Welcome to the term six judiciary, I'm your host, mhcarver

term 6 justices
Chief Justice:Mhcarver
Judge Advocate:Black Hole
Public Defender: Cyc

The court is here to defend your rights and review any and all questions about the constitution

since this will likely be a quiet term I am simply submitting last terms Procedures to this judiciary for approval and comments

Common
Rights and Duties of all Citizens
Participate in all Judicial discussions
Request that any Judicial discussion be moved to its own thread in the Citizen's forum
Post requests for Judicial Review of existing law. These requests should contain a specific question and the section of law in question
Post requests for Judicial Review of proposed amendments. This request should contain the exact text to be reviewed and a link to the discussion thread
Post requests for clarification. This is an unofficial question about the rules that does not create a finding, but may lead to a Judicial Review
Post requests for Citizen Complaints. This is a request to determine if a citizen has violated a rule. This request must be posted in the Judicial thread. There are no anonymous requests
Shared duties and responsibilities of all Justices
Conduct the business of the court in a fair, impartial, open and speedy manner unless otherwise required
Review and discuss any questions about our laws
Review all proposed Amendments to our laws
Review all requested Citizen Complaints to determine if there is need
Participate in all Citizen Complaints in a fair and impartial manner
Post clear and decisive opinions on all questions. Abstentions are not allowed
Notify the Judiciary during any Absence, and arrange for a Pro-Tem replacement
Discuss and ratify these Judicial Procedures
Recuse themself from any Citizen Complaints that they are involved in as either the citizen requesting the CC, or as the citizen under investigation.
Rights and Duties of the Chief Justice
Post polls for amendments once they pass review
Post any valid Recall poll
Determine and post the official Census
Oversee all Judicial Proceedings
Maintain the Judicial Log
Appoint all Pro-Tem justices and seek confirmation by the President
Request that other justices post an opinion promptly
Maintain the docket and decide the priority level of cases
Rights and Duties of the Judge Advocate
Post any valid Recall poll if for the Chief Justice
Serve as the Prosecution during any trial of a citizen. In this role, the Judge Advocate need not act impartial as they are arguing for a specific side
Rights and Duties of the Public Defender
Serve as the Defense during a trial of a citizen, unless requested otherwise by the citizen. In this role, the Public Defender need not act impartial as they are arguing for a specific side

Judicial Reviews
Judicial Reviews are used to resolve questions of the law and to validate proposed amendments. The opinion of a majority of the Justices will be used to resolve the Judicial Review.

Reviews of existing laws may be requested by anyone. The Chief Justice shall review each request for merit. If the Chief Justice declines the request, either of the other two Justices may accept the request and override the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice will post each accepted request, clearly denoting the questions. After at least 24 hours, each Justice may post their finding. This post should clearly answer the questions as posed by the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice may request that the justices post their opinion promptly, requiring all justices to make a ruling within 72 hours. The Chief Justice may request clarification of these findings as needed.

Reviews of a proposed law may be requested by anyone. The post must include the proposed law, and a link to the discussion thread. The proposed law must have been conspicuously posted as a proposed poll for at least 24 hours, and the discussion thread open for at least 48 hours. The Justices will review the law for any conflicts with current law, and post their findings. The Chief Justice will post the poll for all proposals that pass Judicial Review.

All reviews must be finished by the end of the term if at all possible. The Chief Justice may defer a Judicial Review to the next term if it is filed less than 72 hours before the end of this term.

Absence Investigations
Absence Investigations are used to determine the status of an elected official who has not posted for an extended period of time and to remove that citizen from office if necessary. Any citizen may initiate an Absence Investigation if an elected official fails to post on the Civilization Fanatics' Forums for 7 days.

If a valid Absence Investigation is called, the Chief Justice is to start the investigation by indicating that an Absence Investigation has started. The Chief Justice must then send a private message to the official against whom the investigation has been called. An e-mail should also be sent if possible. The official will have 48 hours to respond to the private message. At the end of this time, or after a response has been received by the official in question, the Chief Justice may declare the commencement of voting on whether or not the seat should be rendered vacant. Each justice should clearly post their vote on this issue. If a majority of justices vote in favor of declaring the office vacant, the official shall be removed and the President empowered to appoint another citizen to that post.

