THE SHORT LOGICAL RULESET Last proposal with recorded effect on this ruleset: 5097 ====================================================================== The Game of Agora ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 101/7 (Power=3) Agoran Rights and Privileges The rules may define persons as possessing specific rights or privileges. Be it hereby proclaimed that no binding agreement or interpretation of Agoran law may abridge, reduce, limit, or remove a person's defined rights. A person's defined privileges are assumed to exist in the absence of an explicit, binding agreement to the contrary. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would allow restrictions of a person's rights or privileges. i. Every person has the privilege of doing what e wilt. ii. Every player has the right to perform an action which is not regulated. iii. Every person has the right to initiate a formal process to resolve matters of controversy, in the reasonable expectation that the controversy will thereby be resolved. Every person has the right to cause formal reconsideration of any judicial determination that e should be punished. iv. Every person has the right to refuse to become party to a binding agreement. The absence of a person's explicit, willful consent shall be considered a refusal. v. Every person has the right to not be considered bound by an agreement, or an amendment to an agreement, which e has not had the reasonable opportunity to review. vi. Every player has the right of participation in the fora. vii. Every person has the right to not be penalized more than once for any single action or inaction. viii. Every player has the right to deregister rather than continue to play. Please treat Agora right good forever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2125/0 (Power=3) Regulation Regulations An action is regulated if: (a) the action is prohibited; (b) the rules indicate that if certain conditions are satisfied, then some player is permitted to perform the action; (c) the action would, as part of its effect, modify information for which some player is required to be a recordkeepor; (d) the action would, as part of its effect, make it impossible to make arbitrary modifications to the rules by any combinations of actions by players; or (e) the courts have held that the action is regulated, and this finding has not been overturned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1586/3 (Power=2) Definition and Continuity of Entities Two Rule-defined entities CANNOT have the same name or nickname. If the Rules defining an entity are repealed or amended such that they no longer define that entity, then that entity and its properties cease to exist. If the Rules defining an entity are amended such that they still define that entity but with different properties, then that entity and its properties continue to exist to whatever extent is possible under the new definitions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1688/3 (Power=3) Power The power of an entity is a non-negative rational number. An instrument is an entity with positive power. The power of an entity cannot be set or modified except as stipulated by the rules. All entities have power zero except where specifically allowed by the rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2140/0 (Power=3) Power Controls Mutability No entity with power below the power of this rule can (a) cause an entity to have power greater than its own. (b) adjust the power of an instrument with power greater than its own. (c) modify any other substantive aspect of an instrument with power greater than its own. A "substantive" aspect of an instrument is any aspect that affects the instrument's operation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2141/0 (Power=3) Role and Attributes of Rules A rule is a type of instrument with the capacity to govern the game generally. A rule's content takes the form of a text, and is unlimited in scope. In particular, a rule may define in-game entities and regulate their behaviour, make instantaneous changes to the state of in-game entities, prescribe or proscribe certain player behaviour, modify the rules or the application thereof, or do any of these things in a conditional manner. Every rule has power between one and four inclusive. It is not possible for a rule to have a power outside this range. Every rule shall have a number for identification. If a rule ever does not have an identifying number, the Rulekeepor shall assign a number to it by announcement as soon as possible. The number assigned must be a natural number greater than any number previously assigned to a rule. Once properly assigned, a rule's number cannot be changed. Every rule shall have a title to aid in identification. If a rule ever does not have a title, the Rulekeepor shall assign a title to it by announcement as soon as possible. For the purposes of rules governing modification of instruments, the text, power, number, and title of a rule are all substantive aspects of the rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1482/2 (Power=3) Precedence between Rules with Unequal Power In a conflict between Rules with different Power, the Rule with the higher Power takes precedence over the Rule with the lower Power. No change to the Ruleset can occur that would cause a Rule to stipulate any other means of determining precedence between Rules of unequal Power. This applies to changes by the enactment or amendment of a Rule, or of any other form. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule that would permit such a change to the Ruleset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1030/5 (Power=3) Precedence between Rules with Equal Power If two or more Rules with the same Power conflict with one another, then the Rule with the lower Number takes precedence. If at least one of the Rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another Rule (or type of Rule) or takes precedence over another Rule (or type of Rule), then such provisions shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If all of the Rules in conflict explicitly say that their precedence relations are determined by some other Rule for determining precedence relations, then the determinations of the precedence-determining Rule shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more Rules claim to take precedence over one another or defer to one another, then the numerical method again governs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 105/2 (Power=3) Rule Changes Where permitted by other rules, an instrument generally can, as part of its effect, (a) enact a rule. The new rule has power equal to the minimum of the power specified by the enacting instrument, defaulting to one if the enacting instrument does not specify, and the maximum power permitted by other rules. The enacting instrument may specify a title for the new rule, which if present shall prevail. The number of the new rule cannot be specified by the enacting instrument; any attempt to so specify is null and void. (b) repeal a rule. When a rule is repealed, it ceases to be a rule, and the Rulekeepor need no longer maintain a record of it. (c) amend the text of a rule. (d) retitle a rule. (e) change the power of a rule. A rule change is any effect that falls into the above classes. Rule changes always occur sequentially, never simultaneously. Any ambiguity in the specification of a rule change causes that change to be void and without effect. A variation in whitespace or capitalization in the quotation of an existing rule does not constitute ambiguity for the purposes of this rule, but any other variation does. This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be created, modified, or destroyed, or by which an entity can become a rule or cease to be a rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2149/1 (Power=1) Truthfulness Players SHALL NOT deliberately or recklessly make false statements in any public message. Merely quoting a false statement does not constitute making it for the purposes of this rule. Any disclaimer, conditional clause, or other qualifier attached to a statement constitutes part of the statement for the purposes of this rule; the truth or falsity of the whole is what is significant. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2110/1 (Power=3) Win by Paradox If the legality of an action cannot be determined with finality, or if by a Judge's best reasoning, not appealed within a week of eir Judgement, an action appears equally legal and illegal, then the first player to announce this fact wins the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Players ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 869/21 (Power=1) How to Join and Leave Agora Each entity at any time either is or is not a player. The verb "to be registered" means to become a player, and the verb "to be deregistered" means to cease to be a player. Where the verb "to register" or "to deregister" is used without an explicit direct object, the action is implicitly reflexive. The adjective "registered", or its fuller form "registered as a player", describes those who are players. A person is permitted to register or deregister unless specifically prohibited. A person registers or deregisters by announcement. Whenever a player deregisters, e is prohibited from registering for the next thirty days. A player who is not a person and has never been a first-class person can be deregistered by any player by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2144/5 (Power=1) Limited Partnerships A partnership is prohibited from registering if its basis is the same as that of another registered partnership. If a registered partnership has the same basis as another registered partnership, it can be deregistered by any player with Agoran Consent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2139/0 (Power=1) The Registrar The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of players. The Registrar's report shall include the following: a) Each player's