Fwurg

[House Iaat (mask of Veolian Commonwealth)]

To: Legal offices of the Embassy of the Silver Forests of Remunzia, Unity

To whom it may concern,

As an avid opponent of slavery, I applaud your unique approach to the matter.

The Veolian court system can be difficult to navigate for those not used to the interplay between courts, nobility and common law. Because I want to see your effort succeed insofar that I want to end slavery in the commonwealth, I wish to offer my services as a pro bono advisor in the matter.

Due to the class-action nature of the case, the discovery phase plays a crucial role. As you may well know, civil cases between nobility always go to the High Courts. A less well-known fact is that these cases are always presided over by a noble of higher rank than plaintiff and defendant.

Because of the requirement that a ranking noble sits in judgement, your current definition of the class of defendants, "Veolians Slave Owners", is untenable. Her Imperial Majesty Saret Neferti owns several slaves, and as such belongs to this class. Her Imperial Majesty is only outranked by the Emperor himself, and he will rule in her favour without a moment's doubt.

I humbly suggest that you adjust your definition so as not to include any member of the imperial family. With careful wording, members of the imperial house could be included as long as they do not have an immediate relation with a member of the imperial family.

I shall remain available should you want my advice or insights into the veolian legal system.

With kind regards,

Count Iaat Vakīla
Attorney at law

House Iaat

[Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia]

To: Count Iaat Vakila, Attorney at law

Your Grace ((OOC: sic)),

It is our purpose to end slavery across the Union. Recognizing the complexity of the situation, it is clear to the Silver Forests of Remunzia that this case alone will not be sufficient to achieve that goal, even within the confines of the Veolian Commonwealth.

We gladly accept your services as pro bono adviser in this matter and would ask your advise especially in how to attain maximum leverage and momentum in this matter, independent of the actual outcome of the trial.

sincerely,

Senator Salixa of the Silver Forests of Remunzia

[House Iaat (mask of Veolian Commonwealth)]

Dear senator Salixa,

Before I explain the two ways to approach this case, I would like to tell you about our court system. Starting with the influence of the nobility in the courst. In the veolian court system the nobility sits in judgement over all cases. In practice, judges are appointed to handle most cases. But these judges are appointed at the pleasure of the nobility, and as such can never be neutral or independent. The county court where the discovery phase takes place is in Jala Khaira, the domain of House Khaw. I suspect this choice to be with purpose: House Khaw cares little about the matter of slavery, but is well-known for their adherence to traditions.

Furthermore, class-action suits are rare on Mirda due to the weight placed on individual actions and the status of parties to the trial. In the rare cases where a class action against the nobility has been approved by court, the situation quickly becomes complicated by the in-fighting among the defendants. This works in our favour, as a fractured defence is a bad one.

That said, there are two ways to approach this case. We can either open up with a full court battle, or we influence public opinion directly.

Litigation battle

That the Silver Forests of Remunzia have been able to bring these charges in a civil case on the matter indicates to me the exertion of a certain amount of influence from one or more high judges. Do not be misled by the careful wording employed by the attorney-general in his statement that "the verdict will form the principal input for a continuation of the case in the Supreme Court". The fact that this option is open means that at least two of the seven judges in the supreme court see merit in a legislative review.

This is the first approach: Looking at his imperial majesty's stance with regards to slavery over the centuries I am led to conclude that he himself does not see a problem with the Silver Forests winning this case. To move this case to the supreme court, we must convincingly argue that the legal construct of slavery is unlawful. The defence will quickly realize our intent and band together. Their counterarguments will certainly include that slavery is no more an unnatural legal construct than marriage or trade contracts, and that to deem one unlawful is to deem all unlawful.

This approach is by no means a guarantee at success, and I would estimate a chance of one-in-ten that we are able to get a favourable verdict. Getting a favourable verdict means creating a situation where the supreme court does a law review, and with the supreme court deriving it's authority directly from the sovereign this means opening the door for a an imperial decree on the matter.

Sway public opinion

Our second option is to approach the case not as a case we need to win, but as a platform for changing public opinion. Veolian nobility is not as immune to popular opinion as they would like to admit, and changing the opinion of the masses will eventually impact them. As you will know, most veolians do not own slaves. Among those that do not, there are a lot of people that do not really care about slavery. Next to the billions of people without an opinion either way, there's over six billion people against slavery. If we can mobilize these people, get them to become more vocal about the subject, this will most likely impact slave owners more directly than a drawn-out court battle to push our case into the supreme court.

In this approach we seek to continuously ensure that we have media coverage of the proceedings. We will make the three Remunzian "mate-seekers" on Mirda relatable to the people -- Evinar especially scores very well with the large segment of male commoners, and Illora-Veleanor scores well with unmarried low nobility -- we can make the people care about their stories. If we can broadcast the struggle of these Remunzians and the fact that slave owners are preventing them from prospering we can change public opinion to shift towards opposition of slavery.

This approach is not without drawbacks either. While I applaud the efforts of the Hiocan Society and the Astrian Colonial Authority, the senate discussion on slavery has not been good for our case. Our opponents will try to use public opinion against us, and claim that they are valiantly defending Veolian culture from "foreigners intent on destroying our culture." And in the minds of many on Mirda, this is exactly what is happening.

Predicting public opinion is difficult, so I have consulted with several of House Iaat's media offices. I think there is a large chance that we are able to sway many to the side of opposition, if we can make the court battle a personal one. This will not instantly abolish slavery, but it will make current slave owners rethink their practices. Most veolian nobles have designs that go beyond their reach, and they will be affected most. Especially if they are looking for public approval or need public support for their plans. The best aspect of this approach is that it does not matter whether we win or lose the case -- we will aim to maximize impact on public opinion at every step.


It is my personal opinion that swaying public opinion is the route to choose. While litigation might bring a law review, swaying public opinion will bring the people behind the opposition to slavery. And in the end, the commonwealth is not built on laws, but in its citizens.

Do not hesitate to contact me

With kind regards,

Count Iaat Vakīla
Attorney at law

House Iaat
((OOC: This message comes with a soon-to-be-written short PM to coordinate the events.))