Standing Orders of the Conclave

The Conclave
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Rules Instituted By the Conclave

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Previous SOC

[quote=“Previous Standing Orders of Conclave”]
STANDING ORDERS OF THE CONCLAVE
Originally Adopted 6/19/2010
Amended 12/19/2010

Section 1: Introduction

The Conclave of The East Pacific does hereby invest in a written set of protocols, henceforth known as The Standing Orders of the Conclave, with the intent of preserving the basic rights of citizens, protecting the well-being of citizens, and interpreting written laws created and designed to be enforced upon citizens. This document should not be rigid to the point where it handcuffs the Arbiters of The East Pacific, but it should also not be too loose as to create gray areas that may deter from established code. Therefore, anything not specifically mentioned in this document may be interpreted by the current Arbiters of The East Pacific and may be subject to amending. The SOC is an agreement between Arbiters on how to best conduct Conclave business. It is subject to change at any time. Nothing in the Standing Orders of the Conclave shall be construed as establishing rights of any party not contemplated by the Concordat or laws of The East Pacific.

Section II: Duties of the Arbiters

An Arbiter of The East Pacific is responsible to:

  1. Interpret laws passed by the Magisterium and signed by the Delegate and make a clear decision on how the law should be interpreted (or voided).

  2. Settle any disputes presented by citizens of The East Pacific.

  3. Hold trial for any members or citizens that have been accused of a particular crime within the region.

  4. Establish verdicts and sentences for members or citizens during a time of a trial.

  5. Elect among them a Viceroy to serve a period of six months to conduct elections, grant citizenship, oversee trials, and report to the Magisterium with the decision regarding any bills presented to the body.

  6. Remove a Vizier for inactivity or high crimes by a 2/3 vote.

  7. Remain active and punctual during their tenure.

Section III: Voting

  1. For each voting period, the Viceroy is charged with outlining the purpose for voting, the choices, and the voting time frame.

  2. If all Arbiters have voted on a particular issue, voting ends immediately.

  3. In the event of a tie vote, a re-vote may be initiated. A grace period of three days is used for open debating of the issue at hand prior to voting. The Viceroy is then charged with initiating a new voting period. If by the end of the re-vote a tie still exists, the Viceroy’s vote may count as an extra vote.

  4. All voting periods are to last a maximum of one week. Any Arbiters who do not vote in this period will be counted as “abstain” and will have their non-participation recorded. Those who do vote within this period are designated as “active Arbiters” in this document.

  5. Any Arbiter who brings a matter before the Conclave with the exception of a Motion to Dismiss or is materially involved in matter to be considered must recuse themselves and may not be considered an active Arbiter in that matter. Once recused, the Arbiter must not participate in any part of the matter.

  6. Prior to voting, the Conclave may use a private discussion subforum to debate a bill, trial, or amendment to this document.

Section IV: Interpreting Laws

  1. The Viceroy is charged with opening any debate for a legislation presented to them by making a post topic which outlines the bill verbatim and if the debate is open to the public or is private.

    1. The Conclave will have a period of no more than one week to debate legislation enacted by Magisterium with regard to whether or not it is contrary to Concordat. Any arbiter may ask for a one one-week extension to the debate.

  3. Once the debate period has ended, the Conclave must vote on the legislation to determine if it is to be passed or voided. This voting period ends on the following conditions:
    a. If a majority vote has been achieved under the current number of Arbiters in the Conclave.
    b. If one week has passed and a majority among active Arbiters has been established.

  4. If a legislation is declared a law, the Viceroy is charged with sending the law back to the Magisterium to be amended into the Concordat.

  5. If legislation is declared void, the Viceroy is charged with sending the law back to the Magisterium for review. Comments as to why the bill was voided may be included.

  6. Multiple legislation reaching the floor of the Conclave may be debated and voted on synchronously.

  7. One week after the Conclave has announced their decision on a legislation, any citizen may request any private discussions regarding the legislation be made public to the Viceroy. The Viceroy is then charged with moving the discussion from the private quarters to the public Conclave subforum.

Section V: Offenses that may Merit a Trial

Conclave may place a nation on trial if they violate the laws of the region. Examples of conduct that may merit a trial are:

  1. Severely harassing or teasing, expressing prejudice against, or acting with intent to harm members or citizens.

  2. Creating a disturbance that is distressing to other members or citizens, or the government of The East Pacific.

  3. Accepting bribes while serving in a governmental position of The East Pacific.

  4. Committing treason upon The East Pacific.

  5. Committing voter fraud.

  6. Actively contradicting the written laws of the Concordat.

  7. Compromising or overriding the judiciary powers of the Conclave The East Pacific.

Section VI: Trial Process

  1. Any citizens or members may bring up accusations of offending members or citizens for the Conclave to review in the form of a post topic. These accusations must include the accused person(s) and offense(s) they are accused of committing in addition to any witnesses or advocates each side wishes to appear before the trial.

  2. Any offenses brought to the attention of the Conclave must be determined to merit the need for a trial. The Conclave may have no more than one week to determine if a trial is needed by active Arbiter majority vote, and the acceptance of any advocates and witnesses proposed.

  3. If a trial is deemed unnecessary, the Viceroy is charged with explaining why a trial is not granted and may offer advice as to how the issue may be resolved. Arbiters may be called to offer advice as well. The post topic is then locked.

  4. If a trial is deemed necessary, the Viceroy is charged with pinning a topic that designates a motion for trial. In the opening post, the Viceroy must establish the conflicting parties, charges brought upon the accused person(s) by the accuser(s), and if the trial is open to public comments or is private.