nickname (if any) and listed e-mail address (es). b) The date on which each player most recently registered. c) A list of all public or discussion fora, with sufficient data regarding each forum to players to receive messages there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1789/3 (Power=1) Cantus Cygneus Whenever a Player feels that e has been treated so egregiously by the Agoran community that e can no longer abide to be a part of it, e may submit a document to the Clerk of the Courts, clearly labeled a Cantus Cygneus, detailing eir grievances and expressing eir reproach for those who e feels have treated em so badly. As soon as possible after receiving a Cantus Cygneus, the Clerk of the Courts shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugere Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered and instructing the Registrar to note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar Reports, as long as the Player remains deregistered. The Player is deregistered as of the posting of the Writ, and the notation in the Registrar's Report will ensure that, henceforth, all may know said Player deregistered in a Writ of FAGE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2130/5 (Power=1) Inactivity A player may become active or inactive by announcement. A player may, without objection, make another player inactive. Registration as a player causes the new player to become active. All non-players are inactive. The Registrar's report shall indicate, for each player, whether the player is active or inactive, and the date on which this status last changed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Definitions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 478/18 (Power=3) Fora Freedom of speech being essential for the healthy functioning of any non-Imperial nomic, it is hereby resolved that No Player shall be prohibited from participating in the Fora. A Forum's Publicity may be either null, Discussion, or Public (default null). A forum's publicity may not be changed except as described in this rule. The Registrar may change the publicity of a forum without objection as long as: (a) e sends eir announcement of intent to that forum; and (b) if the forum is to be made public, the announcement by which the Registrar makes that forum public is sent to all existing public fora. Each active player should ensure e can receive messages via each public forum. A message is public if and only if it is sent via a public forum or is sent to all players and contains a clear designation of intent to be public. A player "publishes" or "announces" something by sending a public message. A player performs an action "by announcement" by announcing that e performs it. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 754/7 (Power=3) Definition Definitions Regularity of communication being essential for the healthy function of any nomic, it is hereby resolved: (1) A difference in spelling, grammar, or dialect, or the use of a synonym or abbreviation in place of a word or phrase, is inconsequential in all forms of communication, as long as the difference does not create an ambiguity in meaning. (2) A term explicitly defined by the Rules by default has that meaning, as do its ordinary-language synonyms not explicitly defined by the rules. (3) Any term primarily used in mathematical or legal contexts, and not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule, by default has the meaning it has in those contexts. (4) Any term not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule by default has its ordinary-language meaning. This rule takes precedence over any other rules which dictate terminology or grammar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2152/0 (Power=2) Mother, May I? The following terms are defined. These definitions are used when a rule includes a term in all caps, and SHOULD be used when a rule includes a term otherwise. Earlier definitions take precedence over later ones. If a rule specifies one or more players in connection with a term, then the term applies only to the specified player(s). 1. CANNOT, IMPOSSIBLE, INEFFECTIVE, INVALID: Attempts to perform the described action are unsuccessful. 2. MUST NOT, MAY NOT, SHALL NOT, ILLEGAL, PROHIBITED: Performing the described action violates the rule in question. 3. SHOULD NOT, DISCOURAGED, DEPRECATED: Before performing the described action, the full implications of performing it should be understood and carefully weighed. 4. CAN X ONLY IF Y: Equivalent to "CANNOT X unless Y". Similar for (MUST, MAY, SHALL, SHOULD) X ONLY IF Y. 5. MUST, SHALL, REQUIRED, MANDATORY: Failing to perform the described action violates the rule in question. 6. SHOULD, ENCOURAGED, RECOMMENDED: Before failing to perform the described action, the full implications of failing to perform it should be understood and carefully weighed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1023/21 (Power=2) Common Definitions The following terms are defined: (a) The phrase "as soon as possible" means "within seven days". (b) The term "random" means a choice drawn with a process whose probability distribution among the possible outcomes is reasonably close to that required by the Rules, using a uniform distribution if not otherwise specified. (c) The term "paragraph" means a subset of text determined as follows: (1) Each bulleted or enumerated (hereafter simply "bulleted") section is a unit of text. (2) Any remaining text is divided into units at blank lines. (3) Each unit of a document has a level as follows. All unbulleted units have level 1. Each bulleted unit has level n+2, where n is the number of bulleted units it is nested inside. (4) A barrier between two units is a unit appearing between those units which has level no greater than that of the unit appearing first. (5) The units of a document form an ordered tree, with the hierarchy determined as follows. The root is an empty unit with level zero, which nominally appears at the beginning of the document. One unit is a descendant of another unit if it appears after the latter, has strictly greater level, and is not separated from the latter by a barrier. The tree's ordering follows the order of the units in the document. (6) A "paragraph" identified by partial quotation is determined by the minimum sub-tree containing the entirety of that quotation. (7) A "paragraph" identified by an ordinal n is determined by the nth unbulleted unit and its descendants. (8) A "paragraph" identified by enumerated section labels is determined by the sub-tree arrived at by traversal from the root, using the specified series of labels. (d) Agoran epochs: (1) Agoran days begin at midnight UTC. (2) Agoran weeks begin at midnight UTC on Monday. (3) Agoran months begin at midnight UTC on the first day of each Gregorian month. (4) Agoran quarters begin when the Agoran months of January, April, July, and October begin. (5) Agoran years begin when the Agoran month of January begins. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2146/0 (Power=2) Indices Indices are elements of the extended real numbers, which is a total order consisting of the real numbers plus a minimum element, called negative infinity, and a maximum element, called positive infinity or unanimity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2150/1 (Power=2) Personhood A person is an entity that has the general capacity to be the subject of rights and obligations under the rules. An entity is a person if and only if it is defined to be so by rules with power 2 or greater. Any biological organism that is capable of communicating by email in English is a person. "First-class person" means a person of a biological nature. "First-class player" means a player who is a first-class person. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1728/15 (Power=2) Dependent Actions An action is dependent, or may be performed dependently, if and only if it is an Action Without N Objections or an Action With N Supporters, where N is a nonnegative integer. The phrase "Without Objection" is synonymous with "Without 1 Objection", and the phrase "With Support" is synonymous with "With 1 Supporter". A player may publicly announce eir intent to perform an unambiguously described dependent action. A player may perform a previously unambiguously described dependent action if and only if: (a) no more than fourteen days have passed since the announcement of intent to perform the action; (b) if the action to be performed is an Action Without N Objections, at least four days have passed since the announcement made under (a) of this rule; (c) either the player who attempts to perform the action is the player who made the announcement under (a) of this rule, or (1) the player who made the announcement under (a) of this rule did so by a privilege or duty granted em by virtue of holding a rules-defined position; and (2) the player who attempts to perform the action is the holder of that position when e attempts to perform the action; (d) the rules explicitly authorise the player to perform the action dependently; (e) during the time between the announcement made under (a) of this rule and the attempt to perform the action, (1) if the action is to be performed Without N Objections, fewer than N first-class players have publicly posted objections (and not publicly retracted eir objections) to the performance of the action; and (2) if the action is to be performed With N Supporters, at least N first-class players other than the player who made the announcement under (a) of this rule have publicly posted support for the performance of the action; (f) the announcement made under (a) of this rule specifies whether the action is to be performed Without N Objections or With N Supporters, unless the rules either do not permit the action to be performed Without N Objections or do not permit the action to be performed With N Supporters; and (g) e announces that e performs the described action. A dependent action is not performed until announced as in (g). The specification in the rules that an action may be performed dependently does not prohibit performing that action independently if doing so would otherwise be permissible. A rule authorising the performance of a dependent action may restrict the eligibility of players to support or object to that specific action. