Scientific Council Amendment
1. The following shall replace Article III, Section 6:
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Section 6
(a) Chairs of the SC will ratify bills passed by the Representative Assembly by simple majority vote and may resubmit the bill with modifications for vote.
(b) - The Court of Scientific Council
1. The Scientific Council shall sit as a court when it exercises, or is considering whether to exercise, its power:
(a) to impeach any person; or
(b) to allow any appeal from any Court of Common Jurisdiction.
2. When the Scientific Council sits as a court, it shall be known as "The Court of Scientific Council".
3. When sitting as a court, the Scientific Council shall be presided over by an odd number of judges greater in number than one, each of whom shall be members of the Scientific Council, not also being Judges of Common Jurisdiction or the Chair of the Judiciary Commission.
4. The Dean of the Scientific Council shall determine which members of the Scientific Council sit as judges in any trial or other hearing before the Court of Scientific Council.
5. Where not all Judges of the Court of Scientific Council agree on a judgment in any proceedings before it, the judgment of the Court shall be that agreed upon by a simple majority of those judges presiding over those proceedings.
6. The Scientific Council, when sitting as a court, shall be bound to conclude that any duly ratified Act of the Representative Assembly is constitutional and has binding effect.
7. All trials and other hearings before the Scientific Council when sitting as a court shall be held in public, and, subject to section 8 below, any person (whether or not a citizen of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators) shall be entitled to observe the entirety of such proceedings.
8. The Court of Scientific Council shall have the same powers as Courts of Common Jurisdiction as is conferred by Article VII, section 8(e) of this Constitution (persons misbehaving in court).
9. The Court of Scientific Council shall sit without a jury.
10. The Court of Scientific Council shall have the power to make such orders as is necessary for the exercise of the powers conferred upon it by this Constitution or any duly ratified Act of the Representative Assembly.
11. Subject to any provision in this Constitution, and any duly ratified Act of the Representative Assembly, the Court of Scientific Council shall have inherent jurisdiction to govern its own proceedings.
12. The Dean of the Scientific Council shall have the power to issue general directions concerning procedure in Scientific Council, when sitting as a court and otherwise, which shall, subject to any contrary provision in the Constitution or any duly ratified Act of the Representative Assembly, have the force of law.
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2. The following shall be added to the Constitution immediately at the end of Article III, Section 8 (Powers of the Scientific Council): –
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With respect to the judiciary:
1. The Scientific Council, when sitting as a court, may hear and determine an appeal from any superior Court of Common Jurisdiction (or any inferior Court of Common Jurisdiction if no superior Court of Common Jurisdiction will entertain an appeal on the matter), and either uphold or overturn the decision (or any part thereof) from which the appeal is made, but only on the grounds both that the Court of Common Jurisdiction from which the appeal is sought: –
(a) acted in the proceedings out of which the appeal arises outside its jurisdiction as conferred by the text of this Constitution; and
(b) that, by so doing, whether wholly or in part, incorrectly determined any issue in dispute between any parties to those proceedings (including any question of law necessary to resolve such a dispute).
2. Without prejudice to the specificity of the foregoing, the Scientific Council when sitting as a court shall not in any circumstances have the power to determine any appeal from any Court of Common Jurisdiction only on any or all of the following grounds: –
(a) that the Court of Common Jurisdiction reached the wrong conclusion on any question of fact;
(b) that the Court of Common Jurisdiction wrongly interpreted or applied the common law of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (except the common law with respect to the jurisdiction of the Courts of Common Jurisdiction);
(c) that the Court of Common Jurisdiction wrongly interpreted or applied any duly ratified Act of the Representative Assembly (except where the Court of Common Jurisdiction expressly purports to disapply any Act of the Representative Assembly); or
(d) that the Court of Common Jurisdiction wrongly interpreted, applied, or disapplied any regulation (or similar) made by any person or body deriving its power to do so from the Representative Assembly, or any person or body who, in turn, derives her, his or its power to do so from the Representative Assembly,
nor shall any of those grounds have any bearing on the outcome of any appeal from any Court of Common Jurisdiction to the Court of Scientific Council.
Impeachment proceedings
1. Impeachment is an order that a holder of public office cease to hold such public office, or is suspended from such office for any time with or without pay, and/or is disqualified either permanently or for a term certain from holding any or all public office or offices.
2. A person may only be impeached by the Scientific Council, sitting as a court, following a trial in accordance with law.
3. Only persons (or persons acting on behalf of bodies) specified in the text of the Constitution shall have the power to commence impeachment proceedings.
4. Subject to Article IV, Sections 2 and 7 of this Constitution, nothing in this Constitution shall prevent a Court of Common Jurisdiction from banishing any person, even where that person is a holder of public office in the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, and banishment would preclude that person from continuing to hold such public office.
5. When a member of the Scientific Council brings impeachment proceedings, that person shall not sit as a judge of the Court of Scientific Council hearing those proceedings at any stage thereof.
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3. The following sections of the constitution shall be repealed: –
(a) Article I, Section 7 (Powers of the Representative Assembly), the following text: (i) "The leader of the RA sits as the leader of the Artisanal branch if the Artisanal branch seeks to impeach a member of the Philosophic branch," and (ii) "The leader of the RA sits as the leader of the Philosophic branch if the Philosophic branch seeks to impeach a member of the Artisanal branch"; and
(b) Article II, Section 4 (Powers of the Artisanal Collective), the following text: (i) "The leader of the AC sits as the leader of the Representative branch if the Representative branch seeks to impeach a member of the Philosophic branch," and (ii) "The leader of the AC sits as the leader of the Philosophic branch if the Philosophic branch seeks to impeach a member of the Representative branch".