  5. The Viceroy is charged with guiding the direction of the trial: from the motion, to evidence provided by the accuser(s), to defense of the accused person(s), to opening the floor for questions, and suspending the trial to allow for arbiters to reach a sentence and verdict. Only those given clearance to post during the trial may do so as directed by the Viceroy and in response to a question proposed by an Arbiter.

  6. Any party or Arbiter who becomes aware of a witness with relevant information as to the legality of a bill or the guilt or innocence of any party before the Conclave may petition the Viceroy during proceedings to amend the list of nations allowed to present evidence or argument. Once a vote has been taken, any such submission would be in the form of a Motion To Reconsider the matter based upon new evidence.

  7. The accuser(s) have three days maximum to present enough evidence to convict the accused person(s). If the accuser(s) do not provide evidence in the time allotted, the trial is ended and declared void.

  8. Once the evidence has been presented, the accused person(s) have three days maximum to provide a defense. If the accused person(s) do not provide a defense in the time allotted, the defense is dismissed.

  9. Either side may call upon witnesses that have been cleared by the Viceroy, and request for more time, which may be granted by the Viceroy in the form of a numerical amount.

  10. When the floor is opened for questions Arbiters may act as prosecutors in order to better assess the situation. The parties involved may only comment on questions asked by the Arbiters.

  11. Trials are to last two weeks or until active arbiters have finished asking relevant questions, in which they must request for more time prior to the two weeks’ end. The thread is then locked by the Viceroy until a verdict is reached and a motion for debating between Arbiters is enacted.

  12. To debate on a verdict and sentence, Arbiters will retire to a private subforum. Arbiters are not to speak about the debate elsewhere or rely on outside sources to affect their judgment.

  13. If either party is found electioneering (attempting to sway the outcome of the trial outside of the trial thread), further consequences will be debated by the Conclave.

Section VII: Verdict and Sentencing

  1. The Conclave shall have a period of no greater than one week to reach a verdict and an appropriate sentence for the convicted if found guilty simultaneously. This sentencing may include, but is not limited to, forum suspension, removal of governmental positions, regional banning, and forum expulsion.

  2. Once a verdict is reached, the Viceroy is charged with unlocking the thread, posting the verdict and the sentence, and locking the thread.

  3. Upon reaching an appropriate sentence, the Viceroy must inform the Delegate of any punishments that relate to the region for him or her to enact. Likewise, for any punishments relating to the forums, the Viceroy must inform the Admin team through the back room of the sentences to be carried out.

  4. Sentences that require the removal of positions may be brought to the attention of the Magisterium for vote at the digression of the Conclave.

  5. If new evidence is found after a verdict and sentence has been reached that may have changed the outcome, the trial may be re-opened by the Viceroy and the process will begin again.

Section VIII: Removal of Arbiters / Viziers

  1. A Vizier may be removed as a condition of their sentencing if he or she is found guilty in a trial.

  2. A Vizier may be removed by proven abuse of his or her duties as a Vizier of The East Pacific.

  3. Through inactivity or conviction in Conclave trial or an illegal act or abuse of duty an Arbiter may be referred to Magisterium for removal if 2/3 of the active Arbiters vote to remove him or her from office. For inactivity removal, the Viceroy is charged with starting a topic addressing the issue of the inactive member. The process for removal is to be treated the same way as consideration of legislation: a maximum of one week of debate and one week of voting.

  4. If a Vizier is voted to be removed, the Viceroy is charged with informing the Admin team of the removal of the Vizier.

Section IX: Extraneous Duties of the Viceroy

In addition to what has been outlined above, the Viceroy is charged with

  1. Appointing a Viceroy Designee upon being elected in case he or she is absent for an extended period of time greater than one week or during a matter of importance. If the incumbent Viceroy has been absent for a period greater than 28 days, both posts will be relinquished and new Arbiter elections will be held, overseen by the Viceroy Designee.
    a. If the Viceroy is urgently needed for a matter of importance, the incumbent Viceroy has 48 hours to respond before the Viceroy Designee claims Viceroy duties until the incumbent Viceroy returns.
    b. The incumbent Viceroy may ask the Viceroy Designee to handle the responsibilities of the Viceroy at any time.

  2. Updating a pinned calendar thread for the purpose of announcing and scheduling events of the Conclave. This thread will contain this document, and will be locked unless updated by the Viceroy.

Section X: Amendments

  1. Amendments to this document may be proposed at any time by a member of the Conclave.

  2. Any proposed amendments will be presented to the Conclave body in the form of a post topic. Conclave members will have a period no greater than one week to debate over the necessity of said amendment.

  3. The Viceroy is charged with opening the voting for an amendment, which is to be the same procedure for voting on a bill for passage into a law. If the vote passes, the Viceroy is charged with adding the amendment to this document.

  4. All amendments, including this document, must be passed by a 2/3 majority vote.[/quote]

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Amendment to the SOC 06/07/2014

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This amendment was passed with 3/4 of Arbiters FOR its passing.

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This amendment was passed with 2/2 Arbiters for its passing. (2 didn’t vote).

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This amendment passed with 3 arbiters in favor and one not present.

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This amendment passed with two Arbiters in favor and one not present.

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The above amendment was passed on 31 January 2022 by 3 of 3 voting Arbiters.

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2.2.3- Informal opinions must be issued by at least one Arbiter, and over half of Conclave must either issue an informal opinion or recuse themselves from answering the Advisory Question.

The above amendment was passed on 9 February 2022 by 3 of 3 voting Arbiters.

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“2.1.1- Judicial Review of a Law shall take place following its passing, or 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.”

The above amendment was passed on 16 April 2023 unanimously

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The SoC was entirely reformatted/amended as the above following an unanimous vote on November 9th, 2023.

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The SOC Amendment below was passed after an unanimous vote of the Conclave on 1/23/2024.