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2124/3 (Power=1) Agoran Consent An entity that may perform an action with Agoran Consent can do so by announcement if all of the following are true: (a) e has published eir intent to perform the action, unambiguously describing the action to be performed, at least four days and no more than fourteen days before attempting to perform the action; (b) at least one other player has announced (and not withdrawn) support for the intended action since intent was published; and (c) more other players have announced (and not withdrawn) support than have announced (and not withdrawn) objections to the action since the intent was published. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1769/5 (Power=2) Holidays A Holiday is a period of time designated as such by the Rules. During a Holiday, the Promotor SHALL NOT distribute any proposals, and judges SHALL NOT be assigned to any judicial case, and judges SHALL NOT assign judgement to any judicial question. If some Rule requires that an action be done prior to a given time, and that given time falls during a Holiday, or within the 72-hour period immediately following that Holiday, then that action need not be done until 72 hours after that Holiday ends. If some Rule bases the time of a future event upon the time of another event, or requires that a Player perform some action within some time of another event, and that other event occurs during a Holiday, the time at which the Holiday ends shall be used instead for the purpose of determining the time of the future event or of the time by which the Player must perform the specified action. This Rule takes precedence over all Rules pertaining to the timing of events, and over all Rules which require Players to perform events before a specified time. The period each year from midnight GMT on the morning of 24 December to the beginning of the first Agoran week to begin after 2 January is a Holiday. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1750/1 (Power=1) Read the Ruleset Week The first Agoran week each year which falls entirely in February is Read the Ruleset Week. Agorans are encouraged to read the ruleset during Read the Ruleset Week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Offices ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 103/2 (Power=3) Always a Speaker There should always be exactly one player who is the Speaker. No one other than a player can be Speaker, and there can never be more than one Speaker. If there is ever no Speaker then the player whose most recent registration was earliest becomes the Speaker. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 402/19 (Power=1) Office of Speaker The speaker is an office. If an active player who is not the speaker has won the game within the past week, e may become the speaker, thus removing any previous speaker from the office, by announcement, unless someone else has become speaker within the preceding 90 days. If the legality of an attempted installation of this type is not challenged within a week, then it is effective even if later found to be illegal. A speaker who became speaker within the preceding 90 days cannot be replaced by Agoran Consent if e is one of those whose objections are counted in the Agoran Consent procedure. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1006/19 (Power=1) Offices The Rules may designate positions to be offices. No office may be held by more than one player. Each office that would otherwise not be held by any player shall be held by the Speaker, unless it is not possible for the Speaker to hold that office. The holder of an office may be referred to by the name of the office. If the duty of an office is to maintain certain information, then the officer shall publish that information at least once a month, or as soon as possible after a substantial change occurs in the information or the officer receives a request for the information. A weekly report shall be sufficient to satisfy these last two requirements. If a Timing Order directed at an office is not satisfied on time, or if the office is vacant, then the player who executed the order may perform the duty as if e held that office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2154/1 (Power=2) Replacing Officers Any Player may make an active Player (hereafter the nominee) the holder of an office, thus removing any previous holder from the office, with Agoran Consent, provided: (a) that office has not changed hands with this method in the previous 30 days, and (b) the potential officer consents to hold the office after the announcement of intent is made. If intent to achieve consent for a nominee is announced as above, then any other active player may be nominated for the position with eir own consent by announcement, during the minimum waiting period between intent and action defined for Agoran Consent. If, at the end of this period, there is more than one consenting nominee, then the attempt to achieve Agoran Consent fails, and the IADoP shall initiate an Agoran Decision to determine the new office holder, meanwhile no further attempt to achieve Agoran Consent for the change shall be valid. The valid options for the decision are the nominees, quorum is a minimum of three and the number of active players (rules to the contrary notwithstanding), eligible voters are the active players, and the vote collector is the IADoP. In the notice resolving the decision, the IADoP will select one nominee from the set of nominees which each received the largest number of votes; this chosen nominee becomes the officeholder upon the posting of the valid notice. If no attempt to achieve Agoran Consent for changing the holder of a particular office is announced in a given quarter, then the IADoP shall make at least one such attempt to change the officeholder in the following quarter, and make the change if consent is achieved. This requirement is waived if another player changes the officeholder in this way during the following quarter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2138/1 (Power=1) The International Associate Director of Personnel The International Associate Director of Personnel is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of officers and reports. The IADoP's report shall include the following: a) The holder of each office. b) The date on which each holder last came to hold that office. c) The date of the most recent attempt to achieve Agoran Consent for changing the holder of that office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2143/0 (Power=1) Official Reports For each office, the rules may designate certain information to be part of the corresponding officer's weekly report or monthly report. Any information designated to be part of the officer's report without specifying which report shall be part of the weekly report. If no information is designated to be part of the weekly (or monthly) report, then that office has no weekly (or, respectively, monthly) report. Each officer's report is an official report. The holder of an office for which there is an officer's report is obliged to maintain all information in the report. E is obliged to publish the weekly report, if there is one, at least once each week, and the monthly report, if there is one, at least once each month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1551/7 (Power=3) Ratification An officer is permitted to ratify, without objection, an official report e produced and was required to maintain by virtue of holding that office. The Speaker is permitted to ratify, without objection, any official report. When a document is ratified, the gamestate is modified so that the ratified document was completely true and accurate at the time it was published. Nevertheless, the ratification of a document does not invalidate, reverse, alter, or cancel any messages or actions, even if they were unrecorded or overlooked, or change the legality of any attempted action. A document's maintainer shall annotate all publications of that document with the date of its most recent ratification. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1377/22 (Power=1) The Herald The Herald is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of marks of honour and shame relating to Agora. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1051/17 (Power=1) The Rulekeepor The Rulekeepor is an office; its holder is responsible for maintaining the text of the rules of Agora. The Rulekeepor's Weekly Report shall include the Short Logical Ruleset. The Rulekeepor's Monthly Report shall include the Full Logical Ruleset. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1681/10 (Power=1) The Logical Rulesets There is a format of the ruleset known as the Short Logical Ruleset (SLR). In this format, each rule is assigned to a category, and the rules are grouped according to their category. Rules are assigned to, ordered within, or moved between categories, and categories are added, changed, or empty categories removed, as the Rulekeepor sees fit. The listing of each rule in the SLR must include the rule's number, revision number, power, title, and text. The Rulekeepor is strongly encouraged not to include any additional information in the SLR, except that which increases the readability of the SLR. There is a format of the ruleset known as the Full Logical Ruleset (FLR). In this format, rules are assigned to the same category and presented in the same order as in the SLR. The FLR must contain all the information required to be in the SLR, and any historical annotations which the Rulekeepor is required to record. The Rulekeepor is also free to include any other information which e feels may be helpful in the use of the ruleset in the FLR. Whenever a rule is changed in any way, the Rulekeepor shall record a historical annotation to the rule indicating the type of change, the date on which the change took effect, the mechanism which specified the change, and if the rule was changed due to a proposal, a reference to that proposal, its proposer, and any coauthors explicitly named in that proposal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1450/6 (Power=2) Separation of Powers The following sets of positions are mutually exclusive: a) Promotor and Assessor b) Speaker and Clerk of the Courts A player holding two or more positions within one of these sets is removed from all but one of them. If one of them is the Speakership, then e retains it; otherwise, e retains the position e came to hold most recently. This rule takes precedence over all rules governing offices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Agoran Decisions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 693/9 (Power=3) Agoran Decisions When the rules calls for an Agoran decision to be made, the decision-making process takes place in the following three stages, each described elsewhere: (a) Initiation of the decision. (b) Voting of the people. (c) Resolution of the decision. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 107/4 (Power=3) Initiating Agoran Decisions An Agoran decision is initiated when a person authorized to initiate it publishes a valid notice which sets forth the intent to initiate the decision. This notice is invalid if it lacks any of the following information, and the lack is correctly identified within one week after the notice is published: (a) The matter to be decided (for example, "the adoption of proposal 4781"). (b) A description of the class of eligible voters sufficient to enable public agreement on which persons are eligible. In particular, an explicit list of the eligible voters is always sufficient for this purpose. (c) The identity of the vote collector. (d) Any additional information required by the rules for this announcement. The publication of such a valid notice initiates the voting period for the decision. By default, the voting period lasts for seven days. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would require a voting period for some decision to be shorter than seven days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2137/1 (Power=1) The Assessor The Assessor is an office; its holder is responsible for collecting votes and keeping track of related properties. The Assessor is the default vote collector for all Agoran decisions that do not specify a different vote collector. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 683/14 (Power=3) Voting on Agoran Decisions An eligible voter on a particular Agoran decision submits a ballot to the vote collector by publishing a valid notice indicating which one of the available options e selects. To be valid, the ballot must satisfy the following conditions: (a) The ballot is submitted during the voting period for the decision, and the submitter is an eligible voter at the time of submission. (b) The ballot clearly identifies the matter to be decided. (c) The ballot clearly identifies the option selected by the voter. (d) The voter has not publicly retracted the ballot during the voting period. Among the otherwise-valid votes on an Agoran decision, only the first N submitted by each entity are valid, where N is the entity's voting limit on that decision. The voting limit of an entity that is not an eligible voter on an Agoran decision is zero. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an Agoran decision is one, except where rules say otherwise. The strength of an option is the number of valid ballots selecting that option. Other rules may place further constraints on the validity of ballots. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would loosen the constraints specified by this rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2127/0 (Power=1) Conditional Votes A ballot option (vote) on an Agoran decision may be submitted conditionally, and the truth or falsity of the condition and thus the selected option will be determined as it exists at the end of the voting period. The option selected shall be considered to be clearly identified if and only if the truth or falsity of the specified condition(s) can be reasonably determined, without circularity or paradox, from information published within the voting period. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2117/0 (Power=3) Replacing the Vote Collector If the rules indicate that an office is to be responsible for collecting votes on a particular Agoran decision, then the holder of that office is the default vote collector for that decision. The vote collector for a particular Agoran decision is tardy if and only if the voting collector has continuously held that role for at least seven days following the end of the voting period and the decision has not yet been resolved. If a vote collector is tardy, then the first player to announce that e takes up the role of vote collector becomes the vote collector for that decision. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would allow the vote collector for an Agoran decision to be changed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 208/3 (Power=3) Resolving Agoran decisions The vote collector for a particular Agoran decision is authorized to resolve that decision, and does so by publishing a valid notice which states that the matter has been resolved, indicating the option selected by Agora. To be valid, this notice must satisfy the following conditions: (a) It is published after the voting period has ended. (b) It clearly identifies the matter to be resolved. (c) It clearly identifies the options available. (d) It specifies which option was selected by Agora, as described elsewhere, and provides a tally of the voters' valid ballots on the various options. Each Agoran decision shall have at most one vote collector at a time. The identity of the vote collector is set by the message initiating the decision, and can only be changed as specified by other rules with power at least as great as that of this rule. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would provide another mechanism by which an Agoran decision may be resolved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 955/10 (Power=3) Determining the Will of Agora To determine which option on a particular Agoran decision was selected by Agora, the vote collector shall perform the following steps in order after the voting period has ended. (a) E shall invalidate any ballots which the rules require em to invalidate, and no others. (b) E shall count the number of distinct voters who submitted ballots which remain valid. If this number is less than the quorum and there is more than one available option, then the option selected by Agora is FAILED QUORUM. Otherwise, the decision achieved quorum. (c) If the decision is whether to adopt a proposal, e shall determine the voting index as follows: (1) if the strength of FOR is positive and the strength of AGAINST is zero, then the voting index is Unanimity; but (2) if the strength of FOR is zero, then the voting index is zero; otherwise, (3) the voting index is the ratio of the strength of FOR to the strength of AGAINST. If the voting index exceeds one and meets or exceeds the adoption index of the decision, and if further quorum was achieved, then the option selected by Agora is ADOPTED. Otherwise, the option selected by Agora is REJECTED. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 879/25 (Power=2) Quorum Quorum for an Agoran decision is N/3 (where N is the number of eligible voters with a positive voting limit on that decision), rounded up, with a minimum of five (unless this is greater than N, in which case quorum is N). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2034/2 (Power=3) Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges Any proposal that, as all or part of its effect, would change the validity of one or more of a voter's ballots on an Agoran decision whose voting period has begun but which has not yet been resolved shall be wholly without effect, any rule to the contrary notwithstanding. Once an Agoran decision has been resolved, no ballots on that decision may be validly submitted or retracted, and the outcome of the decision may not be changed in any way, any rule to the contrary notwithstanding. Nothing in this rule shall be construed as preventing the correction of errors in reporting the resolution of an Agoran decision. If the success of the resolution of an Agoran decision is not challenged within one week from the time the vote collector announces it, then the announced result is the true result of that decision, even if it would otherwise be in error. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Proposals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 106/8 (Power=3) Adopting Proposals A proposal is a document outlining changes to be made to Agora, including enacting, repealing, or amending rules, or making other explicit changes to the gamestate. A player submits a proposal by publishing it with a clear indication that it is intended to become a proposal, which places the proposal in the Proposal Pool. The proposer of a proposal may remove it from the Pool by announcement. Determining whether to adopt a proposal is an Agoran decision. For this decision, the available options are FOR, AGAINST, and PRESENT, and the adoption index is the adoption index of the proposal. The adoption index of a proposal is an integral multiple of 0.1, with a minimum value of 1.0. It may be set by the proposer at the time of submission, or otherwise defaults to 1.0. A Proposal with an Adoption Index of less than 2 is Ordinary. All other Proposals are Democratic. If the option selected by Agora on this decision is ADOPTED, then the proposal is adopted, and unless other rules prevent it from taking effect, its power is set to the minimum of four and its adoption index, and then it takes effect. It does not otherwise take effect. