Court - Rules & Terminologies

[Traser]

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Parts:
I.    Special thanks
II.   Before setting up a court case, you should know the following things
III.   How the system works
IV.   Patents
V.    Warrants
VI.   Unrelated posts
VII.  Court terminologies
VIII. Loaning

I. Special thanks:

Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Sauron for Argonath RPG Jaaskaa for SA:MP and IV:MP court texts, Legend and Luke for SA:MP court text Void, Trandtrollet, Dellstorm, IcyAero for assisting in the project of court on IV:MP and everyone that took part in court system so far and that will take part in it. Please note the names are not put in a specific order but according to the roles. 


II. Before setting up a court case, you should know the following things:

 1. The court case must be against an active player that is able to post his position in the forums. The defender has the full rights to defend by his self and/or designate a legal representative and/or hire a lawyer. In the case of inactive person, the case will be judged in the immediate based on facts.

 2. You should have prepared evidences. Any falsified evidences will result in a lost of the case and might result in administrative actions against you. Scamming is not supported by Argonath and use of falsified evidences is considered as scamming. Logs may be checked at any time for evidence. In case evidences are not complete enough, the case will be dismissed.


 3. You should have someone to represent you in the Court House (either that will be an attorney or yourself). If you cannot attend the Court at the set date, you must designate a legal representative or send a lawyer to represent you. Failing to comply will lead to an automatic loss of the case.

 4. Choose what would you like to sue the defender for; What will be your requirements? Announce them to the court. What you can ask for: Money, public apologies, request of selling of something belonging to someone, etc... Note: The judge may agree, decline or modify the proposed punishment in order to make it fairer. A person who will plead guilty will have more chances to see his punishment reduced to some point but this isn't guaranteed. 

 5. Court is not for settling unfriendly disputes. If you have anything against someone personally, you deal with it in another way and not just make a court case without evidences or anything else. Flames, fights and any kind of insults are not allowed in the courthouse. Also, make sure you don't make court cases only for money. People who will make cases for money as a strategy in getting rich will be denied the possibility to prosecute.

 6. Any aggressive and provoking behaviour in the forums may cause the case to be rejected and the topic to be locked. This is a RP court and everyone must act mature and behave like a grown-up person, else his place is not here.

 7. Asking questions such as 'When is it going to court?!' and 'I want my case in court!' and 'Where are the judges?!' will not help. The court has an order and it is strictly followed.

 8. You should clearly state what is the reason of the court case within the first 3 lines of the topic. It must be clearly stated: Example: The person I am suing has physically assaulted me on countless occasions. The proof is as follows ... ... and the demands are as follows ... ... Cases of extreme lenght or missing mandatory elements will both be denied. Make it short but accurate. A good case should be maximum 300 words long unless there is alot of evidences and explanations required. We require you to cut useless parts.

 9. The Courts have fees. In whatever you will demand in court, there will be an associated fee. The fees are not exact but depends on a lot of factors such as: Nature of the demand (Is it a court case, a warrant request or a patent request?), length of the procedures (the longer, the more it will cost) and etc. The judge will attempt to set a reasonnable fee. In any cases, the prosecutor will have to pay fees to have a case processed even if the case is dismissed. The court can take the necessary ammount whenever it judge it as necessary.

10. Fees can range from 250Argo$ to 25 000Argo$ in extreme cases. Cases related to pure roleplay will be submitted to minimal fees. A person can be fined for misuse of court boards.
 
11. The judge is [R*]Jaaskaa

12. You can only take a person to court for legal matters. Any illegal matters will be denied by court and the prosecutor will have to pay a severe fine.

13. A judge is allowed to take any cases but has to judge them in a neutral and objective manner, without giving any advantage to clan/organization/group fellow members.

14. A judge cannot accept any form of bribe.

III. How the system works:

1. Judges consult the case over forum and first decide if the case is receivable or not. They might request modifications to be brought to the case so it is more RP.

2. Judge will decide to proceed either directly by giving a straight judgement, get both sides arguments or take the case ingame.

3. Cases are to be judged within a month.

4. Punishments given by court cannot be brought to appeal.

5. Cases taken by the People's court are cases that involve mainly roleplay and small situations. Among those we count neighbour disagreement, copyrights and civil matters that are not related to laws. Any case posted in people's court and that does not belong there will be sent to Justice Court. Transfer fees may apply and will be let to the judge discretion.

6.  Cases taken by the Justice Court are cases that involve important matters and serious situations. Among those we count criminal justice cases, laws related matters, economical matters and cases that affect players ingame assets. Any case posted in Justice Court and that does not belong there will be sent to People's court. Transfer fees may apply and will be let to the judge discretion.

7. When the court case begins in game, silence is mandatory. You shall not talk if not asked. Denying to do so will get you kicked, muted or warned. The only moment you can talk are: If allowed, if objecting or if asking a question.   

8. People must remain at their place during trial. Those running around and shooting will be jailed by admins.

9. The trial begins by the prosecution making the accusations and their demands, nothing more and nothing less. The defending party shall then plead guilty or non-guilty.

10. If the person pleads guilty, the proper punishment will be applied. If the person pleads not guilty, then the prosecution may explain their version of the story. After that, the defending party may refutes the arguments of the prosecution and present their version of the story. The prosecution take the speech again and refutes the arguments of the defence. After this, it is the task of the judge to decide wither the prosecution may make its final statement or if more steps may be added. This will be decided depending of the complexity of the case.

