WW law

[tavvy76]

No: HPFGUIDX 71269

, Mark D. wrote:
> 
> > The whole hearing left a bad taste in my mouth. Are you sating 
that 
> > in the UK the judge can change the time of a hearing w/o 
notifying 
> > the accused? The accused does not have the right to counsel and 
the 
> > judge could decide against him by merely calling him a liar?
> 
Pshemekan said:
> Harry was notified -- an owl was sent but they left before it 
arrived. 
> That was just a 'creative' way of using legal procedures ;-)
> And _technically_ it was a disciplinary hearing not a felony case.
> I belive, that every law, even the one most fair, can be used to 
achieve 
> unfair results.

I (Binky) say:

Harry wasn't notified - the owl never confirmed that it successfully 
passed the message on to Harry, the equivalent of "serving" a notice 
in the RW. Also - a mere disciplinary hearing? In front of the wizard 
equivalent of the full bench of the Supreme Court/House of Lords? 
Even most of the Wizengamot members realise something's wrong here, 
look at their reaction when Dumbledore mentions it. (And as far as I 
know what happened to Harry would be illegal under U.K. law. Not 
having a constitution with a Bill of Rights doesn't automatically 
mean you have no rights).
> 
Mark D. wrote:
> > Fudge's administration seems full of favoritism, descrimination, 
and 
> > outright bribery. Are there no checks and balences against a MoM 
from 
> > outright trading favors for gold? (See Lucius Malfoy)
> 
And Pshemekan said:
> Well, that fits the overall view of WW as a 19th century culture.

I (Binky) say:

I'm not sure that "19th Century" is the most accurate description 
here. For one thing, checks and balances, democracy and limits on the 
sovereign's power were all invented before then, and not just by 
British settlers in North America.

For another thing, some aspects of Wizarding Law are horribly modern. 
For example some people see Percy's cauldron bottom report as a 
parody of the European Union, which does in fact regulate such things 
as the dimensions of standard chairs and tables or the amount of 
cocoa powder in a block of chocolate.

The WW criminal justice system is in a category of its own. The idea 
of a "Council of Elders" dispensing justice is more tribal law than 
anything else. The incredible level of injustice, corruption and 
blatant favouritism of the system make me think of words like "show 
trial", "kangaroo court" or "Star Chamber". It's really an example of 
a legal system that's being completely manipulated to serve the 
purposes of those in power while still maintaining an appearance of 
being a "justice" system. That too, is by no means a phenomenon 
restricted to the 19th Century.
> 
Mark D. said:
> > I realize that according to the Potterverse we American are not 
> > considered smart enough to figure out what a Philosophers Stone 
is, 
> > but I feel our government makes a littlre more sense.
>
I (Binky) say:
It does make more sense. So does the British Government. In fact all 
of the RW government and legal systems I'm familiar with make more 
sense than the MoM - it's not hard! :-) It's possible that this will 
come up in Books 6 and 7, starting with Elf rights and moving on to a 
complete overhaul of the WW legal system - it certainly needs it!
 

Cheers,

Binky