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would permit a proposal to take effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2153/0 (Power=1) Disinterested Proposals A proposal is disinterested if it is labeled as such by its author at the time of submission. A proposal should be disinterested if and only if its effects are limited to correcting errors and/or ambiguities. The author and co-author(s) of a disinterested proposal do not receive any rewards for its adoption, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1607/13 (Power=1) The Promotor The Promotor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing proposals. The Promotor MAY distribute a proposal in the Proposal Pool at any time. During each week, the Promotor SHALL distribute each proposal that has been in the Proposal Pool since the beginning of that week. The Promotor distributes a proposal by publishing it with the clear intent of distributing it. When a proposal is distributed, it is removed from the Proposal Pool. The distribution of a proposal initiates the Agoran decision of whether to adopt the proposal, as described elsewhere. When distributing a proposal, the Promotor SHALL specify the following: a) Its author (and co-authors, if any). b) Its adoption index. c) Whether it is ordinary or democratic. d) Whether it is interested or disinterested. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1698/0 (Power=3) The Proposal System Is Protected It must always be possible to adopt Proposals within a 4 week period. Any change to the game state which would result in this condition becoming false is cancelled and does not take place, any Rule to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1950/19 (Power=3) Voting on Democratic Proposals The eligible voters on a democratic proposal are those entities that were active first-class players at the start of its voting period. The voting limit of each eligible voter on a democratic proposal is one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2156/1 (Power=2) Voting on Ordinary Proposals Each player has a parameter known as eir base voting limit on ordinary proposals (BVLOP). The BVLOP of a first-class player is four, and the BVLOP of any other player is zero. BVLOP cannot be modified. Each player has a parameter known as eir volatile voting limit on ordinary proposals (VVLOP). Whenever a player is registered, eir VVLOP is set to eir BVLOP. VVLOP can be modified by the action of an instrument with power greater than or equal to the power of this rule, but not by any other means. Each player has a parameter known as eir effective voting limit on ordinary proposals (EVLOP). Whenever a player is registered, eir EVLOP is set to eir BVLOP. At the end of each week, each player's EVLOP is set to eir VVLOP, rounded to an integer, breaking ties towards odd integers, and eir VVLOP is set to the same rounded value. EVLOP cannot be modified by any other means. The assessor's report includes each player's EVLOP. The eligible voters on an ordinary proposal are those entities that were active players at the start of its voting period. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an ordinary proposal is eir EVLOP at the start of its voting period. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2134/0 (Power=1) Win by Voting Power If a single player has a voting power on ordinary proposals equal to or greater than the total voting power on ordinary proposals of all other players combined, that player wins the game upon any player announcing the fact. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2126/14 (Power=2) Voting Credits Voting Credits (VCs) are a measure of each player's ability to affect voting limits on ordinary proposals. VCs CANNOT be affected except as described in this rule. When a player registers or deregisters, e loses all eir VCs. The assessor's report includes the number of VCs of each color possessed by each player. When one or more players win the game, each player's VVLOP is set to eir BVLOP. Each VC has a color (Gray if not otherwise specified). If a player loses a color of VC that e does not possess, then e loses a VC of eir Party's color instead; if e has no VCs at all, then the loss is waived (you can't get blood from a turnip). VCs may be gained as follows: a) When an ordinary interested proposal is adopted, its proposer gains Red VCs equal to the integer portion of the proposal's adoption index (unless e gained VCs in this way earlier in the same week), and each co-author of the proposal gains one Red VC (unless e gained VCs in this way earlier in the same week). b) At the end of each month, for each office, the player (if any) who held that office for the majority of that month gains two Green VCs, unless the Speaker publicly announces within a week after the end of the month that the officer performed eir duties poorly or not at all. c) A player who assigns a judgement to a judicial question within the time limit when first obliged to gains one Blue VC. VCs may be lost as follows: a) When a proposal's voting index is less than half its adoption index, its proposer loses one Red VC. b) When an officer forfeits eir salary due to announcement by the Speaker, e loses one Green VC. c) A player who is recused from a judicial case because a judicial question has remained applicable, open, and unjudged loses one Blue VC. A player who is the prior judge in an appeal case where a judgement other than AFFIRM is assigned to the question on disposition loses one Blue VC. VCs may be spent as follows, by announcement (INVALID unless the color is specified): a) A player may spend two VCs of different colors to increase another player's VVLOP by one. b) A player may spend three VCs of different colors to increase eir own VVLOP by one. c) A player may spend two VCs of different colors to decrease another player's VVLOP by one (to a minimum of zero). d) A player may spend three VCs of different colors to decrease another player's VVLOP by ten percent. e) A player may spend two VCs of the same color to make another player gain one VC of that color. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2155/0 (Power=1) Parties Each player's Party is the color of VC that e possesses the most of. Ties are broken in favor of the color that comes first in alphabetical order. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2142/2 (Power=2) Support Democracy Any player may change an Ordinary proposal's Adoption Index to 2 during its voting period With 2 Supporters. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2019/8 (Power=2) Speaker's Veto and Rubber Stamp The Speaker may veto an Ordinary Proposal in its voting period by announcement. Quorum for a vetoed proposal is positive infinity, other rules governing quorum notwithstanding. The Speaker may rubberstamp an Ordinary Proposal in its voting period by announcement. Quorum for a rubberstamped proposal is three, other rules governing quorum notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Orders ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1793/3 (Power=1) Orders An Order is a command, executed by an entity and directed to some entity requiring that entity to perform exactly one action, or to refrain from performing one or more actions. An Order may be directed to the holder of an official position in eir capacity in that official position, and if the position changes hands before the Order is satisfied, the duty to abide by the Order automatically attaches to the new holder of that position. An Order may also be directed at a prior order so as to affect the prior order's operation, as the Rules permit. All Orders executed in the manner prescribed by the Rules for their class are presumed valid and enforceable until proven otherwise by CFJ. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1794/11 (Power=1) Classes of Orders Each Order is of exactly one of the following classes. If an Order could be of more than one of these classes, then it is of the first class that matches. (a) A Legislative Order is an Order executed as part of the effect of the adoption of a Proposal. (b) A Timing Order is an Order which may be executed by any person by announcement and directed at any entity. A timing order is valid if and only if it orders the entity to perform, as soon as possible, a duty specifically required of em by the Rules that does not otherwise have a specified timing requirement, or for which the otherwise specified timing requirement will have been exceeded as soon as possible after the Order is executed. No other types of Orders are valid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1795/6 (Power=1) Order Timing Orders to perform an action shall be satisfied as soon as possible, unless the Order specifies a different time limit. The minimum time limit is 72 hours after the Order takes effect; any time limit that would be shorter is extended to the minimum. If an Order to perform an action is directed to an Office or other position of authority, and the holder of that position changes after the Order takes effect, but before the Order is satisfied, then the time limit is extended (if needed) to one week after the change. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1799/3 (Power=1) Stay and Vacation of Orders The effect of staying an Order is to temporarily prevent the stayed Order from having any effect. A stay may be specified to expire after a fixed time. If no specification is made in the Order to Stay, the stay shall not expire. When the stay expires or is vacated, the previously stayed order again has effect as if it had been originally executed at the moment the stay ceases to be effective. However, if at the time the staying Order expires or otherwise ceases to have effect, the stayed Order has been vacated or is subject to another staying Order, it does not regain effect. The effect of vacating an Order is to permanently deny the vacated Order from having any effect. Vacating an Order to Vacate reinstates the ability of the vacated Order to have effect, as of the moment the Order to Vacate is itself vacated. Any Order may always be stayed or vacated by the Player (or, in the case of Appellate Orders, Board of Appeal) who executed it. Certain classes of Orders may be stayed or vacated in other circumstances as well, but only as the Rules allow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1810/6 (Power=1) Satisfying Orders An Order requiring an entity to perform an action is satisfied when that entity performs that action. Other Rules may define other ways for Orders to be satisfied. Except when otherwise specified, a single action can result in the satisfaction of at most one Order. If an action would satisfy more than one Order, and no other specification is made, the Action satisfies the oldest Order which it would satisfy. A player SHALL NOT willfully perform contrary to a valid unsatisfied order, either through action or inaction. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Adjudication ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 991/8 (Power=2) Judicial Cases Generally A judicial case, also known as a call for judgement (CFJ), is a procedure to settle a matter of controversy. There are subclasses of judicial case with particular features defined by other rules. Subclasses of judicial case exist only as defined by the rules. The Clerk of the Courts (CotC) is an office, responsible for managing judicial activity. The CotC's report includes the status of all judicial cases that either require a judge or have at least one applicable judicial question that has no judgement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1868/7 (Power=2) Judge Assignment Generally At any time, a judicial case either has no judge assigned to it (default) or has exactly one entity assigned to it as judge; this is a persistent status that changes only according to the rules. To recuse a judge from a case means to deassign em as judge. To assign a judge to a case implicitly recuses any existing judge. At any time, a judicial case either does not require a judge (default) or requires a judge; this is not a persistent status, but is evaluated instantaneously. When a judicial case requires a judge and has no judge assigned, the CotC CAN assign a qualified entity to be its judge by announcement. Whenever this situation arises the CotC SHALL make such an assignment as soon as possible. Except where modified by other rules, the entities qualified to be assigned as judge of a judicial case are the active first-class players. Being unqualified to be assigned as a judge does not inherently prevent an entity from continuing to be judge if already assigned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1871/13 (Power=1.5) The Standing Court Each player is either standing, sitting, or supine; this status is known as eir posture. The CotC's report includes each player's posture. When an entity becomes a player, e is initially supine. A player CAN change emself from sitting to supine, or from supine to sitting, by announcement. A supine player is unqualified to be assigned as judge of any judicial case. The CotC SHALL NOT assign a sitting player to be the judge of any judicial case. If the CotC has assigned a sitting player as judge, and that player is still the judge of that case, the CotC CAN recuse that judge from that case by announcement. When the CotC assigns a standing player as judge of a judicial case, the player becomes sitting, except in the situation discussed in the next sentence. If the CotC assigns a standing player as judge of more than one judicial case consecutively in the same announcement, and states in the announcement that these are linked assignments, the player becomes sitting upon the last of these assignments, but not any of the earlier ones. The CotC SHOULD NOT perform linked assignments unless the cases being linked are closely related in their subject matter. The CotC CAN change all sitting players to standing by announcement. The CotC SHALL NOT do this unless there is a judicial case to which e is obliged to assign a judge, all entities qualified to be so assigned are sitting players, and e immediately afterwards (in the same announcement) assigns a judge to that case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2157/0 (Power=1.7) Judicial Panels A judicial panel is a structure whereby a group of two or more persons (its members) act together for the purpose of judging judicial cases. A judicial panel's membership cannot change, and if two panels have the same membership then they are the same panel. Judicial panels exist implicitly, without any specific act of formation. A judicial panel CAN send messages by means of any of its members sending a message identified as being from the panel, with the unanimous agreement of the panel's members. By this mechanism a judicial panel can act, in situations where the rules state that an action is performed by sending a message. A judicial panel can incur obligations. The members of a panel SHALL act collectively to ensure that the panel satisfies all of its obligations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2158/0 (Power=2) Judicial Questions Within a judicial case, one or more judicial questions may arise. Each judicial question is either inapplicable (default) or applicable; this is not a persistent status but is evaluated instantaneously. Each judicial question either is open (default), suspended, or has a particular judgement; this is a persistent status that changes only according to the rules. The possible types of judgement for a judicial question vary according to the type of question. When a judicial case has an applicable open judicial question, it requires a judge, and its judge CAN assign a valid judgement to that question by announcement. Whenever there is a judge assigned to a judicial case with an applicable open question, the judge SHALL assign such a judgement to the question as soon as possible. Whenever a judicial case has a judicial question that has remained applicable and open, while the same judge has been assigned to the case, continuously for the past week, the CotC CAN recuse that judge by announcement. Whenever a judicial case has a judicial question that has remained applicable and open, while the same judge has been assigned to the case, continuously for the past two weeks, the CotC SHALL so recuse the judge as soon as possible. Among the possible judgements of a judicial question, some subset of them are appropriate. Judgements are appropriate only where so defined by the rules. A judge SHALL NOT assign an inappropriate judgement. Where more than one appropriate judgement is available, the choice between them is at the judge's discretion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 591/20 (Power=1.7) Inquiry Cases There is a subclass of judicial case known as an inquiry case. An inquiry case's purpose is to determine the veracity of a particular statement. An inquiry case CAN be initiated by any person, by announcement which includes the statement to be inquired into. The initiator is unqualified to be assigned as judge of the case, and in the initiating announcement e CAN disqualify one person from assignment as judge of the case. An inquiry case has a judicial question on veracity, which is always applicable. The valid judgements for this question are: * FALSE, appropriate if the statement was factually and logically false at the time the inquiry case was initiated * TRUE, appropriate if the statement was factually and logically true at the time the inquiry case was initiated * UNDECIDABLE, appropriate if the statement was logically undecidable, nonsensical, too vague, or otherwise not capable of being accurately described as either false or true, at the time the inquiry case was initiated * IRRELEVANT, appropriate if the veracity of the statement at the time the inquiry case was initiated is not relevant to the game * UNDETERMINED, appropriate if the information available to the judge is insufficient to determine which of the FALSE, TRUE, and UNDECIDABLE judgements is appropriate; however, uncertainty as to how to interpret or apply the rules cannot constitute insufficiency of information for this purpose The judgement of the question in an inquiry case SHOULD guide future play, including future judgements, but does not directly affect the veracity of the statement. The rulekeepor is ENCOURAGED to annotate rules to draw attention to relevant inquiry case judgements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1504/10 (Power=1.7) Criminal Cases There is a subclass of judicial case known as a criminal case. A criminal case's purpose is to determine the culpability of a particular person, known as the defendant, for an alleged breach of the rules, and to punish the guilty. A criminal case CAN be initiated by any player, by announcement which clearly identifies the defendant and specifies the action (which may be a failure to perform another action) by which the defendant allegedly breached the rules. The initiation of a criminal case begins its pre-trial phase. During the pre-trial phase, the case requires a judge. In the pre-trial phase the judge SHALL as soon as possible inform the defendant of the case and invite em to rebut the argument for eir guilt. The pre-trial phase ends one week after the defendant has been so informed. The initiator and defendant are each unqualified to be assigned as judge of the case. During the pre-trial phase, the defendant CAN disqualify one person from assignment as judge of the case, by announcement. If e disqualifies the judge, then the judge is recused. A criminal case has a judicial question on culpability, which is applicable at all times following the pre-trial phase. The valid judgements for this question are: * ALREADY TRIED, appropriate if judgement has already been reached in another criminal case with the same defendant and substantially the same alleged act * UNIMPUGNED, appropriate if the alleged act was not proscribed by the rules at the