Fylkirvegr

By now it has been close to seven months already since I gave my first inauguration speech on 22 September 2020. At the time, I was fairly new to the region and I did not know anyone. Notwithstanding, our then-Monarch Arthur Jameson warmly welcomed me to the region and quickly offered me the position as Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, as well as Governor of Jotunheim. Then he conducted a poll to find out who might be interested in heading the judiciary. I did not think that I would actually be appointed Chief Justice, but there I was, and here I still am. At the time of this writing (well, drafting), the confirmation vote following HRM Patrick VI’s aka. Republic of Indusse’s nomination of me as Chief Justice under the new Constitution was still underway in the Althing, but if you are actually reading this, you can safely assume that the vote resulted in my favor.

I know that there has not been much I actually could have done during my seven-months-tenure as Chief Justice with the continuous lack of cases. Now, there could be two reasons for this: (1) People just unconditionally abide by the rules, or (2) activity levels and the population count was just not high enough to actually produce violations of any law. Since September, there has been a whopping one case I presided over (01-21: The Founder v. Scweinrelienen, which had to be suspended due to the Accused’s lack of cooperation) and another one which was quickly dropped by the Accuser after charges were filed. Other than that, one request for a non-binding legal assessment (LA 01: In re Royal Court Participation) was processed by me as Chief Justice, which resulted in a 5.5 pages-long finding on the matter.

But that does not mean I was completely idle during the time, quite the opposite. I presided over the Constitutional Convention back in November, wrote another complete overhaul of the constitution, and was somewhat active as a legislator (cf. Fylkirvegr Honors Act, and the Penal Code). Currently I am working on another piece of legislation meant to formally establish Court procedures during a trial, which I hope to be able to introduce into the Althing by the end of the month. Of course, there are also other matters that will need to be considered at some point, but these will be attended to as soon as circumstances demand it. Now that HE Anishopolis was confirmed as Prime Minister for the next three months, I am given a person of contact in the Executive, namely the Minister of Justice, I am looking forward to working with.

I do not want this speech (or rather statement) to degenerate into a lengthy clichéd speech of thanks, so I want to quickly express my gratitude to HRM Republic of Indusse for their cooperation during our time as transitional government members and for placing trust in me by nominating me as Chief Justice. I also want to thank the members of the Althing who participated in the confirmation vote and voted in my favor. I sincerely hope that the next four months will be more productive for me as Chief Justice. Not that I want people to break the law and be dragged to Court, but I hope that the Court of Justice will be involved in the legal matters concerning both executive work and legislative procedures. If there is any doubt about legal questions, I recommend referring to the Court before running the risk of contradicting existing law or the Constitution. Finalizing my speech/statement, I also want to congratulate the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Ministers, and the Monarch for their newly gained position in the Fylkirvegrian government.

For Honor, Duty, Valor; and united and loyal until Dovre falls,

— HIS HONOR JUDGE FRITT NOREG,
Chief Justice for the Kingdom of Fylkirvegr
4.14.2021