Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1605 This is Roman Law
This is part of civic politics. Because Roman law itself was the customary law of the Romans, and civic politics was the most important characteristic of Rome, this element was also present in Roman law.

Apart from criminal cases, which require complete impartiality, civil cases are almost always adjudicated by the citizens themselves.

How do you find someone like that?

"The court will appoint one—yes, there are specialized arbitration services. If ordinary people would hire a lawyer, then this is where the legal professionals come in. It's a kind of pro bono service."

In other words, Rome often did not appoint public interest lawyers in trials, but rather appointed public interest lawyers, directly determining the "public interest" attribute from the judges.

Because the Roman public good was the "public good" of its citizens. The citizen in law represented fairness from the citizen's perspective. The treatment of foreigners was often not within the scope of Roman law.

As for the occasional fairness shown to foreigners, that's all charity. Whether or not it's given depends on the mood of the citizen on duty.

However, if both parties are Roman citizens, the situation is different—if they cannot reach an agreement and the court appoints a public interest judge, it usually becomes news.

In Rome, a poor citizen was like a newcomer appearing 10 years after the game's launch—it was news in itself. This was because every Roman citizen, without exception, had a family history of military service and owned their own estates. Natural poverty rates didn't apply to the Romans because of administrative measures that provided a safety net.

If someone is so poor that they still have to file a lawsuit, it's most likely because they've suffered some great injustice and need someone to seek justice for them.

"So this is Roman law."

"Yes, that's right." Though somewhat exasperated, Apollonia explained, "In Rome, civil cases were handled jointly by magistrates and lawyers. Lawyers didn't need Roman citizenship, but magistrates did. This wasn't fair to outsiders, and it has nothing to do with us."

"Should I follow the Roman example?"

Generally speaking, the people of Aurora were not considered foreigners, but rather citizens. However, there were many differences between them and citizens; for example, Aurora people could not practice law, but they were treated with the same etiquette as citizens. For instance, as I mentioned before, Aurora people could enter public bathhouses. Romans would use public bathhouses as meeting rooms whenever they needed to discuss anything. If you couldn't enter a public bathhouse, it was essentially equivalent to being unable to participate in Roman business activities. But you, you are an exception.

“Your standards are the same as Victoria’s,” Ms. Agatha said. “However, even Victoria is only a first citizen under the law, a part of the citizenship. So, we won’t actually give you too many or too outrageous preferential treatments. And considering that the other party is also very powerful, it is very necessary to choose who will be the judge in this trial. We can start the application now.”

“Ah,” Victoria suddenly remembered, “why don’t we ask my father to be the judge?”

"Could we invite the co-ruling emperor?"

“Theoretically, yes,” Ms. Agatha explained. “Anyone who isn’t a public official in the legal system can be considered a candidate for judge. Wait a moment, I’ll go invite him.”

"What is it?" Agassiz answered the phone.

"That's right, Shangluo did something big."

"Are you talking about Shangluo's plan to use litigation to lure Amon Zeus up? I already know about that. Did you call specifically to ask for something?"

"Victoria and Shangluo hope you can serve as a judge."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. "No." "No?" This surprised Ms. Agatha. "Why not? Are you busy?"

"No means no, there's no reason. If I absolutely have to give an explanation—due to a conflict of interest—I need to recuse myself."

"You mean you have interests in Shangluo?"

"Yes. But it's not just because of that; I also have a vested interest with Amun-Zeus."

"I don't know much about what happened between you two, so is this your final decision?"

“Yes,” Agassiz replied affirmatively. “That is my final decision. I cannot attend the trial due to a conflict of interest.”

“That’s the situation,” Lady Agatha relayed Agassiz’s words. “My brother, our co-emperor, has decided to stay out of it.”

“What is he trying to do?!” Victoria exclaimed angrily. “This is clearly the best opportunity! We can use this to conquer Amun-Zeus in one fell swoop, so why is he clinging to his rigid rules and refusing to participate in our operation?”

Did he conspire with Amun-Zeus?

"Is there really such a thing?" Shangluo asked.

[This is possible, very likely. You may have already noticed—Helios and the Muses are strongly related, and I belong to the Muses. Amun-Zeus, in principle, belongs to the Senate. However, Amun-Zeus chose to go into hiding, making his actions unpredictable. And his ability to remain hidden for so long may have been aided by Emperor Agassiz.]

“How could my father do such a thing?” Victoria exclaimed in astonishment. “Could it be that he has some kind of leverage over Amun-Zeus?”

"Gentlemen," Agatha interrupted them, "this matter can be discussed later. In any case, any Roman citizen will do, it doesn't necessarily have to be my brother, Shangluo. I have an important point to emphasize: we actually have the possibility of losing without being defeated."

"What do you mean?"

"Because there is a special case in civil litigation—commercial litigation. Civil litigation seeks fairness, while the guiding principle of commercial litigation is interest. So once the opposing party steers the issue into the realm of commercial litigation, the scale of the trial will expand to an absurd degree. This leads to a direct consequence: in Rome, the average time to complete a commercial lawsuit is 18 months."

Eighteen months, which is a year and a half.

"so long?!"

"A year and a half is already quite efficient. It could take three to five years if it goes on, because there are many traditions for dragging things out. Let me give you an example—for instance, according to Roman law, if you wanted someone to testify in court, you had to go to their door and call out for three 'trading days,' which is three consecutive weeks. If the witness still couldn't appear after three weeks, then you would find another witness. This cycle could be repeated, and just one witness could delay the trial by three weeks. As for the rest, you can figure it out."

"This is Roman law?!"

"Yes, that is Roman law."

(End of this chapter)