Department of Justice

1. The courtroom

The courthouse has a bench, courtroom microphones, a gavel and a board. The bench officer sits at the bench; the prosecution and the defence take the tables in front; witnesses come forward when called; everyone else sits in the gallery.

The week’s sittings are on https://thelegacyroleplay.com/justice/court-list and in the court-list channel. Arrive before your listed time.

2. How a sitting runs

In our courts, a hearing follows this order:

• Calling the matter: the bench calls the matter by its number and the accused’s name.
• Appearances: the prosecutor, and the accused’s lawyer if they have one, state who they are and who they appear for.
• The charges: the charges are read.
• Pleas: where the step allows it, the accused pleads guilty or not guilty.
• Evidence and submissions: at a contested hearing or trial, the prosecution presents its case and witnesses, then the defence. Each side may question the other’s witnesses. Then each side makes brief closing submissions.
• The decision: the bench (or at trial, the jury) decides, and the bench records the decision on the tablet straight away.
• Papers: the court prints the papers that go with the decision and hands them over in person.

Only the decisions allowed at the matter’s current step can be made. See the Criminal Procedure Guide.

3. Forms of address

• Magistrates, County Court Judges, Supreme Court Justices and the Chief Magistrate are all addressed as Your Honour.
• Before conviction, the person charged is the accused.
• Lawyers and prosecutors refer to each other as my friend or by name.
• Stand, or face the bench, when you speak to the court.

4. Microphones and the gavel

While you hold a courtroom microphone your voice carries 25 metres, so the whole room can hear. Pick it up when you are called on and put it down when you are finished. One person on a microphone at a time.

The gavel belongs to the bench. It opens and closes the sitting and calls the room to order. When it sounds, stop talking.

5. The gallery

• Sit quietly. No calling out, no cheering, no heckling.
• Weapons stay holstered and hands stay empty.
• The bench may order anyone who disrupts the sitting to leave, and police in the room will carry it out.

6. Roleplay standards

• Stay in character for the whole sitting.
• No metagaming: the court decides on what is said and shown in the city.
• Out-of-character disputes go to a ticket, never into the courtroom. A sitting does not stop for an argument about rules.
• Keep it moving: say what you need to say, then let the next person speak.