Bills

This is bill id#1337 (this information has no legal importance and is technical in nature.

Hopper Thread

WHEREAS, the current Government agreed to submit various Organic Law reforms to the current Ziu, including a provision for the Seneschál to be nominated by the Cosâ prior to appointment by the King;

WHEREAS, the Seneschál should be elected by the people of Talossa, and not appointed by the King;

WHEREAS, this is a cumbersome endeavor and requires sweeping reforms throughout the OrgLaw and other laws; and,

WHEREAS, this bill is hopefully the best compromise between all parties,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosâ and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled that:

(1) All references to a "Prime Minister" in the Organic Law and any other laws in effect shall be made to refer instead to the Seneschál, to wit:

(a) Section 2 of Article III of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:

 

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Except as otherwise provided in this Organic Law, any Talossan eligible to vote may be elected or appointed to the Senäts, but only for his or her own province. No Senator, even though elected or appointed to the Senäts, may actually vote his seat until he has been a citizen for one year, or served for six months as Seneschál or Secretary of State, or received an order of knighthood from the King. No person may simultaneously hold more than one seat in the Senäts.

(b) Section 6 of Article VII of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:
 

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The Seneschál shall have the right at his discretion to withdraw any legislative proposal from the Hopper and instruct the Secretary of State to treat it as a properly submitted bill.

(c) The Scribery of Talossa is instructed, and shall have an express power and duty, to replace in El Lexhatx with "Seneschál" any and all references to a "Prime Minister", or therein with "Distáin" any and all references to a "Deputy Prime Minister", as according to fair reason and context.

(2) Section 8 of Article IV of the Organic Law, which concerns warrants of prorogation, is repealed in whole and the subsequent sections of the same Article are accordingly renumbered.

(3) The entirety of Article VI of the Organic Law, which concerns the Government, is replaced in whole with the following:
 

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Section 1
The head of the Government is the Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Seneschál. Any Talossan, except for the King of Talossa, shall be eligible to be the Seneschál.

Section 2
The Seneschál shall be elected directly by the Cosâ, and his term shall expire upon the installation of his successor. He shall maintain the confidence of a majority of the Cosâ alone in order to hold the office.

Section 3
The Seneschál has duties of the State. He may advise the King to dissolve the Cosâ and to appoint and remove members of the Cabinet, and such advice to the King shall not be refused. He may also declare war and write treaties with the approval of the Ziu, expedite the Ziu's consideration of legislation, and issue Prime Dictates.

Section 4
Prime Dictates (PDs) are public declarations which affect government policy and have the force of law. They take effect upon their countersignature by the King and function as laws for all purposes, with such exceptions and subject to such conditions as the Ziu may enact by statute. Prime Dictates are exempt from all provisions relating unto legislative proposals, but may never be used to amend this Organic Law.

Section 5
The election of a Seneschál shall be the sole and exclusive business of the first Clark of every newly seated Ziu, but neither a member of the Senäts nor the King may vote on the matter. The Senäts may undertake during such Clark any of their business for which the consent of the Cosâ or the King be not requisite.

The method of election of a Seneschál shall be Ranked Choice Voting. Each member of the Cosâ shall have as many votes in the election as the seats which he hold in the Cosâ, but shall cast his votes as one bloc and have no divided conscience. The candidates for each such election shall be only the recognized and commonly known leader of each political party which shall have earned representation in the Cosâ at the most recent general election.

No member of the Cosâ may abstain in the election of a Seneschál, and shall rank on his ballot at least two distinct preferences, which itself shall be made public.

Whichever candidate shall have earned a majority of the votes in his election, as according to the method of Ranked Choice Voting, shall be appointed subsequently and forthwith by the King to serve as Seneschál, and the results of the election shall be published at large in the Clark.

