Term 2 Judicial Thread ~

[Cyc]

 

[Cyc]

Census for Term 2 is: 49

Quorum for Constitutional Amendment: 32​

With a minimum of 67% YES votes over NO votes​

Abstain not withstanding.​

Quorum for Code of Laws Section: 18​

With a 55% approval rate.​

 

[Cyc]

1. The Judiciary is comprised of three members, the Chief Justice, the Public Defender, and the Judge Advocate.

2. All members of the Judiciary shall share certain rights and responsibilities.

A. Post polls and discussions on interpretations of the Constitution, and any lower laws.​

B. Do not have Deputies, but may appoint Pro-Tem officials (Pro-Tem CJ, Pro-Tem PD, and Pro-Tem JA) if they are unable to fulfill their duties. Pro-Tem officials have all the rights and responsibilities of the officials they are filling in for, but are a temporary position, and must surrender their pro-tem status upon the request of the official. The pro-tem status may be given for individual assigments or for the entirety of the official (this must be declared).​

C. Participate in Judicial Review to determine the leagality of proposed Constitutional Amendments and any other form of lower law. Any citizen may request a JR for this purpose.​

D. Initiate and participate in Judicial Review to interpret and clarify existing Constitutional Articles and any other form of lower law. Any citizen may request a JR for this purpose.​

E. Initiate and participate in Judicial Review to examine whether or not all investigations should be considered as having "No Merit".​

F. Post Legislative polls that have passed Judicial Review.​

3. The Chief Justice ~

A. Perform as needed in the positions of Public Defender and Judge Advocate in the absense of either official. This duty shall only apply if said officials have not appointed a Pro-Tem official.​

B. Is responsible for posting the current Active Census in the Judicial thread at the begining of the Term.​

C. Is responsible for updating and maintaining the Judicial Log.​

D. Is responsible for monitoring investigation threads to keep them on topic and procedurally accurate.​

E. If the situation arises where the actions of a Leader (Advisor) of a Department fall within the parameters of being absent from a postion, as set forth by CoL Section G.3, the Chief Justice may declare said Office vacant.​

4. The Public Defender ~

A. Is tasked with ensuring all Citizen's Complaint investigations are performed correctly, with deference to the presumed innocense of the accused.​

B. Will ensure that the accused understands the charges brought against them and what rules were purportedly broken so the accused can mount an effective defense.​

C. Will perform as defender, unless the accused wishes otherwise.​

5. The Judge Advocate ~

A. Is tasked with the mechanics of Citizen's Complaint investigations and trial.​

B. Will open and close discussions and polls as appropriate to the trial.​

C. Will perform as Prosecutor (gather and present evidence) for any anonimous accusers.​

6. All Judicial Review and Investigations will be held publicly. Communication between the Justices will be posted in the Judicial thread or the Investigation threads.

7. Judicial Review ~

A. A quorum requires the attendance of all three members of the Judiciary.​

B. Review of proposed legislation.​

1. Any member of the House may present proposed legislation to the Judiciary after following procedure for proposing amendments and laws.​

2. The request is posted in the appropriate list in post #4 of this thread.​

3. 2 of 3 Justices must agree that the amendment or law does not conflict with existing rules.​

4. If a proposal is rejected due to conflict(s), it is returned to the house with detail of the conflict(s) noted. This proposal may then be edited and resubmitted for Review.​

5. If the proposal is approved through Judicial Review, it is posted as a ratification poll by a member of the Judiciary.​

C. Interpretation and clarification of existing Law.​

1. Any member of the house may request a Judicial Review for interpretation or clarification of an existing Law. The request must be formatted in a YES or NO question format. If it is not, the Judiciary may reformat the request in order to achieve this goal. The existing Law must also be clearly stated in the request.​

2. The request is posted in the appropriate list in post #3 of this thread.​

3. 2 of 3 Justices must agree on the interpretation or clarification, forming a Majority Opinion.​

4. The interpretation/clarification is then entered into the Judicial Log for reference.​

D. Dismissal of Investigations deemed as having "No Merit".​

1. 3 of 3 Justices must agree that the accusation shows "No Merit".​

2. Specific reasoning must be given by each Justice for a judgement of "No Merit".​

8. Citizen's Complaint ~

A. If any citizen believes that someone has violated an Article of the Constitution or any other lower form of law, they can report this suspected violation for investigation and trial.​

