The Royal Statute of Metz, Issued during the Reign of King John I, c. 1595  

1. In Iniquitatem

2. Iustitia Trinitas

3. Lege Mortalibus

4. Lege Moribus

5. Ius Nobilitum

In Iniquitatem

A Foreword On The Lawless Tendencies of Man

Since the dawn of time, Man has pushed against the lawful restraints which bind him. Iblees tempted Horen with immortality, yet every day he tempts the Horenites with sin. While God favors Man, he has given unto them free will. With this comes the ability to decide: right or wrong. Order or disorder. Civil or barbaric. Sometimes, many times, Man chooses wrong. The highwayman robs the burgher. The burgher funds the whorehouse. The harlot shares the bed of a clergyman. The members of the clergyman’s diocese steal tithe. The cycle of Man’s lawlessness can only be broken, or balanced, by lawfulness. A law abiding nation is a unified nation, a moral nation, a successful nation.

Bailiff Peter Bedevere, 1595; Ponce

Iustitia Trinitas

The Trinity of Justice; The Severities of Lawlessness

To properly punish and effectively enforce laws, the Committee of Bailiffs in accordance with the Monarch of Lotharingia, has defined three major severities.

1. Atrocitas Principium

   1. Atrocitas Majoris

      1. A major atrocity is a crime that will be brought to the Royal Court, presided over by the Monarch and his appointed law keepers. The persecuting Bailiff makes his case before this tribunal and the convict is allowed to represent himself or choose a representative. The case is not held in public, to avoid violence. Execution and other forms of harsh punishment are often the result.

2. 2. Atrocitas Minoris

      1. A minor atrocity is a crime that is brought to a lesser court. It is not presided over by the Monarch or his appointed law keepers. Instead, a jury is assembled by the Bailiffs or State and the trial is held in the public eye. Execution and other forms of harsh punishment are often the result.

2. Culpa Medium

   1. Culpa Majoris

      1. A major fault results in a large fine based upon the convict’s class. If of the common or burgher estate, he is fined 250-500 Minae. If he is a property-holding burgher or landholder, he is open to having physical properties revoked. If a nobleman, gentry, or public administrator his title can be suspended indefinitely. If the act is extreme, execution is permitted.

2. 2. Culpa Minoris

      1. A minor fault results in a small fine based upon the convict’s class. If of the common or burgher estate, he is fined 100-250 minae. If he is a property-holding burgher or landholder, 5% of the income generated from these holdings is, for five years, provided to the state. If a nobleman, gentry, or public administrator his title is at the mercy of his liege or overseer. Public shaming or punishment is also possible.

3. Violatone Parvus

   1. 1. A petty violation results in a small fine, 100-250 minae, and a varying punishment. This includes social service, public flogging or punishment, and the recording of one’s name by the royal government.

Lege Mortalibus

Laws regarding Mortality and physical crimes of Man.

1. Unarmed Assault is an unaggravated attack upon a person’s body using one’s own body:

   1. Upon a man of the Noble Estate is grave and is classified as Culpa Majoris.

   2. Upon a man of the Burgher or Gentry Estate is forbidden and classified as Culpa Minoris.

   3. Upon a man of the Common Estate is forbidden and classified as Violatone Parvus.

2. Armed Assault is an unaggravated attack upon a person by way of a blade, cudgel, broken bottle, or any variety of armaments:

   1. Upon a man of the Noble Estate is grave and is classified as Culpa Majoris.

   2. Upon a man of the Burgher or Gentry Estate is forbidden and classified as Culpa Majoris.

   3. Upon a man of the Common Estate is forbidden and classified as Culpa Majoris.

3. Theft is the stealing of something that does not belong to oneself, for personal gain or otherwise:

   1. Petty theft, the pickpocketing of minae, stealing of random goods, or shoplifting, is classified as Violatone Parvus.

   2. Grand theft, the heist of an important relic, stealing of particular goods, or a large amount of minae, is classified as Culpa Majoris.

4. Murder is the assault, with or without armament, upon a person with the fatal intent:

   1. Attempted, or successful, murder upon a man of the Noble Estate, attempted murder is punishable immediately by death  and is classified by Atrocitas Majoris.

   2. Attempted, successful, murder upon a man of the Gentry Estate is Atrocitas Minoris.

   3. Attempted, successful, murder upon a man of the other Estates is Culpa Majoris or of varying punishment.

5. Slandering is the act of speaking with malintent against the King, a member of the aristocracy, or bureaucracy:

   1. If the slander involves or infers threats of violence the slanderer is subject to Culpa Majoris.

   2. If the slander concerns the King in any such way, the slander is considered Atrocitas Minoris.

6. Treason is acting against the State and the King in any way:

   1. Primary Conspiracy is any action taken against the Monarch, whether it be by blade, writing, or by plotting. It is considered Atrocitas Majoris and renders a royal trial.

