High Offices of House Crux

High Offices of House Crux
Seal of the Department of the Judiciary

The Department of the Judiciary is often publicly seen in the presence of Richters and Anwalts on worlds across the Empire. Through broadcasts of the PRISM Network on Amethyst Indigo, however, citizens of the Empire are also able to watch public sessions of the Judiciary’s highest ranking entities, the Sanhedrin and the Rachimburg Conclave. The Sanhedrin is often seen as the greater of the two, the final say in House Crux’s legal system before important enough cases may be passed on to the Imperial House for a final judgement. Alongside it, however, is the Rachimburg Conclave, the great legislature of House Crux that builds and rebuilds the laws of the Empire as is required of them, its Ministers and Justicars always listening closely to the Empire, the rest of the Judiciary, and the interests of the Imperial House.

The Sanhedrin

 PC Note for Discord Server: A House Crux Player Character may designate themselves a member of the Sanhedrin, but the roles of Court Master and Prime Justice are NPC-Only.

Also called the Seventy-And-One, the Great Deliberation, and, less kindly, the Guillotine, the Sanhedrin is the supreme court of House Crux, their chambers contained high within the Oberlandesgericht. Most cases in the Empire are brought before a Richter, who hears the testimonies of Anwalts and/or citizens before rendering their judgement. Such a judgement may be appealed to the appropriate Oberster Richter, though for lesser cases this option is often denied. If a case is important enough and the political pressure great enough, the decision of the Oberster Richter may then also be appealed, rendering the decision up to the Sanhedrin of House Crux. Rarely, powerful enough entities may seek to circumvent the Sanhedrin or appeal their decision to the Imperial House, at which point the Emperox has the absolute final say, if the appellant is successful. However, more often than not, a legal case lives or dies by the decision of the Sanhedrin, hence their nickname, “The Guillotine.” 

The Sanhedrin is formally composed of prominent retired Oberster-Richters, Arch-Anwalts, Richters and Anwalts as selected by the Sanhedrin itself. Originally, the Prince’s Council is said to have formed the first Sanhedrin in the early days of the Empire, but the veracity of this claim is unknown. Often, Oberster Richters and Richters will outnumber Arch Anwalts and Anwalts amongst the Sanhedrin, but the assembly is required to have no less than a 60/40 split of Richters and Anwalts either way.

In total, seventy-one retired judges and lawyers are chosen to sit on the Sanhedrin at any given time. Some may be chosen while still actively serving in the Judiciary, but agreeing to join the Sanhedrin is agreeing to step down from all other judicial appointments. Sixty-nine of the seventy are known as Muflas, the general assembly of the Sanhedrin. The seventieth member is the Court-Master, also the Av Beit Din, who is selected by the Muflas as an exemplary figure to assist in managing and guiding the business of the Sanhedrin. The seventy-first member is the Prime Justice, also the Nasi or the Gerechtigkeit des Großen, always an elder member of the Sanhedrin, chosen by the Sanhedrin and the Prince’s Council as the representative head of the high court.

Each of the Muflas will also have at least one lesser-ranked Richter or Anwalt who may serve as their representative during meetings of the Sanhedrin, should the Mufla not be in attendance. This practice was established following the Scream, due to the complexities of space travel and the possibilities of Empire-wide catastrophes. In lieu of the presence of the Court-Master or the Prime Justice, members of the Prince’s Council are bestowed with the power to direct the Sanhedrin, though they may have no influence on the Sanhedrin’s decisions nor cast votes alongside them.

The Sanhedrin is also bestowed with unique powers compared to individual Richters or Oberster-Richters. The Sanhedrin is the only body within House Crux able to formally try the Prince of Crux for crimes. Richters and Oberster-Richters may only bring motions to the Sanhedrin on such matters, not rule on them individually. The Sanhedrin is also the most influential body in terms of precedent, short of the Emperox themselves. While a Richter or Oberster Richter may set precedent in any decision they make, it is the decisions of the Sanhedrin that are watched most closely amongst the Judiciary, and that are most likely to affect the law on an Empire-wide scale. The precedent of a Richter or an Oberster Richter is always considered by the Sanhedrin, but it by no means binds them.

Culture

Because the Sanhedrin requires Richters and Anwalts to give up their other legal practices, and to have served in the Judiciary for a certain number of years, a culture of reverence, but also resentment, has emerged in the lower Judiciary towards the high court. Officially, many will show deference through respectful language and bowing of the head in the presence of the Sanhedrin. Behind closed doors, members of the Judiciary often mutter curses and complaints against the “holier-than-thou” members of the Sanhedrin or the archaic rites of ascension that allow only the oldest and most well-connected to find their way onto the supreme court. 

