NationStates Jolt Archive

PROPOSAL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF WORLD COURT OF JUSTICE

Proposal:
To setup a superior court, having jurisdiction over all member states in matters both civil and criminal in nature, under auspices of the World Assembly.
This superior court be called the World Court of Justice.

Details of the Proposal:
The World Court of Justice (WCJ) be setup as the primary judicial organ of the WA. The Court's workload should be characterised by a wide range of judicial activity. Its main function should be to settle legal disputes submitted to it by member Regions and to give opinion on legal questions submitted to it by member Regions.
WCJ rulings shall be enforced by the WCJ Enforcement Agency, a body subordinate only to the WCJ.

COMPOSITION:

Hierarchy: President  Vice President  Judges

The World Court of Justice shall be composed of 15 judges elected to 2-year term of office. In order to ensure a measure of continuity, one third of the Court is elected every year. Judges are eligible for re-election.

Should a judge die or resign during his or her term of office, a special election is held as soon as possible to choose a judge to fill the unexpired part of the term.

All Regions who are members of the WA have the right to propose candidates. These proposals are to be made by the WA Delegate of the Region concerned.

The names of candidates must be communicated to the WA Mods within a time-limit laid down by him/her/them.

Judges must be elected from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law.

The Court as a whole must represent the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.

Once elected, a Member of the Court shall be a delegate neither of the government of his own country nor of that of any other Region.

Members of the Court shall be independent judges whose first task, before taking up their duties, shall be to make a solemn declaration in open court that they will exercise their powers impartially and conscientiously.

In order to guarantee his or her independence, no Member of the Court can be dismissed unless, in the unanimous opinion of the other Members, he/she no longer fulfils the required conditions.

No Member of the Court may engage in any other occupation during his/her term.

He/she shall not be allowed to exercise any political or administrative function, nor to act as agent, counsel or advocate in any case. Any doubts with regard to this question shall be settled by decision of the WCJ.

A Member of the Court, when engaged on the business of the Court, shall enjoy privileges and immunities comparable with those of the head of a diplomatic mission.

The Court shall be deemed to be permanently in session.. The Members of the Court shall be required to be permanently at its disposal except during judicial vacations or leave of absence, or when they are prevented from attending by illness or other serious reasons.

Presidency
The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by the Members of the Court every 2 years by secret ballot. The election shall be held on the date on which Members of the Court elected at a biennial election are to begin their terms of office or shortly thereafter. An absolute majority shall be required and there shall be no conditions with regard to nationality. The President and the Vice-President may be re-elected.

The President shall preside at all meetings of the Court; he/she shall direct its work and supervize its administration, with the assistance of various committees, all composed of Members of the Court and formed via elections.

During deliberations, the President shall have a casting vote in the event of votes being equally divided.

The Vice-President shall replace the President in his/her absence, in the event of his/her inability to exercise his/her duties, or in the event of a vacancy in the presidency. In the absence of the Vice-President, this role devolves upon the senior judge

The Registry
The Registry shall be the permanent administrative organ of the Court. It is accountable to the Court alone. It shall be headed by a Registrar, assisted by a Deputy-Registrar.

The Registry consists of the following Departments :
1. Civil
2. Criminal
3. Advisory
4. Treaties
5. International Law

These Departments shall have their own Registrars and Deputy Registrars, who shall receive application pertaining to their departments.

Appointment of Registrars:
The WCJ shall advertise vacancies for the posts and invite applications from WA members. The appointment shall be done by the President in consultation with the Vice President.

These officials shall take an oath of loyalty and discretion on entering upon their duties. In general they shall enjoy the same privileges and immunities as members of diplomatic missions.

Term in Office: 2 Years. Can be re-appointed.

Committees

Budgetary and Administrative Committee
Decisions needing to be taken by the Court on administrative matters shall be prepared by a Budgetary and Administrative Committee composed of the President (chair), the Vice-President and four judges elected biennially.

Rules Committee
This committee advises the Court on procedural issues and working methods.This committee shall be composed of the Vice President and 7 Judges elected biennially

WCJ Enforcement Agency
The Agency shall have the following departments:
1. Civil
2. Criminal

Each department in the Agency shall be headed by
1. Chief Enforcer
2. Deputy Enforcers

Appointment shall be made by the President and Vice President from amongst the applications received by the Registrar of the related department from amongst the WA members

JURISDICTION of the WCJ:

All WA member states; cases submitted by regional heads.
The WCJ would entertain cases pertaining to:
1. Civil
2 Criminal
3. Advisory
4. Develop Internal Law
5. Supervise International Treaties

Procedure of the Court:
1. Application by a Region (Applicant) to the Registrar of the WCJ
2. Study of the application and issue of receipt of application by Registrar of the WCJ
3. Notification issued to the other party (Respondent) within 5 days of filing of application by the Applicant.
4. 5 days time to the Respondent to respond to the claim
5. If the Respondent fails to respond within the stipulated time and ex-parte decision shall be pronounced.
6. Upon receiving response, a Court shall be created comprising of 3 Judges and the Registrar shall inform both the parties.
7. A date of hearing shall be notified
8. The Court shall hear both parties’ submission and decide within 5 days.
9. The decision of the Court shall be known as the Award and a copy each shall be provided to the parties.

