Osiris Fraternal Order

Per an application by Councilor Datford-Zyvetskistaahn, the Pschent shall provide a review over the following questions:

A declaration that a mandatory executive ministry must have a Scribe appointed for it;

That the exercise of the functions of a ministry by the Pharaoh or the Vizier does not remove that requirement;

That the Pharaoh's power to "further organize the executive branch", is also a limit requiring the Pharaoh to maintain those structures in the executive branch that are prescribed by law.

For this case, I appoint Vizier Ainocra and Councilor Datford-Zyvetskistaahn as amicus curae. I will accept testimony and arguments for and against in this thread until Saturday, June 13. Specific legal citations are preferred. On June 13 I shall declare a verdict.

The floor is open to Ainocra and Datford-Zyvetskistaahn.

Very Well your honor,

If it please the court I will lay out in brief the justification for the actions undertaken by the administration with regards to the Justice Ministry.

[3. The Pharaoh will have the power to appoint or remove any citizen as a senior cabinet official, styled Scribes of the Hedjet. Appointment of Scribes must be approved by the Deshret. Junior cabinet officials may be appointed at the discretion of the relevant Scribe.]3

[(a) The ministry of justice will be a mandatory executive ministry which must have a Scribe assigned to oversee it.]5

4. The Pharaoh will have the power to further organize the executive branch of government. The Pharaoh may delegate any of the powers and areas of oversight prescribed to them under this Section to officials in the executive branch of government. Such delegation does not affect the exercise by the Pharaoh of any such power or oversight.

It is our position that under section two; clauses three and four of the state code all executive authority is vested in the person of the Pharaoh. He may appoint scribes to oversee departments if he wishes, but such delegation does not affect his powers of oversight as noted under clause four.

It is our contention that even in the presence of a scribe; the Pharaoh himself still holds constitutional authority over the departments of Hedjet.
Under current law the scribes serve at the pleasure of the Pharaoh and he may dismiss them at will. He may also delegate any of his powers to any member of the executive branch though he still holds ultimate authority.

We do not dispute that a scribe must under current law be appointed, but we hold that in the absence of a scribe authority for the ministry of justice remains with the Pharaoh as prescribed above. While searching for a scribe authority over the Justice ministry was delegated to me for the express purpose of acting as a caretaker until a suitable candidate could be found and put before the Deshret.

This does not excuse the executive from the duty of appointing a scribe. Indeed the search continued until a suitable candidate was found.
It is our belief that the actions undertaken were both legal and correct for the situation at hand.

Thank you, Vizier. The court awaits arguments from Councilor Datford-Zyvetskistaahn.

The first arm of the declaration is, it seems, not a matter of dispute between myself and the Vizier, and I am quite glad of that fact as it relies on what, to me, seems to be the most acceptable, plain reading of the words of the State Code, namely that when the Code states that mandatory executive ministry must have a Scribe[note]Section 2.3(a) of the State Code (as amended) "The ministry of justice will be a mandatory executive ministry which must have a Scribe assigned to oversee it."[/note], it means that it must have a Scribe.

On closer inspection of the relevant portion of the State Code, the Pschent may find that there is a minor discrepancy in the language used in the declaration and the language used in the State Code, namely that the relevant portion of the State Code utilises the word "assigned", while the declaration sought, and the submission of the Vizier, utilise the word "appointed". The discrepancy is due to the longstanding practice of the Pharaoh nominating and the Deshret approving prospective Scribes with specified areas of competence in mind, as has been done since the inception of the Order and as is appropriate to the exercise of effective scrutiny of the Pharaoh and His Government. In including that longstanding convention in the declaration, which it seems the Vizier does not oppose and which is in aid of the scrutinising role that the Deshret plays[note]The submission that the Deshret is to play a scrutinising role in the system by which the Order is governed, while I do not expect it to be challenged, is supported by a number of provisions of the State Code, namely Sections 2.2(a), 2.3, 2.5(a), 2.6, 2.8 , 2.10, 2.11, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 and 6.1(a) (taken together with Section 6.3 and with the provisions of the Election Administration Act), which provide variously for the Pharaoh requiring approval for the exercise of many of His express powers, the override of His power of veto, the removal of the Pharaoh and the various officials He appoints, and for the election of the Pharaoh by the Deshret.[/note], I do not seek to have the Pschent create new law, but to confirm what has been understood as being the law for the existence of the Order and what is necessary for ensuring the ability of the Deshret to effectively scrutinise the Pharaoh and His government. However, should the Pschent find itself unwilling to accept this reasonable and longstanding convention into its declaration, I would submit that a minor modification from "appointed" to "assigned" does not undermine the other arms of the declaration I seek.

