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93-509: Model laws are especially prevalent in federations because the federal subjects (for example, states, provinces, or other subjects) are autonomous or semi-autonomous but nonetheless can benefit from a substantial degree of uniformity of laws among jurisdictions. For example, in the United States , because the country consists of 50 semi-autonomous states , each with its own legislature and set of laws , avoidance of needless variation

186-572: A central government established usually through coercion (on the model of the Roman Empire ). An empire often includes self-governing regions, but these will possess autonomy only at the sufferance of the central government. On the other hand, a political entity that is an empire in name, may comprise several partly autonomous kingdoms organised together in a federation, with the empire being ruled over by an emperor or senior king ( great king , high king , king of kings ...). One example of this

279-405: A federal government ( federalism ). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by the component states nor the federal political body without constitutional amendment. Sovereign power is formally divided between

372-505: A stronger central government than the US in the wake of the Civil War of the latter, use the term "Confederation" to refer to the formation or joining, not the structure, of Canada. Legal reforms, court rulings, and political compromises have decentralized Canada in practice since its formation in 1867. An empire is a multi-ethnic state, multinational state , or a group of nations with

465-450: A broad definition of a basic federalism , there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and govern through common institutions with overlapping or shared powers as prescribed by a constitution. The federal government is the government at the level of the sovereign state. Usual responsibilities of this level of government are maintaining national security and exercising international diplomacy, including

558-433: A central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs. Overriding powers of a central authority theoretically can include: the constitutional authority to suspend a constituent state's government by invoking gross mismanagement or civil unrest, or to adopt national legislation that overrides or infringes on the constituent states' powers by invoking

651-521: A coalition of 30 investigative journalists published a series called "Copy, Paste, Legislate", investigating the corporate interests behind many model laws. One early example of a model law was eugenicist Harry H. Laughlin's Model Eugenical Sterilization Law. In 1922, he published the book Eugenical Sterilization in the United States whose purpose was to persuade state legislatures into passing sterilization laws, which it also did. In chapter XV of

744-426: A federation is Malaysia , in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia . A federation often emerges from an initial agreement between several separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve mutual problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation-state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former

837-475: A federation to be brought into being by agreement between a number of formally independent states, in a unitary state self-governing regions are often created through a process of devolution, where a formerly centralized state agrees to grant autonomy to a region that was previously entirely subordinate. Thus, federations are often established voluntarily from "below" whereas devolution grants self-government from "above". A confederation , in modern political terms,

930-560: A fifth state of " strict liability ", which is highly disfavored. Each material element of every crime has an associated culpability state that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. If an offense requires a specific kind of culpability, then any more severe culpability will suffice. Thus if an offense is defined in the form, "It is illegal to knowingly do X," then it is illegal to do X knowingly or purposely (a more severe state), but not to do so recklessly or negligently (the two less severe states). Strict liability means that it

1023-460: A former data scientist at the University of Chicago to spot similarities between model acts and enacted legislation. Its main finding was that during the period 2010 to 2018 lawmakers had introduced bills based on model acts at least 10,000 times. Another 10,000 bills were likely copied but were more dissimilar. The investigation identified over 2,100 model acts but speculated that the real number

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1116-542: A large area of territory (such as Russia , the United States , Canada , India , Brazil , Pakistan or Australia ), but neither is necessarily the case (such as Saint Kitts and Nevis or the Federated States of Micronesia ). About 40% of world population live in a federation. Several ancient chiefdoms and kingdoms, such as the 4th-century-BCE League of Corinth , Noricum in Central Europe , and

1209-482: A prospective effect in that it applies to those acts which may be committed in the future. This is not the same as a retrospective effect of past acts which are protected by the rule against ex post facto laws. Under the MPC, ignorance of criminal law is not considered a valid defense, unless the legislature intended on making the mistake of law a defense, the law is unknown to the actor and had not been published, or

1302-570: A team of 30 reporters from the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), USA TODAY , and The Arizona Republic published the result of a two-year-long investigation into model acts entitled "Copy, Paste, Legislate". The investigation raised concerns over the role of ALEC and other corporate-sponsored organizations on the American legislative process. The investigation used text analysis software called Legislative Influence Detector created by Joe Walsh,

