Judicial Reform

[Hileville]

I think we need on Bel.

[Gandallfia]

I?m new here, but I feel that the independence of the Judiciary from the Executive is an important element of any free and fair Nation. As such the appointment of a Supreme Court of 3 Judges would remove the judiciary from the executive whilst keeping balance.The power to remove a judge could require the consent of the delegate, the MoJ and the other Judges not being the focus of removal (proceedures and protocol might need to be hammered out to give an outline of suitable reasons for removal)The MoJ would take on the role of Attorney General/Chief Prosecutor, still responsible for the processing of the allegation (ie collection of evidence for Prosecution) bringing forwards the gathered evidence in any dispute to the Supreme Court (if the MoJ deems the evidence sufficient to bring charges) who would then judge on the case, being free to call for additional evidence as required. The accused nation would be responsible for presenting their evidence to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would take on the role currently given to the MoJ during a trial (ie guiding direction)The Supreme Court would then pronounce judgement, inline with the decision of the jury (unless the Supreme court does away with the Jury), and the MoJ would be responsible for carrying out the sentence within the time limit set.Appeals would then be lodged with the Delegate directly who would deal with appeals in th current manner.Just some points I thought might need including if nothing changes:In paragraph one:The second sentence should include a reference to ?the accused nation(s) being notified of such action having been taken.?The third sentence ?the name(s) of? should be inserted between ?include? and ?the accussed?.

[Hileville]

Okay lets settle some tings so we can get some things drafted here.A 3 Justice Supreme Court has overtaken the Single Justice court so how are the justices going to be put in office?Elections or Appointment with a public hearing and confirmation vote similar to VD's.Bel do you need help writing the civil/criminal code?

[Hileville]

Proposed Amendment to Article 7: WORK IN PROGRESS. Similar to Balder right now which copied Euro I believe after the last amendment. I am changing things though.

<strong class='bbc'>Article 7 - Judiciary</strong>



1. The Supreme Court has the power to interpret the Charter and Laws and may annul any Law or part thereof that contradicts the Constitution and any action of the executive taken in the exercise of its powers that contradicts the Charter or Laws. The Supreme Court has the power to adjudicate on the legality of elections and the power to determine conviction and sentencing in criminal cases, and resolution and compensation in civil cases. The Supreme Court may exercise these powers upon being petitioned by an individual eligible to do so and with the agreement of more than half its members.



2. The Chief Justice is the President of the Supreme Court and has the responsibilities of the moderation and administration of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice is obligated to designate an Associate Justice as the senior Associate Justice to assume his duties pro tempore during his absence or in the case of his recall or resignation until he is succeeded.



3. The Cabinet of The South Pacific has the responsibility of appointing the Supreme Court after each regular election of its members.? After a majority of members approve of the nominees they are to be submitted to the Assembly for approval.? Nominees will be approved by a vote in accordance with the normal Assembly procedures.

Let me know what you think and what needs to be changed.

<strong class='bbc'>Article 16 - Responsibilities and authority of the Ministry of Justice</strong>



The Ministry of Justice shall be led by the Minister of Justice who is the Chief Prosecutor for the region.



WORK IN PROGRESS

[Eluvatar]

How are we going to have 3 active justices???

[Antariel]

This is what I raised right at the start. But the voting ignored it.

[A mean old man]

I voted for the first option.The 3 justices system has failed miserably in TNP due to inactivity. It could not work here.

[Milograd]

We aren't active enough to maintain 3 justices.

[Hileville]

Yeah. I was just going by what the vote was at the time of me posting that. I can adjust it to a single judge.

[Gandallfia]

Add a clause that stipulates that the maintanence of three judges as a Supreme Court is the desired form of judiciary however until such time as numbers allow a single judge will have to suffice.



In reality the ammendment works with only two judges if the second half of the last sentence in clause 1 is rewritten, with the removal of "of more than half " and the inserting of 'unanimous' to " the agreement ". so:



'The Supreme Court may exercise these powers upon being petitioned by an individual eligible to do so and with the <strong class='bbc'>unanimous</strong> agreement of its members. '



The joy is that it leaves the Constitution open enough for the Judicial aspirations of a three judge Supreme Court to become a reality (without too much wrangling over detail changes to the Constitution when it comes to it) whilst allowing TSP to keep working in the meantime.



I apologise if people thought I was some flash in the pan poster and had a few days of posting early on and then let it slip, I've been reading posts, but been too busy lately to engage in debates that I cannot follow due to my 'youth' on the forum (such as The Trial of Antariel).

[Gandallfia]

Having thought about this, and I might be having a conversation with myself now - Keep everything as it is and insert a clause that stipulates that if three judges is deemed unworkable due to active membership of TSP then the Cabinet can make a decision to have two (with a named assistant).

