Arylon's Justice System
by Scott Bonner
Arylon began with the primitive system whereby members of a given
neighborhood take disputes to local elders. In time many of the elders began
charging for their decisions. With each army that came through Arylon to
fight in the Fields of the Dead, more militaristic concepts of justice
seeped into the system, and it became progressively more organized. Under
Amnian rule, the system became professional and hierarchical. And, in slow
continuation of this process, the complex system of Arylonian justice
evolved.
Currently, there are twenty professional justices in Arylon. There are five
High Magistrates, wielding immense power and occupying the highest level of
Arylonian political society. These men serve as judges to the lesser judges,
try the most difficult appeals cases, and control administrative and policy
issues. They serve as overseers for the city council and serve as the
linchpins for the legal apparatus. There is no higher court in Arylon.
Beneath the High Magistrates are the Ward Judges, one for each of the five
wards. These individuals are less political than the Magistrates, although
still not without political motivation. They wield impressive legal power in
their wards, with some specific exceptions, and tend to be more committed to
the abstract concept of justice as opposed to the political construct of
justice. These select few are in charge of the daily operations of justice,
reviewing specific cases, hearing appeals, judging new cases when lesser
judges are overloaded, overseeing the scribes and secretaries that record
justice, and helping to choose new justices.
Finally, each ward has lesser Borough Judges, called simply Judges, to
shoulder the bulk of cases to be tried. These are separate and subordinate
to the Ward Judges. Inner and Dock wards each have three, Sunrise Ward has
two, and Field and Rivergate Wards each have one. These are the practical
dispensers of justice, busy with cases most of the year, particularly as
trade season peaks, and more solidly connected to the people of their
neighborhood. Indeed, a Borough Judge must live within the borough he or she
serves. Though they are the lowest of judges, they are immensely respected
and sometimes feared by the people of Arylon.
Borough Judges hold court within their wards, most from the gatehouses that
serve as local headquarters for the Silver Crescents. Each of the wards
beyond the walls have their courts set up in the gatehouse of the gate that
accesses their ward. Dock ward has two gatehouses for its Borough Judges,
one at the Promenade Gate and one at a barracks house at the center of the
docks. Inner Ward houses Borough Judges in Justice Hall.
The Ward Judges each serve within their wards, too, sometimes from within
the gatehouses and sometimes from private structures near to those gates.
The exception to this system is the Field Ward Judge, who keeps office in
Justice Hall. Additionally, each Ward Judge has a secondary office in
Justice Hall, except, of course, the Field Ward Judge.
Each of the High Magistrates operates from either their offices in Justice
Hall or from private residences within Inner Ward. All of the current High
Magistrates are from Inner Ward, i.e. wealthy, homes.
Essential to understanding Arylonian justice is acceptance of the concept of
judges having complete control over the justice system. In every stage of
Arylon's development, the judges have increased in authority and power
within the courtroom. Now they have few restrictions on how they run each
trial, only vague guidelines on which punishments fit which crimes, and
authority to pronounce the defendant guilty or innocent as soon as the
minimal trial requirements are met. The system is based on trust and
respect.
New judges must be "sponsored" in by a current judge of equal or greater
rank on the three-tiered system. Usually the High Council will also arrange
interviews with citizens of a given district or ward, but they are not
required to do so. It can take months and months, or it can take a couple
of days, depending on demand for a new judge and how well the High
Magistrates know the petitioner.
High Magistrates appoint all judges, including replacing High Magistrates.
However, the city council can reject the appointment of a new High
Magistrate (within 1 tenday) by a 2/3-majority vote. The City Council has
no other control over who is a judge.
Law dictates there must be 5 High Magistrates and 5 Ward Judges. The number
of lesser judges can be changed by petition of the Ward Judge responsible
for the district the new judge would serve, as demand requires. The High
Magistrates and the City Council must approve a change in number of lesser
judges.
Just as the council has veto power over judiciary appointments, the High
Magistrates can reverse a new appointment to the Council (within 1 tenday)
by a 2/3-majority vote.
There are two controls on a judge's power. First, there is a rudimentary
appeals system, to be discussed below. Second, each Borough Judge is watched
over by the Ward Judge, and all lesser judges are watched over and can be
removed from office by the High Magistrates acting together. The
Magistrates, in turn, watch each other and are occasionally monitored by the
city council.
Recently, Altor Brand, a consultant from Waterdeep, has made strong efforts
to reform the system, to take power away from judges by making the system
more consistent and rigid. See the Code Civil for details. Both trial and
punishment are swift in Arylon. When arrested by the Crescents, an
individual may be tried immediately or may have a wait of no more than ten
days before trial. The nature of the crime determines the speed of trial,
with major crimes or complex cases taking longer than lesser or
straightforward cases. Most cases are tried within 48 hours of arrest.