Citizen Complaints
Citizen complaints are used to determine if a citizen has violated a rule. They may be requested by any citizen in a post in the Judicial thread. Except as noted, the Justices must act in a fair, impartial, open and speedy manner throughout the process. All citizens are innocent unless determined to be guilty. Citizen Complaints shall be completed by the end of the term, unless the Judiciary finds this to be impossible, in which case the next term’s court may finish the investigation. All evidence, except foreknowledge of the game, must be presented publicly. Evidence of foreknowledge of the game will be reviewed by the Judiciary, and a statement about that evidence posted. Once that evidence becomes irrelevant due to game progress, any citizen may request it to be posted.

Any citizen who is the defendant of a Citizen Complaint shall have the right to representation throughout the process. The Public Defender shall be tasked with defending each citizen charged with an offense from the moment the Citizen Complaint is filed until the complaint is concluded, unless another citizen is appointed by the defendant to serve as the Defense, with that citizen's consent.

At any time during a citizen complaint, the citizen making the request may drop the request, ending the citizen complaint unless another citizen wishes to continue the process. Likewise, the citizen under investigation may accept the charges, and move immediately to the Sentencing phase.

If a citizen has been found innocent of a charge or if the citizen has been found guilty and sentenced appropriately, the citizen may not be charged again with the same violation.

Review
Each requested Citizen Complaint will be reviewed by the Judiciary. Justices will gather and look through the evidence presented, including requests for statements from all citizens. If all three Justices determine the request to have No Merit, the basis for that finding will be posted by each Justice and the request is denied. If at least one Justice determines the request to have Merit, a trial on the facts will be conducted. The Judge Advocate will review the request and the relevant law, and determine the specific law the accused citizen is alleged to have violated.

Trial
The Judge Advocate will create a thread for the trial in the Citizen's forum. This initial post should contain the specific violations and the evidence for those accusations. The next two posts are reserved for the citizen accused and the Public Defender - until they post, or 24 hours from the initial post, no other citizen may post in the thread. All citizens are encouraged to post in this thread, but are reminded to respect the rights of all citizens.

Once the at least 48 hours have passed, and discussion has petered out, the Chief Justice can declare the discussion closed, and post a Trial poll.

The Trial poll will be a private poll, with the options Innocent, Guilty and Abstain. It will run for 48 hours. The option receiving the most votes will determine the result. In the event of a tie, the members of the Judiciary will determine the result by posting clear opinions in the Trial thread.

Sentencing
If a citizen under investigation during a Citizen Complaint has accepted the charges, the citizen, the accuser and the Judiciary may determine and assign a sentence if they all unanimously agree to the arrangement. Failure to uphold that arrangement will result in full sentencing poll posted as if the citizen were found guilty in a Trial.

If an arrangement cannot be made, or the citizen was found Guilty, the sentence will be determined by the citizens through a poll. The Chief Justice will post the poll, marked as private with a duration of 48 hours. The options for the poll will include:
Suspension from Demogame
Removal from Office (if applicable)
Public Apology
Final Warning
Warning
Abstain
Other options may be included through unanimous consent of the Judiciary.

Once the poll closes, the Chief Justice will determine the sentence imposed using cumulative voting. The most severe option that a majority of citizens support will be imposed. If a Warning is issued, a warning will be posted by the Chief Justice in the Judicial thread and may be reposted in that person’s government thread, if they hold an office. If a citizen is given a Final Warning, the above procedure will be used, but with stronger language. Additionally, the options “Warning” and “Final Warning” will not appear on a sentencing poll if that citizen is charged with a similar offense in the future. If a citizen is sentenced to a Public Apology, a thread apologizing for the actions taken must be posted by the defendant within 48 hours of the close of the sentencing poll. If the citizen is removed from office, they are barred from holding that office for the remainder of the term. The length of a suspension is to be determined by the Judiciary, with the required consent of the moderators

reserved for court docket
DGVIIT6JR1
Submitted by: Daveshack
Status:added to docket
Details: Daveshack wants to know who has the power to post a poll on the issue of going to war if the FA office is vacant

since this will likely be a quiet term I am simply submitting last terms Procedures to this judiciary for approval and comments

