-T-h-o-r- and Sheep Face ?

[Eluvatar]

The Government would like to file criminal complaints against -T-h-o-r- and Sheep Face for impersonation under TNP Law 22 Section 4 clause B:

B - "Impersonation" is defined as behavior that fraudulently assumes or acts the character of an extant or former nation or otherwise fraudulently pretends to represent any part or whole of The North Pacific and its government.

These nations are known to have sent out the below impersonating messages:

Greetings Citizen of the North Pacific,
On behalf of the North Pacific and her licensed arbiters I have been dispatched to relay to you the following message.
Citizen Zemnaya Svoboda is currently trending to overstep his endorsement cap. We believe Svoboda's intent is not malicious but your help is needed so that he remains within the law.
Please help the North Pacific enforce its endorsement law.
Please withdraw your endorsement from Zemnaya Svoboda upon receiving this message
Thank you. May the North Pacific prosper indefinitely,
-T-h-o-r-

Attention Citizen of The North Pacific
On behalf of the North Pacific and her laws I deliver to you the following message.
Our fellow citizen Zemnaya Svoboda is our legitimate victor in the region's delegacy election. To assist the North Pacific in bringing our new delegate to office, please do the following if you have not done so already...
Endorse Nation: Zemnaya Svoboda
Thank you.
The Protectorate of Sheep Face

While -T-h-o-r-'s message is outright false and arguably seditious, Sheep Face's is only a violation of the Impersonation law.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

Does the Delegate have any evidence to show that either nation is a resident of The North Pacific?
This information is necessary in order to assess whether criminal remedies, or Article VI remedies, are or should be available.

 

[Eluvatar]

1 day 3 hours ago: Following new legislation in Sheep Face, scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes.
1 day 15 hours ago: Sheep Face was reclassified from "Inoffensive Centrist Democracy" to "Compulsory Consumerist State".
1 day 15 hours ago: Following new legislation in Sheep Face, young children are regularly seen wagering pocket money at blackjack tables.
1 day 15 hours ago: Following new legislation in Sheep Face, organ donation is compulsory.
1 day 15 hours ago: Following new legislation in Sheep Face, elections have been outlawed.
1 day 18 hours ago: Sheep Face altered its national flag.
1 day 18 hours ago: Sheep Face changed its national slogan to "Riding$$$Dirty$$$For$$$The$$$North$$$Pacific".
1 day 18 hours ago: Sheep Face relocated from The South Pacific to The North Pacific.
1 day 18 hours ago: Sheep Face was founded.

1 day 3 hours ago: -T-h-o-r- was reclassified from "Authoritarian Democracy" to "Moralistic Democracy".
1 day 3 hours ago: Following new legislation in -T-h-o-r-, hundreds of thousands of convicts work as slaves in -T-h-o-r-'s many privately-owned prisons.
1 day 15 hours ago: Following new legislation in -T-h-o-r-, all major public areas are watched by police surveillance cameras.
1 day 15 hours ago: Following new legislation in -T-h-o-r-, it is illegal to make racist remarks in public.
1 day 15 hours ago: Following new legislation in -T-h-o-r-, scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes.
16 days ago: -T-h-o-r- was ranked in the Top 10% of the world for Most Conservative.
16 days ago: -T-h-o-r- was ranked in the Top 10% of the region for Most Conservative.
19 days ago: Following new legislation in -T-h-o-r-, the police force is on a recruitment drive.
19 days ago: Following new legislation in -T-h-o-r-, military spending recently hit a new high.
20 days ago: -T-h-o-r- was reclassified from "Moralistic Democracy" to "Authoritarian Democracy".

Interpret the evidence as you will.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

Further request for information on these two complaints:
Have either been given noticed under Article Vi of the Constitution? If so, what was it, and if not, why not?

Otherwise, the matters are under review.

 

[Eluvatar]

Further request for information on these two complaints:
Have either been given noticed under Article Vi of the Constitution? If so, what was it, and if not, why not?

Otherwise, the matters are under review.

