When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1011 The Civil Code of the Holy Armory

"What do you want to bet on?"

Sani was calm and collected, but Waring was always unconventional and claimed that he "never gambled but loved helping people quit gambling."

So Worin was notorious for cheating back in his hometown.

Anselm's eyes lit up: "This is an inheritance division case. How about we bet on who gets the most? Brother, you choose one."

“That won’t do.” Waring’s eyes narrowed with laughter. “That Hugh Allen just spoke to you, he must know the inside story, so we have to bet on something else.”

"Then what do you want to bet on?"

"I bet the judge won't finish the case before we leave," Wolin chuckled. "How about it, wanna bet?"

Anselm pretended to hesitate for a moment: "Then why should I bet that you won't find out?"

"Then let's not gamble."

Anselm looked thoughtful and said, "Fine, I'll take the bet."

The two spat into each other's palms, shook hands firmly, and shook hands.

As soon as he let go, Worin jumped up with a grin and patted Anselm on the shoulder: "You've never been to court before, have you? You're in trouble, you'll have to send me money again."

"why?"

“We’ve been to court before, you have no idea what kind of people this court is…”

"Boom boom boom——"

As the bells rang, the stone church doors opened wide.

The two brothers walked out of the house, glared at each other, and went their separate ways.

As for the notary following behind, he posted a notice on the densely packed notice board.

Is this case closed?
The three rushed forward and stopped the notary, who was only wearing a white shirt: "Is the case over?"

"Are you blind? Can't you read documents?"

"There are so many words, how am I supposed to recognize them all, especially since they're all legal terms."

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear the bell?" The notary glared at them and called out towards the corridor outside the wooden house, "Next."

Immediately, the two families followed the notary and squeezed through the door.

The three had no choice but to ask Sheri to read the document and proclamation to them.

Once Sheryl finished reading, Anselm was naturally overjoyed: "Give me the money!"

Those five or six dinars went back and forth several times over a few days, and in the end, they neither lost nor won.

"Why, why is this happening? Shouldn't they first arrest them and lock them up in jail for three to five weeks, and then, after the warden has made enough money, decide who wins based on who bribed more?" The hunchbacked Worin stared intently at the document, not even glancing at Anselm.

As for Sani, he silently took out some money and handed it to Anselm.

Anselm had intended to savor the unpleasant expressions on the two brothers' faces, but he soon realized that something was amiss with their demeanor.

It didn't feel like frustration after losing money; rather, it was anger, sadness, confusion, mixed with resentment and envy.

Anselm had thought that such a story only existed in the works of third-rate knightly novelists, but now he was actually seeing it for himself.

“He’s a good judge.” Sani’s voice was unusually hoarse for the first time.

The usually carefree hunchback Worin fell completely silent at this moment, lost in thought.

But if someone gets close to him, they can hear him jokingly muttering in a voice barely above a mosquito's buzz, "If only this judge had come to try us back then."

On the other side, Hugh Allen helped his old friend win back his money and was about to leave when Sherry grabbed his arm.

"Mr. Sherry?"

"Can you tell me why the situation described by Waring didn't occur?"

"This is a civil court, there are no prisons, so of course that kind of situation won't happen."

Could you elaborate a bit more?

Hugh Allen initially wanted to decline, but seeing the unreadable look in Sherley's eyes, he eventually went to the courtroom library next door and retrieved a collection of newspapers.

"This is too big a question. You should read the newspaper instead."

This type of court without prisons is a judicial reform that the Holy Alliance has gradually implemented over eight years.

With Martial taking the lead, many jurists from the Holy Armory collaborated, and even after hearing about it, aspiring jurists from all over the empire came to join him.

Finally, they managed to compile two legal codes: the Civil Code of the Holy Armaments and the Criminal Code of the Holy Armaments.

In addition to the routine measure of appointing judges by the central government, the separation of the district council, civil court, and criminal court is also implemented.

The "Hundred-Household District Public Consultation" is for matters like neighborhood disputes and arguments; the head of the household can simply go door-to-door with a can of milk to mediate. However, disputes involving personal interests, such as unpaid debts, inheritance disputes, and fights, must be handled in the town's civil court.

