WholockA113 (Appellant) v State of SimDemocracy (Respondent) 2019 SDCA 2
WholockA113 (Appellant) v State of SimDemocracy (Respondent) 2019 SDCA 2
| Date of judgment | 8th September 2019 |
|---|---|
| Justices | Judge Kate Judge cowtastegood Judge Euphyrric |
| Held | Limitations to the period when appeals made, which is outlined in a constitutional amendment predating the new Constitution, was still in legal force despite the promulgation of a new Constitution |
| Ruling | 3-0 |
| Applicable persuasive precedent | Unless expressly repealed or contrary intention is expressed, constitutional amendments prior to the introduction of a new constitution still have legal force, 2 |
MAJORITY OPINION by Judge Kate[1]
(with Judges cowtastegood and Euphyrric agreeing)
[1]. The Appeal Panel assigned to the Wholock’s appeal of the State of Simdemocracy v. Wholock case made of /u/itsrealsec, /u/cowtastegood and /u/Euphyrric has decided to dismiss the appeal based on the following facts:
[2]. Despite the fact that the appeal period created with the Judiciary Amendment has not been included in the Constitution of SimDemocracy, as the Written Constitution Amendment does not provide legal basis for the Constitution overriding the Constitutional Amendments, the Panel has decided that appeal period mentioned in the Judiciary Amendment shall still hold power.
[3]. That means despite the Constitution containing no limitations to the period appeal can be made, the following part of the Judiciary Amendment still holds legal power:
V.A.1. The appealing party or their attorney must submit their appeal in writing, within the period before the sentence goes into effect.
[4]. Therefore the Appeal Panel has decided to dismiss the case exercising the right mentioned in Article 9, §4.2. of the Constitution to dismiss the appeal before hearing the trial.
- Criminal cases {#criminal-cases}
Judgments issued by courts of first instance are not binding precedent, but they can act as persuasive precedent.
This may not be an exhaustive list of all criminal case law in SimDemocracy.
For ease of reference, case names will be titled SD v Defendant Year Crim x:
- “SD” is an abbreviation of the State of SimDemocracy, which are always the prosecutors
- “Defendant” is the party who is being charged
- Year is the year in which the judgment was handed out
- “Crim” is an abbreviation of the word “Criminal”
- “x” represents the case number for the specific year[2]
For brevity, the defendant (the person who is alleged to have committed a crime) is referred to as “D”, and the victim is referred to as “V”.
