"Cort Reforms Suggested," by Munditenens Tresplet

With delays in our court system once again reaching new levels, judicial reform has been put on the forefront heading into the next General Election. These delays seem to be found in every cog in the system; the latest filing in the Magistrate's Cort, for example, is dated August 28th, but wasn't assigned to a Magistrate until almost four months later. Of course, four months is a fairly short delay, compared to the six year delay in Government vs Chancery, which continues to be comically sticked atop the Uppermost Cort's board (along with the many other "pending" cases) awaiting a decision that isn't ever likely to come.

During the recent ZRT Convention, Distain Miestra Schiva proposed an amendment to the ZRT manifesto, calling for the abolition of the two tiered Cort system. Describing the current Cort Pu Inalt (CpI), she noted that it was essentially a "retirement system" of sorts, "...where good Talossans go to Rip-van-Winkle themselves." In her amendment, she proposes an alternative to the currently stagnant high Cort, which involves having a panel of Magistrates hear cases if and when they are appealed from a decision of a single Magistrate. 

Her bold proposal has been well received among colleagues from every side of the aisle; a guest speaker at the convention on judicial reform, recently appointed Attorney-General Txec dal Nordselva commented that "The idea of merging the two Corts together to form on a large bank of judges is intriguing." He proposes that the Justices from the CpI and the Magistrates combine, and having a rotating system that selects three judges from this pool to act as an appeals court. He also proposes that the current bar admission process be tweaked, noting that while the current system works, it might be beneficial to offer some sort of preparation course before one takes the bar as well.

Current Magistrate Owen Edwards offered his two-bence as well, proposing that the current CpI could be a term position, where Justices are selected to serve from an existing pool of Magistrates for a set term, such as a year. Additionally, he believes that the current Clerk of Corts position needs to be either reformed in some way or abolished, noting that the current method by which cases are assigned is both convoluted and inefficient. Regarding Edward's proposal on the Clerk of Corts, Sir Cresti Siervicül agrees, remarking that "...it should not be possible for the Clerk to become a statutory barrier to cases reaching the courts..."

Although the wheels have begun to turn, progress on judicial reform isn't likely to come before the next General Election. In the meantime, cases still continue to gather virtual dust awaiting decisions in our Corthouse.