| The Charter of The Coalition of The South Pacific |
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Artictle 4, Section 3 was amended from the following on July 17th
Section 3 - Legal Questions 1. Legal questions will always initially be handled by the High Court. 2. Legal questions must be answered within a reasonable amount of time. 3. Any and all interested parties may submit an amicus brief in response to a legal question. 4. Legal questions and amicus briefs must make reference to the relevant sections of the Charter and Code of Laws, and clearly define the nature of the inquiry. Where this is not the case the High Court will issue a summary dismissal of the legal question or amicus brief. 5. The Court Justices shall have the authority to examine laws and make recommendations to the Assembly, however they may not issue an arbitrary judgement or opinion on laws without a specific legal question being filed.
[Article 2 was amended from the below on August 31, 2015]
Article 2: Bill of Rights. 1. Nations that reside in The South Pacific shall be afforded all rights contemplated in this article unless otherwise noted. 2. The freedom of speech, including the freedom of expression and the press. 3. The freedom of thought, including the freedom of belief, opinion and conscience. 4. The freedom of association, including the freedom of peaceful assembly. 5. The right to equality and the freedom from the denial of participation based on arbitrary or discriminative criteria. 6. The right to contact the government on all matters of their interest and receive a prompt and adequate response from the relevant officials. 7. The right to defend themselves in the judicial system of the Coalition of The South Pacific with all the guarantees of a speedy hearing and due process of law and to be protected against the application of any law ex post facto. 8. The right to apply for citizenship and have such an application promptly accepted, subject to requirements of citizenship, or otherwise denied under reasonable causes, with the right to an appeal to the appropriate officials. 9. The freedom to reside in the region of The South Pacific, and the right to not be ejected or banned without reasonable cause and due process of law. 10. The freedom to determine to whom their endorsements are given, subject to the duties and restrictions established in the Charter and the Code of Laws. 11. Voting and being elected to an office under the Coalition of The South Pacific shall be rights afforded only to citizens.
[Article 8, Section 3 was amended from the below on September 9, 2015]
Article 8: The Local Council Section 3 - Powers and Responsibilities 1. The Local Council shall endeavor to improve communication to residents and promote more local awareness of the region's ongoing activities. 2. Conduct violations should be reported to the judiciary by the Local Council. 3. The Local Council may make recommendations to the Delegate with regards to the regulation of the Regional Message Board (e.g., permissions), the creation of new regional polls, in addition to any changes to the regional welcome telegram and the World Factbook Entry. 4. In the event of a State of Emergency, the Local Council may assist the Committee for State Security (CSS) in communicating with residents at the CSS's request. 5. The Local Council shall work with the Ministry of Regional Affairs to promote regional integration and to devise and organise regional cultural events and practices. 6. Municipal ordinances may be introduced by the Local Council unanimously as regional policies in cases where no law exists; Municipal ordinances may not conflict with the Charter, Bill of Rights, or Code of Law, or Executive Policy and must be approved by the Assembly.
Articles 4 and 5 were amended from the below on November 25th, 2015
(Edit notes: Section 5 removed, further sections renumbered) Article 4: The High Court of the South Pacific Section 1 - Composition and Powers 1. The High Court shall consist of four Court Justices. 2. The Court Justices shall select one of themselves to serve as Chief Justice. 3. Three Justices of the High Court, determined by a rotating schedule created by themselves, shall be responsible for determining innocence or guilt in criminal cases, and issuing sentence. 4. The High Court may declare any whole General Law, or portions within such law, that conflict with the Charter defunct, and to reconcile contradictions within the Charter. 5. The High Court holds the sole power to remove citizenship outside of regular legislation that outlines reasonable upkeep requirements or security imperatives. 6. Procedures for the Election of High Court Justices will be defined in the Code of Laws. 7. The Court Justices are not prohibited from joining the Assembly or any associated organization in the South Pacific. Section 2 - Criminal Cases 1. If charges are filled against a citizen the case will be held in the High Court. 2. A justice may file charges against a citizen, provided they recuse themselves from the case. 3. The Chief Justice will be responsible for keeping order in the court. He has the power to penalize citizens for being in contempt of the court. 4. The Chief Justice and Court Justices, in conjunction with the Assembly, are responsible for establishing a consistent and just set of procedures for hearing criminal cases. This set of procedures must be ratified by the Assembly as a General Law. 5. Excessive absenteeism from the prosecution may result in the summary dismissal of the case. Excessive absenteeism from the defense may result in a summary judgment against the defendant. Section 3 - Legal Questions 1. Legal questions will always be handled by the High Court. 2. Legal questions must be answered within a reasonable amount of time. 3. Any and all interested parties may submit an amicus brief in response to a legal question. 4. Legal questions and amicus briefs must make reference to the relevant sections of the Charter and Code of Laws, and clearly define the nature of the inquiry. Where this is not the case the High Court will issue a summary dismissal of the legal question or amicus brief. 