time it allegedly occurred * INNOCENT, appropriate if the defendant did not perform the alleged act * SLIPPERY, appropriate if the information available to the judge is insufficient to determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether or not the defendant performed the alleged act * EXCUSED, appropriate if the defendant has good reason why e could not avoid breaching the rules in a manner at least as serious as alleged * GUILTY, appropriate if none of the above judgements is appropriate A criminal case has a judicial question on sentencing, which is applicable if the question on culpability is applicable and has a judgement of GUILTY. If a criminal case has an applicable question on sentencing which has a judgement, the defendant is hereafter known as the ninny, the judgement in the question on sentencing is known as the sentence, and the sentence is in effect. Some types of sentence include a duration known as the tariff. When a sentence with a tariff is in effect, the sentence is thereafter either active or not. The sentence is inactive for the first week after it first takes effect. Thereafter, the sentence is active if and only if it is still in effect and sentences of the same type on the same question on sentencing have been active for a total duration less than the tariff. The CotC's report includes the status of all active judgements. The valid sentences are: * DISCHARGE, appropriate only in extraordinary circumstances, if any available non-null punishment would be manifestly unjust. Has no effect. * APOLOGY with a set of up to ten words (the prescribed words), appropriate for rule breaches of small consequence. When in effect, the ninny SHALL within 72 hours publish a formal apology of at least 200 words, including all the prescribed words, explaining eir error, shame, remorse, and ardent desire for self-improvement. The ninny is only obliged to publish one apology per question on sentencing, even if sentences of this type are assigned more than once or go into effect more than once. * CHOKEY with a duration (the tariff) up to 60 days multiplied by the power of the highest-power rule allegedly broken, appropriate if the severity of the rule breach is reasonably correlated with the length of the tariff, the middle of the tariff range being appropriate for rule breaches of intermediate severity. While a sentence of this type is active, the ninny is in the chokey. No entity is in the chokey except as required by this rule. * EXILE with a duration (the tariff) up to 60 days multiplied by the power of the highest-power rule allegedly broken, appropriate if the severity of the rule breach is reasonably correlated with the length of the tariff, the middle of the tariff range being appropriate for severe rule breaches amounting to a breach of trust. While a sentence of this type is active, the ninny is exiled. No entity is exiled except as required by this rule. If an exiled entity is ever a player, e is deregistered. An exiled entity CANNOT register. An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a criminal case within the past week, other than an assignment caused by a judgement in an appeal case, CAN be initiated by the defendant by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 911/16 (Power=1.7) Appeal Cases There is a subclass of judicial case known as an appeal case. An appeal case's purpose is to determine the appropriateness of a judgement that has been assigned to a judicial question, and make remedy if the judgement was poorly chosen. The assignment of judgement being questioned (appealed against, or appealed) is referred to as the prior assignment; the word "prior" in this rule is used to refer to the circumstances of the prior assignment. An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a non-appeal case within the past two weeks, other than an assignment caused by a judgement in an appeal case, CAN be initiated by any player with 2 support. The entities qualified to be assigned as judge of an appeal case are the judicial panels consisting of three members, where each of the members is qualified to be assigned as judge of the prior case and none of the members is the prior judge. An appeal case has a judicial question on disposition, which is applicable if and only if the prior question is applicable. The valid judgements for the question on disposition are: * AFFIRM, appropriate if the prior judgement was appropriate for the prior question * REMAND, appropriate if there is serious doubt about the appropriateness of the prior judgement but the judge believes that the judge of the prior case can make a better judgement if given a new opportunity * REASSIGN, appropriate if there is serious doubt about the appropriateness of the of the prior judgement * OVERRULE with a valid replacement judgement for the prior question, appropriate if the prior judgement was inappropriate in the prior question and the replacement judgement is appropriate for the prior question Initiation of an appeal case renders the prior question suspended. It remains suspended as long as the question on disposition in the appeal case has no judgement. When the question on disposition has a judgement, things happen according to that judgement: * if AFFIRM, the prior judgement is assigned to the prior question again * if REMAND, the prior question is rendered open again * if REASSIGN, the judge of the prior case (if any) is recused, and the prior question is rendered open again * if OVERRULE with a replacement judgement, the replacement judgement is assigned to the prior question ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 217/5 (Power=3) Judgements Must Accord with the Rules All Judgements must be in accordance with the Rules; however, if the Rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the Statement to be Judged, then the Judge shall consider game custom, common sense, past Judgements, and the best interests of the game before applying other standards. When a Judge is considering eir Judgement of a Statement contained in a CFJ, e shall make eir evaluation based on the truth or falsity of the Statement at the time the CFJ was issued. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1503/6 (Power=3) Rules Violations In general, the Rules shall be adjudicated as if the Rules were a binding agreement between all Players, entered into by every player as a part of becoming a Player. An actual or alleged Rule violation shall be treated as the violation of a binding agreement to be bound by the Rule or Rules in question. The proposal, fora, and registration processes shall, prima facie, be considered to be protective of a Player's rights and privileges with respect to making and changing the agreement to be bound by the rules. Other rules may further differentiate the treatment of rules violations from the treatment of violations of other types of agreements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Patent Titles and Degrees ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 649/20 (Power=1) Patent Titles A Patent Title is a legal item of recognition of a person's distinction. When a Patent Title is awarded to a person, that person is said to Bear that Patent Title. When a Patent Title is revoked from a person, that person ceases to Bear that Patent Title. The status of Bearing a Patent Title can only be changed as explicitly set out in the Rules. The Herald's report shall include a list of each Patent Title that at least one person Bears, with a list of which persons Bear it. As soon as possible after a patent title is awarded or revoked, the herald SHALL announce the award or revocation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1922/13 (Power=1) Defined Regular Patent Titles The following are Patent Titles: (a) Scamster, which may be awarded to any Player who has shown great enthusiasm, persistence, or skill in the perpetrating of scams. This title may not be declined, retracted, or revoked. (b) A Patent Title (non-unique) now will Be known as "Bard", and granted those with wit. In order for the Title to be filled, A level of Support must call for it. Three players to a fourth may grant this name If these three write as one, with two Support. A current Bard may also grant the same, Provided that a second Bard's a sport. And so we don't the name of Bard debase, A Player with three Supporters can conspire To (from a Bard), this Title to erase: Or Bard (plus two Bards) make a Bard retire. But lest we ruin some poor minstrel's fun No bard will be dis-bard for eir bad pun. (c) Three Months Long Service, Six Months Long Service, Nine Months Long Service, Twelve Months Long Service, to be awarded to any player who has held a particular Office continuously for the specified duration. Each of these titles shall be awarded only once per player. (d) Champion, to be awarded to any player who wins the game. The Herald's report shall record how the player won. