An act to regulate the composition and procedures of the High Court.
1. Judicial Appointments and Conduct
(1) The High Court shall be composed of a Chief Justice and at least two Associate Justices.
(2) Justices of the High Court must be citizens of the Coalition.
(3) The Prime Minister shall, in consultation with the Court, appoint Justices of the High Court.
(4) Nominees to the High Court must be confirmed by the Assembly prior to assuming office.
(5) Justices must take an oath of confidentiality and impartiality upon their confirmation by the Assembly and prior to assuming office.
(6) Justices must conform to the following standards of conduct in the discharge of their official duties:
- Rule upon what is written in law and what can be reasonably interpreted from the surrounding context without being influenced by prejudice, personal bias, undue influence, corruption, or other matters unbecoming of a judge.
- Consider the impact of rulings so that, when possible, no individual is empowered to unjustly exploit said rulings and no ruling is absurd to the expense of more logical or less disruptive outcomes.
- Refrain from opining on the wisdom or desirability of political actions or making comments that could be reasonably read to constitute an intrusion of the Court on political affairs.
- Maintain cordial relations with their fellow Justices and with the broader regional community.
- Be reasonably inquisitorial and exercise professional skepticism.
2. The Chief Justice
(1) The Chief Justice shall be elected by the Court from among the Associate Justices.
(2) The Chief Justice shall hold office at the pleasure of the Court and pursuant to Article XI of the Charter.
(3) The Chief Justice shall be responsible for all matters related to the administration of the Court, including but not limited to the following:
- Processing case submissions.
- Maintaining decorum and civility in all venues where the Court conducts its business.
- Maintaining an archive of High Court cases and opinions.
- Managing the rotation of case assignments to Justices.
- Leading discussion regarding whether requests for review should be granted.
- Ordering the recusal of Justices in cases where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
- Representing the institutional interests of the Court.
(4) The Chief Justice shall hold seniority over their fellow Justices but shall not exercise any authority related to the administration of the Court beyond that which is granted by law without the consent of a majority of the Court.
(5) In the event that the Chief Justice is unable or unwilling to perform their duties with respect to a particular case, the most senior available Associate Justice, as determined by order of confirmation date, shall perform those duties.
(6) The Associate Justices may collectively order the recusal of the Chief Justice in cases where the Chief Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
3. Jurisdiction and Powers
(1) The High Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and authority to decide the following types of cases:
- Legal Question - a question on the meaning of a law or the applicability of a law to a concrete or hypothetical situation.
- Review Request - a request that the Court declare void and enjoin the execution or enforcement of any general law, regulation, directive, determination or any other official act of government, in whole or in part, upon a determination that it violates the terms of the Charter or any other constitutional law.
- Criminal Complaint - a request that a member of the South Pacific be indicted for committing one or more of the crimes codified in the Criminal Code.
(2) In addition to all other powers set forth in the Charter and this Act, a Presiding Justice may issue temporary injunctions to compel an individual or institution to do or refrain from doing something, when necessary for the orderly progression of a case, to prevent irreparable harm, or to maintain public order, provided, however, that no temporary injunction may:
- Have a duration longer than four weeks, unless extended subject to the same limitation; or
- Unreasonably restrict the right guaranteed to members under Article 3 of the Charter or deprive individuals from the right to judicial recourse.
(3) In addition to all other powers set forth in the Charter and this Act, the High Court may, by majority vote, issue such orders as are necessary and appropriate in aid of its jurisdiction, provided, however, that any injunction issued pursuant to this authority must comport with the requirements for and limitations upon the issuance of temporary injunctions by Presiding Justices.
(4) The High Court may, by majority vote, adopt policies and procedures for case management, provided that such policies and procedures are not inconsistent with any other provision of law.
4. Procedures for the Submission and Consideration of Civil Cases
(1) Any member of the South Pacific may submit a legal question.
(2) Any member of the South Pacific or any party adversely affected by an official act of the South Pacific government may submit a review request.
(3) The Court shall hear and decide all civil cases that are submitted for its consideration, except the Court shall not hear any civil case that:
- refers to a matter of political determination rather than a matter of law;
- was not submitted by a proper party;
- is not justiciable; or
- is frivolous in nature.
(4) The Chief Justice shall assign a Justice to preside over each civil case that has been submitted.
(5) The Presiding Justice shall be responsible for all matters related to the management and resolution of the case including, but not limited to the following:
- Determining if the case is justiciable and, if not, ordering the dismissal of the case.
- Ordering the production of information that the Presiding Justice deems relevant to the case; such information must be produced by the recipient of such orders under penalty of contempt.
- Considering all the information that is available or that has been obtained over the course of the case and that may be relevant to it.
