| Request for Judicial Opinion |
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| LAW/PRACTICE IN QUESTION |
Magisterium Oath of Office, Oaths in general in TEP |
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| LEGAL QUESTIONS OR CHALLENGES |
-List of Questions or Challenges- |
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REVIEW ADVANCED BY- Arbiter of the East Pacific |
Shadow |
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DO YOU HAVE TEP CITIZENSHIP? |
(X) |
On 21st January 2024, EPPS Officer Evan asked in the magisterium channel of the Official TEP Discord if they would be able to take the Oath for the Magisterium on behalf of the Xebi System.
On initial questioning, Arbiter Shadow considered it would be acceptable, consdering The East Pacific has acknowledged the Xebi system before. For further context, EPPS Officer Evan and Mika are in a multi-person system called the Xebi system of whom EPPS Officer Rei is also a member of. The Xebi System is one entity which comprises of multiple different people (one body, multiple people). Legally speaking, Rei, Evan, and Mika are all recognized in TEP under one nation.
My question to the Conclave at Large is if One member of the system can take an Oath for the whole system, or would the whole system have to take the oath individually?
Further context to be added in follow-up post.
I said I would have a follow-up post, and here it is.
Evan/Mika/Rei are all alters (different people) inside of a Dissociative Identity Disorder system named the Xebi System. This is a psychological condition where one body houses multiple alters(or people). For further reading, here is a handy link to the American Psychiatric Association web page found here. This site will be much better than I could ever explain it myself.
This understanding is also crucial to deliberating on this question as we essentially would have to wade into the legal debate of if a DID System is legally itself one entity, which for my thoughts on that matter, see my response to the AQ (when I type it out). This post is only meant to serve as additional resource for reading on the matter.
On 21st January 2024, EPPS Officer Evan asked in the magisterium channel of the Official TEP Discord if they would be able to take the Oath for the Magisterium on behalf of the Xebi System.
The SoM merely states that the Magister’s Pledge needs to be recited. Considering the Magister’s Pledge isn’t really defined anywhere, it’d be up to the provost on what constitutes this Pledge and how it should be properly recited.
I’m pretty much fine if Evan wishes to acknowledge the broader system they’re a part of, but the ultimate decision is in the Provost (unless this goes to Conclave ig, which >_> it shouldn’t lol, it’s not a big deal if the system is acknowledged in the Oath so I don’t see why the Provost wouldn’t allow it, but if it comes to it the Conclave can overrule the provost’s decision.)
My question to the Conclave at Large is if One member of the system can take an Oath for the whole system, or would the whole system have to take the oath individually?
This is a really broad question because Oaths can have varying degrees of legality depending on what’s instituting an oath and what constitutes reciting that oath. To the point that I think it’s kinda unanswerable as it would depend on a case-by-case basis. But in situations in which an oath is vaguely required for an application but there is no requirement on how to preform it, then logically it’s up to the official debating the application on whether to accept it on the grounds of proper recitation (as not reciting the oath properly is akin to not doing it). And the Conclave can always overrule if needed. And afaik our two “oath” like things - the Magister’s Pledge and the requirement to ratify the Concordat for citizenship - match this type of legal standard.
This is a confusing issue for me, and I preface this by acknowledging that I am not familiar with the nature and sensitivities of Dissociative Identity Disorder. I am not comfortable at all with what is essentially a question as to how a medical diagnosis would affect the application of TEP Law.
So I will give my interpretation to the best of my understanding, but subject to change should that understanding be flawed.
The SOM requires an applicant to recite the Magister’s Pledge, an applicant being defined as “a Resident wishing to join the Magisterium” (SOM 1.1). A Resident, in turn, is defined as “an individual with one or more nations residing within The East Pacific Region” (E.1 of the Concordat).
Those being the applicable rules, I see nothing excluding Evan Kimura from applying to the Magisterium, as an “individual with one or more nations residing within The East Pacific Region”.
Both the person (human body) and the alternates within that person, can be considered an “individual” with “one or more nations residing within The East Pacific Region”; and thus all could be considered a “Resident” or an “applicant”.
Obviously such a system or collective should not exercise more than one vote altogether, either in the Magisterium or the Delegate elections, but I have not verified TEP law on that issue.