Legal Education (Vera Lacune)

[Z'kron]

In the academies of prime, the teaching of law was not an uncommon thing. It was indeed one of the more popular classes. But today, the traditional teacher had gone absent. Nonetheless, a rather eminently qualified replacement had stepped in at nearly the last moment; and with such good timing one might wonder if he'd engineered the absence of the other himself.

Regardless, this was nothing Vera would know. All she would know is that at room 11B, her professor would be waiting for her. A one professor Khalendryth, an ancient looking elf dressed in deep purple-brown robes, with hair that was grey with just a tinge of green and spoke with an accent reminiscent of Trelore.

Sitting at his desk before a blackboard in a rather nondescript classroom, he eyed the other with a vague interest, his well modulated voice ringing out over the area. Vera seemed to be the only pupil in attendance.

"Law? Why on earth would you want to study law? Rather silly subject, if I do say so myself."

There seemed to be no hint of mockery in the statement; nor a biting sarcasm designed to evoke a response to passionately defend a subject he loved. No, instead, it simply seemed genuine; as if, despite his competence, the man did honestly view law as a aimless proceeding.

[Vera Jecaune]

As usual, Vera arrived at her destination fashionably on time. She had spent the time between her registration and the beginning of class to explore as much of Prime as she could, while always guaranteeing that she would know her way back and would not be late. Even with these conditions, she had seen plenty. Prime was full of characters.

Perhaps most interesting, however, was the character before her now. When she stepped into the classroom, she had fully expected several other students to be there already, perhaps chatting among themselves as they waited for the professor or glancing over notes that they had taken prior - though, she reminded herself, this was a beginner's class, so the assumption would be no prior knowledge. To her surprise, however, she walked into an almost empty classroom, devoid of life except for the curious elf that she assumed was her professor. More curious still was his response to her entrance - so he thought law was a silly subject? Why was he teaching it?

Of course, Vera did not miss a beat. She smiled at the professor, taking a seat and greeting him politely with a friendly "Serale" before putting on a more serious demeanor to address the question at hand.

"Why law, you asked?" she began. "With all due respect, sir, what could man study but law? Perhaps there are a handful of other subjects that could rival the importance law - I might list religion, philosophy, and politics - but none of these, save perhaps religion, could outweigh law." She took a breath, gathering her thoughts before she drew her final conclusion.

"The obvious answer is that law is that which governs society. I believe there is a deeper answer, though. Law is that which we can understand of society, the nature of the universe. The interaction of countless beings, always dynamic, always struggling - this is regulated by law. Take the Holy Triance - Law, Order, and Justice. Law preserves order and defines justice. We do not always know the minds of the gods, nor do we know the hand of fate, but we know the law."

She smiled apologetically. "My brother was a bit of a scholar. Perhaps he has rubbed off on me."

[Z'kron]

“Rubbed off indeed. But simply because law preserves order and defines justice, it doesn´t therefore follow the justice it defines is correct, or that the order is worthy of preservation. After all, the Xetan Empire holds laws as strict as ours, if not stricter. These are regulations. Are they then right? And does knowing the laws make them more right?”

The old professor raised his eyebrow, a wry smile crossing his lips. He seemed to be enjoying this.

“Thus, here I pose a question. What makes a law right? I ask this because, at the moment, this is a highly relevant issue. In this classroom, we shall be looking at some of the salient parts new articles of the Imperium, which, as you may know, have been undergoing some recent changes..”

The ancient paused. Opening up a scroll of some sort of pale orange parchment, he began to read aloud.

“We the Aelyrian People of both land and sky do hereby submit ourselves to and entrust our destinies before His Royal Highness Prince Milo I, Lord Protector of the Kingdom of Aelyria and to his descendants, the Sovereign Monarchs of the Kingdom as ceded by His Majesty King Auron and his heirs; and to His Royal Highness and his successors defer our freedoms and liberties in exchange for security and safety before the Sacred Three”

“Tell me then, Vera. What does this mean? Why is this necessary, or not? And why is it, or is it not right?”

[Vera Jecaune]

The professor's statement about the Xet empire caught Vera off guard. She had sat at enough rosyun tables with her father and her brother Eilox to hear considerable political and philosophical talk when she was a child, but one thing that they had never questioned was the validity and importance of the Sacred Three - Law, Order, and Justice. The professor's words questioning the correctness of justice and the need to preserve order was new. If it weren't a hypothetical question - which Vera had to assume it was - she might have construed it treacherous.

Before she had a chance to formulate an answer to his question, he unfurled what seemed to be a preamble to some new legal document. She listened carefully, listening for any key phrases. It seemed to boil down to one simple principle: the deferral of freedoms and liberties for security and safety.

"It means that we are all entrusting His Royal Highness with our choices, in a way," she said slowly. "Where we once might have made rash decisions willy-nilly, we subject ourselves to his will because he can promise us something better - that is, security and safety.