 IV. Patents
Patents and copyrights are names that are protected.

 Can apply as a copyright Name of a business, name of an enterprise, name of a service provider. Particular name to a product or a service.

One person can own multiple patents and copyrights but must show that they exist.
Please note that patents can only be issued for legal things.
How to make a patent?
Tell the courts who the owner is, what the patent name is and in one or two lines tell us what the patent is about.
Same applies for copyrights.

 Fees: A basic fee of 300Argo$ per patent/copyright is required if the patent or copyright is accepted.

 V. Warrants:
Warrants are issued by the court against a person in order to allow a special action to be taken.

Type of warrants:

Interrogation warrant: Allow the law enforcement to legally detain a person in a room for an interrogation. An interrogation can last maximum 20 minutes.

Search warrant: Allow the law enforcement to legally penetrate into the proprieties of a person to search them. Such warrant is usable for only 24 hours.

How to request a warrant:
First, you need evidences that a person infringed the law. Then, you must send to the judge those evidences, the name of the person, your name and for which organisation you work for. Once completed, you must confirm that the warrant was carried out.
Fees: A minor fee of 100Argo$ apply for each delivered warrant.

VI.

It is strictly forbidden to post into a topic if you are not related to it. People authorised to post: Judges, witnesses, prosecutor and his lawyer (Must state clearly that he is the prosecution's lawyer) and the defender and his lawyer (Must state clearly that he is the defendant's lawyer). A person must state whom his lawyer is at his 1st post in the topic. Failure to do so will exclude the lawyer from procedures.

VII.

Court terminologies and their meanings are below(will be periodically updated):

(1) Void ab initio - Not enforceable from the start/outset
(2) Express - specifically mentioned
(3) Ad absurdo - Statutory interpretation that is, or leads to, an absurdity
(4) Abatement - Reduction of money owed.
(5) Abet - Encouraging a person to commit a crime
(6) Absolute Discharge - A sentence of a person guilty of a crime in which the accused is deemed to have not been convicted; no criminal record issues as regards the offence for which an absolute discharge is granted.
(7) Acquital - Verdict declaring a person non-guilty
(8) Actus Reus - Prohibited act
(9) Adjourn - To postpone a case
(10) Affidavit - Contract signed in front of a judge or statement made in front of a judge under oath.
(11) Agent - In an organisation, an Agent is recognised as a Federal Bureau of Investigation member.
(12) Alibi - Claimed defence that the accused was not present on scene of a crime.
(13) Alternative resolution - To find a common ground out of court
(14) Alternative punishment - A punishment decided by the judge other than the one requested
(15) Amend - Change or revise a statement
(16) Bankruptcy - To owe money to creditors without being in ability to pay
(17) Black letter law - A principle of law so notorious and entrenched that it is commonly known and rarely disputed.
(18) Case of law - The entire collection of published legal decisions of the courts.
(19) Citation - An order of a court to either do a certain thing or to appear before it to answer charges.
(20) Directed Verdict - When the Court stops a trial determining that an essential fact has not been proven.


VIII.

VIII.

Loaning

Part I: Guidelines
 1. The Borrower must have been a Citizen of Liberty City for no less than a month;
 2. The Loan maximum interest rate is set at 20 percent per month;
 3. The contract validity will be evaluated by the court.
     A valid contract must contain, but is not limited to the following points:

• a.    Name of the Lender, including its nature (individual Citizen, group of Citizens or Society/Company);
• b.    Name of the Borrower, including its nature (individual Citizen, group of Citizens or Society/Company);
• c.    Date of the Borrower’s acquisition of the Liberty City Citizenship (of the representative for the loan in case of
             group of Citizens or Society/Company);
• d.    Exact date and time of the Loan signature (screenshot of /time with the in-game signature);
• e.    Loan sum in AR$;
• f.     Sum to be payed back on the Loan restitution date in AR$;
• g.    Interest rate in percentage points per month (%/month);
• h.    Exact date and time of the Loan restitution;
• i.     List of the assets (movable and immovable properties) owned by the Borrower (optional);
• j.     Lender’s acknowledgment of the Borrower’s current assets (only if 3.i is applied);
• k.    Borrower’s declaration regarding the ability to pay the restitution sum on the agreed time;
• l.     Signatures of all parties.

      If the contract lacks one or more of the above points, it can still be considered as valid by the Court, based on
      all the other evidences submitted.
Part II: Failure to repay the Loan
1.  If the Borrower fails to repay the Loan, the Lender has the right to open a People’s Court Case against the
     Borrower;
2.  If the Borrower can’t repay the Loan or when their assets can only cover a partial repayment and the Lender
     opened a People’s Court Case, the Court Judge and/or Court Jury can:
       a.    Issue a reimbursement for the benefit of the Lender, depending on:

• i.    The validity of the Loan;
• ii.    The level of negligence showed by the Lender during the precautionary checks on the Borrower;

       b.    Encourage and establish a restitution agreement between the parties;
3.  If the Borrower refuses to repay the Loan even though their assets can cover a full repayment and the Lender
              opened a People’s Court Case, the Court Judge and/or Court Jury can:
       a.    Order the seizure of part of the Borrower’s assets and turn them over to the Lender in their current form or
              after an auction, depending on:

• i.    The validity of the Loan;
• ii.    The level of negligence showed by the Lender during the precautionary checks on the Borrower;

       b.    Encourage and establish a restitution agreement between the parties.