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Legal Roleplay and You


Toffee
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Preface

This guide contains information on various legal systems and how these might interact with roleplay. That said, do whatever is fun and don’t take things too seriously if it’s going to lead to hours of boring legalese and people sitting AFK in the back of a courtroom. 

 

Types of legal systems

There are literally dozens, but these are the basics.

 

Common law is judge-made law. This means that judicial decisions are based on the precedent set by past cases as well as the interpretation of statutes passed by the legislature. Real world examples include England, Australia, and New Zealand. To my knowledge, there are no LOTC equivalents.

 

Civil law is law set out in detailed codices. In this system, it is the role of judges to interpret the legal codes and apply it to the facts in front of them rather than create law with their decisions. Beginning in the Roman Empire, you can also find civil legal systems in France and Germany. A roleplay example is the Crown of Elvenesse and the Silver State of Haelun’or.

 

Religious law means that the law is based on rules from the religion and/or religious text. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen have systems of Sharia law—it is arguable that druid nations are similarly governed by laws derived from Aspectism.

 

Customary law refers to rules that are acknowledged and respected even though they are not codified, often because they have been practiced for so long that they have gained the status of law. This can be seen in international customary law (such as the expectation that a red carpet is rolled out for visiting heads of state) and in the law of various indigenous peoples. It is possible the rules around war and conflict on LOTC can be considered customary law.

 

International law is derived from treaties and conventions. Although not binding in and of itself, once a country signs and ratifies an international treaty, it is considered incorporated into their domestic law. This can be seen in the various conventions and declarations of the United Nations. In game, treaties between states can be considered international law.

 

Blended/pluralistic systems are when a state applies one or more of the above legal systems. For example, the legal system in the United States is a mixture of common law and civil law. The Holy Orenian Empire can be considered a blended system of religious and civil law, with the practice of canon law as well as imperial codices. It is arguable that wood elves are ruled by a mix of civil law—depending on which nation they reside in—as well as the customary law of the wood elven people.

 

How to conduct a trial

Jury trials came about in common law systems and involve (usually) twelve jurors selected at random from the public. Because emulating a common law system in roleplay would be far too difficult, this guide will discuss bench trials where a judge or panel of judges decides the verdict. It will also only focus on criminal proceedings rather than civil proceedings (in this particular context, “civil” means disagreements between parties e.g. a breach of contract). Note that in civil legal systems, trials are inquisitorial rather than adversarial, which means that the court focuses on fact-finding rather than being persuaded by the arguments of lawyers.

 

In very brief terms, the way a trial is carried out in most civil legal systems is as follows:

  1. Investigation: information is gathered by the police in regard to the alleged crime.
  2. Interrogation: questioning of the accused by the police.
  3. Pre-trial: the aforementioned evidence is reviewed by the court and a decision is made if there is enough evidence to prosecute. Note that, sometimes, a suspect can be detained during this period if they’re considered a flight-risk. If there is enough evidence to prosecute, the accused will be charged with a specific crime (from the criminal codex).
  4. Trial: the judge(s) will present the charges to the accused. The judge(s) will question the accused to establish the necessary facts. Witnesses will then be brought to the stand and similarly questioned by the judge(s).
  5. Judgment: the judge(s) will deliberate based on the evidence, statements from the accused, statements from witnesses, and any expert testimonies if applicable. They will decide if the accused is guilty of the crime they have been charged with.
  6. Sentencing: normally, civil legal systems have very clear sentencing procedures for different crimes. This is unlike in common law systems where judges have more discretion.
  7. Appeal: if either party is unhappy with the decision of the court, they can appeal the case within a certain time frame specified in the codex. The appeal will be considered based on legal grounds and the specific facts of the case and either granted or dismissed.

 

Trials in common law systems are, in my opinion, too complicated to emulate IRP. But religious trials and judgments passed by customary cultural practices (e.g. shunning from a druid grove) can be really interesting! Oftentimes, those systems are less structured and therefore differ wildly IRL and in roleplay, so I won’t attempt to document them here.

 

How could this work in roleplay?

Most nations have detailed codices of law e.g. 203.01C of the Orenian Revised Code - Where an individual intentionally deprives another of moveable property without the consent of its owner, and this property totals greater than five hundred minas in value, this shall be theft in the first degree, a felony. This makes it reasonably easy to carry out criminal proceedings.

 

Example:

Sally is accused of stealing a very expensive horse. The guards of the particular nation she allegedly committed this crime investigate, including questioning bystanders and potentially searching Sally’s property for evidence of the missing horse. Finding a horse matching the description of the stolen horse, the guards bring Sally to a cell for questioning. After this interrogation—where Sally denies any wrongdoing before keeping her silence—the guards go to the court. The judges/Exarchs/legal people review this evidence and decide that it is compelling enough to warrant prosecution. In the meantime, Sally is held in the cells (for the rule-abiding amount of time, accompanied by a guard for RP) because the guards have had trouble with her before and know she might run off.

 

Sally is charged with theft. A date is agreed upon where all parties will be able to attend, and the trial commences. The charges are read out, citing a specific section in the detailed codex. Sally is questioned by the judge and able to keep silent, or give her side of the story. The person whose horse was stolen is questioned. Bystanders who saw the horse being stolen are questioned. At the end of this, the judge will go away and deliberate. 

 

The time has come for Sally’s verdict. This could be on the same day, or at another agreed-upon time in the future. The judge finds Sally guilty, and sentences her under a specific provision in the codex. Sally then pays the fine/serves the sentence/goes off to be executed, deciding that she doesn’t wish to appeal.

 

All of this could be done in a few hours or spaced out in blocks over several days, depending on how in depth the court wishes to be and based on player availability. Or, the court could choose not to prosecute at all.

 

Conclusion

Hopefully this has been helpful! At the end of the day, RP is RP. If it would be more fun to blend common law and civil law to have dramatic cross-examinations and objections, do that instead! And if you have any questions, or I’ve gotten some information wrong, please feel free to reach out: Toffee#0458.

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+1 I can see this being especially helpful for newer players who have next to no familiarity with legal rp.

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Legal “rp” sucks in practice and literally just boils down to an ooc shitfrst half the time. In any experience I’ve had with it , it’s been genuinely unpleasant and is honestly quite an unfortunate fact that it’s adoption Is becoming more prevalent.

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Law? In a medieval fantasy setting?

 

I won’t have it.

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Law don’t matter when the judge be metagamin in their friends favor

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the elves won

Edited by Aengoth
noobli req courier new
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I'm crying that there's not a mention of Urguan at religious law. all my work, and for what? SHAME!

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