Judiciary of Great Nortend

The judiciary of Great Nortend is the branch of the Erbonian government that is responsible for applying the law of Great Nortend. It is administered through His Majesty's Chancery, the Lord High Chancellour.

The Erbonian legal system is constitutionally based in the concept of “natural right”, which is manifested in the customs, precedents and statutes of the nation. The Sovereign as the highest authority in the land, is font of right. The law is applied in the hierarchy of courts which dispense the King's justice.

Law

Main article: Law of Great Nortend

The intangible “natural right” is the foundation of Erbonian law. All customs, precedents and statutes are seen as the nation's expression of the “natural right” as applicable from time to time. Practically speaking, therefore, there are three main categories of law :— civil law, criminal law and canon law. These are traditionally considered to involve disputes of “Subject against Subject”, “Crown against Subject” and “God against Subject”.

All of these specialised branches of law, such as military law, admiralty law, forest law, mining law, &c., fall into one of these three main categories.

Courts

All Erbonian courts exercise the Sovereign's prerogative, as the font of right, to “do right” to his subjects. There are two types of court :— the sessions courts and the royal courts. The former dispense “low justice” and deal with misdemeanours and civil quarrels between fellow vassals. The latter dispense “high justice” with the sole right to pass a sentence of death. They also deal with disputes between subjects under the jurisdiction of no single sessions court. There is a system of appeal from the lowest sessions court to the highest royal court, which is to the King himself.

The sessions courts are local courts consisting of the manor sessions, the petty sessions and the general sesssions which try with disputes within a manor, a hundred and the county at large respectively. They are presided over by lay judges, mainly recorders and yeomen of right. While they apply chamber law, they have no power to create precedents by their judgment. New customary rules can be established over time, although this is quite rare nowadays. Most of the ancient law originates in the sessions.

The royal courts include the chamber courts and Court of Counsellours. The chamber courts are the Court of King's Chamber and the Court of Common Chamber, which deal with mostly criminal and civil matters respectively, as well as appeals. They are staffed by trained judges appointed under the Great Seal of the Realm to serve at the Sovereign's pleasure. Their judgments form the body of chamber law which is binding to an extent on themselves and lower courts upon inrolment on their respective chamber rolls. Justices of the two chamber courts periodically go on Eyre around the kingdom sitting as Courts of Eyre. An Eyre is unable to create chamber law itself; however, once the judgments of the Eyre are inrolled in the chamber rolls at the termination of the Eyre, they become chamber law.

The canonical courts are the consistory courts

The official courts are special courts which deal with Admiralty law, martial law and most importantly, canon law. They rely on statutes as well as "common conscience" to decide cases, rather than the precedents recorded on the court rolls. Canon law importantly provides a means of softening the rigour of the chamber courts. An important plea is that of mens corrupta, which if successfully pleaded in chamber court criminal causes, can move the case into the canon law courts where there is no penalty of death though the burden of proof for the Crown is much lower.

Judges

Court dress of the justices of the Chamber Courts.

Lords Justices

The Lords Justices are the justices, or rather suitours, of the Court of Counsellours, where they are known as Law Counsellours. Lords Justices are appointed typically from senior chamber justices and are members of the House of Lords, being created a knight banneret by the Sovereign. Though they have full voting rights, by custom this is not exercised except in matters of law. The Lord Justice of Common Chamber and Lord Chief Justice are Lords Justices; however, they do not usually sit in the Court of Counsellours.

Chamber Justices

The Chamber Courts, being the Court of King's Chamber and the Court of Common Chamber, have a total of thirteen justices. This includes two lords justices—the Lord Justice of Common Chamber and the Lord Chief Justice—as well as five and six puisne justices in the Common Chamber and King's Chamber respectively. All of the puisne justices are titled the Hon. Mr. Justice A. B. whereas the lords justices are titled the Rt Hon. Lord Justice A. B.

All chamber justices are Serjeants at Law (servientes ad legem), and are customarily knighted as Knights Companion of the Order of the Mantle and Tippet, the tippet being a term used to refer to the liripipe of a hood. They are also made Doctors of Chamber Law, not to be confused with Doctors of Civil Law, for practitioners of canon law.

The dress of a chamber justice, as they are known, is shewn on the right. On festal occasions and red-letter days, all justices wear scarlet robes (row 1), lined in fur. The fur for the lords justices are of ermine, whereas miniver is used for puisne justices. With the scarlet robe is worn the scarf, hood and mantle. A black silk girdle is worn around the waist. A detachable wing collar is worn with white bands as well as a powdered full-bottomed wig. Gloves and lace cuffs are also worn and the black cap is carried. Court dress is worn underneath the robes.

For normal sitting days, the justices wear scarlet robes lined in silk in summer and dark violet robes in the winter. The silk is silk velvet for the Lords Justices and silk taffeta for puisne justices. Traditionally it is of a mid-grey colour; however, lighter grey is increasingly popular, an innovation credited to Mr. Justice Rewhard.

In 1983 the festal robes replaced the violet robes in winter for purposes of economy; however, in 2003 the return to historical practice was recommended to all justices by both the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellour, as it was found that wearing the scarlet robes all year wore them out quicker.

Court of Eyre

See also: Courts of Great Nortend § Court of Eyre

The puisne justices when on circuit or eyre wear for normal sittings days a simplified or more informal version of the robes worn (row 3). The same robes are worn with a casting-hood instead of the full hood. The casting-hood is a hood thrown by the liripipe behind the body, giving the effect of a sash. Justices wear with this 'undress' a short bench wig. Court dress is worn underneath the robes.

Addressing judges

Main article: Forms of address in Great Nortend § Judiciary