"That trade is necessary because without it, we would lose Order. Without Order, we are all constantly subjected to others' wills - for example, if you decided that you wanted to kill me, and you were armed while I wasn't, my destiny would be subjected to your will. With the power of all of our decisions vested in Prince Milo, you lose your ability to decide to kill me, but we both gain Order - and I need not fear your decisions.

"Is it right? I cannot say... I am neither a philosopher nor a theologian. But I would say that it is just, because all of us must therefore respect the will of His Royal Highness, and there are no surprises. Transgression of the law will yield a pre-determined consequence, or the consequence will be determined in a pre-determined way. Thus, that statement - that we, Aelyrians, offer His Royal Highness our freedoms and liberties and ask for security in return - preserves order and institutes justice. If all parties have agreed, then it would be a good law, perhaps a right law."

She stopped here, finally. As she spoke, the truth was that she was uncertain as to where she was going exactly, but through oration, she had come up with an answer. As she thought about it more, though, she couldn't say whether she had answered what made justice correct. Her mind was still working as she waited for the professor's response.

[Serendipity]

The wisened elf gently laid his scroll on the table next to him and stood. Fingers laced together, he began to lightly tap on his lips as he paced along the floor. The law of the new kingdom was vague and open to many interpretations. It was his job as a teacher to make his student aware of these things. Should she become a lawyer, she would have to learn to decipher the law in such a way that made it work for her client.

"We are not entrusting him with our choices, rather our destinies. Aelyrians have the free will to live their lives and make their decisions. To think that such things would be given away is preposterous. How could the Prince make all the decisions for every person in the entire Kingdom? If I wish to have chicken for pracenda, I will have it. If I am armed and you unarmed, I will murder you should the fancy strike.

We have submitted ourselves to the whim of Prince Milo. But that does not mean another being's will cannot be forced upon us. All this article is saying is that we willingly accept what the Prince decides. In exchange for our loyalty, we are granted security... to an extent. There is no way every Aelyrian can be protected at all times. We cannot run around blindly thinking by some divine power no harm will come to us because we swore fealty to the Kingdom. Prince Milo is not a deity. He does not know everything or everyone. He is a ruler of a Kingdom."

The elf reached into his desk and produced another two scrolls. He handed them to Vera. "This is your copy of the Articles of Imperium It is a lengthy document, but should you intend to study law further I would suggest committing it to memory. The other is The Annarian Code. While the code is not legally binding, should you attend a legal case you will notice that the Annarian Code proves to be the moral basis upon which decisions are made in court by judges. The Annarian Code is basically the broader, more general law of the Kingdom. This would be best to memorize as well.

What I would like for you to do, Vera, is to take these documents and read them over. Find the parts that interest you the most and we can discuss them. Form your own opinions about the controversial topics. I do so enjoy a debate. For now, you are dismissed until tomorrow. Unless you have any questions so far?"

[Vera Jecaune]

Vera bore Khalendryth's response to her opinion quite well; she gave no sign of offense nor particular surprise, even. He was right, of course. Vera had misspoken, or - more likely - misthought. She was a young woman who was perhaps yet too naive, and too faithful. Prince Milo was not a savior, nor could any leader be. But she felt sufficiently satisfied that the core of her answer - that is, the idea of submission to the sovereign and the relationship between submission and security - was accurate.

She took the documents that the elderly teacher gave her, though she looked rather doubtfully at the Articles of Imperium. Commit them to memory? Vera prided herself on her faculty of memory, but this was stretching it. A small sigh escaped her lips. She would start small, she supposed; memorizing the Annarian Code would be simple, and she would at least remember most major sections of the AoI with some studying. Vera took the assignment without complaint, however.

"I have no questions," Vera replied simply, documents in hand. "I will see you tomorrow, then."


The next brightening...

A night in Aelyria Prime was never boring, but Vera had had the discipline to start her evening's festivities late and end them early to study the Articles of Imperium and the Annarian Code. The fruit of her labor was that as she walked into the classroom this second brightening, she felt quite confident about her understanding of the documents. The Articles were a bit fuzzier, of course, due to their sheer length - not to mention a bit of archaic language, it seemed to her - but she slipped into her seat looking forward to the discussion with her elven teacher.

He had asked for parts that interested her and things that she found controversial. She didn't have to search very far to find the first of these topics. After a quick clarifying question - "In this very first part of the Articles, they mention the Divine Mandate. I've heard much about this, but what is the process exactly? How do we interpret the signs of the gods?" - Vera paused momentarily before asking a question that, to her, sounded frighteningly revolutionary.

"The Articles of Imperium state that the Ancient Aelyrians have ceded the Kingdom to Prince Milo I... why do they retain the right to gain stewardship at all, even if after there is no Divine Mandate?"