West Appledale v. RTL

[Culture of Life]

JUSTICE COURT OF RIGHT TO LIFE
West Appledale v. RTL
Decided September 15, 2015

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THE COMMONWEALTH OF WEST APPLEDALE,
Plaintiff, represented by Ovybia,

v.

RIGHT TO LIFE,
Defendant, represented by Culture of Life.

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On August 21, 2015, West Appledale applied for regional citizenship, claiming that she had followed her brother Isola for Life into Right to Life. Founder Culture of Life, based on his understanding of the decision RTL v. Ripken (Justice Court, 9 June 2014), denied her application because the forum accounts West Appledale and Isola for Life shared an IP address. West Appledale acknowledged that the two forum accounts came from the same computer but asserted that both ought to be granted citizenship anyway. When Culture of Life refused, she sued the regional government, asking, "Why can't a brother and sister play Nationstates together on the same computer?" The Justice Court ruled against her three weeks later.

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NEW DOLGARIA, JP, delivered the opinion of the Justice Court.

Let me first say that I highly doubt that West Appledale and Isola Island are the same person. Unlike in Right to Life v. Ripken (Justice Court, 9 June 2014), no evidence has been presented to suggest anything other than honesty in their interest in citizenship. Having said that, this trial is not about determining whether or not West Appledale is the same person as Isola Island. This trial is about whether Culture of Life's decision to deny citizenship to West Appledale for the time being was the right decision or not. Taking into consideration the arguments made in this thread, I rule the defendant, the government of Right to Life as represented by Culture of Life, not guilty.

Ovybia's argument that the burden of proof that West Appledale and Isola Island are the same person lies with the government is unsound. The government has not brought criminal charges against West Appledale or Isola Island. If that were the case, then Ovybia's argument would hold true. Instead, West Appledale is suing the government over an administrative decision (not a judicial decision) to deny her citizenship. The burden of proof that she is a separate person from Isola Island lies with the plaintiff, not the defendant. Here I'll quote Culture of Life's summary of RTL v Ripken:

"In the first part, the Justice of the Peace acknowledged that there is a civil burden on each region member to have proof that he is 'a unique individual,' usually by means of having a different IP address from every other forum member. In the second part, he said that use of an identical IP address becomes a crime when the 'act stands to benefit the accused.' The government, in this case, is not arguing that West Appledale is a criminal. (She is, after all, the person suing the government; the government is not prosecuting her.) Instead, we have not granted citizenship yet because we contend that she has failed to meet her civil burden of showing 'verifiable' evidence of unique individuality from the forum account Isola for Life."

Harsh as it may seem, Culture of Life has taken caution in an appropriate way.

Ovybia's assertion that Right to Life should be more trusting in regards to citizenship is irrelevant to the outcome of this trial. Such a matter should be brought up in the Senate. The same goes for Ovybia's offer of compromise – that West Appledale be granted partial citizenship (i.e., without voting rights) – and Greater Gibraltar's offer of compromise – that West Appledale be granted citizenship but never be allowed to vote the same way as Isola Island. As the Justice of the Peace, I do not have the power to make that kind of innovation in regards to the citizenship process.

I suggest that Isola Island and West Appledale apply for WA membership, with the latter applying on another computer (perhaps in her local library), and maintaining these two separate WA memberships for a short time in order to prove, by the standards used by the NationStates staff, that they are in fact two separate individuals. Once they have done so, then perhaps we can take them at their word and allow them to be different citizens using the same computer.