Federated States of the New World/Laws/Justice Act 2021

1. Definitions
   1. “The judiciary” shall be defined as the justices of the Federated States.
   2. “Judicial decision” or anything to that effect is defined as the decision of at least two of the serving justices of the Federated States.
   3. “An offence” shall be defined as the breach of any of this state's laws.
2. The Judiciary
   1. The job of the judiciary is to ensure that the laws of this state are respected and followed, and to clarify where the application or definition of a law is unclear.
      1. The judiciary may take punitive actions against those who do not follow the laws of this state.
   2. Any decision made by the Judiciary may be appealed or reversed by majority approval of the parliament unless stated in law that the decision may not be reversed.
   3. Serving members of the Administration are immune to criminal indictment.
   4. Judges may refer to themselves as “justice” or “lord/lady justice”
3. Appointments to the Judiciary
   1. An independent judiciary consisting of 3 members is elected in the middle of every term.
      1. Members may publicly nominate two members excluding themselves for the judiciary. Those who receive the most nominations will be approached by the administration and asked if they would like to take on the role. Once 3 candidates have accepted, they must be voted into office by parliament.
      2. The nomination period must last five days.
      3. Members who join within two days of the start of the judicial nomination period or during the period do not receive the right to nominate for that period.
      4. Nominations may also be held to fill a position left vacant by a resignation, no confidence motion, or all justices recusing themselves from a case.
      5. In the event that the parliamentary vote of appointment fails, a separate vote will be introduced for each successful candidate, and should one or more of these votes fail, a new round of nominations will be opened to fill those remaining gaps with those who failed the vote being excluded
      6. In the event that a successful candidate declines the position, a new round of nominations will be opened to fill their spot.
      7. In the event of a nomination tie, all candidates will be required to confirm that they are interested in the position, and if there is still a tie, a vote will be held using the STV method between the successful candidates who received the smallest number of nominations to eliminate enough people so that only three candidates remain. This vote must last 48 hours and must be conducted by a member of the administration.
      8. Members are not permitted to campaign for the position of judge or ask for nominations. Doing so will result in the nullification of any nominations supporting them. They will also be subject to the punishments outlined in 10.1.3 of this act.
      9. Members of the administration may not be nominated.
4. Procedure
   1. Legal cases may either be submitted in the #judiciary Discord channel or sent privately to a justice by any member.
      1. A new channel will then be opened for the case, and the submitted case must be pinned in that channel
         1. All non-muted persons on the Discord server must be allowed to give input and evidence, except for criminal cases, where only the prosecution, defence and the assigned Justice may give input.
      2. Any content deemed to be of a personal nature may be redacted from the public part of the submission, and instead sent directly to a justice.
         1. Personally identifiable information must be suitably redacted so that it is not possible for that person to be identified.
      3. A case may be dismissed by the judiciary if they do not believe that it is justiciable.
   2. After the opening of a case, the judiciary must assign a judge to the case. The assigned judge must preside over the case and deliver the opinion of the court.
      1. Any member may request the recusal of a judge from the case. If this request is approved by the Judiciary, that judge shall not be allowed to be involved in the case from the judicial standpoint.
      2. Parliament may also force the recusal of a judge, and should such a motion be introduced, the case must be delayed until the outcome becomes known.
      3. Should all judges recuse themselves from a case, a round of nominations will be held to appoint a temporary Justice to preside over the case. The actions of this temporary Justice do not require the approval of another Justice.
   3. All cases must remain open for a minimum of 24 hours.
   4. The assigned justice may, as necessary, request information or evidence from any member or institution and, with the signature of another justice, they may be compelled to provide this information.
   5. Once the assigned justice has all necessary information, they must deliver an opinion with reasonable speed.
      1. This opinion must be signed by at least one other non-recused justice, unless the assigned justice is the only justice who has not been recused.
      2. All reasoning must be explained in this opinion.
   6. The channel for the case must be archived in a public place, and may not be deleted.
   7. Anyone who attempts to disrupt a case or is an imminent threat to the integrity of a case may be muted in the case channel by the assigned Justice.
      1. This mute may be escalated to a server wide mute should the individual continue to attempt to disrupt the case.
         1. The individual must then be charged with contempt of court within 1 hour, otherwise the mute must be rescinded.
   8. Motions of objection to any action taken by the assigned justice in the case, excluding the opinion of the court, may be filed with the assigned justice by any party.
      1. Objections should be approved should they have reasonable grounds to do so.
      2. Should this objection be denied, parliament may not reverse the denial.
      3. Objections to objections may not be filed.
   9. Any messages in the case channel not relevant to the case may be deleted by the assigned justice
5. Legal Question Cases
   1. A legal question is a case containing one or more questions seeking clarification on the meaning of an existing law or the applicability of that law on concrete or hypothetical situations.
