Reference re SimDemocracy Bill of Rights Jurisdiction 2025 SDSC 3

Reference re SimDemocracy Bill of Rights Jurisdiction 2025 SDSC 3

Alternate citation	Reference re SimDemocracy Bill of Rights Jurisdiction [2025] SDSC 3
Date of judgment	25th March 2025
Justices	Chief Justice TheLittleSparty Justice Syndicality
Held	That each platform where the community of SimDemocracy is present must be governed by the Constitution, and the governmental framework it creates, within the bounds of each platform’s Terms of Service. That each platform cannot have independent platform-specific elements of government except a Supervisor under the current Constitution.
Ruling	N/A
Applicable precedent	Individual platforms are not able to create their own legal systems or other portions of the governmental framework, except as permitted by the Constitution.

MAJORITY OPINION by Chief Justice TheLittleSparty

(with Justice Syndicality agreeing)

Introduction

[1] The petitioner is requesting clarification regarding the jurisdiction of SimDemocracy’s legal framework, specifically to determine to what extent a user on the Minecraft server is protected by the Bill of Rights, and whether those protections apply to the entire server or only to parts of it.

Summary of the petition

[2] The petitioner starts by inquiring as to whether or not the Bill of Rights applies to the Minecraft server at all, then subsequently by inquiring as to whether they apply to parts of the server, or to the server as a whole.

[2.1] The petitioner then notes that on the Minecraft server, there may be future interest in inviting users from Voices of Democracy (hereafter VoD) and other polsims. Additionally, they highlight that there are already current “territories” on the server who claim independence from SimDemocracy.

[2.2] The petitioner additionally notes that in the past, the Governor of the Server, in their official capacity as an elected representative of SimDemocracy, had previously decided to allow users who were banned from the Discord server and Subreddit to participate on the Minecraft server.

[3] They go on to inquire as to whether there are any constraints on a Minecraft server self-governance, including whether the server or any of its “territories” could have independent court systems.

[4] Finally, they ask whether a dedicated Judiciary could be created for just the minecraft server, without requiring a constitutional amendment, or if an amendment is required, what in the constitution would require amending.

Considerations

[5] There are two major questions raised by the petitioner which must be considered, which together lead to a third more nebulous question:

[5.1] To what extent does the Bill of Rights (and thus the Constitution) apply to the Minecraft server?

[5.2] Can the Minecraft server have an independent judiciary?

[5.3] What purpose does the Constitution serve in binding together our various community hubs?

[6] First, to what extent does the Bill of Rights apply to the Minecraft server?

[6.1] To determine how the Bill of Rights ought to apply to the Minecraft server, there is really one key parallel that can be assessed, namely the Subreddit.

[6.2] The Subreddit platform exists as an equal partner to the Discord platform, with its own unique roles, responsibilities, and users who choose to interact with the community primarily through it. As of now, the Constitution applies equally in all parts to the Discord and Subreddit.

[7] Second, can the Minecraft server have an independent Judiciary?

[7.1] Drawing again on the Subreddit for guidance, the current Legislative, Executive, and Judicial system employed in governing the Subreddit is the same framework utilized by the Discord server. The Subreddit has a dedicated Supervisor to manage the permissions, but in all other considerations the Senate creates and enacts legislation impacting the Subreddit, and the President, through their executive agencies usually, enforces that legislation, in the venue of the Subreddit. This establishes that the Constitution, and the governmental framework it creates, exist independently of any single platform where the community of SimDemocracy exists. This is persuasive when considering whether the Minecraft server ought to have a separate framework under which it is governed.

[8] Finally, the more nebulous question, what purpose does the Constitution serve in binding together the various community hubs?

[8.1] First, we must address why we even have different community hubs.

[8.1.2] Extremely quickly after the beginning of the Subreddit, the first Discord server was created to facilitate better and faster communication, which is a different core focus than the Subreddit.

