[IC] Documents - The Magistrate system

These legal documents are currently being spread across the Kingdom of Stormwind and contains the ministry of justices seal. They are available at any town/city hall, library and copies are distributed to the militairy.

As times grow more chaotic his majestys court of law has been granted new guidlines per suggestion from Baron Braiden Mistmantle. As of now the court system will work according to the following guidelines.

1. The obligations and privileges of a magistrate

1.1: A magistrate is considered a Stormwind official of great esteem and is to be treated as such by the laws of the kingdom.
1.2: A magistrates judgement is done in the name of His Royal Majesty King Varian Wrynn. Should a magistrate turn out to act to look to its own interests rather then those of the kingdom of Stormwind, the Minister of Justice may strip them of their title and arrest them for treason followed by a trial. This however requires evidence deemed indisputable by the minister of justice.
1.3: A magistrate is obligated to hear any evidence deemed relevant to the matter at hand. Should proof that this has not been the case see the light of day it is considered grounds for appeal and is to be submitted to the minister of justice for evaluation. If found correct an official reprimand will be given to the magistrate in question.


2. Trial regulations

2.1: When an arrest is made the guard regiment that does so it to submit a request for a trial. All relevant information is to be included in the request to make sure that justice is done swiftly. Crimes not eligible for trial are as follows: disturbing the peace and public intoxication, both of these are however possible to appeal as per usual criterias.
2.2: A trial has three essential figures excluding witnesses; the magistrate, the prosecutor and the defendant. In addition to these three figures the defendant may chose to have a fourth person represent him, this person is referred to as a defense lawyer.
2.3: In the event of a zealotry trial the magistrate is to have a representative from the church of holy light as an adviser for the entire duration of the trial.
2.4: The prosecution and the defense respectively has the right to a maximum of five witnesses to testify on their behalf in cases minor offense and offense cases. In case of a major offense the limit is extended to ten. The defense of prosecution may be granted rights to additional witnesses should the magistrate deem it fitting. Should any of these witnesses be deemed irrelevant or violate the regulations of courtroom manners they will be removed but still be included in the full list of witnesses.
2.5: Citizens may attend a trial provided that their faces are visible at all times and no weapons is brought. Anyone attending is to remain silent at all times, failure to do so will lead to removal of said person and possible criminal charges depending on the nature of the disturbance. Trials of sensitive nature that is set to be behind locked doors is an exception from this.
2.6: For the duration of a trial none is allowed to enter or exit unless a break is declared or a person is ordered removed.
2.7: The senior guardsmen may in cases were they believe it motivated administer punishment without involvement from the magistry provided the magistry does not object.

3. Trial proceedings (trials step by step)

3.1: The magistrate arrives and greets the prosecution and defence.
3.2: The prosecution presents the charges towards the defendant. The defense confesses or denounces charges made upon the defendant.
3.3: Evidence in favor of the prosecution is presented followed by evidence in favor of the defense. These evidences includes written statements from the guard or guards responsible for the arrest and objects that may be of relevance.
3.4: Witnesses are called in order of relevance starting with one called by the prosecution then alternating between the sides (for details see cross examination part).
3.5: Respective side gets the opportunity to convince the court to take their side of the coin.
3.6: A verdict is made by the magistrate based on the evidence presented.

4. Courtroom manners

4.1: When the magistrate enters the room as the last person all present are to be standing to show their respect for the sovereignty of the court.
4.2: In a court of law respectful and appropriate behavior is to be presented. This means a person stands when addressed by the court, uses proper titles and does not speak unless given the word. Failure to follow proper etiquette may result in removal of the person in question.
4.3: In a court of law proper clothing is to be worn. Failure to do so may be fined the sum of ten gold coins.
4.4: In a court of law the use of profane and blasphemous language is strictly forbidden. Any element considered a violation against this by the magistrate is to be removed and may be punished under Stormwind law (disrupting a Stormwind official on duty or in extreme cases obstruction of justice).
4.5: Any display of violence in a court of law will be considered treason as it is an act to undermine the authority of the law.

