Opinion of Non Justiciability

It is a rare occasion when the Court refuses to hear an appeal. Under ordinary circumstances, an individual against whom government action was taken may appeal it, and the Court would determine if the action was lawful. That, however, relies on the appeal itself being allowed by the law. If such a provision did not exist, then the Court would have no choice but to deem the appeal non justiciable, since the individual would lack standing. Such was the case in the appeal presented by Vulturret on the decision by the Cabinet to proscribe The Ragerian Imperium.

In deciding if the appeal was justiciable, the Court referred to Article 4 of the Proscription Act, which outlines the conditions under which proscriptions may be challenged. Section 1 refers to individual proscriptions, and was most recently invoked in Review of the Proscription of Ever Wandering Souls [HCRR1803]. This was not applicable to this case, however, since Vulturret was appealing the proscription of a region, rather than a proscription to his own person. This is an important distinction to be drawn: Vulturret was not proscribed by the Cabinet on an individual level, it was The Ragerian Imperium the entity that was proscribed. In view of that, an appeal under Section 1 was not a viable course of action.

This left Section 2, which allows individuals to contest "the issuing authority's determination of their membership" in a proscribed region or organisation. This assumes that an individual has been found to be a member of a proscribed entity, and is contesting that finding before the Court, in an attempt to avoid their expulsion from the South Pacific. This alternative allows an individual to avoid falling under a proscription, but does not overturn the proscription itself, which is what Vulturret sought.

In truth, the Court cannot say with full certainty that the Proscription Act allows for the appeal of regional proscriptions in the same way as individual proscriptions may be appealed. That does not mean that a legal challenge on this initial interpretation could not be considered, or that the Assembly could not pass clarifying language. This simply means that, under an initial reading of the Proscription Act, held to a different standard than that of a ruling to a fully argued and considered legal question, regional proscriptions lack a clear and unambiguous path towards being challenged.

In view of these reasons, namely the fact that the Proscription Act does not clearly allow individuals to contest the proscription of a region or organisation, the Court made the determination that the appeal by Vulturret on the proscription of The Ragerian Imperium is not justiciable, and therefore should not receive further judicial consideration.