Section 6
The second Clark of every Ziu may entertain business as normal, but especially shall occur after a month of recess following the first Clark. The Seneschál shall have the express duty during the said month of recess to form a government and prepare their legislative agenda, and shall announce publicly both the roster and the agenda at least before, if not sooner than, the last day on which a member of the Ziu may submit a measure to the second Clark.

Section 7
No election for the Seneschál shall occur, except during the first Clark of a newly seated Ziu.

Section 8
The Seneschál shall appoint a member of the Government to be the Deputy Prime Minister, who shall be known otherwise as the Distáin. The Distáin shall act in place of the Seneschál in case of absence or disability of the latter, and shall become the Seneschál in case of death, removal or resignation. The Ziu may establish by law the procedures and standards in order to determine the absence or disability of the Seneschál, as well as the manner or conditions by which the Distáin shall be appointed.

Section 9
The King appoints and dismisses members of the Government (Cabinet) on the advice of the Seneschal. The Government consists of the Seneschal, the Distáin, and various other ministers as set by law or appointed as the Seneschal sees fit.

Section 10
Cabinet Ministers are responsible to the Seneschal, whom they advise and from whom they receive direction, and exercise state power with his consent.

Section 11
Whenever the Government should lose the confidence of the Cosâ by a formal vote, the same Government shall remain in offce as caretakers until a new Seneschál shall be duly installed.
 

(4) Section 7 of Article IV of the Organic Law is so amended as follows:
 

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A newly elected Ziu shall convene on the first day of the month after its general election, to coincide with the publication of the first Clark. Its term shall be equal to seven Clarks, subject to the provisions elsewhere in this Organic Law. During its last month, the King shall issue a Writ of Dissolution ending its term. Whenever the Cosâ may be dissolved, all its members shall resign.

(5) Those provisions of this Act which affect the Organic Law shall be put to a referendum of the people of Talossa together, to be answered therein as one single Organic amendment.

(6) Those provisions of this Act which do not affect the Organic Law shall take effect immediately upon the enactment hereof, severable and separate from those provisions and not answerable by a referendum.

(7) Those phrases, clauses, paragraphs, sections, or other manners of any law or any source of law which contravene the provisions of this Act shall be severed and nullified upon the effectuation hereof, whether by enactment or referendum, but only to the extent of and not beyond such contravention.

This is bill id#1338 (this information has no legal importance and is technical in nature.

Hopper Thread

WHEREAS, it seems unseemly that the Túischac'h, the presiding officer of the Cosa, should be nominated by the King or by the Government instead of elected by the Cosa;

WHEREAS, a previous bill did not address all manners or causes of the election of the Túischac'h; and,

WHEREAS, the Cosa deserves at all times a present, incumbent, active, and loyal Túischac'h,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosa and Senäts of Talossa in Ziu assembled that the text of the twentieth section of Title H of El Lexhatx (H.20), which reads at the time of the authorship of this bill...
 

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The King shall appoint a Member of the Cosa to serve as Speaker of the Cosa (Talossan: el Túischac'h) for the upcoming term, on the advice of the Seneschal after consultation with the leaders of all parties represented in the Cosa. The Speaker shall preside, direct and maintain order during Living Cosas and in the Hopper, in an unbiased fashion. Otherwise, his function will be to advise Members of the Cosa of appropriate decorum. He is considered the honourable President of the Cosâ and shall be awarded all due veneration when serving as such. In the absence of the Túischac'h from the Hopper, the Mençéi shall perform these duties.

...shall, at the time of effecutation of this Act, be stricken entirely and replaced with the following:
 

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The Cosa shall be served actively and loyally by a Speaker of the Cosa (Talossan: el Túischac'h) who shall be one of their members, be elected directly by them, and serve then for the remainder of the term of that Cosa.

1. The Speaker shall preside, direct, and maintain order during Living Cosas and in the Hopper without bias or favor, and otherwise may advise Members of the Cosa of appropriate decorum.

