Brevic Common Law

In Brevic Law, there isn't really a constitution or official written-down body of legislation (other than previous cases and the occasional decree, and the holy writ of Abadar). Mostly it's common law that everybody in Brevoy was raised with and is expected to be aware of (things are done the way they've always been done), though how it's interpreted and adjudicated is often dependent on the circumstances and individuals involved.

Common law is created over time. It’s an aggregation of legal traditions and rulings that have developed over generations. In Brevoy, the fundamental idea is that the laws are a part of the realm — the law exists independently of any one ruler. A ruler or prominent justice may be able to add new rules to the body of common law, but there are policies for doing this; the king can’t arbitrarily decide to revoke the penalties for murder, for example.

In Brevoy, knowledge of legal traditions is extremely important. The justice must consider all of the precedents and traditions when making a ruling. Most of the time, an appointed justice (cleric of Abadar) will preside over a common law court, as opposed to a hereditary noble; should the justice be found to be blatantly ignoring the law, she could be stripped of her office.

With that said, a Brevic court of law (typically in a temple of Abadar) is still a far cry from the modern courtroom. You don’t get to make endless appeals, and you still may not have the opportunity to plead your case if your crime was public with witnesses. You may actually be worse off, because the judge can’t spontaneously decide to set you free if the precedents clearly dictate otherwise. However, if you do get the opportunity to speak — either on your own behalf or through an advocate — knowledge of the laws of the land can be vital to your success.

A plea in a court of common law will also involve an Diplomacy roll to shift the opinion of the judge. If you have at least 2 ranks in Knowledge (local) you get a +2 synergy bonus to this check. The drawback is that no matter how friendly a judge is, she cannot completely ignore the dictates of the law.

A common law court will often make use of a jury to determine the actual guilt or innocence of a victim. In this case, the justice simply determines the appropriate punishment for the crime.

In Brevoy, the courts use juries to help determine the guilt or innocence of an accused criminal, or to arbitrate disputes. But there is an important distinction between the medieval jury and the jury of modern times. In Brevoy, the jury does not sit idly and listen to the evidence gathered by others. Instead, it is the duty of the jury to go out and find the facts — to uncover the evidence and solve the case themselves, and then to present the justice with their verdict. If an appointed jury takes too long to solve a case or fails to deliver a verdict, the members of the jury could be punished themselves.

There are a number of reasons for using the jury in this manner. The first is a question of manpower. All too often, the forces of the law do not have the resources to conduct a full investigation into every accusation or disagreement brought before the justices; as a result, members of the local community are drafted to solve the problem. The second is that, especially when the case is being heard by an itinerant justice, the justice may not be familiar with the community or its inhabitants; the theory is that the members of the jury know their neighbors and are best able to find the truth. The final point is one of motivation. The local community may be held responsible for any unsolved crimes. If a borough cannot produce the guilty party, then all of its inhabitants may have to pay the fine for his crime.

Also, due to the limits of secular bureaucracy and resources, the churches of the land are encouraged to help settle matters within their fields of expertise. There isn't "separation of church and state" as we understand it in modern America. If you commit crimes against a church (threatening or harming a clergy member, stealing or damaging church property, blaspheming their gods, etc), don't expect the secular law to help you. Even the nobles aren't willing to risk a deity's wrath (or losing their own standing within the community) and will gladly hand such a transgressor over to the church in question to be dealt with in their way.

Honor, tradition, respect, and community are deeply valued in the Brevic way of life, but clever scheming also has its place, as long as its not too obvious. An offender could save face by making right on their misdeed before it is brought to court (such as returning a stolen item, with extra for compensation). If the offender is seeking forgiveness in such a way, the offended party is strongly honor-bound by tradition to accept, rather than make a public spectacle of it. Attempting to escape consequences for one's misdeeds is seen as cowardly and shameful, and a criminal who turns themselves in and offers to make amends can regain some measure of standing in the community.

If a person has a personal grievance with their neighbor, the traditionally proper way is for them to attempt to resolve it directly with that person one-on-one first (often over hard drink, and perhaps a round of fisticuffs). Then if that fails, the two parties are to seek a third as an impartial mediator (often a cleric of Abadar will be specifically trained for this role). If the two parties refuse to seek mediation themselves, the community can intervene and sit them down in front of a mediator and get the matter resolved.