[Private] Amendment of Court Procedures on evidence submission

saintpeter

saintpeter

Chief Justice
I propose to add a clause like the one below to Chapter 1, Section 2 of the Court Procedures:
The Moderating Justice may, if they deem so in the interest of the Court, request that a party submit specified additional evidence at any time. The other party retains the right to object to submitted evidence conform the procedures around regular evidence submission.
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This should fix the whole “They’re guilty but they forgot to send this specific piece of evidence so never mind” thing.
 
Is that not something we can do now? In practice my thought on this was, if they forget a basic thing like that, we would remind them and put more time on the clock. Would existing procedure allow for that? I'm concerned this opens up possibilities for justices to prolong trials with requests for evidence that cannot be complied with, or allow one party to drag things out by trying to force the court to make such a request. I'm not sure how big a worry that should be, but this is the kind of thing that additional red tape may introduce. I do think we have to address this in some way though.
 
I’d be more minded to slightly modify 1.2.6 to add a note of giving notice about missing evidence, just for the clarity. Otherwise, it appears we’re entirely in the clear on modifications to the schedule or questions to either party as-is.
 
I agree codifying the Court taking the step to be more proactive about guiding and reminding the parties of the various steps and pieces they’re missing might be the best approach. We could do it now, but some people would be more comfortable seeing it laid out in black and white that the Court can be extra lenient in this particular way. It doesn’t mean a Justice always will, which may cause some to think that there will be picking and choosing, but if we can do it now anyway, then codifying it more explicitly shouldn’t be an issue. And I prefer being more generic about this than limiting it to evidence, I think just making it clear we can deploy this in any relevant issue avoids the kind of concern I had in my last post.
 
Alright. So from what I gather, the preference is a modification making explicit the Court’s power to make changes to the schedule at any time if it sees so necessary. I’ll get out an exact text tomorrow.
 
saintpeter:
Alright. So from what I gather, the preference is a modification making explicit the Court’s power to make changes to the schedule at any time if it sees so necessary. I’ll get out an exact text tomorrow.
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Yes, but, along the lines of, we’re going to contemplate being more assertive in making sure stuff gets done, all the i’s are dotted, etc. it’s not just for scheduling, we want to normalize the idea that justices can essentially micromanage the case. Don’t leave it up to the advocates to succeed or fail.
 
I think we’re overthinking this. You don’t want to create a provision that essentially says “if the others are cool with it, I’m going to throw out the book.”

It should be something like “The Moderating Justice will endeavor to ensure all necessary court documents and processes are provided and completed by all parties prior to ending a trial. If any party has presented incomplete evidence or has neglected a necessary step in the trial process, the Moderating Justice may extend the trial as needed to ensure parties have reasonable and adequate time to complete whatever tasks are needed.”

Just off the top of my head that’s kind of what I’m looking for, something broad, something that makes it clear the Justice can do this at their discretion, and something that anticipates possible abuse from other parties. Justices should know that they aren’t helpless bystanders and have to push a doomed result to its conclusion, but can take care to stop some of the more egregious shenanigans from deciding cases.
 
> The Moderating Justice will endeavor to ensure all necessary court documents and processes are provided and completed by all parties prior to ending a trial. If any party has presented incomplete evidence or has neglected a necessary step in the trial process, the Moderating Justice may extend the trial as needed to ensure parties have reasonable and adequate time to complete whatever tasks are needed.

This, taking directly from Pallaith's comment, would fit well as a clause 7 to section 2 of chapter 1 of the Court Procedures imo. Thoughts?

cc: @Pallaith @Lady Raven Wing
 
I guess we need to do some formal vote. Voting period is 48 hours or when all Justices shall have voted, whichever is earlier.

At vote is the motion to add clause 7 of section 2 of chapter 1, which will read:
The Moderating Justice will endeavor to ensure all necessary court documents and processes are provided and completed by all parties prior to ending a trial. If any party has presented incomplete evidence or has neglected a necessary step in the trial process, the Moderating Justice may extend the trial as needed to ensure parties have reasonable and adequate time to complete whatever tasks are needed.
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I vote Aye.
 
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