Appeal:
Within 5 days from the date of the Award, either party can appeal against the Award by apply to the Registrar:

1st Appeal is allowed to a bench comprising of :
1. The Vice President
2. Four Judges

Final Appeal allowed to a bench comprising of:
1. The President
2. Six Judges selected by seniority

A World Court is a branch of a world government. EXTREMELY OPPOSED

one concern i have is whether judges will actually be impartial or whether they will simply vote/make a decision which will suit the region they are representing. Having to make a declaration in court is all very well but does it rwally stand for anything. How can you be sure that voting parties will not be politically biased and sway towards the interests of their own region/nation?

Will there be any elected permenant members?

I am yet undecided with regards to this proposal.

with sincere regards
WA Ambassafor
The constitutional Monarchy of McNabia

one concern i have is whether judges will actually be impartial or whether they will simply vote/make a decision which will suit the region they are representing. Having to make a declaration in court is all very well but does it rwally stand for anything. How can you be sure that voting parties will not be politically biased and sway towards the interests of their own region/nation?

Will there be any elected permenant members?

I am yet undecided with regards to this proposal.

with sincere regards
WA Ambassafor
The constitutional Monarchy of McNabia

Can add 'Neutral Judges' clause and also that if in case there is a conflict of interest concerning a matter, the judge shall have a moral obligation to step down and in case he/she doesnt and bias is proved, then that particular judge's office would fall vacant automatically.

AMENDMENT:
Please read 'consultant' in place of 'committee'.
Had overlooked the fact that committees arent allowed here.

WA mods: hope this amendment suffices, i.e, fits in with the rules of NS WA..??

The government of the emperor of Urgench wonders what laws this international court will administer? There is presumably no need to adjudicate already passed W.A. statutes since they are automatically incorperated in to member nation's legal codes, to be adjudicated upon by national courts.
Would a codex "World-assembliana" with the specification that it's administration be derrogated to a w.a. court not need to exist a priori to the statute that created that court?

yours e.t.c. ,

I'm against the wjc. sorry

Was there a reason you couldn't have continued the previous thread?

First observation: this is going to be way over the character limit for a proposal.

Details of the Proposal:
The World Court of Justice (WCJ) be setup as the primary judicial organ of the WA. The Court's workload should be characterised by a wide range of judicial activity. Its main function should be to settle legal disputes submitted to it by member Regions and to give opinion on legal questions submitted to it by member Regions.
Your first big stumbling block is that the WA has no member Regions. Not a one. Only nations are members of the WA; the only interaction that regions have with the WA is about regional delegates, and that's very much not the same as the region being a member.

WCJ rulings shall be enforced by the WCJ Enforcement Agency, a body subordinate only to the WCJ.
I'd recommend losing this paragraph.

The World Court of Justice shall be composed of 15 judges elected to 2-year term of office. [...]
This is hovering on the edge of breaking the committee rules, in my opinion.

All Regions who are members of the WA have the right to propose candidates. These proposals are to be made by the WA Delegate of the Region concerned.
This flat-out breaks the committee rules, or would if any regions were members.

The names of candidates must be communicated to the WA Mods within a time-limit laid down by him/her/them.
OOC: and this is why it's illegal. The mods are not going to do the work for you.

The rest of this section is fluff. You could lose all of it (though keeping a paragraph would be a bad idea) and no one would notice.

Presidency
The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by the Members of the Court every 2 years by secret ballot. [...]
Again, this is teetering on the edge of breaking the committee rules, in my opinion.

[snip more fluff]

The Registry
The Registry shall be the permanent administrative organ of the Court. It is accountable to the Court alone. It shall be headed by a Registrar, assisted by a Deputy-Registrar.

The Registry consists of the following Departments :
1. Civil
2. Criminal
3. Advisory
4. Treaties
5. International Law

These Departments shall have their own Registrars and Deputy Registrars, who shall receive application pertaining to their departments.

Appointment of Registrars:
...and this is the point where you get into much more detail than you need again. If you'd just said that 'this and this is what the Registry will cover', you'd have been fine. Mostly. When you start getting into the appointment of Registrars, you're almost certain not to be fine.

By the way, why are "International Law", "Civil" and "Criminal" separate categories? I don't see any mandate allowing the WCJ to meddle in civil or criminal law that isn't also international law.

Committees
How many committees do you need? I'm a professional bureaucrat from a nation that adores red tape, and I think you're overdoing it. Either you're duplicating something that should already be happening within the bowels of the WA (or would be if we ever passed a funding resolution), or you're micromanaging procedure. That suggests that this entire section can be deleted and the only effect will be to increase your chance of getting this passed.

This was about the point where I lost the will to live. There may be something salvageable in the rest of this, but I couldn't be bothered to read it. It all still founders on the rock of breaking the committee rules, and breaking them big time. It's illegal, and it's too big to post anyway. Try again.

OOC: and this is why it's illegal. The mods are not going to do the work for you.
Plus, even mentioning them in a proposal constitutes 'meta-gaming' and thus is itself enough to make that proposal illegal...

the government of McNabia wonders whether a dispute between regions/nations would be heard solely by a panel of judges from neutral nations?