Appeal of Baruch et. al v Surgeon General 371 ES

[GMRO 5281]

APPEAL

BEFORE THE CROWN

 

 

KRUZAE ZWY KONGZEM

 

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This Appeal, issued on the 5th of Jula and Piov 371 ES by the Aulic Government and represented by the Lord Palatine,

 

Petitions the Crown to overturn the decision of Baruch et. al. v. Surgeon General for the following reasons:

 

In accordance with Haurul Caezk 306.031, the judgment of the Aulic Court was seriously flawed for the below reasons.

 

 

Examination of the Deceased

The Jovenaar’s judgment was seriously flawed by claiming that the Surgeon-General needed permission to examine Duke Matyas’ body. Like with all bodies, a non-invasive examination was performed on the Duke to assess cause of death. The Jovenaar’s stated that this counted as a defacing act of vandalism under Section 414.02 of the Haurul Caezk.

 

‘Autopsy’ is not defined in the law, but it is listed under Section 414 as an act of vandalism. The language and requirements for vandalism under Section 414 necessitates some kind of ‘defacement’, but there was no proven defacement in this case. The medical examination was visual, with no mark left on the body at all. The Jovenaar’s finding this to be an ‘autopsy’ is dangerously broad, defies common sense, and is inconsistent with the rest of Section 414. Under this verdict, even moving or examining a dead body would count as an autopsy. It is completely nonsensical.

 

This finding also finds the Surgeon-General in violation of 414, a criminal code, which it cannot do without a criminal trial.

 

Burning of the Deceased

The Jovenaar’s judgment was seriously flawed by claiming that the Surgeon-General needed the permission of Duke Matyas’ family to burn his body. Duke Matyas’ body was kept in the Hospital for a total of thirteen months. His family at all times knew the body was there, but for over a year made absolutely no effort to obtain it or even contact the Surgeon-General. All the while, the body was decaying. Despite the Surgeon-General’s best efforts to keep the body intact, it had rotted quite thoroughly after thirteen months and it was at this point badly decayed and posed a serious threat of disease, so the Surgeon-General cremated it. This is allowed under Section 310.05 of the Haurul Caezk:

 

310.05: Necessity 

Where a party was forced to commit a crime to prevent a greater crime or unsolicited self-harm, they shall not be held liable or receive reduced punishment.

 

Both the criteria of 310.05 are met here. The Surgeon-General was preventing even greater defacement of Duke Matyas’ body through further rot by burning it, and also protecting herself and her staff by burning the rotting body before disease could fester.

 

Acknowledged Risk

The Jovenaar’s judgement was seriously flawed in failing to account for the fact that the family of the deceased had neglected to even attempt to collect his body for thirteen months, entitling the Surgeon-General to rely on Section 310.04 of the Haurul Caezk:

 

310.04: Acknowledged Risk

Where a party knowingly and willingly placed themselves in a situation which held risk for them, they cannot petition the Aulic Court if that risk occurs.

 

By neglecting to even try and collect the body of Duke Matyas for thirteen months, the family clearly placed themselves in a situation where there was a risk that the Duke’s body had to be laid to rest to save his body from further defacement and to protect the Hospital and the city from disease. Because of this, they have no entitlement to petition the Aulic Court. It is ridiculous to attempt to shift blame on the hard-working Hospital, which is constantly overworked with the ongoing Troll War, because the family did not bother to make any attempt to collect the body for over a year.

 

Duties of the Hospital

The Jovenaar’s judgment was seriously flawed in saying that the Surgeon-General was negligent in her duties. Nowhere in the Haurul Caezk are the duties of the Surgeon-General or Hospital listed; instead, they are a government entity managed by the Palatine. The Jovenaars acted outside of their jurisdiction by saying the Surgeon-General was negligent in her duties of contacting the family to collect the body, because this is not a duty assigned in any law or regulation to the Hospital. Section 201.02 provides that the Aulic Government is separated into the Aulic Council, Royal Duma, and Aulic Court. For the Jovenaars to make up duties of the Hospital in the form of body distribution, they are assimilating a role of the Palatine, which they have no jurisdiction to do.

