The Justice System

While these Factbook chapters are written for tourists and, hopefully, you won’t need to interact with our justice, it is good to know about it in case you do. In this Chapter, we will inform you about the basics of Teknianian law and justice, helping you navigate it all better.

The most basic facet of our justice system is the police. Granted, you may not see many of them on the street, but they do make extensive use of CCTV cameras and other forms of covert surveillance, thus stopping crime before it even happens. As with all things in Tekniania, there is the federal and there is the state. Union Police is the federal one, handling the most serious and dangerous cases. State Police wear different uniforms in every state and every State has its own, these deal with more minor crimes and civil cases.

Police officers are very well trained and, particularly the State Police, can also help you out with directions and general information, so please do not hesitate to approach them if you see a crime happening or just need some help. All patrols carry with them an emergency aid kit, so they will also be able to assist you with medical cases.

If you are charged with a crime and have to appear in court, the first step (if it is a major civil case) will be the State Conclave. In any case, whether criminal or civil, a lawyer will be provided to you by the system. State Conclaves vary in size depending on the size of the State but are usually between 5 – 15 judges. Around half of these judges will be chosen at random to argue against the defendant and the other half will argue in favour of the defendant.

Criminal cases, the more serious kind, are handled first by the State Convocation. Unlike Conclaves, these are open to the general public and have only 3 judges, this time impartial and a prosecutor is appointed by the Union Prosecution Service. Criminal cases are much more high profile than civil cases, simply because, as mentioned, the public don’t get to see Conclaves unless the judges and the defendant both agree to it.
If a defendant believes that they’ve been treated unfairly, they can appeal. Civil cases are sometimes rejected from appeal because the higher level court believes that there isn’t a basis to appeal. Criminal cases, however, are all seen if appealed. Appeals are handled by the Union High Court of Appeals, which appoints a very Western-style single judge and prosecutor.

A much higher court exists, however. The Teknianian High Tribunal of Justice, headquartered on the island of Savali, can, if it so wishes, take cases off the hands of the High Court of Appeals or any lower level of court and judge on them itself. It does this infrequently, only when the case is considered supremely important to the whole nation. The Tribunal also appoints judges for all the other courts and occasionally also removes them from office.

It consists of 33 Union Justiciars, all of them incredibly experienced. Justiciars are appointed by The Speaker and confirmed by a 2/3 majority in the General Council. 22 of the justiciars argue in favour of the defendant, the rest against, chosen, again, at random if the justiciars cannot themselves divide themselves up. Any judgement made by them is final and cannot be appealed. In addition, their rulings often add onto the already decided punishment, as “false appeal” is a crime in Tekniania, albeit occasionally quite a controversial one.

The only court that the average tourist, however, would have to worry about are the Justice Consuls, one appointed to each police station. These make judgements on the most minor cases, such as vandalism and petty theft. Their job is to quickly and fairly dispense justice without having to engage the bureaucratic machinery of the State Conclaves and Convocations. They, most often, have a quick conversation with the accused, talk with the police officer that brought them in and then quickly pronounce a verdict.

The best way, however, to get out of dealing with all of this is not to commit crimes and misdeeds at all. We advise all visitors to Tekniania to do just that.