The (eCanadian) Bill

Day 1,573, 10:52 • Published in Canada Canada • by MaxMaher

"Abolish the Supreme Court. No more forum ban. Keep the power of the speaker to moderate and keep decorum. Finally let the congressmen the capacity to ban a congressman from the congress for the reminder of his term if the guys is a threat to national security. Let the forum admins deal with it if the Speaker or Congress clearly abuse of their power.
Afterall, ingame is now where all things happens."
This is what I had answer yesterday in Acacia's shout, when he asks how we could fix the current crisis. This is what I propose now in the constitutional amendment made here.


Preamble
The people agree that the government and role-play institutions of eCanada are bound by the following terms for the purpose of ensuring fair, enjoyable game-play and role-play for all citizens of eCanada. This Charter of Rights and Freedoms takes precedence over all other laws within eRepublik or eCanada.

Section I: Rights of Citizens
I.1) All citizens shall have the right to participate in all aspects of game-play as governed by game mechanics, forum masking or irc permissions unless specifically prohibited by law.
I.2) All citizens shall have the right to appear before the sitting court of eCanada if they feel their rights and freedoms as guaranteed by this Charter have been violated by another individual or group.


I.3) No citizen or group has the right to remove government assets without the consent of a two-thirds majority of congress.

I.4) Every citizen has the right to a Timely Trial. A citizen cannot be charged with an offense under eCanadian law, if the alleged offense became publicly known more than 60 days prior to the citizen being charged. The 60 days shall be deemed to have begun with the first mention of the alleged incident in any government, political party, or citizen’s ingame newspaper article. The actual date of the alleged offense is irrelevant.

Addendum:
Any crime which has been publicized in any government, political party or citizen's ingame newspaper article prior to the passing of this amendment into law, shall be afforded the same 60 days, beginning with the date this amendment passes into law.

Section II: Rights and Freedoms of Congress

II.1) The Congress of eCanada consists of the Congress elected in-game each month by the citizens of eCanada. The Congress of eCanada has the freedom to:
a) put forward and debate any proposal as governed by the in-game rules of eRepublik or affects the forum or irc community
b) request information relevant to any proposal from any government or role-play organization
c) vote on any proposal approved by the Speaker of Congress. Any unauthorized vote shall be voted down.
d) discuss and approve any Presidential order with a majority of 51% of congress or overturn any Presidential veto with the approval of 65% of Congress
e) elect from within their ranks a Congressional Minister to oversee any portfolio not appointed by the Country President.
d) remove the access of a congressman to the Congress section by a two-thirds majority of congress for the reminder of the current term.

II.2) The congress of eCanada has the freedom to select a Speaker of the House from within their ranks each month. Congress has the freedom to:
a) nominate or second as Speaker one (1) individual who is not a Cabinet Minister or Party President. Each nominee must receive both a nomination and second.
b) elect a Speaker over a period of 48 hours, no later than the 29th of the month.
c) request the Party President with the most congressional seats appoint a Speaker should the election process fail to choose a Speaker.
d) request the President of eCanada break any tie in the election as Speaker

II.3) The Speaker of the House has the right to:
a) moderate all discussions in Open and Closed Door Congress, create voting polls and count and report the results of votes
b) edit and delete posts within the Congress section of the forum
c) declare the President absent and institute an impeachment after a 72 hour absence as defined by the last visit time on the forum if advance notice has not been given
d) choose a deputy speaker who is a member of Congress, but who is not a Cabinet Minister or Party President to aid the Speaker in his duties.

Section III: Rights and Freedoms of the Executive

III.1) The President of Canada is the head of the government as chosen in-game each month by the citizens of eCanada. The President has the Right to:
a) control and delegate access to individuals to control and access government assets
b) introduce any motion allowable in-game or give a Presidential order to congress on any issue that affects the forum or irc community or involving distribution of government funds
c) veto any motion passed by congress that falls outside in-game mechanics. The Speaker of the House must be informed of any Veto.
d) create and Remove Cabinet Ministries and to appoint eCanadian citizens to these posts
e) deny a Cabinet position to any individual who has not been a resident of eCanada for at least two weeks prior to the appointment or who leaves the country without written permission from the President

Section IV: Rights and Freedoms of the Judiciary

IV.1) The Supreme Court of Canada is the official Judiciary of eCanada and holds sole decision making powers in court cases relating to the laws of eCanada, actions of the government and disputes between citizens. The Supreme Court of eCanada has the right to:
a) be comprised of between three to five Court Justices with no more than two members from any political party or receiving funding from the same Military Unit. Members may not be congressmen, cabinet members, party presidents or the President.
b) have a Chief Justice with the power to moderate all discussions within the Supreme Court, determine the relevance and admissibility of evidence, witnesses and testimony in all Supreme Court proceedings, but whose vote in all other decisions holds no more power than the other Court Justices.
c) have candidates for Court Justice and Chief Justice proposed by the President and selected by a two thirds majority of votes cast in congress.


Section V: Addendums

Addendum 1) Changes to this Charter of Rights and Freedoms may be proposed on the eCanada forums by any individual masked as an eCanadian citizen. If after three days, the Speaker of the House believe that public opinion accepts the changes, congress shall vote on the proposed amendments with an affirmative vote of 65% resulting in ratification.

Addendum 2) The Charter of Rights and Freedoms replaces the former “Constitution of eCanada”. Procedural conventions from the former Constitution may be carried forward until such time as legislation is ratified, however they will not be considered law. This includes, but is not limited to, the construction of the Supreme Court and the jurisdiction of the Executive Branch over government organizations.

Addendum 3) Forum admins act as the final appeal level for all matters that concerns any government members who abuse of his moderation privilege on the forum.
I'm truly sorry for Freakenstien, Nogin the nog, my former Justice colleague, and all those who are supporters of the current justice system in eCanada. Today, I resign from my Chief Justice office.

I unfortunately do not believe in the light of the current events that our justice system serves any good. It's used to be the case when the game was more forum based like in the v1, but it's no longer stand.

The community is now struggling, in the verge of a civil war, over a single forum access. It's totally absurd. The Justice system should be used fix the problems that the community faces. Today, it is used by some that still fell resentful for a crime someone did more than a year ago (an eternity in eRepublik). There is a disconnection between our forum roleplay and our ingame roleplay that we have for to long been ignoring.

It's time to fix it.
Stop being resentful and carry on.

Max Maher,
Former Chief Justice (and a couple more things 😁