LAWS OF THE VISCOUNTY
A guide to justice in the Viscounty of Verbobonc

INTRODUCTION

What you have here is a summary background and description of the legal processes governing the laws and punishments in the Viscounty of Verbobonc. While it is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on the legal system used in the viscounty, it covers those areas and situations that likely to be encountered by characters adventuring within the Viscount’s environs.

This document is intended to as a framework for both Dungeon Masters and players. DM’s can use this document as the standard to judge whether the actions of a character can be classified a crime by the viscounty as well as what the ramifications would be of such a decision. For players, this document serves as a warning of the crimes and punishments of which their characters should be wary.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, so reading this might not only help you avoid the irritating dust of the quarry or the loss of your spellbook. It might also give you insight as to how to use the system to your advantage…if you’re a noble.

HOW TO USE THESE RULES

Law in a fantasy game should never take precedence over the game itself. The legal system presented is not intended to imitate the “real world”. While many of the concepts presented here are based on real world examples and history, do not fool yourself into attempting to any real world vs. fantasy world comparisons.

The law are designed and intended to support the status quo. As such, the laws favor and support the nobility, having been created and enforced them. Or, to phrase it more succinctly – “The game is rigged.”

More often than not, a character is not going to beat a noble at the legal game. The nobility have many additional means of legal recourse that are not even listed here. For every card up your sleeve, they have ten. They have had hundreds of years to build their alliances against which a character could never hope to compete except in the most extreme or unusual of circumstances. While an individual noble might despise another noble, ones father could have saved the others life. While there is no loved lost, nobles tend to remember their history with other noble families. Given the option of going head to head with a noble family or standing up for a commoner with a position or influence, they just soon sell the commoner down the creek.

A GUIDE TO THE LAW

Verbobonc’s legal system emphasizes compensation and punishment. As such many who are unable to pay must do extra time to make up for fines and restitution. There is no right to counsel but wise folks try and hire one. Lawyers are not a wide spread profession, as acting as counsel is a skill.

ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS

Laws should be enforced by the when the need arise. Before the arrest and adjudication of the PC happens, the judge should warn the player against said criminal behavior if he feels the player does not know any better. Once the player has declared his criminal actions, a judge must decide if there is any way for someone to know what has transpired. If so, inform the player that his actions will have consequences and that they will be adjudicated after the play session. If the player continues to commit crimes, adjudicate it immediately and remove the player from play for the time being. Once play has finished, make a final determination of the all penalties the PC will receive.

THE RIGHT OF JUSTICE

All criminal and civil procedures in Verbobonc are divided into two distinct categories of High and Low Justice. Members of the nobility have immunity from prosecution for Low crimes, leaving only commoners eligible to be charged for Low crime offenses. However, any citizen, regardless of rank, can be charged and tried for a High crime.

High Justice

The highest form of legal authority, High justice is the ability to charge, arrest, and/or convict a member of the nobility. As such, this power is normally of the providence of the Viscount, the heads of the noble houses, and their appointed representatives. It may likewise be acquired by other authorities as part of a high degree of legal autonomy (such as the right for priests of some religions to claim the benefit of ‘trial by clergy’). Furthermore, as circumstances, non-noble individuals may be vested with this authority, though this warranted only for very exceptional circumstances and can only be done with the approval of the Viscount.

Anyone with the right of High Justice may charge, arrest, investigate, try and sentence an offender – be they of noble or common status. The bearer of High Justice does not need to bring the charges in trials are supervised by a Magistrate of Justice, who judges the merits of the case and acts as a representative of the Viscount. It is their responsibility to assure that the laws of the land are being carried out in accordance with codified law. Magistrates may judge any case that does not involve a formally recognized member of a noble family. Criminal cases against nobles may only be tried by the Viscount. Records of all such trials are kept, and Verbobonc’s legal system rests upon a system of laws made by the Viscount, and approved of by the Church of Saint Cuthbert. High Justice is all-encompassing and includes the Right of Low Justice as well.

Low Justice

Low Justice is the prosecution of ‘day-to-day’ justice, minor cases generally settled by limited fines or light corporal punishment.

The judgments of Low Justice are summary and frequently informal. The Viscount and those members of the noble families whom the Viscount has formally titled have the right of Low Justice anywhere in their lands. The Gentlemen of the Watch, the Mounted Borderers, and noble House Guards have the right of Low Justice within their jurisdiction. Mayors have the privilege of Low Justice within the confines of their settlement. Mayors may likewise invest a town representative with this power; however the Mayor is responsible for the conduct of any individual exercising this power.

