Decisions of the Judge
From Nomicapolis
Judgments of Applejuicefool, first Judge of Nomicapolis.
Decisions requested by Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
Ruling AJF001: Can there be more than one judge at a time? 321 and 328 are the rules governing Judges. Nowhere in either rule do I find language explicily stating that there can only be one judge at a time; frequent use of constructions such as "the Judge" and "the player" certainly imply that the intent of these rules is to provide for a single judge at any time. Therefore, I rule that there may only be a single judge at any one time, until such time as rules specifically allow for multiple judges. I also request that the legislature be more explicit in their rulemaking in the future. Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
Ruling AJF002: What is a "proposal?" This term is curiously undefined in the rules. The immutable rules do not generally use the term by itself, instead using such constructions as "rule change proposal", "proposed rule change", etc. Recent rules, however, have made significant use of the term "proposal" by itself, including basing points on proposals, offering guidelines for proper proposals, etc. So there are two terms that need definition: "Rule-change proposal" and "proposal." A "proposal" is hereby defined as "any officially offered statement which would create a long- or short-term change in the way Nomicapolis is played, EXCEPT rulings of the Judge." This currently includes rule-change proposals and nominations for office. It does not include statements made on any Discussion page, and improper proposals are not considered to be proposals. A "rule-change proposal" is a proposal that would create a change to the Nomicapolis ruleset - A new rule, an amendment to an existing rule, transmutation of an immutable rule to a mutable rule or vice-versa, or repeal of a rule. The term "rule-change proposal" is synonymous with "proposed rule-change." Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
Ruling AJF003: How may points be gained and lost? This has been the topic of some controversy lately. To maintain a harmonious play environment, it is my ruling that points may only be gained or lost if a rule specifically allows for such a gain or loss. Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
Ruling AJF003: When does a newly elected Judge take office? No rule specifically states a time frame for a new judge to take office. Rule 321 states that a new judge will be "voted for on the first of every month." Whichever candidate has the most votes by midnight of the 1st becomes the judge at 12:00.01 AM on the 2nd. In the event that no judge has been nominated or the election fails to meet quorum by midnight, a special election will immediately be held. The special election is not subject to the one-day limitations of a normal Judge election, instead following the voting rules set forth in 326 (unless further rules are adopted following this ruling). Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
Ruling AJF004: When does a judge's term end? A judge holds office until he resigns, he is removed from office by a supermajority vote (per 321), or until the next judge takes office. Assuming neither of the first two criteria occur, the will continue to hold office until the next judge is elected. There is assumed to be no gap between a judge who holds office until the end of his term and a new judge duly elected. Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
Ruling AJF005: What happens to rulings requested of a judge who leaves office? 321 gives a judge 7 days to make a ruling. It is my ruling that a judge whose term expires may continue to rule on any cases presented to that judge before the end of his term. So a player may actually make rulings up to 7 days after he leaves office as judge. The newly-elected judge may not use his powers as Judge to appropriate those cases. This does NOT apply to cases left over when a judge resigns or is removed from office by the players - those cases must be represented to the next judge. This is kind of a sloppy situation, and may be corrected by future legislation. Applejuicefool 00:02, 1 December 2006 (EST)