 

Not only did the Jovenaars fabricate a duty that the Surgeon-General had neglected, but they assigned guilt because of it. While one can very generally presume the duty of the Hospital to be to treat the injured, the Court cannot go beyond that in dictating what their policies are, especially when House Baruch knew for thirteen months where to get the body and for thirteen months did nothing. As the Hospital is an unregulated government body, its functions and policies fall directly under the Palatine, and it is vastly outside the jurisdiction of the Aulic Court to (a) decide what the specific duties of the Hospital are and (b) to assign legal liability because of their own fabrication.

 

Negligence of the Family & Reputational Harm

The Jovenaars’ judgment was seriously flawed in saying that Duke Matyas and House Baruch had suffered reputational harm because of the cremation of the Duke. Once again, for thirteen months House Baruch knew where the body was and for thirteen months they made absolutely no effort to even try and collect it. That they are now trying to sue the Surgeon-General for respectfully cremating the rotted body is a mockery.

 

This is like House Baruch smashing a window, and then trying to blame the Surgeon-General for cleaning up the pieces. If Duke Matyas suffered reputational harm, it was because his own family did not care to collect his body for over a year. The body was already defaced through decay after this time, and the Surgeon-General gave it a traditional Haeseni cremation because the family never came. House Baruch would have been unable to ever hold a proper Canonist burial because the body was in such an extreme and unsafe state of decay where it carried harmful disease.

 

It cannot be stressed enough that House Baruch did absolutely nothing about the body for thirteen months, and likely would never have done anything had they not learned of the cremation through a theft from the morgue.

 

Cost

The damages of 1,500 to House Baruch is a ridiculously high amount. This kind of money would buy and pay taxes for a manor on Koengstriet many times over. The fact that House Baruch acted so irrefutably negligently by not collecting the body for over a year is irreconcilable with the money awarded her.

 

It is nothing short of a theft from the Royal Treasury in the circumstances. Even if this Appeal were to fail on all other grounds, the amount owed should be lowered to an absolute maximum of 300 Mina.

 

 

I swear the contents of this Appeal to be true and accurate to the best of my belief before Godan and pray to see justice restored in this proceeding.

 

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Signed,

His Excellency, Maric var Ruthern, Lord Palatine of Hanseti-Ruska, Margrave of Greyspine, Count of Metterden, Baron of Rostig

GMRO#6495

 

 

[Rudi 1735]

 

Let it be known that with this writ, the appeal of the Lord Palatine has been looked over by his majesty,

 

After many hours of deep thought and consideration, his majesty has come to the conclusion that amount of mina in  compensation has to be lowered to 310 mina. Nonetheless his majesty regrets the circumstances that had lead to the current situation. Godani in his heart and the people of Haense behind him, his majesty demands and issues swift actions to ensure that none of these things ever happen again. The Surgeon-General of Haense is to be held responsible for the lack of transparency and is expected to write a personal genuine apology to house Baruch within the next three saint days.

 

For this reason the current Surgeon-Genera is required to list and catalog every single corpse and has to inform the family of each person's body which has found its way into the morgue. Every body that cannot be identified has to be reported to the office of the High Justicar to start an identification process. Every body will  remain in the morgue for a maximum amount of thirteen months after the letter or the identification process has started. 

 

After the thirteen months period has passed, and the body has not been identified or picked up by the responsible family, the body is to be burned by the hospital staff. Every single burned body by the hospital is to be reported to either: a) the responsible family or b) to the office of the High Justicar, in case of an unidentified body. 

 

 

IV JOVEO MAAN,

IV JOVEO EHR, 367 ES

 

His Royal Majesty, Heinrik II, by the Grace of Godan, King of Hanseti and Ruska, Grand Hetman of the Army, Prince of Bihar, Dules, Ulgaard, Lahy, Sorbesborg and Slesvik, Duke of Carnatia and Vidaus, Margrave of  Korstadt and Rothswald, Count of Chatnik, Nenzing, Graiswald, Karikhov, Baranya, Kvasz, Kavat, Karovia, Kovachgrad, Torun, Turov, Kaunas, Alban, Reza and Markev, Viscount of Grauspin, Baron of Thurant, Rytsburg, Venzia, Essenstadt, Krepost and Kralta, Lord of the Westfolk, Protector of the Highlanders, etcetera