2. The election of a Speaker shall be so done as follows:

2.1. After the results of a General Election of the Ziu shall have been certified as according to law, or during any bona fide absence or vacancy in the office of the Speaker, but in any case until the next following dissolution of the Cosa, a Member or Member-elect of one Cosa shall have individual power to publish publicly a petition nominating an eligible person for the office of the Speaker.

2.2. Nomination petitions for the office of the Speaker may be signed only publicly and only by other Members or Members-elect of the same Cosa. Each signature shall be equal to one vote in favor of the nomination.

2.3. Whenever one nomination petition shall have earned such number of affirmative votes as shall equal a majority of the actual members of the Cosa, without regard to the number of seats which they may hold, then the candidate so nominated shall be declared by the Secretary of State to be the Speaker and all other outstanding nomination petitions shall be moot and nullified.

2.4. No Member or Member-elect of the Cosa shall have signed more than one nomination petition simultaneously for the same cause; but, if a Member or Member-elect wish to support a different petition, then he or she shall retract publicly the earlier signature before signing another.

3. The Speaker shall be considered the honourable president of the Cosa, and shall be awarded all due veneration during such tenure.

4. While the office of the Speaker may be vacant or actually unattended, and until the Cosa shall have elected a new Speaker for the remainder of the term, the Mençéi of the Senate shall perform the duties of the Speaker.

This is bill id#1339 (this information has no legal importance and is technical in nature.

Hopper Thread

WHEREAS, in July 2019, the Ziu of the Kingdom of Talossa adopted the Still Into This Amendment in the third Clark (“53RZ18”) over the objections of the King;

WHEREAS the Chancery submitted 53RZ18 as Referendum 1 in the General Election for the 54th Cosa;

WHEREAS the people ratified 53RZ18, with the resultant promulgation by the King occurring by operation of law;

WHEREAS the following shall shall supplant that part of the 2017 Organic Law within two months of adoption by the Ziu and ratification by referendum;

WHEREAS 53RZ18 was a step towards cleaning up the Organic Law and did not seek to substantively modify the organs of the State;

WHEREAS the Ziu recognizes that the Judiciary of the Kingdom of Talossa must be adaptable and responsive to the dynamic needs of Talossa;

WHEREAS continuity in and of law is tantamount to an effective judiciary;

WHEREAS it would be helpful to include the appropriate statutory legislation to be implemented upon adoption of the following;

THEREFORE, the Ziu amends the 2017 Organic Law by deleting in whole Article VIII: The Courts as contained in 53RZ18 and adopted by the people;

BE IT FURTHER KNOWN, upon the foregoing being deleted, the Ziu and the people of Talosssa adopt as Article VIII: The Courts the following:

The Courts

Section 1.

The judicial power of the Kingdom of Talossa shall be vested in one Cort pü Inalt, in English the Uppermost Cort, and in such inferior courts as the Ziu may from time to time ordain and establish.

Section 2.

The judicial authority of the Cort pü Inalt shall extend to all matters, in law and equity, arising out of a case or controversy; and in all matters affecting ambassadors, public ministers, the State of the Kingdom of Talossa (including its organs), and a Province or other subdivision recognized by this Organic Law, the Cort pü Inalt shall have original jurisdiction. In all other cases, the Cort pü Inalt shall have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact over all inferior corts established by the Ziu. Nothing stated herein shall limit the authority of the Cort pü Inalt from remanding a matter to which the Cort pü Inalt has original jurisdiction to an inferior cort as it deems necessary.

Section 3.

The Cort pü Inalt shall consist of a permanent seat designated as Senior Judge, and two permanent seats designated as Puisne Judge. The Judges shall be ordered according to their seniority on the Cort pü Inalt, with the senior most Judge occupying the seat of Senior Judge.

The Ziu may enlarge the number of seats designated Puisne Judge to no more than eight, and may decrease the number of seats designated Puisne Judge to no less than two, provided that, in addition to the requirements for other legislation, two-thirds of the Cosa and a majority of the Senate support modification in two consecutive Cosas.

