Okay folks, I thought I'd make a little - unnecessary insofar as I'm concerned but apparently others disagree - guide/explanation on how our Court System works.
2.1 In accordance with Section 3 (parts 1 and 2) of the Fundamental Laws of Wintreath, upon acceptance of a case by the Storting, the Monarch will select a Peer from the Overhusen and two Skifra from the Underhusen. The Peer will serve the duration of the trial (or 1 month) as Chief Justice, and the Skifra will serve the duration of the trial (or 1 month) as Associate Judges.
Right, this is pretty simple. A case is put forward by a citizen of Wintreath and is accepted by the Storting by majority decision, at which point the Monarch selects one person from the Overhusen and two from the Underhusen to serve as Judges and Associate Judges. So far, so easy. The next section of the act merely explains a few details about terms and the Monarch's ability to reappoint Judges and Associate Judges should a case go on for more than one month.
2.3 A Peer or a Skifra of the Storting may not hold more than one judicial position at any one time if the combined number of members from both houses exceeds 14. If the combined number of members from both houses is less than 14, a Peer of Skifra may hold two judicial positions at any one time.
This right here is so self-explanatory I barely see the need to include it, but there you go. If there's more than 14 people in the UH and OH combined, a member of either can hold ONE position as a Judge/Associate Judge at a time. If less, there's no limit.
3.1 Any Judge may call up to three witnesses on a given day to provide evidence on a case. A defendant can also request up to 3 witnesses in their defence on a given day.
So simple it hurts me to look at. Judges can call witnesses they think appropriate to the case, FROM BOTH SIDES (defence and prosecution). The defendant has the right to call three witnesses per day, same as the Judges.
3.2 After all evidence is heard by the Court, the three Judges must discuss their verdict privately and inform no-one of the judgement until it is publicly announced by the Chief Justice.
Blindingly obvious.
3.3 A Court can return a NOT GUILTY, a GUILTY or a RECOMMENDATION verdict.
- NOT GUILTY - The Court finds the defendant innocent of his/her charge or specific charges, if more than one is brought.
- GUILTY - The Court finds the defendant guilty of his/her charge or specific charges, if more than one is brought. The punishments for a GUILTY verdict are to be drawn from the Code of Criminal Law Act upon its passage.
- RECOMMENDATION - The Court finds the defendant either innocent or guilty but recommends special provisions be made that fall outside of the remit of the Code of Criminal Law Act. It is up to the Monarch to decide whether to implement these recommendations. A case can therefore have an INNOCENT - RECOMMENDATION verdict and a GUILTY - RECOMMENDATION verdict.
Like, I fail to see how this isn't clear enough. It details what verdicts a court can return and gives examples of.
4. Due Process
4.1 When a Court is formed and a case brought before it, a topic must be created with the title laid out as follows by the Chief Justice:
[CASE NUMBER][DEFENDANT NAME][CHIEF JUSTICE][DATE]
The first post must then outline the name and charge of the defendant, the name of the Chief Justice and the names of the Associate Judges. This post should be updated to list witnesses called and by whom.
4.2 Only the Court Officials (Chief Justice and the Associate Judges), the defendant and any witness called may post within the thread. Uninvolved citizens may observe the proceedings but cannot comment.
4.3 During the proceedings, a Court Official who calls a witness must pose their questions within the same post they summon that witness. A witness then has one post to provide their responses to the questions put to them. At any time, a Court Official may post a question(s) for the defendant so long as no other questions for the defendant are unanswered and so long as no witness has questions left to answer.
4.4 Once the Court feels it has enough evidence to reach a verdict, the Chief Justice must post to inform the public that the Officials are withdrawing to debate their verdict. From this point on, no-one is allowed to post in the thread until the next post by the Chief Justice announcing a verdict.
4.5 The Chief Justice will then post the verdict in the thread and lock it once he/she has done so. The verdict should go through charge by charge and provide guilty/not guilty/recommendations for each individual charge the defendant is in court for. Punishments will be assigned for each individual charge and enacted upon as soon as the verdict is posted.
4.6 If the Chief Justice and his Associate Judges feel more than 3 witnesses are required per day, they may argue the Monarch to raise the limit for the duration of a specific court case.
You know, I was going to scrap this and start again because I thought it was actually too simple. Evidently not. The Judges/AJ's create a thread, outlining in the OP the charges, the defendant and those presiding over the case. Any and all witnesses called are added to the OP.
From there, as outlined, only those involved in the case may post. It tells you how to summon and address witnesses, how to address the defendant and the ways of going about running the thread up until the Judges withdraw to debate their verdict, and then how to deliver said verdict.
GOD I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I'M DOING THIS LOOK AT HOW SIMPLE IT ALL GODDAMN IS!
The last part of the Act details the Monarch's right to override and repeal court decisions as well as the Act's compliance with past and future laws.
FOR THE RECORD,
HERE IS THE LIST OF WHAT IS ILLEGAL IN WINTREATH. That Act, like the Judicial Offices Act, carefully details how it is to be applied in all situations.
TL;DR You're all idiots if you think this court system is hard to understand. Refresh yourselves on the damn legislation and it'd make sense the way it was supposed to. There is nothing hard to comprehend here. Both of these Acts passed unanimously through the Underhusen and the Overhusen.
That is all.
