CORE DEFINITION
Valeune possesses functioning legal institutions.
Law regulates crime, property, contracts, marriage, inheritance, debt, labor, trade, public order, magical practice, and relations among the Crown, regions, factions, households, and individuals.
The legal system is neither perfectly fair nor entirely meaningless.
Courts can protect vulnerable people, enforce exploitative systems, punish genuine crimes, conceal powerful offenders, and produce different outcomes from the same law.
JURISDICTION
Jurisdiction determines which authority may investigate, hear, or punish a matter.
Jurisdiction may depend on:
Where the act occurred.
Who was harmed.
Who was accused.
Whether Crown property or officials were involved.
Whether the matter crossed regional borders.
Whether the offense was military, civic, commercial, magical, or private.
Whether a charter grants special authority.
A city Magistrate cannot automatically judge a royal succession dispute.
A household cannot lawfully conceal every crime committed inside its walls.
A regional court may lose authority when a crime crosses several regions.
COURT LEVELS
Legal matters may be heard by:
Local or village authorities.
Estate or tenancy courts where lawful.
Civic Magistrates.
Regional courts.
Professional or guild tribunals.
Military courts.
Royal courts.
Special emergency tribunals.
The appropriate level depends on jurisdiction and severity.
Do not send every theft, debt dispute, or assault to the sovereign.
Do not allow a village official to sentence someone for treason against the Union.
LOCAL COURTS
Local courts address ordinary disputes such as:
Minor theft.
Property damage.
Public disorder.
Small debts.
Tenancy disagreements.
Boundary disputes.
Minor assault.
Market violations.
Local courts may be faster and more accessible than regional institutions.
They may also be dominated by local families, landowners, factions, or prejudice.
REGIONAL COURTS
Regional courts handle serious crimes, appeals, large property disputes, noble conflicts, major contracts, cross-district cases, and offenses involving regional law.
Regional courts may possess professional judges, advocates, clerks, archives, and permanent facilities.
They remain subject to royal law and appeal where permitted.
ROYAL COURTS
Royal courts hear matters involving:
The Crown.
Succession.
Treason.
Disputes among regions.
Crimes crossing major jurisdictions.
Senior royal or dynastic figures.
Appeals accepted by royal authority.
Violations of Union-wide law.
A royal court is politically important.
It is not automatically more truthful or fair than every local court.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Law enforcement may include:
City Guards.
Regional guards.
Royal Guards within their jurisdiction.
Watch patrols.
Magistrate officers.
Sheriff-like officials where established.
Military units during emergency.
Faction investigators with limited lawful authority.
Private Household Guards generally protect property and people rather than exercise public police powers.
A private guard may detain someone temporarily after witnessing a crime but cannot automatically conduct trials or issue sentences.
ARREST
An arrest restricts a person’s freedom pending investigation, hearing, transfer, or punishment.
Lawful arrest should require recognized authority and a stated basis.
Possible grounds include:
Witnessed crime.
Warrant.
Credible accusation.
Evidence.
Escape risk.
Public danger.
Violation of sentence.
Arrest is not proof of guilt.
A person may be detained unlawfully through corruption, prejudice, political pressure, mistaken identity, or forged evidence.
WARRANTS
A warrant authorizes a search, arrest, seizure, or another specific legal action.
Warrants may be issued by Magistrates, judges, royal officers, or other lawful authorities.
A warrant must identify its scope.
It does not grant permission to seize unrelated property or harm bystanders.
Emergency exceptions may exist but should be limited and reviewable.
SEARCH AND SEIZURE
Officials may search property or seize evidence when lawful authority permits.
Private homes, noble estates, faction halls, ships, temples, workshops, and royal residences may have different protections.
High status can delay or complicate searches.
It does not make every location immune.
Illegal searches may damage the case, provoke political conflict, or expose official misconduct.
EVIDENCE
Evidence may include:
Witness testimony.
Physical objects.
Documents.
Contracts.
Financial records.
Letters.
Maps.
Injury.
Magical traces.
Confessions.
Expert testimony.
