Duil Legal System

The judicial system in Duilintinn is arranged similarly to the government, with local, regional, and national layers.

## Origin

During the founding quest, the future king and his companions realized that the lands were full of diverse cultures, people, communities, and experiences. Just because they believed their plan to unite the lands would help everyone didn’t mean that everyone would be on board, and even if they agreed to join the fledgling kingdom, what would happen to the pre-existing administrative structures in these communities?

Therefore, in the final stages of the quest (aka the boring part full of treaties and political nonsense), representatives of the future king went to every community in the land, asking if they would be willing to join the kingdom.

Those communities who declined would negotiate a different treaty with the representatives of Duilintinn, recognizing them as an independent state, owing nothing to the kingdom of Duilintinn and receiving nothing from the kingdom in return. It’s sorta like houselessness, but for a place instead of a person. Much like in the Noble House system, people who live in these independent communities can still apply to be a citizen of Duilintinn, receiving the same treatment as any other citizen of Duilintinn living abroad. In addition, a community that originally opted to remain independent can change its mind and request to join the kingdom at a later date.

On the other hand, communities that agreed to join the kingdom were allowed to keep most, if not all, of their local laws, administrative structures, and authorities. There were a few basic kingdom-wide laws that superseded local laws in the rare instance of a conflict, but in general, Duilintinn trusted these communities to police their own people.

## Enforcement

### Local Enforcement

Local methods of enforcing the law were as varied as the cultures of these communities, but I’m not gonna describe them all in specifics, because over time, as Duilintinn began to function more as a unit, a few specific methods became extremely popular.

First and foremost, towns had been hiring knights of the Guard Coalition to help enforce the laws of their community for decades (if not longer) before the kingdom was founded. As roads were built and word spread, this service became even more popular. As the system goes, knights who are hired by a town are expected to learn the legal code of that community before arriving at their station for the year. It is their job to uphold these laws as the enforcer of the law, not the creator of it.

### Higher Enforcement

Members of the Guard Coalition might also be hired by the regional or national government for law enforcement. For the most part, these jobs are almost identical to working for a local town. Knights are expected to learn the law before they arrive and do whatever is asked of them by their patron. Of course, being told to dissuade troublemakers at the local pub is a bit different than being told to dissuade troublemakers in a massive city tavern.

In practice, the main difference is size and scale. While a town might only hire a handful of guards, the major cities will usually hire a small army, making communication completely different. In small towns, the guards usually get their orders directly from local leadership and coordinate these tasks between each other. On the flip side, guards in the city have to report to an internal hierarchy, led by several higher-ranking members of the Coalition who were sent with the group.

In addition, the major cities aren’t just the seats of the regional/national governments, but also have a local government for the people living in the city itself. As a result, members of the Guard assigned to these cities often have to balance the difference between an assignment for the local government of the city, versus an assignment on behalf of the regional government.

## Courts

### Local Courts

Locally, those who break the law are judged in a variety of ways. Most local governments have some sort of judicial authority such as a court system, trusted elder(s), community jury, etc. that determines the guilt and sentence of the accused. The most common of these legal systems is a community jury, usually held in the town amphitheater. Depending on where you are, these juries might consist of the entire town (or whoever is in attendance, at least) or a small sample size, like a modern jury. That being said, there are still many towns that still keep their original legal systems and don’t use a community jury to this day. Others have incorporated this jury-style of tribunal into their preexisting judicial traditions to create a hybrid system.

### Higher Courts

Each of the five Noble Houses has a justice system in their regional capital (Monacoil, Fionport, Aghaboy, Mulladún, Noefrach) for hearing cases that involve local authorities (which would not have a fair trial in their local courts), span multiple towns or communities (which may have different legal systems), or were contested as an unjust decision by the local court.

Similarly, cases that involve regional authorities, span multiple Noble Houses, or were contested as an unjust decision by the regional court will be heard by the judicial authorities of Duilintinn’s national government in Cordoire.