Common
Rights and Duties of all Citizens
Participate in all Judicial discussions
Request that any Judicial discussion be moved to its own thread in the Citizen's forum
Post requests for Judicial Review of existing law. These requests should contain a specific question and the section of law in question
Post requests for Judicial Review of proposed amendments. This request should contain the exact text to be reviewed and a link to the discussion thread
Post requests for clarification. This is an unofficial question about the rules that does not create a finding, but may lead to a Judicial Review
Post requests for Citizen Complaints. This is a request to determine if a citizen has violated a rule. This request must be posted in the Judicial thread. There are no anonymous requests
Shared duties and responsibilities of all Justices
Conduct the business of the court in a fair, impartial, open and speedy manner unless otherwise required
Review and discuss any questions about our laws
Review all proposed Amendments to our laws
Review all requested Citizen Complaints to determine if there is need
Participate in all Citizen Complaints in a fair and impartial manner
Post clear and decisive opinions on all questions. Abstentions are not allowed
Notify the Judiciary during any Absence, and arrange for a Pro-Tem replacement
Discuss and ratify these Judicial Procedures
Recuse themself from any Citizen Complaints that they are involved in as either the citizen requesting the CC, or as the citizen under investigation.
Rights and Duties of the Chief Justice
Post polls for amendments once they pass review
Post any valid Recall poll
Determine and post the official Census
Oversee all Judicial Proceedings
Maintain the Judicial Log
Appoint all Pro-Tem justices and seek confirmation by the President
Request that other justices post an opinion promptly
Maintain the docket and decide the priority level of cases
Rights and Duties of the Judge Advocate
Post any valid Recall poll if for the Chief Justice
Serve as the Prosecution during any trial of a citizen. In this role, the Judge Advocate need not act impartial as they are arguing for a specific side
Rights and Duties of the Public Defender
Serve as the Defense during a trial of a citizen, unless requested otherwise by the citizen. In this role, the Public Defender need not act impartial as they are arguing for a specific side

Judicial Reviews
Judicial Reviews are used to resolve questions of the law and to validate proposed amendments. The opinion of a majority of the Justices will be used to resolve the Judicial Review.

Reviews of existing laws may be requested by anyone. The Chief Justice shall review each request for merit. If the Chief Justice declines the request, either of the other two Justices may accept the request and override the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice will post each accepted request, clearly denoting the questions. After at least 24 hours, each Justice may post their finding. This post should clearly answer the questions as posed by the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice may request that the justices post their opinion promptly, requiring all justices to make a ruling within 72 hours. The Chief Justice may request clarification of these findings as needed.

Reviews of a proposed law may be requested by anyone. The post must include the proposed law, and a link to the discussion thread. The proposed law must have been conspicuously posted as a proposed poll for at least 24 hours, and the discussion thread open for at least 48 hours. The Justices will review the law for any conflicts with current law, and post their findings. The Chief Justice will post the poll for all proposals that pass Judicial Review.

All reviews must be finished by the end of the term if at all possible. The Chief Justice may defer a Judicial Review to the next term if it is filed less than 72 hours before the end of this term.

Absence Investigations
Absence Investigations are used to determine the status of an elected official who has not posted for an extended period of time and to remove that citizen from office if necessary. Any citizen may initiate an Absence Investigation if an elected official fails to post on the Civilization Fanatics' Forums for 7 days.

If a valid Absence Investigation is called, the Chief Justice is to start the investigation by indicating that an Absence Investigation has started. The Chief Justice must then send a private message to the official against whom the investigation has been called. An e-mail should also be sent if possible. The official will have 48 hours to respond to the private message. At the end of this time, or after a response has been received by the official in question, the Chief Justice may declare the commencement of voting on whether or not the seat should be rendered vacant. Each justice should clearly post their vote on this issue. If a majority of justices vote in favor of declaring the office vacant, the official shall be removed and the President empowered to appoint another citizen to that post.

