FINDINGS OF THE COURT IN THE TERRA IGNOTA EXAMINATION OF OCKHAM PROSPERO SANEER [July 15th, 2454]:

OPINION: Hives can command lethal force, since they can kill their own Members if their laws allow, as Masonic law does. [All three judges agree.]

OPINION: Hives can command lethal force against Members of other Hives and Hiveless in some circumstances, since it is established that Hive agents can kill other Hives’ Members to protect priority targets, and to save lives in emergency situations. [All three judges agree.]

OPINION: Current Alliance law specifies no clear limit to Hives’ rights to wield lethal force against Members of other Hives and Hiveless. [All three judges agree.]

COURT ORDER: This Court hereby orders the Seven Hive Council to draft legislation acceptable to all Hives defining of the limits of Hives’ rights to wield lethal force against Members of other Hives, and to submit this legislation to the Alliance Senate. [Minority opinion Mason: The right of Sovereign Powers to exercise lethal force is well established and requires no clarification.]

OPINION: The homicides committed by O.S. did violate a notorious and transparent Hive law. Homicides committed in order to prevent a war might be construed as equivalent to a police officer’s right to exercise unavoidable lethal force in order to protect others from harm, but, while some Hives’ law codes have variable and opaque requirements in such cases, Gordian’s requirement that the threat be provably immediate is notorious and transparent, making the use of lethal force by O.S. against Gordian Members indisputably criminal. [Minority opinion Mason: The right of Sovereign Powers to exercise lethal force is well established and requires no clarification.]

OPINION: The homicides committed by O.S. after the year 2441 were mandated by the Universal Laws, because to have abandoned O.S. after this point would have triggered war, a violation through negligence of the First and Second Laws. [Minority opinion Gordian: O.S. merely delayed the war, so its actions were not justified by the First or Second Law.]

OPINION: The Universal Laws give license to violate a Hive’s law only when there is no other way to obey the Universal Laws. Since the use of O.S. violated Hive Law, those who used O.S. were obligated to try to develop an alternative which could satisfy the Universal Laws without violating Hive law. This obligation fell on the Hive leaders, i.e. the Humanist, Mitsubishi, and European leadership, who had resources they could have used to try to create a better system, rather than on their agents, i.e. the members of the Saneer-Weeksbooth bash’. [Minority opinion Mason: The right of Sovereign Powers to exercise lethal force is well established and requires no clarification.]

RECOMMENDATION: No charges should be brought against Ockham Prospero Saneer for homicides carried out in their office as O.S., since they acted as an agent of a Sovereign Power, and all their homicides were committed after 2441, and were thus mandated by the Universal Laws. [Minority opinion Gordian: After 2441 O.S. merely delayed the war, so Ockham Saneer’s actions were not mandated by the Universal Laws.]

RECOMMENDATION: Charges of homicide should be brought against the Mitsubishi and European Hive leaders who distorted the mandate of O.S., since their requirement that O.S. never target their own Hive Members demonstrates that they used O.S. to pursue selfish interests rather than universal peace. [Minority opinion Mason: The right of Sovereign Powers to exercise lethal force is well established and requires no clarification.]

NO RECOMMENDATION: This tribunal has no recommendation about criminal charges to be brought against the Humanist leaders responsible for commanding O.S. The question should be examined by a separate terra ignota, by the Senate, or by a Tribunal of Ten with representatives of all Laws on the Bench.

First Minority Opinion Graylaw Hiveless: The Humanist leaders who commanded O.S. before 2441 should be charged with homicide. Those who commanded O.S. after 2441 were mandated to do so by the Universal Laws, but must demonstrate that they sought alternatives to O.S., or else be charged with homicide on the grounds that they did not seek to avoid committing these homicides.

Second minority opinion Mason: No charges may be brought. Creating a better means than O.S. was the morally and practically correct course, but the right of Sovereign Powers to exercise lethal force is well established and requires no clarification. Other Sovereign Powers have the right to retaliate in kind.

Third minority opinion Gordian: All Humanist leaders who commanded O.S. should face charges of homicide. After 2441, O.S. merely delayed the war, so its actions were not mandated by the Universal Laws.