1395-483: A template for tribal legal infrastructure on reservations to provide consistency and greater accessibility in lending and credit transactions. The American Bar Association is an association of American lawyers and law students which has published a large number of model acts. Its most successful model law is probably the Model Business Corporation Act published in 1950. As of 2020, the act

1488-483: A terrorism registry, on instances of direct action performed by organizations such as the Animal Liberation Front . ALEC's model acts concern many topics important to conservatives like Stand Your Ground , Voter ID, illegal immigration , truth in sentencing , three strikes , right to know , and cutting taxes. ALEC has drafted and distributed state-level legislation to limit. It has also opposed

1581-525: Is an important challenge. The inability to meet this challenge may lead to the secession of parts of a federation or to civil war, as occurred in the United States (southern states sought to protect the institution of slavery while northern states opposed it, with a catalysis occurring in the then– Kansas Territory ), in Nigeria and in Switzerland . In the case of Malaysia , Singapore was expelled from

1674-630: Is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815. The North German Confederation , the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. Founded in 1922, the Soviet Union was formally a federation of Soviet republics , autonomous republics and other federal subjects, though in practice highly centralized under

1767-651: Is divided into three traditional chiefdoms: Uvea , Sigave , and Alo . The chiefdoms are allowed to have their own legal system which have to be implemented along with French legal system . Under the terms of the Fomboni Accords, signed in December 2001 by the leaders of all three islands, the official name of the country was changed to the Union of the Comoros ; the new state was to be highly decentralised and

1860-470: Is far higher since many organizations keep their model acts secret. In many states, the use of model bills was found to have supplanted the traditional way of writing legislation "from scratch". Mississippi was found to be the state with the highest number of bills introduced based on model acts, 744 - 200 more than the next highest state. 288 came from the non-partisan Council of State Governments and 255 from ALEC. But only 57 of them became law, according to

1953-569: Is followed by 24 states. Another influential act ABA has drafted is the 1979 Model Procurement Code for State and Local Governments , which as of 2000 had been adopted in full by 16 states and in part by several more. The act went through a major update in 2000. Other model acts drafted by ABA include the Model Airspace Act in 1973, and the Model Code for Public Infrastructure Procurement in 2007. The American Law Institute (ALI)

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2046-404: Is illegal to do something, regardless of one's mental state. If a statute provides only a single kind of culpability for a crime, that kind of culpability is assumed to apply to all elements. If no culpability is stated by statute, a minimum of recklessness is assumed to be required. The MPC declines to use the common terms "intentional" or "willful" in its specification of crimes, in part because of

2139-425: Is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy and so enjoy no independent status under international law . However, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others. An example of such

2232-587: Is most famous for its Restatements of the Law but has also produced model acts. A well-known example is the Model Penal Code published in 1962 seeking to harmonize state criminal law . The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) an American nonprofit organization —whose members include conservative state legislators and private sector representatives—is a prolific producer of model state-level laws for conservative causes. ALEC has deep ties to

2325-423: Is obliged to adopt any specific part of the MPC; see below. Advocates of the MPC stress that the law must be clearly defined to prevent arbitrary enforcement, or a chilling effect on a population that does not know what actions are punishable. This is known as the legality principle. However, critics say that the assumption that there are no possible legal systems between the extremes of "forbidden" and "allowed"

2418-407: Is sometimes one with only a single, centralized, national tier of government. However, unitary states often also include one or more self-governing regions. The difference between a federation and this kind of unitary state is that in a unitary state the autonomous status of self-governing regions exists by the sufferance of the central government, and may be unilaterally revoked. While it is common for

2511-542: Is suggested as one possible de facto federation as it grants more self-government to its autonomous communities than are retained by the constituent entities of most federations. For the Spanish parliament to revoke the autonomy of regions such as Galicia , Catalonia or the Basque Country would be a political near-impossibility, though nothing bars it legally. The Spanish parliament has, however, suspended

2604-422: Is that under the MPC, any action not explicitly outlawed is legal. This concept follows the saying, "That which is not forbidden is allowed" as opposed to "That which is not allowed is forbidden." Legal scholars contrast the MPC's limits with laws passed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union , which allowed people to be punished for acts not specifically outlawed but similar to acts that were. The MPC provision has

