Rings of Suranth
Every citizen is supposed to be guaranteed their day in court as it were, before a judge and a jury of seven of their peers. Besides this, every citizen, at least once on their record, can demand trial by combat. Within that however there is the matter of heresy, nightmare worship, and the worship of Madness, and other such crimes. These are the sole domain of the collective clergy of the Ascended, specifically and most commonly within Suranth being the clergy of Sir Kartheart. These laws are enforced by more ancient traditions, and a different style of court, though you are guaranteed your 'day of hearing', though what that actually means, well that is a different question. Depending on the charge against you under these religious codes and the willingness of the priest, crusaders and other members of the cloth involved, you could ordain your trial be by deed or combat, though how fair or even such a challenge or contest will be only Sir Kartheart himself may know.
"Aye ye are due yer day in court, an' ye will have it. Ain't no law saying anything about 'ow long we can make ye wait."
Particularly distasteful prison guard in response to someone demanding their day in court.
Structure
The Suranthi court system, not accounting for how the church handles their business, has four layers. The lowest is where most crimes and cases are tried at first and many never leave. This is basically your town court. Most towns and even most larger villages, have an appointed magistrate, that is someone in charge of all the area, surrounding villages, and the law enforcement. This magistrate will basically deal with any and all cases of their own large village or town and surrounding villages that have no closer magistrate available. They are not a true judge, they know the law, but not like someone whom got a proper legal education. Very likely they worked their way up from a deputy and their experience in learning the law has been in the field, meaning they likely will have blind spots. However, they know enough to hold a position in this first 'unofficially offical' tier of courts. It is at this level about fifty to sixty percent of cases, be they criminal or civil, are tried and settled. However a few things can cause this step to be skipped entirely, or the verdict can be appealed and will have to be moved up to the next step. This step has no offical name, as one might expect, it is just local. So what causes this step to be skipped? Well if the crime has a potential capital sentence, that is the death penalty, or a term of hard labor exceeding fifteen years, or a prison term exceeding twenty years as the baseline or accepted standard starting sentence to work from, then it is automatically moved up. You also may appeal your verdict, that is your right, provided you can afford the legal representation to do so, and that means your case steps up.
Regional Courts: These are the court proceedings held before fully licensed judges of the bench, not mere students on their placements or lawmen whom are well versed. These are the first professional proceedings and as such, there is a lot of etiquette that needs navigating that most common folk simply cannot accomplish. You do not want to step into this legal ring or any of the ones above it, without being well versed, or hiring a skilled lawyer or legal team. These are located in the town or city known as the 'seat' or 'hold' of the region, that is the place its title is tied directly too, where the noble whom governs the region and their advisory board operate out of. It is in this ring of courts that another thirty percent or so end up being finalized in their verdict.
Provincial Courts:These courts serve dual purposes, for this is the first rank where the facilities also house a military wing and it is this level that all military law cases immediately step up to. This is not due to sentence length or any other thing like that. This is due to the added complication of military service, and the question of termination therewithin. So a panel of officers is always needed, at least five of some rank above sergeant or an equivalent. It is also because military personal are held to a stricter standards, those being they only get one appeal that has very strict qualifications to use, and that trial by combat is off the table from the outset.
As to civilian cases, those few that end up here? They become province wide front page sort of news. They are always hot ticket items, be they big names, big crimes, high stakes in the case of civil suits, or sometimes a big seller political item. The judges here are savvy veterans, about as knowledgable and experienced with the law as one can get really. Most are also immoveable, these titans of the bench where you get into a place where bribery, blackmail and even overt threats do not shake them from their duty. Some of these cases that get this far are those prosecutors have pushed, for they may appeal judgements too. If the suspect has known organized crime connections, there is just as likely a chance that the prosecutor is the one who appealed as their is the suspect. There are only six of these courts in all of Suranth, one in each provincial capital.
Suranthi High Court:At this point, if a case has come this far, it is no longer a matter of sentence, verdict or anything else like that in a civilian criminal matter. To end up in this court for such a case you are attempting to make a fundamental argument that the law(s) you were charged under are unjust and need to be striken from the codes and new ones drafted, or, you are arguing that some great violation of the law by your arresting officers was made that directly led to your being charged, such as planting evidence, fabricating, bribing, coercing or threatening witnesses to falsify testimony, a wholly illegal, warrantless search of property, something. You aren't attempting to change the verdict, you are attempting to get the whole thing wiped away, stricken from the records. At this level, even if you still had it available to you as a citizen, trial by combat is off the table.
