Sanguis Astroism/The Magistratum

The Magistratum

The Magistratum is a group of Elder members of the faith that sit in judgment of other followers during a trial. The procedure used by the Magistratum during a trial is as follows:

1. The Accuser, which may be any full or Elder member of the church, must send a message to the Elders requesting a Magistratum trial. It must include the following:
   1. The identity of the Accuser
   2. The identity of the Accused. This may be a specific person, or a specific group of people.
   3. The charges to be considered. The charges must be of concern to the church, and violate one of its rules or principles.
   4. Basic evidence that the charges are true.
2. The Council of Elders will consider the message and vote on whether a trial is warranted.
   1. The Elders should decide whether a trial is warranted, based on the following:
      1. That are the Accuser and Accused are clearly identified
      2. That the charges lay within the purview of the Church
      3. That the charges are important enough to be handled by the Magistratum and not some lower means of justice
      4. That the evidence has potential to sustain such a charge
   2. The Elders will vote on whether to hold a Magistratum trial. The vote will be managed by the Regent or the Light of Austere. Guidelines for the vote are as follows:
      1. The vote will last no more than 7 days. The vote may be terminated immediately when enough Yes votes are accumulated, or when it becomes statistically impossible to gather enough Yes votes.
      2. Votes must be announced publicly to the Elder Council to be treated as a valid vote.
      3. Abstentions are not allowed, and will not be recorded. Failing to register a valid Yes or No vote is considered not voting.
      4. For trials involving theocratic issues, such as heresy, the accusation will be referred to a Magistratum if 2 out of the following 4 are true.
         1. The Regent voted yes.
         2. Two out of three Lights voted yes.
         3. All three Luminaries voted yes.
         4. All three elected Consuls voted yes.
      5. The following special situations may cause automatic convening of a Magistratum trial:
         1. The Holy Prophet requests a trial be held on any issue.
         2. The Regent requests a trial on a non-theological issue.
         3. All three Lights request a trial on a theological issue.
   3. The Council of Elders will announce the results of the vote. The announcement of the results of the vote shall be made to all members of the church by the Regent or the Light of Austere. It should include the original accusation and a record of the vote. Should the trial be denied, a reason for the denial should be included.
3. The Makeup of the Magistratum
   1. A Magistratum shall be composed of a panel of three Magistrates, assigned to the Elder rank of Magistrate. It shall normally be composed as follows:
      1. The High Inquisitor of the realm of the Accuser, if they are a member of the Church
      2. The High Inquisitor of the realm of the Accused, if they are a member of the Church
      3. One other full member of the Church, to be selected by agreement among the Elders.
   2. Should the above criteria not produce three Magistrates, the Lights and Regent shall pick additional full or Elder members of the church to fill out the required three Magistrates. Preference shall be given to senior members of theocracies of the church that are not involved with the issue at hand.
   3. Should the Accused be a Light of Sanguis Astroism, the Magistrate shall instead be composed of the Regent and the two non-accused Lights.
   4. Should the Accused be a Luminary or Consul of Sanguis Astroism, the Magistrate shall instead be composed of the the three Lights.
   5. The Lead of the Magistratum shall be announced by the Regent, and must be a member of the Magistratum that is not in the same realm (or group if the Accused is an organization) as either the Accuser or the Accused.
   6. The three Magistrates will be promoted to the rank of Magistrate for the duration of the trial. When the trial is complete, the Magistrates will be returned to their prior rank.
4. The process of the Magistratum
   1. While the Magistatum trial is underway, there shall be no public discourse among the faithful regarding the affairs under investigation. Any noble who violates this rule may be temporarily demoted to an Aspirant rank for the duration of the trial, at which time they may be returned to their rightful rank.
   2. Any member of the Magistratum may request witnesses and/or evidence for specific items under consideration, from anyone.
      1. All members of the Church are required to comply with the requests of the Magistratum as quickly as reasonably possible.
      2. Failure to provide the requested information to the Magistratum may be grounds for a charge of Contempt of the Magistratum. The currently seated Magistratum may judge this as a separate issue, in parallel with the current trial.
      3. Knowingly providing false information to the Magistratum may be grounds for a charge of Falsification of Evidence to the Magistratum. The currently seated Magistratum may judge this as a separate issue, in parallel with the current trial. Should the trial be completed before the falsification is discovered, a new Magistratum trial may be convened to judge the issue.
   3. Any member of the Church may submit a statement to the Magistratum, even if they are not directly requested to do so.
   4. All facts and or commentary are to be sent to all the members of the Magistratum, not the Elder Council.
5. The Vote
   1. At the end of the deliberations, the Magistratum will take a vote, to be administered by the Lead of the Magistratum.
   2. For trials involving multiple charges, each Magistrate must provide a vote on each individual charge.
   3. The vote will last no more than 7 days. The Lead will announce the deadline. The vote may be terminated early if a unanimous verdict is reached.
   4. Abstentions are not allowed, and will not be recorded. Failing to register a valid Guilty or Not Guilty vote is considered not voting.
   5. A guilty verdict will be announced if two of the three votes are returned as Guilty.
   6. If the Magistratum reaches a Guilty verdict, then the Magistratum will also determine the penalty to deliver on the Accused. The Magistratum may impose any penalty desired upon the guilty party, saving only that Excommunication requires a unanimous verdict.
   7. The report of the votes and the reasoning should be sent to the entire Elder council. This should include the imposed penalty.
   8. In either case, the Regent (or the Light of the Austere, if the Regent is unavailable) will inform the all church members of the decision of the Magistratum, the reasoning, if any, and the penalties, if any.
   9. The Light of Austere is charged with carrying out the judgment of the Magistratum. If the Light of Austere is the Accused, then the Regent shall carry out the verdict.

Trials

• Trial of Garret Artemesia : Verdict - Guilty of spreading heretical books.

• Appeal of Allison Kabrinski : Verdict - Innocent, accepted back into the faith.

• Trial of Allison Kabrinski : Verdict - Innocent in the Excommunication of Duke Aram Stein, Guilty in the auto de fe of Duke Aram Stein

• Trial of Jonsu Himoura : Verdict - Guilty on all charges