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The Administration of Justice Amendment Act

1) This Act shall be cited as the Administration of Justice Act

2) Article I, Section 1 of the Fundamental Laws of Wintreath shall be amended as follows:

1. The legislative authorities and duties of Wintreath shall be vested in a bicameral legislature called the Storting, which shall consist of a lower chamber called the Underhusen and an upper chamber called the Overhusen.

3) Article III of the Fundamental Laws of Wintreath shall be amended as follows:

The Lagmand Rådet
1. The judicial powers and duties of Wintreath shall reside with a council of judges called The Lagmand Rådet.

2. The Lagmand Rådet shall be comprised of any number of Lagmen who have applied for the position and been accepted by a majority of the both chambers of the Storting as well as the Monarch. Lagmen must have been Citizens of Wintreath for the last three months, been a current or past member of the Storting, and have made at least 50 forum posts in the last calendar month.

3. The Storting shall have the authority to determine any procedures for approval of Lagmen in line with the specifications of this Article.

4. Lagmen shall be removed from the Lagmand Rådet if they fail to meet any of the criteria listed in Section 2, or if a petition for their removal is passed by both chambers of the Storting and approved by the Monarch.

Selection of Lagmen
5. Upon the filing of each case, the Monarch shall select three Lagmen to serve as judges at random, utilizing a method approved by the Storting. Lagmen who have been named as the petitioner, respondent, plaintiff, or defendant to the case shall be ineligible to serve on the case and shall be skipped over if selected.

6. In the event that a Lagman has been absent for five days, has been removed from the Lagmand Rådet in accordance with Section 2, or recuses themself from the case, the Monarch shall select another Lagman under the specifications listed in Article 4.

7. The presiding Lagman shall be the judge on the case that was selected earliest.

Case Procedures
8. All trails and cases shall proceed along the procedures established by the Storting.

This is a proposal for reforming the judicial areas of our region. I created it because there was some concern of potential conflicts of interests within the Storting (who currently judges cases) or myself (who selectes judges from the Storting).

This proposal creates a new branch of government called the Lagmand Rådet. One thing I have wanted to avoid in this region is an inactive regional court staffed with judges who can make arbitrary decisions with impunity, so this isn't necessarily a court as much as a reserve pool of potential judges for when a case comes up. Anyone can apply for it, but the requirements are strict because the job requires it. A judge should know the regional laws and be able to interpret them, so there's a requirement that they be a past or present member of the Storting. A judge should be active, so there's a post requirement. They should have been here long enough to understand the region, so there's a timed Citizenship requirement. Finally, a judge should be accountable to the people and the Monarch, so they are subject to the approval of both the Storting and the Monarch when they apply.

It also calls for judges for individual cases to be selected from the pool at random and makes judges which are a party to the case ineligible to judge over them, helping to remove conflicts of interest.

If people are happy with the current system, that is fine, but I thought I would craft this to see if people would like this method better.

* Denth Kasten approves

I'd prefer to just amend the Current legislation on what we have. Mainly because it takes less time. And technically you can create this via amending the Judicial Offices Act and Creating a MInistry. Besides I feel like if it's not a review of laws, it has no reason to not use Skrifa. Technically you are still creating an inactive branch Wintermoot,even this way. Even though I am not in the Sorting I do not approve, and I oppose.

Of course you oppose.

Like I said, I'm fine with the current system as well. I just thought I'd try to take a crack at making something else. Since this would be a pool of potential judges and not permanent sitting judges like you would have in a Supreme Court, it wouldn't be an inactive branch...the branch simply wouldn't exist between cases.

But that's just my opinion...

Technically it would still exist because there are members in it. Weiss's system doesn't actually exist since it picks from a branch in use, thus making it more useful. Also why not just amend what we have now to allow you to pick from a broader range of people, and not necessarily just the Sorting?

This sounds good to me.

I was about to be angry because of my impassioned defence of a non-permanent judiciary, but then saw it's still a non-permanent judiciary.

Approval.

Since we seem to have an agreement, maybe one of the above Skrifa should throw this onto the Underhusen floor.

(**Someone should ALSO throw the Weissreich Commendation Act onto the Underhusen floor, just sayin'.**)

I made a slight modification...allowing a selected Lagman to recuse themself from the case and have another selected in their place.

I humbly request that this Act be reconsidered by the Storting during this term. If you may remember, it passed the Underhusen before failing in the Overhusen for unknown reasons. I would like to highlight the many benefits that I believe this Act would bring to the region over the current judicial law:

1) Increase the group of potential jurors for cases from just current members of the Storting to current and past members, allowing for more people while also still requiring people with experience in Wintrean law.

