We haven't worked out the details of the Adantri legal systems, and at this point, there doesn't seem to be a need for it. Basically, it is a civilized country--rights of person and property are defended and criminality is not respected. To be a thief or assassin is not something to boast of--even those who are proud of such accomplishments know better than to proclaim them publicly.

The most obviously unusual aspect is that the practice of magic is a crime: depending on the type, power, and intent of the spell (but NOT the success), it is anything from a misdemeanor bringing a small fine to a capital offense.

The cities and towns are policed by efficient, generally honest, and numerically barely adequate police forces; sheriffs and their deputies guard the peace of the countryside. There are competent investigators available, and the temples of Mantor supply priests who are well able to deal with any who would violate the law against magical practice. Bear in mind that all Adantri are trained in the martial arts: this includes the police, who have to be good enough to take the martially-skilled criminals. I don't say that all are experts, but nobody is likely to be an unarmed pushover. An Adantri Guardsman is not going to be easy meat for a gladiator, and attacks on one will always be avenged. The cities are always patrolled at night, and the patrols never walk alone.

Because they regularly associate with priests and temple knights (paladins) capable of detecting falsity, even those few Guardsmen who might otherwise be open to bribery usually refuse it.

It is true, humans being fallible, that some criminals go unpunished, but this is not because the Adantri tolerate lawlessness. If crime begins to get out of hand in some area, it is quite possible that the honest citizens of that area will band together to deal with it--and vigilantes have been known to kill on suspicion rather than waiting for legal proof. True, they will later have to answer to the Imperial authorities for flouting the established channels for dealing with crime, but such a consideration is unlikely to slow their angry reactions to continued lawless behavior on the part of gladiators or anyone else.

There are three groups that deal directly with crime in Lirith Kai: the Guardsmen, the Magistrates, and the Militia.

The Guardsmen are primarily responsible for keeping the peace--they break up fights, arrest criminals, and perform other functions of a uniformed police force. Sometimes they will handle the investigation of obscure crimes, but often they lack sufficient men in the area to spare one or more for purely investigative work.

The Magistrates handle both the investigation and judgment of crimes. In towns and cities with large numbers of Guards, they may undertake only the judicial tasks, but they must be prepared, by training and ability, to unravel complex cases themselves, and the investigative personnel of their district report to them, and not, generally, to a Guard officer. Ideally, the magistrate's office and the local Guard work closely together, and this ideal is approached fairly often. The magistrates serve not only as the judges but as the chief prosecutors in the court. Note that it is not a basic Adantri belief that one is innocent until proven guilty--the official attitude might be said to be one of suspicious and distrustful neutrality; a person may be jailed "merely" because the local magistrate considers him a suspicious character. This system is tempered by the fact that a magistrate who misuses his position to harass an innocent or who willfully or stupidly hands down faulty judgments is liable to be detected in this by the Guard of the district, or by some priest or temple knight and is subject to severe punishments, up to and including the death penalty in one of its more severe forms.

The Militia serve as auxiliary personnel to the law enforcement agencies, supplying extra blades as needed to deal with security during some major event and filling the posses which may be called upon to pursue a criminal into the hinterlands. A Militia group is drawn from the citizenship of the area at large, excluding criminals and outcastes, has normally trained together at least once a month, and is always headed by someone having regular authority in the matter in question.