Judiciary Act, 1740

[Esterlen 4499]

ACT OF THE IMPERIAL DIET

 

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JUDICIARY ACT, 1740

20 Sun’s Smile

Introduced in the Imperial Senate.

Passed through the Imperial Senate in the term of 1738-1740.

 

AYE

 

Armas

Corbish

Flameforge

May

Napier

Rutledge

Sola

 

NO

 

Helvets

 

An act to establish and reform the judiciary of the Holy Orenian Empire, in accordance with accepted legal principles of fairness, independence and justice.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The purpose of this act is to establish and define fair, independent and just courts of judicature within the Holy Orenian Empire, with their origin in established and incontrovertible law, thereby reducing the clutter and inefficiency of the current Imperial court system and introducing courts of specific power and jurisdiction. 

 

SECTION I:

 

On the enshrinement on the necessity of the separation of powers, by Veikko Harjalainen, Solicitor-General (1739):

 

• The Emperor, who stands as a representation of his empire and as a mouthpiece of God, can only make general laws to bind his citizens, but it belongs not to him to judge whether any individual has violated the binds of social contract that he creates with these laws. 
• In cases of law, there will always stand two parties - those who insists upon the violation of the Emperor’s law, and the other who vehemently denies it. A sovereign would always judge as guilty those he accuses. 
• It is therefore a necessity then that there should be a third person to decide this contest; a judge, or magistrate, from whose determination should consist of nothing more than an affirmation or negation of a breaking of the laws.

 

SECTION II:

 

On the establishment of the Circuit Courts of the Holy Orenian Empire:

 

• The Western Circuit, serving as a mobile court with the jurisdiction of Helena and Haense, as the only court of first instance within this territory, shall be headed by the justices of the Western Circuit Court to decide judgements of the court of the Empire within this province. This position is until resignation, or deemed unnecessary by a vote of the Senate, or alternately the prerogative of the Crown.
• The Eastern Circuit, serving as a mobile court with the jurisdiction of Kaedrin, Warwick, Curon, as the only court of first instance within this territory, shall be headed by the justices of the Eastern Circuit Court, who decide judgements of the court of the Empire within this province. These positions are until resignation, or deemed unnecessary by a vote of the Senate, or alternately the prerogative of the Crown.
• No other courts within the territory of the Holy Orenian Empire or its subsidiary realms shall exist with the power to cast judgements in the first instance.
• The number of justices on each of these circuits shall evolve according to an ad hoc basis and shall not be fixed.

 

SECTION III:

 

On the establishment of the Supreme Court of the Holy Orenian Empire:

 

• The Supreme Court, which shall act as an appellate court only which serves the entirety of the Holy Orenian Empire.
• This court shall be comprised of three Justices of the Supreme Court, of whom one shall hold the office of Chairman of the Supreme Court. These justices of the Supreme Court act with the delegated power of the Crown, and are thus selected by the Crown with the advice and consent of the Imperial Senate. 
• Any judgement incurred by the Supreme Court shall not be made with no less than a majority of two out of three of the justices of the Supreme Court, with all three judges being required to hear the case, giving their interpretation and vote.
• Any civil verdict and any criminal verdict can appeal to the Supreme Court. 
• The Supreme Court is delegated the power to overturn any verdict from lesser courts. 
• Any appeal of the verdict of a lesser court must be done on one of two bases - an appeal on the basis of the facts of the case or an appeal on the basis of a mistrial. 
• Any appeal shall be brought by way of petition to the Supreme Court, praying that the matter of the order or judgment appealed against maybe reviewed before those delegated the authority of judgement while seated as a justice of the Supreme Court, in order that the said court may determine what of right, and according to the law and custom of this realm, ought to be done in the subject matter of such appeal.
• Any appeal shall not be entertained by the Supreme Court, without the assessment of at least one justice of the Supreme Court that determines that the appeal is on good and sensible grounds, in any case where proceedings in error or on appeal could not have previously been had in the Supreme Court without the fiat or consent of such officer.
• It is the duty of the Supreme Court to post its judgements on a public forum, as they are conclusions of law at the highest level, therefore becoming precedential conclusions of common law, in contrast to statutory law which shall exist through legislation. 
• Any verdicts of the Supreme Court shall become binding interpretations of law, unless overturned by subsequent sessions of the Supreme Court.
• The Crown shall retain the Imperial prerogative as a final stage of appeal, however, the involvement of the Crown is a direct challenge to the validity of the Supreme Court in as much as overriding or devaluing their judgements, and thus this must be relegated as an extreme measure of extraordinary circumstance and should not be anything beyond a rarity.
• Any provincial ‘justiciar’ positions are hence forbidden from the casting of judgements or the hearing of cases, as only the aforementioned approved judges of the Circuit and Supreme Court may cast judgements of law under the provisions of this legislation. 
• Any provincial ‘justiciar’ positions are required to instead serve as legal advisors analogous to the Imperial Solicitor-General in function, as denoted in Section VI of this document, and in this advisory capacity serve as a provincial government’s legal representative and chief prosecutor of their realm. 

 

SECTION IV:

 

On the competencies of the Circuit Courts of the Holy Orenian Empire:

 

• The justices of the Circuit Courts, both Western and Eastern, act with the delegated power of the Crown and are thus selected by it with the consultation of the government of each vassal province as well as the advice and consent of the Imperial Senate.
• The rulings of the Circuit Courts are to adhere to both Imperial law and, in cases of no conflict, provincial law, specifically that pertaining to the location in which the offenses originated. In instances of conflict between these codexes with either offenses or penalties, Imperial law shall always take precedence, the failure of which to occur being clear grounds for an appeal to the Supreme Court.
• The rulings of the Circuit Courts are to remain strictly textualist in nature.

 

SECTION V:

 

On cohesion and sensibility in respect to Imperial law:

 

• The law of the Crownlands is to be revised by the office of Solicitor-General, with the active collaboration of provincial governments, and expanded to become the Comprehensive Laws of the Holy Orenian Empire, or colloquially, the ‘Imperial Lawbook’.

 

SECTION VI:

 

On the codification of legal custom:

 

• The respective royal Crowns of vassal states denoting kingly rank, by custom, can not be taken directly to civil suit, retaining sovereign immunity. 
• Accordingly, it is imperative that these sovereigns appoint local analogues to the office of Imperial Solicitor-General, serving as legal representatives to the Crowns and their governments, to serve as both chief prosecutor (in criminal cases), plaintiff and defense (in civil cases) on behalf of the Crowns in the courts. 
• The courts established herein are to retain an inquisitorial format whilst retaining a prosecution and defense in criminal cases or plaintiff and defendant in civil cases. 
• On the Imperial level and within the Crownlands the prosecution in criminal cases shall be conducted by the office of Solicitor-General, in accordance with his role as an Imperial government’s chief lawyer and representatives of the Crown in prosecution.
• On the provincial level, the prosecution in criminal cases shall be conducted by local officeholders such as the aforementioned pre-existing ‘justiciars’, in accordance with their roles as a provincial government’s chief lawyer and representatives of the Crown in prosecution.
• Criminal cases shall take the titled format of “The Crown vs. [defendant]”.

 

Introduced by Senator Charles Napier on the 14th of Godfrey’s Triumph, 1740.

 

ISSUED AND PROCLAIMED,

 

His Imperial Majesty, Peter III Anthony,

Holy Orenian Emperor, King of Renatus, Salvus, and Seventis, Duke of Lorraine and Roden, Baron of Sedan, Protector of the Heartlanders, Highlanders, and Farfolk, etcetera.