They have not been ejected or banned, and therefore have not received any notice.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

The requests of the government with respect to -T-h-o-r- and Sheep Face are going to be held in abeyance until the vote on the new legal code is completed in the regional assembly.
I have determined that inasmuch as the current legal code would be entirely repealed without any provision to preserve any judicial proceedings under current law, bringing an indictment would be futile.
More specifically attempting to bring indictments under the new code would violate the ex post facto prohibition in the Bill of Rights; since the government's position is that both nations are residents of The North Pacific and are therefore protected by that document.
In sum, if the new code passes, the complaints will be dismissed, if the new code fails of passage, then the cases will proceed.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

I am in the process of going back and trying to separate any issues submitted for review and the detritus that some people insist of posting in this thread.

At the moment, I need to make official what I had stated with respect to the complaint filed with respect to -T-h-o-r- and Sheep Face. Since those were filed under the old Legal Code, and the 2007 Constitution, there is a conflict with the Bill of Rights to file a complaint since the old Legal Code was repealed and replaced with a new Legal Code, and the definition of crimes in Chapter 1 is different from the old Legal Code. Because of this conflict and the ex post facto provision of the Bill of Rights, it is my conclusion as the chief prosecutor of the region that no prosecution is possible on that complaint, and that any attempt to try an indictment would ultimately fail.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

"ex post facto" in real life refers to the following principle:
See http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ex+post+facto

ex post facto adj. Latin for "after the fact," which refers to laws adopted after an act is committed making it illegal although it was legal when done, or increases the penalty for a crime after it is committed. Such laws are specifically prohibited by the U. S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9. Therefore, if a state legislature or Congress enact new rules of proof or longer sentences, those new rules or sentences do not apply to crimes committed before the new law was adopted.

as to "repeal" of a law, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeal

A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal, a repeal with re-enactment (or replacement) of the repealed law, or a repeal without replacement. The motion to rescind, repeal, or annul is used in parliamentary procedure to cancel or countermand an action or order previously adopted by the assembly. Removal of secondary legislation is normally referred to as revocation rather than repeal in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Under the common law of England and Wales, the effect of repealing a statute was "to obliterate it completely from the records of Parliament as though it had never been passed."

and more to the point, from the same source:

Repeals with or without savings

Repeals can be with or without savings. A repeal without savings eliminates the repealed statute completely. A repeal with savings preserves the effect of the repealed statute for limited purposes, such as acts already done or in hand, or regulations made under the repealed Act are continued in force. In England and Wales, sections 15 to 17, and section 19(2), of the Interpretation Act 1978 set out general savings and similar provisions exist in the law of Ireland and other common law countries.

As I noted in the above post, the old legal code was repealed, and I will add that it was repealed without a savings clause. The fact that the old code was replaced with a new legal code does not change the fact that the old law no longer exists, and that the new code, having been enacted without a savings clause, cannot be applied to acts that took place before its enactment, as that would violate the ex post facto provision of our Bill of Rights.

Accordingly, I reaffirm my earlier determination that a prosecution in this matter would be illegal and that no indictment will be filed.

Matter Closed.

 

[punk d]

I disagree with the former Attorney General in his post above as did the court here:

http://forum.thenorthpacific.org/single/?p=8053907&t=6923935

However, both nations are no longer in existence so I do not believe we will be able to prosecute. If the original filer of this complaint believes that the nations listed in this complaint are known by different names then we can pursue those nations.

Otherwise, this office simply has no one to actually prosecute in this case.

I shall leave this thread open for 48 hours in order to allow the original complainant time to update this office.

 

[Tyler Kazakov]

I agree.

 

[Eluvatar]

All I ask is that if we do find evidence that they are linked to particular people, that these cases be reopened.

I have my suspicions, but no evidence at this time.

 

[Tyler Kazakov]

I see no way to collect evidence if both nations have CTE, therefore I announce this case closed, any evidence you may come across can be PM'ed to me which I will deal with it then, if not then this is over.


~Tyler