[RULE CHANGE] House of Cards rule revision

[Imperium Anglorum]

Why not just "non-preambulatory clause" instead of "operative clause" in this rule? Or perhaps, "No proposal clause outside of the preamble may depend on...".

Definitions clauses have sometimes historically been placed into the preamble. Eg GA 114, GA 136, etc. We don't allow definitions to refer to previous resolutions. In general, the reason why we should prefer functional definitions to structural ones is that the structure of resolutions has changed and should be allowed to change.

[Simone Republic]

There is an operative clause as a clause following the preambulatory clauses, and there is an Operative Clause in the sense of a clause with a measurable impact on member-nations, used to avoid a breach of the rule of the same name. A definitional clause is an operative clause but not an Operative Clause. I believe that this is the point that Simone was making.

I wouldn't be opposed then to renaming the "Operative clause rule" to the, in line with how we probably should keep the text informal, "Must do something rule".

That's roughly the point I was making. I don't really care what it's called. "Ain't gonna do nothing rule" if you want to go down the hip hop path.

GA#720 had a definition right at the top of the preamble.

[The Ice States]

There is an operative clause as a clause following the preambulatory clauses, and there is an Operative Clause in the sense of a clause with a measurable impact on member-nations, used to avoid a breach of the rule of the same name. A definitional clause is an operative clause but not an Operative Clause. I believe that this is the point that Simone was making.

I wouldn't be opposed then to renaming the "Operative clause rule" to the, in line with how we probably should keep the text informal, "Must do something rule".

Perhaps "Effects" or something along those lines?

[The Ice States]

*** House of Cards rule revision ***

The Secretariat has finalised the following wording for the House of Cards rule,

House of Cards: No operative proposal clause may depend on a previous resolution in a way that would make the clause nonsensical or inoperative if that previous resolution were repealed. This rule does not apply to repeals.

The main change based on community feedback was to omit "reference or", such that the rule text only prohibited dependence; this is to avoid confusion on whether mentioning a resolution for rhetorical purposes was illegal. We also amended the final sentence to be clearer as to what it refers to.

Our thanks to all players who gave their input during this process!