[Rebel-topia]

Having thought about this, and I might be having a conversation with myself now - Keep everything as it is and insert a clause that stipulates that if three judges is deemed unworkable due to active membership of TSP then the Cabinet can make a decision to have two (with a named assistant).

That works...

[Antariel]

Sounds good to me. We did discuss this a bit in IRC, Gandalf

[Gandallfia]

Ah! :whistle: Since I'm yet to get the the IRC thingy-me-bob I'll look sheepishly sideways and sidle away in disgrace. lol. :dance:

[Gandallfia]

Oh and for clarity, by "the Cabinet can make a decision to have two (with a named assistant)." I mean that the assistsnt will be the second of the two!

[Antariel]

I'm rarely an IRCer, you are not alone

[Gandallfia]

Well I feel so much better then - maybe something needs ot happen that if something like this is discussed on ICR a brief note might appear here at somepoint from someone who was there... just so I don't feel like a fool again

[Antariel]

The lack of such a system is why I recently began to IRC, after ignoring it for a year

[Hileville]

I missed that conversation on IRC as well but I am usually always on IRC.

[Hileville]

How about this for now?

<strong class='bbc'>Article 7 - Judiciary</strong>



1. The Superior Court of the South Pacific has the power to interpret the Charter and Laws and may annul any Law or part thereof that contradicts the Constitution and any action of the executive taken in the exercise of its powers that contradicts the Charter or Laws. The Superior Court has the power to adjudicate on the legality of elections and the power to determine conviction and sentencing in criminal cases, and resolution and compensation in civil cases. The Superior Court may exercise these powers upon being petitioned by an individual eligible to do so..



2. The Magistrate has the responsibilities of the moderation and administration of the Superior Court.? The Magistrate may appoint Associate Magistrates for the purpose of aiding in and presiding over cases of the Superior Court.? These Associate Magistrates must be approved by a majority vote of the Assembly.



3. The Cabinet of The South Pacific has the responsibility of appointing the Superior Court Magistrate after each regular election of its members.? After a majority of members approve of the nominee they are to be submitted to the Assembly for approval.? Nominees will be approved by a vote in accordance with the normal Assembly procedures.



4.? The Procedures of the Superior Court shall be written in law by the Assembly of the South Pacific.

<strong class='bbc'>Article 16 - Responsibilities and authority of the Ministry of Justice</strong>



The Ministry of Justice shall be led by the Minister of Justice who is to serve as Chief Prosecutor to all criminal cases brought before the Superior Court of the South Pacific.? The Minister of Justice will also serve as the Defense Attorney for members of Cabinet unless they are being prosecuted by the state.

I need some assistance on the MoJ stuff as the wording is just not coming to me.

[Gandallfia]

I quite like the way it is worded, just one little point - are we going for Supreme or Superior Court? You seem to have used both terms in the wording.

I was also wondering how the clauses about the Supreme Court fit into the other clauses that are currently contained in Article 7 of the <a class='bbc_url' href='http://z1.invisionfree.com/theSPacific/index.php?showtopic=9476'>Charter</a> concerning the Judiciary.

[Hileville]

I quite like the way it is worded, just one little point - are we going for Supreme or Superior Court? You seem to have used both terms in the wording.

I was also wondering how the clauses about the Supreme Court fit into the other clauses that are currently contained in Article 7 of the <a class='bbc_url' href='http://z1.invisionfree.com/theSPacific/index.php?showtopic=9476'>Charter</a> concerning the Judiciary.

At first I wanted to use Supreme Court but then when I reworded it this morning I decided I liked Superior Court better. Superior is also different as most regions seem to use Supreme Court. (I fixed where Supreme was still there instead of Superior)

The current clauses in Article 7 would no longer apply and be amended to what I have. The procedures of the Court will be written into a law instead of having it in the Charter. (Which is also what I want to do with the Assembly Procedures - but haven't gotten to it yet.)

[Gandallfia]

OK - sounds like a sensible plan regarding putting procedure into law rather than having it in the charter. It is therefore only the two times you have used Supreme in Clause 1 that need changing then.

[Hileville]

I think Article 7 is good but how should we word Article 16? Or I should ask what should be the duties of our Minister of Justice who will be our chief prosecutor?I will start sorting out the Court procedures today and hopefully come up with something soon.

[Gandallfia]

I was looking at Article 16 and realised that the duties of the MoJ were mainly contained in Article 7 with the focus on proceedure, however since that is being written into a law are you wwanting to write the responsibilities of the MoJ into the Law as oppossed to the Charter?