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Hopolis · 02-01-2015, 01:18 PM

As is traditional, this is the thread to ask questions of me concerning my candidacy. Before I get into the details, I would like to take the opportunity to wish the other candidates well! Good luck all.

So, to the question of why I would make a suitable candidate for High Court Justice my answers would be:

Given that this is a special election for two justice positions I can commit the time to the Court. I log on most days to NS and the forum, mainly in the evenings UK time and if there was a need to take a leave of absence (holidays / work etc) I would ensure that the Court was given sufficient notice. I certainly have no plans for absence before the next court elections.
Admittedly, I have been here only for a few months but would like to think that in that time I have contributed positively and I am eager to try and contribute more. I would welcome the opportunity to work with the Chief Justice and the rest of the bench in making that contribution.
I think it's important that there are more women on the bench. :wink: (i.e me! )
Not sure how relevant this is but I did a year's worth of constitutional law as part of my politics degree! That was a *ahem* few years ago though.
I think justice needs to be above all fair and an important part of that would be timely judgements (which having a full and active bench is vital for and impossible to deliver without).

What would I change?

Honestly, very little and the change that I would like to see is probably evolutionary more than revolutionary in nature. I certainly would want to hear the views of the other justices on what works well and the even better ifs...

I also think it would be great to see regular training cases held for the Court, clearly marked as such though for clarity. I'm thinking of the recent Salaxalans one as the sort of thing that could be done and believe it would help the new bench learn to work together while also allowing for some fun in role playing for the rest of the participants (the Ace Attorney games sell for a reason after all!). Who knows we could even create experienced prosecutors / defenders out of it! I think such cases also offer the opportunity to test the existing Code of Laws and judicial processes and would support Awe's suggestion of a code for mock trials. As part of that I think the Court would benefit from clearly defined timescales for the stages in a trial set out in advance. However, that is just a thought and I'd certainly want to hear the views of others on it.

That's all I can think of for now! Let the questions begin!

(This post was last modified: 02-01-2015, 01:21 PM by Overseer Staedtler.)

02-01-2015, 01:29 PM

Do you believe that you can be totally objective?

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Hopolis · 02-01-2015, 02:07 PM

(02-01-2015, 01:29 PM)Henn Wrote: Do you believe that you can be totally objective?

Kewl. A moral / philosophy question! Cool

Can anybody be totally objective? I would suggest that no one is totally objective and no one is totally subjective. Our experiences shape our perceptions.

I would say that I would consider myself to be fair person and that any decision I take if elected would be in accordance with the Code and Spirit of the law. I would be part of a number of justices in making a decision and therefore part of a wider collective responsibility. I would not wish to disgrace the Justices, TSP or myself in making decisions that could be considered biased against or in favour of a position or person.

So in summary, I'm not sure anyone can be totally objective but I would be as objective as I could be. I would give my all on every decision and be committed to upholding the principles of fairness on which justice must be based. I would approach each case without bias, prejudice or pre-judgement and consider it on its merits and the Code/Spirit of the law.

Great question! :smiling:

~~Unibot~~ · 02-01-2015, 03:33 PM

Good to see you running, Hopolis!

***Kris Kringle*** · 02-01-2015, 10:30 PM

Your strong involvement in legislating during the Great Council has been very encouraging. I hope to see you get elected to the Court!

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Escade · 02-01-2015, 10:40 PM

I'm excited to see you running and that you mentioned the court case involving my dear client! I definitely think that having a "TSP" legal code of laws for RP cases would be an amazing project and that you have the experience to make it happen.

Also <3 the training idea for such fun court cases and the associated fun stuff with them (such as interviews\media) would help increase activity.

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Hopolis · 02-02-2015, 04:16 AM

Thank you Uni, Kris and Escade for your words of support!

Escade - I like the idea of media coverage of the training cases to generate activity. :happy:

Awe · 02-02-2015, 09:04 AM

Hi Hopolis, thanks for running in this election! It's always good to see fresh faces trying their hand at government. I'll now pose to you the same questions I did to Aramanchovia. Again, you should answer these questions based on personal opinion.

