Chapter 5: Status of the Commons' Convention Delegates
5.4. Special delegates
The delegates to the Commons' Convention, as we have seen in the previous articles, refer to the general delegates, who are the core members of the Commons' Convention who deliberate, discuss, and vote in the Convention, but there are also special delegates to the Convention. Special delegates are delegates who exercise judicial power in the Commons' Convention.
The Commons' Convention, as a comprehensive administrative organization, also has judicial functions, so it has special delegates who are engaged in judicial work. The judicial functions of the Commons' Convention are wide-ranging, but the Commons' Convention is directly responsible for legal interpretation in the broad sense of the term, which is the interpretation of the Charter and general laws and regulations.
The former, Charter interpretation, is the exclusive authority of the Charter Committee, which is in charge of Charter issues in the Zones that have a Charter and in each local Commons' Convention within the Zones. For this reason, Therefore, the members of the Charter Committee are divided into general delegates and judges composed of lawyers who specialize in charter interpretation, the latter of whom will act as special delegates.
On the other hand, the interpretation of general laws and regulations is the exclusive authority of the Jurisprudence Committee established in the zones and in each local Commons' Convention within the Zones. As the Jurisprudence Committee is a specialized standing committee whose sole responsibility is the interpretation of laws and regulations, all of its members are special delegates who are judges and have legal qualifications.
Unlike general delegates, these special delegates are not selected by lottery, but are selected by the Jurisprudence Committee to which they would belong from a list of recommendations compiled by official legal associations. As they hold such a special position, their authority also differs significantly from that of general delegates.
Special delegates do not have voting rights at Commons' Conventions. However, they can participate in plenary sessions and express their opinions. In particular, the right of the special delegates of the Charter Committee to express their opinions in committee deliberations on the issue of Charter amendment must be given great importance.
Furthermore, due to the special nature of the judicial functions that they perform, special delegates must be guaranteed their independence when carrying out their duties, and in the case of their dismissal, they are given greater protection than general delegates, in that the dismissal only takes effect once the Commons' Convention has approved the impeachment court's decision to dismiss them.
Incidentally, other public officials who perform the judicial functions of the Commons' Convention include the Equity Commissioner, Truth Commissioner, and Tribunes (See my article), but although these are special public officials appointed by the Commons' Convention, they are not delegates and therefore do not have the right to participate in the deliberations of the Commons' Convention.
👉The table of contents so far is here.
👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.
