OK, remove the 'probably'. But lets not reopen the Yelmic initiation/ citzenship debate.
>> I imagine for the Dara Happans, precedent is enormously important.
>
>Perhaps - we play this it certainly is for the Orlanthi.
I think for the Orlanthi, precedent is not binding to a chief, but lawspeakers memorise immense amounts anyway as quoting precedent is the foundation of legal argument.
For the Yelmites, perhaps its not precedent exactly, but a huge morass of prior laws made by centuries worth of self-important Yelmic dignitiaries and Imperial courts.
>The Yelm initiates get certain legal priveleges, quite possibly they are not
>able to be condemned to punishment by someone who does not outrank
>them.
I can't remember if I ever posted it to the digest, but I did have a theory that the reason there is a Yelmic magistrate in Boldhome (Count Leonidas of Home of the Bold notoriety) is that many of the Lunar officers are Dara Happan citizens, and according to Yelmic law cannot be judged by a non-Yelmic. So the government keeps at least one Yelmic magistrate in each province so if they need to nail an officer on civil charges they can.
> I'm not sure "right of appeal" has a DH translation.
I don't think that anyone has a 'right of appeal'. But a higher authority can choose to reverse the judgement of a latter - this is not a second trial though, just intervention from above. Of course, being overruled implies poor judgement, and is close to an insult, so I think it is seldom done. I think followers of the Lunar way are more likely to use this power than Yelmics.
The highest authority is the Emperor, the second highest the Senate. The Senate would almost never bestir itself to do anything unless though, unless one of their own number was accused of serious crimes.
Orlanthi trials
>There's nothing wrong with distributing a few gifts to show your
>generosity and dedication to the clan, or in calling on your kin for
>help. That's what kin are for!
My PC ended up ruling against his relations and then gifting them liberally so that they wouldn't be too pissed off, which was an unusual but in character solution.
judicial liability
>I think the Dara Happan/solar sytem would not have such a strong judge
>penalty. By definition, a judge, who walks the path of Yelm, Keeper and
>Source of all Justice, CANNOT make an error.
I think a judge has his place in the hierarchy, and that is the only constraint on his judgements. I think if a judge was perceived to be making poor judegments, those above him MIGHT choose to relieve him of his duties, but thats it. I do not think they would ever admit that he had made a mistake unless tehy wished to condemn him. Saying that someone is 'without Justice' is probably the most serious insult to a Yelm Imperator that you could make.
Note that this means the provincial judges actually have very little constraint on their actions at all, as they are one of the highest ranking Yelmics themselves. For practical purposes they are quite literally a law unto themselves. I suspect many of them develop significant bias, much as Count Leonidas seemed to (kudos to Tim Leask).
I think a situation where a particular action is ruled for and against by several different courts is not impossible in the Lunar Empire - - but its also going to be causing a LOT of bad feeling in the process.
>Instead, people will try to wrangle as high (or as
>advantageous) a court as possible to have their case heard.
Yes, you're right. It would also be absurd for a Yelmic noble to be tried before a court that did not outrank him (he could simply reverse the decision). If the court outranks him significantly, he has no opportunity to use influence unless he has big connections. So some wrangling will occur.
Enough legalisms from me for the time being.
Cheers
David
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #22
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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