In your opinion, why does the Court exist?
What do you think, would be the ideal relationship between the Court and other branches of TSP, namely the legislature (Assembly) and executive (Cabinet and CSS)?
What do you think are the principles the Court should uphold and why?
If elected, how could you contribute to the Court? Are there any changes you'd like to change about the judiciary (system, law reforms, etc) [apart from the Mock Trial Criminal Code] or is there anything that you think would be viable to implement?

Thank you and all the best!

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Hopolis · 02-02-2015, 06:04 PM

(02-02-2015, 09:04 AM)Awe Wrote:

In your opinion, why does the Court exist?

What do you think, would be the ideal relationship between the Court and other branches of TSP, namely the legislature (Assembly) and executive (Cabinet and CSS)?

What do you think are the principles the Court should uphold and why?

If elected, how could you contribute to the Court? Are there any changes you'd like to change about the judiciary (system, law reforms, etc) [apart from the Mock Trial Criminal Code] or is there anything that you think would be viable to implement?

Hi Awe!

Some more tough but good questions! I will say now in full disclosure that I've read Aram's excellent answers before I wrote mine. Anyway, my answers to the questions would be as follows:

In your opinion, why does the Court exist? Because the truth is the first casualty in the Court of Public Opinion and fairness the second. The High Court offers the opportunity for the resolution of questions and disputes in an orderly, equal and fair manner.
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What do you think, would be the ideal relationship between the Court and other branches of TSP, namely the legislature (Assembly) and executive (Cabinet and CSS)? I don't believe that any modern democracy works effectively if any one of the three pillars of the state (legislature, executive or crown and judiciary) dominates the others. By the same token, none of the three pillars can work in isolation from the others. It's for the Executive to lead, the Assembly to hold the Executive to account and offer a diversity of opinion and for the Court to hold both accountable to the Charter and Code of Laws by providing advice / clarification to both where necessary and without bias.

There needs to be a friendly but robustly independent relationship between the Court and the other two pillars. Whatever the outcome of the decision of the Court, the Assembly and the Executive need to have confidence that it was a reasoned decision arrived at fairly and based on the Charter / Code of Laws / precedence in previous rulings / etc.
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What do you think are the principles the Court should uphold and why? Above all the Court must be fair to all. Everyone deserves an equal hearing. It must also be:
> rational, making measured decisions based on the Charter / Code of Laws and precedence from previous rulings;
> dispassionate, not letting itself be swayed by emotion;
> objective, acting without fear or favour. Also, equally as important, knowing when to act and when not to; and
> timely, while not acting in haste it is a fair expectation that the decisions of the Court be delivered in a reasonable time frame.

The US Supreme Court has the inscription "equal justice under law" on its entrance side which I think sums up my view.
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If elected, how could you contribute to the Court? Time - quite important given this is one of two special elections. Commitment - I absolutely detest not following something through to the end and I'm enthusiastic about the potential opportunity to give something back to the region if elected. A Fresh Perspective - I'm admittedly new to TSP but by the same token I'm not weighed down with any baggage from the past. Teamwork - The Court is more than one Justice and everyone needs to work together to make it a success.

Are there any changes you'd like to change about the judiciary (system, law reforms, etc) [apart from the Mock Trial Criminal Code] or is there anything that you think would be viable to implement? I don't see the need for major reform. These special elections aren't caused by a systemic failure of the judicial system, after all.

> First and foremost, I would want to learn from the existing Justices and their experiences.
> As mentioned, I would support the development of a Mock Trial Criminal Code and have previously stated that I'd like to see more mock case decisions to develop judicial experience, teamwork as a bench, role playing opportunities, and even potentially links to the MoRA in terms of reporting the mock cases etc. I would also want to see mock cases clearly labelled as such to avoid any potential confusion. That being said, it should be run as close to a real case as possible.
> I'm a passionate believer in the benefits of transparency, particularly in the conduct of cases. Publicly available written procedures provide a framework which allows confidence that the decisions made will be reached fairly and in the same way regardless of who is sitting on the bench. (This probably goes without saying but I'm assuming that there is a procedure in place for the conduct of trials (order of evidence, time to submit it in, etc.) If not then I would like to suggest the development of one.)

I think that's about it!

(This post was last modified: 02-02-2015, 06:09 PM by Overseer Staedtler.)

Darkstrait · 02-03-2015, 06:20 PM

Yay for Hopolis!
You've got my vote.

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