Courts of Jinavia

His Majesty's Courts of Justice of Holy Empire of Jinavia are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Jinavia; they apply the law and are established under Constitutio de Justitia of 1869.

House of Peers[]

The Supreme Court is the highest appeal court in almost all cases in Jinavia: it is the Court of Last Resort. This role is held by the House of Peers, which also functions as Court of Appeal for Court of Chivalry.

Court of Chivalry: causes regarding aristocrats

Courts of Fourth Instance[]

The judicial system of the Empire of Jinavia is unusual in having no single highest court of appeal, although the very highest court of Last Resort is actually the single court of its kind; the Judicial Committee is the highest court of appeal in some cases, while in most others the highest court of appeal is the High Court of Justice, or the Apostolic Penitentiary.

High Court of Justice: civil and criminal matters
Privy Council (Judicial Committee): administrative matters
Apostolic Penitentiary: ecclesiastical matters

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council[]

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the Holy Emprire of Jinavia. It is the highest court of appeal (or court of last resort) for several the Dominions, Colonies and Crown Dependencies. In most cases appeals are made to "His Majesty in Council", who then refers the case to the Judicial Committee for "advice"; the "report" of the Judicial Committee is almost always accepted by the Sovereign-in the-Council as judgment.
The Judicial Committee gives a unanimous report and has the power to depart from precedent if it concluded that one of its own previous decisions was incorrect.

Courts of Third Instance[]

Regional Court of Appeal: civil and less serious criminal matters of third instance
Regional Crown Court: serious criminal matters of third instance
Regional Administrative Courts: Administrative matters of third instance
Court of Ecclesiastical Region: ecclesiastical matters of third instance

Courts of Second Instance[]

Interprovincial Court of Appeal: less serious criminal matters of second instance (interprovincial)
Duke’s Court: civil matters of second instance (interprovincial)
Regional Crown Court: more serious criminal matters of second instance (regional)
Administrative Courts: Administrative matters of second instance (interprovincial)
Archdiocesan Court: ecclesiastical matters of second instance

Courts of First Instance[]

Court of Justice: less serious criminal matters of first instance
Count’s Court: civil matters of first instance
Crown Court: more serious criminal matters of first instance – interprovincial district
Provincial Boards: administrative matters of first instance
Diocesan Court: ecclesiastical matters of first instance

Lawyers[]

In Jinavia the legal profession is split between Solicitors and Barristers, and a lawyer strictly holds only one title.

In the Jinavian legal system, the profession of Barrister is reserved for nobles, which are titled or not. They do not accept a payment, but receive a reward, as a courtesy. The Solicitors are mere professionals.

Barristers[]

A Barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions. They are contrasted with solicitors — the other class of lawyer — who have more direct access with clients, and may do transactional-type legal work. Barristers are rarely hired by clients directly but instead are retained by solicitors to act on behalf of clients.

A solicitor is an attorney, which means they can act in the place of their client for legal purposes (as in signing contracts) and may conduct litigation on their behalf by making applications to the court, writing letters in litigation to the client's opponent and so on. A barrister is not an attorney and is forbidden from "conducting" litigation. This means that while the barrister speaks on the client's behalf in court, he can only do so when instructed by a solicitor or certain other qualified professional clients, such as patent agents.

Solicitors[]

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts.

Differences[]

Essentially, Barristers are the lawyers who represent litigants as their advocate before the courts of that jurisdiction. They speak in court and present the case before a judge or jury. In some jurisdictions they undertake additional training in order to hone their skills with evidence law, ethics, and court practice and procedure. In contrast, Solicitors generally engage in preparatory work and advice, such as drafting and reviewing legal documents, dealing with and receiving instructions from the client, preparing evidence, and managing the day-to-day administration of a matter. Solicitors can provide a crucial support role to a barrister when in court, be it in managing large volumes of documents in the case or even negotiating settlements outside the courtroom while the trial continues inside.

A Barrister has rights of audience in the higher courts (Third and Fourth Instances and House of Peers), whereas Solicitors have more limited access.
Barristers usually have particular knowledge of case law, precedent and the skill of 'building' a case. When a solicitor in general practice is confronted with an unusual point of law, they sometimes seek the "opinion of counsel" on the issue.
Barristers operate as sole practitioners, and are prohibited from forming partnerships or working as a barrister as part of a corporation. However, barristers normally band together into 'chambers' to share clerks (administrators) and operating expenses.
Solicitors work directly with the client and are responsible for engaging an appropriate barrister; whereas barristers have little or no direct contact with their 'lay clients', particularly without the presence or involvement of the solicitor. All correspondence, inquiries, invoices, and so on, will be addressed to the Solicitor, who is primarily responsible for the barrister's fees.
In court, Barristers are visibly distinguished from solicitors by their apparel. Barristers usually wear a horsehair wig, stiff collar, bands and a gown.
Barristers have a major role in trial preparation, including drafting pleadings and reviewing evidence.

Imperial Prosecution and Justice Promotion Service[]

The Imperial Prosecution and Justice Promotion Service, or simply The Service, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the Empire responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in Jinavia. The CPS is headed by the Lord Attorney General.
The Imperial Prosecution and Justice Promotion Service is responsible for civil and criminal cases beyond the investigation, which is the role of the Gendarmerie. This involves giving advice to the police on charges to bring, being responsible for authorising most of charges, and preparing and presenting cases for Court.

Organization[]

The Service is divided into 28 Regional Areas across Jinavia, in accordance with Court structure. Each Area is led by a Chief Promoteur of Justice (CPJ), who is responsible for the provision of a high quality prosecution service in their Area. Each CPJ is supported by a Regiona Area Business Manager (RABM), and their respective roles mirror, at a local level, the responsibilities of the DPP and Chief Executive. A 'virtual' 29th Area, is also headed by a CPJ and provides out-of-hours charging decisions to the Gendarmerie.
Each area is headed by a Chief Promoteur of Justice who reports directly to the Lord Attorney General. In Saint Basilsburg, the Chief Promoteur of Justice is supported by Sector Directors. Although Chief Promoteurs of Justice are directly accountable for the prosecutions in each area, most of the responsibility for the business administration of the area is overseen by an Area Business Manager.

General Promotion of Justice of the Empire[]

The Imperial office of the prosecutor in the High Court of Justice is called General Promotion of Justice of the Empire. In criminal matters the Promoteur of Justice prosecutes when there are not the required conditions for the archiviation request.
These functions are exercised by the magistrates of the General Promotion of the Empire in the High Court of Justice in appeals that take place before this Court.
The General Promotion in the High Court of Justice intervenes and ends in all civil and criminal hearings held before the High Court of Justice and draws up indictments in the cases provided written. With this activity contributes, in the public interest, to ensure the uniform interpretation of the law.
The Promoteur General of Justice in the High Court of Justice resolves conflicts of jurisdiction arising between Promotions of Justice belonging to different districts. The Promoteur General of Justice in the High Court of Justice is ex officio member of the Supreme Council of Magistracy.

Judicial Police[]

The Promoteur of Justice has full direction of the investigation. For this purpose, the Judicial Police is directly responsible to the Promoteur of Justice.
This office, established at every Bureau for the Promotion of Justice, is called "Section of the Judicial Police" and is composed of officers and agents of Judicial Police, proportionally to the number of the Promoteurs of Justice. This personnel is functionally dependent on the Promoteur of Justice, while is hierarchically dependent on the Gendarmerie or other administration to which they belong.
The Section of Judicial Police performs delegated activities prosecutors: investigations, interrogations, searches and seizures.