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PostPosted: January 1st, 2017, 9:37 pm 
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King

Joined: May 30th, 2015, 5:52 pm
Posts: 934
Greetings.

A standard term of 6 mercannum has elapsed since the election of the previous Minister for this Ministry; therefore, as per the Cabinet Acts of the Imperial Codex, an election has been scheduled for the position of Minister of Justice.

All members of the Empire holding a noble rank (Counts, Dukes, and Kings/Queens) at the time of this announcement may declare their candidacy for the position of Minister of Justice within the following week. On January 7, one week from this announcement, this thread will be locked and a period of voting shall begin that will run for one week. All members of the Empire holding a noble rank may at this time cast a single vote for the candidate of their choice; at the conclusion of the week, on January 14, the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected Minister. If a single candidate runs unopposed, they shall be elected by default; if no candidate runs, the previous individual to hold the position shall retain it.

Beginning now, you may cast your candidacy for Minister of Justice. Share details of your platform, and respond to questions if asked. These are historic and vital positions within Hermertia and the community, and we look forward to seeing the election process unfold. Best of luck to all.

For Glory!

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PostPosted: January 1st, 2017, 10:45 pm 
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King

Joined: May 30th, 2015, 5:52 pm
Posts: 934
I would humbly like to announce my candidacy for the position of Minister of Justice.

The world of Hermertia is an incredibly vast place; though a simple Minecraft community in name, we are driven by and find inspiration in things that go far beyond a traditional building server. Our decision, taken years ago, to create a fully realized lore world is a great part of what has led to such phenomenal success in building a long-lasting community – and while we are all drawn here for a slightly different reason, it is hardly a secret that one of the aspects of our community about which I am most passionate is our rich and storied legal tradition. As someone who has seen a great deal of Imperial history (6 years and counting) I have worked for a long time now in the continuous pursuit of expanding and enriching our solid legal system and allow it to work better for everyone in our community, and I hope to be able to continue to accomplish this as your next Minister for Justice.

As Minister for Justice, I would bring to the table my years of experience in Hermertia’s legal system. As someone who has witnessed and participated in Imperial legal proceedings dating back to the likes of Reich’s Old World trial which modernized duping laws, I can offer a perspective on how our laws and legal ideals have evolved over time so that we may better guide our future legal evolutions. As someone who has drafted and collaborated on a great many of the legislation that today forms the backbone of our legal system, I can offer the experience and the dedication necessary to work towards the needs of our legal system and our community. For years, a stated goal of this Ministry has been to complete the modernization of the Indoles Carta and the Imperial Codex – as someone who humbly posits that he took a lead on that project and helped in large part to assemble the document that we have today as well as key laws ranging from Fast-Travel to Inactivity, I would offer my past legal work as proof of my dedication to this community.

The Minister for Justice has in recent times become one of our busier position, and as such demands an individual that is not only experienced, committed, and active enough to fill it, but one who truly cares about this community and is committed to ensuring that our legal system is not some archaic chestnut but a force that works for us all. A problem that can arise in the course of political and legal discussions is polarisation – ideas and opinions become entrenched and extreme, and two opposing sides feel they can never come to an agreement. The danger of this in Hermertia is that when individuals feel this way, they become disenfranchised and can feel their opinions are ignored – anathema to a supportive community. In all my work to design laws, I have worked to avoid these problems, to make our community an inclusive one in ways that go far beyond our laws – I have struck compromises, revised laws due to feedback, and am always around in Discord for a chat. The process of bringing members of our community around to an agreement that strengthens us as a whole is a true joy to me, and is why I have been committed to building up our world. It is why I believe I can fill the position of Minister of Justice.

Goals

As Minister for Justice, I would like to offer a number of ideas for discussion moving forwards:

- Increased presence of juries. A key principle of our legal code for generations was Organic Law – the idea that legal decisions made by individuals must reflect the ideals of the greater community. This goes hand-in-hand with the idea of a strong community, and it is in this principle that I have worked as I seek to reach communal consensus as much as possible on new legislation. A key bastion of Organic Law is the presence of juries at trials – this provides a vital mechanic for the community to speak their mind and share their thoughts on decisions being made, and makes our legal process much more open in general. This is a good thing, and it is why I would like to strongly encourage the presence of capable, vocal juries at future trials.