As for serious crimes and criminal offenses such as murder, robbery, and arson, they must be prosecuted in the criminal court of the township court.

After standing there for a while and thinking, Sherley understood the purpose of the three levels of courts.

This wasn't because Horn deliberately created positions for students of the Holy See Law, but rather to clarify the boundaries between minor and major offenses.

Like the Thousand Rivers Valley in the past, or the Empire now, despite the establishment of local courts many times, very few people are actually willing to go to court.

The few lawsuits that existed were mostly disputes over inheritance and land rights among nobles.

Why don't ordinary people go to court?
The problem was that the Imperial Court's definition of "crime" was unclear.

Sherley looked at the two brothers who were still in a daze, and he could tell a thing or two from the experience of the Eagle's Foot Brothers.

The two had said that they went bankrupt because of the court and eventually came to Thousand River Valley, but the real reason was the chaos of war.

The direct cause, however, was the case in March 1449, in which the two brothers clashed with the buyer over a price dispute.

Originally, the matter was to be resolved internally by both guilds, but the Royal Court insisted on interfering in order to raise war funds for King Gigi.

The result of this interference was that both the buyer and the seller were imprisoned.

The court locked them up in jail without giving them a trial.

They just kept him locked up like that, letting the warden and guards enjoy bribes to their hearts' content.

Both sides were nearly bankrupt when the Kingdom Court of Eagle's Foot Bay finally remembered.

As for the judgment they handed down, it was actually—

The brothers' sails and ropes were of substandard quality, constituting a fraud.

But the buyer was too aggressive in pushing for a lower price and even threatened to beat me up, which was intimidation.

Therefore, both parties must pay a fine.

Who pays the fine? The court, of course.

But by this time, both parties had already exhausted their wealth due to being arrested and imprisoned for three years, so how could they possibly pay the fine?

The buyer, the shipowner, sailed to Fran the next day, forcing the two brothers to change their names and flee their hometown of Eagle's Foot Bay.

This shows that criminal cases lead to jail time, civil cases lead to jail time, and marital discord leads to jail time.

In the eyes of the Kingdom's courts, there is no difference between criminal and civil cases; both are crimes!
Criminal and civil cases are tried according to the same standards and in the same court.

The prison was naturally overcrowded, serving no purpose other than providing money for the judges and warden.

This is why the Imperials dislike going to court, often resolving disputes within their guilds, and even preferring duels to lawsuits.

In Horn's system, the criminal court is similar to the Kingdom Court, but the civil court is separate.

Simply put, civil courts do not have prisons, and there is no personal detention.

At most, they'll ask you to come to court on time; if you don't, you'll have to bear the consequences.

Although the situation of both the plaintiff and the defendant still exists, at least there are no prisons, which reduces the situation where minor and serious offenders are treated the same.

Moreover, the Holy Alliance abolished all corporal punishments except for whipping, and stopped using torture as an art form.

Of course, the Cheka are an exception.

“Holy grandson, did you think of this too?” Sheri looked towards the direction of the Holy Mechanism Court.

While it's impossible to say that every kingdom's court in the entire empire faces this situation, at least 70% of them are like the Eagle's Foot Brothers'.

Most of the time, only local courts in autonomous cities are able to conduct cases effectively and fairly.

This is why Ruffiel was surprised by the rule of law in Thousand River Valley and promoted it as such for four or five years.

Has anyone realized that changes are needed?
Throughout the Vatican, countless bishops and brilliant scholars have recognized the need for change and proposed it.

But day after day, year after year, people say they want to change it. For three to five hundred years, who has really been unable to change it?

When it comes to the Holy Alliance, this stubborn problem will be solved within three to five years, not three to five hundred years.

While I wouldn't dare call it perfect, it's far superior to the Empire.

At this moment, Sheryl didn't know whether it was Pope Sun's strong hand or the Holy Alliance's blank canvas that was easy to draw on.

While Sheryl was still teaching how to do it, he asked a question, and on the other side, people were shouting, "The ship is here! The ship is here!"

　Where did all the time go? Why did it already turn 1 AM when I finished writing this?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)