I judge CFJ 4146 FALSE. Arguments:
=== This case turns on the following provision in Rule 2614: --- If the Prime Minister has not sent a message to a public forum in the preceding four days, the Speaker CAN exercise eir powers under this rule as if e were the Prime Minister, and notwithstanding any rule that would prohibit a single player from holding both offices. --- As the caller observes, the key question here is the meaning of "the Prime Minister". The caller argues that this should be interpreted as referring to the player who holds the office of Prime Minister at the time the Speaker attempts to exercise the Prime Minister's powers, and justifies this with two arguments: first, that there is little game custom and no prior judgments pertaining to this issue, and second, that common sense and the good of the game dictate that at least one of Agora's two leadership positions should be able to take emergency actions at any time. While it is true that there is little to no game custom surrounding Rule 2614 specifically, there is substantial game custom surrounding offices in general. It has long been held that official duties, for example, are associated with the office, rather than the person who happens to hold the office at the time the duty is incurred - see, for example, the transfer of vote collection duties with the Assessorship. Therefore, I find that, in general, references in the rules to an officer refer to the officer qua officer, not to the person who happens to hold the office at the time the rule becomes relevant. I agree with the caller that the likely intent of the rule is to allow the Speaker to act when the Prime Minister is unable to do so. However, we must consider in this case WHY the Prime Minister is unable to act. If a Prime Minister has posted within the past four days, the office certainly isn't vacant for lack of activity. In the context in which this CFJ was called, the plan was in fact for the Prime Minister to be removed from office precisely so that the Speaker could pass an emergency proposal to block a scam by the Prime Minister. This is not a case of the Prime Minister being unable to act, but unwilling to - a very different circumstance. Based on these considerations, I find that Rule 2614 refers to any post made by any Prime Minister within the past four days. This CFJ is therefore FALSE. === I award myself a blue ribbon and score 4146. - Galle
