Chapter 417： Circuit Court and Death Penalty Review

Seeing everyone's eyes focus on him, Schroeder immediately stood up and gave a military salute.

"The military will firmly obey your decision."

"Very good." Paul was satisfied with Schroeder's response.

In fact, there are already several insurances in the army. For example, the equipment department and the logistics department are not under the control of the staff department. They are all directly responsible to Paul. Go through military chiefs at all levels.

Not enough Paul thinks it is better to add an insurance.

Schroeder asked: "That...Master Graiman, if the trainer and the military commander disagree on marching and fighting..."

He felt that there were some things that needed to be clarified.

Paul replied: "Don't worry, I won't let laymen command experts. The military commander is still in charge of marching and fighting, and the trainer only has the power to advise the staff in this regard."

"My lord is wise."

Schroeder put a stone in his heart.

…

Thomas slowly shuttled through the somewhat dim corridors in the lord's castle. It was almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon. He was about to end his day's work and plan to go home, but he suddenly received a message from Earl Greyman. Zhao, as the chief judge, he didn't dare to neglect, and hurried to the lord's castle.

Arriving at the door of the earl's office, after being briefed by his secretary, Mr. Bernard Wood Francis, Thomas walked in slowly.

He saw that the lord he served did not sit behind the desk as usual, but sat crookedly on the single sofa in the corner. The earl propped his head on his right arm and leaned his elbow on the armrest of the sofa, The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window on the floor in front of him, but the count himself was in the shadow of the corner so that his face could not be seen clearly.

In Thomas' opinion, the Earl's mental state seemed to be not very good, and he seemed a little decadent. He secretly reminded himself to be careful with his words.

"My lord, Thomas is here at your summons."

"Please sit down."

"Yes."

The Chief Justice sat down not far from Paul.

"Thomas, I've been thinking about a problem recently."

"Please speak clearly."

"Should we limit the power of the so-called [civil courts] all over the countryside, or simply ban them all, and let Huxin Town take charge of all cases."

With a surprised expression on Thomas' face, he asked softly, "Why do you suddenly have such an idea?"

Paul rubbed his chin: "I think, if those landowners are allowed to continue to hold the power of punishment, their deterrent effect on the peasants will be too great, and the peasants are almost in a situation where they can't resist. Look at what just happened thing..."

His expression became resentful, "It is Fubinen who used his power to arbitrarily judge the farmers to use their family's land to pay off the debt. If this matter is handed over to Huxin Town for judgment, we will be able to discover Fubinen's despicable means early .”

Thomas knew about this. After all, he was now a senior official of the State Council, and he was there when Paul lost his temper.

Thomas frowned: "Uh...Master Gleiman, I advise you to think carefully, and to ban these private courts hastily may result in the opposite of what you hope to achieve."

"Why? If Fubinen hadn't used his power to make troubles, would such an unfair thing have happened? Then we can take away the power in his hands, wouldn't it be enough?"

Thomas thought for a while, and explained to Paul: "Master Greiman, there are only ten officials in the lord's court, including me, who are in charge of the towns of Arda, Bairding, and Emden, and are responsible for hearing cases in relevant places. , but for the vast rural areas, we really have more than enough energy. For places where we have no power to govern, we can only rely on local famous gentry to form civil courts to handle cases, which is also the way since ancient times.”

In fact, Arda's lord's court has ten officials. It is the result of expansion. In the Northwest Region (maybe not just the Northwest Region), most lords only have one legal adviser. The lord himself is a natural judge, but They basically can't remember all the laws promulgated by themselves and their ancestors, and they need a special assistant to help memorize or look up.

"Once the vast rural areas lose the authority to mediate disputes, I pessimistically believe that they will soon fall into a state of chaos and disorder. When their own interests are not involved, those local snakes can still play a little role in maintaining order. It works."

"Wouldn't it be enough to let people go to nearby cities to file lawsuits?"

"Uh..." Thomas said awkwardly: "Maybe it's not a big deal for you to go to Port Fullland, but for most of us here, going all the way to town They don't know whether they can win the lawsuit, and what they get is not as good as what they lost, maybe... this will make them prefer to settle it in private."

After hearing what Thomas said, Paul covered his head in frustration: "Is there no better way?"

After a moment of silence in the room, Paul straightened up suddenly.

"All right, Thomas!"

Paul looked at the chief judge with a very serious look, which made Thomas also look terrified.

"I want to increase the number of our judges, and the lord's court will be independent from the Government Council and called a separate system."

"You mean... uh, I heard right."

Thomas's breathing became a little short. So, does that mean that he will be on the same level as the old Ford and Schroeder You heard me right, let me ask you, if it is All cases are brought back to the lord's court for trial, how many manpower do we need. "

"It's hard to estimate, because I've never done it before. And, Mr. Greiman, I have to remind you that a qualified judge may not be able to read, write and do arithmetic like your ordinary government officials. Now, he has to have a solid logical ability and familiarity with various legal provisions, which may take years to develop."

time! needs time!

Paul tapped his fingers on the railing, how he wanted to do it all at once.

"Okay, but the reform must start now. I decided to set up one or several small circuit courts as soon as possible to conduct inspections in various places. They must go deep into various rural areas to check whether there are unjust, false or wrongly decided cases. They must use the authority of the lord Go deep into everyone's heart, instead of only those local tyrants following the lead, you go back and come up with a plan for me immediately."

"Yes, Mr. Grayman."

Thomas secretly sighed, circuit court? It's a chore.

"In addition, the power to impose the death penalty will be revoked. Even if the evidence is clear that the criminal needs to be executed, he must submit a dossier detailing the interrogation process to Huxin Town for review by the lord's court before making a verdict."

"it is good!"

Thomas very much agrees with Paul's decision.