Citizen Complaints
Citizen complaints are used to determine if a citizen has violated a rule. They may be requested by any citizen in a post in the Judicial thread. Except as noted, the Justices must act in a fair, impartial, open and speedy manner throughout the process. All citizens are innocent unless determined to be guilty. Citizen Complaints shall be completed by the end of the term, unless the Judiciary finds this to be impossible, in which case the next term’s court may finish the investigation. All evidence, except foreknowledge of the game, must be presented publicly. Evidence of foreknowledge of the game will be reviewed by the Judiciary, and a statement about that evidence posted. Once that evidence becomes irrelevant due to game progress, any citizen may request it to be posted.

Any citizen who is the defendant of a Citizen Complaint shall have the right to representation throughout the process. The Public Defender shall be tasked with defending each citizen charged with an offense from the moment the Citizen Complaint is filed until the complaint is concluded, unless another citizen is appointed by the defendant to serve as the Defense, with that citizen's consent.

At any time during a citizen complaint, the citizen making the request may drop the request, ending the citizen complaint unless another citizen wishes to continue the process. Likewise, the citizen under investigation may accept the charges, and move immediately to the Sentencing phase.

If a citizen has been found innocent of a charge or if the citizen has been found guilty and sentenced appropriately, the citizen may not be charged again with the same violation.

Review
Each requested Citizen Complaint will be reviewed by the Judiciary. Justices will gather and look through the evidence presented, including requests for statements from all citizens. If all three Justices determine the request to have No Merit, the basis for that finding will be posted by each Justice and the request is denied. If at least one Justice determines the request to have Merit, a trial on the facts will be conducted. The Judge Advocate will review the request and the relevant law, and determine the specific law the accused citizen is alleged to have violated.

Trial
The Judge Advocate will create a thread for the trial in the Citizen's forum. This initial post should contain the specific violations and the evidence for those accusations. The next two posts are reserved for the citizen accused and the Public Defender - until they post, or 24 hours from the initial post, no other citizen may post in the thread. All citizens are encouraged to post in this thread, but are reminded to respect the rights of all citizens.

Once the at least 48 hours have passed, and discussion has petered out, the Chief Justice can declare the discussion closed, and post a Trial poll.

The Trial poll will be a private poll, with the options Innocent, Guilty and Abstain. It will run for 48 hours. The option receiving the most votes will determine the result. In the event of a tie, the members of the Judiciary will determine the result by posting clear opinions in the Trial thread.

Sentencing
If a citizen under investigation during a Citizen Complaint has accepted the charges, the citizen, the accuser and the Judiciary may determine and assign a sentence if they all unanimously agree to the arrangement. Failure to uphold that arrangement will result in full sentencing poll posted as if the citizen were found guilty in a Trial.

If an arrangement cannot be made, or the citizen was found Guilty, the sentence will be determined by the citizens through a poll. The Chief Justice will post the poll, marked as private with a duration of 48 hours. The options for the poll will include:
Suspension from Demogame
Removal from Office (if applicable)
Public Apology
Final Warning
Warning
Abstain
Other options may be included through unanimous consent of the Judiciary.

Once the poll closes, the Chief Justice will determine the sentence imposed using cumulative voting. The most severe option that a majority of citizens support will be imposed. If a Warning is issued, a warning will be posted by the Chief Justice in the Judicial thread and may be reposted in that person’s government thread, if they hold an office. If a citizen is given a Final Warning, the above procedure will be used, but with stronger language. Additionally, the options “Warning” and “Final Warning” will not appear on a sentencing poll if that citizen is charged with a similar offense in the future. If a citizen is sentenced to a Public Apology, a thread apologizing for the actions taken must be posted by the defendant within 48 hours of the close of the sentencing poll. If the citizen is removed from office, they are barred from holding that office for the remainder of the term. The length of a suspension is to be determined by the Judiciary, with the required consent of the moderators

I aprove of the proposed judicial procedures

The Public Defender's Office approves of the proposed Judicial Procedures.

the chief justice also approves, the judicial procedures are hereby ratified

Congratulations, mhcarver and Black_Hole! It's an honor to serve on the Bench with both of you. Let's hope there's some Judicial distress blowing in the wind this Term.

