Constitutional Convention on the Judicial Branch

[H Tower]

Current CtP2 Article on the Judicial Branch

Article III: Judicial Branch: The Court


1. Purpose:

The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls and elections, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game.

2. Construct of the Court:

(a) The Court is composed of 3 Judges who will serve a three month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(b) Each Judge has to be elected by the people in a seperate election poll. Every month one of the Judge positions shall be open for election. This positition shall be the one of the Judge who has reached the end of his term.
(c) The moment the election of a Judge position starts, shall be the moment on which the Judge who enters the last month of his term becomes the Senior Justice.
(d) Section 2(c) only applies to regular elections at the end of a Judge's term. It does not apply to elections that take place to replace impeached Judges. The replacement for an impeached Judge shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor was serving. If the Senior Justice was impeached, the new Judge shall become the Senior Justice. If another Judge was impeached, the Senior Justice shall keep his position.
(e) A Judge may not serve in other governmental posts.

3. Cases:

(a) The Court can only rule on cases filed. A case may be filed by any citizen who is not a Judge, by publically notifying the Senior Justice. This case must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Senior Justice will either accept or deny the case. This decision cannot be appealed. If the case is denied, the Senior Justice will publically inform the filer of the case, explaining the reason for the denial.
(c) Upon acceptance the Senior Justice is to open a thread with the description of the case. A public hearing will be held in that thread lasting three days.
(d) After three days, the thread will be closed and the Senior Justice will organize the Court's ruling. At least two Judges must vote on any ruling that is made. All rulings are immediately official and final as soon as two Judges have voted in favour of it.
(e) The only possibilty of an appeal is a Resolution poll put up by the citizen that filed the case or by a Minister or by the President. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal is voted upon. The ruling of the Court can be declared void by means of a Resolution poll.
(f) If a ruling is declared void by appeal, a new public hearing will be held in accordance with sections 3(c), 3(d) and 3(e), with the exception that the public hearing may be closed in less than three days if the Court deems this appropriate.

4. Rights and responsibilities:

(a) The Court may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon citizens who are before it, so long as such rules are in accordance with the constitution.
(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. The Court may appoint a Clerk of the Court to keep these records.
(c) If the Court rules that the actions of certain Citizens are in violation with the Constitution or other rules of Lemuria|Apolymuria, it may hand out punishments to these Citizens if it deems this appropriate. The Court will determine for itself what kind of punishment is applied, the punishment must fit the crime. However, no punishments may permanently affect a Citizens participation in the Democracy Game, the Court may not dismiss active members of government (although it is allowed to start up impeachment procedures as described in Article V) and the Court may not alter the Constitution (although it is allowed to start an Amendment poll, as described in Article IV).
(d) Punishments the Court hands out must include but are not limited to: warnings, impeachment procedures, barring Citizens from specific or any government offices in future elections, banning Citizens from the Democracy Game, declaring resolutions void, closing threads or polls, deleting or editing posts or threads, declaring polls invalid. Punishments which require action from the CtP2-Democracy Game forum moderator must be approved by this moderator, who shall offer an explanation to the Court if approval is not given.
(e) The Court may issue an injunction to halt any aspect of the game for up to 72 hours if at least two Judges agree to do so. Injunctions may only be issued for good cause. An injunction may only be continued beyond 72 hours if all three Judges agrees to do so. An injunction may be overturned at any time by a majority of the Court.
(f) The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall posting election polls and nomination threads whenever this is needed, as defined in article III and article IV.

[H Tower]

HTower Revision of the article

My personal revision of the Judicial Article
Article III: Judicial Branch: The Court


1. Purpose:

The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls and elections, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game.

2. Construct of the Court:

(a) The Court is composed of 3 Judges who will serve a three month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(b) Each Judge has to be elected by the people in a seperate election poll. Every month one of the Judge positions shall be open for election. This positition shall be the one of the Judge who has reached the end of his term.
(c) The moment the election of a Judge position starts, shall be the moment on which the Judge who enters the last month of his term becomes the Senior Justice.
(d) Section 2(c) only applies to regular elections at the end of a Judge's term. It does not apply to elections that take place to replace impeached Judges. The replacement for an impeached Judge shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor was serving. If the Senior Justice was impeached, the new Judge shall become the Senior Justice. If another Judge was impeached, the Senior Justice shall keep his position.
(e) A Judge may not serve in other governmental posts.

