IN> Rites in Heaven: The People’s Courts

[James Walker]

Rite: Spend two hours defending an innocent in court

This is the only basic Rite available to Dominicans in Heaven, focusing Judges on clearing the names of the falsely accused. The most effective way they have of doing this is the People’s Courts.

The People’s Courts have adopted features of the ancient Greek legal system – in particular, a jury of at least 500 people. Any citizen of Heaven may sit on one of these juries. The court is inquisitorial rather than adversarial (that is, the court must determine what happened before pronouncing judgment) and is a true Heavenly Court, able to order summon witnesses and pronounce sentences. 
It also has the right to try ‘in absentia’ – necessary if the accused is still alive, died and gone elsewhere, or ascended to the Higher Heavens.

Should the Judges learn that a slanderous belief is common amongst the Blessed, they will call a trial to determine the truth of the matter. 
They have found that those prejudiced against the accused are far more likely to attend the hearing if they have a chance of pronouncing guilt, hence the large juries. It is explained to the jury that before voting jurors must swear that they have listened attentively as and fairly as possible to the evidence presented: this compels jurors to consider the evidence if they wish a chance to condemn the accused.

The case is then held with the full rigor of a Heavenly Court. Usually this is sufficient to completely demolish the charge, and persuade the majority of the jurors that the accused is innocent. The final question to the jury is phrased carefully, asking whether they have during the trial heard sufficient evidence to find the accused guilty or not guilty – the inability to lie in Angelic prevents the prejudiced from ignoring the evidence. And then several hundred jurors will leave the court, convinced (and able to convince others) of the truth.

Of course, sometimes the accused is actually guilty – if not of the charge, then of other crimes that have been revealed by the trial. The People’s Courts are able to punish the accused, even if they are in other realms. Those living on the Corporeal have their sentences delivered to The Sword, Trade or The Wind, depending on the circumstances. Typically The Sword deals with those deserving death or imprisonment, Trade punishes those deserving to be fined while The Wind recovers stolen items. Those in The Marches will be dealt with by either Dreams or the Guardians; those in Hell have their sentences recorded until after Armageddon.

The People’s Courts have proven very good at dealing with accusations levelled against famous humans. Smaller courts, similar but far better than mortal ‘family courts’, deal with accusations that have destroyed families or friendships: claims of theft, adultery and so forth. Although they are also true courts, they seek to serve as mediators and counselors as well. These are always overworked, and always grateful of more staff to help them clear their workload. 

Hell *hates* these Courts. Asmodeus in particular has put a lot of effort into creating mockeries of them on the Corporeal - this is one of the few times that he and Kobal really see eye to eye.

Cheers, James.



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