Fwurg

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

To: the Veolian Attorney General and / or the Veolian Court System, as may be applicable.


Dear Sir / Madam,

The Silver Forests of Remunzia seeks to bring legal charges against all Veolian slave owners and asks that you direct these charges to the appropriate legal authority of your government.

The Silver Forests of Remunzia holds that Veolian slavery laws are an artificial legal construct which is supported by and dependent upon enforcement by the governmental apparatus. Acknowledging that there are certain financial requirements to owning a slave, the Silver Forests of Remunzia nonetheless holds that the ability to keep slaves is not one that is biologically possessed by individuals, but rather one that has been created by artificial means, that is supported by and dependent upon an external source of power that is beyond the abilities of any individual slave owner and that the ownership of a slave is therefore not representative of the actual biological abilities of that slave owner.

Seeing how slave ownership is created by artificial legal constructs, seeing how it clearly enhances the ability of the owner beyond what they are naturally capable of, including but not limited to giving them the ability to be in more than one place at the same time, and seeing how this ability gives them an artificial and unfair advantage in terms of reproduction over individuals lacking such artificial enhancements, the Silver Forests of Remunzia holds that slave ownership should be interpreted as effectively equivalent to a cybernetic enhancement.

In accordance with Veolian law therefore, the Silver Forests of Remunzia demands that all Veolian slave owners be immediately and irreversibly sterilized, and that any other fines, limitations and penalties normally applicable to cyborgs and cybernetically enhanced individuals who use cybernetics to go beyond their natural biological abilities also be applied to them.

As it is clear that this matter will require debate and careful consideration within the Veolian courts and legal system, the Silver Forests of Remunzia additionally seeks that during the various trials and legal procedures, all slave owners be forbidden from reproducing so as to ensure that no illegal children, potentially created by unfair and artificial means, are brought into effect until this matter has been decided upon with finality.

Sincerely,

Senator Salixa, representing the Silver Forests of Remunzia.

[Veolian Commonwealth]

Dear senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia,

The Veolian Commonwealth has heard the Silver Forest of Remunzia's accusation of illegal cybernetic augmentation and the supportive reasoning.

The situation created by the accusation in this manner is unique. Under normal circumstances, the accusation would be inspected by the magistrate, and committed to the Crown Court as a criminal case. The unique situation here is the presence of a class action combined with an unprecedented argument. After having conferred with His Imperial Majesty on the matter, it has been concluded that there is an option to continue with the charges as if it were a civil law case.

The established procedure for foreign party to bring suit against citizens of the Veolian Commonwealth requires (1) the plaintiff to produce proof of having suffered an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) "actual or imminent, not 'conjectural' or 'hypothetical'", (2) to show that there is a casual connection between the injury and the conduct complained of and this injury needs to be (a) fairly tracable to the challenged action of the defendant and not the result of the actions of some third party not before the court, and finally (3) it must be likely that the injury will be redressed by a favourable decision.

After inspection of original complaint it has been concluded that the Silver Forests of Remunzia, in its role as plaintiff, meets all necessary conditions with the exception of conditions 1(a) and 1(b). The plaintiff has not produced proof of having suffered a concrete and particularized invasion of its legally protected interest. Seeing how the Silver Forests of Remunzia is a state its claim that veolian slave owners violated its natural right to fair competition in the interests of reproduction is a non sequitur. Furthermore, the sustained injuries are considered conjectural based on the limited interaction of populations in the Veolian Commonwealth and the Silver Forests of Remunzia.

Due to His Imperial Majesty's desire to accommodate the Silver Forests of Remunzia in the interest of international relations it has been concluded that, given the unique situation that arises from the accusation, conditions 1(a) and 1(b) will be considered fulfilled the moment a representative of the Silver Forests of Remunzia enters the territories of the Veolian Commonwealth with the intent to seek a mate. It must be noted that this special case is created at His Imperial Majesty's pleasure, and does not create precedent for future suits.

Sincerely,

Lord Mahan Yayavad, attorney-general of the Veolian Commonwealth

((OOC: I have tried my best to find an example OOC court case, or even documentation on conduct when a foreign country sues a national party in a civil case. I have not been able to find anything. So, I have been a little creative in allowing the Silver Forests to still be represented (by a single individual such as Salixa itself, or some other representative) in the inquiry and case. I'd like for the case's roleplay to involve them and hope that this is workable. If not, drop me a line and we'll have a short OOC pow-wow on making it work!

PS. The whole 'intent to seek a mate' thing is mostly a legal condition, even the most superficial of attempts to find a mate qualifies (i.e., get a drink in a hip bar).

PPS. I have also thought about and written something on the Veolian Court System. This is mostly relevant if the Remunzians want to make a legal wall-jump into the Court of Empress' Mercy for example, which would provide them with a judgement based on equity and moral grounds, instead of a possible more legalistic venue.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Continued in [ Mirda ] Remunzian mate-seekers vs Veolian Slave Owners, after the arrival of representatives.))