King Sean has been known to sit on this court from time to time, though typically only in extreme cases, where a judgement will set a precedent for all of Duilintinn. In addition, if the case happens to heavily involve the king or his court, either directly or indirectly, the king is expected to not use his position as a judge. However, it’s rarely been an issue, and there’s some debate about how this could even be enforced if the king is not willing to step aside in those rare cases.

### Legal Discrepancies and Conflicts

The higher courts supersede any decisions made by the lower courts, but they do take local law into account. For example, if a local town has a law about what time you’re allowed to harvest grain, but the regional government has no regulations about such matters, the regional courts will still rule in accordance with the local law. However, if a local town has a law that directly contradicts a regional or national law (i.e. “if your boss tells you to lie on your census forms, you have to do it”), then the higher law (i.e. national government says “don’t lie on your census forms”) overrules the lower one.

While the latter case is very rare, technically, it’s the knight’s personal responsibility to make themselves aware of these legal conflicts before arriving at their station. Thankfully, the Guard Coalition keeps detailed notes on their clients, especially with information that might lead to trouble. Regardless of how the knight learns about the legal conflict, they rarely have to be too worried about it becoming a problem. Most of these laws are forgotten, antiquated policies that no one bothered to remove from the law books.

However, if the knight has the particular misfortune of being caught up in the middle of a situation where they are being asked to uphold a law that goes against the higher authorities of the kingdom, they are obligated to uphold the higher law. Granted, this is easier said than done, and the Guard Coalition isn’t going to put a member on probation just because they weren’t sure how to address such an awkward situation without being accused of insubordination by the client. In fact, given how quickly these situations can turn ugly, knights are encouraged to request support from the Coalition and, if necessary, the regional or national government.

Usually, the conflict is resolved in the higher courts of the kingdom, at which point the matter is out of the individual knight’s hands. Thankfully, most members of the Guard Coalition will never find themselves in such an ordeal.

## Punishment

Punishments vary, but in a kingdom where finding one’s place in a community is so important, very few crimes are bad enough to cut someone off from that community forever. Therefore, the most common form of punishment is rehabilitation through service work, which aims to reintegrate the criminal into the community, rather than turn them into a pariah. However, if the person is a clear danger to themselves or others, house arrest may be ordered, supervised by a member of the guard.

If these measures are still not enough to prevent further harm, each of the major cities (Monacoil, Fionport, Aghaboy, Mulladún, Noefrach, and Cordoire) has a true prison facility, staffed with professionals who spend time with the prisoners and attempt to help rehabilitate them.

### Banishment

Banishment is only used when the criminal has fled the town or country. Duilintinn has no government-sanctioned internal or external extradition policies; if you're willing to permanently abandon everything you once called home in exchange for escaping justice, that's generally seen as punishment enough. If the criminal flees their Noble House or the entire country, they become houseless. In order to apply for citizenship from the same house (or any house if they fled the country), they will first have to face justice for the crimes they fled.

However, this banishment policy only works well on a regional and national level; most criminals will just flee to another town in the same Noble House. To address that issue, there are *private* methods of extraditing a criminal. If the victim and/or their friends can't drag the criminal back home on their own, bounty hunting is one of the Mercenary Syndicate's most popular services. Communities will often help the victim raise reward money so that the person who wronged them can face justice, both to help them feel safe in their home and to give the town itself some closure. It's all technically legal, albeit a bit extrajudicial.

Note that it is NOT the responsibility of members of the Guard Coalition to chase down criminals who fled the town where they are stationed. There are two big reasons why this particular niche of Duilintinn’s judicial system belongs to the Mercenary Syndicate, rather than the knights stationed in these towns. First and foremost, members of the Guard Coalition are contracted to preserve the peace and enforce the law in a town. A knight cannot do these things if they are chasing after a criminal three towns away! Moreover, knights have no authority outside of the town that hired them. A knight stationed in Loburn for the year cannot arrest a criminal in Begdor, even if that criminal had originally fled from Loburn. This rule prevents abuses of power by both the knights and the authorities who hire them.