- Continued, proactive updating of legal codes where needed. As our legal system advances and time passes, it becomes clear that new laws are needed to allow us to deal with new situations. Rather than wait for each situation to come to us, forcing us to retroactively fill in the blanks, I will work proactively to identify where updates may be needed and work on creating a set of laws that creates clarity and efficiency.

- Broader community discourse in creating and changing laws. In the past, laws have had the tendency to end up authored by a smallish group of individuals – while it increases speed, it can tend to allow others to feel as though their ideas may be ignored as legislation is already being tabled. As Minister, my commitment would be to openness and the maintaining of a productive dialog with the community as a whole; active seeking out new opinions on laws and encouraging community brainstorming. Together, we have come so far and created a truly extraordinary community; continuation, we can ensure that our community continues to have an outstanding legal system which will work for everyone.

Thank you very much.

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PostPosted: January 2nd, 2017, 12:28 am 
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Joined: April 28th, 2016, 6:15 pm
Posts: 2001
Location: California
I, Ealdorman Mark Accynnafon of the House Accynnafon of Östlaed declare my candidacy for the Minister of Justice.


Accomplishments


During my time on the server (I can't believe I've been here for 8 mercannums already!) I have contributed to a great many aspects of the server. My activity and commitment to the forums, the community, to growing the community, and in game activities are second to none, and I am most glad to be able to contribute to such an amazing community.

With regards to legal accomplishments, the realm of Östlaed has been instrumental in the creation of new laws since my days as a "serf." The creation of an improved name for our first rank was my first major political victory. I was instrumental as well in helping to develop the laws on fast travel. As time progressed, I became involved and an indeed authored a great many laws.

A few of the major laws I contributed to greatly, or outright guided the discussion and helped to further (those I started are underlined):

* Rewriting the Imperial Codex from ancient texts
* Wolf laws
* Fire spread
* Fast travel
* Serf renaming
* Land Claims Act
* Improved activity laws
* Age Limits'
* Mob spawning plugin rewriting
* War Act Changes
* Ascension voting requirements

Additionally, I have recently initiated discussion to help improve our legal system:

* The creation of a sentencing appeals process
* Establishing custody of evidence from judicial proceedings.

My crowning legal achievement, however, is the creation of a proper Order of Trial to ensure equality of the defense and the prosecution in trials. I enrolled in several legal courses during university to determine my desire to pursue a legal career, which I used to create this proper Order of Trial. My inspiration, unfortunately, was the trial of Duke Siden Rua after the Egging of Wysteria during which I witnessed our lack of framework to ensure the equality of the defense and prosecution, as well as the ability for the Judge to keep the trial ordered and in order.

The actual trials that have occurred after this creation of the Order of Trial have been immensely fairer (this isn't to say they were perfect, however, I will outline my goals later). During the Trial of the Regent and the Trial of Warlord Kuhtu, I presided as the prosecution for the Mercurian Empire. These trials had a proper framework for the Judge, defense, and prosecution to do their parts. Hopefully in the future we do not have to use these parts, but the Order of Trial will also serve very well in cases were the full evidence and arguments of either side are actually used.

My other accomplishments with ministry duties include achievements I'm very proud of. Despite only serving as the Minister of Culture for a short time, I've served other Ministries during my 8 Mercannums here:

Ministry of Civil Engineers and Surveyors
* Creation of a new nether map from scratch, including updating inaccuracies
* Creation of new nether lines in Casadia, Ostlaed, Wychwood, The Imperial Isle, Ardol, Erikos, and Pyrencia
* Creation of a new nether hub at the Eastern Realms Hub
* Re-digging the black line and connecting it to both Laghima, Pyrencia, and Ardol
* Improved lines such as the Xorlosch line to make them safe

Ministry of History
* Fixing the calendar system
* Creation of monthly calendars to help improve accuracy
* Creation of monthly history summaries
* Research through the old wiki to help recreate a history of the Dark Age
* Hosted a lore, history competition