   2. Grand Conspiracy is treason involving numerous plotters, poised against the Royal Government. It is deemed Atrocitas Majoris and renders a royal trial.

   3. Secondary Conspiracy is the indirect involvement in a plot or treasonous act, through aiding or assisting the plotters in any way. It is deemed Atrocitas Minoris and renders a jury.

7. Tax Issue is any act which, through illegal means, deducts from the revenue of any landholder or official of the state:

   1. Royal Tax Evasion is the crime by which a vassal of the Crown avoids taxation through negligent means. In itself, this is Culpa Minoris. If he outright denies the Monarch his rightful revenue, it is Culpa Majoris and he is summoned to the capital.

Lege Moribus

Laws regarding Morality and the spiritual crimes of Man.

Differing from the Lege Mortalibus, the identities of moral lawbreakers are handed over to the Church of the Canon, as well.

1. Blasphemy is the act of speaking, sacrilegiously, against God or the Church:

   1. Primary Blasphemy is the crime of speaking blasphemy, directly, to a crowd of assembled people or to a single person. As it is heard by the ears of the public, or the private, it can be charged. It is Culpa Majoris.

   2. Secondary Blasphemy is the act of supporting a blasphemer in confrontation. It is Violatone Parvus.  

   3. Aiding Blasphemy is the vile act of hiding a blasphemer from hunt. It is Violatone Parvus.

2. Heresy is teaching or dogma which differs from that of the Church.

   1. Perpetuating Heresy is the act of preaching heretical views to the public, to singular persons, or to small groups. It is the production and spread of anything heretical. It is Atrocitas Majoris with the punishment of a guilty verdict being death.

   2. Primary Heresy is the act of following heretical views, knowingly, and in this opposing the Church and the State. It is Atrocitas Majoris with the punishment of a guilty verdict being death.

   3. Secondary Heresy is following a heretical doctrine unknowingly, as in you are oblivious to the existence of the true teaching. In this case, baptism is necessary. It is classified as a Violatone Parvus.

3. Adultery is carnal relation when one, or both, of the parties are bound by marriage.

   1. Primary Adultery is the act of committing said sin when married. This is Atrocitas Majoris.

   2. Secondary Adultery is the act of having carnal relations with a married partner. This is Atrocitas Minoris.

   3. Protection of Adultery is the act of having knowledge of, yet not reporting, an adulterous affair.

4. Fornication is the act of having carnal relations while both parties have not yet been married.

   1. Primary Fornification being the direct act of having carnal relations outside of marriage. This is Atrocitas Minoris.

   2. Fornification and Illegal Birth is the act of having a bastard while outside of marriage. It is Culpa Minoris.

   3. Protection of Fornification is the act of not disclosing your knowledge of an affair to a priest or law enforcer. This is a Violatone Parvus.

5. Witchcraft is the act of partaking in dark magics, the arcane illegally, etc.

   1. Primary Witchcraft is practicing magic, unlicensed, and using it with malintent. This is punishable by Atrocitas Minoris.

   2. Magical Assault is using magic upon another person with malintent. It is Culpa Majoris.

   3. Arcane Trickery is the use of the arcane to sway the populace into sinful or unlawful acts. This is Culpa Minoris.

   4. Poisoncraft is the use of alchemy to produce poisons which are used with malintent. In itself this is Culpa Majoris.

Ius Nobilitum

The Rights and Duties of the Noble Estate

If one, through action or birth, is placed within the Noble Estate they are permitted the following rights:

1. The ability to claim their Coat of Arms

2. The ability to style themselves with an ennobled surname

3. The ability to hold titles

4. The ability to hold land

5. The ability to possess serfs

6. The ability to raise levies in times of war

7. The ability to hold a standing militant in times of peace

8. The ability to deliver judgement in their lands

A nobleman’s duty, as an aristocrat of the Noble Estate, is as follows:

1. Providing the Royal Estate with levy in times of conflict.

   1. Providing ¼ of their levy to the Faith Militant of the Royal Estate

2. Adherence to the Royal Statute of Metz and to bring judgement upon lawbreakers.

3. Adherence to the Royal Estate will.

4. Utmost loyalty to the Royal Estate.

5. Responding to summons to the Royal Court of Metz.

6. Submitting traitors and divulging suspected plots.

7. Taking no ill-will, whether in action or in thought, against the Royal Estate.

8. To lay your life down for the Royal Estate.

9. Adherence to the true Faith of Canonism and bring persecution upon its dissidents.

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