The second arm of the declaration follows on obviously from the first and can be explained quite simply in that the Pharaoh and the Vizier are distinct officials from Scribes[note]The Pharaoh and Vizier are defined by Sections 2.1 and 2.5 of the State Code as the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief in the case of the Pharaoh and by Section 2.11 of the State Code as the "Vice Pharaoh" in the case of the Vizier, while a Scribe is defined by Section 2.3 as a "senior cabinet official" and is, by implication of 2.3(a), responsible for the oversight of an executive ministry[/note], and that the mandatory ministry provision calls for a Scribe to oversee the ministry, so it being overseen by the Pharaoh or the Vizier does not fulfil the provision and the requirement for the appointment (or assignment) of a Scribe to do so remains.

The third arm of the declaration rests on the provision in the State Code that the Pharaoh may further organise the executive branch[note]Section 2.4 of the State Code "The Pharaoh will have the power to further organize the executive branch of government. The Pharaoh may delegate any of the powers and areas of oversight prescribed to them under this Section to officials in the executive branch of government. Such delegation does not affect the exercise by the Pharaoh of any such power or oversight."[/note]. It is my submission that the Pschent should note the word "further" in the provision and that it means further than is already prescribed, as it it does not make sense for "further" to be included if one assumes the Pharaoh is able to organise the executive entirely as He wills, such an assumption would lead to the effective omission of "further" from the provision and, also, would negate provisions of the State Code prescribing the existence of the Atef and the Vizier[note]Both the Atef and the Vizier are included in Section 2 of the State Code "Executive of Osiris"[/note], allowing the Pharoah to alter them as he saw fit and to distribute their responsibilities and powers amongst other officials in the executive, in clear contradiction of the State Code, as well as negating the requirement for there to be a ministry of justice with a Scribe to oversee it. The most reasonable conclusion, then, is that the provision is a requirement that the Pharaoh maintain the prescribed structures of the executive as they are, with the Vizier holding the duties of the Vizier, the Atef the duties of the Atef, and the Scribe of Justice the duties of the Scribe of Justice, but may, beyond, and without infringing on, those prescribed structures organise the executive further.

I would add, to briefly address the Vizier's point as to him having been a caretaker for the ministry while the Pharaoh sought a Scribe, that, while such a caretaker may be permissible for a short period (such time as it takes for the Deshret to consider and vote on a nominee, for instance) as a limited derogation from the State Code in order to allow the government to function, that maintenance of such a caretaker for an, effectively, indefinite period is not permissible and is contrary to the State Code's requirement that there be a Scribe for a mandatory ministry and that, therefore, it should be practice of the Pharaoh, in order to avoid such violation, to nominate the caretaker formally as Scribe until such a time as a person more able to permanently take on the role is found and can be nominated.

Thank you, Councilor. Both sides may make one rebuttal statement prior to Saturday.

4. The Pharaoh will have the power to further organize the executive branch of government. The Pharaoh may delegate any of the powers and areas of oversight prescribed to them under this Section to officials in the executive branch of government. Such delegation does not affect the exercise by the Pharaoh of any such power or oversight.

Your Honor

I would disagree with my esteemed colleague's interpretation of this clause. To my mind it is not meant to limit, but instead meant to illustrate the relationship between the Pharaoh and the Hedjet so as to remove any doubt about the authority of the Pharaoh to organize and oversee the departments of the Hedjet.

