* Welcome to the First Interplanar & Dimensional... *
Congratulations! You've taken your first step into the wizarding judiciary by completing your magical law degree and passing the lead-to-gold-bar exam!
This of course entitles you to act as a Judge, Prosecutor, or Defense Attorney at will.
Naturally, Wizard Court is a very confusing and complex environment and as such, certain mundane aspects of the law have been discarded in favor of our superior law-magic!
With a simple spell, Judges have access to all the details of a case without the need for a messy investigation.
Likewise, it is very rare that defendants are allowed to speak in court due to the dangers of vocal magic and access to a complete magical record of the mage's actions.
Instead, most court cases rely on individual magicians-at-laws' abilities to interpret the various codices on magic law across the multiverse.
As such, hearings are structured as follows:
***Stage I: Judge ResearchThe presiding judge (anyone who feels like starting a new game) will accept a new case from the multiverse (dream up or generate a magical crime for our magicians-at-law to debate) and use their law-magic to download the events in question directly into their brain (don't worry, this is a mostly safe process, and tonal surgery is no longer required to remove any lingering memories). When they have processed the information they will write up a case summary to post for any enterprising freelance magicians-at-law to accept (legit, just write a summary of the events as you'd like them, could be vague or specific, based on reality, or a total fiction).
Resources: (to help you come up with whacky crimes)https://www.mithrilandmages.com/utilities/Crimes.phphttps://www.rangen.co.uk/world/lawgen.phphttps://perchance.org/gzpz4ki16sGeneral Tips: (for interesting hearings)
*try people, not a generic crime. I.E. "Person did X", rather than "is X a crime???"
*more specificity in your brief will let your magicians-at-law construct better cases
*... but dont make it a chore.
*have a headshot for your judge and defendant/guilty bastard mageStage II: The HearingOnce there is a prosecutor and defending attorney the trial begins in earnest, both sides will present their opening statements (just say what you are out to prove and which magical law you will be citing) and ask any clarifying questions about the case (for the judge to explain, although it is ultimately up the judge how much to reveal).
Resources: (to make you a better M.A.L.)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Magic_(The_Dresden_Files)#The_Laws_of_Magichttps://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Category:LawsGeneral Tips: (for winning and having a great time)
*the name of the game is citations, no MLA formatting God no, just link us to the page where you found the law supporting your argument.
*outside of the two Harry universes, there's plenty of obscure magical law, from real life anti-magic laws to homebrew DnD laws governing magic use--it exists, even if its kinda hard to find.
*have a headshot for your magician-at-law character!Stage III: The Hearing, Part 2Once any outstanding issues have been settled, the prosecutor and defense attorney will respond to each other's citations and claims (a separate post, try to poke holes in your opponents arguments or find new evidence in your favor!)
General Tips:
*dont be mean!
*but DO be sassy. (Think Ace Attorney)Stage III1/2: The Hearing, Part XIf the judge feels there is insufficient evidence or at the request of one of the magicians-at-law, they can order additional rounds of rebuttals (more posts poking holes or finding new laws or refining arguments).
Stage IV: The VerdictAfter having heard everything, the Judge closes the debate and makes his judgement on the mage in question. The punishment is up to them! Case closed, everyone retires to the magical break room, and we repeat the process all over again.
General Tips:
*it is up to you to uphold or throw out past precedent--unlike real life it's not like there's some kind of wizard court regulatory body!
*As a rule of thumb, when in doubt, do what's fun!
*if you are having trouble, try giving precedent to more obscure citations, I've seen things from homebrewed DnD flavor, to otherwise unheard-of anime, to weird metaphysical hippie stuff
*speaking of which, I'd try and shy away from any "real" earth law from like the 1600s, as a magical judge why do we care what mortals from a magicless planet think? Buuuut, if there's nothing else... you could admit it.OTHER GENERAL TIPS: (for everyone)
*be weird, be obscure
*you may be forced to go outside of magic law to define something, that's okay!
*go off the rails every now and then, whats a good court without contempt?
*oh yea, alchemical law is good too.
*dont cite anything you've written solely yourself? Unless maybe as part of a larger collaboration, or maybe some sort of precedent sheet here on the forums if this becomes popular (lol)
*the more pics the better!
*collaboration on a defense or prosecution team is fine as long as everyone is cool with it, one judge at a time is probably easiest, but hey it's Wizard Court, there are currently no laws forbidding multiple judges
*anyone can play any role!