Happy WBW, Pax! What is the judiciary system like in the Ehlverse? How are the accused tried, and what is the ratio of those found guilty to those acquitted? Is there trial by jury, or not so much? What is the most heinous crime someone could commit, and what is the punishment for that?
hey, happy WBW Lin!!! this one took me a while cause I haven’t gone terribly in depth with it before, so thank you for helping me come up with this!!!
if we focus on the Ehlven nation for Firebreathers reasons, laws are the same everywhere, but the judiciary process is up to the Citylord in that area, as long as the crime isn’t something like treason or conspiracy! In more rebellious cities like Aree, more people are found guilty of treason than not, once they’re on trial, and Aree has the power to enact a death penalty in the same way as Impalfahr.
But people do generally go on trial, and they have a small jury and a judge to convince one way or the other. There are a few caveats in this system - it’s extremely difficult to put any government official or police officer to trial, for example - but every citizen on trial is allowed a lawyer, and if someone wants to sponsor one for them, that’s also allowed. Really, that’s where a lot of money goes for the rebellion - if they can manage to convince the court and jury that they weren’t wrong in rebelling, it’ll be a huge deal in the papers, even with the policing of the press.
On the topic of heinous crimes, though, the punishment for things like treason and conspiracy is usually either a death penalty or "banishment” - which in recent years has become less of a “don’t enter an Ehlven city” and more of a “you are not protected under Ehlven law or defensible in an Ehlven court”.
For example, Emerald and Iceberg Corona have been Banished, so if assassins were sent to take them out, they are not considered “protected”, and thus there will be no investigation/repurcussions for whoever ordered the hit. This type of punishment is often used by the High Nobility to permanently get rid of problem people, without having an investigation called to themselves.
On the other end of the spectrum, if an infringement is deemed too small or “petty” by Citypolice, they can legally ignore it. This is used just as often to minimize distractions as it is to look the other way when a policeman is the culprit of the crime at hand. It’s become a bit of a PSA situation to inform people that unless it is explicitly, unambiguously stated what is going on directly to an attentive policeman, it can be written off as the officer not being able to tell what was petty and what was serious.
Okay that got a lot more in depth than i thought it would :LKSJDF
thank you so much for the ask, Lin!!!!!
