OBS Chapter 187: First time being a defendant, a little nervous
Chapter 187: First time being a defendant, a little nervous
Although the empire established by the overlord had been extinct thousands of years ago, the legacy of the empire is still inherited by the countries on this land and continues to this day, including its mature legal system.
However, in this era of obvious class differences, the old imperial legal responsibilities were not enough to quell internal conflicts. As the inheritor of most of the empire's territory, the Kingdom of Midland also reformed the old imperial laws.
As early as the founding of the country, the first king of Midland established the legitimacy of his throne through legislation and protected the ownership of each lord to his own territory in exchange for their support. After being revised by successive kings, the current law was formed. Of course, except for the royal legitimacy and the lord's ownership of the territory, which are applicable to the entire kingdom, other laws only apply to the territories directly under the royal family.
However, Midlan's biggest change to the imperial judicial system was not to modify the content of the law, but to split the courts as trial institutions into aristocratic courts and civilian courts.
Needless to say, the civilian court is specifically responsible for hearing and trying cases between civilians. Judges are usually appointed by the local mayor or the king himself.
However, the situation was quite different in the noble courts. First of all, the judges had to be of noble birth and must be appointed by the king himself, and they had to be accompanied by a guard to protect the judges, so as to be able to subdue those unruly nobles.
However, if both parties or one party involved is a noble of the earl level and it may lead to a regional war, the king as the ruler of the country must personally step in to mediate. To put it bluntly, if the two parties really reach the point of accepting the king's mediation, it means that the two parties no longer want to fight, and it is better for each party to find a way out.
At this time, John was sitting in the waiting room specially provided for nobles in the court. Although he was charged with many crimes, there was no soldier guarding him. This was of course because he was a noble, but more likely because of the dozen White Wolf Knights around him, which made the judges feel that it would be better not to start a conflict without authorization.
After receiving the court summons yesterday, John's first reaction was to wonder who this Earl of Hawes was. Although John was somewhat familiar with the name, he could not remember who he was.
John then began to send people to the Simon Chamber of Commerce to seek relevant people who are proficient in law. As the Simon Chamber of Commerce has grown into one of the business giants in Midland, Simon has long trained and recruited a group of lawyers with high salaries to handle the legal issues of the Chamber of Commerce.
Although what John was accused of had nothing to do with the business law they were responsible for, at this time they had no choice but to hire a group of lawyers to study the case repeatedly.
Of course, John could find all kinds of excuses not to go to court. After all, his territory was located on the border. As long as it was not a clear crime of treason, once John returned to the territory, he could still be his own emperor. No matter how powerful the court was, could it send troops to capture him? Even the king had to consider whether to provoke a loyal vassal to turn his sword against him for some trivial matter.
But John thought about it carefully, and he had no reason to choose this bad strategy to deal with this incident, whether he had violated the law or not. First of all, if he ran back to his territory, the nobles who opposed him would publicize John's disregard for national laws and cowardly behavior, and then his previous brave and fearless image in front of the public would be gone.
Secondly, this would also make the court nobles dissatisfied with him, thinking that he was intentionally avoiding fighting with the local nobles, and thus lose the support of the court nobles. So John had to fight this lawsuit, even if he couldn't win, he couldn't lose in momentum, in order to let the court nobles see his opposition to the local nobles so that they would feel at ease to continue to support him.
"Sir John, the judge has summoned you to the courtroom."
Just then, a servant from the court ran up to John from the back door and spoke tremblingly under the gaze of the White Wolf Knights.
"Okay, I understand. You lead the way." After hearing this, John stood up and followed the servant to the main entrance of the court.
After the servant opened the door, John saw the interior of the court. Except for the spacious venue and gorgeous decoration, the rest of the layout was exactly the same as what John saw in the court of Baldenbins City.
Led by the servants, John entered the court with the White Wolf Knights and the lawyers. Except for two White Wolf Knights who followed John to protect his safety, the others sat in the gallery next to John, and the lawyers sat in the lawyer's seat next to John.
After John took his seat in the dock, two court guards were about to step forward, and the White Wolf Knight next to John immediately drew his sword and tried to approach John's soldiers.
Seeing this, the guards looked at the judge sitting on the seat. After the judge shook his head, the guards immediately retreated.
