Cort Judgement

[Eðo Grischun]

The Cort has given its judgement in the case of Grischun v Chancery ( https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3422.0 ) (Although, the case probably should be entitled Grischun V Cunstaval of Vuode).  The Cort has determined that the Cunstaval did err in applying Provincial law by calling for seats in the legislature to be claimed out of turn, however also determined that no harms were caused by that error.  The Cort also declined to provide the relief being sought, meaning the session of the States General stands without dissolution.

We should take note of the sixth finding of the Cort, which reads, "(6) The Cort does direct the Assembly to consider its own legal mechanisms in such matters, and if it considers it necessary, to close any time-related loophole."

I will take the initiative to begin a conversation, here, to consider the points of law.  The relevant part of our legislation is Article III, Section 5:

"Any adult citizen of Vuode may claim a seat in the Estats Xhenerais during the period in which a national general election is taking place. This is done by making a declaration in public as follows: "I, name, hereby claim my right to be seated in the next Grand Session of the Estats Xhenerais". The citizen shall then be officially seated after swearing or affirming oath to the Cunstaval. The exact process of this shall be determined by United Provinces Byelaw."

My initial thought while reading this is as far as I can remember, an "exact process" was never determined by Byelaw for the affirmation procedure.

In considering what the Cort has directed us to consider (to consider if any time related loopholes need to be closed);  The Section requires that seats are claimed during the time period that a national election takes place.  I don't see anything resembling a "loophole" here; rather simply a limitation of when the permissible time to make a claim begins and ends.  I would assert that a limitation is definitely required and definitely needs to be defined.  So, the question I would ask is do we feel the current limitation is too restrictive in some way and do we need to create a new defined time period in which seats can be claimed and then filled?

I suppose we should also consider whether the entire mechanism is still desirable in the first place.