Sorry to hear the ran you through the ringer in the CIV election, mhcarver. You held that Office for a little while anyway. ;) Get'em next time.

Congratulations, mhcarver and Black_Hole! It's an honor to serve on the Bench with both of you. Let's hope there's some Judicial distress blowing in the wind this Term.

Sorry to hear the ran you through the ringer in the CIV election, mhcarver. You held that Office for a little while anyway. ;) Get'em next time.
thank you cyc and congratulations to you on getting re-elected to my old office, ummm did you by any chance find some photos under the desk , if so I'd like them back , on a more somber note the only thing I regret more than losing the JA election is the fact that it was initially given to me by such low methods, I in no way endorse election fraud and hope that whoever did this gets banned

thank you cyc and congratulations to you on getting re-elected to my old office, ummm did you by any chance find some photos under the desk , if so I'd like them back , on a more somber note the only thing I regret more than losing the JA election is the fact that it was initially given to me by such low methods, I in no way endorse election fraud and hope that whoever did this gets banned
:mischief: :rotfl:
Oh, I think I found those last Term when I was looking for some of Octavian's old doughnuts. :D If you're talking about the ones of Ravensfire and DaveShack dancing (at least that's what it looked like) or Chieftess with the horse, I've posted them on the net for your easy access. :D The address is justkidding.com. (I need to hire your investigator...)
;)

I don't believe you had anything to do with the election CJ mhcarver. Election fraud has been with us in the DG forever, tho. So I'm not really worried about it. Let's hope it stays in the CIV DG where it belongs. Hopefully, it's left this DG.

Honorable Justices,

It appears likely that our Foreign Minister Alphawolf has left town, possibly permanently. It looks like a mising persons investigation will be required. Please consider this a request for such investigation, once the required 7 days period has expired.

This also brings me to a question of law. Who would be responsible for posting polls for declarations of war if the Foreign Minister office is vacant? Applicable law seems to be CoL F.2:

Section F.2 Declaration of War
To declare a war, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will create a normal poll for the Assembly, and a thread poll for the Senate. If more than 50% of the voters, not counting abstain, in both polls support the declaration, war can be declared. If either poll gains a two-thirds majority in support of war, war may be declared regardless of the other poll.

Under this rule, must the poll be posted by the FA, or can someone else handle that task?

Honorable Justices,

It appears likely that our Foreign Minister Alphawolf has left town, possibly permanently. It looks like a mising persons investigation will be required. Please consider this a request for such investigation, once the required 7 days period has expired.

This also brings me to a question of law. Who would be responsible for posting polls for declarations of war if the Foreign Minister office is vacant? Applicable law seems to be CoL F.2:

Section F.2 Declaration of War
To declare a war, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will create a normal poll for the Assembly, and a thread poll for the Senate. If more than 50% of the voters, not counting abstain, in both polls support the declaration, war can be declared. If either poll gains a two-thirds majority in support of war, war may be declared regardless of the other poll.

Under this rule, must the poll be posted by the FA, or can someone else handle that task?

I find that this request for judicial review has merit and is to be added to the docket as DGVIIT6JR1

I second the request for a missing persons investigation as soon as the allotted time has passed.

an absence investigation has been initiated , a pm and e-mail has been sent to alphawolf asking for clarificication, if he does not respond in 48 hours then the judiciary will vote on his removal from office
-mhcarver
Office of the Chief Justice

read the announcment in the civ4 forum, i don't think he is coming back

Yes, we know that... but the proper procedures have to be followed.

first off I'm sorry for not being around lately, but it has been 48 hours since an absence investigation was opened into the dissapearance of FA minister alphawolf, since he has not responded I am therefore forced to rule that his office is VACANT. I urge my colleagues to rule on this matter quickly, btw I should have a ruling on JR 1 in a few hours

I agree that alphawolf's office is vacant

Ruling on JR1
I find that the only other person who may post a poll for going to war is the FA deputy, if no deputy exists then vacancy proceedings must begin .(I would write more but I have a nasty headache and staring at a computer isn't making it any better)

The Public Defender's Office also agrees that Alphawolf has left his Office and it now remains vacant.

