Investigations and Trials

People suspected of a crime must generally prove their innocence.

Most trials among non-nobles tend to be carried out in a basillica.

Each suitor needs a lawyer, or a good knowledge of the law. There are no "appointed lawyers" one must pay or do without. Lawyers are not subject to any kind of screening, so one should choose carefully. Lawyers tend to wear gowns.

Judges are often senior lawyers, and they need the King's approval. Their wages comes from fees paid by suitors.

Legal procedures are very arcane, and are carried out mostly in Cargan. Both lawyers and judges tend to show off and engage in intellectual debates over minor, or even irrelevant, points. Trials in the basillica are open to all, and are attended by the litigants, their friends and allies, educated people revelling in the wit and skill of the lawyers and judge, and whoever finds watching other people's distress and degradation amusing.

Torture is considered to be a valid means of extracting a confession, but is usually only used in serious cases.

Gentlemen usually prefer to settle their differences in a duel, rather than at court.

Inequality Under the Law

Whereever one may go, being rich, an ordinated cleric or a noble offers distinct advantages in legal matters. A rich man can hire the best lawyers, bribe the judge and pay fines and wergild rather than giving up life and limb. A cleric of a prestigous religion can demand to be tried by ecclastical rather than secular court. The ecclastical court is usually rather lenient. A noble can only be judged by his superior, which is to say, a gentleman can only be judged by a peer, a peer only by a king, and the king only by the council of peers (if at all).

Bribery and Squeeze

Bribes (muting, bestikkelsar) are paid to make a person do something which he should not do, squeeze (smøring) is paid to make a person do something he should have done anyway.

In Ymirea, it is generally accepted that any official has the right to collect a little squeeze, and indeed, the judges are paid by their clients alone, much like lawyers. Only a person with the Honesty disadvantage will reject squeeze money. The servants and subordinates of powerful people may earn substantial amounts of money by taking squeeze to give audiences with their superiors.

Bribery, on the other hand, is not officially accepted, though it is extremely widespread, and rarely struck down upon.