2697-658: Is the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration . Model legislative provisions on privately financed infrastructure projects were drafted by UNCITRAL and recommended for states to use by the United Nations General Assembly in 2004. Other UNCITRAL Legislative Guides, which make recommendations for efficient approaches to addressing an area of law within a national or local context, are listed at United Nations Commission on International Trade Law#Legislative Guides . In 2019,

2790-413: Is the central weakness of the MPC. British law, for example, assumes that a jury can decide what is "reasonable" both in the context of British law and social expectations as well as the specific accusation they are being asked to judge. Behavior may thus be deemed unlawful by a jury in cases where the MPC would require legislative change to produce a conviction. The MPC is not law in any jurisdiction of

2883-454: Is therefore not a de jure federation, although some academic observers conclude that after 50 years of institutional evolution since the Treaties of Rome it is becoming one. The European Union possesses attributes of a federal state. However, its central government is far weaker than that of most federations and the individual members are sovereign states under international law, so it

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2976-473: Is usually characterized as an unprecedented form of supra-national union. The EU has responsibility for important areas such as trade, monetary union, agriculture, and fisheries. Nonetheless, EU member states retain the right to act independently in matters of foreign policy and defense, and also enjoy a near-monopoly over other major policy areas such as criminal justice and taxation. Since the Treaty of Lisbon ,

3069-558: Is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states. The closest entity in the world to a confederation at this time is the European Union . While the word confederation was officially used when the Canadian federal system was established in 1867, the term refers only to the process and not the resulting state since Canadian provinces are not sovereign and do not claim to be. In

3162-473: Is valuable, reserving variation only to essential autonomous differences. There, model laws are referred to as model acts or model bills . Many American special interest groups draft model acts which they lobby lawmakers to pass. In particular, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has successfully gotten hundreds of model acts passed since 2010. Uniform acts are model acts intended to be enacted exactly as written. They are drafted by

3255-510: The Center for Media and Democracy , publishers of the ALEC Exposed series. ALEC has also been criticized for being funded by big corporations and over alleged underhandedness. The Guardian has described it as a "dating agency for Republican state legislators and big corporations" to "frame rightwing legislative agendas". Some notable model acts not drafted by the above-mentioned organizations: An example of an international model law

3348-773: The Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands and the United Kingdom is very similar to a federate relation: the Islands enjoy independence from the United Kingdom, which, via The Crown, takes care of their foreign relations and defense – although the UK Parliament does have overall power to legislate for the dependencies. However,

3441-456: The European Union have also written model laws to harmonize laws between different countries. Although model acts inherently can serve valid purposes (such as for uniform justice , with less capriciousness), their distortion into disguised lobbying has been criticized. American critics of such model laws have thus referred to them as "copycat laws", "fill-in-the-blanks laws", and "copy-paste laws". The concept caused some controversy in 2019 when

3534-649: The Iroquois Confederacy in pre-Columbian North America , could be described as federations or confederations . The Old Swiss Confederacy was an early example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, transformed into federal states upon independence such as the United States , and various countries in Latin America (see Spanish American wars of independence ). Some of

3627-480: The Israeli-American Coalition for Action 's (AIC) Joe Sabag, his "buddy and wordsmith-in-chief", to prepare the bill. Eugene Kontorovich, a George Mason University law professor, assisted in drafting the legislation. He also helped other states with their anti-BDS laws and frequently defends their constitutionality in the media. By May 2019, 25 other states had adopted similar measures. Many of

3720-491: The State Policy Network (SPN), an umbrella organization for a consortium of conservative and libertarian think tanks that focus on state-level policy , which is one of ALEC's sponsors. One of ALEC's earliest model acts were the 1981 Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act to prohibit acts that would make agricultural business operations more difficult. The act sought to impose harsh penalties, including

3813-627: The Uniform Law Commission (ULC), a state-run non-profit organization whose purpose is to draft laws in areas where uniformity is important (for example, to facilitate interstate commerce ). The concept is not specific to federations, and international organizations such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law , the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement , and

