How does legislation system work in equestria

[Cyanamide 4]

I cannot recall this topic being explained much in the show. Do they have court, judge or jury?

And there is one thing really strike me is how much influence princess has over the legislation system. Starlight Glimmer, completely free of any guilt, even allowed to join the core political circle, only because princess twilight decided to forgive her. And no pony in equetria ever questioned. Where are the victims? Do they all signed the form of forgiveness? But even if all victims agreed to forgive the criminal, the decision I think should still be made with the complete legislation process to be fair. It was not a pocket-picking small crime, it was enslavery and brainwash.

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

I saw a pony with a gavel for a cutie mark once. I don't have a picture of it, but that would imply there is at least some form of court. 

But to answer your question, I think there has to be a court.

About the whole Starlight thing, could a kids show have a trial with a bunch of stuff kids wouldn't understand? Besides, that was supposed to be a lesson in forgiveness, not the legal system lol.

 

Also, since you appear to be new, welcome to the forums!

Edited March 5, 2018 by Rhythm Red

[Cyanamide 4]

6 minutes ago, Rhythm Red said:

I saw a pony with a gavel for a cutie mark once. I don't have a picture of it, but that would imply there is at least some form of court. 

But to answer your question, I think there has to be a court.

About the whole Starlight thing, could a kids show have a trial with a bunch of stuff kids wouldn't understand? Besides, that was supposed to be a lesson in forgiveness, not the legal system lol.

 

Also, since you appear to be new, welcome to the forums!

Hi, thank you for your reply.

I understand your meaning. And I understand starlight actually turned good. But even as a kids show, I still hold my opinion that it is not a good morale which "one can forgive someone for someone else".  Especially when actual harms have been done. It is for each individual to decide whether they are willing to forgive or not for the harms they suffered. Twilight and her friends have no right to forgive starlight for the victims.

The show could at least shown the victims gathered around and decided they want to forgive starlight.

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

3 minutes ago, Cyanamide said:

Hi, thank you for your reply.

I understand your meaning. And I understand starlight actually turned good. But even as a kids show, I still hold my opinion that it is not a good morale which "one can forgive someone for someone else".  Especially when actual harms have been done. It is for each individual to decide whether they are willing to forgive or not for the harms they suffered. Twilight and her friends have no right to forgive starlight for the victims.

The show could at least shown the victims gathered around and decided they want to forgive starlight.

They did forgive her though... I think at the end of the cutie remark hey took her to the village and she apologized.

[Cyanamide 4]

4 minutes ago, Rhythm Red said:

They did forgive her though... I think at the end of the cutie remark hey took her to the village and she apologized.

I should rewatch more.

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

Just now, Cyanamide said:

I should rewatch more.

Rewatching pony is never a bad idea!

If you're looking for the scene I'm pretty sure it's at the end of the Cutie Re-mark.

[King of Canterlot 9,588]

21 minutes ago, Rhythm Red said:

I saw a pony with a gavel for a cutie mark once. I don't have a picture of it, but that would imply there is at least some form of court. 

But to answer your question, I think there has to be a court.

About the whole Starlight thing, could a kids show have a trial with a bunch of stuff kids wouldn't understand? Besides, that was supposed to be a lesson in forgiveness, not the legal system lol.

 

Also, since you appear to be new, welcome to the forums!

I think the pony with the gavel cutie mark you were thinking of is the green one below 

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

Just now, King of Canterlot said:

I think the pony with the gavel cutie mark you were thinking of is the green one below 

Bingo! 

[Brony Number 42 9,932]

23 minutes ago, Rhythm Red said:

I saw a pony with a gavel for a cutie mark once. I don't have a picture of it, but that would imply there is at least some form of court. 

Maybe the pony was an auctioneer.

It seems that there is no form of representation. Whatever a princess says is law. Twilight's office as Princess of Friendship was made up as a political favor. 

Note how ponies come to her for proble.s that could be solved by simple rules or laws. For example, ponies asked for her ruling on simple schedule conflicts. A large system of government can't function if there is only 1 or a few ponies in charge.

There needs to be clear defined laws and systems in place. Not having every decision arbitrarily decided by a dictator.