Neither a reigning King or his or her Consort, nor a Regent during his or her regency, nor the Secretary of State, nor the Seneschal, nor any other member of the Cabinet shall be a Judge of the Cort pü Inalt.

Section 4.

Any member of the Ziu may nominate a person to an open seat on the Cort pü Inalt. The nominee shall be approved by two-thirds support in the Cosa and majority support in the Senate. Upon such approval, the King shall appoint the nominee as a Judge of Cort pü Inalt.

If the King shall decline to appoint a nominee, then, upon approval by two-thirds support of the Cosa and majority support in the Senate, the nominee shall be considered appointed.

Every Judge of the Cort pü Inalt shall be subject to a re-appointment in intervals of five years, measured from when their initial appointment. These intervals may be increased two to no more than 10 years provided that any legislation retroactively applies to all sitting members of the Cort pü Inalt and is supported by two-thirds of the Cosa and a majority of the Senate in two consecutive Cosas.
Unless otherwise set by law, re-appointment shall be deemed automatic if no member of the Ziu has requested a re-appointment vote in the Cosa immediately preceding the expiration of the Judge's term; and re-appointment shall only require a simple majority of each house in the Ziu. The Ziu may modify the foregoing provided the requirements of re-appointment never exceed that for appointment.

Section 5.

A Judge shall remain on the Cort pü Inalt for the duration of their term, until they choose to retire, or, as prescribed by law, until such time as the Ziu shall remove him or her from their seat or until he or she can no longer perform their duties on account of incapacitation.
In the event that a sitting Judge of the Cort pü Inalt acts in a manner that offends the Ziu in the Judge's official and individual capacity, or is found guilty or has pleaded guilty to a crime in Talossa, a member of the Ziu may move for a Notice of Reprimand, which shall set forth an individual charge with the stated punishment contained therein, which shall not exceed removal from his or her seat as Judge.
To impose the sanction of removal, a Notice of Reprimand must receive, in addition to requirements of other legislation, two-thirds support in the Cosa and majority support in the Senate.

Section 6.

Until such time as inferior corts are established, a Judge may sit as a nisi prius cort in all civil and criminal matters.

No decision or order issued by an inferior cort or nisi prius cort shall bind a coordinate cort.

The decisions or orders of the Cort pü Inalt shall bind all lower corts according to the doctrine of stare decisis provided that that the panel was composed of no less than three Judges after necessary recusal. The Cort pü Inalt may, as it deems appropriate, issue decisions or orders that are non-binding provided that it explicitly states that intention in the decision or order.

A nisi prius cort or an inferior cort deviating from binding precedent must state so with clarity and refer the matter for appellate review.
Notwithstanding any contrary proscription, the King, the Secretary of State, or the Senechal may refer an issue to the Cort pü Inalt for an advisory opinion provided that any such panel reviewing the position is composed of no less than three Judges after any necessary recusal, there lacks a live case or controversy that would otherwise determine the issue, and there is a reasonably need for resolution of the question.

A matter arising under the Covenants of Rights and Freedoms is appealable as of right to the Cort pü Inalt. In all other instances, the Cort pü Inalt may not be compelled to exercise its appellate authority. However, when declining to do so, the Cort pü Inalt must issue an order declaring such, and no such declaration shall be deemed as the Cort pü Inalt adopting or setting as binding precedent the appealed from decision or order.

The Cort pü Inalt, and any other cort existing under this article, shall interpret all matters through the lens of the Covenants of Rights and Freedoms.

Any Judge that is a named party in a matter shall recuse himself or herself from hearing any and all parts of the matter.