5. The Court Justices shall have the authority to examine laws and make recommendations to the Assembly, however they may not issue an arbitrary judgement or opinion on laws without a specific legal question being filed. Section 4 - Recusals 1. One of the Justices may recuse themselves from a case, should this occur the remaining justice shall take the role of the recused Justice. Should a second Justice recuse himself the assembly should appoint an Acting Justice to temporarily fill the role of the recused justice. Section 5 - Inactivity 1. If a matter sits before the High Court for 72 hours without response, the Chief Justice shall be temporarily suspended, and a Court Justice will assume the office as Acting Chief Justice. Should no Court Justice assume the office then the Assembly may appoint an Acting Chief Justice. 2. In the event of appeals, specifically, if a matter sits before the non-presiding justice for 72 hours without response, the non-presiding justice shall be temporarily suspended, and the Assembly may appoint an Acting Justice. Article 5: Appeals Section 1 - Appeals 1. High Court Appeals shall be determined by the non-presiding justice of the specific case. 2. Should the need arise for an appeal, the aforementioned justice will be tasked with handling appeals relating to criminal cases and legal questions. 3. The non-presiding justice of a case that has been appealed has the power to overturn any verdict of the previous High Court decision. 4. The non-presiding justice is the final court of appeal; its verdict cannot be further contested. Section 2 - Criminal Case Appeals 1. To appeal the decision of a criminal case the defendant, his representative or the prosecution must file notice with the High Court within fourteen (14) days of the High Court ruling. 2. The notice must include the objections to the ruling and justification for why the appeal should be heard, with reference to the relevant sections of the Charter and Code of Laws. 3. The non-presiding justice has five (5) days to decide whether to hear the Appeal. 4. If the justice chooses to hear the case, it is required to do so in a timely manner. The justice may issue summary judgments due to excessive absenteeism. Section 3 - Legal Question Appeals 1. To appeal the decision of a legal question an interested party must file notice with the non-presiding justice within fourteen (14) days of the High Court ruling. 2. The notice must include the objections to the ruling and justification for why the appeal should be heard, with reference to the relevant sections of the Charter and Code of Laws. 3. The non-presiding justice has five (5) days to decide whether to hear the appeal. 4. If the justice chooses to hear the case, it is required to do so in a timely manner. The justice may issue summary judgments due to excessive absenteeism. Section 4 - Recusals 1. The non-presiding justice may partially recuse himself from a case by convening a jury to decide the verdict. The non-presiding justice will still be responsible for moderating the case. Any jury convened shall be made up of three citizens selected randomly from a pool of volunteers, with no obvious bias toward one party or the other. Section 5 - Administrative Appeals 1. To appeal an administrative team action, a citizen must file a notice with the High Court within fourteen (14) days of the action in question. 2. The notice must include a legal argument for why the administrative team action violated the Charter, violated the tenants of democracy, or unnecessarily infringed upon the rights of citizens. 3. Actions taken by the administrative team that involve any of the following may not be appealed to the court: ..........a. Real life threats or harassment ..........b. Pornography ..........c. Illegal Content ..........d. Spambots ..........e. Exposure of real life information ..........f. Espionage of the region ..........g. Hacking of the Board 4. Actions taken by the administrative team that involve any of the following may not be appealed to the court unless the action is argued to be excessive or unjust: ..........a. Temporary (being defined as under 96 hours) suspension of a member ..........b. Placing a member on post moderation ..........c. Altering signature / avatar content 5. The High Court has five (5) days to decide whether to hear the Appeal. 6. If an appeal is heard the administrative team must select up to two members to defend themselves before the court. Refusal to participate in the appeal process may result in the court issuing a summary judgement in favor of the appellant. 7. If the Court chooses to hear the case, it is required to do so in a timely manner. The High Court may issue summary judgments due to excessive absenteeism. 8. If the High Court orders the overturning of an administrative team decision, it must officially notify the administrative team of this decision via a public post. 9. If the administrative team responds with a majority vote rejecting the appeal court verdict, the Appellate Court decision may be stayed for up to 30 days. If the Administrative Team remains opposed to the decision after 30 days, the Assembly shall hold a formal vote to settle the matter.
Amended on 2 January 2016
The Charter was amended as follows on 14 January 2016
Quote:Section 1 - Assembly and Powers of the Assembly
In order to maintain consistency with amendments to Article 3.1.8 of the Charter, Article 1.2.5 of the Charter will be amended as follows:
5. In the event that an applicant is denied the reason for denial must be disclosed by the Vice Delegate. The applicant may appeal their denial to the Assembly which may reverse the denial by a 75% 60% majority vote in favor.
The Charter was amended as follows on 23 February 2016
7. Citizenship may be removed by a majority vote of the Cabinet if a nation is found to be a security threat. Citizens removed for being a security threat may appeal to the Assembly which may reverse the removal by a 75% 60% majority vote in favor. |
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