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

5 minutes ago, BronyNumber42licious said:

Maybe the pony was an auctioneer.

It seems that there is no form of representation. Whatever a princess says is law. Twilight's office as Princess of Friendship was made up as a political favor. 

Note how ponies come to her for proble.s that could be solved by simple rules or laws. For example, ponies asked for her ruling on simple schedule conflicts. A large system of government can't function if there is only 1 or a few ponies in charge.

There needs to be clear defined laws and systems in place. Not having every decision arbitrarily decided by a dictator.

The auctioneer argument would make sense. The one issue with that, as @King of Canterlot's picture shows, is that the gavel pony is next to Mayor Mare. To would imply that she's in the government, or at least that's the idea I'm getting.

In order to determine the legislation system, I think we would need to understand equestria's government. To me it seems to be led by a monarchy, but the rest of it functions like the U.S. government. That's what the title of 'Mayor' implies, at least. 

Though yes, the princesses do seem to have a lot of say in things. I'm sure there is more going on in the background, though.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Rhythm Red

[Brony Number 42 9,932]

In one of the comics there is a mayoral election and Mayor Mare lost. So there is a democracy. But we don't know how much power the mayor really has. Also in that comic the town was sort of under attack and Mayor Mare knew how to direct the ponies on what to do.

It seems to me that the ponies don't plan for anything and when something goes wrong they scramble to fix it. They got attacked by Changling and still did not learn how to defend themselves when the Storm King attacked.

[ShootingStar159 2,155]

40 minutes ago, Cyanamide said:

I cannot recall this topic being explained much in the show. Do they have court, judge or jury?

And there is one thing really strike me is how much influence princess has over the legislation system. Starlight Glimmer, completely free of any guilt, even allowed to join the core political circle, only because princess twilight decided to forgive her. And no pony in equetria ever questioned. Where are the victims? Do they all signed the form of forgiveness? But even if all victims agreed to forgive the criminal, the decision I think should still be made with the complete legislation process to be fair. It was not a pocket-picking small crime, it was enslavery and brainwash.

Well, firstly, what you’re talking about here isn’t a legislative system, it’s a judicial one. Legislature writes the laws, executive enforces the laws, judiciary upholds the laws.

Secondly, while the exact extent of the Princesses powers is unknown, there are all sorts of legal avenues that both executive and judicial powers can take to mitigate a criminals punishment. Executives can pardon crimes, or even refuse to pursue charges if they feel it unnecessary, while judiciary’s have a wide range of freedom when it comes to sentencing. Truth is, even if the villagers didn’t forgive Starlight, Twilight probably still has the power to pardon her, or at least release Starlight on parole provided she agreed to be her student.

[Will Guide 21,325]

@Cyanamide, @Rhythm Red, @King of Canterlot

Guys, stop over complicating things with these kinds of topics. The name of the show is "Friendship is Magic" NOT "Government is Magic" 

Keep the focus of the show on what every age group can understand, like Friendship, not politics!

If you want to discuss government in Equestria, there's plenty of fan fiction for that. And there's also the real life news channel for that kind of thing.

[sweetolebob18 724]

Most fanfics assume some sort of Constitutional Monarchy with Luna & Celestia being co-rulers. It might also be a Theocracy, if you assume the  Princesses are regarded as gods or demigods. (They are immortal (or at lest unaging) and raise the sun and the moon). Twilight is usually shown as her title being like Prince Blueblood. That is, mostly honorary with few, if any, powers. Cadance is usually shown as ruling the Crystal Empire with Shining Armor as Royal Consort (that is, he only has power because he is married to her). Flurry Heart is, of course, Royal Heir. IIRC, in Princess Twilight, Twilight is shown as second in line to the throne (or maybe third, after Cadance) 

As to "How much power do they ACTUALLY have, that varies all over the map, depending on the author. It is my Head Canon that "Princess" and "Queen" are actually a bit of a translation problem. "King/Queen" means "an absolute ruler with unlimited power". That is, the ruler is above the law & the law is whatever they say it is. "Prince/Princess" means "a ruler with limited authority". That is, subjects have rights that even the ruler is obliged to respect & there is a formal legal code. This is why most of the bad guys are Kings or Queens but Celestia & Luna are Princesses

Based on  their actions, I'd say that whatever powers the Princesses have includes The Right of Pardon, like presidents and governors do here in the USA.

