Bear Ribs
Well-known member
ROB becomes Irritated at the unfairness of complex law codes. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but also the law codes of the world are so complex nobody can help but be ignorant of the laws. ROB's also not a big fan of 10,000-page EULAs full of Jargon the reader can't actually comprehend even if they do read it.
ROB decides to rectify this and goes back in time, there he takes on the role of Founding Father Robert Olliver Bartholomew and adds his own flourish to the constitution:
All citizens of majority age are required to be able to recite the entire code of laws that apply to them. If less than half the citizenry are able to do so, the Legislative Branch is obliged to repeal laws until there are few enough that a simple majority are able to keep the entire code straight, with the least-remembered and understood laws being repealed first. Exact wording is not counted against the law so long as the citizen understands the gist of it.
All citizens are required to be able to parse and understand the meaning of any given law. If less than half the citizenry can explain how a specific law works and its implications, that law is deemed automatically unconstitutional due to being poorly written and confusing.
These tests are applied every 10 years during the census. However, a law can also be challenged in the Supreme Court, and an interim test made to see if a contentious law is known and understood by the citizenry. Laws are required to have a "window" period after they are passed and before they take effect during which people are given a chance to learn and understand the law.
ROB makes a carveout for special situations, this only applies to laws that specific citizen is directly affected by, thus a civilian does not have to understand the military code of justice, nor do they need to know how import/export works or laws on regulating railroads. However, the same test is applied on a per-industry basis so a simple majority of all military personnel must be able to recite the entire military code of justice and must be able to parse, understand, and explain the implications of each individual regulation. Similarly, all railroad workers would need to do so for railroad regs, all importers/exporters for those regulations and so forth. It is also applied on a local and state level, the citizens have to be able to understand and recite every law that directly affects them or else it's a constitutional violation and the laws don't apply anymore.
Has ROB doomed the US? Is it impossible to build a functional country with a constained code simplified enough that the citizens can understand all their own laws? Or can the United States actually function when everybody knows the entire legal code?
ROB decides to rectify this and goes back in time, there he takes on the role of Founding Father Robert Olliver Bartholomew and adds his own flourish to the constitution:
All citizens of majority age are required to be able to recite the entire code of laws that apply to them. If less than half the citizenry are able to do so, the Legislative Branch is obliged to repeal laws until there are few enough that a simple majority are able to keep the entire code straight, with the least-remembered and understood laws being repealed first. Exact wording is not counted against the law so long as the citizen understands the gist of it.
All citizens are required to be able to parse and understand the meaning of any given law. If less than half the citizenry can explain how a specific law works and its implications, that law is deemed automatically unconstitutional due to being poorly written and confusing.
These tests are applied every 10 years during the census. However, a law can also be challenged in the Supreme Court, and an interim test made to see if a contentious law is known and understood by the citizenry. Laws are required to have a "window" period after they are passed and before they take effect during which people are given a chance to learn and understand the law.
ROB makes a carveout for special situations, this only applies to laws that specific citizen is directly affected by, thus a civilian does not have to understand the military code of justice, nor do they need to know how import/export works or laws on regulating railroads. However, the same test is applied on a per-industry basis so a simple majority of all military personnel must be able to recite the entire military code of justice and must be able to parse, understand, and explain the implications of each individual regulation. Similarly, all railroad workers would need to do so for railroad regs, all importers/exporters for those regulations and so forth. It is also applied on a local and state level, the citizens have to be able to understand and recite every law that directly affects them or else it's a constitutional violation and the laws don't apply anymore.
Has ROB doomed the US? Is it impossible to build a functional country with a constained code simplified enough that the citizens can understand all their own laws? Or can the United States actually function when everybody knows the entire legal code?
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