Kalderani law
Societies need regulation in order to survive. Kinship obligations, codes of ethics, and codes of etiquette provide regulation. In cases where breaking the code leads to punishment by an agency acting on behalf of the society, the code may be called a law. If the infraction is punished by gossip, social disapproval, ostracism, or ridicule, it is generally called a custom.
Kalderesh is a lawful society, with a very complex legal code, enforced by several courts. The foundation of Kalderani law is the Lex Libri, a compilation of legal principles that encapsulate and illustrate the legal philosophy embraced by the Kalders, and founded on the Royal Bond. All citizens may receive, upon a single request, a copy of the Lex Libri, which contains the legal codes as well as a list of crimes.
In terms of practical legal matters, the Lex Libri is administered by courts, law benches, and justices of the peace. In cities, all three will be present. In small settlements, the Midnight Court may visit regularly to oversee disputes.
Any judicial ruling, from a royal decree to a decision made by the Court Honourable, may be appealed once. In this case, a priest of D’Aad is appointed to give the final ruling.
Generally speaking, the legal system does not operate a large prison network. At most there are temporary holding prisons, typically for 24 hours.
Legal precedence
The order of legal precedence is given in the table below.
| ranks | courts |
|---|---|
| Clerk to Senior Justice (levels 1 – 8) | Not permitted to run a court |
| Judge Advocate to Senior Judge Advocate (levels 9 – 14) | Civic Courts, Lower Court |
| Judge to Senior Judge (levels 15 – 19) | Guild Courts, Military Courts, High Court |
| Justiciar to Senior Justiciar (levels 20 – 24) | Midnight Court |
| Justice to Honourable Justice (levels 25 – 30) | Court Honourable |
Officials who conduct a wide range of legal duties, but excluding judicial functions, occupy the lowest tiers of precedence: Clerk, Summoner, Warrant Officer, Registrar, Master of the Court, Justices of the Peace, and Senior Justice.
Upon attaining 9th level, the rank of Judge Advocate, a person may function as a judge: one who rules in court on the guilt or innocence of another, following established legal codes. Judge Advocates may function in Civic and Lower Courts.
Upon attaining 15th level, a Judge Advocate is elevated to the rank of Judge, and may serve on Civic, Lower, Guild, Martial, and High Courts.
Judges wishing to pursue a career leading to a seat in the Court Honourable, the highest court in Kalderesh, first need to complete service in the Midnight Court.
Midnight Court and the Courtage
To enter the Midnight Court, a Judge first undertakes a short period of special training, and is elevated to the rank of Justiciar.
At all times there are only seven Justiciars. Each Justiciar is in charge of a retinue (junior judges, clerks, servants, guards) known as a Courtage. The Courtages travel throughout Kalderesh to visit every settlement, rule on legal disputes, and provide legal services. Two weeks ahead of a Courtage rides a single Notificer, who is first to reach a settlement, announce the Courtage’s impending arrival, and invite citizens to bring their cases forward.
The Notificer is in charge of the Midnight Roll, a scroll on which is recorded the details of cases that are to be brought before the court.
When the Courtage arrives they are handed the Midnight Roll, and the Notificer soon departs to the next settlement.
The Courtage may spend anywhere from a day to two weeks at a location, depending on the nature of the disputes they are required to settle.
The outcomes of each case are noted on the Midnight Roll, and when their business at a settlement is done, the Roll is sealed.
Not all seven Courtages are necessarily active at the same time. Once a circuit has been completed, a Courtage returns to Camfor to analyse and eventually deposit the Midnight Rolls. The rulings from each case are recorded by the Clerk of the Roll in the Vetus Voluma, a growing compendium of legal decisions in Kalderesh.
Court Honourable
A Justiciar of good standing may, after a period of service in the Midnight Court, be elected to the Court Honourable.
The Court Honourable is composed of Justices and is overseen by the Honourable Justice assisted by two High Justices.
Punishment
Punishment for a crime is accomplished by the revoking of one or more of the rights of the guilty party. Revoking the right to exist is a death penalty. Revoking the right to quality of life is an expiatory penalty. Revoking the right to freedom is incarceration. Revoking the right to tangible things is amortisolation. Revoking the right to intangible things is obliviasis.
Punishments are divided into three categories: Class A, Class B, and Class C. All punishments include a public expiatory component, so that justice is seen to be done.
A Class A punishment involves wealth transfer. A fine (money, goods, or other tangible assets) is determined, which is proportional to the wealth of the individual. A poor street vendor and a rich merchant will effectively pay the same penalty, although in absolute terms the fines will be vastly different.
In very rare cases, when the individual does not have assets that can be humanely seized, a Class B-2 punishment may be handed down.
As expiation, Class A offenders have their testimonials available for public viewing in a Law Office for a period of six months. At the end of that time, the individual is to appear at the Law Office and remove the testimonial from display. The details of the case are still publicly available, in a Hall of Records.
Class B punishments entail bonded servitude (labour without profitable recompense). The guilty person spends time performing predefined tasks and labours. These individuals have had mind-affecting spells cast on them, by a cleric of D’Aad, that prevent them from causing behavioural problems.
Expiatory penalties are two-fold. The first is physical branding, typically on the hands and forehead, publicly identifying the individual as a person undergoing chastisement, and stating the nature of their crime. The second is as in a Class A punishment, accompanied by a public ceremony at which the branding is officially removed.
Individuals are housed in internment hostels, low-security common-room housing. In certain cases, on compassionate grounds, an individual may be allowed to return home at day-end.
Class B-2 punishment is as above with the exclusion of the expiatory penalty.
Class C punishment is simple incarceration. In rare cases, an individual is wholly removed from society and interred in a prison for a period of time. The expiatory penalty is as for Class B.
Secular and ecclesiastical law
Finally, there is a category of justice not addressed by the Lex Libri directly, namely ecclesiastical law, which deals exclusively with religious law and theological law. Rulings are usually made by a specially convened internal tribunal.
Religious laws relate to mundane matters. Theological laws deal with blasphemy, heretical pronouncements, and acts of outright evil where there are no mitigating circumstances.
Potential actions against an offending ecclesiastic includes being removed from the ranks of the clergy, exile to a remote place, demotion, pilgrimage, and work penance with or without confinement in a monastery.
In rare instances, justice for a particular transgression may, on recommendation of a clerical legal edict, be handed over to a secular court because, in principle, the Lex Libri has precedent over ecclesiastical law.
Contracts and oath swearing
A contract is a written statement of intent between two parties. It describes the actions to be undertaken by one party following the actions undertaken by the second party, and vice versa. Failure by both or either of the parties to fulfil their actions results in consequences which are spelled out in the contract. Free agreement and comprehension by both parties of the conditions is required for a legally binding contract. Because there are two parties, the document is made in duplicate. A contract is regarded as being active when the Oath of the Seven is performed by both parties, and the written documents are ensigned with a fingerprint of blood from each named party.