Ministry of Applications and Settlements
* Organized and conducted the Fall 2016 application drive, and according to some, the most successful application drive
* Welcomed over 20 new individuals to the server, many of which I personally equipped with armor, tools, weapons, seeds, food
* Welcomed many new applicants to realms other than my own, including helping them find their own place to settle

Ministry of Culture
* Studied the languages of the Empire and organized them into an attractive chart
* Helped to organize the history of the movements of people of the Mercurian Empire

Goals and Commitments

We, as a community, have made much progress over the last few Mercannums in improving our justice system. However, we can always improve:

Community Sentencing Input
My first goal is to improve how we sentence. If elected Justice Minister, I would help to move away from imprisonment as much as possible. I believe that a system where minor crimes are punished via community works - such as gathering materials for the Imperial Isle, or constructing nether tunnels - is the preferred and traditional sentence. These sentences would rely on community input, as they have in the past. My community input on sentencing would rely on two parts:

* The Jury. Even in the event of a trial where the defendant pleads guilty, I would have the jury discuss and decide the sentence for the defendant. I would also urge them to consider our traditions, as well as a movement to helping re-integrate criminals versus imprisoning them.

* The Council. In the event of a potentially controversial case, as Justice Minister, I would seek their advice in a sentence to present to the jury during a trial.

Pending the passing of a new sentencing appeals law, I feel this process would help to ensure non-biased and constructive sentencing for those found guilty of crimes. I would seek to remove myself, as Justice Minister, from the actual sentencing decision, but instead help the community (either the jury or the Council) to agree on the course of action that achieves growth in the community, despite the occurrence of a crime.

Presentation of Evidence aka Arraignment
This is a topic I feel we have much to improve on, at least from my experience. As Justice Minister, I would ask for prosecutors to present the full evidence and their associated list of charges as soon as the evidence is discovered. My goal with regards to the presentation of evidence is to ensure that the defendant's rights are protected. I believe that a defendant has the right to know their accuser, the evidence against them, as well as the ability to present their own defense. Why is this so important? Intent is a large part of how a sentence and even a verdict is delivered. A defendant should be given equal opportunity to have full knowledge of what they are being accused of to demonstrate their side of the issue. Additionally, in order to prosecute justice swiftly and fairly, I would seek to prevent trials where the defendant requests by honoring guilty appeals made during the Presentation of Evidence aka Arraignment thread.

Decisions regarding hearing a trial/seeking mediation
We do not have much written about when an issue should go to trial. Perhaps this has always been left up to the Justice Minister or the Council. As Justice Minister, I would not seek to decide on whether someone should be tried or not tried from the discovery of a crime. I would seek to use the Presentation of Evidence aka Arraignment to decide if a court case should be heard. As a strong proponent of community input, I believe that if a crime has indeed been committed, that the community aka the Jury should make that decision- not the Justice Minister, not even the Council alone. Additionally, I would encourage matters that perhaps don't need to go to trial to endure mediation, primarily to help resolve issues, preventing them from festering and causing our community harm at a later date.



Summary

In summary, I have more than proved my commitment to the Mercurian Empire.

I have proved I shall be a committed and fair Justice Minister, as I have served a multitude of Ministries I was not elected to during my 8 Mercannums in the Empire.

Additionally, my legal contributions also demonstrate a desire for equality of the law and the ability for justice to be served fairly.

I wish my opponent good luck - there's no one I'd rather run against for this position!

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Ealdorman Cerdic Beoden Accynnafon of Östlond
Runner Up of the Glas Claddach Boat Building Competition
Minister of Justice


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PostPosted: January 10th, 2017, 3:47 pm 
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King

Joined: May 30th, 2015, 10:17 am
Posts: 3862
Location: Stirling - Scotland
Unless my scribes are having their jollies right now, I cannot find the section to vote ?

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PostPosted: January 11th, 2017, 1:39 am 
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King

Joined: May 30th, 2015, 5:52 pm
Posts: 934
Here you go sir!

viewtopic.php?f=91&t=1524

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