The Penal Code

Principles

The Republic holds no custody, so it imposes no confiscation. Its penalties operate on STANDING: the civic trust score (0–100) and the eligibilities that standing unlocks — referral rights, offices, tenders, and visa capabilities. Three principles govern every penalty:

• Legality: no penalty except for an offence written here before the act.

• Proportion: the adjustment must match the grade of the offence, within the bounds fixed by this Code.

• Publicity: every adjustment is entered in the audit register with the offence, the evidence, and the officer who ordered it.

Grades of offence

• Grade I — Civic negligence. Abandoning witness duties mid-attestation; letting a referral languish knowingly; frivolous proposals. Penalty: trust adjustment of −1 to −5.

• Grade II — Misrepresentation. False statements in a store listing, an insurance application, or a public profile; misusing the state brand or seal. Penalty: trust adjustment of −5 to −15 and correction of the record.

• Grade III — Breach of attestation. Witnessing an applicant the witness knows to be false, duplicate, or coerced. Penalty: trust adjustment of −15 to −30 and suspension of witness eligibility.

• Grade IV — Fraud upon a citizen. Deceit in citizen-to-citizen trade, forged certificates, or a false inheritance directive. Penalty: trust adjustment of −30 to −60 and referral of the record to the citizen body.

• Grade V — Fraud upon the Republic. Sybil citizenship, manufactured attestation rings, or corruption of an office. Penalty: trust adjustment to the floor of the scale and forfeiture of every office held.

Consequences of a fallen score

The score is clamped to the scale: it cannot fall below zero, and a verified offence may hold it at the floor. A citizen below the referral threshold (50) may no longer refer without a token; a citizen at the floor holds citizenship — which no penalty removes — but no office, no witness right, and no tender eligibility until the score is rebuilt by honest participation.

Restoration

The same signals that build trust rebuild it: tenure, votes cast, referrals who become citizens, and dividends claimed. No officer may bar a penalised citizen from participation itself. Adjustments may be appealed to the citizen body, and a successful appeal reverses the entry in the audit register.