3. Cases:

(a) The Court can only rule on cases filed. A case may be filed by any citizen who is not a Judge, by publically notifying the Senior Justice. This case must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Senior Justice will either accept or deny the case. This decision cannot be appealed. If the case is denied, the Senior Justice will publically inform the filer of the case, explaining the reason for the denial.
(c)If the case filed deals with the constitutionality of a poll, the judges may make an immediate ruling without the use of a public hearing if all the judges agree with the ruling. The ruling may be challenged by either the owner of the thread or the person who filed the case. A public hearing will then be commenced to hear the case.
(d) Upon acceptance the Senior Justice is to open a thread with the description of the case. A public hearing will be held in that thread lasting three days unless Section 3(c) applies.
(e) After three days, the thread will be closed and the Senior Justice will organize the Court's ruling. At least two Judges must vote on any ruling that is made. All rulings are immediately official and final as soon as two Judges have voted in favour of it.
(f) The only possibilty of an appeal is a Resolution poll put up by the citizen that filed the case, the respondent or by a Minister or the President. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal is voted upon. The ruling of the Court can be declared void by means of a Resolution poll.
(g) If a ruling is declared void by appeal, a new public hearing will be held in accordance with sections 3(d), 3(e) and 3(f), with the exception that the public hearing may be closed in less than three days if the Court deems this appropriate.

4. Rights and responsibilities:

(a) The Court may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon citizens who are before it, so long as such rules are in accordance with the constitution.
(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. The Court may appoint a Clerk of the Court to keep these records.
(c) If the Court rules that the actions of certain Citizens are in violation with the Constitution or other rules of Lemuria, it may hand out punishments to these Citizens if it deems this appropriate. The Court will determine for itself what kind of punishment is applied, the punishment must fit the crime. However, no punishments may permanently affect a Citizens participation in the Democracy Game, the Court may not dismiss active members of government (although it is allowed to start up impeachment procedures as described in Article V) and the Court may not alter the Constitution (although it is allowed to start an Amendment poll, as described in Article IV).
(d) Punishments the Court hands out must include but are not limited to: warnings, impeachment procedures, barring Citizens from specific or any government offices in future elections, banning Citizens from the Democracy Game, declaring resolutions void, closing threads or polls, deleting or editing posts or threads, declaring polls invalid. Punishments which require action from the CtP2-Democracy Game forum moderator must be approved by this moderator, who shall offer an explanation to the Court if approval is not given.
(e) The Court may issue an injunction to halt any aspect of the game for up to 72 hours if at least two Judges agree to do so. Injunctions may only be issued for good cause. An injunction may only be continued beyond 72 hours if all three Judges agrees to do so. An injunction may be overturned at any time by a majority of the Court.
(f) The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall posting election polls and nomination thread whenever this is needed, as defined in article III and article IV.


WHAT WAS CHANGED
-Section 3(c) was added: (c)If the case filed deals with the constitutionality of a poll, the judges may make an immediate ruling without the use of a public hearing if all the judges agree with the ruling. The ruling may be challenged by either the owner of the thread or the person who filed the case. A public hearing will then be commenced to hear the case.
This will allow the court to rule quickly against a poll that is clearly unconstitutional but leaves room for either party of the case to challenge the ruling if they believe it is in error.
-The former sections 3(c), 3(d), 3(e), 3(f) are all bumped down one letter.
-Section 3(e) The accused(respondent of the case, owner of the poll) is now allowed to challenge the ruling. I can't believe we left this out before!
-Section 4(c) Removed the ambiguity as to what our nation is called, by replacing Lemuria|Apolymuria with Lemuria.
-clarified that there will be only one nomination thread by changing section 4(f) to say The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall posting election polls and nomination thread whenever this is needed, as defined in article III and article IV. instead of The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall posting election polls and nomination threads whenever this is needed, as defined in article III and article IV.

[checkMate]

How do we start the initial court. Do we start with three judges and two of them have shorten terms to initiate the stagger?

[Locutus]

We choose the first 3 judges a few days/weeks before the game actually starts, so they can help start up the game. And yes, we choose them seperately: 1 poll for each position, where the length of the positions varies.

[Pedrunn]

Dont forget to add a section about judge delegate and missing judges like the one in the Article II.

[mrmitchell]

looks good

I hereby announce I am running for Judge anytime the elections start



(Can we simplify it just a little bit? I hate beaurocraciedfied texts )

some day i'm going to learn how to spell that word right...someday....

[shaved_ape]

i too announce my election campaign for judge when they start

[Nimrod]

this constitution looks good to me

[miggio]

there is a thread for judge nominations

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75515

there ^
|

[mrmitchell]

Ok, I announced there too to get my +1 in

(and to let them know if they didn't read this)

[Frozzy]

Naughty Mrmitchell...

[miggio]

this constitution is good but,

4(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. -----The Court may appoint a Clerk of the Court to keep these records.-----

if we decide on appointing, then it would be against the constitution to refuse the position, and an appropite punishment could be assigned.

if we decide on offering the position, then the citizen could accept or decline the offer, and it is constitutional.

to avoid any conflicts, we should change article 4(b), to say:

4(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. The Court may offer the position Clerk of the Court, to a citizen to keep these records.