[8.1.3] In a similar vein, the Minecraft server offers a different core focus than either the Discord or Subreddit, that being to play Minecraft within the same community.

[8.2] Second, we must address what role the Constitution plays in our government system.

[8.2.1] At its core, the Constitution serves to create a single, central framework for our governmental system which extends beyond the original scope of the Subreddit. Despite our reliance on the Discord server to facilitate quick communication, if necessary we could conduct all our business on the Subreddit. This is because our Constitution creates a governmental framework which transcends the boundaries of any one platform and has allowed the community to spread laterally to others. This framework thus, by necessity, provides for a singular, unified governmental apparatus, without provisions for individual platforms except the Supervisors, which are awarded only to the most critical platforms.

[8.2.2] To be clear, on each platform where the SimDemocracy community is present, the Terms of Service of that platform supersede the Constitution and its provisions. However, what the Constitution uniquely provides is a constant framework shared amongst the various platforms, governing the community via a single apparatus and structure of democratically elected Senate, President, and Supervisors, as well as a single court system.

Decision

[9] As the Constitution serves as the sole document binding the community of SimDemocracy together across its various platforms, it serves as the preeminent law of the community on each platform, subordinated only by necessity to the Terms of Service of each said platform. To this end, the government, the legal system, and structure derived from and created by the Constitution, exists independently of any individual platform, be it the Subreddit, Discord, Minecraft server, etc.

[9.1] As long as the government of SimDemocracy recognizes the Minecraft server as being a dedicated platform for the community, as it does in current legislation, the Constitution and all of its provisions apply to the users of said server, including but not limited to, the Bill of Rights and all protections afforded under such. It thus can be said that the jurisdiction of the Constitution includes any platform where the constitutionally bound government establishes an official community presence in a like manner.

[9.1.1] Within the bounds of legislation, the constitutionally bound government of SimDemocracy is empowered to decide to what degree the official community presence serves. Specifically, the government is entitled to establish “colonies” or similar presences on platforms which are of a more minor nature, and thus do not necessitate the creation of a Supervisor role to manage. These “colonies” or similar are however still subject to obey the constitutionally bounded government of SimDemocracy, and their citizens are entitled to the fullest protections afforded by the Constitution. For the purposes of this case, the current presence of SimDemocracy on the SimDemocracy Minecraft Server can be considered a “colony” or similar presence, not requiring a dedicated Supervisor.

[9.2] It is however necessary that the Minecraft server be subject to governance in accordance with the constitutional framework under which its status as an official part of the SimDemocracy community was established, in the same way as the Discord and Subreddit are governed, with the caveat of the Supervisors, as discussed in [9.1.1].

[9.3] The unified governmental framework created by the Constitution provides no provisions for a unique legislature, executive, or court systems for any individual platform. As such, a court system dedicated only to the Minecraft server would require an amendment to the Constitution to specifically create such a court system. Additionally, such an amendment would necessarily require either the similar creation of a Discord and Subreddit court system in a federated structure replacing the Inferior Courts as the courts of original jurisdiction, or to create and subordinate the platform-specific courts under the Inferior Courts in a new and more hierarchical structure, with the latter being more likely to be beneficial to the function of the judicial system as a whole.

[9.3.1] If the addition of platform-specific courts is pursued, it ought to be paired with the establishment of a Minecraft Server Supervisor position, to ensure that the Minecraft server is treated fully as an equal platform in line with the change to the governmental framework.

[9.4] While the Minecraft server is recognized as being a dedicated platform for the community of SimDemocracy, foreign groups such as VoD may of course be invited to participate, but must obey the Constitution and its provisions, including respecting the constitutionally bound government of SimDemocracy, and they may not establish or practice their own laws. Similarly, there is no constitutional provision for secession from SimDemocracy, so no groups claiming "independence" on the SimDemocracy-owned Minecraft server may be recognized as such, and they remain under the jurisdiction of the Constitution.