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3906-486: The United States Constitution having become effective on 4 March 1789, the United States is the oldest surviving federation, while the newest federation is Nepal , after its constitution went into effect on 20 September 2015. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government. However, a federation

3999-594: The government of the Soviet Union . The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system. India , Pakistan , Nigeria and Malaysia (then Federation of Malaya ) became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire . In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Iraq since 2005 as well as Somalia since 2012 . With

4092-484: The proclaimed Arab federations were confederations de facto . Model Penal Code The Model Penal Code ( MPC ) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States . The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was published in 1962 after a ten-year drafting period. The chief reporter on

4185-528: The " right-to-try " law that was signed into law in Ohio in 2016 by then-Governor John Kasich . It allows patients with terminal illnesses to try drugs that the federal Food and Drug Administration has not approved. The law was passed on the federal level in 2018. The "Copy, Paste, Legislate" investigation also documented the Israel lobby 's largely successful attempts to get statehouses to pass legislation to curb

4278-563: The "F" word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, for the purposes of the analysis here, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view the EU as a federal system. ( See, for instance, Bednar, Filippov et al., McKay, Kelemen, Defigueido and Weingast ) A more nuanced view has been given by

4371-496: The "anti-boycott executive order and news release" for the governor of Louisiana. A pro-Israel lobbyist closely helped edit the bill and guided the lawmaker who introduced and supported the anti-boycott legislation in Nevada. Federation List of forms of government A federation (also called a federal state ) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under

4464-476: The "federal nature of Spain's government (a trend that almost no one denies)." Each autonomous community is governed by a Statute of Autonomy ( Estatuto de Autonomía ) under the Spanish Constitution of 1978 . Although South Africa bears some elements of a federal system, such as the allocation of certain powers to provinces, some nevertheless argue that it is functionally a unitary state. On

4557-677: The 1970s. Moreover, although nominally called a federal state, the country's structure already has a number of confederational traits . At present, there is a growing movement to transform the existing federal state into a looser confederation with two or three constitutive states and/or two special regions. A confederation is most likely to feature three differences when contrasted with a federation: (1) No real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalized by member-state legislation; (2) Decisions on day-to-day-matters are not taken by simple majority but by special majorities or even by consensus or unanimity (veto for every member); (3) Changes of

4650-803: The German Constitutional Court. Here the EU is defined as 'an association of sovereign national states ( Staatenverbund )'. With this view, the European Union resembles more of a confederation . Constitutionally, the power vested in the special administrative regions of the People's Republic is granted from the Central People's Government , through a decision by the National People's Congress . However, there have been certain largely informal grants of power to

4743-415: The MPC as a source of the doctrines and principles underlying criminal liability. Under the MPC, crimes are defined in terms of a set of "elements of the offense," each of which must be proven to the finder of fact beyond a reasonable doubt. There are three types of elements: The elements are those facts that: All but the last two categories are material elements, and the prosecution must prove that

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4836-516: The MPC in Idaho came about after intense rejection of the new codification due to the lack of laws regulating morality , areas of the MPC that affected important political groups in the state, and also prosecutors and police who were critical of some areas of the new MPC-based code. The state bar association , judiciary committees in the legislature, and the Supreme Court of Idaho defended

4929-546: The MPC was used as a model for abortion law reform legislation enacted in 13 states from 1967 to 1972. It is included as Appendix B of Justice Blackmun 's opinion in the January 22, 1973 Doe v. Bolton decision of the United States Supreme Court ( Roe v. Wade ' s lesser-known companion case). It would legalize abortion to preserve the health (whether physical or mental) of the mother, as well as if

5022-642: The Member States' right to leave the Union is codified, and the Union operates with more qualified majority voting (rather than unanimity) in many areas. By the signature of this Treaty, the participating Parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organized Europe. This Europe remains open to all nations. We profoundly hope that other nations will join us in our common endeavor. Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. Those uncomfortable using

5115-597: The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, was founded in 1892 to provide American jurisdictions with robust legislation. ULC promotes enactment of uniform acts in areas of state law where uniformity is desirable and practical. ULC produces both model and uniform acts. Since its inception it has produced over 250 uniform acts. ULC drafted the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act in 2005 which served as

