Heyas all, I've drafted a general 'court system' for Kasuria, but it is not based on the 'real' medieval court system which would be cumbersome on a functional level to recreate. A balance has to be struck between 'realism' and 'fun playability'.


Offenses are divided up into three categories; Military, Provincial and Noble.

Military Court Definition:
Military courts would handle all military matters, both regarding conduct of their own personel and offenses of prisoners of a military nature, IE, they would handle crimes by their own soldiers and crimes against the military, and any matters involving prisoners of war, ect. They would be local in focus, unless there was a good reason for passing a case 'up' the chain of command to a higher level of the military, or interest in the case coming 'down' from above. So, a crime against a garrison soldier would be handled at that garrison, rather than a central location, unless warrented by special circumstances.

Military Court Format:
A military court would be a tribunal - the three highest ranking officers available, interrigating the accused, witnesses, gathering any information they need, judging the accused, sentancing the accused and making sure the sentance is carried out. There is no 'prosecution and defense' as we know it. That is a modern concept of 'innocent until proven guilty'. The tribunal would simply determine if, in their opinion, the accused is guilty, and take appropriate action.

Provincial Court Definition:
Provincial courts would be just that - each province, being controlled by a Greater House, would have a provincial court in it's capital city, (Example - County Tranzish, capital Moorim, ruled by House Ayoubis) which would hear the serious cases, crimes against persons (murder, rape, assault, ect) or King (ie, anythingfrom poaching on the King's lands to treason, sedition, ect), while lesser crimes of property (such as robbery, theft, destruction, ect) would be heard at a city level court, by 'persons of influance and standing' within the city's community, such as the magistrate, bankers, landowners, wealthy merchants, ect. Cases from smaller communities such as a 'town' or 'village' would be taken to the nearest 'city' for disposition in this manner, although it must be noted that many villages and towns might ignore such a procedure and 'deal with this matter ourselves'. The more isolated or independant the community, the more prevalent this attitude would be.

Provincial Court Format:
Provincial courts would most likely meet two to four times a year in the capital of the province, and be presided over by a member of the ruling House for the province, most probably a member of lesser status, since the important members of the House have better things to do than piddle around with the sordid, petty affairs of the local commoners. Here again, like the tribunal, the member of the House would interrigate the accused, any available witnesses, gather the neccessary information to come to a conclusion in the case, pass sentance and have it carried out. And yes, the accused would likely spend whatever time until the next court session as a guest of the Gaol.

Noble Court Definition:
Noble Courts would be for the exclusive purpose of handling any offenses where the accused is of Noble blood, ie, a member of a Greater or Lesser House. These would, by definition, be 'serious' offenses, since 'minor' ones would be simply ignored for the most part, though an exception would be wrangling over parentage of a furre in the case of inheritance, ect, where there is a possibility of money, wealth or power changing paws. (Note: A person who bears a child to a member of a Noble House, seeking to have that kit declared heir, is a non-issue, given Talzhemir's quote: 'Rules of inheritance are strict, and a child must be born in wedlock to take the family name.' Thus, it might be more about the status of a 'marriage' at the time of the kit's birth, rather than proving the kit has noble blood.)

Noble Court Format:
Noble Courts would consist of any Nobles that are available and willing to hear the case, most likely taking place in Malgrave, though an 'ad hoc' Noble court could conceivably conviene anywhere one can find a minimum of three high ranking members of the Noble Houses. The form would be the familiar tribunal, with the nobles questioning the accused, witnesses, gathering information, judging the accused, sentancing and seeing that the sentance is carried out. Note: While a tribunal is the minimum required to proceed, any high ranking member of a Noble House may attend and participate equally, so in Malgrave the accused may be facing a panel of eight questioners, should that many decide to show up. The accused would, of course, be at the most kept under 'house arrest' as a guest of a Noble House, and at the least, required to swear to appear before the court and released on his or her own recognizance.


Some general notes on this system:

1) The King and Royal family, are not able to be accused, unless they are willing to allow it, of any offense. Period. Rank Has It's Privilages. (Note: As a citizen, you cannot sue the United States, unless the United States decides to allow you to.)

2) This system is far from 'just'. One can easilly see where the accused is more or less at the mercy of the court, and has to depend on the honesty and good will of the court for his defense, or for any defense at all, for that matter.

The accused, in other words, is in very deep trouble.

This is not supposed to be a system of 'justice'. It is a system for the orderly redress of grievances in a manner which will give the illusion of 'doing something' to the populace, along with the not so understated social subtext of 'Behave, or this could be you'.

3) The concept of 'innocent until proven guilty', and all the other modern, almost subconcious legal standards we apply by reflex, I cannot stress enough, is foreign, Foreign, FOREIGN!! to this place and time, and should be played that way.

'Rights' do not exist for the commoner in any meaningful way above the crudest local level. There is no such thing as a guaranteed 'free speech', and all that stuff. Your life is what your King and Nobles say it is, from cradle to grave, and it's far better to never to come to the notice of either, since one can be ground under the ponderous wheels of state as they turn.

4) The system I have outlined has incredible holes in it which would allow for all manner of corruption, indifferance and out and out deliberate miscarages of 'justice'. Of COURSE it does! Officers of any of the courts are likely to trade favors with each other for influance in a case, take bribes of various kinds, be inept, cruel, uncaring, drunk or simply asleep durring a trial. (Look at the early behavior of the United States Congress in it's infancy for real world parallels.)

5) The 'right to face one's accuser' is optional at the discretion of the court, in most cases, given that a furre who is, say, a farmer, can't be expected to make a journey to a provincial capital just to show up for court. Usually his deposition is enough. In the above, the 'accuser' may be considered lumped in with the 'witnesses' for our purposes.

Yes, it's a nasty, dirty, evil burden that is placed on the shoulders of Kasurian Nobles, but, they simply have to muddle through, and remember, the perks are terrific!


Yours,
Direclaw