Judicial Review: Can the Provost Edit the SOM?

The Conclave
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The Conclave hereby announces that it has received from Provost Loreintor a request to review the interpretation of the Concordat of The East Pacific.

Law in Question: Concordat of The East Pacific
Questions:

  1. Does the Standing Orders of the Magisterium count as statutory law?
  2. Does Section B.2 give the Standing Orders of the Magisterium the status of statutory law?
  3. Can the Provost edit the SOM in accordance to Section B.10?

The following procedures will be followed. The Conclave shall, according to its standing orders, convene to determine whether to confirm this request. If it does so, it shall then deliberate and reach a verdict on the questions raised for review within the time period allocated under the Standing Orders.

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2.1.1- Judicial Review of a Law shall take place following its passing, its request by the Delegate, a Magisterial Vote, a Vizier Vote, a citizen with a confirmation vote by the Conclave, or a constitutional challenge by a citizen in a civil trial. A Review shall last no more than 7 days but may be extended 3 days at the request of an Arbiter.

2.1.2- Upon receipt of request, the Viceroy shall initiate public and private threads which outline the bill in its entirety, along with the end-date for the deliberation of the law.
…a. The public thread shall be available for citizens to refer precedent or applicable laws to the Conclave, but subject to censure at the request of any Arbiter.
…b. The private thread shall contain the deliberations of the Conclave and be used to draft verdicts and debate the law.

2.1.3- The Review shall rule on the interpretation or constitutional validity of a law, factoring the Concordat, all applicable statutory laws, precedent of the court, and traditional values of The East Pacific for their deliberations.

2.1.4- Draft verdicts are prepared by Arbiters, listing reasoning and legal references to be voted upon.
…a. For the first vote, a draft verdict may only pass by unanimity.
…b. If the vote fails, consequent votes shall be held until a draft verdict receives majority support.
…c. The dissenting minority of Arbiters may choose to file a minority report of their verdict to be appended to the majority verdict.

2.1.5- The majority verdict of a Judicial Review shall take full force of law and shall form precedence for that and similar laws. The verdict may rule on including, but not limited to: constitutionality, applicability, meaning, or validity as a law.

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2

Appolgies, the Conclave voted internally for an extension and I did forget to post. that was a noob mistake on my part

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On the Review of Can a Provost Edit the SOM? , the Conclave unanimously approved…

  1. Does the Standing Orders of the Magisterium count as statutory law?

Not anymore. The SOM at one point in time did count as statutory law but the present Concordat draws a distinction between the SOM and statutory law, as we see in B.2:

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Section 2) The Standing Orders of the Magisterium shall be considered legally binding within the Magisterium, unless contradicted by this Concordat or statutory law.

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The SOM also draws a distinction between itself and statutory law as it defines the amendment procedure as “the same procedure as a Bill”, identifying that it sometimes behaves similarly to but is distinct from actual legislation.

  1. Does Section B.2 give the Standing Orders of the Magisterium the status of statutory law?

No, as explained above.

  1. Can the Provost edit the SOM in accordance to Section B.10?

Since the privileges granted the Provost in Concordat B.10 extend only to “error…in the Concordat or statutory law”, and the SOM is not statutory law, this article grants the Provost no power to edit the SOM. It is worth noting that the SOM can dictate how it may be edited.

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