John also saw the appearance of the person sitting in the plaintiff's seat opposite him. First of all, he had a smooth and large head that was not in line with the body shape of a normal person. A pair of conspiratorial eyes were staring at him straight. From a distance, he looked like a human-shaped Behelet.
"Hoth...could he be the one who later took part in the assassination of Griffith?" John suddenly remembered that there seemed to be such a character in the original work, but after comparing it again, he found that there were still some discrepancies. Combined with the current time, it is estimated that it may not be the Minister Hoth himself in the main storyline, but perhaps his father.
Earl Hoss on the opposite side was confused and a little afraid. Originally, he did not want to make enemies with an earl because of this matter. In his opinion, no matter which faction it was, what mattered was strength, and the truth was to join the side with the stronger ability. Therefore, Earl Hoss had always been very careful in handling the relationship with other earls.
But after a friend from the French King's Hall wrote to him promising him some lucrative benefits and advancing part of the money in advance, Earl Hawes decided to take the risk.
Before he came to the court, Earl Hawes reviewed the entire case in full and bribed the judge and some city defense soldiers in advance to give false testimony for him. In his opinion, as long as he was a little tougher and made this young man who had just entered the aristocratic circle panic, he could show goodwill and give him a way out, and he would be able to properly resolve this incident by using a combination of soft and hard tactics.
However, when Earl Hawes discovered that John, standing opposite him, entered the court with not only his lawyer but also a team of heavily armored guards, an ominous premonition came to his mind.
"He's not going to kill me to silence me." Looking at the murderous White Wolf Knight opposite, Count Hoss's tough aura disappeared in an instant. He didn't bring any guards with him, and if a fight really broke out, he might not be able to get out of this door.
"The trial of this case is officially open!" After seeing both parties in place, the judge sitting on top shouted, announcing that the trial of this case officially began.
"The plaintiff, Earl Howe, accuses the defendant, Earl John, of beating the servants of his vassal and restricting the personal freedom of others. May I ask if Earl Howe confirms this?"
"That's right. I'm here this time to seek fairness and justice for my vassal." After hearing the judge's question, Earl Hoss responded righteously.
"Then please ask the plaintiff to submit evidence." The judge continued after seeing that everything was correct. Immediately, a lawyer stood up from Earl Hawes and said:
"This is the oral testimony provided by several city defense soldiers, proving that at that time, Earl John and his men first caused a dispute and beat people, and forcibly took away the fiancée of Earl Hawes's vassal." After saying this, the lawyer submitted the evidence to the judge.
After reading it for a while, the judge asked John:
“Does the defendant agree with the facts stated by the plaintiff?”
The lawyer sitting next to John immediately stood up and responded sharply:
"Excuse me, Your Honor, can the confessions of a few soldiers alone be the decisive evidence in the case? These soldiers were not even present to testify as hostages, so we believe that the process described by Earl Hawes is fabricated out of thin air and cannot be used as evidence to make a judgment."
At this time, John also figured it out. It seems that the judge's words were all in favor of Earl Hawes. Why did he say that Earl Hawes's words were the truth after asking him a few questions, without even asking him a question? So John stood up and stared at the judge and asked:
"Excuse me, judge. Did you do this in accordance with the formal legal process? You did not ask me about the incident in your questioning just now, but hastily defined what Earl Hawes said. I think you are biased towards the plaintiff in this case, so I apply to let His Majesty the King make a ruling on this case."
When Earl Hawes heard that John was going to argue with the King, he immediately became restless. If he really went to argue with His Majesty the King, no matter whether he won or lost, it would intensify the conflict between the two factions and might lead to a major accident.
"Hehe, Lord John, don't be so angry. I didn't say that the confessions of these soldiers can be used as decisive evidence, but please also provide substantial evidence to prove that you have not committed any illegal behavior in this incident." At this time, the judge also came out to smooth things over. If it were discovered that he and Earl Hawes had colluded in this matter, the king would definitely convict him. As a judge, he dared to openly engage in factional struggles. Not only would he be rejected by the people, but he would also be despised by the dignitaries.
"You want evidence? All right, then please ask your Honor and Earl Hawes to come to my territory and ask the person involved, Miss Matilda, what she says." John said indifferently at this time. He also realized that Earl Hawes did not have any substantial evidence. Now both parties are back to the starting point of the case. It depends on who can hold on.
Just when neither side could do anything to the other, suddenly, a familiar voice outside the door shouted:
"I have proof!"