Post by Akbar on Mar 1, 2019 19:21:04 GMT
The Supreme Court of the Mughal Empire establishes these Supreme Court Rule which are binding on all matters brought before it. Amendments to this document may be passed by a majority vote of the Justices.
Chapter 1: Criminal Trials
Section 1: Indictments
Section 1: Indictments
1. All indictments must be publicly accepted or rejected, and the Court will endeavor to do so within 72 hours of filing.
2. An indictment may be rejected for procedural or substantive reasons, and the reasons for rejecting an indictment will be publicly disclosed in full.
3. A rejected indictment may only be resubmitted if significant changes have been made to address the reasons it was rejected.
4. When an indictment is accepted, the Lord Chief Justice will promptly appoint a Moderating Lord Justice and a Standby Hearing Officer.
5. The Standby Hearing Officer will be available to serve as a Hearing Officer should any matter requiring the recusal of the Moderating Lord Justice arise during the trial.
6. The Moderating Lord Justice will promptly inform the Defendant of the charges against them.
7. In the case of indictments seeking to impose penalties on a Defendant prior to the conclusion of a trial, including their removal from the region or expulsion from the Imperial Legislative Council, the procedures established by legislation must be followed as stated and will override any conflicting adopted rules and procedures of the Court.
Section 2: Criminal Trial Procedure
1. The Moderating Lord Justice will open a trial thread promptly under the Supreme Court forum once an indictment has been accepted.
2. When a trial thread is opened, the Moderating Lord Justice will notify the Defendant via a Private Message to their forum account and a Telegram to their nation. Alternate methods of notification may also be used so long as the Moderating Lord Justice has a reasonable expectation that these methods will be more effective than the above options.
3. The Moderating Lord Justice will work with both the Defense and the Prosecution to establish a reasonable timetable for the trial. Trials shall proceed linearly through the following stages:
Plea Submission: The Defendant will be given a period of time to enter a plea and to choose any desired legal representation. If no plea has been submitted by the end of this period, a plea of Not Guilty will be entered into the record on the Defendant's behalf. If the Defendant has not declared either their intent to represent themselves or the identity of their chosen counsel by the end of this period, an attorney will be appointed for them by the court.
Evidence Submission: Following the end of Plea Submission, both the Defense and the Prosecution will be given a period of time to present gathered evidence in full, object to evidence submitted by opposing counsel, and present motions to the Moderating Lord Justice.
Argumentation: When all outstanding motions and objections have been settled, the Prosecution and Defense will be given a period of time to make arguments on the evidence and the law, as well as to respond to the arguments made by opposing counsel.
Deliberation: After argumentation has concluded and any outstanding motions and requests have been resolved, the Court will deliberate amongst itself in order to reach a verdict. The Court will endeavor to keep this period below a maximum of five days.
Sentencing: When the Court renders a verdict of Guilty, the Prosecution and the Defense will be given a period of time to make sentencing recommendations before the Court makes an ultimate determination. Once a sentence has been issued, the Moderating Lord Justice must personally notify the defendant as well as any government or administration officials who must act to carry out the sentence.
Evidence Submission: Following the end of Plea Submission, both the Defense and the Prosecution will be given a period of time to present gathered evidence in full, object to evidence submitted by opposing counsel, and present motions to the Moderating Lord Justice.
Argumentation: When all outstanding motions and objections have been settled, the Prosecution and Defense will be given a period of time to make arguments on the evidence and the law, as well as to respond to the arguments made by opposing counsel.
Deliberation: After argumentation has concluded and any outstanding motions and requests have been resolved, the Court will deliberate amongst itself in order to reach a verdict. The Court will endeavor to keep this period below a maximum of five days.
Sentencing: When the Court renders a verdict of Guilty, the Prosecution and the Defense will be given a period of time to make sentencing recommendations before the Court makes an ultimate determination. Once a sentence has been issued, the Moderating Lord Justice must personally notify the defendant as well as any government or administration officials who must act to carry out the sentence.
4. The defendant may, at any time, replace their legal counsel or choose to represent themselves.
5. As necessary, and in the interests of justice, the Moderating Lord Justice may alter the established timetable to ensure a fair trial.
6. The Moderating Lord Justice may, at any time, ask questions of the prosecution or the defense in order to get clarification on relevant issues.
Section 3: Evidence
1. The Court accepts both documentary evidence and witness testimony as valid submissions.
2. Objections to evidence by either the Prosecution or the Defense must clearly explain why, in accordance with the Court Rules and general legal principles, the evidence in question should not be admitted into the Court Record.
3. Relevant evidence may be admitted or excluded at the discretion of the Moderating Lord Justice after hearing from both sides.
4. Documentary evidence, which includes forum posts or threads, IRC logs, screenshots and other evidence of a similar nature, must be authenticated through witness testimony unless an exception is granted by the Moderating Lord Justice.
5. Witness testimony must be gathered in the form of a deposition or a statement.
6. All witnesses giving testimony must first swear an oath as follows: "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
7. Witness depositions may be taken in a forum thread separate from the trial thread.
8. When conducting a deposition, counsel for each party must be present along with the witness being questioned.
9. Opposing counsel will have the opportunity to object to questions posed to the witness. If an objection is made, the questioning party will have the opportunity to withdraw the question or defend against the objection. The witness will answer all questions which are not withdrawn.
10. At the completion of a deposition, each party must submit a complete copy to the Moderating Lord Justice in private for review. The Lord Justice will review all objections and publish an official record version of the deposition in the trial thread, with appropriate edits in accordance with any sustained objections.
