eJustice Centre: RL arbitrage for Second Life Residents
July 31, 2007 5:36 amOriginally written by Gwyneth Llewelyn (who clearly answers all my questions about the eJustice Centre in the comments here) for The Avastar #32:
Justice has come to SL at last with the launch of a new arbitration project backed by the Portugese governement.
The eJustice Centre will hear cases in-world involving disputes among residents, something Linden Lab has always refused to do. The centre has been created by the Portugese Ministry of Justice and will be staffed by RL mediators and trained judges. Residents of all RL nationalities will be allowed to use the free service, and privacy will be maintained as only SL names will be used.
The centre will focus mainly on consumer issues and contracts. Both parties will have now a neutral environment to discuss their issues with a trained professional who will enoucrage them to find a compromise.
Up until now, suing in RL courts has been the only course of action when SL’s trust-based system breaks down and residents feel they have been ripped off.
Now I wonder:
- In RL Belgium both parties have to agree they’ll obey to the the arbitrage judge’s decision. How can that be enforced in SL? (Especially if no real names are to be given out.)
- Will the eJustice Centre start a sort of law book or will they look at previous SL and RL cases?
Will they only supply this to service to RL Portugese residents to all?- Will the ‘intermediation’ be in English or Portugese?
- Will any avatars make use of this service, and if a lot would do, will they be able to handle the cases or will they just pile up - as in RL Belgium?
- …
(via Ana Lutetia)
Tags: portugese, second life, SLaw
5 Responses to “eJustice Centre: RL arbitrage for Second Life Residents”
I think question three is answered in the text, isn’t it?
“Residents of all RL nationalities will be allowed to use the free service …”
What really struck me as interesting about this post was the title. When I first read it I though - Vint is moving into SL financial markets?
Arbitrage is a French derived word which in English is a semi-derisive term in the financial world of taking advantage of a price differential between two or more markets. I did see that the root source of the word is for arbitration. People who do arbitrage are usually considered to be in the lower levels of the financial world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrage
Indeed, Timothy. Oopz! ;)
Veyron: Hmm. Probably mistaken because of the dutch word ‘arbitrage’. Well, I do shop, that has smth to do with finances, right? ;)
I can try to explain a few details:
- Yes, the eJustice Centre works in Portuguese or English (most cases will very likely be brought in English, though); the rules of arbitration will follow the UNCITRAL Model Law as adapted for specific use within Second Life. You can get the overall regulations of the eJustice Centre here: http://www.ejusticecentre.mj.pt/ficheiros/Regulamento_Arbitragem_v3_26072007.pdf
- This is not a “court” so there is not really “enforcement”. Both parties have to consent to a neutral mediator first and deposit an escrow with the Centre. If the mediation doesn’t work, the next step is arbitration by a panel of independent judges; they will then assign the winner of the case the amount held in escrow by both parties (minus a small fee, that helps to pay for the sim)
- It’s open to all avatars really, and you don’t need to supply RL data. There is no point; we’re not talking about “judging crimes” after all, and even if very large amounts of money are involved (say, like on the Ginko/WSE fiascos), the judges at the eJustice Centre might decline to mediate the case and refer to RL courts instead. No, this is mostly thought for small cases (”small” being: under €5000 or less than two million L$ :) )
- The eJustice Centre is planned only to mediate issues related to commerce and service contracts in SL. RL cases, or SL cases outside commerce & contracts (example: issues about hate speech, violation of privacy, libel and defamation) are outside its scope — although I can very well imagine that the people working there will at least try to calm avatars down and provide some advice :)
- I can very well imagine that “old” cases (SL cases in this fact) can, in theory, be reviewed here. Alternative Dispute Resolution (which is what the eJustice Centre provides) usually are pretty much independent on a Code of Laws. It’s much more getting the two parties together and try to apply common sense to find a compromise between both :)
I hope that helps!
Wow! Thank you. Yes, that answers about all my questions.
Care to comment?