Circumstantial patterns.
Evidence must be evaluated in context.
An object found in a room does not automatically prove ownership.
A forged document may appear official.
A witness may be mistaken.
A confession may be coerced.
MAGICAL EVIDENCE
Magic may support investigation only through exact established @SPELL effects.
Magical evidence is not perfect.
Memory can be mistaken.
A magical trace may be planted, damaged, suppressed, or misinterpreted.
A Blood connection may establish relation without establishing guilt.
A Bone-preserved record may accurately preserve a lie.
A Heart covenant may prove commitment without proving lawful behavior.
Hollow interference may create absence without proving who caused it.
Courts should require corroboration and qualified interpretation.
WITNESS TESTIMONY
Witnesses may testify voluntarily, under summons, through written statement, or through another recognized process.
A witness’s class, race, reputation, gender, profession, faction, and legal status may influence whether they are believed.
This unequal treatment should be portrayed as institutional bias, not objective reliability.
Children, disabled people, servants, prisoners, sex workers, criminals, and Dispossessed people can provide accurate testimony.
Status does not determine truth.
CONFESSIONS
A confession may be powerful evidence but is not automatically reliable.
People confess because of:
Guilt.
Fear.
Torture.
Threat.
Protection of another person.
Confusion.
Magical coercion.
Promise of leniency.
Mental or physical exhaustion.
Coerced confession should be treated as legally and ethically suspect.
Do not use torture as a routine and perfectly effective source of truth.
ADVOCATES AND LAWYERS
Defendants and claimants may seek help from Lawyers or other recognized advocates within @The Professional Class.
Legal representation requires money, patronage, faction support, charity, or public appointment where available.
Poor people may appear without representation.
Factions such as @The Broken Yoke may provide legal advocacy in matters involving bondage, coercive contracts, or emancipation.
TRIALS
A trial examines accusation, evidence, law, and responsibility.
Trial structure may vary by jurisdiction.
Possible elements include:
Formal charges.
Presentation of evidence.
Witnesses.
Advocates.
Questions by a Magistrate or judge.
Expert testimony.
Deliberation.
Verdict.
Sentence.
Do not assume modern jury trials exist everywhere.
Do not assume one judge decides every case.
Use the system appropriate to the region and type of dispute.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TRIALS
Most ordinary trials may be public or partly public to preserve legitimacy.
Sensitive matters involving children, royal security, sexual harm, protected witnesses, or state secrets may be restricted.
Private proceedings create opportunities for protection and abuse.
A sealed trial should have a reason.
Do not hide every politically inconvenient case behind secrecy.
BURDEN AND STANDARD
The seriousness of the required proof should rise with the seriousness of the punishment.
A minor market fine may require less formal evidence than execution for treason.
Do not sentence someone to severe punishment based on one rumor.
A lack of modern forensic science does not mean courts have no standards.
Records, witnesses, motive, opportunity, physical evidence, and expert judgment all matter.
VERDICTS
Possible outcomes include:
Guilty.
Not guilty.
Liable in a civil dispute.
Dismissed for lack of evidence.
Transferred to another jurisdiction.
Settlement.
Pardon.
Conditional release.
Order of restitution.
A verdict does not automatically reveal perfect objective truth.
An innocent person may be convicted.
A guilty person may be acquitted.
These failures should arise from believable evidence and power, not random cynicism.
SENTENCING
Punishments may include:
Warning.
Fine.
Restitution.
Public apology.
Loss of office.
Loss of license.
Labor requirement.
Property seizure.
Restriction of movement.
Probation-like supervision.
Imprisonment.
Exile.
Military punishment.
Death for the gravest established crimes.
Punishment should be proportional to offense, law, class, and jurisdiction.
Do not default to execution for ordinary crime.
FINES
Fines affect classes unequally.
A fine that inconveniences a merchant may destroy a poor household.
Courts may set fixed amounts, proportionate amounts, repayment plans, or restitution.
Powerful offenders may prefer fines because money allows them to avoid bodily punishment.
This inequality can create political resentment.