Users browsing this thread:

God-Emperor · 07-19-2014, 02:14 PM

Allow me to clarify. As all rights afforded to residents and citizens are furnished by the Coalition, I believe those rights should equally apply to regions in which the Coalition operates. However, the Charter clearly states 'nations residing in The South Pacific shall be afforded all rights [...] unless otherwise noted....And the article proceeds not to note otherwise anywhere. I think it's a quark of the language. Nonetheless, the Charter and Code Of Laws makes it necessary to reside in The South Pacific to be afforded rights, but it makes plotting against the Coalition sufficient to be considered guilty of treason. Furthermore, the Code Of Laws doesn't make any mention of The South Pacific in regards to treason, and the use of the word delegate, in lieu of delegate of The South Pacific or delegate of the Coalition, is sufficiently ambiguous and vague as to be considered the legitimate representative of the Coalition in any region in which the Coalition is operating.

The Third Imperium
Journalist, South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN)
Provost, Magisterium
Sergeant, East Pacific Sovereign Army
Journalist, East Pacific News Service
Foreign Affairs Minister, The West Pacific

~~Unibot~~ · 07-19-2014, 06:18 PM

The Charter requires that crimes only apply to citizens and The Charter makes it clear citizenship on applies to the residents of The South Pacific.

Quote:If charges are filled against a citizen the case will be held in the High Court.

(This post was last modified: 07-19-2014, 06:18 PM by Sandwich Territories.)

**Belschaft** · 07-20-2014, 03:40 PM

There's nothing exclusive about that clause.

_{Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making}
^{Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator}

PREVIOUS ROLES

~~Unibot~~ · 07-20-2014, 05:02 PM

There's nothing inclusive about it either. Tounge

**Belschaft** · 07-20-2014, 06:40 PM

Indeed. It says nothing about non-citizens at all, so we have no basis to make a ruling in regards to them. Unless you're only a textualist when you're running for election?

_{Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making}
^{Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator}

PREVIOUS ROLES

God-Emperor · 07-20-2014, 07:32 PM

(07-19-2014, 06:18 PM)Unibot Wrote: The Charter requires that crimes only apply to citizens and The Charter makes it clear citizenship on applies to the residents of The South Pacific.

Quote:If charges are filled against a citizen the case will be held in the High Court.

Citizens don't stop being citizens when they operate outside of the region no more than the Coalition stops being the Coalition when it operates outside of the region.

The Third Imperium
Journalist, South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN)
Provost, Magisterium
Sergeant, East Pacific Sovereign Army
Journalist, East Pacific News Service
Foreign Affairs Minister, The West Pacific

~~Unibot~~ · 07-20-2014, 07:57 PM

(07-20-2014, 06:40 PM)Belschaft Wrote: Indeed. It says nothing about non-citizens at all, so we have no basis to make a ruling in regards to them. Unless you're only a textualist when you're running for election?

If a clause says "All members may run for delegate," that doesn't mean "All foreigners aren't necessarily excluded from running" - what's written is the only thing that is either allowed or permitted.

In the absence of anything allowing or prohibiting the court from covering non-citizen trials, the default response is it is not allowed, because it not based on anything in our law.

God-Emperor · 07-20-2014, 08:08 PM

By that logic, all residents of the region are immune to the Charter and Code Of Laws, even members of the forum that don't apply for citizenship.

The Third Imperium
Journalist, South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN)
Provost, Magisterium
Sergeant, East Pacific Sovereign Army
Journalist, East Pacific News Service
Foreign Affairs Minister, The West Pacific

**Belschaft** · 08-09-2014, 02:45 PM

Draft;

Quote:
HCLQ14??
- ??.08.14 -

Petitioner
Farengeto

Presiding Justice
Belschaft

Associate Justices
God-Emperor, Gustave Berr

"TSP has previously owned additional regions, such as the one created for the TSP Regional Games. What legal jurisdiction does charter and code of laws possess over these regions and how are hostile actions (e.g. coups) against them treated by these laws?"

Majority Opinion
Belschaft, ??God-Emperor??, ??Gustave Berr??
The High Court, having considered the question referred to it by Farengeto in regards to the legal jurisdiction of The Coalition of The South Pacific has reached a ??unanimous?? decision that legal jurisdiction, a subject explicitly defined nowhere in The Charter or Code of Laws, cannot be determined upon a territorial basis and must be judged on an individual basis in accordance with the various offences of the Criminal Code (CoL-6). The High Court encourages The Assembly to codify this subject so as to provide greater clarity in regards to this issue.

CoL-6 states as follows;

"1. Treason shall be defined as plotting against the Coalition, seeking to lower the delegate's endorsement count without his or her consent, breaking the endorsement cap after receiving an official warning, aiding any entity in which the Coalition is taking defensive action against, or any entity in which a state of war exists with.
2. Defamation shall be defined as communication of a statement which makes a false claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, in an attempt to harm the reputation of another user or group of users on the forum. The offended must express the offense to the Court in order for the charge to be considered.
3. Fraud shall be defined as a deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual.
4. Espionage shall be defined as an act of or attempt to obtain information that is confidential or not made publicly available for use by oneself or an entity one represents. Distribution of private information that originates on the South Pacific Forum without the express written permission of the Cabinet of the South Pacific shall be considered Espionage.
5. Conduct violations shall be defined as breaking in-game NationStates rules."

In none of these offences is the location of the nation or player responsible for the actions in question mentioned; further to this, none of these offences can be exclusively committed in the region The South Pacific or upon the forums of The Coalition. For example, it is possible for one citizen of The Coalition to defame another citizen on the NationStates forums, the forums of another region or on IRC, etc. Further to this, our Charter and Code of Laws consistently refer to The Coalition of The South Pacific, not The South Pacific. We feel that this clearly indicates that our laws apply to The Coalition in broad terms rather than simply the region itself. It is on these bases that we determine that a territorial definition of legal jurisdiction cannot be made.

Instead, and in the absence of specific guidance from the Assembly, we feel that a jurisdiction based upon individuals is that which was intended. Any individual with a nation in The South Pacific, an account on our forums, or a nation in another region explicitly under the sovereignty of The Coalition - for example, Free South Pacific, a region created by The Coalition and under the continued control of The Committee for State Security - falls within the legal jurisdiction of The Coalition. Any actions committed by such individuals, regardless of the location of those actions, further fall under the legal jurisdiction of The Coalition. It is treason for an individual within our legal jurisdiction to plot against The Coalition, whether an individual does so in The South Pacific, Balder, Osiris, or any other region in NationStates.

Determining whether or not another region can be considered to be explicitly under the sovereignty of The Coalition is a separate issue. We believe that, beyond The South Pacific itself, any region created by officials of The Coalition for official purposes unambiguously falls under The Coalitions sovereignty. Beyond this legislation by the Assembly, a treaty or formal Cabinet executive policy is required to designate a region as under our sovereignty.

In regards to the question of hostility against a region under such sovereignty, we believe it should be unambiguously considered plotting against The Coalition.

Please comment asap.

_{Minister of Media, Subversion and Sandwich Making}
^{Associate Justice of the High Court and Senior Moderator}

PREVIOUS ROLES

God-Emperor · 08-09-2014, 06:08 PM

I concur.

The Third Imperium
Journalist, South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN)
Provost, Magisterium
Sergeant, East Pacific Sovereign Army
Journalist, East Pacific News Service
Foreign Affairs Minister, The West Pacific