Claims Act 2018

## Article 1 - Aim

The aim of this act is to replace the Earth Territory Act, and to ensure that there are a set of guidelines for the Map Committee to work with when assessing claims made by the region members

## Article 2 -  Definitions & Membership

These definitions are in addition to your citizen classifications under the Constitution, both definitions listed here do not confer any special benefit.

* Nation State: Any member who has joined Solar Alliance and holds established territory. They have established history and established claims.
* Non-State Entity: Any member who does not have established territory but is permitted to role-play with the community as a third party organization, group, individual, government, et cetera. They must however, have a Nation State as a sponsor for their group, individual, government, et cetera. They are not bound by any activity requirements from Article 3 except for Section 1.

## Article 3 - Activity Requirements

Due to the Solar Alliance has a finite amount of land, this Act prevents individuals from hogging land indefinitely.

**Section 1**: Players deleted by Nation States for inactivity are automatically removed from the Solar Alliance map and their land is available for free claim.

**Section 2**: Players that exceed 25 days of inactivity on their registered, NationStates account can have their land claimed by any member of Solar Alliance or a new member without their consent.

**Section 3**: Players that do not contribute to Solar Alliance for 45 days or more are automatically removed from Solar Alliance.

**Section 4**: Players who return to Solar Alliance may request to reclaim their previous land as long as it's available for free claim or to submit a new claim.

**Section 5**: Players eligible for Article 4 - Vacation are not held to these conditions except for Section 1.

## Article 4 - Vacation

Any Solar Alliance member may apply for Vacation Mode if they plan to be inactive on Solar Alliance for 21 or more days. Players on Vacation Mode are not subjection to the Sections of Article 3 except for Section 1. There is no justification needed for Vacation Mode.

**Section 1**: To qualify for Vacation Mode, a member must communicate their to the Founder or Chancellor. Vacation mode is effective from the time the request is made.

**Section 2**: Any member who chooses to enter Vacation Mode forfeits all pending or contested claims.

**Section 3**: Vacation mode is limited to 3 consecutive months. After 3 months, a member will be removed from the Solar Alliance map and their land will be eligible for free claim. Additional circumstances may be communicated, at the time of the request, to the Founder which may entitle you to further absence such as active military deployment.

## Article 5 - Claiming Land

The map is divided into first-level administrative divisions referred to in this document as provinces.

**Section 1**: All claims require the player to state what they are claiming in a clear manner.

**Section 2**: All claims will require a role play reason as to why you are claiming that territory.

**Section 4**: All claims require a role-play/factbook be posted within 4 days after approval or the pending claim is invalidated.

**Section 5**: All claims will be submitted by the 7th of the month. They will be available to view for one week and then processed in accordance with Section 4, or other applicable Acts.

**Section** **6**: Nations will not be allowed to form colonies that are separated from their homeland (which is defined as where one's capital is) without it being connected by lake or sea.

**Section 7**: When submitting a claim all nations **MUST where possible** include the territorial size of **their current land** and what it will be **if the claim is approved**.

**Section 8**: Number of claims per citizen classification

* Native - 5 provinces
* Resident - 3 provinces
* Foreign national - 3 provinces
* Visa nation - 3 provinces

**Section 9**: If you are claiming a group of islands inside a box then that counts as one claim

**Section 10**: If you control 70% of a nation and wish to gain the remainder then you can ask the map committee to look at it

## Article 6 - Territory Limits Per Citizen Status

**Section 1**: Limits per citizen status

* **Natives** - The furthest permitted expanse of territory is no more than 6,612,100 sq miles = Russian Federation.
* **Residents** - The furthest permitted expanse of territory is no more than 3,287,956 sq miles = Brazil
* **Foreign Nations** - The furthest permitted expanse of territory is no more than 830,000 sq miles = Saudi Arabia
* **Visa Nations** - The furthest permitted expanse of territory is no more than 230,963 sq miles = Spain and Portugal together

**Section 1a:** In certain circumstances a Resident can be awarded the native total providing that they get the approval of the founder.

**Section 2**: Each Quarter the map committee will look at nations various sizes, if a nation is found to be more than 100,000 Sq. Miles over their limit then they will be informed that they will be losing territory to bring them back to their maximum limit.

**Section 3**: Nations should not seek or be encouraged to reach their maximum limit/ They should be encouraged only to take the territory needed for their role play and the image of their nation

**Section 4**: Other than Article 6, section 2 no exceptions are allowed for going over their territorial limits

**Section 5**: If you have more than one nation on the map, then all your nations will share the same territorial limit of the nation with the highest citizen status.

**Section 5a**: For example if you are a Native and have three nations on the map in total, then you have to split your native territorial limit amongst all three nations.

## Article 7 - Map Committee

**Section 1**: The Committee will be appointed one by Founder, one by Chancellor. If one is absent.  No member of the Map Committee will judge his own dispute, review his own decision or participate in the election of one who will.

**Section 2**: The Committee will only have the powers granted by this document, and further powers granted to it by the regional government. The Committee must agree, in all disputes.

**Section 3**: The Map Committee will hear disputes and render a decision in accordance with this document and the laws created by the regional government

**Section 4**: Decisions made by the Committee can be appealed to SASC

**Section 5**: The Appeals Panel is limited only to deciding if the reasoning in the decision was not in line with the laws of the region. The Panel may then invalidate or alter the decision.

**Section 6**: When deciding a claim the Committee must consider culture, reason for the claim, territory size after the claim and if the reason given address those issues such as culture.

## Article 9 - Exceptions

**1)** Upon the take over of the Account known as Kirin Taq by Triwen, he was allowed to keep his nation and its land minus Australia and all of the territory under the control of Kirin Taq. This was agreed upon by the Delegate, Founder, Security Council and Map Committee (Date: 19/4/18)