Term 3 Judiciary ~ The High Court

[Cyc]

The High Court of Hibernia

Chief Justice Cyc
Judge Advocate Bowsling
Public Defender Hasdrubal Barca

​

 

[Cyc]

Welcome to Term 3 Judiciary​

Our Court will be in session once our Court Procedures have been approved. Please feel free to read the Court Procedures and if you have any questions about them or the Constitution, post below. Constitutional Amendments, Judicial Reviews, and Citizen's Complaints are all welcome.

Court Procedures​

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 H.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 Assembly 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 Assembly 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 Assembly 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 #4 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 a brief 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]

Docket for Judicial Reviews
__________________________

DGRJR1 ~

 

[Cyc]

Docket for Citizen's Complaints ~


HCH.CC1 ~
President civplayah has been charged with violating Section E.2 of the Code of Laws.

 

[Bowsling]

I agree with all above procedures.

 

[Cyc]

The Chief Justice also approves of the Court Procedures, giving us our 2/3 approval standard. Court is now in Session. A PM has been sent to Public Defender Hasdrubal Barca.

 

[Cyc]

The following Citizen's Complaint has been PMd to the Chief Justice. It will be posted anonymously. It accuses President civplayah of not upholding one of the requirements of the Office of President. Specifically, Section E.2 of the Code of Laws.

Accused Citizen: civplayah

Accused Law Broken:Section E.2 Worker Assignment and Allocation

The President has complete authority over Workers, as long as the President has a thread posted in the Citizen's sub-forum for Worker allocation. There the President must state in general terms what he or she plans on doing with the Workers during the next Turn Session and perhaps during the Term. In this thread, citizens can post their comments and complaints about the President's plan or execution of said plan. Governors may also post requests for Workers to do specific jobs in their Provinces in this thread. The President must try to honor these requests.

The time of the infraction will be viewed as from the begining of Term 3 to Present.

 

[Bowsling]

I give these charges merit.

 

[Bowsling]

I will also be leaving for the weekend and won't get back till monbay, so I'll appoint a pro term justice until Monday. Since I won't be able to make new appointments after rejections/absences, here is the order:
Black Hole
Lord Civius
Darkwish
DaveShack
TheOverseer714
Falcon02

 

[Hasdrubal Barca]

Public Defender reports for duty, i have PM President civplayah so we can start on a defense strategy in the face of such law breaking acusation. My client should not make any public comments on this matter for now.

 

[Cyc]

The Chief Justice also deems these charges to have merit.

The Judge Advocate may post an Investigation thread in the Citizen's sub-forum. Please quote Sections F and G in the thread and reference the readers/posters back to the Court Procedures with a link. Note that the first two posts are to be made by the defendant and the Public Defender. If either of them choose to give up this right they should post their intention to do so in the thread.