15. The Justice System

1. From time to time, those who break the law will find themselves having to face the consequences.

2. In some circumstances, arrests are automatic. However, it cannot be assumed that the Inquisitor will prosecute any particular case, since demands on his time, politics and his view of the assembled evidence may persuade him to do otherwise.

3. If the Inquisitor is a PC, he may issue an arrest warrant, regardless of the presence of any evidence, as a pre-monthly action unless a trial is already scheduled for that month.

4. To make an arrest, either the Inquisitor or one of his "Eyes and Ears", must be in the same location as the target in any week of that month. A character who is on a Mission may not be arrested in this way. To arrest a character who is working, entertaining at home or doing nothing, the Inquisitor or Eyes and Ears must have ordered "Arrest [name of target] at home". A week's arrest attempt at a named School is needed if the person is studying at that school. If the target is actually committing a crime that week, e.g. stealing, he is arrested and found out. If that crime is being committed in a location other than one at which the Inquisitor or his Eyes and Ears are present, the arrest is made by an NPC.

5. An arrest attempt negates any other actions planned for that week if successful, although an arrest attempt "At Home" cannot be combined with any other actions.

Example: The Inquisitor orders "Week 2: Attend Gianluca's party at the Capitoline. Arrest Silvio if present.". One of the Inquisitor's Eyes and Ears orders "Week 2: Arrest Silvio at home", whilst the remaining Eyes and Ears orders "Week 2: Arrest Silvio at the Juvenal School of Wit". If Silvio attends Gianluca's party, the Inquisitor will arrest him, but not participate in the party (no carousing, Toadying or SP), whilst the Eyes and Ears do nothing that week. If Silvio goes to the Capitoline, but not the party, the Inquisitor will attend the party (thus carousing, Toadying and receiving SP for attendance) and the Eyes and Ears will still do nothing. If Silvio spends Week 2 studying Wit, the Eyes and Ears present at that School makes the arrest, whilst the other does nothing.

6. If the arrest attempt fails, the warrant becomes public knowledge. The Inquisitor may continue to seek an arrest the following month, or cancel the warrant.

7. If arrested, a character loses any actions from that week and spends the remainder of the month in prison awaiting trial. This is common knowledge.

8. Once an arrest has been made, the Inquisitor must announce the charges being brought. The trial must be held in the first week of the month following the arrest, else the prisoner must be released as a pre-monthly action.

9. Trials for Minor Crimes and Serious Crimes are judged by the Papal Legate for Rome in accordance with the Crime and Punishment Table. The Secretarius Intimus tries Capital Crimes in accordance with the same table. If the Secretarius Intimus is being tried, the Pope acts as the judge. A PC Papal Legate for Rome or Secretarius Intimus simply decides whether the accused is guilty or not and states this in his orders; he must spend that week attending the trial unless he has delegated the role of judge in the case and the power of sentencing to an NPC Councillor.

10. Witnesses must make themselves known through the mailing list or via the GM prior to the Orders Deadline. Each witness must be of an equal or higher SL than the accused and may not be from the same, a friendly or an enemy Faction. The witness must spend the week of the trial attending the trial and may not remain anonymous. A witness does not have to tell the truth. A summary of a witness' testimony may be sent to the mailing list or with his orders.

11. The Inquisitor may not be a witness although his Eyes and Ears may be.

12. Only PCs may be appointed as the Inquisitor's Eyes and Ears. Since they are not in receipt of formal Appointments, the Eyes and Ears may be dismissed by the Inquisitor at any time.

Crime Classification Table

Crime and Punishment