My Constitution, Section 5

Section 5 - Sound-mind status

5(1) All physically-adult individuals have the right be treated as being of sound mind unless recognition of the contrary is determined beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law; and to have such a determination reviewed and overturned upon presentation of evidence that brings that determination into reasonable doubt.

This continues the previous sound-mind status but also puts in the mechanism by which it is both upheld and questioned.

5(2) All physically-non-adult individuals have the right seek legal recognition of status as sound-minded by methods as are reasonably practicable, and to keep that status thereafter.

It is quite possible for sound-mind status to be achieved by teenage children, particularly when only a few years away from physical maturity. In times past that was enough for cultures to warrant them as being legally adult. I see no reason why such elder children shouldn’t be given the opportunity to demonstrate reason for recognition of legal adulthood ahead of physical maturity.

5(3) Power to exercise rights on behalf of individuals not of sound mind shall be delegated to parents and guardians, who shall act reasonably as agents with authority that decreases as sound-mindedness increases; and this power of agency terminates when full sound-mind status is achieved.

Apart from the obvious, the intent is to recognise that those not of sound-mind status still do have the full panoply of rights, NOT that they are abridged. Instead, the problem is that their status makes them unable to exercise their rights, and parents or guardians are authorised to exercise them on their behalf. This provision identifies that fact and indicates how the power is to be exercised and when.

5(4) If an individual does not have sound-mind status but could achieve it then all governments shall declare any individual as being of sufficient sound mind when both reasonably demonstrable and reasonably required for the course of justice.

This is to formally impose it on those who can achieve it but avoid doing so out of the attempt to avoid justice. For instance, sometimes justice requires that children be tried as adults, or that adults with mental problems can be tried as sound-mind status depending on what their state of mind was at the time as compared to what it is generally and how it is legally considered in most cases.

JJM