Court Room Procedures (Amendment) Act

Preamble

An Act to amend the Court Room Procedures Act.

Article 1: Amendments

§1 [7, §4] of the Court Room Procedures Act is amended by:

§1.1 Inserting a new §4.4 which reads as follows:

§4.4. The Criminal Complaint may be filed in any channel on the SimDem Discord Server which the Judges of the Inferior Court and the Justices of the Supreme Court are able to view; Provided that – (a) The channel’s title or description must reference the fact that it is meant for communication with the Judiciary, or for filings in court;

(b) The channel may be visible to the public, or provided only to the Judiciary and another party;

(c) The channel must be owned by the government; and,

(d) The Defendant must be notified of the filing of the complaint.

and,

§1.2 Deleting the words after “shall be filed” in §4.

§2 [5 of the Court Room Procedures Act] is amended by:

§2.1 Inserting a new §5 which reads as follows:

§5.1 A Judge may, if they consider it necessary for national security purposes or otherwise, order the redaction of any piece of evidence or part thereof;

Provided that – (a) The Judge need not be the Judge or Justice presiding over the case;

(b)The Judge may make such an order for evidence within a Criminal Complaint, before or after it is officially filed;

(c) A Judge may not make such an order if the case is pending before the Supreme Court, unless the Judge is also a Justice of the Supreme Court;

(d) The Judge must first satisfy themself that the Evidence would be admissible under §3 of this Article, including through requesting other evidence or testimony from the parties to the relevant case;

(e) The Judge must provide a Finding of Fact(s) which are proved by the evidence (or multiple pieces of evidence which are redacted or filed normally for the purposes of the trial) in the context of the trial or Complaint if they grant such an order, or if not possible, a general summary of what the redacted evidence attempts to show, without disclosing facts which would be contrary to the national interest; and,

(f) The evidence may be included in its full form or excluded completely even if the Judge makes an order for its redaction, if the prosecution or defense, acting in their discretion, decides to do so.

§5.2 The manner of obtaining the evidence, and details involving the evidence, including the content of any text within the message, or the location from which the evidence is obtained, shall not be called into question in the Inferior Courts, except as provided for in §5.1(d), or if the Judge determines that the revealing of the details in this Section would be expedient for the ends of justice.

§5.3 Any order granted under this section may be referred to the Supreme Court for a review.

§5.4 Objections under §3 of this Article may not be made for evidence presented under this section, after the evidence has been redacted.

§5.5 A finding of fact in §5.1(e) shall not be called into question in the Inferior Courts.

§5.5.1 If a finding of fact in §5.1(e) is called into question in any other court, the Judge who made the finding of fact must provide their grounds for making such a finding to the other court.