1. The allegation can be posted in the Judicial thread.​

2. The allegation can be made privately to the Chief Justice via Private Message.​

B. Allegations of misconduct must include:​

1. Name of the defendant.​

2. The Article(s) or lower Law(s) suspected of being violated.​

3. When and where the suspected violation(s) occurred.​

C. The Citizen's Complaint is posted in the appropriate list in post #5 of this thread.​

D. The Judge Advocate notifies the Public Defender and the accused of the charge(s).​

E. A brief Judicial Review of the charge(s) is done (see 7.D above) to determine if the charges have "No Merit".​

F. If the charge(s) are found to have "Merit", the Judge Advocate opens an Investigation thread detailing the alleged violation(s).​

1. The first two replies to this thread are reserved for the Public Defender and the accused to respond publicly to the charge(s) (Defense). Either may post first, and both may say what they wish (within forum rules). If their replies/responses have not been posted within 24 hours of the thread's posting, they lose these reserved spots and anyone can post.​

G. Citizens can post in this thread their opinions on the charge(s), whether they think the accused is guilty of the infraction or not, and if the case should go to Trial.​

H. If the accused pleads guilty, the Trial is skipped and the case moves to the Sentencing Process. The Chief Justice may close the Investigation thread early if this occurs.​

I. When discussion has petered out and at least 48 hours have passed, the Judge Advocate will post a Trial poll.​

1. If the results of the Investigation (defined as input in the Investigation thread) thread are overwhelmingly in favor of the Defendant, the Judge Advocate will submit the case for abrief Judicial Review to determine if the case has "No Merit". If the case is then viewed as having "No Merit" the case is closed.​

2. The Trial poll will have the Options of Guilty, Innocent, and Abstain and will remain open for 48 hours.​

3. In the event the Trial poll ends in a tie, the members of the Judiciary will determine if the defendant is innocent or guilty by posting independant and clear Opinions at the end of the Trial poll.​

J. If the accused is found guilty through the Trial poll, a Sentencing poll is posted by the Judge Advocate.​

1 The Sentencing poll will remain open for 48 hours, and have the following Options:​

a. Recommended Moderator action - turned over to the Moderators.​

b. Impeachment from Office (if applicable)​

c. Final Warning (whether or not a prior warning has been given)​

d. Warning​

e. No Punishment​

f. Abstain​

2. If the guilty party has previously received a final warning for the current offense, the Judge Advocate will post that in the Sentencing poll narrative.​

3. In the event the Sentencing poll ends in a tie, the members of the Judiciary will determine the Sentence by posting independant and clear Opinions at the end of the Sentencing poll.​

4. The guilty party must abide by the results of the Sentencing poll.​

9. The Judicial Log may be referenced for further interpretation or clarification, but may not be used for criteria for review of proposed legislation.

10. For any Judicial Review ruling or issue involved with a Citizen Complaint, each Justices must post independantly their opinion on the matter. In essance, they must answer the question asked by the Judicial Review in a Yes or No fashion (have "Merit" or "No Merit" also applies here). Specifically, there will be no "fence-riding". Each Justice will come down on one side of the issue or the other, clearly.

 

[Cyc]

DG5JR13 ~

complete~ Article G and supporting Sections of the Code of Laws
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DG5JR14 ~

complete~ Code of Laws Section O.1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DG5JR15 ~

complete~ The powers of the Vice President in regards to creating a Turn Chat Instruction Thread
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DG5JR16 ~

complete~ Concerning whether or not Article N of the Constitution requires citizens to obey the Code of Laws.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DG5JR17 ~

complete~ Concerning the authority and capabilities of Governors appointed to Office, while a Confirmation Poll has been posted against them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DG5JR18 ~

complete~ Concerning Article N. 2 questions to the Court, first asking about the allowances granted to the People through Article N, and the second asking if said Article grants specific rights to the People in naming their Province.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DG5JR19 ~

Sir Donald III has requested a Judicial Review concerning who has the authority to post Instructions for the route of a Naval transport carrying a Settler. SD3 is referencing Article O for this JR.