[mrmitchell]

Good point.

I think it'd be better to have a Bill of Rights addition that says "Noone shall be forced into unwanted work" or something of the sort, though.

[checkMate]

I may be out of line proposing these changes, but since it looked like I had to read it, just a couple of things came to mind.

This is edited from H.Towers "ctp version"
posted 18-01-2003 00:23

1. Purpose:

The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls and elections, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game.

2. Construct of the Court:

(a) The Court is composed of 3 Judges who will serve a three month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(b) Each Judge has to be elected by the people in a seperate election poll. Every month one of the Judge positions shall be open for election. This positition shall be the one of the Judge who has reached the end of his term.
(c) The moment the election of a Judge position starts, shall be the moment on which the Judge who enters the last month of his term becomes the Senior Justice.
(d) Section 2(c) only applies to regular elections at the end of a Judge's term. It does not apply to elections that take place to replace impeached Judges. The replacement for an impeached Judge shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor was serving. If the Senior Justice was impeached, the new Judge shall become the Senior Justice. If another Judge was impeached, the Senior Justice shall keep his position.
(e) A Judge may not serve in other governmental posts.

3. Cases:

(a) The Court can only rule on cases filed. A case may be filed by any citizen who is not a Judge, by publically notifying the Senior Justice. This case must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Senior Justice will either accept or deny the case. If the case is denied, the Senior Justice will publically inform the filer of the case, explaining the reason for the denial.
b.2) A denial may be appealed by the filer of the case by posting a Resolution poll. The poll must provide only two options a) "overturn case denial", b) "uphold case denial." The court must accept cases if the overturn case denial option wins by a simple majority. The court must deny the case if the "uphold case denial" option wins by a simple majority. In the event of a tie, the Senior Judge must decide whether to accept the case. No further appeal is allowed after the completion of the Resolution Poll.
(c)If the case filed deals with the constitutionality of a poll, the judges may make an immediate ruling without the use of a public hearing if all the judges agree with the ruling. The ruling may be challenged by either the owner of the thread or the person who filed the case. A public hearing will then be commenced to hear the case.
(d) Upon acceptance the Senior Justice is to open a thread with the description of the case. A public hearing will be held in that thread lasting three days unless Section 3(c) applies.
(e) After three days, the thread will be closed and the Senior Justice will organize the Court's ruling. At least two Judges must vote on any ruling that is made. All rulings are immediately official and final as soon as two Judges have voted in favour of it.
(f) The only possibilty of an appeal is a Resolution poll put up by the citizen that filed the case, the respondent or by a Minister or the President. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal is voted upon. The ruling of the Court can be declared void by means of a Resolution poll.
(g) If a ruling is declared void by appeal, a new public hearing will be held in accordance with sections 3(d), 3(e) and 3(f), with the exception that the public hearing may be closed in less than three days if the Court deems this appropriate.

4. Rights and responsibilities:

(a) The Court may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon citizens who are before it, so long as such rules are in accordance with the constitution.
(b) The Court will keep a record of all disputes, issues, and hearings before the Court. The Court will also keep a public record of the Constitution in its most current form. The Court may appoint any willing citizen to be the Clerk of the Court to keep these records.
(c) If the Court rules that the actions of certain Citizens are in violation with the Constitution or other rules of Atlantis, it may hand out punishments to these Citizens if it deems this appropriate. The Court will determine for itself what kind of punishment is applied, the punishment must fit the crime. However, no punishments may permanently affect a Citizens participation in the Democracy Game, the Court may not dismiss active members of government (although it is allowed to start up impeachment procedures as described in Article V) and the Court may not alter the Constitution (although it is allowed to start an Amendment poll, as described in Article IV).
(d) Punishments the Court hands out must include but are not limited to: warnings, impeachment procedures, barring Citizens from specific or any government offices in future elections, banning Citizens from the Democracy Game, declaring resolutions void, closing threads or polls, deleting or editing posts or threads, declaring polls invalid. Punishments which require action from the CtP-Democracy Game forum moderator must be approved by this moderator, who shall offer an explanation to the Court if approval is not given.
(e) The Court may issue an injunction to halt any aspect of the game for up to 72 hours if at least two Judges agree to do so. Injunctions may only be issued for good cause. An injunction may only be continued beyond 72 hours if all three Judges agrees to do so. An injunction may be overturned at any time by a majority of the Court.
(f) The Court is responsible for organizing elections. It shall post election polls and nomination threads whenever they are needed, as defined in article III and article IV.


WHAT WAS CHANGED (from H Towers Post.)

The clerk was specified as a "willing citizen"
some very minor grammer change.
Changed name from Lemur to Atlantis
The senior judges initial denial of a case may be appealed per section b.2)

[J Bytheway]

Probably all polls should include an abstain option (as the polling rules article says), so you want more than just those two options.