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                               CFJ 935

"Although all individual P-Note entities were destroyed by the PC
 proposal, the Currency class of P-Notes was re-established by R1701
 immediately after their destruction by R1579, making it possible to
 legally issue POs for P-Notes since the PC proposal took effect."

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Judge:        Vlad

Judgement:    CFJ dismissed

Eligible:     Andre, Antimatter, Calabresi, Chuck, Elde, elJefe,
              General Chaos, Harlequin, Kolja A., Michael, Morendil,
              Murphy, Oerjan, Steve, Vlad, Zefram

Not eligible:
Caller:       Crito
Barred:       -
Disqualified: Vanyel
On hold:      -

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History:
  Called by Crito, Wed, 13 Aug 1997 13:42:58 -0400
  Assigned to Vlad, Fri, 15 Aug 1997 15:34:47 +0100
  CFJ dismissed, Mon, 18 Aug 1997 00:59:05 -0500 (CDT)
  Published, Tue, 19 Aug 1997 12:53:53 +0100

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Judgement; to dismiss the CFJ

Reasons and arguments:

First of all, I should point out that I stand to gain 5 P-Notes if
this CFJ is judged true. Although I am not sure what use they may be,
this may be construed as a reason for me to judge TRUE. I will note
that Rule 1701 seems to require the Promotor to pay me 5 P-Notes
regardless of whether or not they exist. If this judgment is
overturned on appeal, as I expect it to be, I would suggest he contact
me privately to ask my price not to call him on that :-).

   Anyhow, as I was reading the relevant Rules I was all prepared to
judge FALSE for the reasons Michael gave, namely that 1579 quite
clearly seems to require the destruction of all P-Notes, as well as
the Currency itself, in the absence of a Mintor specifically mentioned
by the Rules (no nameless Mintors, sorry). That is, until I went
looking for other relevant Rules.

   What does it mean for a Currency to be destroyed? I was quite
prepared to accept a commonsense definition until I noticed Rule 1467
gives Rule-mandated procedures precedence. The procedure for the
destruction of P-Notes as a Currency is given in Rule 1722:

--------------------------------------------------------------
        A Currency is destroyed when the Mintor of that Currency posts
      in the Public Forum stating that e is doing so, unless this
      destruction would be prohibited by the Rules.

      The Mintor of a Currency may not destroy that Currency if that
      Currency exists by virtue of being required to exist by the
      Rules.
---------------------------------------------------------------


  This definition is interesting. It clearly refers to the context at
hand, but note that it requires the participation of the Mintor to
destroy any Currency. The Currency termed P-Notes will only be
destroyed when their Mintor announces they are. Since there is no
Mintor, we will be waiting a while. Until then, by default they
continue to exist.

   What about individual instances of P-Notes? The procedure for
destroying them is given in Rule 1471:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
        Units of Currency are destroyed when any entity which
      possesses units of that Currency transmits to the Recordkeepor
      of that Currency a notice that e is destroying units of that
      Currency, specifying the number of units that e is destroying.
      An entity cannot destroy more units of a Currency than e
      possesses, however.  The units destroyed are removed from the
      possession of the entity performing the destruction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

   Although Rule 1579 clearly requires the destruction of all extant
P-Notes, none are actually destroyed until the owners inform their
Recordkeeper. (Who is he, by the way?) Until then, I assume that they
exist normally, may be traded, etc. It is not completely clear to me
whether or not the owners are guilty of breaking the Rules, but I
would guess so. I note that this gives the Wizard the power to
penalize his enemies by giving them Style Points (see Rule 1705).

  What, then, is the correct judgment? Unfortunately, there is not a
single statement, but an amalgam of clauses. According to my analysis,
the first two are FALSE, the last TRUE, and I am unable to determine
to which I should give priority. I must conclude that at least one of
the criteria (i, ii, or vi) listed in Rule 1565 for dismissing a CFJ
applies, and I therefore do so. It also takes the heat off me, and
puts it on somebody else.

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(Caller's) Arguments:

As I have noted in a previous post, the wording of R1579 indicates
that it applies to the single instant at which a Mintor or Mint
authority ceases to exist.  Since R1701 continues in effect after that
instant in time, it re-establishes a Currency called P-Notes that does
not have a Mintor and is then not subject to R1579 since it defines a
new Currency (albeit with the same name as an old one) for which a
Mintor has never ceased to exist.

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