BE IT FURTHER KNOWN that, only upon the foregoing amendment coming into effect, and if shall fail, this part shall be stricken nunc pro tunc, el Lexhatx shall be amended as follows;

BE IT FURTHER KNOWN that the Scribe is authorized to modify the following sections or subsection identifiers to cure any inconsistency upon the statute coming into effect, and may fix any accents, diaeresis, or like marks for consistency with Talossan nomenclature and the Talossan language;

BE IT FURTHER KNOWN that upon implementation of the foregoing, all Justices presently on the Cort pü Inalt shall hold their seats but restyled as Judge with the appropriate designation;

UPON THE FOREGOING CONDITIONS, BE IT ENACTED that Section 13 of Article G of el Lexhatx is stricken in its entirety.

All references to “Justice of the Peace” not specifically identified in this statute but contained elsewhere in el Lexhatx shall be stricken.

All references to "Justice" or "Justices" as it relates to a member of the Cort pü Inalt contained in el Lexhatx not specifically identified in this below shall be replaced with "Judge" or "Judges." 

The following shall be added to el Lexhatx under Article G, Section 13:

13.1. The Ziu enlarges the number of Pusine Judges by two in accord with Section 3 of Article VIII of the Organic Law.

13.2. The Ziu establishes the General Cort of Talossa, which shall be an inferior nisi prius cort, cort of first instance, and of general jurisdiction consistent with Article VIII of the Organic Law.

13.2.1. In accord with Section 6 of Article VIII of the Organic Law, any action commenced in the General Cort of Talossa shall be heard by a single Judge of the Cort pü Inalt.   

13.2.2. A Judge presiding over a matter in the General Cort of Talossa shall be styled as "Magistrate" for the purposes of that proceeding.

13.2.3. Unless an appeal lies as of right, an aggrieved party to an action may seek leave to appeal any determination of the General Cort to the Cort pü Inalt.

13.2.4. A Magistrate may not sit as a Judge on the Cort pü Inalt for any appeal related to a proceeding over which they presided as a a magistrate. 

13.2.5. A Magistrate must recuse themselves from a matter upon a real or apparent conflict of interest.

Section 14 of Article G of el Lexhatx is amended as follows:

14.1.1. The Secretary of State shall accept service of any complaints or claims to the Cort pü Înalt or General Cort of Talossa on behalf of all citizens. The Secretary of State shall email notice of said complaints or claims to the concerned citizen, and affirm to the Cort that they did so on that date (the "date of service").

14.1.2 If either party in a case before the Cort fails to respond to such a notice as specified in section 14.1.1 within 60 days of the date of service, the Cort may, upon a motion by the adverse party, enter default judgement against the nonappearing party. Default judgment can only be entered for a period of three months after default. A default order may be vacated, upon good cause shown, within three months after it was entered, by motion of the aggrieved party.

14.2. If a Judge fails to respond to the assignment of a Case by the Clerk of Corts, pursuant to section 5.7 of this article, within 14 days, then the Clerk of Corts shall assign the case to another Judge, and inform the Senechal of the Judge's failure to appear.

14.3. A Judge may request a matter be transferred to another Judge for any reason.  If that request be for any other purpose than a conflict of interest, and the Judge has not presided over any substantive part of the proceeding as a Magistrate, he or she shall be from the proscription enumerated in section 13.2.4 of this article. 

14.4. If a Magistrate fails to address a filing from either party within 14 days of receipt, then the Clerk of Corts shall inquire as to the status of the Magistrate, and may appropriately reassign the matter to another Judge if warranted.  If a Magistrate fails to respond to a Clerk’s inquiry within 14 days, the Clerk shall reassign the matter and inform the Seneschal of the Magistrate's failure to appear.

The following shall be added as Section 15 of Article G of el Lexhatx

15.1.1. All final decisions or those interlocutory orders must be codified in an official reporter.

15.1.2.  The Cort pü Inalt may request that the Government or Scribe maintain official reporters of decisions on behalf of all Talossan Corts, or it may direct the Clerk of Corts to do so on its behalf.

