[AMENDMENT] Reorganization of the Treason Act

[Zukchiva]

Admittedly I wanna take a look at pushing AMOM’s “penal code” thing as I think it’d probably be a bit better, perhaps, but part of that means naming more specific instances of Treason.

Beyond that, I think the way the Act is organized is a bit confusing, so here it is mostly reformatted (keeping the previous header for history’s sake, seeing as this is one of our oldest laws in the book). I avoided changing most words, although I specified “anyone” into “citizen” 'cuz why not. Mostly tried to avoid changing the definitions of the crimes themselves.

Comments appreciated.

1st Assembly, Bill MA-1
An act respecting treason and offences against the public order.
[Passed March 3, 2009]

SECTION 1. CITATION AND GENERAL DEFINITIONS

1. This Act shall be known and cited as the “Treason Act”.

2. For the purposes of this Act, “legitimate” means the government or Delegate so recognized and lawfully holding the position in accordance with the Concordat of the East Pacific.

SECTION 2. DEFINITION OF TREASON AND OTHER ASSORTED CRIMES

1. “High Treason” shall be defined as whenever a Citizen:

   1. overthrows or attempts to overthrow the legitimate Delegate of the legitimate government of the East Pacific;
   2. within the East Pacific, levies war against the East Pacific or does any act preparatory thereto;
   3. assists an enemy at war with the East Pacific or any forces against whom the East Pacific is engaged in hostilities (whether or not a state of war exists between the East Pacific and the entity to which the forces belong to).

2. “Treason” shall be defined as whenever a Citizen:

   1. does any unlawful act for the purpose of overthrowing the legitimate Delegate or the legitimate government of the East Pacific and/or
   2. conspires with any person to commit high treason or to do any unlawful act for the purpose of overthrowing the legitimate Delegate or the legitimate government of the East Pacific.

3. “Intent to Commit Treason” shall be defined as whenever a Citizen forms an intention to do anything that is high treason, or to do any unlawful act for the purpose of overthrowing the legitimate Delegate or the legitimate government of the East Pacific, and manifests that intention by an overt act.

4. “Treason-espionage” shall be defined as whenever a Citizen:

   1. without lawful authority, communicates or makes available to an unauthorized person or entity any government-related information which they knew or should have known was not to be shared;
   2. conspires to, without lawful authority, communicate or make available to an unauthorized person or entity any government-related information which they knew or should have known was not to be shared;
   3. without lawful authority and with intent, acquires or discovers any government-related information which they knew or should have known was to be unavailable to them;
   4. conspires to, without lawful authority, acquire or discover any government-related information which they knew or should have known was to be unavailable to them.

5. “Omitting to Prevent Treason” shall be defined as whenever a Citizen, knowing that a person is about to commit high treason or treason, does not, with all reasonable dispatch, inform the legitimate government of the East Pacific or make other reasonable efforts to prevent that person from committing high treason or treason.

6. “Sedition” shall be defined as whenever a Citizen teaches or advocates, or publishes or circulates any writing that advocates action to produce an unlawful governmental change within the East Pacific.

SECTION 3. CLARIFICATIONS

1. Where it is Treason to conspire with any person, the act of conspiring is an overt act of Treason.

2. Anyone who publicly asks for classified information from the relevant authorities in the interests of transparency or clarification of government policy shall not be considered to be committing Treason-espionage.

3. Despite Section 2.5, no Citizen shall be deemed to have committed Sedition by reason only that they intend, in good faith,

   1. to show that the government has been misled or mistaken in its measures;
   2. to point out errors or defects in the government or constitution of the East Pacific, the legislature of the East Pacific, or the administration of justice in the East Pacific;
   3. to procure, by lawful means, the alteration of any matter of government in the East Pacific; or
   4. to point out, for the purpose of removal, matters that produce or tend to produce feelings of hostility and ill-will between different groups of persons in the East Pacific.

SECTION 4. SENTENCING

1. Any Citizen who commits High Treason or Treason shall be considered guilty of committing an indictable offense with a maximum sentence of permanent banishment from the East Pacific.

2. Any Citizen who commits Treason-espionage, Intent to Commit Treason, Omitting to Prevent Treason, Omitting to Prevent Treason, or Sedition shall be considered guilty of committing an indictable offense with a maximum sentence of five years banishment from the East Pacific.

[God-Emperor]

Can we define ‘with all reasonable dispatch’ here if someone is going to catch a stray one day because they hear about treason before their mom tells them to take out the trash.

[Zukchiva]

yeah ill take a look at that xD