If any player disagrees on the legality of a move or the interpretation or application of a rule, any of those players may insist on invoking Judgment. During Judgment, a randomly selected eligible player is to be the Judge and decide the question.
A term for Judges starts when Judgment is invoked without a current term, and ends at the end of the first turn that started during the term. Invoking Judgment during the middle of a term does not affect the term’s length or the incumbent Judge.
The Judge is selected at the start of a term, or in the middle of an ongoing term if the previous Judge is disbarred. A player is eligible to be selected as Judge if and only if said player fulfills all of the following criteria:
- The player did not invoke the Judgment that triggered the start of the current term
- The player has not already been Judge for the current term
- The player has explicitly opted into being selected Judge
- The player is active
- The player has voted on a proposed rule-change during the previous turn, or the player has voted on a proposed rule-change during the current turn
Should no player be eligible to be selected as Judge, the above criteria shall be progressively ignored in reverse order until at least one player becomes eligible.
The incumbent Judge settles all questions arising from the game until the end of their term, including questions as to their own legitimacy and jurisdiction as Judge.
A Judge may be disbarred for the remainder of their term, in which case all Judgments made by said Judge during their current term are considered invalid and another random eligible player is selected to serve as Judge for the remainder of the term. The following events invoke disbarment:
- A three-fourths majority of all active players vote in favor of the Judge’s disbarment
- A simple majority of all server moderators vote in favor of the Judge’s disbarment
- The Judge does not publicly acknowledge their position as Judge within 24 hours of Judgment’s invocation
- The Judge recuses themselves from their position as Judge
Server moderators can only disbar a Judge in their capacity as server moderators if their Judgment egregiously conflicts with the rules.
A Judge may also resign from their position as Judge, which ends the term early. Unlike recusal, resignation does not invoke disbarment and the former Judge’s Judgements are not considered to be invalid.
Judges are not bound by the decisions of previous Judges. Judges may, however, settle only those questions on which Judgment has been invoked and that affect the current state of the game. All decisions by Judges shall be in accordance with all the rules then in effect, but when the rules are silent, inconsistent, or unclear on the point at issue, then the Judge shall consider game custom and the spirit of the game before applying other standards.
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