15.1.3.1. If the Cort pü Inalt shall request the Government or Scribe to maintain official reporters, then the Cort pü Inalt must designate, in the decision, whether it shall be deemed binding, and if so, it shall be reported in an official reporter entitled "Cort pü Inalt" and abbreviated to "CPI" in citations.  All decisions of the Cort pü Inalt designated nonbinding shall be reported in an official reporter entitled "Cort pü Inalt Apeindix" and abbrivated to "CPIA" in citations.

15.1.3.2. All final determinations of the General Cort shall be published in an official reporter entitled "General Cort" and abbreviated to "GC" by the Scribe or an individual designated by the Government in the same fashion as described in G.15.1.3.1.  Nonfinal or interlocutory determinations that impact the rights of a party must also be reported in the GC reporter.  All other determinations need not be reported in the GC reported unless so designated by the General Cort.  Determinations not contained in the GC reporter shall be styled as General Cort Slip Opinions and must be made publicly available on a State-run website in consecutive order by date with an affixed number with an appropriate pin cite every 200 words, for ease of reference, that shall be listed as follows: Case Name, Year GC Slip Op NUMBER, *Pin (Full Date, Magistrate's surname, M.) (e.g. Doe v Smith, 2020 GC Slip Op 001, *1 (27 February 2020, Hershewolfschechterdorfers, M.)

15.1.3.3. If the Scribe or the appointed Government Ministry determines any aforementioned volume becomes lengthy, a subsequent volume shall be created with the appropriate cardinal prefixed prior to the reporter.

15.1.3.4. The Cort pü Inalt may direct the Clerk of the Corts to normalize case captions according to rules it may set forth, which shall then be used in any reporter.

15.1.3.5. The Cort pü Inalt may publish an official style manual enumerating proper citations for any source, which shall be followed by all parties filing documents with any national Talossan cort.

This is bill id#1340 (this information has no legal importance and is technical in nature.

Hopper Thread

WHEREAS Interest in Talossa is not hereditary, and

WHEREAS The best person to become the next Monarch is usually not going to be the child of the previous one


THEREFORE Article II of the Organic Law is repealed and replaced with the following:

Section 1

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The Kingdom of Talossa is a constitutional Monarchy with a King (or, if female, Queen) as its head of State.

Section 2

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The King is the symbolic head of the nation. The nation democratically grants the King certain Royal Powers and duties as described in this Organic Law and in statute law. The Ziu may establish procedures for when the King fails to perform a duty.

Section 3

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The King of Talossa is King John I, until his demise, abdication, or removal from the throne. Should the King at any time renounce or lose his citizenship, that renunciation or loss shall be deemed to imply his abdication of the Throne. Upon the demise, abdication, or removal from the Throne of the King, the Uppermost Cort shall be a Council of Regency.

Section 4

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In dire circumstances, when the King is judged by competent medical authority to be incapable of executing his duties, or if he is convicted by the Talossan Uppermost Cort of violation of this Organic Law, treason, bribery, nonfeasance endangering the safety, order or good government of the Kingdom, or other high crimes, the nation may remove the King from the Throne. The Cosa shall pronounce by a two-thirds vote, with the approval of the Senäts, that the King is to be removed, and this pronouncement shall immediately be transmitted to the people for their verdict in a referendum. If a two-thirds majority of the people concur, the King is removed.

Section 5

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The King may, at whim, appoint, replace, or remove a Regent (or a Council of Regency, which is considered equivalent to a Regent), who shall administer the government in the name of the King, and exercise all powers Organically or legally vested in the King, except the power to appoint or replace a Regent. No person not a citizen of Talossa shall be competent to serve as Regent or member of a Council of Regency. The Ziu may by law remove or replace any appointed Regent, and if the Ziu removes a Regent appointed by the King, the King may not reappoint the same person Regent without the prior consent of the Ziu.

Section 6

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The King may grant titles of nobility and confer awards and decorations.