Verdurian law
From Almeopedia
Verdurian law (verdury amrab) is a development of Caďinorian Law as applied in the kingdom of Verduria.
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The Dark Years
In classical times law was unified throughout the Caďinorian empire; the universal code was the Code of the Crown Prince (Amrab sazëi) promulgated by the emperor Ilďaneas in 1708. This continued to be the basis for Verdurian law throughout the Dark Years.
Unlike most areas of the Plain, the legal code was not simply historical in Verduria city. The city still had courts and judges, and in the city itself these still regulated contracts, inheritance, maritime law, and property. Religious law was increasingly handled by the pagan hierarchy, and military affairs by the army itself or by the Lord (Sanno). Courts continued to operate in the major towns as well: Pelym, Vyat, and Vešdan.
Elsewhere in the province (and in Eretald), the authority of the feudal lords was nearly absolute, except when custom or (occasionally) force would compel a lord to respect the will of the Lord of Verduria. Even here, however, the old law was the basis for custom. Inheritance rules, for instance, might be simplified, but could still be traced back to Caďinorian law.
Sources of law
The classical sources of law were three:
- Statutes (cazoi)— that is, articles in a published law code such as the Amrab sazëi
- Decrees (befelî)— in effect, new laws established by emperors and, later, kings and lords
- Custom (mör), including rules established by an institution to govern itself (e.g. a university or monastery)
The Caďinor word for custom was amaraum; and this increasingly became the cover term for all three types of law— thus Verdurian amrab. This semantic process was aided by the imperial reflex to codify custom into law, so that there was little difference between the three types of law anyway.
Custom separate from law, now called mör, was reestablished as institutions developed while the codified law stayed the same. Guilds and universities, for instance, did not exist in Caďinas; their evolved rules of conduct were mör. If they were written down as a charter or contract, they were amrab, though private. Towns, monasteries, ethnic enclaves, and even ships could develop mör as well. Unlike the unitary Caďinorian law, then, medieval law varied by context.
Medieval practice added a fourth component of law:
- Right (droë)— authority or autonomy granted by a feudal lord.
Rights were not inherent; they were granted by a lord— usually the king or (in Verduria) the sanno, but some droî were old enough to derive from the emperors— e.g. the charter of the University of Verduria (2312), which granted it self-government. Droë included both rights and obligations. As a rule, rights were very specific when it came to the grantor’s domain— e.g. a vassal was allowed certain privileges at court, and owed certain military and financial obligations— and open-ended in the vassal’s: the vassal normally could do as he liked in his own estate, so long as he fulfilled his duties to his lord. Droë thus ended up implying both local autonomy and the legitimization of local authority by appeal to the grantor’s.
Zeir
The acquisition of Zeir in 2870 caused some legal wrinkles. Zeirdan had no courts; the town had been directly ruled by the Prince of Zeir. The Lord of Verduria inherited the prince’s position, but did not, of course, know the local ways (the mör) of Zeir. Lord Avtor found it expedient to set up a mayor and a court. Both naturally tried to apply Verdurian law, which they were used to, and found that it conflicted with local custom— though since this was unwritten, no one could state exactly what it was. Avtor asked the local notables to come to an agreement on what the differences were; but they started to remember sweeping claims of local autonomy, and he abandoned the process, simply applying Verdurian law with a small number of variations already discovered by the court.
Ževuran’s code
Caleon’s conquests revealed how much of a legal mishmash northern Eretald had become. Žésifo had its own code, a revision of the Amrab sazëi, and its own court system— more developed than Verduria’s, in fact. Other kingdoms had their own systems, some of them influenced by barbarian invaders such as the Curiyans or Bešbalicu. In the Eärdur valley the Arašei had rights and traditions of their own. Some areas, such as Célenor, were little changed from the Dark Years; other areas were, like Verduria, advancing into the post-medieval world.
