ALT Common Law/Sense Poll

[Glen]

Proposed - that where specific law has not been passed by the community, English/American Common Law and Common Sense be used by law enforcement, judges, and juries to guage whether actions in our community are lawful and/or unlawful.

This is so we can have a framework in place for the development of a civil society immediately, as we haven't the luxury of spending huge amounts of time developing our own set of laws for now. Obviously, we will do so as time passes, but this gives us something to build upon.

[Matt]

Proposed - that where specific law has not been passed by the community, English/American Common Law and Common Sense be used by law enforcement, judges, and juries to guage whether actions in our community are lawful and/or unlawful.

This is so we can have a framework in place for the development of a civil society immediately, as we haven't the luxury of spending huge amounts of time developing our own set of laws for now. Obviously, we will do so as time passes, but this gives us something to build upon.


English Common Law would be best. I'd say almost 80% of us uptimers come from countries that have a system of Law based on it.

[Doctor What]

English Common Law would be best. I'd say almost 80% of us uptimers come from countries that have a system of Law based on it.

Agreed. We'll work out all the nitty-gritty details later.

"Subject to modification" is starting to become our motto for everything, isn't it? :rolleyes:

[Flocculencio]

Jolly good- the Common Law, subject to tinkering :D

[Glen]

Agreed. We'll work out all the nitty-gritty details later.

"Subject to modification" is starting to become our motto for everything, isn't it? :rolleyes:

Of course it is! We've been stuck into a lawless land with a mere 24 hours to prepare, and have an entire community of a few thousand souls to organize so they don't starve or shatter.

We need to lay down immediately some starting structure, and keeping it simple and familiar allows us to do this. However, we also need to recognize that all of this is just ad hoc to get us started, not the end all, be all of our society.

Heck, how many years after the Articles of Confederation did it take for the Constitution to come about. And we were STILL tinkering with that one up into the 20th century. All of this is a work in progress. But we need to have something to start with to tinker with later when we have the time and the familiarity with our situation to do so reasonably, rather than get caught in a lengthy debate while things fall apart around us.

[Bulgaroktonos]

I think the entire Constitution should more or less be specific (no open to vast interpretation) Bill of Rights, and a specific organization of the legislature, executive, and judicial bodies. The rest of our laws should be dictated by common law/sense.

[Norbert]

English Common Law would be best. I'd say almost 80% of us uptimers come from countries that have a system of Law based on it.

Achhh!!! The bludy Sasenach Laws???? (Oh, wait, my family were part of the aformentioned group:p )

But, seriously, I agree that these would be a good basis to start from.

[Glen]

I think the entire Constitution should more or less be specific (no open to vast interpretation) Bill of Rights, and a specific organization of the legislature, executive, and judicial bodies. The rest of our laws should be dictated by common law/sense.

We will eventually need a full constitution, agreed. But it will take time to hammer that out, and we have a more pressing need.

I would suggest that we start working on one in the government thread, and when people think we've got one or two good contenders, then we present it to the general meeting (ie a poll) for adoption.

I'd like to have a full constitution written and approved before the end of the year GT, probably to go into effect at that time (though sooner perhaps if we all really, really like it).

[Glen]

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