Additionally, the existence of the Sanhedrin instills a certain ruthlessness into some Richters and Anwalts who hunger for greater power, motivating them to use or work against their peers, seeking favors with no intent of reciprocating or digging for unflattering secrets. At the same time, this cutthroat determination tempers some of the less moral individuals, as flagrantly disregarding or disobeying Imperial Law both in personal actions and legal decisions can quickly undermine any hope of being considered to join the Sanhedrin’s ranks. This is not to say that corruption has never found its way into the Sanhedrin, but rather that they must put the greatest effort into appearing fair and impartial, even when individual members might not be.

The Rachimburg Conclave

PC Note for Discord Server: A House Crux Player Character may designate themselves a Minister or Justicar in the Rachimburg Conclave, but the Orrery and its members are NPC-Only.

A less public entity, the Rachimburg Conclave, also The Conclave, The Shadow Pillar, and The Careful Pen, is the great gathering of House Crux’s Ministers and Justicars to devise amendments, clarifications, documentation, and entirely new laws for the Empire. While the Conclave may seek to develop changes to existing laws or new laws of their own volition for approval by the Emperox, they are most often put to work by order of the Imperial House and the Emperox, constructing the appropriate legal language necessary to codify the Emperox’s will. The Emperox’s words are, of course, law from the moment they declare them so, but it is The Conclave that records them and weaves them into the appropriate legalese for the Emperox’s approval. It is from this practice that they earned the nickname “The Careful Pen.”

The Rachimburg Conclave is led by a council of twelve, The Orrery, so named because they are to be model exemplars to all other Justicars and Ministers. The Orrery is composed exclusively of Justicars, though Ministers may be promoted to the rank of Justicar if chosen to serve. Members are often selected for their age, wisdom, and legislative history. The Orrery is largely a guiding force, its members holding no more legal power than the rest of the Conclave, but their words and station have lent to greater social influence over the centuries. The Orrery is also the body that promotes or demotes members of the Conclave, raising Ministers to Justicars or casting Justicars down to the ranks of the Ministers.

Each member of The Orrery is also bestowed the title modifier “Vorsitzender” or “Chairman/Chairperson,” and ceremonially designated the overseer of one of the twelve legal divisions, commonly seen as sub-titles for Anwalts and Richters. For reference, the full titles then are:

1. Vorsitzender Handels-Justicar: The laws of corporates, freepeople, and serfs.
2. Vorsitzender Edel-Justicar: The laws of Nobles and Noble Houses.
3. Vorsitzender Justicar-Athonite: Imperial and Local Laws and how they interact with faith and the High Church.
4. Vorsitzender Justicar-Elysian: Cultural and regionally specific laws and how culture and law interact.
5. Vorsitzender Justicar-Athenian: The laws of the military, war, combat, and weapons.
6. Vorsitzender Justicar-Numisma: The laws of trade, contracts, business, and money.
7. Vorsitzender Justicar-Heimdallr: The laws of navigation, travel, and transportation.
8. Vorsitzender Zauber-Justicar: The laws of psychics and psychic things, as well as extra-normal laws.
9. Vorsitzender Cyber-Justicar: The laws of technology, maltech, and digital spaces.
10. Vorsitzender Nacht-Justicar: The laws of spacecraft, space stations, space, and system laws, as well as other laws governing spaceships and the void.
11. Vorsitzender Bundes-Justicar: The laws of the Empire more generally and Imperial Law.
12. Vorsitzender Xeno-Justicar: The laws of aliens and non-humans. This title is largely ceremonial, as such subjects are rarely spoken of with the exception of relics or ruins of the aliens that once were in Acheron Rho.

These titles are rarely used in day-to-day matters, the members of the Orrery most often referred to as simply “Justicar,” or “Vorsitzender,” but are always spoken during the official roll call of the Conclave assembled. The title modifier “Vorsitzender” is used to distinguish the Orrery from those Justicars and Ministers who choose to focus on specific branches of law and take the legal prefixes and postfixes like “Cyber” or “Athonite.”

Culture

There is a natural divide within the legislature of House Crux between Justicars and Ministers. Justicars and members of the Orrery often travel between Hiera and Imperial Prime, as they are the legal advisors to the Emperox and their House, listening to the Emperox’s will and decrees and offering their insight, should it be requested. Justicars often have homes or apartments on Imperial Prime as well as Hiera, and spend a great deal of time near or at the Imperial Palace.

Ministers, on the other hand, often remain on Hiera, working from home or within the halls of the Logos Tellurion in Ven City (so named because it is within the Logos Tellurion that the divine reasonings of the Nobility may be observed), a sprawling, stone labyrinth of chambers and towers that strikes out from the base of the Oberlandesgericht to the north. Ministers are studious, researching law and legal language in the Tellurion’s libraries or through digital archives, and tend to have a strange mixture of pragmatism and theology in their ways of thinking, as Imperial Law is tied inextricably to Imperial faith.