5208-643: The New World federations failed; the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states less than 20 years after its founding. Others, such as Argentina , have shifted between federal, confederal , and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy , and Venezuela became a federation after the Federal War . Australia and Canada are also federations. Germany

5301-561: The Palestinian-led BDS movement . BDS calls for comprehensive boycotts of Israel until it stops its human rights violations against Palestinians. The legislation that the Israel lobby promotes requires state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel and state pension funds to divest from entities that do. One of the first anti-BDS law was sponsored by Republican lawmaker Alan Clemmons who introduced it in 2015. He worked with

5394-1068: The Tenth Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights and the Eleventh Amendment. However, later amendments, particularly the Fourteenth Amendment, gave the federal government considerable authority over states. Federal government within this structure are the government ministries and departments and agencies to which the ministers of government are assigned. There are 26 federations in the world, with 6 each in Asia and Europe , 5 in Africa , 4 in North America , 3 in South America and 2 in Oceania . Some of

5487-723: The United Kingdom, because, in a devolved state, the central government can revoke the independence of the subunits (the Scottish Parliament , the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the case of the United Kingdom) without changing the constitution. In some cases, such as the autonomous communities of Spain , devolution has led to federation in all but name, or "federation without federalism". The relation between

5580-469: The United States; however, it served and continues to serve as a basis for the replacement of existing criminal codes in over two-thirds of the states. Many states adopted portions of the MPC, but only states such as New Jersey , New York , and Oregon have enacted almost all of the provisions. Idaho adopted the model penal code in its entirety in 1971, but the legislature repealed this action two months after it came into effect in 1972. The repeal of

5673-432: The actor is acting as a result of some official statement about the law. See sections 2.02(9) and 2.04. Certain parts of the MPC contain multiple options, inviting states to choose one. A particularly controversial topic was the proper place of the death penalty in the MPC. However, the MPC explicitly states that the "[American Law] Institute took no position on the desirability of the death penalty." Note that no state

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5766-546: The autonomy of Catalonia in response to the Catalan declaration of independence , in the lead-up to the 2017 Catalan election . Additionally, some autonomies such as Navarre or the Basque Country have full control over taxation and spending, transferring a payment to the central government for the common services (military, foreign relations, macroeconomic policy). For example, scholar Enrique Guillén López discusses

5859-415: The autonomy of a self-governing region, it may be politically difficult for it to do so in practice. The self-governing regions of some unitary states also often enjoy greater autonomy than those of some federations. For these reasons, it is sometimes argued that some modern unitary states are de facto federations. De facto federations, or quasi-federations, are often termed " regional states ". Spain

5952-570: The bills shared exact wording. The anti-BDS initiatives, undertaken by activist groups concerned about the rise of antisemitism , such as the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Israeli-American Coalition for Action, have been largely successful in pushing the anti-boycott legislation through state legislatures, according to a two-year collaborative investigative journal report. A JFNA lobbyist wrote

6045-533: The book he included the bill Model Eugenical Sterilization Law . Two years later, Laughlin's sterilization act was enacted almost unmodified by the Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 . The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law in Buck v. Bell in 1927, paving the way for similar sterilization laws in other states. The non-profit Uniform Law Commission (ULC), formerly known as

6138-585: The case of Switzerland , while the country is still known officially as the Swiss Confederation, this is now a misnomer since the Swiss cantons lost their sovereign status in 1848. In Belgium, however, the opposite movement is underway. Belgium was founded as a centralized state, after the French model, but has gradually been reformed into a federal state by consecutive constitutional reforms since

6231-453: The central government's constitutional authority to ensure "peace and good government" or to implement obligations contracted under an international treaty. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is considered to be federalist , or to be an example of federalism . It can be considered in comparison with the unitary state . France and Japan , for example, have been unitary for many centuries. The Austrian Empire

6324-417: The central union government would devolve most powers to the new island governments, each led by a president. Certain forms of political and constitutional dispute are common to federations. One issue is that the exact division of power and responsibility between federal and regional governments is often a source of controversy. Often, as is the case with the United States , such conflicts are resolved through