In the case of military, your case ends up before the three High Justices of Suranth under only two real circumstances. Either you are attempting to establish your charge is to try and cover up something far worse, basically you are being used as a scapegoat, or, you are being charged with treason/your defense is that you did whatever you did to prevent someone else from committing treason. Basically if treason is involved in some way, or you are claiming you are being framed by others to hide a far worse crime than that which you are accused of. Funny enough, the few military cases in Suranth's history that have needed this step? Four out of the five of them met both those conditions at once. In three of those five cases it was found that the person whom was being charged made their case successfully, and subsequently other charges were laid later to other military personal.
Regional Courts: These are the court proceedings held before fully licensed judges of the bench, not mere students on their placements or lawmen whom are well versed. These are the first professional proceedings and as such, there is a lot of etiquette that needs navigating that most common folk simply cannot accomplish. You do not want to step into this legal ring or any of the ones above it, without being well versed, or hiring a skilled lawyer or legal team. These are located in the town or city known as the 'seat' or 'hold' of the region, that is the place its title is tied directly too, where the noble whom governs the region and their advisory board operate out of. It is in this ring of courts that another thirty percent or so end up being finalized in their verdict.
Provincial Courts:These courts serve dual purposes, for this is the first rank where the facilities also house a military wing and it is this level that all military law cases immediately step up to. This is not due to sentence length or any other thing like that. This is due to the added complication of military service, and the question of termination therewithin. So a panel of officers is always needed, at least five of some rank above sergeant or an equivalent. It is also because military personal are held to a stricter standards, those being they only get one appeal that has very strict qualifications to use, and that trial by combat is off the table from the outset.
As to civilian cases, those few that end up here? They become province wide front page sort of news. They are always hot ticket items, be they big names, big crimes, high stakes in the case of civil suits, or sometimes a big seller political item. The judges here are savvy veterans, about as knowledgable and experienced with the law as one can get really. Most are also immoveable, these titans of the bench where you get into a place where bribery, blackmail and even overt threats do not shake them from their duty. Some of these cases that get this far are those prosecutors have pushed, for they may appeal judgements too. If the suspect has known organized crime connections, there is just as likely a chance that the prosecutor is the one who appealed as their is the suspect. There are only six of these courts in all of Suranth, one in each provincial capital.
Suranthi High Court:At this point, if a case has come this far, it is no longer a matter of sentence, verdict or anything else like that in a civilian criminal matter. To end up in this court for such a case you are attempting to make a fundamental argument that the law(s) you were charged under are unjust and need to be striken from the codes and new ones drafted, or, you are arguing that some great violation of the law by your arresting officers was made that directly led to your being charged, such as planting evidence, fabricating, bribing, coercing or threatening witnesses to falsify testimony, a wholly illegal, warrantless search of property, something. You aren't attempting to change the verdict, you are attempting to get the whole thing wiped away, stricken from the records. At this level, even if you still had it available to you as a citizen, trial by combat is off the table.
In the case of military, your case ends up before the three High Justices of Suranth under only two real circumstances. Either you are attempting to establish your charge is to try and cover up something far worse, basically you are being used as a scapegoat, or, you are being charged with treason/your defense is that you did whatever you did to prevent someone else from committing treason. Basically if treason is involved in some way, or you are claiming you are being framed by others to hide a far worse crime than that which you are accused of. Funny enough, the few military cases in Suranth's history that have needed this step? Four out of the five of them met both those conditions at once. In three of those five cases it was found that the person whom was being charged made their case successfully, and subsequently other charges were laid later to other military personal.
Public Agenda
To uphold not just the legal code as written of our great nation, but the values and morality of our great peoples, interpreting and enforcing the laws as fits, within the constraints of the that are given to us to work from within the workings of the Code as it is. To insure that any unjust or immoral, or outdated laws are put through the system, rigorously, and if they are found to be so in full, stricken henceforth, with orders to the Tundra Conclave to set about writing and passing new legislation through to address, if needed, anything the stricken law was meant to be addressing, but to do so differently, insuring we provide them with our rulings in full so they can utilize them as a reference for what was done wrong and come up with a better piece of legislation. We are the caretakers of Suranth's legal and moral compass.
A common inscription, translated, found on many a decorative plague or framed print in the office of Suranthi judges. The quote is normally written in dwarven.
Type
Court System
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