User:Haliris/Sandbox

Procedural Space Law

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Charles Portalis, Centcom Lawmaker says: "The Law without Procedure is like an assistant without insulated gloves, aimless and harmful to itself."

Procedural Space Law can be defined as the ensemble of rules and principles that dictate how Space Law should be applied and define due process. Procedural Space Law is the ressource on which the Magistrate must rely when fulfilling their duties.

Legal matters are secondary to the integrity of the Station. In the events of a Red Alert, the Security Department is granted emergency powers. All procedures are to be suspended indefinitely, as well as Procedural Space Law altogether.

If there are no magistrate on board, the Head of Security or the Warden Head Of Personnel and Quartermaster gain judicial powers. However, they are not held to the same levels of expectations as the Magistrate.

Opening Statements

The subjects of Space Law are Nanotrasen employees. Space Law cannot be applied to strangers of Nanotrasen, those should be dealt with through extra-legal means.
The purpose of Space Law is to create a productive environment while protecting order through due process.

While the Magistrate is supervised by the Head Of Personnel for matters concerning Station operations, the Magistrate is the supreme authority concerning Legal matters and enjoys total autonomy in accomplishing their duties.

Procedure is divided between principles and written articles. The former are core values and concepts that the magistrate should always refer to. The latter are specific guidelines and instructions.
The Magistrate is subject to an obligation of duty, not an obligation of results.

The Magistrate decides on legal matter depending on what is brought to them. The Magistrate is only liable in judicial errors if they willingly and knowingly broke Principles or Space Law.

“Representation” is to be understood as the Lawyer representing the accused.

Sources Of Law

Legal arguments can be found from these sources in order of legal strength:

1. Fundamental Principles
2. Exceptions stated by Standard Operating Procedure
3. Procedural Space Law
4. Space Law
5. Judicial precedents established during the shift

Example of possible SOP exceptions: As per clown SOP, the clown can be exempt from Space Law Article 309 (Trespass, High security area) if they acted with the interests of making a “prank”.

Fundamental Principles

These principles are supreme in Space Law and cannot be superseded or limited by any laws or other principles.

They may be invoked in court as arguments and hold supreme legal weight. The magistrate must make sure they are respected and must not break them under any circumstances.

Principle	Description
Dura lex, sed lex	The Law is the Law, moral arguments against it hold no legal weight.
Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit	One is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, the plaintiff is the one that must submit proofs. The defendant only has to answer to what is submitted against them.
In Dubio Pro Reo	When in doubt, favor the accused. The magistrate cannot condemn someone if there is doubt regarding his guilt. The point of the trial is to eliminate doubt. If doubt still remains, then the trial has failed, and the accused must be released.
Ignorentia juris non excusat	Ignorance of the law excuses not. Employees of Nanotrasen are aware of the law and cannot plead ignorance
Aliquis non debet esse judex in propria causa	No one can render justice for themselves. The Security Department and the Magistrate hold the legitimate monopoly on Station violence. The Captain is the only employee that can openly contest this for themselves and themselves only.
Ne bis in idem	One cannot be judged twice for the same crime. Extended by res judicata.
Res judicata	The word of the judge is truth and final. A matter that has been resolved by a Magistrate cannot be brought up again.
Nullum crimen, nulla pœna sine lege	There are no crime, no sentence, without law. One cannot be sentenced for an offense that isn’t explicitly defined by Space Law.
One cannot be sentenced for the crimes of another	The accused only has to answer for their actions and their actions only. (couldn’t find the latin phrase, big sad).

Principles Relevant to Trials

(Insert link to guide to trials)
A trial is the review of facts and the subsequent debate around the guilt of a defendant regarding a crime. Trials are contradictory debates, both sides must have the opportunity to voice their opinions.
When a trial is necessary or requested, the Magistrate will decide at what time the trial will take place and will inform the relevant parties. The Magistrate is the one who decides which form the trial will take in the limits of what Procedural Space Law permits.

The Magistrate can suspend the trial whenever they wish. This becomes an obligation if the life of someone attending court is at risk.

A crewmember cannot wait for their hearing for more than half of the time of their incurred sentence. If someone has waited too long in a holding cell, they are to be released "by default" and have their charges dropped. This applies when a trial is suspended.

A collective trial can only be held if the actions of several defendants have a direct link with one another, or if they were committed in similar space-time window. A person cannot be judged if medically unfit. They must first receive medical care or have their cases dropped if Non Compos Mentis applies.

Procedural Space Law Code

Section 1 - Of Space Law

Articles	Description
Article 1	Space Law knows five categories of offenses: Infractions, Minor Crimes, Medium Crimes, Major Crimes, Capital Crimes.
Article 1 - 1	Infractions can be issued by the Security Department without any judicial review. Subjects of fine can contest them in front of the Magistrate without representation.
Article 1 - 2	Minor, Medium and Major crimes require judicial review before a sentence is decided. The accused is to be offered a trial and a lawyer which they may accept or not. If the accused refuses, the Magistrate will pronounce the sentence on the spot without trial.
Article 1 - 3	Capital Crimes require the holding of a trial for a sentence to be decided. Representation is mandatory. If no lawyer can represent the accused, they may represent themselves or a neutral third party may volunteer.
Article 2	Space law is to be interpreted strictly. (VERY IMPORTANT, Space law mentions and attempts to explain this, but it should be expanded in the Magistrate page to explain how to properly charge someone with a crime)
Article 3	Sentences defined by Space Law are to be understood as the maximum for the relevant category. The Magistrate can only alleviate them.