2) Requires that all cases be considered by selecting the jurors as soon as the case is filed. If you will remember, a case filed by Chanku about the Criminal Code of Laws was essentially ignored by the Storting. While not judging the merits of Chanku's case, it would be disturbing if a criminal case were ignored in similar manner, as could technically happen under current law.

3) Gives additional authority to the Storting by requiring that it approve of the random method used to select jurors for each case.

4) Bars people from serving as jurors if they are directly involved in the case, and additionally gives jurors the option to recuse themselves from a case.

5) Most importantly, dissolves each individual court once the proceedings are finished, maintain the ad hoc judiciary we currently have and preventing an arbitrary court from assuming power over time with impunity. To that end, jurors can be removed with the consent of both myself and the Storting.

I still believe that these would be beneficial to the region. However, should the proposal not be considered by the Storting or fail during this term, I will not attempt to advance it any further. It wouldn't make sense to keep bringing up something that fails twice.

About this "random method," wouldn't it makes more sense for the Storting to just confirm the Monarch's appointments/selections (or vice versa?). Confirming a "random method" seems like an empty bureaucratic formality. 

Also, if a trial requires three Langmen, then I believe a minimum number of
Langmen is necessary, perhaps five.

Finally (for now), perhaps the Langmen should elect their own president judge?  They are, in fact, a team, and the leader of a team shouldn't be arbitrarily chosen. They should be confident in the individual leading the case.

I apologize...for some reason your post got lost in the shuffle, so to speak. To answer your concerns:

The random method is for selecting Lagmen for specific trials, not for approval as a Lagman to begin with. As specified, they would already be subject to approval by both the Monarch and Storting when they apply to be part of the Lagmand Rådet. Between that and having an approved method for selecting jurors randomly to individual cases, this should allow for cases to begin as quickly as possible after being filed.

Realistically, we'll get as many qualified people that are interested. By opening it up from only current members of the Storting to current and former members, hopefully we'll have a larger pool than we have currently.

On the other hand, electing a presiding judge for each case would add to the time it took for cases to be resolved and potentially turn it into a popularity contest. If we're concerned about the ability of the presiding judge, perhaps we could make it the most senior member that's selected for the case?

Also, to address Jonewest's concerns.

I felt that it was important that the people judging law and deciding on cases based upon it be experienced in law specifically in the region, and serving in the Storting is the best way to ensure that they do. This is one reason that the jurors are currently pulled from the Storting...when the Fundamental Laws were drafted obviously there were no former Storting members.

I planned on drafting another bill with the random method for selecting jurors. The reason that I didn't include it here is that as a Constitutional Amendment, if the method needed to change in the future we would need to amend the Fundamental Laws again. By making a separate bill, it can be amended by the Storting as needed in the future with minimal hassle. The method I'm planning on suggesting is assigning Lagmen a number when they enter and then using Zaphyr's .rand function to select them.

I apologize...for some reason your post got lost in the shuffle, so to speak. To answer your concerns:

The random method is for selecting Lagmen for specific trials, not for approval as a Lagman to begin with. As specified, they would already be subject to approval by both the Monarch and Storting when they apply to be part of the Lagmand Rådet. Between that and having an approved method for selecting jurors randomly to individual cases, this should allow for cases to begin as quickly as possible after being filed.

OK. I think we're on the same page now.

Realistically, we'll get as many qualified people that are interested. By opening it up from only current members of the Storting to current and former members, hopefully we'll have a larger pool than we have currently.

Well, sure, but I'm saying there should be a minimum # of Langmen assigned per trial. Three is a good number, but I'd like to have alternates available immediately. Especially since this would make it easier to drop out of a case, I feel that having a backup or two is a good move.

On the other hand, electing a presiding judge for each case would add to the time it took for cases to be resolved and potentially turn it into a popularity contest. If we're concerned about the ability of the presiding judge, perhaps we could make it the most senior member that's selected for the case?

Fair enough.

Also, to address Jonewest's concerns.

I felt that it was important that the people judging law and deciding on cases based upon it be experienced in law specifically in the region, and serving in the Storting is the best way to ensure that they do. This is one reason that the jurors are currently pulled from the Storting...when the Fundamental Laws were drafted obviously there were no former Storting members.

I planned on drafting another bill with the random method for selecting jurors. The reason that I didn't include it here is that as a Constitutional Amendment, if the method needed to change in the future we would need to amend the Fundamental Laws again. By making a separate bill, it can be amended by the Storting as needed in the future with minimal hassle. The method I'm planning on suggesting is assigning Lagmen a number when they enter and then using Zaphyr's .rand function to select them.

I feel special <3
I still disagree, though.
It makes little sense to me to require a person to have served, or to serve, in the Storting in order to either be a juror or a Lagmen. And 'random' just doesn't equate with good politics.
Where's the oversight in a 'random' selection?
Will the public have access to the logs if we were to elect to use Zaphyr?