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

8 hours ago, WiiGuy2014 said:

@Cyanamide, @Rhythm Red, @King of Canterlot

Guys, stop over complicating things with these kinds of topics. The name of the show is "Friendship is Magic" NOT "Government is Magic" 

Keep the focus of the show on what every age group can understand, like Friendship, not politics!

If you want to discuss government in Equestria, there's plenty of fan fiction for that. And there's also the real life news channel for that kind of thing.

Whoa whoa whoa, we’re just having a little discussion! It’s kinda interesting to talk about, really. But if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to comment! 

[GoltMercer 36]

Well my OC is a lawyer, and I've always imagined courts do exist. When it comes to Starlight, I think it's more a case of...she ran away without getting caught, came back, caused major trouble, but then she apologized to the ponies she had directly wronged and they forgave her, so it's not like you can really press charges when the ponies who have been directly harmed by her are fine with it, and the other things she's done are basically unprovable because they involved messing with TIME. 

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

8 minutes ago, VoltWrecker said:

Well my OC is a lawyer, and I've always imagined courts do exist. When it comes to Starlight, I think it's more a case of...she ran away without getting caught, came back, caused major trouble, but then she apologized to the ponies she had directly wronged and they forgave her, so it's not like you can really press charges when the ponies who have been directly harmed by her are fine with it, and the other things she's done are basically unprovable because they involved messing with TIME. 

All very good points! You just forgot to mention that the princesses likely have the power to pardon Starlight. But other than that, this is spot on.

[GoltMercer 36]

Just now, Rhythm Red said:

All very good points! You just forgot to mention that the princesses likely have the power to pardon Starlight. But other than that, this is spot on.

Well the pardon is of course a factor, but I was looking at it from a lawful point of view. 

[Rhythm Red 6,484]

1 minute ago, VoltWrecker said:

Well the pardon is of course a factor, but I was looking at it from a lawful point of view. 

Yeah, I understand! Just thought it was worth mentioning, since the princesses would probably have some say in how a pony is punished.

[bluseymoe 258]

The show is too firmly entrenched in it's belief that "friendship" is the answer to literally everything to be bothered with depicting any kind of justice system. I guess it's either embrace friendship or straight to Tartarus for them.

[MystMane 6]

Everypony against Celestia gets sent to Tartarus!

[sweetolebob18 724]

On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:27 AM, VoltWrecker said:

Well my OC is a lawyer, and I've always imagined courts do exist. When it comes to Starlight, I think it's more a case of...she ran away without getting caught, came back, caused major trouble, but then she apologized to the ponies she had directly wronged and they forgave her, so it's not like you can really press charges when the ponies who have been directly harmed by her are fine with it, and the other things she's done are basically unprovable because they involved messing with TIME. 

That is one thing about this show. Ponies always take a sincere "I'm sorry" as sufficient punishment, because even a villain wouldn't LIE about that. (clearly, they are Liberals   ). When you DON'T apologize, things can get Pretty Damn Grim. Nightmare Moon was exiled to the moon for 1000 years, Discord got turned to stone for longer than that, Tirek got eternity in Tartarus (Pony Hell (because you can't say Hell in a TVY cartoon)), and Sombra got killed (Of course, technically, he was already dead, but still). They don't seem to have much in between those extremes

Edited March 6, 2018 by sweetolebob18
typo

[Thrond 3,257]

In simplest terms: 

Magic. 

And there you have it. 

[FreezerBurn 1]

I assume my answer won't help, but a ttrpg of MLP came out in 2016 (?) called Tails of Equestria (ToE) and it had an adventure based on Ace Attorney (OBJECTION! Was the name!) and it involved said pony, whose name is 'Lady Justice' who was the presiding Judge. I assume this has been answered elsewhere, just wanted to leave my 2 cents! 

[Princess Celestia 615]

Whatever a princess says is law!

 

Nah!

Just wanted to see the reaction, of course it's done in a different way too!