I would interpret this clause as being designed to limit the Hedjet, not the Pharaoh, and would argue that it has traditionally been put into practice in such a manner.

(a) The following are mandatory executive ministries which must have a Scribe assigned to oversee them: Integration, Foreign Affairs, Military Affairs, Culture, World Assembly Affairs, Security, and Justice.

4. The Pharaoh will have the power to further organize the executive branch of government. The Pharaoh may delegate any of the powers and areas of oversight prescribed to them under this Section to officials in the executive branch of government. Such delegation does not affect the exercise by the Pharaoh of any such power or oversight.

This is an excerpt from the original state code, which has a far greater expanse of mandatory ministries and from which we can see the original intent of clause four. This to my mind illustrates clearly that the executive appointment of a scribe does not limit the oversight powers of the Pharaoh, but rather enjoins the Scribes to be subordinate to the Pharaoh and grants the Pharaoh the authority to organize the ministries as he sees fit.

In response to the submission of the Vizier, I feel it necessary to note that I do not disagree with the contention that the Pharaoh is superior to the Scribes, in terms of the hierarchy within the executive, it is clear that He is. My disagreement is with the submission that this superiority then allows the Pharaoh absolute control over the structures of the executive when such absolute control would, as I have argued earlier, be contrary to provisions prescribing the existence and functions of the Atef and the Vizier (both, I submit, within the executive), and, if one then accepts that the Pharaoh cannot use His power to further organise to alter the prescribed elements of the Vizier and the Atef, it follows, to me, that the Pharaoh cannot use said power to alter other prescribed elements of the executive, namely, the necessity that there is a Scribe for a mandatory ministry.

The Vizier's submission, as to the history of the provision on mandatory ministries, does not hold true to the facts of the time.

The Vizier claims that the provision, in conjunction with the provision on further organisation of the executive, was understood to grant the Pharaoh authority to organise the ministries as He saw fit, it was not and did not. The provision was understood to bind the Pharaoh's hands as to what ministries and Scribes must exist, in order to ensure that there were ministries enough for citizens to join, as membership of an executive ministry was once a requirement for membership of the Deshret. It is because of this that the Pharaoh submitted full slates of Scribes to the Deshret, even if that necessitated Himself serving as a Scribe in addition to being Pharaoh[note]In the first cabinet nominations, the then Pharaoh Lord Ravenclaw nominated Himself as Scribe of Foreign Affairs, if He was of the view that His power to further organise the executive enabled Him to simply retain the powers of the ministry He would have done so and not nominated Himself as Scribe, but He was not of that view, because that reading of the law was not the correct understanding and still is not, and so He nominated himself (The confirmation vote for the said nominations)[/note], because He was required to fill ministries.

The understanding that the mandatory ministry provision was intended and understood to bind the Pharaoh is further supported by the reasoning given by the proposer of the amendment to remove it[note]Namely that, "Because mandatory ministries were implemented to ensure there were opportunities for citizens to be active for the purpose of attaining and maintaining Deshret membership, mandatory ministries are also stricken in these amendments in favor of allowing the Pharaoh to organize the Hedjet as they see fit", the amendment also removed the necessity to maintain membership in the executive for membership of the Deshret, and the ministry of justice was specifically excluded from the ministries which had their mandatory nature removed. (The debate for the said amendment)[/note], which was not challenged by any other Councillor of the Deshret or the then Pharaoh. Additionally, it is supported by the proposition and debate on the State Code, prior to its adoption, with the proposer and other Councillors involved in the debate noting an understanding that mandatory ministries were required to have a minister[note]Cormac Stark (then Vizier and proposer of the State Code): "Added a Section 2.3(a) with mandatory executive ministries that must be overseen by Scribes."; "I'm fine with making the WA Affairs Department mandatory, but my thinking there is that the Delegate is directly responsible for the WA so he may, depending on who he is, want to handle that himself rather than appointing a minister."; (after a response to the previous statement) "The Pharaoh could appoint himself Scribe of Ma'at if he wanted but it's important for that to be a mandatory ministry for the purpose of executive participation and Deshret qualification.". Treize Dreizehn (then Keeper of the Deshret): (in response to the second comment noted above, and after which the third comment above was made) "There technically isn't anything that says a Scribe can't be the Pharaoh.". This, and the lack of disagreement on how the mandatory ministries provision was understood to operate (though there was disagreement on whether such a provision should exist at all), is demonstrative of the understanding of the provision that I espouse (that such ministries must have Scribes) and that the Pharaoh cannot just divide such ministries up as He sees fit or assume them directly to Himself (though He may appoint Himself as Scribe, in order to assume direct responsibility). (The said debate)[/note], rather than being subsumed into other ministries or by the Pharaoh or Vizier.

