Government Proceedings Act 2025

This matter has been repealed, voided, or is otherwise out of date

Repealed by the Government Proceedings Act 2025 Repeal passed and signed on 5 November 2025.

Government Proceedings Act 2025

Passed by the Senate on 10 October 2025 and signed by the President on 11 October 2025.

Preamble

Whereas It is expedient to set out the liability of the Government in certain civil suits;

Whereas There is no set rule on the person to sue relating to government action;

Be it enacted by the Senate of SimDemocracy:

Part 1: Preliminary

Article 1: Interpretation

§1. In this Act –

§1.1. “Government” means the Government of SimDemocracy;

§1.2. “Public Officer” means any person under permanent or temporary employment of the Government, and includes all elected and nominated officers of all branches of Government.

Part 2: Proceedings by and against government

Article 2: Capacity of Government in suits

§1. The Government shall have the power to acquire, own and dispose of property, and to make contracts.

§2. The Government may sue and be sued.

§2.1. Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any written law, where the Government has a claim against any person which would, if such claim had arisen between private persons, afford ground for civil proceedings, the claim may be enforced by proceedings taken by or on behalf of the Government for that purpose in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Article 3: Types of claims which may be brought against Government

§1. The following claims are the only types of claims which may be brought against the Government –

(a) Civil causes of action (subject to the provisions of this Article);

(b) Claims relating to property;

(c) Claims arising from contracts of the government.

§1.1. The Government shall be liable for any wrongful act done, or any neglect or default committed by any public officer in the same manner and to the same extent as that in which a principal, being a private person, is liable for any wrongful act done, unless the contrary is stated.

§1.1.1. In this section, “public officer” means a public officer who acts in good faith, in pursuance of a duty imposed on the Government or part thereof, by law.

§1.2. No proceeding relating to bankruptcy shall be brought against the government.

§1.3. Any suit brought in contravention of this Article may be summarily dismissed at any point of the legal proceeding.

Article 4: Immunity

§1. No suit may be brought against a public officer who acts or purports to act in good faith in pursuance of a duty imposed on the Government or part thereof, by law.

§1.1. When a claim allows for the court to issue certain orders as remedy, and if the Government is found liable on such a suit, the Court may issue such an order to the public officer as if the public officer was the defendant in the case, if the Court is satisfied that the matter is not able to be executed by the Government.

§2. No Senator shall be liable to any civil or criminal proceedings, arrest, imprisonment or damages by reason of any matter or thing which they may have brought before the Senate by bill, resolution, motion, vote, or otherwise, or anything which they may have said in the Senate.

§2.1. To avoid doubt, no liability shall fall on the government for the aforementioned conduct.

§2.2. The immunity in §2. does not extend to conduct made illegal by virtue of Article 64 of the Criminal Code 2020 (Note from the Archives: Terms of Service violations), and, furthermore, does not affect any power which the Speaker of the Senate holds to censure any member of the Senate.

§3. No member of the Senate shall be prevented from accessing and speaking in the channels designated by the Speaker of the Senate as “Senate Channels” by way of arrest, imprisonment or otherwise.

§3.1. To avoid doubt, §3 does not affect the power of the Speaker of the Senate to censure any member of the Senate.

Article 5: Courtroom Procedure

§1. Civil Proceedings by the Government shall be instituted by the Attorney-General, or any public officer to which the Attorney-General authorizes to do so.

§2. There shall be no joint trial of civil proceedings against the Government, and civil proceedings not against the Government.

§3. For the purposes of the Criminal Procedure Code 2025, the person to which documents are to be served for matters against the Government is the Attorney-General.

§4. The Government is to be sued as the “State of SimDemocracy” or “The Government”.

§5. If a proceeding is brought against a Department which has not been authorized under Article 6, the case must be dismissed summarily.

§6. Without prejudice to any other written law, the Government (including authorized departments and independent departments) may refuse to present evidence or witnesses if doing so would be injurious to the public interest.

§6.1. The question of whether a matter is injurious to the public interest shall be inquired into and decided by the court by way of an ex parte ancillary hearing consisting of only the government.

Article 6: Suit against Department or Office

§1. The President may by executive order, from time to time, publish a list of government departments or offices which may sue and be sued directly instead of doing so through the Government, and a list of authorized representatives for each department, and the aforementioned departments must be sued directly, rather than through the government.

§2. All independent statutory executive departments, as well as the Electoral Commission and Supervisors, shall be sued directly, and the heads of the aforementioned departments may appoint the authorized representatives for their departments.

§3. A suit brought against the Government which should be brought against an authorized department under this Article must be dismissed.

§4. No public office shall be sued directly unless authorized through §1.

Article 7: Suit by or against Senate or Supreme Court

§1. The Attorney-General shall represent the Senate or Judiciary in suits by or against them, unless –

(a) The Senate passes a resolution appointing alternate representation for the Senate;

(b) The Chief Justice appoints alternate representation for the Judiciary,

as the case may be.

§2. The Attorney-General may dismiss any appointed alternate representation and take over the proceedings at any time.

§3. Nothing in this Article affects the liability of the Senate or Supreme Court, and, in particular, nothing in this Article shall be deemed to have waived any immunities possessed by the Senate or the Supreme Court.

Article 8: Savings

§1. If it is found that any office, department or branch of government is immune from suit, this act shall not apply to that office, department or branch of government.

§2. Where in any proceedings against the Government any such relief is sought as might in proceedings between private persons be granted by way of damages, injunction, or court order, or other similar remedy, the court shall not grant damages, the injunction, or make a court order, or other such remedy, but may in lieu thereof make a declaration that the plaintiff is entitled to the damages, injunction, or court order.

§3. If any part of this Act is found to be unconstitutional, only the unconstitutional portions shall be invalidated.

§4. In any suit or proceeding against the government, the total amount of damages awarded pursuant to §2 by way of exemplary or punitive damages shall not exceed the sum of 5000 tau.