Difference between revisions of "Category:Laws of Isselmere-Nieland"

Revision as of 00:44, 6 April 2006

Isselmere-Nieland is a state governed by the rule of law. Whilst the King-in-Parliament is considered the font of all law, since the promulgation of the Constitution Act the law, passed by Parliament but subject to review by the judiciary, is sovereign over all.

Legal System

The law in the United Kingdom of Isselmere-Nieland is a mixture of civil law and common law; in other words, the written law as established by statutes and the "unwritten" law formed by precedent and local custom are of almost equal importance. Since statutes and regulations cannot cover every eventuality and custom cannot keep pace with the rapid changes in modern society, precedent elaborates the law, giving lawyers the means by which they can best serve their clients and offer judges and magistrates guidelines on how to administer justice.

This combination of legal systems arose from the ancient tribal traditions of the local populations (the Anguistians, the Anglo-Frisians, and the Nielanders, the traditions of Roman law passed down by the Church, and lastly from battles for dominance between the monarchs, their tenants-in-chief (i.e. the nobility), and the Church. In the end, the Church and the monarchy collaborated between themselves insofar as their interests allowed to make the safeguard the dynasty and to promote faith and good order throughout the land.

Isselmerian and Nielander monarchs did not have the firm grip on their lieges afforded to their English cousins by right of conquest, but with the episcopacy and the Papacy, successive kings and queens successfully contrived to centralise power, occasionally even resorting to war against conveniently excommunicated tenants-in-chief. More importantly, however, the monarchs involved the nobility in the legal process as judges with all the concomitant privileges that office allowed. By the end of the mediæval era (ca. 1500), Isselmerian and Nielander monarchs were well on their way to establishing modern royal states.

Legal Profession

The legal profession in Isselmere-Nieland consists of lawyers, judges, and magistrates. All members of the legal profession must receive formal legal training in order to occupy their respective posts. It is, however, permissible for a private citizen or a foreign national to act as his or her own counsel if the individual in question so desires.

The origins of the legal profession date back to the Middle Ages. Early legal proceedings in the four kingdoms of Anguist, Detmere, Isselmere, and Nieland were infrequent, almost informal affairs presided over by the local magnate every month or perhaps seasonally. Bereft of any knowledge of Roman law, trials tended towards the mystical, with guilt or innocence decided upon by one's fortitude or simple luck. The increasing complexity of life forced the law and the legal professions to evolve. In order to maintain some consistency in their rulings, as well as to recall from whom they had to collect fees, wealthier magnates including the kings began appointing reeves and bailiffs (geréfan in Anglo-Frisian, báilemaoir in Anguistian) from those who had received some rudimentary education from church schools. These minor officials grew in importance with the incorporation of Anguist into Isselmere forced Latin into the role of lingua franca between the remaining Anguistian hierarchy and the newly imposed Isselmerian aristocracy.

Whilst the Catholic Church unwittingly advanced the ideas of centralised authority and of written laws, the Norse brought with them the concept of trial by jury. The magnates within the Anglo-Frisian kingdoms of Isselmere and Detmere were slow to adopt juries, with the notable exception of those nobles and their officials in the former kingdom of Anguist, who were forced to accept the scheme as the sole means of understanding their new tenants.

Since the Royal Courts Act, 1692, lawyers and judges must receive formal legal training in order to occupy their respective posts.