1a.
Title1.1 This Act shall be cited as the "Judicial Offices Act".
1b.
Purpose1.2 The purpose of this Act is to create the offices of the Judiciary and outline due process.
2.
The Offices of the Judiciary2.1 In accordance with Section 3 (parts 1 and 2) of the Fundamental Laws of Wintreath, upon acceptance of a case by the Storting, the Monarch will select a Peer from the Overhusen and two Skifra from the Underhusen. The Peer will serve the duration of the trial (or 1 month) as Chief Justice, and the Skifra will serve the duration of the trial (or 1 month) as Associate Judges.
2.2 The term of a judicial appointment lasts either the length of a case or a duration of 1 month from appointment, whichever comes first. At the end of the 1 month period, if the case is still being heard, it falls to the Monarch to reappoint members of the Storting to the Judiciary, or to the Speaker of the Unde
rhusen and the Speaker of the Overhusen in the case of Monarchical absence.
2.3 A Peer or a Skifra of the Storting may not hold more than one judicial position at any one time if the combined number of members from both houses exceeds 14. If the combined number of members from both houses is less than 14, a Peer of Skifra may hold two judicial positions at any one time.
3.
Powers of the Judiciary3.1 Any Judge may call up to three witnesses on a given day to provide evidence on a case. A defendant can also request up to 3 witnesses in their defence on a given day.
3.2 After all evidence is heard by the Court, the three Judges must discuss their verdict privately and inform no-one of the judgement until it is publicly announced by the Chief Justice.
3.3 A Court can return a
NOT GUILTY, a
GUILTY or a
RECOMMENDATION verdict.
- NOT GUILTY - The Court finds the defendant innocent of his/her charge or specific charges, if more than one is brought.
- GUILTY - The Court finds the defendant guilty of his/her charge or specific charges, if more than one is brought. The punishments for a GUILTY verdict are to be drawn from the Code of Criminal Law Act upon its passage.
- RECOMMENDATION - The Court finds the defendant either innocent or guilty but recommends special provisions be made that fall outside of the remit of the Code of Criminal Law Act. It is up to the Monarch to decide whether to implement these recommendations. A case can therefore have an INNOCENT - RECOMMENDATION verdict and a GUILTY - RECOMMENDATION verdict.
4.
Due Process4.1 When a Court is formed and a case brought before it, a topic must be created with the title laid out as follows by the Chief Justice:
- [CASE NUMBER][DEFENDANT NAME][CHIEF JUSTICE][DATE]
The first post must then outline the name and charge of the defendant, the name of the Chief Justice and the names of the Associate Judges. This post should be updated to list witnesses called and by whom.
4.2 Only the Court Officials (Chief Justice and the Associate Judges), the defendant and any witness called may post within the thread. Uninvolved citizens may observe the proceedings but cannot comment.
4.3 During the proceedings, a Court Official who calls a witness must pose their questions within the same post they summon that witness. A witness then has one post to provide their responses to the questions put to them. At any time, a Court Official may post a question(s) for the defendant so long as no other questions for the defendant are unanswered and so long as no witness has questions left to answer.
4.4 Once the Court feels it has enough evidence to reach a verdict, the Chief Justice must post to inform the public that the Officials are withdrawing to debate their verdict. From this point on, no-one is allowed to post in the thread until the next post by the Chief Justice announcing a verdict.
4.5 The Chief Justice will then post the verdict in the thread and lock it once he/she has done so. The verdict should go through charge by charge and provide guilty/not guilty/recommendations for each individual charge the defendant is in court for. Punishments will be assigned for each individual charge and enacted upon as soon as the verdict is posted.
4.6 If the Chief Justice and his Associate Judges feel more than 3 witnesses are required per day, they may argue the Monarch to raise the limit for the duration of a specific court case.
5.
Recall and Appeal5.1 The Monarch has the
Right of Recall. If after a one week period has passed since a verdict was decided the Monarch wishes for a retrial, he/she may summon a new Court to hear the case again.
5.2 A defendant, if found guilty, may Appeal his/her case after 2 weeks have passed since a verdict was decided. To do so, a defendant must speak directly with the Monarch and gain his/her approval.
6.
Compliance with previous and future law6.1 Upon passage of the legislation, the Judicial Offices Act will enforce Section 3 [clause 1 and 2] of the Fundamental Laws.
6.2 Upon passage of the legislation, the Underhusen is required to present a Code of Criminal Law Act within the next term. At such a point, Section 3 Clause 3 of this Act regarding punishments for GUILTY verdicts is to be amended.