 

[Cyc]

DG5CC1 ~

Minister Black_Hole has, as a citizen, filed a Citizen's Complaint against President Chieftess. He claims Chieftess violated Article D of the Constitution by ignoring legally posted Instructions in the Turn Chat Instruction thread (TCIT) in the Turn Chat today. She compounded this act by over-stepping her authority as President/DP in calling a tied Cultural Poll in favor of he option she voted for, even though Minister snipelfritz was present at the chat. When she did this act, it would have meant that Zojoji was changed to a Colosseum (as Deputy-Governor RegentMan has posted), but instead switched it a Swordsman on her own.

This Citizen's complaint has been accepted, and will move onto the next stage. As it is nearing the end of the Term, and I have not heard from the Judge Advocate on the Call for Clarification, if Octavian X doesn't respond to this action and post that he has PM'd the accused, I can step in and assume his duties.

 

[DaveShack]

I hesitate to complain, but black letters on red text for the links in post 2 really don't work very well. Otherwise this is starting off as a fairly entertaining thread already...

 

[Cyc]

I hesitate to complain, but black letters on red text for the links in post 2 really don't work very well. Otherwise this is starting off as a fairly entertaining thread already...

I'm sorry, DaveShack. I'll try not to use red text next time. But I'm glad you enjoy the thread.

 

[Black_Hole]

good job on your fiercly won election I hope this term we can get this constitution in tip top shape

 

[Octavian X]

Nice graphics, Cyc.

Just a comment on the procedural list - it'd be easy enough to draw that up into a nice looking list using vb code.

• Something
  1. like
     • this.

If I have time, I could rewrite it to make it a bit easier on the eyes.

 

[Cyc]

Thank you, Gentlemen, for your kind words.

Octavian, I see what you mean. I didn't want to use regular code tags, as they put the text in a box with slide bars. This makes printing a pain. The list option may be a good one, but with all of the olding an letters and numbers, I just didn't think it would work. I thought separating the Sections with a space would suffice. I guess I was wrong.

 

[blackheart]

What font is that Cyc? I want it! Also, is that our national flag?

 

[ravensfire]

Cyc,

Consider the (indent) tag - from some testing I did, you can nest the tags as needed.

Example:
1. Heading 1

a. Heading 2​

i. Heading 3​

-- Ravensfire

 

[Cyc]

Thanks Ravensfire. That Indent Tag worked well. Took a lot of paste work, but I got it done. Thanks to Oct, too.

 

[Cyc]

What font is that Cyc? I want it! Also, is that our national flag?

The font is Utamara. It has been handed down to me generation to generation since the begining of DG5. It is the sacred font. You must pass many a test, grasshopper, before you can use it.

And yes, that is our National flag. Hail Japanatica!

 

[ravensfire]

Thanks Ravensfire. That Indent Tag worked well. Took a lot of past work, but I got it done. Thanks to Oct, too.

I know - I tried doing it while waiting for everything to reinstall (gah - reinstalling Win XP is a pain, but new vid card and LCD - *drool*), quit in disgust after a paragraph muttering - CJ's job, not mine!

-- Ravensfire

 

[ravensfire]

As the Court is aware, there have been ongoing discussions on the creation of an Article G that should pass Ratification.

The most recent proposal has been in Proposed Poll format for over 24 hours. I therefore ask the Court to conduct a Judicial Review of the proposed Article G and supporting CoL sections. Links to each are below.

Article G
CoL Section G.1 - Deputies
CoL Section G.2 - Confirmation Polls
CoL Section G.3 - Vacancies

My thanks,
-- Ravensfire

 

[Cyc]

DG5JR13 ~

Ravensfire has requested a Judicial Review for proposed Article G and supporting Sections of the Code of Laws. All citizens are encouraged to contribute in discussion about this matter. This request has been accepted and posted in post #4 of this thread.

 

[Cyc]

This Court is now in session. With this Term's first Judicial matter having been filed, I now call upon my esteemed colleagues, Public Defender KCCrusader and Judge Advocate Octavian X, to join me in the work before us.

CJ Cyc

 

[Cyc]

DG5JR13

After review of the proposed Article of the Constitution and the supporting three proposed Sections of the Code of Laws put forth by Ravensfire, and finding no conflicts with existing Law, I recommend that these legislative documents be submitted for ratification by the House.

CJ Cyc

 

[KCCrusader]

DG5JR13 Proposed by: Ravensfire
Regarding Article G and respective CoL amendments.

Upon review of this legislation, I find that it in no way conflicts with existing laws. The bill has my approval to move to the voting process.