From one point of view this was no problem at all— after all, all these regions had proceeded with their affairs well enough before the Verdurian conquest; what did it matter if adopted sons could inherit ahead of natural ones in Žésifo but not Verduria city, or if Solhai was the only region which allowed slavery, though only for foreigners? But the ultimate reason for such diversity was local autonomy; the Verdurians were interested in ruling their new kingdom, not merely presiding over its main nobles.
Caleon’s son Ževuran therefore convened Verdurian and Ctésifoni scholars to create a new legal code. They worked for twenty years, and in 3021 the Este Amrab (Great Code) was promulgated.
Courts were established in each province, though they really thrived only in the richer and more urbanized areas: Verduria, Zeir, Šerian, and Ctesifon.
Divisions of the code
The code maintained the categories of Caďinorian law, but grouped them in new overall categories:
- The Laws of Land (Amrab Kesuëi) covered the essential areas of property and inheritance. As these excluded land covered under one of the other categories, this effectively meant land held by individuals, urban or rural.
- The Civic Laws (Amrab munese) covered contracts, labor, marriage laws, moveable property, and what we would call the criminal code.
- The Laws of Companies (Amrab Cumbutatië) governed all groups with their own charters or rules: universities, temples, monasteries, guilds, brokerages, the merchant marine, and the army. These were largely confirmed in their own rules; but the code covered conflict resolution, the formation and dissolution of such companies, and their specialized property rights.
- The Laws of Estates (Amrab Orauë) laid out the relationship between the nobility and the king. The overall effect was to confirm the nobles’ authority; but the king declared several specific rights, most notably the right to remove nobles for treason or murder, and the right to send agents to arrest lawbreakers on nobles’ estates.
The Este Amrab did not spectacularly diverge from Caďinorian law; its intent was to recognize the changes in society and custom over the last 1300 years. Its most revolutionary aspect was that it was written in Verdurian. This was scandalous to the existing legal establishment, especially in Žésifo, which would have preferred Caďinor. Ževuran was adamant, however: the law, he maintained, was not the possession of courts and judges, but of the people, who must be able to understand it.
Maritime law (so amrab Ažireë) is effectively common to all the seagoing states of northern Ereláe, from Nan to Ismahi to Kebri, and even to Dhekhnam. The essentials of maritime law derive from the Caďinorian Convention of Ažirei, modified by the practices of the first modern nation to revive deep-sea trade, Kebri. As Verduria is now the preeminent naval power, its version of the law is the most influential, and is presumed to operate on the high seas.
Legislation
Verduria had long had a Biyetora, a council of officials and important nobles, to advise the king and provide political cover for anything contentious, such as raising taxes. It had no legislative power, though it might be consulted in the writing of a decree— ironically, never by Ževuran, who resented the Biyetora for picking his brother Ženeon to be king when Caleon died.
Caloton Soley, taking power after a civil war, revived the Biyetora to legitimize his rule (3142). He regularly consulted the Biyetora, and trusted it above his own son Efaristo. In his will, Caloton expanded the body and gave it legislative authority for the first time. The new body, now called the Esčambra, first met in 3175. (It was not the first legislature in Eretald; that would be the Este Kal of Érenat, established in 2944.)
Formally, the Esčambra did not enact laws itself, but konsitî or advice— the name comes from the traditional beginning of such documents in Caďinor, Konsit esisties tiamora, “the Esčambra counsels”. They became cazoi or statutes when the king signed them. Naturally, there was tension between king and parliament how this power would be used; the Esčambra at first attempted to govern, and wrote konsitî naming public officials, budgeting money, or even judging court cases. Efaristo at first stood for this, then started to refuse to sign such bills. When Efaristo became deathly ill, the Esčambra seized the opportunity to depose him and give the sash to his brother Alunařo— who however proved less rather than more tractable. To end the standoff, Alunařo agreed that taxation bills must originate in the Esčambra, but that government was the responsibility of the king and his ministers (the Konselora).