Section 2 - General procedure

Articles	Description
Article 1	If a fundamental principle or a principle regarding trials is breached at any point during the legal process. The entire procedure is void.
Article 1 - 1	The Magistrate is liable to sanctions from Central Command if it is discovered they willingly and knowingly breached one or several principles.
Article 2	When a person is arrested and charged with a minor crime or higher, the Magistrate is to be immediately informed.
Article 3	Under normal circumstances, search and arrest warrants have to be reviewed and authorized by the Magistrate. This article does not apply on Blue Alert.
Article 4	A person arrested and suspected with a minor crime or higher is to be presented to the Magistrate as soon as possible to deliver the case. The Magistrate will then review the arrest process and decide on its legality.
Article 6	The Magistrate can decide to hold a bench trial or implement a jury system for minor, medium and major crimes.
Article 6 - 1	Trials involving capital crimes should be based on the jury system. If a jury cannot be appointed, the Magistrate may instead choose to hold a bench trial.
Article 6 - 2	Trials by combat may be held for any class of offenses if both parties agree to it. The defendant will name a champion or name themselves by default, and the Security Team will do the same.
Article 6 - 3	Trials by combat can never lead to the defendant’s release for Capital crimes. They can only reduce their incurred sentences from the death penalty to perma-brigging. (Pretty anti-fun, considering removing this)
Article 7	The Magistrate is free to appoint up to two assessors to assist them with expertise. These assessors can vote for sentencing, but the Magistrate can decide to overrule them. (Define the assessors role in the trials guide)
Article 8	Evidence can only be added to a case before a trial is held. New evidence cannot be received by the Magistrate during a trial.
Article 9	The parties may request, before a trial is held, that a witness be summoned to court to be heard. The Magistrate will then inform the witness that they are being summoned to testify. The witness is not obligated to comply to this order unless in the events described by the following article.
Article 9 - 1	If a witness is deemed essential for the conduct of the trial. The Magistrate may instruct the Captain or the Security Department or the relevant Head of Staff to fetch the witness in person or to collect their full testimony using a universal recorder.

Strict interpretation of Space Law

As per Article 2 of Section 1 of Procedural Space Law, Space law is to be interpreted strictly. Combined with the principle that no one can be sentenced for a crime not explicitly defined by Space Law, this means that the magistrate has to be rigorous in their procedure. In order to properly apply charges, one must understand how Space Law is meant to be enforced.

Infractions defined in Space Law have two inherent components, a material aspect and a moral aspect.
The material aspect is the ensemble of actions taken by the defendant. Whether it be being in the possession of an unauthorized item, harming someone etc.
The moral aspect is the intent that the defendant pursued, also referenced as the deceit. A thief wants to use an item for his own interests, a murderer wants to kill a person, a trespasser sought to be in a restricted area etc.

Charges cannot be held if one of those two elements is missing.
This distinction allows to separate crimes from accidents and to outline exceptions, below are a few examples to illustrate:

• A person that was teleported onto the bridge against their will cannot be charged with trespassing since there isn't the intent to be in the forbidden area, the moral aspect is missing.
• The same goes for a doctor performing surgery, surgeries are harmful and carry the material aspect of assault, but the doctor in doing so seeks to heal the patient, an intent opposite to the one repressed by Space Law.
• A drunk employee simply shoving another while screaming death threats cannot be charged with attempted murder. While there was a will to end the victim’s life (the moral aspect), the actions taken aren’t harmful by nature which constitutes the absence of the material aspect.

Additional comments on intent, types of deceits

There are several types of deceit to help define the intent pursued by a defendant and subsequently constitute the moral aspect of an infraction.

• Simple Deceit
  • The intent pursued by the offender is aligned with the intent described by Space Law.
• Possible Deceit
  • The offender was aware of the possible outcome of their actions but still decided to go through with them, implicitly accepting them.
  • Example: bombing the SM with the intent of killing an engineer is extremely likely to cause a delamination. Grand Sabotage charges can be held even if it wasn’t the original intent of the perpetrator.
• Exceeded deceit
  • The offender’s actions had consequences that far exceeded their expectations beyond reason.
  • Example: Someone injects morphine into a person in order to incapacitate them with the original intent of robbing them but ends up killing them by overdose as the victim already had morphine in their blood. The person can be indicted for murder, even if it wasn't the intent pursued.

It is important to note that deceits and intents aren’t motives. Motives are inherently personal and individual and Space Law knows no motive. Deceits and intents are neutral and apply universally.
While the court shouldn't be actively seeking out the motive of a defendant to determine guilt, it can and should be taken into account when deciding a sentence.
This begs the following question: What matters more to the Station Court, the intent or the result? Ultimately, there is no clear cut answer to this question. It is up to the magistrate to decide and it is up to the parties to convince them.

Definition of attempt

Didn't know where to put this, but I feel like a clarification on this is important.
An attempt in space law is an unachieved criminal act. A person that begins committing an offense but is stopped by forces out of their control is subject to a charge of attempt.
In order to charge someone with an attempted offense, there must be a beginning of action and a lack of voluntary withdrawal.

A beginning of action is defined as actions directly taken in order to commit a crime and taken solely to commit that crime. For example:

• The shooter that repeatedly fires their weapon at their target but misses could only have sought to kill the person they were aiming at. This beginning of action is enough for a charge of attempted murder.

Actions that are too equivocal cannot be taken into account to define a beginning of action.

• For instance, simply acquiring a gun isn’t enough to charge attempted murder. The person could simply be seeking to defend themselves, to defend the station, to commit sabotage etc.

The person that withdraws on their own from committing a crime can’t be subject to a charge of attempt. The simple idea of committing a crime isn’t a beginning of action.
The only exception to the statement above is Conspiracy (Space Law code 204), which by definition is a beginning of action.
Defendants charged with charges of attempts should face lower sentences than if the infraction was fully committed.