium should enforce the protection of the sanctums of its members, both legally and through arcane measures if a mage requests it (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp59-60).
• Hubris: the idea that a Consilium has authority to intervene when an immoral action has been taken (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp61-62).
• War: the idea that if an issue of contention cannot be resolved, a mage or cabal can temporarily withdraw from the Consilium's system of law and engage in warfare against the target of their ire, often announcing terms of aggression and limits to the conflict (for more details: Sanctum and Sigil, pp61-62). The Canberra Consilium has expressed a very clear limitation on this precept, with the Duel Arcane so far being the only acceptable form of inter-mage conflict resolution outside of the Council's judgement.

In addition to the standard precepts, the Consilium of Canberra has also expressed the following legal precept:

• Caucus: the idea that no one individual should have sole authority in certain kinds of rulings over other Consilium members. In particular, issues of emeritus and punishment have been clearly defined as being off limits to any one individual's judgement.

Gold Law

• The Great Rights (for more details see Sanctum and Sigil, pp26-32)
  • The Right of Crossing
  • The Right of Emeritus
  • The Right of Hospitality
  • The Right of Sanctuary
• The lesser right of dueling
• The rights of Order titles and privileges

Silver Law

• Charter Clarification: The Heirarch has no right to make a decision for the Council, even if approached by a member from a different consillium and asked to make a decision by them.

Rights

• Decree: The Right of Nemesis is denied to all mages within the city of Canberra.

Discussion Notes:

1. The Council agreed that, in Canberra, any scenario involving a mage needing to justify their behaviour by citing Nemesis Protocols would risk the safety of mages outside the Nemesis conflict, and thus invalidate the claim. And any behaviour not needed to be justified with Nemesis Protocols do not require their invocation. Ergo, invoking Nemesis is tantamount to a breach of Nemesis.
2. The Council also voiced agreement with the sentiment that enshrining Nemesis justifies "mutual belligerent cockbaggery" which is not conducive to wise action.
3. The Council acknowledged that Nemesis conflicts may occur with cabals and mages of other cities, but holds that such conflicts need to be suspended within the territories of Canberra.

• Decree: The Ruling Council acknowledges a "right of scavenging" which may be invoked as follows:

• In public Consilium managed expeditions, all recovered items shall be distributed by judgement of the Ruling Council.
• In privately managed expeditions distribution of the recovered items shall be solely managed by the participants of said expedition.

Discussion Notes:

1. This ruling overturns a previous Bronze Law ruling resulting from a duel arcane between the Mages known as Flash Bang and Ackbar, in which Flash Bang successfully asserted that ownership of Atlantean artifacts recovered from a public Consilium expedition into an Atlantean ruin should be determined by whoever physically obtained them first.
2. Objections noted to the council following the duel were that the precedent set would lead to unnecessary, unproductive and (in the wrong situation, or between powerful Mages) potentially deadly scuffles to make first claim on such items.

Authorities

• Decree: The disposal of corpses of deceased Pentacle Mages shall be the sole province of the Sentinels.

• Decree: The Ruling Council authorises the Hierarch to hold a cache of items in trust on behalf of the Consilium. This Hierarch's Panopoly is to pass from Hierarch to Hierarch, being owned by no individual but rather belonging to the position itself.

Current items designated part of the Hierarch's Panopoly:

• The Crown of Cernunnos

• Decree: The Ruling Council authorises the Consilium position of "Pax Signifer", tasked specifically with maintaining and ensuring the peace at Consilium gatherings.

• Decree: Each member of the Ruling Council may declare one status alteration to a member of the Consilium per month.

Discussion Notes:

1. This overturns a previous Silver Law clarification of the Consilium Charter regarding the role of the Hierarch in relation to status, which was as follows: "The Heirarch has no rights to increase or decrease any status, the right to make that decision is the Ruling Councils majority alone."