In the courtroom, judges are required to let the prosecution, usually the
Silver Crescents making an arrest and their immediate officer, speak for at
least fifteen minutes, and longer at the judge's discretion. Then the
defense, usually only the accused and a few supporters, may speak for at
least fifteen minutes, longer as the judge allows. Then, each side has a
five minute rebuttal. At any point in this process and after, the judge asks
questions of both sides. In major cases, such as murder or treason, the
judge will usually let each side ask questions of the other as well, in an
orderly manner. Then the judge will proclaim responsibility and punishment.
Trials last as little as twenty minutes, if both sides do not use up all
time allotted, or as many days as the judge deems necessary.
Also important to this process is the Speaker of the Court, or Court
Speaker. This person is an unofficial advisor, hired by either the defense
or the prosecution to organize the case and influence the trial process.
They are usually retired scribes of the court, but are occasionally retired
judges or individuals who have not worked for the court in any capacity.
Most judges disdain the use of Court Speakers, and will disallow them in
lesser cases and only grudgingly allow them in more important cases.
Sometimes, the use of a Court Speaker may actually work against the
interested party. Any individual may hire a court speaker, but only the
judge decides if they are allowed. The Silver Crescents never use them, but
do have officers trained to perform this function. Defendants often try to
use them, but rarely are allowed.
Once sentence is pronounced punishment is carried out immediately. The
exceptions are in cases where the punishment is death, banishment, or
mutilation, in which case the court waits 24 to 48 hours to carry out
sentence to allow for appeal.
The appeal started as a political maneuver. In 1180, Grand Magister
Dartlansh, the fourth ruler of Arylon appointed by Amn and head of that
era's justice system, instated appeals as an attempt to control the justice
system and therefore gain favor and political power from Arylon's wealthy.
Under the system of the time, Arylon had many judges of equal power and the
Grand Magister to oversee them. Dartlansh devised a rule whereby the
prosecution, defense, or Grand Magister could call for immediate retrial of
any case, with the Grand Magister deciding whether or not to take the case,
and with the Grand Magister to be judge of the appeal. When Dartlansh was
deposed by Amn for other corrupt practices, the next Grand Magister kept the
system, reforming it significantly by appointing a separate individual to
judge appeals cases, creating what eventually became the Ward Judge
position. In time, the appeals process went through more reforms and was
adopted into the current justice system.
When a Borough Judge finishes a case, the sentence is carried out
immediately, excepting banishment, death, or mutilation, as explained above.
After the case is done, either the prosecution or the defense can ask to
have the case retried in an attempt to reverse the decision. The defense can
attempt to gain reimbursement for fines and other punishments if they
succeed, or in cases involving banishment, death, or mutilation to stop the
punishment from occurring. The prosecution can attempt to get a second
chance to convict with a Ward Judge to oversee the case.
But filing an appeal is not without risk. The appeal hearing, where the side
making the appeal attempts to get the Ward Judge to try the case, is quick
and simple. The Ward Judge will let the appealing party speak for at least
10 minutes and longer at the judge's discretion. Then the other party will
speak for at least ten minutes at the Ward Judge's discretion. If the Ward
Judge agrees to try the case, depending on circumstances pending punishment
is suspended or the defendant will continue to be held. If the judge
declines to retry the case, the party that made the appeal, whether
prosecution or defense, will receive a 100 to 500 GP fine for wasting the
judge's time, price set by the judge. If prosecution gets this fine, then
the Silver Crescents will take the cost out of the pay of whoever made the
decision to seek appeal.
Then the second trial begins, presided over by the Ward Judge and following
the same time requirements as a Borough Judge's case.
The defendant, but not the prosecution, may ask for a second appeal. The
process is the same in every way, only a High Magistrate will preside over
the appeal hearing and the subsequent case. Additionally, the defendant must
pay 100 GP for the appeal hearing itself, and if the appeal is rejected, as
almost all are, the defendant can be charged 100 to 1,000 GP for wasting the
High Magistrate's time. Only wealthy defendants can afford a second appeal
or the risk involved if that appeal is rejected. The High Magistrate's
decision is binding. No further appeals are possible. Sentence, whatever it
is, will be carried out immediately. Mutilation and death sentences are
carried out on a stage about 300 yards west of Justice Hall. Usually they
are carried out at dawn, just as the shadow from the Hall's west wing moves
off the stage. The man who devised this time and place for harsh justice was
a devoted follower of both Tyr and Lathander.
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