5. Cross examinations

5.1: When a witness is called to the stand the defense and prosecution may choose to cross examine it with various questions relevant to the matter at hand. The side that calls the witness always starts out, after either side is done the other side gets the opportunity to add further questions.
5.2: During cross examination from either side the other side must remain silent. Violation of this may be punished with withdrawn rights to cross examine the witness for the violating side if the magistrate deems it necessary.
5.3: If the questions is deemed irrelevant by the magistrate he may demand an explanation. If the magistrate deems the reason invalid and similar questions or other irrelevant questions is brought up repeatedly the court may withdraw all further rights to cross examine witnesses. Valid reasons varies from a case to case, keep in mind that the credibility of the witness always is relevant.

6. Appeal

6.1: A matter can be eligible for appeal for two reasons; the first being new evidence and the second being misconduct by the court (see 1.3).
6.2: A request for an appeal may be sent to the minister of justice, a grand magistrate or the magistrate responsible for the trial and may be granted by either provided there is proof for either of the reasons in 6.1.

OOC:

Opinions on the system/guidelines may be discussed here

Here is a list on individuals who currently hold either positions. You may apply for either position but the position of prosecutor is generally tied to the guard regiments and the position of grand magistrate is generally earned trough a long time of service and dedication. Applicants should be well educated characters mainly and applications may be sent/discussed via ingame mail to Braiden, PM or whispers.


Grand Magistrates:
Baron Braiden Mistmantle (Braiden)

Magistrates:
Miss Sophyra Ashay (Sophyra)

Prosecutors:
Samian Vancerdal (Samian)

Cool thanks, look forward to das court room RP!

"Did you order that code red!"

cool shame shias story now means she is now unable to try for magistrate

Good ol' Anaei could get back in business.

Sounds good Glad we have a working system like this in place now.

Question though:

What about sort of minor/not too serious crimes such as theft or something, what I mean is, the old way we dealt with it was:

Theft
The illegal taking of another person's property without that person's freely-given consent.
{{{ - Punishment: -- May be imprisoned ranging from 6 to 48 hours, depending on attitude and amount stolen and will receive 5 lashings. Fined, and the amount stolen. If possible, stolen possession is to be returned to owner.}}}

Now say for example he just stole something minor, and was going to have the 6 hours jail time, then obviously he would be free in 6 hours, with the trial process would it take maybe a couple of days to get a trail? So therefore they would have to stay in jail for however long it took for a trial to be arranged? Now knowing that people hate to be locked up for long specially for a not so serious crime, they would be a lot more break outs etc.

Or can trials be arranged in a quick fashion for things like this?

Golden rule: talk to the prisoner OOCly. Most of the time crimes are so obvious and so minor that they agree to be sentenced&punished by the guards.

Yes, obviously it's up to the people involved to decide if it can be handled without a court procedure or if it would be more entertaining to have that part RPd out. As Exa said and I try to push when it comes to people involved in this system: Always communicate OOCly when it comes to how things are handled.

Concerning punishment, crime and time frame of the trials: The revised laws doesn't have set punishments per crime as the old ones did to give players a wider range when it comes to handling crime, this means punishment will be dealt out depending on what's ok for the convict OOC and how merciful the magistrate/guard is (or if the circumstances around the crime allows for an easier/harder punishment). When it comes to arranging trials they can be arranged quickly if there are magistrates, prosecutors and so on available if the urgency is pressed OOC.

Ahhh ok cool

And yeah, we was trying to get away from the old punishments anyways a bit and instead have more "fun" punishments, so hopefully this can tie in with this system.

Anyways thanks I for one really like the sound of it, the more people can be involved in the RP the better IMO

Bump, this needs to be seen

Question, Does holding one of these posts make you unable to act in defence?

As a defense lawyer? No it does not.

Good, I would want samian to defend me. He is too good to be on the other side XD

Bumping this, this system is still there and open for anyone to use. Just contact me to set it up

Just contact me to set it up Smile

I would like to do just this, Braiden!

Looks good!

Not good enough to get Rem in court any time soon though.

This is now available as a GHI IC book for those of you that want it. Just give me a shout.

*Raises hand.*

I am most definitely interested!

ah yes want coppy of book for monrena she is a bookworm so would love this

We need moar magistrates badly too!

*points to a now long term draenie*

A couple of more magistrate's would be appriciated. I couldn't get to either of you last night, and you guys tend to be quite important..

Inquisitor Helmfrid will send a letter of application if that is alright and doors are still open.

I have been on a prolonged new years break, but I'll be back ingame today. People that wants to apply are still allowed to do so and I'll get to handling open cases asap.