11. Witness statements must be sent directly to the Moderating Lord Justice by the witness before the scheduled end of Evidence Submission. The Moderating Lord Justice will post the statement in the trial thread.
12. If the opposing party wishes to cross-examine a witness providing a statement, a deposition must be scheduled.
13. Depositions which deviate from the above procedures may be admitted at the discretion of the Moderating Lord Justice.
Chapter 2: Requests for Review
1. Anyone may submit a request to the Court for a review of government policy or law.
2. Any Lord Justice may accept or deny a request for review, at their discretion. The Lord Justice who accepts a request for review will become its Moderating Lord Justice.
3. During the five days after a request for review has been accepted, anyone may offer information that is relevant to the case and/or advise the Court on how to rule in the form of a brief.
4. The period for submitting briefs may be altered at the discretion of the Moderating Lord Justice.
5. The Court will endeavor to deliver an opinion answering the request for review within seven days after the end of the period for submitting briefs.
Chapter 3: Decorum
Section 1: Judicial Conduct
Section 1: Judicial Conduct
1. Lord Justices are discouraged from posting in the Public Gallery except when making official announcements unrelated to any trial or review.
2. A Moderating Lord Justice is strictly prohibited from posting in any thread in the Public Gallery relating to the issue they are moderating, barring truly exceptional circumstances.
3. Lord Justices must endeavor to recuse themselves from matters where they have a conflict of interest.
4. Justices are required to recuse themselves from any matter where the majority of the Court orders them to.
Section 2: General Conduct
1. All indictments, requests for review, briefs, Court decisions, and other official filings must be presented using an established template, if one exists.
2. All parties in any matter before the court must conduct themselves in an appropriate, legal, and civil manner.
3. Posts which fail to meet the above requirements may be split at the discretion of the Moderating Lord Justice, and will not be considered in the Court's deliberations.
4. An individual may, by the unanimous decision of the Court and based on excessive or repeated poor behavior, be declared to be in contempt in a particular issue before the Court.
5. Motions made by individuals declared to be in contempt may be summarily denied, and the timeline of relevant matters need not be altered in order to accommodate any disciplinary actions handed down by forum administration.
Chapter 4: Precedent and Appeals
Section 1: Precedent
Section 1: Precedent
1. All official Court decisions are legally binding on the Court as a whole as well as each individual Lord Justice.
2. Prior decisions made by the Court, regardless of its composition at the time, must continue to be obeyed by the Court and by each individual Lord Justice until and unless their validity is formally overturned in a new request for review.
3. The Court is a reactive body. Without any such request, the Court may not proactively overturn previous rulings.
4. No Lord Justice may act contrary to the opinions and decisions of the Court as a whole.
Section 2: Appeals
1. The petitioner in a rejected request for review, as well as any of the participating parties in a criminal trial, may appeal a decision made by an individual Lord Justice to the Court as a whole for consideration.
2. The petitioner in an accepted request for review, as well as any of the participating parties in a criminal trial, may file a request asking the Court to order the recusal of any Lord Justice from hearing or ruling on a particular case.
3. During the proceedings of a matter before the Court, substantive appeals and requests which relate to that matter must be addressed before the proceedings can continue.
Chapter 5: Declassification and Privacy
Section 1: Declassification of Records
Section 1: Declassification of Records
1. Private Court records, in either the Lord Justices' private forum or the private archive, which reach one year of age will be relocated to the Declassified Justice Archive.
2. Private Court records which have reached six months of age may be released early in the same manner when requested by an Imperial Legislative Council member, and approved by the Lord Chief Justice, the Prime Minister, and the Defence Secretary.
3. Private Court records which are younger than six months but predate the sitting Court may be requested by a Council member and released if the Court finds a compelling benefit to their publication, and if approved by the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary.
4. Private Court records which pertain to open or ongoing cases will not be released, regardless of their age.
Section 2: Privacy of Information
1. Information protected as private is defined as follows:
Real life information about any NationStates player from which there is a risk of inferring that player's real life identity and which has not willingly been disclosed to the public, including, but not limited to, an individual's name, IP address, physical address or location, phone number, place of employment or education, appearance, social media accounts, and other knowledge about a player, unless the player in question provides explicit consent for this information not to be considered private.
Real life information about any NationStates player for which there exists a reasonable real life expectation of privacy or discretion, including, but not limited to, health status, both mental and physical; financial status; personal tragedies; changes in personal status such as marriage, divorce, pregnancy, birth, or death; and other similar information, unless the player in question provides explicit consent for this information not to be considered private.
Information that, upon being made public, would jeopardise any ongoing military or intelligence operations; or jeopardise the security of units and agents participating in them, or be harmful to the diplomatic interests, military interests, or security of the Empire.
Real life information about any NationStates player for which there exists a reasonable real life expectation of privacy or discretion, including, but not limited to, health status, both mental and physical; financial status; personal tragedies; changes in personal status such as marriage, divorce, pregnancy, birth, or death; and other similar information, unless the player in question provides explicit consent for this information not to be considered private.
Information that, upon being made public, would jeopardise any ongoing military or intelligence operations; or jeopardise the security of units and agents participating in them, or be harmful to the diplomatic interests, military interests, or security of the Empire.
2. The Court will not release private information during its declassification process. This may take the form of withholding a thread in its entirety, or producing a copy of of the original thread with the Private information or posts redacted.