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1367/8 (Power=1.5) Degrees Certain patent titles are known as degrees. The degrees are - Associate of Nomic (A.N.) - Bachelor of Nomic (B.N.) - Master of Nomic (M.N.) - Doctor of Nomic History (D.N.Hist.) - Doctor of Nomic Science (D.N.Sci.) - Doctor of Nomic Philosophy (D.N.Phil.) Degrees are ranked in the order they appear in this rule, with degrees listed later being ranked higher. A degree CANNOT be awarded to any person more than once, and CANNOT be revoked once awarded. A degree CAN be awarded by the action of an instrumennt with power greater than or equal to the power of this rule, but CANNOT be awarded in any other way. A degree SHOULD be awarded ONLY IF its new bearer has published a suitable thesis with explicit intent to qualify for a degree (though not necessarily for the specific degree being awarded). A thesis is an essay whose topic is any facet of Agora Nomic or of nomic in general. A thesis's suitability depends on its originality and quality, with regard to the rank of the degree to be awarded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Contract Law ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1742/9 (Power=1.5) Contracts Any group of two or more persons may make an agreement among themselves with the intention that it be binding upon them and be governed by the rules. Such an agreement is known as a contract. A contract may be modified, including changing the set of parties, by agreement between all parties. A contract may also terminate by agreement between all parties. A contract automatically terminates if the number of parties to it falls below two. Parties to a contract governed by the rules SHALL act in accordance with that contract. This obligation is not impaired by contradiction between the contract and any other contract, or between the contract and the rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2145/2 (Power=2) Partnerships A binding agreement governed by the rules which devolves its legal obligations onto a subset of its parties, numbering at least two, collectively, is a partnership. The members of a partnership are those parties onto whom the partnership's legal obligations are collectively devolved. A partnership's identity and partnershiphood are not disrupted by changes to its membership provided that it continues to meet the definition of a partnership. A partnership's basis is the set consisting of the union of the set of its non-partnership members with the bases of each of its partnership members. Where circularity occurs in this definition, it is resolved by using the minimum basis sets that provide consistency. A partnership whose basis contains at least two persons is a person. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2136/7 (Power=1) Contests Points are a measure of a player's contentiousness. The number of points possessed by a player is eir score. Each player's score is an integer. Points can only be awarded in integer amounts. When a player registers or deregisters, eir score becomes zero. A contest is an agreement that identifies itself as such, and identifies exactly one party as its contestmaster; all other parties are its contestants. The Scorekeepor is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of scores and contests. The Scorekeepor's report includes each player's score. A contestmaster may award a total of up to 10 points per week to one or more contestants as permitted by the contest, unless e was contestmaster of a different contest for at least 3 days of the previous week. A player with 100 or more points may win the game by announcing this fact. Upon such an announcement, each player's score is set to zero. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Foreign Relations ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2135/1 (Power=1) Herald to Advertise Every month the Herald shall update the page about Agora on the NomicWiki at nomic.net, provided that that wiki is operational. This page, when updated, is to include a list of the current players. In updating the page the Herald shall ensure that information that is currently incorrect is either corrected or removed, and that all links on the page point to extant pages that are correctly described. The Herald may add new correct information to the page at eir discretion. The Herald is encouraged to also advertise Agora in other suitable locations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2148/1 (Power=2) Ambassador The ambassador is an office, responsible for relations with foreign nomics. A foreign nomic may grant certain powers and privileges to Agora's ambassador. If so, the ambassador shall generally exercise such powers in such manner as e sees fit, subject to other rules and orders. All players are prohibited from falsely claiming, to any nomic, to be the ambassador. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2147/1 (Power=2) Protectorates Whereas Agora, being the superpower of nomics, has an inherent responsibility to lead the nomic world; and whereas Agora desires to encourage growth and promotion of the nomic community, be it hereby known that Agora shall serve as benevolent protector to any nomic which requests such status (hereafter referred to as the protectorate). In order to become a protectorate, a nomic must specify in its ruleset that it submits to Agora as its benevolent protector. It must also have rules or other gamestate arranged such that any protective decree proclaimed by the ambassador will take full effect upon proclamation. For this purpose, the nomic may specify the forum in which proclamation is to be made, provided that it is reasonably possible for the ambassador to use the specified forum. Any restriction whatsoever on the content of a protective decree disqualifies the nomic from being a protectorate. If the criteria specified in the preceding paragraph are met, the ambassador may make the nomic a protectorate with Agoran Consent. If a protectorate ever does not meet these criteria, it ceases to be a protectorate. The ambassador shall check every month whether each protectorate continues to meet the criteria, and shall announce whenever a protectorate has ceased to be a protectorate. The ambassador's report shall include a list of all protectorates, with contact details for each, and for each the forum in which it is most appropriate to proclaim protective decrees that target that protectorate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2159/0 (Power=2) Protective Decrees A protective decree is an act of Agora the intended effect of which is to make explicit changes to the state of a protectorate nomic. The changes may include enacting, repealing, or amending rules of the protectorate, changing the set of players of the protectorate, or any other instantaneous changes to the protectorate's gamestate. Where permitted by other rules, an instrument with power 2 or greater generally can, as part of its effect, initiate a protective decree. The initiating instrument must specify the target protectorate and the changes to be made to it. Any ambiguity in the specification of a protective decree causes it to be void and without effect. This is the only mechanism by which a protective decree can be initiated. As soon as possible after a protective decree has been initiated, the ambassador shall proclaim it to the target nomic, in whatever forum is most suitable for this purpose. The decree takes effect upon this proclamation. Protective decrees should be initiated only for the purpose of assisting the protectorate in its growth and enabling its longevity. Protective decrees should always be benevolent. All players are prohibited from falsely claiming, to any nomic, that a document is a protective decree. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Trophies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2105/3 (Power=1) The Map of Agora ____ _ /| DARWIN -> \_ |/ | / \ __/ / | | <- DSV / / | \ _ \ \_ | \ MORNINGTON CRESCENT -> / | <- GOETHE BARRIER _ _/ | \_/\_/ \ REEF / \\ <- SHARK BAY | | / | | \ <- TOWNSVILLE ___/ | | \_ __/ | | .___o ) | / | | ~~vv ===~~~ <-OSCAR'S MIRE / O <- SHERLOCK NESS | |/\ | | | |_ | | | EMERALD -> \ \ |__________=_____, \ BRISBANE / | | | <-' \ O <- LT. ANNE MOORE | __ _\ \ | |_______/ \/ | LORD | __/\ <- TARCOOLA / HOWE -> \ PERTH __/ \_ / / | <-' _ __/ | /| IVANHOE -> | <-. / _/ \/ \ / / | / WOLLONGONG |_ / <- ESPERANTO v /__ |_ / <- CANBERRA \_/ \ | \_ _| __ __ | | \__/ __ \ / __ \___=_ ___| / \ | / \ MANUBOURNE -> \/ \|/ _,.---v---._ /\__ /\__/\ / \ | | \_ _/ / \ | / \ \_| @ __| \_/ <- HOBART \ \_ \ ,__/ / ~~~`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1727/16 (Power=1) Happy Birthday WHEREAS, in June 1993, the world's only MUD-based nomic, Nomic World, had recently collapsed; yet, many of its players enjoyed nomic and did not wish to forego such a noble pursuit; And WHEREAS, Originator Chuck Carroll therefore composed an Initial Ruleset for an email nomic, based on the Initial Rulesets of Peter Suber, inventor of Nomic, and on the Rulesets of Nomic World and other nomics, And WHEREAS, a nomic thus rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Nomic World, played on the mailing list originally set up for discussion of Nomic World, and coming into existence at June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200, with a message sent by FIRST SPEAKER Michael Norrish, which read, in part, "I see no reason to let this get bogged down; there are no precedents or rules that cover this situation, so I think we may as well begin directly.... Proposals for new rules are invited. In accordance with the rules, these will be published, numbered and distributed by me at my earliest convenience." And WHEREAS, this nomic began as a humble and nameless nomic, known unofficially as yoyo, after the mailing list it was played on, until its Players, much later, gave it its OFFICIAL NAME of Agora, And WHEREAS, Agora has now become the wisest, noblest, eldest, and most interesting of all active email nomics, due to the hard work and diligence of Agorans as well as the frequent advice of Agoraphobes, And WHEREAS, Agorans desire to joyously commemorate Agora's founding, BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that Agora's Birthday is defined to be the entire day of June 30, GMT +1200, of each year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 104/0 (Power=3) First Speaker The Speaker for the first game shall be Michael Norrish. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2151/0 (Power=1) Agoran Arms The escutcheon of Agora is defined by the following blazon: Tierced palewise sable, argent, and sable, charged with a quill and an axe in saltire, proper, and in the chief a capital letter A, gules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2029/0 (Power=4) Town Fountain /\ /\ / \ / \ T his Power-4 Rule (the first ever) was placed to honor The Agoran Spirit Of The Game by Goethe, Steve, Murphy, root and OscarMeyr, Scamsters. Look on our works, ye Marvy, but do always Dance a Powerful Dance. Hail Eris! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF THE SHORT LOGICAL RULESET