Thoughts on the AGORA Act

As a former Chief Justice here in TNP I figured I'd post some thoughts I have on the AGORA Act. One of the most painful parts of a trial in NS is having a reliable Attorney General and Defense counsel. I remember multiple cases being dismissed during my time on the Court for this exact reason. The Court was willing and did extend deadlines on several occasions only to dismiss the case a few days later.

Instead of abolishing the elected Attorney General for an appointed one on an as needed basis, I would suggest TNP move to an inquisitorial system. This would be a drastic change to the norm and I'm not sure this has been implemented anywhere in NS. I know it was discussed in TSP and I truly believe this would solve a lot of issues. Allow the Court to gather the facts of the case by questioning witnesses, the defendant, deliberating, and then ruling on the case.

It might not be a bad idea to also increase the amount of Justices from 3-5 when moving to this system. But wouldn't be a requirement. This would allow for more people to be involved by rotating the Justices off reviews and cases.

This is just my thoughts and probably won't be popular. I'd be happy to answer any questions or discuss this with anyone who is interested.

So in essences what you are suggesting is merging the Office of the Attorney General into the Courts?

In basic terms, yes. The Court wouldn't be prosecuting the offending person. They would be fact finders.

So anyone could essentially bring charges against another individual and the Court would investigate.

Artemis:

So anyone could essentially bring charges against another individual and the Court would investigate.

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Exactly

The idea hasn't been brought up in the debate thread, but it was brought up in the recent AG election by Funkadelia here - indeed, Lazarus had this inquisitorial system for a while, so if an interested Citizen intends to bring up an alternative to the AGORA act with an inquisitorial system they could presumably look to Lazarus's old laws for inspiration.

I agree that an inquisitorial system would likely increase the efficiency of the courts to deal with matters. At the same time I feel some measure of checks and balances would have to be in place considering the legal power this would grant the Courts. The only method that comes to mind immediately would be a jury to decide on the penultimate issue of guilt. However this would likely be difficult to implement in the forum.