Legal Reform Amendment

Legal Reform Amendment

Osolian law passed by Assembly
Osolian Assembly
Introduced by	Speaker tz_scion
Dates
Presented to the Assembly	25 July 2024
Commencement	26 July 2024
Other legislation
Amends	Osolian Constitution
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through the Assembly
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Legal Reform Amendment, also referred to as Constitutional Amendment 2, is a law and constitutional amendment in Osolia, passed by the Osolian Assembly with 100% approval. It was the second-ever constitutional amendment and the tenth bill to be passed by the Assembly. The act permits self-representation in court for Osolians, recognizes contracts as binding, and ensures a fairer tie-breaking process for elections.

Background

During late July 2024, multiple amendments to the Constitution were being discussed, such as no longer requiring a lawyer to be present if a litigant did not want one and legally recognizing contracts. Additional discussions included requiring Directors to ensure a smooth transition of power, which became part of the Council Reform Amendment a couple of days later. It was decided by Speaker tz_scion that instead of creating a massive, uncoordinated bill, that the discussed amendments should be split amongst two bills; the first of which became the Legal Reform Amendment.

This amendment was introduced to the Assembly on July 25, 2024, and it was approved unanimously amongst those who voted on July 26, 2024.

Provisions

Legal Reform

This first article focuses on reforming the legal system. In this article, it allows any side in a legal case to operate without being forced to take or hire a lawyer, while still allowing those who wanted representation to be given such by the Chiefdom.

This article also introduced the concept of contracts, which are defined as formal agreements between parties, usually recorded. It requires them to be legally binding and upheld in a court of law if all parties involved agree to the contract without being coerced to do so, if the contract does not have provisions that endangers governance, server security, violate any laws that explicitly supersede contracts, or violate Discord server rules, and also does not contain "unfair or oppressive" provisions. This last provision is determined on a case by case basis.

Government Reform

This second article reforms how a tie in an election is handled. While Osolia employs an instant runoff system, it is still possible for there to be a tie in some specific cases. To handle this, if more than two candidates ran, then the Speaker must arrange a special election in which only the top two vote-earners are involved. If there is a tie after that, or there were only two candidates who ran and tied, then the current Speaker will be granted the power to decide who wins the election.