- Issuing a decision and, if necessary, a remedy that adequately answers the question or request that was made to the Court.
(6) The Presiding Justice must promptly notify a government official against whose official conduct a review request has been submitted and afford them no fewer than seven days to present a legal justification for their actions, but failure to provide such justification within the allotted time may not be used as grounds for appeal.
(7) When a civil case is dismissed on the grounds that the case is non-justiciable, the Presiding Justice shall issue an opinion explaining the reasons for that dismissal if such an opinion is timely requested by a member of the South Pacific.
(8) The standard of proof in all civil cases shall be a preponderance of the evidence.
5. Procedures for the Submission and Consideration of Criminal Cases
(1) Any member of the South Pacific may submit a criminal complaint.
(2) The Court shall hear and decide all criminal cases that are submitted for its consideration, except the Court shall not hear any criminal case in which the complaint:
- was not submitted by a proper party;
- does not contain sufficient evidence to support a finding of probable cause; or
- is frivolous in nature.
(3) The Chief Justice shall assign a Justice to preside over each criminal case that has been submitted.
(4) The Presiding Justice shall be responsible for all matters related to the management and resolution of the case including, but not limited to the following:
- Determining if there is probable cause that the accused individual committed a criminal act and, if not, ordering the dismissal of the criminal complaint.
- Ordering the production of information that the Presiding Justice deems relevant to the case; such information must be produced by the recipient of such orders under penalty of contempt.
- Calling for and appointing counsel to represent the defendant, if the Defendant requests court-appointed counsel.
- Considering all the information that is available or that has been obtained over the course of the case and that may be relevant to it.
- Issuing a decision and verdict and, if necessary, a sentence that adequately addresses the alleged criminal violation.
(5) The Presiding Justice must promptly notify a party against whom a criminal complaint has been submitted and afford them no fewer than seven days to present a reasonable defense, but failure to provide a defense within the allotted time may not be used as grounds for appeal.
(6) When a criminal case is dismissed for lack of probable cause, the Presiding Justice shall issue an opinion explaining the reasons for that dismissal if such an opinion is timely requested by a member of the South Pacific.
(7) The Presiding Justice may find an individual guilty only upon finding it substantially more likely than not that the indicted party committed the relevant crime.
(8) Following a guilty verdict, the Presiding Justice shall issue a sentence proportional to the crime and the circumstances under which it was committed; interested parties must be given a reasonable time to communicate any mitigating or aggravating factors that may be relevant to the determination of the sentence.
6. Appellate Procedure
(1) The following parties may file a petition requesting that the full High Court review a decision or order issued by a Presiding Justice:
- Any party adversely affected by a Presiding Justice’s final decision in a civil case.
- A convicted party in a criminal case.
- Any individual who is the subject of a temporary injunction.
- Any individual held in contempt by a Presiding Justice for failure to produce information requested by the Presiding Justice.
(2) A petition for review may be filed only on grounds of failure to follow proper procedure, error or contradictions of law, judicial misconduct, or the emergence of relevant new information not reasonably available to the petitioning party at the time of the Presiding Justice’s decision.
(3) In determining whether to grant a petition for review, the High Court shall consider the significance of the legal issues at stake, the need for definitive resolution of ambiguity or uncertainty in any regional law at issue, the existence of conflict between decisions issued by different Presiding Justices on the same or similar issues, and any other compelling reasons that favor granting the petition.
(4) No petition for review shall be granted unless a majority of the Court votes in favor of granting said petition.
(5) If a petition for review is denied, then the Presiding Justice’s decision shall remain in force.
(6) When a petition for review is denied, the Court shall issue an opinion explaining the reasons for that denial if such an opinion is timely requested by a member of the South Pacific.
(7) If a petition for review is granted, then the full High Court shall consider and rule upon the underlying case.
(8) Upon granting a petition for review, the High Court may, by majority vote, affirm, reverse, or reverse and remand a Presiding Justice’s decision on any lawful grounds, except that the High Court shall not reverse any of the Presiding Justice’s factual findings unless such findings were clearly erroneous.
(9) If the High Court is evenly divided over whether to affirm or reverse a Presiding Justice’s decision, then said decision shall be affirmed.
7. Confidentiality
(1) By default, material submitted for a case shall be submitted alongside the case proceedings in a public venue.
(2) Material that is confidential and may harm regional security may be submitted to the Court, provided that the Court works with the relevant authority to redact information that may harm regional security.
(3) Material that is of a personal nature, such as that which reveals personally identifiable information, or which would otherwise unreasonably violate personal privacy, shall be provided to the Court on a confidential basis only; such material may be published in a redacted form only if a reasonable person could not deduce the identity being protected.