Charter of the Golden Empire

The Charter of the Golden Empire was the formal document establishing the Golden Empire's existence, listing the governing powers of the Sovereign, and enumerating the rights and responsibilities of member systems and individual citizens of the Empire.

Offices
Despite the many offices in the Golden Empire, the Charter formally mandated the existence of only two: the Sovereign, to whom the entire first article is dedicated, and the Tribunes, created by Article II, Section 1, Subsection 3. The Phoenix Prince, though provided for in the first Article, was not mandated.

Rights of the people
The Charter distinguished the Golden Empire from many other absolute monarchies in providing for many rights of the people, including free speech, assembly, and petition, as well as freedom of religion and rights of trial.

However, the Charter also lacked several rights considered standard in the Galactic Republic. Notable among these were the right to a free press and the right to trial by jury. While citizens had the right to compensation for any property seized by the state (III.1.7), they did not have the right to appeal such seizure in court. Gr'leez'lrrg v. Saitel upheld that citizens could sue the government in court if the compensation provided was unfairly small.

In addition, amendment of the Charter was the sole power of the Sovereign; while the Charter stipulated that she needed to consult with delegations from all member systems, it did not require her to actually gain their approval, nor did it specify what "consult" entailed.

Amendments
The Charter was written with the intention of carrying the Empire for the foreseeable future (even with Rin Sakaros's foresight). However, faced with the treason of the Consul Vessyk in 127 ABY, Rin was forced to admit her mistake in not providing a direct link between the people and herself. Not content to simply create a new office, she amended the Charter to provide for the newly created position of Tribune to demonstrate to her citizens her sincerity in listening to their views.