   2. The opinion shall have the full force of law unless appealed or the law which the opinion concerns is significantly changed.
6. Criminal Cases
   1. Upon submission of the case, the accused must be contacted by reasonable means and both parties must be given at least 5 days to submit evidence to the court.
      1. Any evidence that is gathered illegally may not be considered by the court.
      2. Forged or fake evidence is considered contempt of court.
   2. Individuals may only be accused of acts that violated law at the time.
   3. Bit of the case may provide witnesses, who are required to tell the truth.
      1. All sides of a case have the right to ask questions of a witness.
   4. The assigned justice must deliver their opinion and verdict with reasonable speed once all sides rest their case.
      1. A case may be forcibly rested by the assigned justice with the approval of another non-recused justice should they deem that they have nothing else meaningful to the case to contribute.
   5. The accused may only be found guilty if they admit their guilt, or if there is evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they committed the offence for which they are being prosecuted.
   6. A sentencing must also be included in the opinion, and shall be at the discretion of the assigned justice unless a specific sentencing is mandated by the law that was breached.
      1. Sentencing may include any of the following should it be at the discretion of the assigned Justice:
         1. Restriction of access to the FS and its Discord.
         2. Restriction of the ability to run for election or hold a particular position in the Federated States.
         3. Restriction of the right to nominate to the Judiciary.
      2. Sentencing must be reasonable and proportionate to the offence committed.
      3. Should the individual be sentenced to removal from the FS Discord, they must be given the opportunity to appeal that sentence before their removal.
         1. The individual may be muted on the rest of the Discord server during this period.
   7. Should the individual be found not guilty, they may not be re-prosecuted without significant new evidence, which shall be judged by the judiciary before the opening of a new case.
7. Appeal Cases
   1. An appeal case is a case where the pertainer seeks to reverse or re-evaluate a case.
      1. Appeals may be filed by any person with a vested interest in a case.
      2. Appeals may only be filed on the following grounds:
         1. Misconduct.
         2. Significant new evidence.
         3. Process violation.
         4. Contradiction of law.
      3. Only one appeal may run against a case at any one time.
      4. Appeals must have significant grounds for reversal. Submitted appeals that lack sufficient reasoning are not justiciable.
      5. All justices who were recused from the original case are automatically recused from the appeal.
      6. The assigned justice to the case that is being challenged may not preside over the appeal case.
8. Temporary Injunctions
   1. The assigned justice of a case may issue a temporary injunction to compel an individual or institution to do or refrain from specific acts. The injunction must be issued either directly to a party of the case, or to another individual or organization if the act described in the order directly affects a party of the case. An injunction may only be issued if pertinent to the orderly progression of the case or in the interest of public peace and order.
   2. Any injunction must include a time limit not exceeding four weeks, after which it expires. An injunction may be extended at any time, with each extension also including a time limit not exceeding four weeks from the moment the extension is issued. An injunction automatically expires when its associated case completes, unless it is grandfathered into a succeeding sentencing case if applicable.
   3. Issuing, lifting, amending, renewing or extending a temporary injunction requires approval by another justice not recused from the case.
   4. A temporary injunction may not unreasonably restrict an individual's existing right of participation in the republic, nor may it exclude the possibility of seeking remedy through the court. A temporary injunction may not order an act that is not reversible.
9. Emergency Actions
   1. The administration and judiciary may take immediate punitive action against individuals attempting, in bad faith, to undermine the integrity of the Federated States or cause disruption to the affairs of this state.
      1. Upon the taking of this action, a criminal case must immediately be submitted against the individual, with the person who took the action being automatically recused.
         1. Should this not happen within 24 hours, the action must be rescinded in its entirety.
      2. This action may only be taken if they are an immediate threat or disruption, as a last resort.
10. Other criminal offences
    1. Aside from breaches of the law, the following are considered offences:
       1. Bribery, defined as the receiving or offering of undue support by or to any individual in order to influence behavior that the recipient would otherwise not alter.
       2. Corruption, defined as misuse of public office for private or personal advantage.
       3. Campaigning for the position of judge or asking for nominations, including on behalf of a member, punishable by a 5 day mute on the Federated States Discord and removal of the right to nominate to the judiciary for 90 days, including the scrapping of nominations if nominations have been submitted by the individual during an ongoing nomination period.
       4. Contempt of court, defined as disobedience or disrespect to the court of law.
       5. Failure to comply with a court order shall result in no less than a seven day temporary removal from the Federated States and its Discord.