Judiciary of the Kingdom of Lytera

Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Lytera
Höchstgericht Verkhovnyy sud Saikōsaibansho
Seal of the Supreme Court
Established	28 August 2021
Jurisdiction	Lytera
Location	St. Cavendish
Composition	Monarch's appointment
Term length	no limit
Seats	1
Supreme Judge
Incumbent	Amelia I
Since	2021
Term end	N/A

The Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Lytera (German: Höchstgericht Russian:Verkhovnyy sud Japanese:Saikōsaibansho) is the highest court in the Kingdom and serves as the supreme court for all the regions of Lytera. It is the court of last resort for administrative law, civil law and criminal law cases. It also supervises the work of lower courts, which are the District Courts, and Provincial Courts. Each town has a district court, with each province having a Provincial court. Any towns outside of a province with cases referred to a Provincial court goes to the nearest geographical Provincial.

Powers

The position of Supreme Judge is synonymous with the monarchy according to the 2021 constitution, but in theory the power could be delegated to someone on their behalf. They have the final ruling on any legal case, and are able to overrule jury decisions in the supreme court, though have yet to exercise this power. A decision made in the supreme court cannot be appealed, and any legal consequences of Supreme Court decisions can only be challenged by an Act of Parliament. For sensitive information, Judges of all levels may censor public information available on a case's facts and sentence, but not the verdict.

History

Pre-Constitution

Before the current constitution, Lyteran law was largely based on UK law for convenience. There was only one court with the monarch as a judge. The monarch, as such, had very broad powers, as this was before the creation of Parliament, allowing absolute power. Some of the law-making abilities were delegated to parliament, but they could, in theory, be overruled by the monarch at the time. In addition, cases had no set naming convention. Lastly, crimes were classified under summary, second and first class offences, with summary unable to be heard in the Supreme Court unless apart of a larger charge.

Criticisms

Common critics of the court cite the fact that the Monarch, as Judge, can overrule a jury, or give a Judge the power to do so. As Mayors and equivalent roles are District Judges, this has been argued as a lack of judicial neutrality.

Cases

Pre-2021

Lytera v Matthew (2019) - Not Guilty for 1 Count

Post-2021

Supreme

The Queen vs. Helen Forrest - Guilty on 4 Counts, Acquitted for lack of evidence on 1 Count.