The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 141 : The Hearing

Scarlet accompanied Dusk and Catherine to the Imperial High Court in Regis. The High Court was imposing building, located at the southern edge of the city. Scarlet often wondered why the High Courts were not located in the main city. She supposed it was not intended to be used often by the common man. Or because the Emperors believed the Judges must remain away from interactions with other people. Even Nobles were not allowed into the Judges colony.

The Judicial system in Bravadia followed a Pyramidal Structure. Every village and city had a Magistrate's Court to hear all cases relating to the village or city. Each subdivision of a Province had an Appeal Court for appeal against the order of the Magistrate's Court by an aggrieved party. At the Provincial Capital there was the Provincial High Court and finally in Regis was the Imperial High Court.

Apart from this, there were special courts (called Upper Courts) for hearing important cases, mostly involving high value or needing special attention. There were consumer grievance cells that people called consumer court, which were not actually courts but officers appointed by the Mayors of cities to hear complaints by common citizen against businesses (without lawyers). In villages, the function was undertaken by the Mayor directly. The consumer could still go to the Magistrate's court instead.

There was another set of courts called the Superior Courts empowered to hear cases against the Nobles. The Magistrates could not hear these cases. The special courts for Nobles angered many citizens and were often raked up by rebels and opposition to show how unfair the structure was to others. Many of the rich business families also disliked it.

The investigation into the Cartier Manor Incident had been concluded. It had resulted in an extensive attack on the rebels, rendering them totally powerless. Local Militia cracked down on all Rebel sympathisers. Cases related to the Rebels had been consolidated to Imperial High Court, though some of them related to Noble. They were not put before the Superior Courts.

This was only the second time in history that the Imperial High Court was hearing a direct case. The cases were now in two groups. One case, related purely to the planned attack on Dusk Hale was to be heard in Private.

That meant, only the accused, their family and victims would be allowed to attend the hearing. The news media had been excluded.

The 3 girls sat in the 4th row. The first row was for the lawyers hearing the case. The second row was to be used by the investigating officers and their assistants. Dusk did not know why the third row was empty. But she had never been in a court and actually did not want to be present. She would be happier if she could sit in the last row. She wanted to forget about the horrible incident, but the Chief Justice had ordered her presence.

The Imperial Chief Justice (ICJ) entered the Court Room. He was accompanied by 4 other judges from the House of Lords selected by the Emperor to hear the case. It was a critical case and therefore it would not be decided by a single man, however impartial.

The Imperial Advocate General (IAG), who was sitting in the first row stood up, bowed to the Judges and said, "Your Honour, we wish to begin the hearing of the case referred to as Cartier Manor Incursion."

As the ICJ nodded his ascent, a puzzled Catherine looked up the meaning of the word in her communicator. She thought the case was about an attempt by Henry Cartier to blackmail her. She had no idea why IAG was calling it an incursion, which meant an armed intrusion by enemy soldiers.

"The summary of the case is as follows:" The IAG stated. "On the specified day, Lord Cartier had allowed his son, Henry Cartier to have a party at Cartier Manor, a country house located 52km outside Regis City limits. The party was attended by many guests. The list of guests is in Exhibit 1. Among the guests was Princess Catherine Lidwig and her companion, Dusk Hale. Dusk Hale is an Imperial Security Category Z Protectee, due to her proximity to the Royal Family. She was specially invited by Henry Cartier to the party, though he did not know her personally.