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Civil Code of the Order of the Holy Lakes

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The Civil Code of the Order of the Holy Lakes, adopted and enacted on 5.XIV.1750, is the law governing, among other areas, marriage, inheritance, adoption, and contracts within the Order of the Holy Lakes centrally as well as in its realms.

Controversies

  • Debate
  • Opposition
  • Compromise

Full text

General Provisions

Purpose

This Statute regulates civil status, marital unions, descent, adoption, inheritance, contracts, and the recognition of public acts within the Order of the Holy Lakes and in relation to foreign jurisdictions.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Statute:

  1. Order means the Order of the Holy Lakes.
  2. realm means any realm under the jurisdiction of the Order.
  3. citizen means any person holding citizenship of the Order, whether or not a member of the Order.
  4. resident means any person domiciled or lawfully present in the territory of the Order, including aliens.
  5. public act includes registrations, judgments, and civil records issued or certified by a competent authority.
  6. contract means a lawful agreement enforceable under civil law.
  7. marital union means a legal union solemnized or recognized under this Statute.
  8. marriage means a marital union between two spouses.
  9. marital community means a marital union between three or more spouses forming a single communal legal unit.
  10. dissolution means the termination of a marital union.
  11. annulment means a declaration that a marital union was void ab initio.
  12. descendants means all persons in direct line from an individual, inheriting per stirpes.
  13. Population Register means the civil register for citizens and residents, who are not inscribed in the Almanac of the Holy Lakes.
  14. Almanac of the Holy Lakes means the register for the members of the Order of the Holy Lakes.
  15. public policy doctrine refers to the fundamental principles of law and justice of the Order, as determined by the Senate of the Lakes.

Full faith within the Order

Mutual Recognition

Public acts, judgments, registrations, and marital unions issued in one realm shall be recognized and enforceable in every other realm.

Non-Discrimination Between Realms

No realm may refuse recognition of a civil status originating in another realm on such matters as are protected from discrimination under the Uniform Court Code.

Conflicting Judgments

Where conflicting judgments arise, the judgment from the realm of domicile at the time of the dispute shall prevail, subject to appeal to the Senate.

Recognition of Foreign Public Acts

General Rule

Foreign public acts concerning births, names, marital unions, dissolutions, deaths, adoptions, guardianship, and contracts shall be recognized if valid where issued.

Exception on grounds of public policy doctrine

Recognition shall be refused where the act is against the public policy doctrine, including:

  1. consent involving a person below fifteen years of age;
  2. absence of free and informed consent;
  3. slavery, servitude, prostitution, or human ownership;
  4. fundamentally coercive or unjust contracts;
  5. marital contracts that deny equal legal dignity of spouses.

Hierarchical Foreign Unions

  1. A foreign marital union with unequal or hierarchical status (e.g., concubinage systems) shall only be recognized if all parties jointly petition for recognition as an equal-status marital union or marital community under Order law. Petitions are addressed to the Chancellery of the Order of the Holy Lakes for members of the Order, and to a court of first instance of the realm of residence of a non-member citizen or resident.
  2. If equality is not accepted, the union is not recognized as a marital union. Civil or contractual relations between the parties may still be recognized where lawful.
  3. Already-recognized unions shall not be affected by this rule.

Marital Unions

Freedom of Marital Union

Any consenting adults may enter a marital union, without restriction based on gender, sex, faith, ethnicity, nationality, or age difference, subject to the exception on grounds of public policy doctrine.

Forms of Union

  1. A marriage is between two spouses.
  2. A marital community is between three or more spouses.
  3. Consent of all existing spouses is required to add a spouse to a marriage or existing marital community.

Age and Consent (Domestic)

Marital unions solemnized within the Order require all spouses to be at least eighteen years of age and fully consenting.

Equality of Spouses

All spouses in a marital union share equal legal status, rights, and duties.

