User:Average/Judicial
One of the three branches of the New World Order. Under revision STUB
The Judge is appointed for life (or until they resign) by the elected official who happens to be in office when the bench is vacated. If the People don't like the Judge, they have the facility of the Press or in the case of misconduct, they can be charged by the Executive and tried by the Judges at the next level above. Judges can resign at any time, submitting a letter of such to the Executive ior* to the Press. The Executive can only appoint up to 1 judge per contiguous term. Otherwise, the position can be appointed by an Executive higher up the chain at the request of the municipality or as needed above for resolution of higher-level cases.
The important criteria here is not a mastery of law (which they can easily look up), but a mastery of dialectic -- cutting through arguments and getting to the truth. Judges chambers should have bound copies of all Legislation for all districts that they are over, under, and within. University PhDs are excellent candidates.
There is one courtroom per district. In cities with both local and higher-level government (like a capitol city), multiple courts are required. Court should be open to the public, to those inside and outside the jurisdiction. This allows for corrections of procedures and oversight by the general public. For cases that reside in more than one district, use the lowest one that is common to both. For cases that involve parties of more than one jurisdiction (a dispute from someone outside the state), the two parties will have to agree on which court should hear the case (except cases of ??? murder), or the case is dropped.
Cases for the Court are made by charges filed by the Executive branch, but can also be filed by individual citizens at their local court (city if resident thereof, county if rural, relevant law in dispute if transient or visitor). This is how citizen arrests can be handled. Either the filing party speaks and gives notice themselves, or a notice can be sent to the party by the Branch for an extra fee.
Beyond the city level, there is more than one judge: two for a county, four for a state, eight for a country, sixteen for the world. Where one municipal district coincides with another level`s, like a city which is also a county-seat, different court rooms and Judges Chambers should be available. Judges can take a "sabbatical", a temporary leave (e.g. 1 month) to serve at a lower-level court, giving an opportunity to teach lower-level Judges. They remove their portion of the Bench Fee from the higher court during that period. Court decisions require unanimity. This isn't the break-room where you can just "take a vote". It is so that wisdom gets developed through the exercise of dialectic and reason between Judges. If no such unanimity can be attained, then, similar to a "hung jury", the ruling is "INCOMPETENT" (Fr.: will not compete). The Bench has to decided with both parties involved whether send it up to a higher-court or to simply compromise. But take a keen eye: in some cases the State benefits with further resolution even when neither party is capable or knows how to suggest it. But there can be the case where no such resolution can be found, because there is no such answer that the Court can or is willing to defend and uphold (for example, a case that engages religious issues).
When Bench confidence is lacking, sentencing for criminal cases should be decided by the community affected.
The Judge mediates and decides disputes between conflicting parties as well as act as witness to contracts (marriage or otherwise) if they want the services of the government to uphold it, collecting a filing fee. If a ruling is made but disagreed upon, it can be appealed to the next higher level of power, but the cost doubles each level and the loser pays. Income tax cases cannot be appealed. If a higher court overturns a lower court ruling, they can collect the Bench Fees from the lower court (minus the filing fee). The court, rather than making a ruling, can indicate "PASS" and forward it to the next higher court but collect no fees and waive the filing fee. Interaction with the Court consists of a small Filing Fee (applied even when no Bench time is required) and a Bench Fee when the court room is engaged. The Judicial Branch has to take responsibility to teach citizen how to have their cases in order. When the court room is too busy, excess cases should be handed off by the Bench to the Executive Branch.
If the filing fees for the Court are considered extravagant, the Executive can request to the Court to address the matter. Should the Court turn the request down, it can be taken to the Legislative for a simple majority vote STUB.
If you get to the top-most level, and you don't like the ruling at the Bench, you just have to drop it, take the loss, and try to get elected to make the changes you want.
All correspondence with the Court should be filed with the Bench and recorded in the Chambers. The term, "the Bench", refers to any of the Judges acting in official capacity, not necessarily all of them, except in official court decisions.
Each individual Judge should establish their fixed, personal fee and justify, if desired, to the other members of the Bench to make their service worth their while. The total fees should be published, so citizens know beforehand costs of legal disputes, called the Bench Fee. This fee is collected after a case is decided, but if the decision is appealed, and overturned, such fees should be re-imbursed.
Judges can submit writs to the Press, suggesting for example, that Mrs. Joyce Jones, business executive, serve on advisory board to the Mayor at 0.1 FTE (full-time equivalent). The Judge should check with such person beforehand regarding their availability. The Mayor can choose to accept or not the suggestion.
Judges have Chambers. A physical office to hold all case histories, and in which to deliberate with other Judges privately. Judges should establish a method to categorize cases and keep them in order for future posterity. Cases can be published if there is no dissenting member of the Bench, otherwise agreements can be established for researchers (e.g.) to gain access to case history.
Judges can get together to call an election at any time the Executive office is vacant, in the case of an Emergency, for example. An Executive above may also suggest this to the Bench lower-down in order to fill offices there and smooth policy execution.
Judges should have ruby rings, signifying their status, worn on the middle finger of either hand. Ideally the size is exchanged as the level of service increases -- the ring isn't simply an act of compensation, but a type of signifier to solicit engagement from citizens needing counsel. This ring can be kept after retirement.
The Executive decides election proceedings, while the Legislature executes such proceedings, Judges oversee election proceedings.
- That stand for "inclusive or". In more words, it would be said "and/or".
