The Legal System

In Court …

Cases can be referred to the court by the city watch, ordinary citizens (But only where a case directly concerns them) or by officers of the city. A Magistrate will be assigned to the case and he (or she) will investigate the case and pronounce a verdict of either guilty or not guilty or not guilty.

To investigate a case - the Magistrate will call both the complainant and the defendant into his court to answer his questions - either (or both) can have legal advisors - but they are not allowed to speak in court unless the Magistrate allows them to.

He can also call witnesses into his court to answer his questions, if he wants to.

If s/he still feels incapable of making a judgement - he will send out a 'Court Inquisitor' to investigate on his behalf.

The Inquisitor will report back to the Magistrate, (Often in private to protect their identity) and the Magistrate will make his judgement. The Magistrate can decide to use more than one investigator, or even a whole team of investigators and can keep the case under investigation as long as he likes.

If the defendant is found Not Guilty s/he walks free from the court.

If the defendant is found Guilty, the Magistrate offers the complainant a list of possible penalties (from a standard list) and the complainant can choose the penalty.

The Magistrate might get to a point where he decided no to pursue the matter further and makes a judgement of 'not proven' in which case the complainant can fetch the case again - but only if they can come up with some significant new evidence.