Dissolution And Annulment

  1. The dissolution of a marital union where none of the spouses is a member of the Order by reason of blood, adoption, or induction shall be governed by, and recognized in accordance with, the law and competent authorities of the realm of residence of the spouses, or, where the spouses reside in different realms, the realm of residence of the spouse first petitioning for dissolution. Such dissolution shall be recorded in the Population Register upon presentation of valid documentation.
  2. Annulment of a marital union where none of the spouses is a member of the Order shall likewise be determined in accordance with the law and competent authorities of the realm of residence, subject only to the public policy doctrine clause of this Statute. Annulments so granted shall be recorded in the Population Register.
  3. Where at least one spouse is a member of the Order by reason of blood, adoption, or induction, the dissolution of the marital union shall be recognized by the Chancellor or Commander of the Order upon either:
    1. a public declaration jointly made by the spouses that the union has been dissolved; or
    2. in the absence of such declaration, a valid court order issued by a competent authority dissolving the union.
  4. Where at least one spouse is a member of the Order, annulment of the union may be granted by the Chancellor or Commander on grounds of fraud, coercion, fundamental defect, or violation of public policy doctrine. Any interested party may petition for annulment. Interested parties shall include any spouse, any member of the Senate, and any member of the Secretariat.

Contracts

Definition

Contract means a voluntary and lawful agreement between two or more persons, creating enforceable rights and obligations. A contract requires mutual consent, legal capacity, a defined subject matter, and a lawful purpose. Moral, social, or familial understandings lacking intent to create legal obligations do not constitute contracts.

Validity of Contracts

Contracts lawfully entered into by citizens or residents, in the Order or abroad, shall be recognized unless against public policy doctrine.

Contracts for Transfer of Parental Obligations

Contracts concerning surrogacy or the transfer of parental rights prior to birth and after birth are void and without legal effect as against public policy doctrine.

Descent, legal parentage, and adoption

Maternal Rule and Parentage

  1. The person who gives birth is a legal parent at birth. Persons who have contributed sperm or egg cell to the formation of the child are also legal parents.
  2. A child may have more than two legal parents.

Adoption

  1. Adoption is permitted only of unmarried persons under the age of eighteen years.
  2. The outset of an adoption is the inclusion of further legal parents, but an adoption may, if it is in the best interests of the child, exclude an already legal parent in favour of another.
  3. Adoption requires:
    1. consent of the adopting parent(s);
    2. consent of the existing legal parent(s), unless overridden in the best interests of the child;
    3. consent of the child aged 15–17;
    4. assent of the child aged 7–14.
  4. Adoption creates full legal kinship.
  5. Appeals lie to the Senate.

Recognition of Foreign Adoption

Foreign adoptions are automatically recognized if valid where issued, subject only to verification of authenticity and unless against the public policy doctrine.

Removal of legal parentage

A legal parent may be removed from legal parentage by an appropriate court (or, in the case of members of the Order, by the Chancellor or Commander) if it is in the best interests of the child.

Inheritance

Priority of wills

  1. Property shall devolve in accordance with the will of the deceased, provided the will is made by a person of sound mind and in a form prescribed by the law of the jurisdiction in which it was executed.
  2. A valid will shall prevail over all other claims to inheritance, except as otherwise provided by law.
  3. To avoid disputes, all members of the Order are encouraged to register their wills with the Office of the Chancellor. Non-registration, however, does not necessarily revoke validity of any will.

Intestate succession

  1. In the absence of a valid will, the estate shall pass to the descendants of the deceased, inheriting per stirpes.
  2. If there are no descendants, the estate shall pass to the parents of the deceased, and, if none survive, to the grandparents per stirpes.
  3. If no parent or grandparent survives, the estate shall pass to the siblings of the deceased and, in their absence, to aunts and uncles per stirpes.
  4. Cousins shall have no automatic right of inheritance.
  5. At no point may someone who is guilty for having unlawfully caused the death of the deceased inherit their estate.

Escheat to the Order

Where no lawful heir exists by will or legal descendants, the estate shall vest in the Order of the Holy Lakes.

Limitation of Claims

Any claim against the division of a former estate must be brought within six years from the date on which the estate was distributed. After this period, no new claims shall be entertained.

Registration

Population Register

All civil status events concerning citizens and residents shall be recorded in the Population Register.

Almanac of the Holy Lakes

The civil status of members of the Order shall be recorded in the Almanac.

Jurisdiction

Competent Authorities

  1. Realms administer civil status within their territory. Appeals and inter-realm disputes fall under the jurisdiction of the Senate.
  2. While respecting the provisions of this Code, each realm may by legislation determine what marital unions and adoptions are performed.

Determination of public policy doctrine

The Senate shall have final authority to determine the scope of the public policy doctrine.

Final provisions

Supremacy

This Statute supersedes any inconsistent realm law on matters governed herein.

Entry into Force

This Statute enters into force upon adoption.

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