SUNSET BEACH -- Lawyer Ashcroft Burnham's vision for self-governing sims is gaining steam, as 38 individuals have joined his group, the Metaverse Republic. The Metaverse Republic, a proposed legal system for SL, is based loosely on the English common law system.

The concept emerged last month, widely discussed by pundits and often dismissed as futile.

Burnham, a member of the team designing the constitution, says the Metaverse Republic would establish an efficient justice system to deal with griefers, but would be most effective in the civil law area. According to Burnham, SL residents could benefit from a legal system that would help enforce wage contracts or intellectual property claims. Disputes about land use could also be handled with real powers of enforcement, and the help of several real-life lawyers working in Second Life.

Michel Manen, a member of the Constitution and Management committees, says the Metaverse Republic could start functioning by the end of the year.

"I think it's very important for people to understand that this is going to be a voluntary system of self-governance where participants will not only be consumers of a service -- but actually its creators -- by having a right to vote for elected officials and stand/run for office (elected and appointed ones)," Manen said. He added that the success or failure of the system will depend directly on the involvement of participants, and not just the work of Burnham and the 37 other designers.

The Metaverse Republic would contain three branches of government: the judiciary, legislative and executive branches. A Constitution is being designed and the Executive Summary and Founding Charter have been completed.

To control griefers, a banishment database will be created and maintained that contains the names of offenders. Individuals or land areas that support the Metaverse Republic will put the world enforcement object on their land, which will access the banishment database to eject and/or ban known offenders.

"We could even potentially see a wage economy develop," Burnham said. "People from developing countries could spend a long time working as employees, doing all kinds of administrative work here.

"If services were virtualized, such that location no longer counts, that could, in theory at least, have substantial ramifications for the balance of trade in the global economy."

"We'll have the ability for localities to have local rules to govern, for example, zoning or local-specific rules of conduct," Burnham said.