Bar Association Act Referendum Passes!






Bar Association Act Referendum Passes!
Controversial bill receives People's Assent to become law

Written by Caius, Edited by Pland Adanna





On May 12, a referendum on the Bar Association Omnibus Act passed with 62.5% of the vote, setting up Europeia for major judicial reforms such as a new Bar Association and Circuit Court.

The Bar Association Omnibus Act (2023) is one of the most controversial bills in recent history, due to its significant changes to the judicial branch of government, Here’s a quick history on the bill:
  • The Bar Association Omnibus Act (2023) is a revision of a previous bill introduced a few weeks prior, also named Bar Association Omnibus Act. It was introduced by then-Senate Speaker Rand.
  • The first bill faced criticism for its amendment of the Constitution, apparent limitations on who may serve as a prosecutor in a legal case, and for being a little over bureaucratic.
  • Shortly after the bill passed the Senate with a 2/3rd majority, the bill was presented to then-President Lloenflys, who after receiving feedback from the citizenry and coming to his own conclusions, vetoed the bill. “I simply believe in its current form, it is not quite ready to be passed into law,” Lloenflys stated.
On April 11, Senator Prim introduced the current bill, which received quite a lot of feedback, especially from Chief Justice Darkslayer and President Rand. The Senate passed the bill 5-0 on May 5.

Shortly after the bill’s passing in the Senate, Lloenflys began a petition to initiate a referendum on the bill, citing the bill’s significant structural effect on the judicial branch of government, and the lack of discussion among the citizenry.

A referendum debate thread was opened by the Chancellery, and the discussion was quite dynamic. While many supported legal education and a new way for newcomers to get involved in the judiciary, many heavily criticised the single-term limits for Justices among other things.

The EBC held a flash poll before the referendum in order to get the public's opinion on the matter, finding that support for legal education and a clearer pathway to judicial service was much higher than support for single term limits for Justices, which had a net disapproval rating of almost 30%. Most people also supported the bill as a whole, but wanted to see amendments in the future.

After the passage of the referendum, the Senate wasted no time in bringing new amendments to the Act. The Justice Term Limit Extension Amendment was put forth before the Senate, seeking to allow the renomination of the Justices to the High Court.

The Senate is also currently discussing another amendment, the Bar Membership Amendment. which seeks to allow the Chief Justice to pick more experienced and capable jurists to hear more sensitives cases, while allowing newer Bar Members to learn more comfortably instead of hearing a case prematurely.

For the meantime, Europeia has chosen to undertake a significant legal reform and can look forward to its implementation in the coming weeks.

 
Great job, I enjoyed the writeup and am glad this has been captured as part of our history!
 
A very enjoyable write-up, thank you Caius!!!
 
I'm impressed, you managed to capture all of that into one article very effectively. Thanks for documenting this!
 
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