Change Request 21/2009

Submission Date: Dec 16, 2009

Submitted by: President Hock

Change Request: 

Criminal Fines

As a result of the Admin's decision in the appellate matter of Titulia v. Norton et al., it is clear that the 

possible ramifications for criminal acts must be codified. While the Admin has recognized the General Court's right to ban citizens, Admin cited a lack of constitutional provision for Admin's reversal of the fines.

THEREFORE, it is proposed the following be added the Constitution:

While a ban against a citizen is an accepted punishment for criminal acts in Titulia, such a punishment is extreme for many offenses, and lesser penalties should be available to the General Court.

The General Court shall have the ability to levy fines against citizens convicted of a crime. In the event that a criminal matter has been legislated in Titulia, it shall be amended to specify a fine. In the future, such legislation shall have fines in their original text. When criminal legislation exists, that law will define the largest fine that may be levied for that crime but shall not make such a fine mandatory.

The General Court will be able to levy fines in the event that there is no criminal statute in Titulia but when the offender has committed what is internationally considered to be a crime. Such crimes would likely be committed against the state. The largest fine that the Court may levy in instances where no Titulian criminal statute exists will be T$1000.

Fines will always be paid directly to the Government of Titulia.

Administrator's Response:

This is, in itself, NOT a change request to the existing constitution or this website. Therefore, as requested, the Administrator has nothing to do with it. 

We assume, however, that the implicit (unstated) intent of the requestor is to ask the Administrator to enforce the payment of such fines in case the convicted citizen is not willing to do that voluntarily.

If this is really the implicit request, we need to look into the legal implications of the Administrator confiscating funds from citizens.

By examining the T&C and the "About" page of the Bank of Titulia, we concluded that it would actually be a violation of the T&C and breach of real world laws if we confiscated funds from citizens who have actually paid real world money for it. Therefore, the Aministrator will not be in the position to enforce fines, i.e. confiscating funds from citizens not willing to pay fines.

Status: See above for detailed description.