As regards the provision as to delegation, it is specified to be limited to the powers afforded to the Pharaoh under that Section of the State Code[note]Section 2.4 of the State Code of Osiris "The Pharaoh will have the power to further organize the executive branch of government. The Pharaoh may delegate any of the powers and areas of oversight prescribed to them under this Section to officials in the executive branch of government. Such delegation does not affect the exercise by the Pharaoh of any such power or oversight.", referring to the powers and areas of oversight given in all of Section 2 ("Executive of Osiris") of the State Code[/note], so does not include powers afforded to any official in other sections of the State Code or under Acts of the Deshret, specifically relevant to the matter in dispute in these proceedings is the Criminal Codex Act, which, in a number of provisions, specifically names the Scribe of Justice as responsible for their execution[note]Sections 6.1, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 of the Criminal Codex of the Osiris Order Act all name the Scribe of Justice, or their deputy (who, presumably, is not generally the Pharaoh, due to His acknowledged superiority over Scribes), as the official who recommends sentences to the Pschent and brings alleged offences before it.[/note], and so requires the existence of a Scribe of Justice in order to be carried into effect, as it is not within the ambit of the provision on further organisation and delegation.

Forgive the delay - an unexpected but necessary move necessitated it while making me unable to access the internet.

My ruling is thus:

Judical Review #1
On the mandatory Justice Ministry

Vizier Ainocra and Councilor Datford-Zyvetskistaahn have both made quite compelling arguments. The State Code in its current form does permit the Pharaoh a great deal of freedom in the organization of the Hedjet, allowing the holder of that office to appoint as many or few Scribes as he may desire, with any portfolio that they deem appropriate to the needs of the Osiris Fraternal Order. The Court finds, however, that the reason why the State Code does not extend this same freedom to the Ministry of Justice is that it is a unique and exceptional Ministry, with needs and requirements not shared by other possible Priesthoods (including the traditional Ministries such as Foreign Affairs or War).

Unlike the other members of the Hedjet, the Scribe of Justice must be a neutral figure within Osirian politics. His loyalty is not to the Pharaoh, the Vizier, or his fellow Hedjetis; it is to the principles of justice and order which inform Osirian law. As such, he must be willing to prosecute any citizen of Osiris, including the Pharaoh, should the law be violated.

Regarding the requested review by Councilor Datford-Zyvetskistaahn, the Court finds:
• that the mandatory Justice Ministry, or any other executive ministry deemed mandatory by future Deshret legislation, must have a Scribe appointed to it by the Pharaoh and confirmed by the Deshret;
• that any exercise of the functions of the Justice Ministry or any other mandatory executive ministry by the Pharaoh or Vizier does not remove or fulfill that requirement;
• and that the Pharaoh's power to "further organize the executive branch" given to him by State Code §2.4 is in regards to non-mandatory ministries and does not allow him to bypass mandatory ministries by delegating their duties to the Vizier or by taking them on himself.

In light of the Scribe of Justice's aforementioned unique and exceptional role, the Court additionally finds that any repeal of Section 2.3a of the State Code by the Deshret would be contrary to the interests of justice and discourages any future attempts to do so.

~Blaine Zeorus Montresor, Elder of the Pschent