From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@toppoint.de)
Date: Fri 13 Dec 1996 - 22:38:00 EET
Dave Cake:
>> I imagine for the Dara Happans, precedent is enormously important.
As I understand them, there is nothing which is legal and unprecedented, or
at least unanticipated. In their celestial wisdom the emperors have decreed
any acceptable behaviour, and any punishment for deviations thereof.
Pam Carlson
>Perhaps - we play this it certainly is for the Orlanthi. (Which is why
>they need lawspeakers to remember all the precedents.)
>I'm not sure the DH's rely as much on precedent. I think they take
>social standing and written law more heavily into account.
While I agree that the lawspeakers drawing forth precedents will make a good
show at any Orlanthi folkmoot, the outcome of a legal struggle will be
weighed by the witness power the parties can bring forth (easily measured by
the amount of weregeld the witnesses are worth).
BTW: can any defendant bring forth as many witnesses as he can get, or is
> I'm not sure "right of appeal" has a DH translation. (Did ANYBODY
there an upper limit of witnesses people can bring, so htat the support of
weregeld-heavy witnesses becomes essential? And will there be independent
witnesses (aka judges) to put their "votes" with one of the sides?
>mythic ever make an appeal past Yelm?)
Rebellus Terminus did, although not legally, if you ask the Dara Happans. He
did get the support of the Celestial Court for a time, or at least avoided
their displeasure, but then this body wasn't respected that much by the Dara
Happans.
Gerra survived as the result of an appeal to/past Yelm-Anaxial, though the
appeal was made post-factum.
Otherwise, people appeal for judgements, not against them, like in the
>I think the Dara Happan/solar sytem would not have such a strong judge
inheritance case with the gazzam in Murharzarm's crown tests.
>penalty. By definition, a judge, who walks the path of Yelm, Keeper and
>Source of all Justice, CANNOT make an error.
>(Comments?)
This works the other way around: if the judge makes a blatant error, he
obviously cannot have been Just, i.e. must have strayed from the path of
Yelm. Happened to Wanthanelm, surnamed the Cursed. After his unjust rule was
exposed, it was "discovered" that he had cheated in the Ten Tests.
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