6417-546: The complex interpretive history of these terms. However, it defines that any (non-MPC) statute in the jurisdiction's criminal code that uses the term "intentionally" shall mean "purposely," and any use of "willfully" shall mean "with knowledge." If a law makes an actor absolutely liable for an offense, MPC sections 2.05 and 1.04 state that the actor can only be guilty of what the MPC calls violations (essentially meaning civil infractions ), which only carry fines or other monetary penalties, and no jail time. Another important feature

6510-484: The constitution, usually a treaty, require unanimity. Over time these terms acquired distinct connotations leading to the present difference in definition. An example of this is the United States under the Articles of Confederation . The Articles established a national government under what today would be defined as a federal system (albeit with a comparatively weaker federal government). However, Canadians, designed with

6603-399: The creation or expansion of municipal broadband networks. ALEC has been very successful in getting its laws passed; according to Brendan Greeley, lawmakers introduce bills based on the organization's model acts about 1,000 times per year in state legislatures and about 200 of them become law. In 2015, ALEC model bills were reflected in about 172 measures introduced in 42 states, according to

6696-451: The defendant had the required kind of culpability with respect to that element. One of the major innovations of the MPC is its use of standardized mens rea terms (criminal mind, or in MPC terms, culpability) to determine levels of mental states, just as homicide is considered more severe if done intentionally rather than accidentally. These terms are (in descending order) " purposely ", "knowingly," " recklessly ", and " negligently ", with

6789-461: The entire jurisdiction is relatively homogeneous, and each constituent state resembles a miniature version of the whole; this is known as 'congruent federalism'. On the other hand, incongruent federalism exists where different states or regions possess distinct ethnic groups. The ability of a federal government to create national institutions that can mediate differences that arise because of linguistic, ethnic, religious, or other regional differences

6882-542: The federal and the unitary state during its history. Some present-day states of the Brazilian federation retain borders set during the Portuguese colonization (before the very existence of the Brazilian state), whereas the latest state, Tocantins , was created by the 1988 Constitution for chiefly administrative reasons. Seven of the top eight largest countries by area are governed as federations. A unitary state

6975-802: The federation because of rising racial tension. In some cases, internal conflict may lead a federation to collapse entirely, as occurred the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland , the Gran Colombia , the United Provinces of Central America , and the West Indies Federation . The federal government is the common government of a national or supranational federation. A federal government may have distinct powers at various levels authorized or delegated to it by its member states. The structure of federal governments varies. Based on

7068-511: The initiative was introduced in 2014 by New Jersey Speaker, Paul D. Moriarty and called for "a fine for failing to disclose open recalls to customers." It was based on model law that had been crafted by a lobbyist who headed the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. The lobbyist said that their "model legislation" provided "suggested language" and was never intended to be a copy-and-paste exercise." Similar model legislation

7161-663: The initiator of the European Community system, wrote that a transnational Community like the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community lay midway between an association of States where they retained complete independence and a federation leading to a fusion of States in a super-state . The Founding Fathers of the European Union wrote the Europe Declaration (Charter of the Community) at

7254-425: The investigation. The "Copy, Paste, Legislate" investigation uncovered a legal initiative by the car industry to enact laws that would require dealers to disclose if a bought used car were under open recall, something most states do not require. The car industry's initiative was in response to other legal initiatives that called for banning the sales of used cars under open recall entirely. The first bill produced by

7347-793: The islands are neither an incorporated part of the United Kingdom nor are they considered to be independent or associated states. The islands do not have a monarch, per se ; rather in the Isle of Man the British Monarch is, ex officio , Lord of Mann , and in the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, the British Monarch rules as the Duke of Normandy . Dependent territories , such as the British overseas territories , are vested with varying degrees of power; some enjoy considerable independence from

7440-403: The judicial system, which delimits the powers of federal and local governments. The relationship between federal and local courts varies from nation to nation and can be a controversial and complex issue in itself. Another common issue in federal systems is the conflict between regional and national interests, or between the interests and aspirations of different ethnic groups. In some federations

7533-476: The new MPC-based code. Chiefs in the objections were the omission of sodomy , adultery and fornication as crimes, as well as objection by gun owners of the new stricter gun control law . On rare occasions, the courts will turn to the MPC for its commentary on the law and use it to seek guidance in interpreting non-code criminal statutes. It is also used frequently as a tool for comparison. Section 230.3 Abortion (Tentative draft 1959, Official draft 1962) of

