Magna Carta? - Sirius's delay

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 18854

Dave wrote:

> So is Sirius Black a subject
> of the Queen?  If he is, then his imprisonment is definitely a
> breach of Magna Carta!

Let's see.  Maybe this is true, but Sirius has no recourse other than 
to leak the existence of the wizarding world to the Muggles.  What's 
he going to do, get himself a Muggle lawyer and explain the whole 
thing?  

Another possibility is that the British gov't has a pretty good idea 
of what's going on in the wizarding world and knows that the MOM 
is currently operating under what is basically martial law.  

In a sense wizards are British subjects.  They certainly appear to be 
so to their Muggle neighbors (albeit a tad eccentric--bet Archie's the 
village oddball wherever he lives).  However, they seem to be like 
Native Americans--citizens of a sovereign nation within the borders 
of, and sprinkled throughout, another.  The sovereign nation thing 
doesn't go too far in the USA (a Native American accused of a crime is 
tried under US law without any extradition or anything like that, 
right?), but I can see a model in which the British government stays 
out of the MOM's legal affairs as long as it's satisfied that wizards 
aren't roaming the streets killing Muggles.  If the MOM is a little 
hard on someone who's just apparently murdered 12 Muggles, well, 
better that than being too soft on him.  So might go the Muggle 
government's reasoning, anyway.
  
> It also occurs to me that his imprisonment without a trial is
> rendered even more heinous considering all the Death Eaters
> who got off on the claim they were under the Imperious Curse.
> Why couldn't Sirius have been under the Imperious Curse too?

Even if Sirius got the opportunity to make this argument, I bet he 
wouldn't.  Not out of a sense of honor--even Sirius might not be so 
noble as to go to Azkaban rather than lie--but out of despair, shame, 
and guilt.  I don't think Sirius gave a damn what happened to him.  He 
thought he deserved to rot in Azkaban.  

Hmm, I just had another thought though.  Wouldn't he have wanted to 
clear his name, or at least accuse Pettigrew, for the same reason he 
does 12 years later:  to protect Harry?  It seems as if he knew from 
the start that Pettigrew didn't die.  He wouldn't have a chance of 
finding him, one rat among millions, or of proving that it was Peter 
who was the Death Eater, so I guess I can understand why he wouldn't 
even try to explain it to the MOM--but why wasn't he haunted from day 
one by the thought that Peter would try to kill Harry?  Why did it 
only start to bother him 12 years later when he saw his picture?

Amy Z

-----------------------------------------
 "This is the weirdest thing we've ever
 done," Harry said fervently.
       --HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban
-----------------------------------------