Fic // Transcript:: The Trial Of Merope ((Seven of Swords))

[fakers_journal]

Title: The Trial Of Merope
Author: fakers_journal
Rating: Oh, definitely G. :-)
Characters: Merope, Barty Sr, Susan Bones, anonymous Court Guy.
Claim/Card: Seven Of Swords
Word Count: 826
Warnings: Erm... American-style trial? :D
Summary/Card interpretation: Merope's trial for giving love potion to an unsuspecting Muggle. Uh... Card interpretation? Kind

Comments

[cheryl_bites]

Actually, let me elaborate. (I know very little about the American legal system, btw, but I know a little about the English and Welsh one.)

In a civil court case, one person, or group of persons, or company, brings a case against another entity. The government cannot bring a civil case, and nor can a goverment agency. A civil offence is called a tort and cannot be punished with a jail sentence, or with any other kind of penalty apart from a fine. So, for example, Ms Black might bring a case against Mr Potter accusing him of giving her a love potion, and she might be awarded fifty thousand Galleons. He could not, however, be sent to prison.

However, we don't know that any civil court system actually exists in the wizarding world, and even if it did, Tom Riddle Sr would not be allowed to use it since he is a Muggle. He is not even allowed to discover that love potions or witches exist (if he did, I assume he would be Obliviated by Aurors). The chaces of his suing Merope therefore appear extremely low.

What I assume would actually happen would be that, if Merope really had committed a criminal offence by giving a love potion to a Muggle, she would be prosecuted by the Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement. (I believe the American word for prosecution is arraignment.) There is no plaintiff in a criminal case because the action is being brought by the state; that is, a nation state in the case of the United Kingdom, or a regional state in the case of America. Since the UK is technically headed by the monarch, criminal cases in England and Wales are notated as, for example, Regina (or Rex) versus Smith. Since there was a king in 1945 and not a queen, Merope's trial might be called Rex versus Gaunt, abbreviated to R v Gaunt, 1945.

The magical community, however, is unlikely to pay allegiance to a Muggle monarch, so I assume the notation would read something like "the state versus Gaunt", "the Ministry versus Gaunt", or, American-style, "the people versus Gaunt".

You have used a traditional American/British courtroom style in which there is an adversarial system (ie a counsel for the prosecution and a counsel for the defence) and proceedings are relatively formal, with the judge allowing prosecution, defence and defendant to speak in turn. You also have the plea system in which the defendant pleads innocent or guilty.

In JK's books, however, the Wizengamot's trial arrangements seem to be somewhat different. In Harry's trial he has a counsel for the defence (Dumbles), but no counsel for the prosecution; instead, there are "interrogators". In the other trials we have seen, such as Bellatrix's, there appear to have been no lawyers whatsoever; in short, the British magical world appears to use a form of inquisitorial system (as used, e.g., in France), in which the case is both explored and decided by the justices themselves, i.e. the Wizengamot.

[cheryl_bites]

They also use a very informal and authoritative courtroom style, in which people shout out or speak up as they see fit; if the Wizengamot has rules governing courtroom etiquette, they appear to be remarkably lax. The defendant often does not speak at all; Rodolphus and Rabastan, for example, did not speak at their trial, and were not even required to plead innocent or guilty (a vital necessity in the Muggle courts). Although Cornelius Fudge asked Harry a great number of questons at his trial, he did not listen to the answers, instead cutting Harry off after a couple of syllables.

I need hardly point out that in extremis (for example, during the First War), the Ministry has committed severe breaches of criminal justice. The HP books are littered with examples of people being sent to Azkaban on little or no evidence or, in some cases, without a trial. Hagrid, Sirius and Barty Crouch Jr are examples. Of course, the real-life courts are not exactly perfect themselves, but I think we can safely say that the magical courts routinely commit much more serious miscarriages of justice than those to which we, as British or American citizens, are accustomed.

A final caveat: the only trials we have seen in the HP books are full criminal trials. (Even Harry's trial, which should have been a mere disciplinary hearing, is trumped up by a malicious Ministry.) That being the case, we don't know what their magistrates' courts are like. However, it must be pointed out that the magistrates' courts are generally less rule-bound and formal than the crown courts; so given that full criminal trials in HP are generally a hectic shambles, the stuff that goes on at the district level must be awesome to behold.

*

*Reads back through this screed* Oh my god. I can't believe I wrote all that. You don't have to take any notice of it, I just got started and couldn't seem to stop.

Also, shouldn't Susan Bones be Amelia Bones?

Nice fic, though.

[fakers_journal]

Agh, I always confuse those Bones girls. I'll fix it after I post this.

And thank you.

And wow, you really know your stuff! I'm -ehem- not quite old enough to have fully studied the criminal law systems in any society, British, French, or American. I kind of draw off what I've picked up from books ((My Sister's Keeper, and...um...others...)), common sense, and pamphlets. :D So I don't exactly have an in-depth knowledge, like you clearly do.

And yes, I DID read through your...description ((short essay?)) of justice systems. :-) And I have to admit, I tried to follow most of the rules but like cheryl_bites said I tried to make up some as I went. Merope's trial ((I assumed)) was less serious than any that we've seen in the books, so I attempted to make it less formal and quicker. And maybe a little less scary?

But...yeah, this is my first fictional court transcript. :D So I kind of pulled it out of thin air ((honestly, I have no idea where the idea to make a court transcript came from...)).