I have to disagree with my esteemed colleague, CJ mhcarver. In reviewing the Constitution, I have found that Article E may be interpreted in more ways than one.

Taken from Article E

"The President is also responsible for all tasks not assigned to another leader."

In a situation such as the one Alphawolf has brought upon us, where there is no Leader in the Foreign Affairs Office, the responsibility of bringing about a Declaration of War (to include the polling and discussions) is not assigned. It might be argued that this responsibility, or task, is assigned to the Foreign Affairs Office, but as you can read above, Article E states that if a Leader is not assigned this task, then the President is responsible. It says nothing about an Office.

We all know that Alphawolf is gone (although he may still be with us in the likes of players like GeorgeOP) and it is now official. In the opinion of the Public Defender, if the need arises (such as a Declaration is needed before a new Minister can be found), then the President may post the poll.

EDIT: In reading this opinion again, I find that my overall thought seems incomplete. What I meant to say was that in addition to a Deputy, who may step up as a Leader and post the poll, the President may, in times when there is no Deputy (thus no Leader) post the poll. In contrast to CJ mhcarver, I believe that a Deputy is not the only person able to post the poll, that in certain circumstances, the President may also./EDIT

"The President is also responsible for all tasks not assigned to another leader."
I understand what Cyc is saying, but the key word is "assigned". Even if the office is vacant is the power to post war declaration polls still assigned to that office?

I am not posting an official opinion yet, because I want to see what others think about this.

I understand what Cyc is saying, but the key word is "assigned". Even if the office is vacant is the power to post war declaration polls still assigned to that office?

I am not posting an official opinion yet, because I want to see what others think about this.

I understand your hesitation, JA Black_Hole. If it would help, let's look at the CoL for Declaration of War. It states -

"To declare a war, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will create a normal poll..." , it doesn't say "The Office of Foreign Affairs", which it could have.

Also take another look at the Constitution. Revisiting Article E, we see -

"The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for all matters involving treaties with foreign nations...". Again, it doesn't state the Office of Foriegn Affairs, just the Minister.

So if there is no Minister and no Deputy to back that missing Minister up, then there is no one to assign said task to...

Thank-you for clearing that up for me Cyc.

Judge Advocate Ruling on JR #1
Article E states that the president is assigned all powers not assigned to another elected official, so the President receives the power to post polls for war declarations. So, I agree with Cyc, in absence of the FA minister and deputy, the President has the power to post polls asking for war declarations.

Well, JA Black_Hole, it appears as if our beloved Chief Justice has abandoned us for the [civ4] DG Judiciary. The Judicial Procedures are a little vague on this process. Shall we just vote his position vacant so you can fulfill his duty of recording JR1? Or do we need something more official? I say let's vote him out, you take over his duties and responsibilities, and I'll back you up.
;)

CJ mhcarver hasn't posted in the [civ3] DG since January 9th, but has posted elsewhere in Civfanatics. I believe this gives us cause to remove him. If we can get JR1 for this Term recorded, that should pretty much wrap it up. Your thoughts?

PD Cyc
:hammer:

mhcarver cursed, he knew he shouldn't have left his keys outside of the secret wine cellar he had installed underneath the old PD office, thankfully the PD hadn't found those pictures of him and the frat girls, or if he had he hadn't raised the issue of whehter or not that we legal, or if it was the horses fault in the other pictures. But anyways after he had been locked underneat that cellar for several days he was eventually found by the cleaning staff, somewhat intoxcated, I'm not as think as you drunk I am he bellowed out loud, after coming to , he realized that those photos hadn't been hidden and he had forgotten to update the log

OOC:very very sorry, I have neglected my duties this term and hope that it will never happen again, my deepest apologies
-mhcarver

Welcome back Mr. CJ :thumbsup:

Yes, welcome back, CJ mhcarver. Glad to see you've returned. Good work with the Judicial Log.

;) We'll have to discuss those issues (and photos) you brought up over a bottle of wine sometime.