Judicial Forces/Legends

The Judicial Forces, Judicial Security, Judicial Fleet, or Judicial Starfleet was the peacekeeping forces of the Judicial Department of the Galactic Republic. For a thousand years following the Ruusan Reformation and prior to the Clone Wars, it was the closest thing to a centralized military.
==History==
===The Ruusan Reformation===
Following the Ruusan Reformation in 1000 BBY at the end of the New Sith Wars, the entirety of the Republic Military, including the Republic Army, Republic Navy were to be dissolved entirely while the Republic Starfighter Corps was placed under the jurisdiction of the new Judicial Department, along with the limited peacekeeping forces that used to be the Army of Light. These were reformed into the Judicial Forces. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
The Reformation was an unprecedented, voluntary dismantling by the Republic government of centralized authority over economic, political and military power. The once-mighty Republic Navy became a comparatively small collection of task forces and rapid response fleets, intended to patrol the frontier and respond to crises. Local defense would be handled by the Planetary Security Forces, which for fourteen millennia had been little more than an auxiliary of the Navy. The Galactic Senate could authorize the Judicial Forces to requisition military units from systems and sectors, and in the event of a crisis, the Supreme Chancellor had the right to appoint a Governor-General to coordinate a military response with the Senator of that sector. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
Members of the Judicial Forces wore close-fitting, dark-blue uniforms (whose design would later become the basis for the uniforms of the Imperial Navy), and consequently became known as "bluecoats". Despite its limitations, the Senate would regularly deploy the Judicial fleet against pirate bands and other threats to the Republic (such as during the Stark Hyperspace War); as such, along with its police and intelligence capacities, the Judicial Forces were the closest thing to a standing military the Republic had following the Ruusan Reformation.
===Reunifying the galaxy===
The Judicial Forces were, with the rest of the Department, based in the Judicial Arcology on Coruscant. It operated the Republic's former military academies (such as the Raithal Academy and the Academy of Carida), as well as its own, the Judicial Academy. It coordinated its various peacekeeping efforts with the Jedi Order and regional planetary or sector defense militias.
The Judicial Forces' first commander was Admiral Lune Banjeer, a distinguished veteran of the Ruusan campaign. The Judicials fought with distinction in the Unification Campaigns of the 900s BBY that brought the galaxy back under Republic control in the aftermath of the Sith Wars, achieving notably victories at Vondarc, D'rinba IV and the Klina Marches. They fought ably at the surface confrontation on Korvaii that ended the Melusi Uprising, and brought the Belderone Contention to an end at the Battle of the Dandrian Ring. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
The Judicial Fleet would later play key roles in the Mandalorian Excision of 738 BBY, the Battles of the Black Delve in the 690s BBY, and the Utor Shock of 602 BBY, with many officers serving with distinction as the galactic frontier pushed Rimward once again. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
===Decline and eclipse===
As peace settled over the galaxy however, and the period that would be remembered as the Great Peace of the Republic began, the Judicial Forces slowly began to lose relevance. Periodic bribery scandals and a weakening of central power eroded the Judicials' funding and standing as many Senators focused more on their sectors' Planetary Security Forces. Furthermore, the PSFs developed traditions of their own, and took over much of the appeal and glamor of military service from the Judicials, especially after they cooperated to restore the Republic Navy War College on Anaxes as the College of the Planetary Security Forces. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
As Anaxes once again became the center of naval tradition and pomp, the Judicial Academy on Coruscant was mocked as a factory for court officers who got to fly. The Katana fleet was an attempt to restore the Judicial Forces to some of its old glory, but it turned into an expensive fiasco when the force of 200 Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers fell victim to a hive virus and disappeared without a trace into hyperspace. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
Following the Trade Federation's failed invasion of the Naboo system, many of their security forces were transferred to the Republic's Judicial branch,Rogue Planet but as the Republic entered its final decades and the Separatist Crisis slowly eroded its authority, Militarists, Reformists and Loyalists called for the restoration of the Republic Military, and looked to Anaxes for models, not Coruscant. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
After the start of the Clone Wars, the Judicial Fleet once more became the Republic Navy, while its ground peacekeeping forces were absorbed into the Grand Army of the Republic. However, the new Navy's traditions, leaders and even favored shipyards were drawn from the Planetary Security Forces, not the Judicials. The Essential Guide to Warfare, pp. 47-51
By the time of the Galactic Empire's reign, the Judicial Fleet had some degree of reverence, at least in so far as the various Imperial Military branches ultimately having some connection to it. However, the Stormtrooper Corps looked down upon the Judicial Security forces, remarked them as feeble, and stated they did not compare at all to the group.Star Wars: Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide
==Appearances==
*Darth Plagueis 
* Star Wars: Jedi Council: Acts of War
*Cloak of Deception
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*Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace novelization 
*Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace junior novelization
* Star Wars: The Stark Hyperspace War
*Rogue Planet
*Outbound Flight 
* Star Wars: Republic: Honor and Duty
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*Star Wars Missions 14: The Monsters of Dweem
*The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant 
===Non-canon appearances===
*LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
*LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
==Sources==
*Starships of the Galaxy, Saga Edition
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
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==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Republic law enforcement
Category:Galactic Republic military units
Category:Organizations of the Judicial Department