Those with the right of Low Justice may charge, arrest, investigate and sentence any non-noble offender without trial. Nobles who are potentially guilty of Low Crimes may only be arrested by a representative of the Viscount who has a Writ of Inquiry. A representative of a noble may be by arrested by any legal authority without a Writ of Inquiry. Those found guilty maybe sentenced by the authority that has jurisdiction over the area where the crime was committed, except in the case of nobles and their representatives. In these cases the viscount, or his appointed representative, may dispense the sentence. Anyone charged with a crime may petition a noble or viscount for remedy. Doing so allows the authority to lock up the accused until such time as a mediator is available.

Writs

A Writ is a written order issued in the name of the Viscount or the nobility in connection with a judicial or administrative proceeding. Usually the writ requires the person to whom the command is issued to report at a fixed time and place with proof of compliance or a justification for disobedience. The use of writs figures prominently in the enforcement of the laws of the Viscounty. Certain organizations, such as the Mounted Borderers, the Knights of the Faithful Defenders, and others are legally empowered to enforce the successful prosecution of this writ.

Some examples of writs include:

Writ of Arrest

A Writ of Arrest is a document issued by the Viscount, a noble or a leader of a town in pursuance to the apprehension of an alleged criminal. The writ details the crimes, the person or persons believed to be responsible and the basic facts of the charges to be read to the accused.

Writ of Inquiry

The Writ of Inquiry is an official proclamation used to investigate a crime and bring to justice those believed to be responsible. It is often used to discover facts and information that lead to the issuance of a Writ of Arrest. A second, less commonly know application of this writ, is that it can be requested by any Mounted Borderer company commander, any Knight of the Faithful Defender or the Bishop of the Church of Saint Cuthbert. In this regard the requester may ask that a crime be investigated or that an inquiry be made into a problem involving a noble.

Writ of Attainder

A Writ of Attainder is seldom issued, for it deals with the revocation of noble lands, title, and status against the individual or individuals whom are mentioned in the Writ. Writs of Attainder may be only issued by a noble’s feudal superior and are usually done so for truly heinous crimes, such as treason or sedition.

JURISDICTION

It might become apparent that a character at the table is a member of a recognized law enforcement arm of the Viscount. In this case the player may report or arrest criminals during play, as long as they meet two criteria. First, do they have jurisdiction where the crime was committed, the type of crime committed and who committed it?

Table 1: Legal Jurisdiction provides a list of selected Verbobonc metaorganizations and their legal jurisdiction. The second criterion is whether the presumed criminal is a noble or not? Players are not allowed to arrest nobles unless specifically told to do so by a scenario or in play documentation.

It is an accepted practice by His Lordship’s Magistrates that spells such as discern lie, speak with dead, or divination spells are only employed when there is an available priest in good standing with the Church of Saint Cuthbert. If the defendant, when presenting his case, wishes to employ spells of this type, he must use a cleric approved by the Church of Saint Cuthbert. The defendant is required to pay the costs associated with the casting of such spells.

Jurisdiction affects not only who can dispense justice, but also the availability of legal protections and remedies. Towns that are located on the lands of a noble are afforded the direct protection of that noble’s house. Because of this other noble law enforcers are only permitted to enforce laws within their own jurisdiction.

Areas Outside Noble’s Lands

The vast majority of territory within the Viscounty does not lie within the jurisdiction of any of the noble houses. Much of the land in the Viscounty is under the direct control of the Viscount. As such, without a direct administrator of these lands, they are afforded less protection. Any noble desiring to arrest or question some accused of a crime only needs to issue a Writ of Arrest and dispatch a house guard to retrieve the accused. In this regard the noble can by pass any local law enforcement and take the accused back to noble lands for questioning. Leaders of these settlements who feel that they have been treated poorly may petition the Viscount for remedy. In doing this the Viscount may decide if the Writ of Arrest was warranted and if he should intervene. Any decision to intervene could result in the return of the individual to reparations in the form of coin, trade goods, land or title. Because the Viscount relies on the support of the noble’s, he typically intervenes in only the most egregious situations.

THE CODE OF LAW

What follows is a selection of the codified crimes and corresponding punishments that are considered offenses within the Viscounty of Verbobonc. This list of laws is by no means comprehensive, however it does contains the laws that characters are most likely to encounter during their adventures. The offenses are defined as well as the class of offence (high or low) and penalty for committing the offense.

Note: If a character can’t pay the given fine in gold, gems or magic items, then that character pays 1 TU for each 500gp portion of the fine he cannot pay. In the event that the character does not have enough time units remaining, the character uses TU from those received in the next campaign year.

All punishment with a penalty of death or exile must be adjudicated by the Triad; all others can be adjudicated by the judge at the table.