With the usurpation of Utu, however, the Esčambra was rarely called, and was given no opportunity to legislate. It was revived under Tomao of the Eleďe dynasty. Tomao gave it a strong role, preferring to work with the Esčambra rather than issue decrees. When the legislature was expanded by his successor Elena, its influence became all the greater. It became customary to appoint an Esčambrom as Sanno i Kunaša (Lord of the Exchequer), the chief minister of the Konselora or cabinet; under the Abolineronî this figure was eclipsed by the Sanno Konselore Daluii or Prime Minister, who took on more and more of the day-to-day administration of the government. The Prime Minister was named by the king and approved by the Esčambra; the least contentious course was to appoint the head of the largest political party (fako).
The Collected Law
Mëranac 1e Abolineron, as part of his grandiose reforms, proposed to issue a new legal code, but died before this could be properly started. As his successors frittered away their time in dynastic squabbles, it fell to the Esčambra to revise the code.
With no need to create a monument, the Esčambra realized that the process of revision and publication would be ongoing. It therefore (in 3321) simply began publishing printed laws in a uniform edition, called the Culë Amrabei or Collected Law, starting with the laws of individual property (part of the Laws of Land). As each volume was published, the opportunity was taken to update the language, incorporate decrees and legislation since the Great Code was promulgated, and include notes on interpretation of the law. It took nearly five decades for the entire Great Code to be superseded by volumes in the new series; by that time the series included 56 volumes.
The actual content of the Culë Amrabei was not revolutionary, but its method of promulgation was: this was the first code to be printed, and thus widely available to all courts, lawyers, universities, and the public at large. The great gain in transparency, however, was counter-balanced by the increased voluminousness. In some ways the conception of law was transformed; it was once a matter of the ruler's good character and of custom— no less esteemed because it had to be remembered and explained by lawyers and judges; now it was a matter of public, written laws.
New legislation was published in later volumes, and periodically a section of the code is revised and republished.
Verdurian court procedure
Courts (sudî) operate on the whole much as in Caďinorian times: prototypically, a plaintiff brings a lawsuit (ličy) to the court; the litigants each present their position to the judge (ovnelom) who decides between them. In practice, as in our own system, arguments are actually conducted by a legal professional, a lawyer (amrabom). Sentences can be appealed to a higher court (though usually not beyond that).
In Caďinas, an offense against the state was investigated directly by the judge. However, in those rare cases where the king prosecuted a noble, the noble defendant had the right to be judged by a neutral third party. The king usually appointed a steward (hozën) to argue for him. This right was extended over time to other notables, and by the present day applies to nearly anyone in a position of authority or respect: army officers; guild leaders, Esčambromî, šriftomî, clerics above the level of priest, and more. Humbler plaintiffs, however, are still liable to the traditional inquisitorial judge.
Some differences from our own legal system:
- Judges retain a good deal of leeway— e.g. they may ask questions of a witness, and even call their own witnesses.
- Precedent is not binding on judges; but it is carefully studied by them and by lawyers, especially those cases discussed in the Culë Amrabei.
- There are no juries.
- The legal system is primarily for civil disputes; criminal cases mainly involve what we would call torts— e.g., the state prosecutes a manufacturer whose factory burns down, causing a neighborhood fire. What we think of as crime— e.g. burglary and street violence— is generally not a state affair at all; the police (cilu) are responsible for keeping order, but not for tracking down perps. If the police do find a miscreant, they may administer punishment themselves.
- Defendants are entitled to a raf sudiel— a just sentence, or more broadly, a fair trial. The laws establish various grounds for appealing a sentence viewed as unjust. There is no presumption of innocence per se; but many other presumptions may apply— indeed, these differ depending on the situation of the defendant. For instance, nobles may not be kept in a common jail; women (but not men) have the right to be clothed in court and in prison; the death penalty cannot be applied before puberty; no one can be convicted simply on the basis of a witness’s imputation of bad character.
In many areas of law, original jurisdiction rests with a non-state institution— e.g. temples, monasteries, guilds, universities, companies, ships. These institutions may apply their own laws, though they cannot override national law. There are also cases where the Esčambra acts as a court (e.g. capital cases against a member, or disputes over the royal succession).
Categories: Verduria | Culture | Law
