[PROPOSAL] The "Judicial Reform" Act - 15.10.2022

Authored by: Barlyy - Proposed on: 15.10.2022

This proposed bill, hereby,

Edits §5:

[...] 3. All ministers except the Prime Minister, Lieutenant Prime Minister, Head Justice, Minister of Roleplay, Chief Prosecutor and the Tsar shall be chosen by the Prime Minister Once a cabinet is chosen, the Tsar will give regional officers to those chosen by the Prime Minister and the Head Justice.
4. There will be eight members of the Cabinet. The duties of the members are as follows:
i. A Minister of Foreign Affairs will be appointed by the Prime Minister and shall be responsible for negotiating with other regions, establishing relationships between Callista and other regions and organizations, and speaking on behalf of the region.
ii. A Secretary of the Press shall be a puppet nation, controlled by the members of the Cabinet. They shall be used for posting official dispatches. They cannot be replaced and will always be the nation Callista Dispatches.
iii. A Head Justice shall be elected by the People of Callista. The Head Justice will have the final say in legal disputes between residences, is tasked with appointing a Chief Prosecutor, and has the power to overturn Amendments if they are deemed unconstitutional.⁶
iv. A Chief Prosecutor shall be appointed by the Head Justice. The Chief Prosecutor will serve for 3 months between the Judicial elections, and is tasked with; investigating members deemed "suspicious", pressing charges against residents who are assumed to have committed a crime or are criminals on behalf of the Tsardom, and acting as a nonpartisan watchdog who is able to bring charges against government members.
v. The Overturning of Amendments can be rejected by a two-thirds majority in the Cabinet and the Tsar.⁶
vi. A Prime Minister and a Lieutenant Prime Minister shall be elected by the people of Callista. They will have the power to oversee the duties of all of the aforementioned Ministers, the ability to accept or deny citizenship forms, guarding the region from foreign threats such as quorum raiders, manage the World Factbook Entry and pin/unpin dispatches, holding regional events, enforcing the regional rules, ban-ject and eject nations deemed "suspicious"; and vetoing, adding, accepting, or removing amendments to or from the constitution.
vii. A Minister of Internal Affairs will be appointed by the Prime Minister and be responsible for hosting internal events and managing internal affairs such as spam.
viii. A Minister of Roleplay shall be elected by the People of Callista. The Minister of Roleplay will have the power to end all roleplay disputes and can only be contested by an unanimous vote by current roleplay moderators.

Adds a new subsection:

§8. Impeachment

1. Should any official be accused of any infraction or questionable action, the informant will take any information to the Chief Prosecutor. The Chief Prosecutor will take action according to the information received.
2. Should the Chief Prosecutor be accused, the Tsar will carry the case.
3. Should the accused be found guilty, the Tsar or the Head Justice will be called upon to deliver the punishment.
4. Any citizen may petition the Chief Prosecutor (or the Tsar in cases of the Chief Prosecutor being accused) to initiate an investigation without presenting evidence against any elected or appointed official.
5. Should any elected or appointed official be found guilty of a crime, they will be instantly fired from their position and will be brought to court by the Chief Prosecutor except in cases where the Chief Prosecutor is guilty.

Adds a new subsection:

§10. Court Proceedings

1. Any resident may sue any resident.
2. The plaintiff may either prosecute the litigant/defendant themselves, or transfer the case to the Chief Prosecutor; in cases of the Chief Prosecutor being accused, the plaintiff may transfer the case over to the Tsar.
3. The litigant/defendant may hire another resident to be their attorney, or proceed pro se.
4. The plaintiff or the Tsar or the Chief Prosecutor, and the litigant/defendant have 24 hours to present evidence for or against the litigant's/defendant's innocence.
5. After the 24-hour deadline expires; the plaintiff or the Tsar or the Chief Prosecutor, and the litigant/defendant are to be given at least 24 and at most 72 hours to present their oral arguments.
6. If the 24-hour deadline given to present evidence expires without the prosecution having presented any evidence, the litigant/defendant will be declared innocent.
7. After the deadline given to the parties to present their oral arguments expires, the Head Justice will give their verdict.
8. If the deadline given to present oral arguments expires without the prosecution having presented any, the litigant/defendant will be declared innocent.
9. The Head Justice must first refer to the Constitution when giving a verdict.
10. In cases of there not being any laws in the Constitution regarding the case, the Head Justice must consider former precedent when giving their verdict.
11. In cases of there not being any laws nor any precedent, the Head Justice will give a verdict based solely on his own reasoning.
12. After a verdict is given, a Regional Officer -- ideally the Head Justice -- is to carry out & enforce the ruling given.
13. After a verdict is given, the prosecution or the litigant/defendant may wish to appeal.
14. The Tsar will consider the appeal, and may nullify the verdict if he deems the previous verdict to be unjust.
15. If the previous verdict is nullified, the Tsar is to preside over the case.