Judiciary of Themiclesia

The judiciary of Themiclesia is the unified judicial branch of the Themiclesian government; its jurisdiction includes civil, criminal, family, probate, administrative, local, admiralty, and military laws. The judicial branch is headed by judges appointed to sit in the House of Lords, in the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords. The laws applied by the Themiclesian judiciary are a partly-codified mixture of laws of domestic origin and the common law of Anglia.

The primary statute regulating the general structure of the judiciary is the Uniformity of Processes Act first enacted in 1780 and amended many times. Under its modern form, courts are divided into high courts, such as the Supreme Court of Themiclesia, High Court of Appeal, and the Exchequer Court of Themiclesia, and inferior courts, such as magisterial courts in the provinces.

History

The history of Themiclesian judicature "mirrors the birth and growth of Themiclesian government". Unlike some other primitive societies, there is little evidence that the early Themiclesians left judicial decisions to oracles, even though oracles were prominent in political affairs and preserved the earliest examples of writing in the nation's history. The tradition of royal laws occurred, according to some scholars, out of the memory of earlier decisions kept first by elders of the royal clan and then by dedicated officials; however, no known, effable "laws" recognizable to modern minds can be recovered from the Archaic Period, and it is possible that cases were decided without absolute rules about guilt, innocence, punishment, and compensation. Such rules may have developed intuitively or when the business of judicature no longer involved the monarch personally and could only be entrusted to others under firm guidance.

The need for written laws was moot when royal justice was required at more than one location. Officials known as justices (㷉, ′uts; literally "to suppress") were dispatched to various towns with a mandate to quell disputation and disorder. Their functions unified those of police, prosecutor, and judge in modern terms. Very early, justices became subject to routine inspections by other agents of the royal government, ostensibly in view of their expansive mandates and powers. During the Classical Period, there must have been a lengthy period of co-existence between royal justice and the arbitrative functions of clans or elders, though the division of responsibilities between them eludes modern scholars.

After the establishment of provinces in lieu of states, it was customary to appoint a justice for each province.

Ordinary courts

Supreme Court of Themiclesia

The Supreme Court of Themiclesia (中辰旦廷) is the chief court with original jurisdiction over all criminal suits as well as civil suits where the amount claimed is over €4. Its name in Shinasthana means "Court of Middle-Themiclesia", and the "middle" is translated as "supreme" in the sense of the broadness of its national jurisdiction. It was formed in 1780 from the merger of the Exchequer's (內史) civil jurisdiction over non-revenue matters with the jurisdiction of the Magistracy of Kien-k'ang (中㷉) over violent crimes.

County and provincial courts

County and provincial courts are courts of local jurisdiction and apply family, probate, traffic, and licensing laws that are considered to be of localized relevance.

Prior to the merger of the Magistracy of Kien-k'ang and the Exchequer's non-revenue division, the provincial courts were technically parallel to the Magistracy of Kien-k'ang. But since at least the Early Middle Ages, there was a tendency for cases to be transferred to the Magistracy of Kien-k'ang by command of the Chancellor. From the perspective of the royal government, such a transfer enabled it to conduct trials under its own laws and escape provincial influences, or because a certain magistrate was untrustworthy. From the perspective of the provincial magistrate, who was expected to enforce local laws as long as they did not contradict royal laws, a transfer to Kien-k'ang could also alleviate pressure from his docket. As the laws of Kien-k'ang became more accepted, it had also become customary to file cases to the Magistrate of Kien-k'ang, save under very peculiar circumstances, which evolved into the Supreme Court.

Military courts

Each of the three services of the Themiclesian armed forces and the Themiclesian Coast Guard possess a subordinate judiciary enforcing laws specific to members of that service. All appeals from these courts lie to the High Court of Appeal.

High Court of Error and Appeal

The High Court of Error and Appeal (廷㷉廷) was an ancient court of the royal government tasked with reviewing certain types of decisions made by all other magistrates, particularly capital sentences and issues of interest to the crown. It had original jurisdiction for cases of high treason until 1847, when the special process for that offence was suppressed in favour of the ordinary process applied for other criminal offences. Likewise, it had original jurisdiction for the Attorney-general's suits on behalf of the crown as well as all violent offences occurring within the precincts of the royal palaces, until that was stripped away in 1881. The only original jurisdiction the court has left is over criminal suits on behalf of other members of the royal family, though this jurisdiction is only theoretical and has not been tested since 1803.

Under the Uniformity of Process Act, it retained only its power to hear appeals from other courts. In 1971, the High Court of Appeal absorbed the Division of Proceedings in Errors in the Exchequer Court and became the High Court of Error and Appeal.

Chancery

The Chancery (相府, smangh-ling) was a court of procedures whose task was to investigate mistakes made by other magistrates, including the High Court of Appeal, and correct them with a Cancellarial Edict. By law, issues of substance cannot be brought in this court, since it operates from the Chancellor's authority, which is already delegated to the High Court of Appeal; the Chancellor's residual authority, then, only extends to the legal supervision of the High Court of Appeal.

House of Lords

The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords is the court of final appeal for all cases under Themiclesian law.

The Judicial Committee of the House of Lords is a special committee to which cases between governments, e.g. between the government in Kien-k'ang and that in Estoria, are referred. The Judicial Committee consists of all justices appointed to sit in the House of Lords and decides a case by simple majority; arguments are heard only by counsel.

See also

• Supreme Court of Themiclesia
• High Court of Appeal