Wizengamot

The Wizengamot is Magical Britain's high court of law and parliament. At some point in 1982 it elects Barty Crouch Sr. as the Minister for Magic.

## Emergency meetings:

At the end of the Purity War, on November 3rd, 1981, it convened for the emergency trial Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange and Sirius Orion Black. The three were sentenced to life in Azkaban. Black's confession during the trial lead to the exoneration of multiple suspected Death Eaters.

In the aftermath of Daphne Greengrass' disappearance at the hand of the Heir of Slytherin on January 10th, Cyrus Greengrass manages to call an emergency meeting on January 14th. There, he tries to force the temporary closure of Hogwarts and its search by the Aurors. His plan is thrown into chaos when a message by the Heir of Slytherin is delivered by the court scribe revealing that the missing students are still alive, but, if Hogwarts were to close then they would never see the light of day ever again. In the end, it is decided that the school will remain open, and that the Ministry will send three people — the maximum number allowed — into Hogwarts to investigate.

## Closed-Doors meetings:

On May 30th the Wizengamot votes in secret, that Hogwarts will not reopen the upcoming academic year if the Heir of Slytherin is not apprehended. The motion barely passes.

## Rulings during weekly meetings:

On July 20th 1992, the Wizangamot rules in favour of House Potter against Houses Malfoy, Nott, Selwyn and Macnair. The losing Houses must pay monetary compensations to House Potter for the false accusations made by their Heirs at a Heir of an Ancient and Most Noble House.

## Discussed Legislation:

**1992:** The Muggle Protection Act is one of the bills discussed, the conversation around it started at least around the end of August 1992. The act is proposed by Arthur Weasley and has the backing of the Liberals. The Conservatives oppose it, as they claim, it allows power abuses by the enforcers of the act, as, in its current form, it does not clearly define the criteria for what constitutes a valid search.

## Admissible evidence for court room proceedings:

**Pensive memories:** They are technically admissible in a court of law, even though they can only be used for major offenses. A major offence is categorized as anything that, if proven true, would land the accused a sentence of at least five years in Azkaban. There are exceptions for which pensive memories might be used for lesser cases.

In order for a pensive memory to be admissible in court, said memory must pass through a verification process conducted by the Department of Mysteries. During it they verify that no alterations have been made on the memory in question. Overall the process is ridiculously expensive and it must be independently funded — thus out-pricing most people. Things like glamours would show up as an alteration as they would trigger an unnaturally high concentration of magic in a given area. Polyjuice would not. The process is very flawed all things considered.

**Magical Oaths:** They are not admissible in court. The reason centers around the concept that the oath will only ensure that the person swearing thinks that they are telling the truth, but, there is no actual proof if said truth is actually what happened or just what they believe to be true. People with strong enough mental control can make themselves believe a lie as the truth and tell that instead.

> *“Good memory, sport. Yes, I did tell you that, but I was talking about oaths that center around anything open to interpretation. For example, getting somebody to swear they’ll tell the truth isn’t overly useful. Magic can’t force somebody to tell the truth. It can only make them tell you what they think to be the truth.” he shrugged. “If they have strong enough mental control, they can even make themselves believe a lie is the truth and tell you that instead.” he smiled. “The same would go for something like making a person swear to help you. If they could justify harming you was helpful to you in some way, they could still do it.”*
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— Peter Pettigrew to Charlus Potter on the nature and admissibility of magical oaths in a court of law, Harry Potter and the Sacrificial Slytherin: Chapter 2: Morbid Thoughts, June 26th, 1992.

**Veritaserum:** It is not admissible in court for reasons similar to the magical oaths.