7626-447: The other hand, if federation is defined as the constitutional entrenchment of the powers of subcentral units (provinces, etc.) that is not unilaterally changeable or revocable by the central authority, South Africa does qualify, formally, as a federal state. The European Union (EU) is a sui generis political union or confederation (the assemblage of societies or an association of two or more states into one state). Robert Schuman ,

7719-632: The penal system in the United States. Primary responsibility for criminal law lies with the individual states , which over the years led to great inconsistency among the various state penal codes . The MPC was meant to be a comprehensive criminal code that would allow for similar laws to be passed in different jurisdictions . The MPC itself is not legally-binding law, but since its publication in 1962 more than half of all U.S. states have enacted criminal codes that borrow heavily from it. It has greatly influenced criminal courts even in states that have not directly drawn from it, and judges increasingly use

7812-507: The pregnancy is due to incest or rape, or if doctors agree that there is a significant risk that the child will be born with a serious mental or physical defect. In October 2009, the ALI voted to disavow the framework for capital punishment that it had included in the MPC, "in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment." A study commissioned by

7905-399: The project was Herbert Wechsler , and contributors included Sanford Kadish and numerous other noted criminal law scholars, prosecutors, and defense lawyers. The ALI performed an examination of the penal system in the U.S. and the prohibitions, sanctions , excuses, and authority used throughout in order to arrive at a cohesive synthesis to the extent possible, and the best rules for

7998-571: The provinces, to handle economic affairs and implement national policies, resulting in a system some have termed federalism " with Chinese characteristics ". Constitutionally a unitary state , the political system in Myanmar bears many elements of federalism. Each administrative division has its own cabinets and chief ministers, making it more like a federation rather than a unitary state. The French overseas collectivity Wallis and Futuna maintains some quasi-federation attributes. The territory

8091-491: The right to sign binding treaties. Basically, a modern federal government, within the limits defined by its constitution, has the power to make laws for the whole country, unlike local governments. As originally written, the United States Constitution was created to limit the federal government from exerting power over the states by enumerating only specific powers. It was further limited by the addition of

8184-410: The sovereign state, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defense. However, they are neither considered to be part of it nor recognized as sovereign or associated states. The distinction between a federation and a unitary state is often quite ambiguous. A unitary state may closely resemble a federation in structure and, while a central government may possess the theoretical right to revoke

8277-607: The time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 18 April 1951 saying that Europe should be organized on a transnational foundation. They envisaged a structure quite different from a federation called the European Political Community . The EU is a three-pillar structure of the original supranational European Economic Community and the nuclear energy cooperation and non-proliferation treaty, Euratom , plus two largely intergovernmental pillars dealing with External Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs. The EU

8370-574: Was a unitary state with crown lands , after the transformation into the Austria-Hungary monarchy the remaining crown lands of so-called Cisleithania became federated as Länder of the Republic of Austria through the implementation of its constitution . Germany , with its 16 states, or Länder , and Nigeria , with its 36 states and federal capital territory , are examples of federations. Federations are often multi-ethnic and cover

8463-595: Was drafted by the Washington, D.C.-based Automotive Trade Association Executives (ATAE), representing over 100 "executives from regional auto dealer associations". The bill allowed dealers to continue selling recalled cars as long as they disclosed open recalls. The dealers worked with over 600 lobbyists in 43 states to assist in getting the legislation passed. From 2014 through 2019, lawmakers in eleven states introduced similar bills into their state legislatures. The libertarian Arizona-based Goldwater Institute , drafted

8556-499: Was the German Empire (1871–1918). A federacy is a unitary state that incorporates one or more self-governing autonomous areas . It is distinguished from a federation in that the constitutional structure of the state is still unitary, but incorporates federalist principles. Some federacies, notably Åland , were established through international treaty . A federation differs from a devolved state , such as Indonesia and

8649-510: Was the case with the United States and Switzerland. However, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models. Australia, for instance, is unique in that it came into existence as a nation by the democratic vote of the citizens of each state, who voted "yes" in referendums to adopt the Australian Constitution . Brazil, on the other hand, has experienced both

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